76

  76. Seventy-six. Setenta y seis. Soixante-seize. Ayin-Vav. Just not the 76’ers (the team with Lebron James, Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and Jaylen Brown which is destined to win the NBA title in 2026-27 and which downed the reigning champion New York Knicks on Ring/Banner night at Madison Square Garden to open the new season).

Whatever way it is said, the words sound old. Not ancient, mind you. I reserve that for 85 and beyond. Which, for the record, I look forward to writing about.  

Yeah, my birthday is October 25th. And yes, I turned one year older than 75. 

At this age, perspective is a matter of history. While living in the present is a good thing—it really is—everything at this age is tinged with memories or problems which didn’t exist years ago. 

With this birthday, I have done a lot of introspection. It’s a reflection of where I am now in comparison with where I have been. With a short-term eye out for the future. 

While I may have been a lawyer through education, training and experience, the inner child in me always derailed the adult I have been. I tease, I joke, I act silly and sometimes inappropriately. 

I have enjoyed being the butt of jokes as much as saying something funny since I was in grammar school. It allowed a short, then a bit pudgy Jewish kid to integrate with his peers. 

Putting a smile on somebody’s face has always meant a lot to me. I don’t know if I could have done stand up comedy—largely because the first heckler would have told the diminutive comic to—STAND UP!!

Perhaps I could have become a comedy writer. It would have taken a lot of hubris to think that I could be as good as Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry David and the whole lot of Jewish comedians from Brooklyn or Long Island’s Billy Crystal. 

Not a chance when I was younger. I would have been more like Henny Youngman anyway. I’d just have to find a schtick which could have stuck. Wisdom at a later age makes the past seem so much easier to dream about. 

No, as I turned 76, I took stock of what I have done. It’s one heck of a lot. 

I have been to all 50 states—by age 50. So many of them multiple times; Las Vegas almost 20 times alone. Name a national treasure—I have been there. 

I have seen the Supreme Courts of the United States and Canada along with Congress and Parliament. Throw in a couple of countries in the Bahamas, Jamaica, Mexico, Great Britain, Canada and the Republic of South Africa. Add a whole slew of state capitals, legislatures, state Supreme Courts and Presidential Libraries. 

I traveled Route 66. I went cross-country before the Interstate system was complete. I fully remember stopping on Colorado mountain roads to wait for explosives to detonate—we had to turn off our car radios—before moving on. My father, on our numerous cross-country car trips, actually once took Interstate 80 from New Jersey to California. 

The wheat fields of Kansas were majestic. The cornfields in the Midwest were ever-present. Seeing livestock enduring the Summer heat in Texas as well as dairy cattle, sheep and lots of chickens was unforgettable. 

A self-taught weather buff, I have seen massive thunderstorms on the Great Plains and in Arkansas and Texas. I have run down New Orleans streets escaping torrents of rain. I have seen flooding in Las Vegas and dust storms in Arizona. 

I have experienced Canadian snow and fierce cold, as well as summertime flurries on an Alaskan hillside. I have seen the devastating aftermath of hurricanes in Florida and Louisiana. Or 30 inches of snow in New Jersey paralyzing the state, not to forget the loss of power and the feeling of helplessness courtesy of Super Storm Sandy.  I can go on and on about the weather. 

I have been to state fairs in New Jersey, New York and Minnesota. Corn on a stick and chocolate milk in NY are my favorites. The poultry bars are a sight to see. 

Food is a subject I love. Cooking and eating. What else is there? 

Throughout the years, I have collected so many recipes that they fill overflowing 3X5 inch card files. I have taken so many recipes off of the Internet that I have 15 notebooks, categorized and alphabetized. 

Then there are the cookbooks. Small ones. Brand name ones. Encyclopedias of recipes in larger books. I even have a couple of editions of the The Slim Gourmet and my mother’s ancient cookbook, held together by strong tape, which contains the simplest, old-fashioned recipes in its nearly 900 pages. I have Jewish cookbooks; Italian cookbooks; a Chinese cookbook and so many more. 

Someday I will come to my senses and pare down this enormous library. That will take some dedicated time and an ability to let go. 

Yes, I am the chief cook in the house. Whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner, I’m the one using the range, oven, microwave/convection oven or the Weber gas grill on the patio—all year long. 

I’m not going to say I am a good chef. My wife and family seem to like what I make. Turkey burgers go over as well as salmon dishes or salads. We have very few upset stomachs and sometimes more than not, leftovers for lunch the next day. 

My top dishes are a mushroom and onion lasagna; chicken amaretto; chicken in peach sauce and a few salmon recipes. I share the cooking with my wife, who is in charge, on the major holidays; we are augmented by our children. I used to make a mean grilled pork chop when we ate them. 

And I do like to eat. My favorite foods are prune danish; the aforementioned lasagna; spaghetti and meatballs (my wife makes the meatballs) ice cream; and pizza. 

But I am certainly not a stay-at-home person when it comes to food. Not at all. 

I’ve eaten in four Chinatowns: New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Italian food in Little Italy in Manhattan and on The Hill in St. Louis. Pig roasts in Hawaii and West Virginia (where I sampled real homemade moonshine). 

Chuck wagons and five-star restaurants in Las Vegas and top-rated steakhouses in New York and D.C. French food in those two cities and Jewish deli food in New York, New Jersey, Southern California and believe it or not, New Mexico. Of course, Tex-Mex; Mexican; Southern Fried Chicken in Mississippi; lobster in Maine; Cuban cuisine in Miami and Manhattan; Portuguese in Newark; and nothing compares to NYC bagels and appetizing. The list is as long as I am old. 

I have had a fascination with railroads since a child, as the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad was nearly in my backyard. I have seen great stations in New York (Penn Station before and after the renovation with Madison Square Garden atop it; as well the cathedral known as Grand Central Station); Washington; Philadelphia; Boston; Los Angeles; San Francisco and Kansas City in the United States. The stations in Toronto, Winnipeg, Madrid and Barcelona were special. Riding on trains in Spain which traveled over 200 km/hr while eating breakfast served by white-gloved waiters was breathtaking, in a different way than being seated in domed cars in Alaska or on narrow-gauge trains in Disneyland and the Yukon Territories. 

I loved the different locomotives I have seen throughout the country and world. Electric and diesel. I saw The Hustler being filmed on a siding near my house. (I have also seen movies being filmed in Vancouver—our children were extras—and recently sat in on the shooting of a Netflix series)

If car trips weren’t enough, in the course of my travels, I have likely been to over 50 airports worldwide. I have seen those planes being built at the Boeing factory outside of Seattle. 

Speaking of factory tours, besides Boeing, we have been to see how candy is made; potato chips are cooked; jackets and clothing are made; beer and alcohol distilled; and even how cigarettes are rolled. Museums and galleries in London, Spain, the Vatican; New York City, D.C. and even Huntsville, Alabama to mention just a few, have thrilled us.

Another area which has always interested me is colleges. It started with my father receiving alumni magazines from his two alma maters: Franklin and Marshall College and Temple University’s School of Dentistry. It grew with my fascination from watching sports and other programming. I wanted to see as many campuses as I could. 

I attended college at F&M and spent time in D.C. at American University, which included a summer living in un-air conditioned dorms at George Washington University plus attending lectures at Georgetown University. I also took summer courses at Rutgers University, a short ride away from my childhood home in Highland Park. 

My post-graduate law school was at the Delaware Law School of Widener University located in Wilmington, although I did play baseball at Pennsylvania Military College, the predecessor to Widener, and my graduation was held on campus in Chester, Pennsylvania. During law school, I traveled to law libraries at Hofstra, Dickinson, Pennsylvania and Rutgers. 

With my son having also become a lawyer, I visited many law schools. When I go to a campus, I still look for the law school. I have watched classes at such renowned places as Pittsburgh, the University of California at Berkeley, New York University—and yes—Harvard to feel the vibes generated in the movie The Paper Chase. 

That movie, along with TV shows Perry Mason and The Defenders, were my impetus to become an attorney. I had the privilege of arguing in the New Jersey Supreme Court as well as preserving the rights of juveniles. I have seen big law. Bad law. Prisons. It was a great ride. I’d like to think I made a difference.

What has impacted me the most in my 76 years was my acquired love of sports. When I was young, I didn’t realize that being as short as I was wouldn’t allow me to star like my heroes. 

Whether it was reading accounts of the New York teams in the local papers, watching the games first in black and white then in glorious color, I fantasized about playing every sport I could. I have played, with very modest success, baseball, basketball, football, tennis, lifted weights, swam, golf racquetball, squash, lacrosse, hockey, soccer and have wrestled, run, lifted weights, swam, water skied and tobogganed, and probably a couple of other sports, too. 

Having participated in some manner, I attained a rudimentary understanding of many sports. That also gave me a sense of trying to emulate those who excelled at some level. Believe me, for so many of the aforementioned sports, I was way out of my element. But it didn’t matter.

Baseball was always my number one sport. In my hometown, I was pretty good. Good enough to play every position. To switch hit. To steal home to win a game. I played very little on the high school level due to my size and prejudices, which led to bullying. Which should have been stopped. But it wasn’t. 

I augmented my love for the game with modified games of stick ball using real bats as my substitute. Plus I had a friend who regularly hit me fly balls using a fungo bat like in the pros. 

Evidently, all that work allowed me to think I could play college baseball. It never occurred to me that I wouldn’t be able to hit, throw and field like everyone else—even if I had not played organized ball since age 15. With that bit of delusional confidence, I walked onto the team at Franklin and Marshall and started, playing two years before injury kept me from playing regularly. 

It was that same element of pride which made me think I could wrestle intramurally because my father wrestled at F&M, which was a storied wrestling school. I actually pinned a guy who had been recruited. I was stupidly lucky. Just like the intramural basketball game where I hogged the basketball and scored 31 points in the days before the three point line. 

I had a fascination with numbers. I learned how to keep score in baseball way before age 10; I was taught how to keep basketball and football scorebooks, which I was proficient at. And I even became a media runner with scores, pocketing some money in the process. 

I have seen the inside of numerous press boxes and scorer’s tables throughout Central and North Jersey while in high school as well as all the schools in the Centennial Conference, Jersey City State, FDU-Florham, Lebanon Valley College and Rutgers and Princeton. 

In football, this permitted me to deliver the statistics and have a seat at the Sunday morning film and donuts sessions, where I learned and even participated in the next week’s game plan. With basketball, I learned so much about offense and defense and the strategies involved in the game flow. 

It was the fun aspect of seeing other schools which led me to want to watch sports in person. The televised games looked so exciting. I wanted to see every venue I could, whether they were professional or collegiate. 

The excitement of in person sporting events led me to have season tickets in some manner for the New York Jets for 50 seasons; the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils; and Rutgers basketball. I have seen the US Open in both golf and tennis; All-Star games in baseball and hockey; the World Series, Division III Men’s Basketball Final Four; the Stanley Cup Finals; the NBA Finals and NFL playoff games. 

I have seen football at all levels and been fortunate enough to have seen high school and college basketball in many places too. I have gone to see the New Jersey Devils play in all the Canadian cities and I was there to see Montreal play at Toronto. I’ve been to NHL games in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. I have seen the NBA at Madison Square Garden; New Jersey; Boston; New Orleans and Cleveland. 

Name a college, I have been there. Outside of Washington State, Gonzaga and schools in Montana and Idaho, I have been on so many campuses. Inside many of their arenas and stadiums, too. 

With all that, I yearn for more. For more restaurants. For more sites. For more games, although I am cutting back to limit my travel. To revisit places I love. To share moments with friends and family. To continue to share our exploits on Facebook in “Travels With Toby.”

And that is the last part I need to comment about. I was blessed to meet a woman who I had so much in common with. She captivated me then and she has been a great partner for over 44 years. Plus she knows her sports as well as her politics. We have two bright and wonderful children who are stars in their chose professions. I couldn’t be prouder. 

I am a blogger by choice. To express to the world my love of life and sports. I think I do that with aplomb. I have even been published. 

I can continue this list of achievements. I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m bragging. 

People have told me that age is only a number. I suffer from a number of ailments  resulting from my participation in sports. My tortured body is now stating the obvious. Doctors, especially orthopedists, have been in my life full-time since 1989. Ditto physical therapists.

I might complain that my teams do not win enough. I have watched the World Series since 1957, which included a heck of a lot of Yankees World Championships. Maybe I was unfortunate with the New York Jets as my chosen NFL team. The Knicks have won three titles. I have seen the Devils raise the Stanley Cup in person.

We all have our journeys. They are singularly as different as they are unique. I acknowledge them for their beauty. This is simply my trip of my lifetime.  

Thus I reached another birthday on October 25th. Far from my first cry from Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Georgia. 

This is me at age 76.