Hammerin' Hank left a lasting impact on me, and the brick wall in my backyard

We all need a little Hank Aaron in our lives.

Especially in this day and age when we all seem to be at each other’s throats, looking for something to be mad at. Sadly, Hammerin’ Hank — the very definition of a baseball legend — died Friday at age 86. But his legacy lives on, like a beacon for the rest of us.

As a kid, I loved baseball — still do actually — and Hank was one of my favorites. The house I grew up in had a rather nondescript backyard. Our neighbors had a swimming pool in theirs, and I was jealous of that, especially on hot Texas summer days. But our backyard had something I used almost every day in the spring and summer.

How I lost my mind and my voice arguing politics, and why it can't happen again

I knew I was angry, obviously. I was yelling. I struggled to find words fast enough to keep pace with my raging mind. If there had been a mirror in front of me, I would’ve seen the flashes of anger in my eyes and I may well have become frightened by my fury.

If only I’d seen a mirror maybe what I’m about to write would be a moot point. But, unfortunately, I didn’t see a mirror, so I kept on getting angrier and angrier; wilder and wilder. I knew I was mad at my friend, one of the dearest I’ve had in my life; I knew I was saying some pretty angry things to him. But it wasn’t until later, after we’d hung up, that I realized I was on the verge of losing my voice. It was hoarse — and coarse — and my throat was sore.

C'mon, Joe, show us what you know ... step up and stop this impeachment charade

• "I represent all of you, whether you voted for me or against me. And I'm going to make sure you're represented."

• "(President Trump is) a very confused guy. He thinks he's running against someone else. He's running against Joe Biden. I beat all those other people because I disagreed with them."

• "Two hundred twenty thousand Americans dead. If you hear nothing else I say tonight, hear this … anyone that's responsible for that many deaths should not remain president of the United States of America."

The above are all quotes from Joe Biden during the final 2020 Presidential Debate.

The day I made Tommy Lasorda laugh

I became a Los Angeles Dodgers fan fairly late in life. In fact, you could probably accuse me of being a bandwagon jumper (I’m wincing just a little as I type the words). 

When the Kirk Gibson hit his famous home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Oakland A's in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, it was easily one of the craziest things I'd ever seen in sports. I was already a serious baseball fan, but Gibson’s homer was just so astonishing — so exhilarating — I fell in love with Kirk, the Dodgers and famous manager Tommy Lasorda right then and there.

I’ve never looked back.