10. I think these are my non-football thoughts of the week:
a. I plead guilty to being an old man smitten with Bruce Springsteen. Guilty as charged -- plenty.
Oh Jesus Christ. What kind of lame ass is King that he's just NOW discovering Bruce Springsteen? I mean, King is smack-dab in the demographic range that makes up probably 70% of Springsteen's fans. This would be like my father, who's 67, turning to me one day and saying "You know, I just discovered this band called The Rolling Stones. That Mick Jagger can really own a stage."
EDIT: I now realize that he saw Springsteen in 1976 (or claims to, anyway), so he didn't really just discover him. So I retract that (although, I have a feeling that he wasn't ever really a *fan* except when it became convenient to say so, like today).
b. I saw Bruce Tuesday night at Fenway Park on a busman's holiday from visiting camps. Such a different show, and not just because it's the first time I'd heard him do stuff from Wrecking Ball. But he did Rosalita (hadn't heard that in a while live) and killed it with Twist and Shout at the end. Two great touches: the tributes to the late Johnny Pesky, the Red Sox legend who died last week (they shine a solitary light on the Pesky Pole, the right field foul pole), and to Clarence Clemons. The first time I saw Springsteen, on April Fools Day 1976 in Memorial Auditorium in Athens, Ohio, I stood four rows from Clemons and his sax. Now Clarence's nephew, Jake, is the sax man. And he's incredibly and emotionally capable. Really fun 3.5-hour night.
Something tells me that King either a) hasn't been to many Springsteen shows, or b) doesn't pay attention while he's there.
I say this because, if he was any kind of fan at all, he'd have caught at least one show in the past 10 years where Bruce has played "Rosalita."
In 2003, "Rosy" was played at ALL TEN Giants Stadium shows and all 3 Shea Stadium shows. And all but the Shea shows were during the summer, King's off-period. So if he had desired, he could have attended any number of shows that summer and seen Rosalita.
In 2005, it was played twice at the Meadowlands, and twice in Newark.
In 2006, Rosy was played once at MSG, and three times at the PNC Bank Center in NJ.
In 2007, it was played twice at MSG, and three times at the Meadowlands, NJ.
In 2008, Rosy was played at all three Giants Stadium shows.
In 2009, Rosy was played at MSG 4 times, and at Giants Stadium 5 times.
In 2011, it was played at the only MSG stop of the tour that year.
In 2012 (TBC!), it's been played twice at MSG and twice at the Meadowlands.
It has also been played probably twenty times between Boston and Philly shows, which King could have attended if he had wanted to.
Meaning: King is full of shit when he says "Oh, Haven't heard that in awhile!" like he's some sort of hard core fan.
c. And at Gillette Stadium Saturday night, my buddy and Springsteenaholic Brian Hyland, who saw Bruce Tuesday and Saturday (he's been to about 200 Bruce shows), reported from the parking lot at Foxboro: "Tonight was the greatest ever."
And I'm sure that was a completely sober, well-thought out, opinion. No offense to the Gillette crowd, because I heard it was a great show, but come on. Best ever? Better than the 1978 tour? Better than The Bottom Line shows prior to Born To Run's release?
King is such a dope if he honestly believes that the Gillette show was "the greatest [one] ever".