January 9th, 2023

Good Morning Folks,

      I don’t like football. I never really liked football at all. I played for 4 years in high school for a very good team that went undefeated in 1964. I wasn’t an especially aggressive player but I did start many games at offensive and defensive tackle. As a young freshman starting high school, the coach told my parents that I could be a good player if I would just put on another 30 pounds! Of course, that was all this chubby kid needed to hear and every night it was two helpings of my Mom’s Italian dinner. Over the next four years I was hurt a couple of times and broke some bones…those same bones that are now plagued with arthritis. So I have no real fondness for football as a sport, as a business, or as entertainment. That said, this year I have been sucked in. I have been watching the notorious Buffalo Bills. I have tried to avoid it, but my daughter Grace is a big fan and has attended several games in different cities. My brother “Pat” is also a big fan and once, many years ago, brought me and my other siblings to a game. It was the only one I ever attended. When we arrived at the game, outside the stadium people were cooking and partying and drinking and entertaining themselves at what is called a tailgating party. I looked at my good friend Jim as I gazed  around the crowd and said "this is definitely not a Hillary for President rally".  He looked at me and said, "No, no… not in a 1000 years!". Anyway, sitting in a crowd of 100,000 people on a freezing January afternoon was never my idea of a way to spend my day off.

       But Buffalo has always found a soft spot in my heart. I have many friends there, and the music scene is quite lively with customers always making the one hour+ journey to our store. With attractions of the waterfront on Lake Erie and nearby Niagara Falls, it is a great tourist spot. Often called the "Nickel City" (The nickel coin used to have a buffalo on one side) its newest moniker is "The City of Good Neighbors". Recently, a gun tragedy struck the town unlike any other across the country. It was a racially motivated, targeted killing at a Tops, grocery store, taking the lives of innocent black shoppers. The city rallied together around those slain, and showed the world how its citizens cared about each other. Then this Christmas the entire city was buried in nearly 10 feet of snow and 40 people lost their lives. Once again, neighbors, helping neighbors was the highlight of the day.

       Now, after being sucked into the Buffalo charm and the sports team, of course I was watching the infamous game on Monday night in which player, Damar Hamlin, nearly died. It was a very emotional event, and I was amazed at how people, all across the country, were linked together, as if holding hands electronically, clinging for any news about this life nearly snuffed out at the age of 24. Football is a violent sport, but its tender side was exposed that night. Grown men, tough, strong athletes, participators in a violent game, were all drawn to tears and clung to hope. And when that "kid" emerged from the envelope of his heart stopping condition and asked, "Did we win the game?", I must say we were all a crying mess. And yesterday we were glued to the TV to watch a stunning defeat of Patriots highlighted by two full field kickoff returns by Nyheim Hines. So now the Buffalo Bills are in the playoffs. Please don’t let me get sucked in! I fear it is already too late.

Sincerely,

John Bernunzio 

To celebrate my daughter Kara’s magical birthday, her two sisters, Rose, and Grace and her sister-in-law Taylor all went out to dinner. I heard that Santa Claus picked up the check! (No, it wasn’t me!)