When I went to get the papers, I was surprised by how warm the morning is. The sun is shining but not with much enthusiasm. I am still struck by how much the light has changed with the season. Gracie and I will go out today and one of our stops will be the dump. Right now she’s enjoying her morning nap.

The Sox-Tigers game on Tuesday was the stuff of legend. The Sox managed to win with a single home-run being the only score on both sides, a 1-0 game. Last night was awful. The Sox lost 7-3. I’m still dealing with the horror of it all. The series is tied 2-2.

I saw a clip from a recent Celts’ game, and Paul Pierce was on the opposing team. It was strange to see him in other than Celtic green. I have been a fan of the Celts since I was young. Back then few games were on TV so I got to listen to Johnny Most on the radio. He had this raspy voice, and it filled with emotion when he was describing spectacular plays. He was a screamer: sometimes in joy and sometimes in indignation. I remember hiding my head under the covers so I wouldn’t get caught listening to the games from the West Coast on my transistor radio. I used to try to visualize the plays as Johnny described them. He had names for all the players like Jumping John Havlicek and Leaping Larry Siegfried. He was such a Celtics fan himself he never once criticized the team. He even had nicknames for opposing players but they weren’t complimentary. Magic Johnson was Cry-Baby Johnson so named when he disputed a call so all that season he was just called Cry when Johnny described the action. Even when the games were on TV, I always turned down the volume and listened instead to Johnny on the radio. His most famous line is “Havlicek stole the ball!” and I can remember him screaming that into the mike. That steal gave the Celts the series against Philadelphia, and they went on to beat LA for the championship. I still watch the Celts once in a while now and even took in a game a couple of years ago. Tommy Heinsohn, a former Celtic from the glory days, is the TV announcer, and he’s pretty good, but I miss the Johnny Most days. He made basketball, even on the radio, colorful and fun.

My neighborhood is so quiet now. The storm doors are up so I don’t ever hear voices anymore. The kids are in school. Every now and then I hear a dog bark, and if Gracie is outside, she’ll carry on the conversation, but most dogs are inside until their people come home from work. It is getting to be isolation time.