Playoffs and Stories

by Jay Cruz
Moving into October and a new month, we say goodbye to the long baseball season and hello to the very short and exciting playoff season. Well, it is if you like baseball anyway. The regular season did go down to the last day with 2 playoff births to be decided and The San Francisco Giants beat the underdog San Diego Padres while the Atlanta Braves won their game against the Phillies to clinch the final National League spot over the Padres. One of the things about the very long baseball season is the fact that the playoffs happen so quickly. Check your local listings for times of this weeks match-ups because they always seem to be scheduled at the strangest times.

I remember as a young kid playing “hookey” one time to watch the Oakland A’s against the Detroit Tigers in 1972. I was 7. I was in big trouble when my Mother walked into my room at lunchtime with chicken soup and discovered me with my Oakland hat on and my collection of baseball cards in my hand. Of course today we have the internet with updates and virtual coverage of the games.

With these modern updates and electronic coverage one doesn’t have to play sick to catch a game score if it’s important, but I think we miss the story telling that the play by play announcers bring to the game. It’s handy to get the bottom line, but colorful details make the games come alive. The Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t make the playoffs this year, which means that their quality storyteller Vin Scully is already on vacation. The great news about Vin is that he will return for his 62nd year of broadcasting Dodger baseball next year. His broadcasts of Dodger games are a text book for how stories are told and really make games come to life.

What is your story? What stories are you hearing? What story are you currently telling? When people get together its our stories that give us insight into each other. Stories are how we share and recreate the memories and lessons we all get to learn. If you don’t pay attention to the stories in your life right now, take a little time and do so. If you don’t know what your own story is, take a moment or more to remind yourself what it is.

Some of the baseball stories for the playoffs include. Atanta’s Bobby Cox managing for the final days of his career. Will the Philadelphia Phillies go to a 3rd straight World Series? Will Yankees Captain Derek Jeter return to his clutch form? Will the Texas Rangers finally win their first playoff series? Will the folks in Tampa realize that they have an outstanding team in town that doesn’t sell out its games? Who is going to be the player that nobody expects to be, step up and be the hero for his team?

How about a story that features James Bond riding a skateboard in a kilt? For that bombshell you will need to listen to the Healthylife.net News@7 this coming Friday to hear our Arts and Entertainment segment. Or, you could make up a story about a skateboarding super spy swinging through Scotland, and see how it compares to what we heard.

MEN ARE STUPID AND THEY LIKE BIG BOOBS

By Daena Smoller


Got your attention, didn’t I? But I can’t take the credit...it’s actually from the mind and mouth of one of America’s funniest women, Joan Rivers. I’ve been a fan of Joan Rivers since her first nights of guest-hosting the Johnny Carson Show.

I remember years (and years) ago, I was working for an advertising agency as the one and only copy writer and where I garnered my first experiences a television commercial producer. One of the agency’s largest clients was a corporation that owned a massive nation-wide chain of mall jewelry stores; the store names varied by market. Joan Rivers was the jewelry chain spokesperson and I was psyched because I got to write her quotes and copy and...you know, the whole ‘only one person away from knowing (fill in the blank)’ type of thing. Note: The only downside for me was the project of writing the entire jewelry catalog. Next time you pick up a store catalog, pity the poor person who wrote it as it’s just about the most mind-numbing thing in the world to write, that is, next to a credit card application, but that’s another story.

Years later, I got to perform on stage at the world-famous Comedy Store on the Sunset Strip and all I could think of was that I was standing on the same stage as many very funny women had like Roseanne, Sandra Bernhard and of course, Joan Rivers!

And this Tuesday, December 1st, I’ll be sure to tune into Dr. Jane Greer’s show, DOCTOR ON CALL, as her guest will be one of my all-time favorites, Joan Rivers! By the way, “MEN ARE STUPID AND THEY LIKE BIG BOOBS” is her show title...need I say more?

Yes I must - YOU ROCK JOAN RIVERS!...and those are my boobs!


Dr. Jane Greer’s DOCTOR ON CALL is on HealthyLife.net every Tuesday, live from 2 pm – 3 pm eastern (11 am – 12 pm pacific) which means you can call in! And here’s who else you can expect on DOCTOR ON CALL, on HealthyLife.net in December:

John Edward on December 8th
Kathy Pomerantz on December 15th
Dr. Doris Day on December 22nd



And here's Dr. Jane Greer's cool bio:

Dr. Jane Greer is a nationally known marriage and family therapist in private practice for over twenty years. She is the author of The Afterlife Connection: A Therapist Reveals how to Communicate with Departed Loved Ones by Saint Martin ’s Press: Gridlock: Finding The Courage to Move on in Love, Work and Life and How Could You Do This To Me? Learning to Trust After Betrayal both published by Doubleday. She also wrote Adult Sibling Rivalry, published in hardcover by Crown and paperback by Fawcett. Dr. Greer is a Love Network Expert for Redbook Magazine and also wrote the Let’s Talk About Sex advice column for Redbook Magazine online. She is the host of her own weekly radio internet show ”Doctor On Call” at www.healthylife.net. She was also a frequent contributor and guest co-host for "The Radio Ritas" program for GreenStone Media.

Dr. Greer has appeared as a regular guest expert on numerous national television programs among them: The Today Show, The Early Show, CNN News, Anderson Cooper 360, Dateline NBC, 20/20, Oprah, The View, Extra!, Hard Copy, Montel Williams, Ricki Lake, Donnie and Marie, Geraldo, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, Sally Jessy Raphael and Court T.V. She is a frequent guest on Good Day New York; and was a regular expert on "Wake Up America", as well as the guest co-host for "State Of Mind", on America's Talking cable network.

She has been interviewed repeatedly for articles in many well-respected publications including the New York Times, USA Today, New York Post, New York Newsday; People Magazine, US, In Touch, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, McCall's, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Mademoiselle, In Style, Allure, Family Circle, Parents Magazine, Elle, Marie Claire, Woman's Day, Real Beauty, Working Woman, Self, Seventeen, Complete Woman, YM, American Health, First, Fitness, Men's Health, Swing, Frequent Flyer, Woman's World and frequently appears in syndicated newspapers across the country in columns such as "Can This Marriage Be Saved" and Parade Magazine. She was featured as the regular expert therapist on Ladies Home Journal video web site for "Can This Marriage Be Saved.”

A former adjunct assistant professor at Adelphi University School of Social Work; Dr. Greer is a long standing member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists as well as the American Association of Sex , Educators, Counselors and Therapists. She has lectured across the country on marital/family problems, women's issues, and sibling (twin) issues; and is frequently called on by the national news media to speak as an authority on these topics.

Dr. Greer conducts monthly seminars for the Learning Annex and the Seminar Center on topics such as Gridlock, Trust and Betrayal, Are You Ready For Commitment, Anger Management, How To Choose The Right Partner and Adult Sibling Rivalry.