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June 23
The Owls defeated the Robins 10-7 Friday night June 20th under the lights at Trumball Park in Plainville. The Owls were down 4-0 and then came back and tied it and then went on to win.#5, Jonathan Olson(Johnny O.) came off the bench and helped. Johnny was given the game ball(his first of the season)! Ceil,and I,Jon's Mom Michelle and his Dad Mike witnessed their best game this season.Both teams played the game of their young lives and demand our utmost respect! Great season boys! Chris Pugliese, the Owls Manager, thanked us, the fans for support and said we were the "loudest fans". We'll take that!
Johnny O. and Johnny L.(Jonathan Lindgren,aka JonO)are the youngest at 9 on the team and learned so much this year.JonO's brother Sam is 11 and the 11 to 12 year olds guided the rookies.My salute to the team:
#2 Shane Pugliese, #3 Jonathan Lindgren #4 Sam Lindgren,#5 Jonathan Olson,#7 Michael Munson,#8 Alec Maisonet,#9 Kyle Beloin,#11 Cody Waite, #12 Austin Johnson, #14 Shaun Carroll,#15 Chandler Rogozinski, #16 Ty Cox.
Our thanks to all the parents and grandparents we met by attending these Little League games, you are true sports fans(fun but never unruly).
Can't wait until next year when they "Play Ball" again.See you in the fall?
Joe Hann jhhann@cbs.com
June 13th
The "Owls" won! They're still in the playoffs. Their next game is Friday night and our hope is it will turn out well.
Jonathan got to bat at the end of the game, bottom of the 6th,two outs,he's got two strikes against him then ball one,ball two,ball three on the forth, the ball gets away from the catcher and in comes the winning run from 3rd base, the Owls beat the Tigers 3 to 2!
The game was under the lights and began after 8pm and ended a little after 10, what a win! All the parents and grandparents(of which Ceil and I are members), cheered all game long at beautiful Trumball Park in Plainville. Life is good in the life of Little League fans!
More to come from your roving reporter.....
Joe
June 9
I've been on a baseball kick, the Rock Cats last week and now Little League. Ceil and I have had fun watching Jonathan's Plainville Little League team "The Owls" and with a recent win, they get to go to the playoffs! Jon is a rookie this year in the majors and doesn't always start a game but plays hard when called in off "The Pine"(bench).His team won alot of games this spring and now move on. Jon's coach told him in front of the team after their win how happy he was with his attitude.He comes in when needed and doesn't complain about not starting and does his best. No matter where the team ends up, the important thing is team spirit and hard work. That's the best part for us watching the games. The parents and grandparents have bonded and compared notes on the kids and the great spirit that exists in Little League. The next level can only get better, as long as hard work and fun play a part.
Play Ball!
Joe
June 2
My grandson Jonathan was on the field and got to announce the players in the 6th inning at a New Britain Rock Cats game vs the Trenton Thunder, a Yankees AA affliate. I didn't get to see it so he called me and said "I'm after your job Grandpa"! Jon may be bitten by the announce bug like me.
How wonderful for a 9 year old little leaguer.
You can have fun too. The Cats promote New Britain Stadium so well and really give back to the community. Our Lite 100.5 WRCH "Fun Run Van" makes a stop quite often with lots of goodies and parties before and after the games. The prices are reasonable and there's not a bad seat in the stadium. They had a record turnout last season because they do every thing right. Take the family and like the jingle says "THESE CATS ROCK"!!!
May 27th
What a wonderful Memorial Day weekend I had. I mentioned my dad in my last blog and his involvement in our hometown(see below) I'll explain in a moment. The weekend began with my appearance at Big Y in Torrington on Sat. May 24th. Mel Thomas, former UCONN Husky,joined us and signed autographs and played ping pong.Mel brought Britney Hunter(UCONN gradute and former player as well)along for the fun. They both couldn't be nicer and signs tons of posters,hats,t shirts,sweat shirts for the fans.Mel and Britney are so sweet to all their fans of all ages loved them! We had a blast and they both said they'd love to do it again.Lets hope they will.
I've been wanting to have an elementary school reunion for many years and it finally happened in my hometown of Wurtsboro, N.Y.
We had about 35 people, many I had'nt seen in 30-40 years.Danny's, our favorite restaurant we all used to frequent growing up booked a private upstairs room for a buffett. Out came yearbooks and photos we all brought and we just picked up where we left off all those years ago!
It was magical and fun. The theme was a yellow school bus. Once we graduated 6th grade, we had to take the bus for junior high 12 long miles away and meet new people we'd never met. We had to meet junior and senior high school and then beyond. Beyond has now grown to 30-40 years later so it was time to renew our K-through 6th grade years. Many of us loved growing up in a small town and the reunion showed the strong bonds that have never been broken. We had the time of our lives and we will never forget it. The hard part will be emailing all the digital photos 35 of us took to each other. The good part, savoring the "glow" we all felt on a Memorial Day weekend my father the WWII veteran loved so much.
Joe
There aren't many days like Memorial Day, especially in my family. My father Joseph H. Hann Sr. was a glider mechanic in England and France during World War II. He and his crew painted the white stripes on the CG-4a gliders and C-47 planes before D-Day June 6, 1944. Joe was lucky enough to come home after the war, get married and start a family like many GI's but never forget the men who died. He honored them by playing taps at six or seven cemetaries and then marching with a dozen or so of his fellow veterans in the Memorial Day parade.As the years went by, there were less and less WWII vets to march but the Korean and Viet Nam vets always helped out including me. My father asked me if I'd like to march with him on Memorial Day. I stuffed (barely) into my U.S. Air Force blues and off we went. I'll never forget it, it was quite a day.
Joe Sr. has been gone 13 years now and although I miss him, I think of him in fond remembrance.
When I return from Memorial Day weekend, I'll have a story or two about our first ever elementary school reunion in our old home town where my father and I marched in the parade.Sorry if I choke up a bit...Dad will be watching over us.
Joe
May 9th,
Our old friend Jim Brickman dropped by my show on Friday and we had a great conversation about everything from his performance at the 2008 CAMIE Awards in Beverly Hills, to his helping launch Lady Antebellum's career with his song "Never Alone"with vocals by "Hillary Scott". The group is now on top of the Country album charts. Here they are with Jim! Click the "ARROW" below,to watch the video.
May 5, 2008: The new release (in stores Now) by Josh Groban "Awake Live" is enchanting.
It's a combination CD/DVD. I watched the dvd for an hour and 45 minutes and it was better than when I saw him three years ago. The show has added so much to take in.Soloists, Lucia Micarelli, barefoot in a long black gown on violin playing Led Zepplin's "Kashmir" and cellist, Vanessa Freebairn-Smith, also barefoot in a red gown,equally at home in classical and rock music. Josh's voice never sounded better also plays drums and piano. Guitarist and Musical Director Tarigh Akoni is fantastic on electric and classical guitars. Josh is relaxed and sings so passionately. Recorded in Salt Lake City packed with people, I highly recommend "Awake Live". There's behind the scenes footage on making
the tour as well. If you 're new to Josh Groban, try it , I think you'll like him.The CD/DVD "Awake Live" is in stores (Now).
Joe
4-28-08: The March of Dimes annual walk was a huge success. I've hosted the event for the last five years in Plainville but this year it shifted to Walnut Hill Park in New Britain. Dan Blum the Community Director, said towns like Southington,Plainville,West Hartford,New Britain and more are represented each year. For the first time Pillow Talks Dean Richards and I were the emcees and welcomed the walkers on a cool but not rainy morning. It was perfect weather for a "stroll in the park". The March of Dimes works to help fight premature births and other threats to babies health. For 38 years, people have been coming out to walk for babies and help raise money. It's one of the best-loved walking events in the country. I see many familiar faces each year like Henry and Kelly Flynn who's son Tyler benefits greatly from the March of Dimes, Brain Connolly and Charlie, who's in charge of cooking the hot dogs! It's always a fun and important experience. After "Rocky" the New Britain Rock Cats mascot kicked off the warm up's Dean counted down from 10, the walk began and off we went. Dean and I followed the walkers around the beautiful Fredrick Law Olmstead designed park( he also designed New York City's Central Park). We both chatted about what a good event the March of Dimes March for Babies really is. We said our goodbyes to the staff after our walk,tasted a great hot dog, and totally enjoyed another walk to help babies.
In the last six months, it's become Earth Day everyday in our home. Ceil saw Oprah's "Go Green" broadcast, which was recently rebroadcast that featured companies that promote healthy products. We now use non toxic cleaning products,vitamins, weight loss bars,dishwashing and laundry cleaners.Grocery stores provide cloth bags and we have a few and no longer use plastic. I do like to collect re-useable paper bags to put the newspapers in. We recycle containers like many people and have slowly been changing our light bulbs to the energy saving "Go Green" kind. Cousin Monica gave us two new night lights too. It helps. T.V. is pushing more and more "Go Green" programming too. It's very important and will continue from now on.Earth Day is everyday in our house!
Michael Buble was at Mohegan Sun Fri.April 11 and totally entertained the sold out show. He's been singing The Great American Songbook music since he was a young boy.In his set he sang songs like "Irresponsible", "Fever", "Me & Mrs. Jones", "Sway" and Willie Nelson's "Always on My Mind". Michael listened alot to Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin as a child and you can tell they influenced him.He's written his recent pop hits "Everything" and "Lost" and really shined on "Home". The back drop of the stage featured photographs taken all over Ct. complete with Yankee Logos(which made the crowd roar) and Red Sox Logos(the crowd screamed even louder).All of this while singing "Home" Michael made you feel like we're lucky to live in such a beautiful state, and we are.He also thanked the audience for coming out and supporting him knowing the price of gas and the economy and paying for baby sitters. He was very thankful to be able to play the music he truly loves and we loved the fact he said it and was sincere. All of Michael Buble's band members were young like he(29) and full of talent and fun. They joked around with each other and all seemed to be close. That band 'Smoked' and made Michael sing for almost two hours. He really entertained us and made us relax and have fun. Michael Buble came off warm,funny and sang his heart out.He said he'd like to come back again. I say when?
The baseball season has begun and our grandson Jonathan is"7-0".Ceil and I took him and his friend Andrew to Sunday's(4/6) Yankees vs. Tampa Bay game and they won 2-0. Every time Jonathan has gone to a Yankee game, they've won!Happy birthday Jon, we love you!......... Yeah, I know, I talk about Jonathan on the radio all the time but for good reason, he IS a loving,happy,humorus,smart young boy.He really is! He loves baseball and wants to go to college.That makes our whole family very happy.How American is a baseball game with hot dogs,peanuts and cracker jacks( I think there's a song there)the national anthem,Kate Smith,the flag,and a ball and a bat, great dancing music, Jon and Andrew danced up a storm all game long! Jonathan should write to the New York Yankees about getting a few extra tickets.As I mentioned above, he's been to 7 games since birth and they've won every time.Good luck charm. Thanks Jonathan for a great game to celebrate your 9th birthday.
Granda Joe
MUSIC. Many children today are exposed to much on television some good and some not so good. Our grandson Jonathan wants to take guitar lessons and he, Ceil and I watched "School of Rock" with Jack Black.We all loved it! It goes without saying it was very funny(anything with Jack Black?). Without giving away the whole story, it's basically about a man without a band who works his way into a elementary prep school and discovers these 4th or 5th graders can play classical music. He decides to teach them how to"Rock n' Roll" as well. Jack thinks they should also have some fun, emotion and soul with music. Although some of this film is a bit PG-13 the message is about following your feelings and passion be it Pop or Classical music as long as you "LOVE" what you do in life.Ironically Jack Black hosted the recent "Nickellodeon 2008 Kids Choice Awards" which Jonathan and I watched this weekend as well. Very funny. I liked the the fact that Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) thanked her "Higher Power" and her family when she accepted her award. That was nice to see. Thanks for your time and for listening.
Joe
jhhann@cbs.com
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