Bob Lobel: Turning 70

By Bob Lobel  @boblobel

Well, not many of us saw that coming! Patriots 41, Baltimore 7. It’s just not possible they could lose to Buffalo at home Sunday, is it ?  

Remember it’s been flexed to a 4:25 game as the back end of a CBS doubleheader. Anything is possible in the NFL these days.  More people seem to be getting hurt since the NFL went on its phony safety mission. Do you think it’s possible the Patriots knew Wes Welker was damaged goods when they let him go with a low bid?

How could they not know he was one more hit away from taking weekends off when he never took them off before. I cannot believe that they didn’t see the wear and tear from the bone crunching hits he absorbed over and over again here.  

He should just walk away and call it a career. Considering what we now know about CTE, thanks the Boston University brain study,  it may be too late for Welker even if he hung it up today. There is no other player I worry about more than Welker and his future health, based on the visual evidence we all have seen while he was playing in New England. 

Enough said, and I hope for the sake of his family that I am so wrong.

A great holiday shout out to Chris Nilan. The “last gladiator” has written a stunning book, called “Fighting Back.” He is so much more a hero now that he has battled and, for now, overcome, drug and alcohol addiction, than he ever was as an enforcer in the National Hockey League. I say “for now” because this is a day-to-day contest.  He is winning the biggest fight of his fighting life, and I can only say how proud I am to know him and call him a friend. 

Another observation. Based on 10 years in a dog life, when you're born on the Fourth of July or 9/11 or Christmas Eve/day or New Years Eve/day, everyone close to you remembers that it's your birthday. When it’s on Dec. 24th or 25th, not only do they remember, but there are fewer birthday gifts since one present will work just as well as two. The fact that they remember, they think, is plenty of gifting. 

My friend Laura Sinclair was born on the 24th. She just wrote a terrific book called “Over 50, Overweight & Out Of Breath.” Do yourself a favor and check it out. Carlton Fisk has a birthday on the day after Christmas. Just as easy to remember. 

Me? It’s Christmas Eve. Strange as it seems, it’s been that way every year I can remember. 

My favorite present, although I don’t know if it was birthday or Christmas, was when I was 6.  My parents gave me a Santa Fe Lionel diesel train engine. It was yellow and grey.  It still is, cause I still have it. This is a birthday that has become the most difficult ever experienced.  Plenty of times we hear 40 is the new 30, or 50 is the new 40, or  even 60 is the new 50. I have yet to hear that 70 is the new 60, nor do I expect to. 

Even if I did, I wouldn’t believe whoever would be foolish enough to say it. 

The year I was born, the average age of the American Male was around 65. Now it’s 75-80.  I can do the math… I always hated math and now I know why.  There is only one remedy for what ails me this Christmas season. It’s ok to look back but, not dwell in the past.  

It’s not very comforting to look ahead to what the future holds, so I guess living in the moment is pretty much the only option. 

I love “quotes of note”.  The best one I found, and it was yesterday on a card, had these words of wisdom: “FALLING DOWN IS PART OF LIFE. GETTING UP AGAIN IS PART Of LIVING IT.”    

“10” was a terrific movie. “10” in dog years was all about the loyal dog.“10” in dog years, for me, as I crawl to the finish line, is a little more daunting. My lesson is now very clear.  When people ask what was your favorite moment or experience professional or personal it’s an obvious and simple answer: “It hasn’t happened yet!”