President's Day Celebration

PRESIDENT'S DAY CELEBRATION

featuring

"fightin" George DUKES Washington

(random wall post equal to graffiti...you don't want to see the rest of it, trust me LOL)

...And Now

The Military Leader who guided the Continental Army of the American Colonists
in their quest for Independence.

Who Took His Oath of Office in NYC as
The First President of the United States of America

A Man who declined to serve beyond two terms and who

Refused to be King

General George Washington

Welcome to Continental Army Plaza

At the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge, Brooklyn

Part of the Revolutionary War was fought right here in my little town.

This is one of several markers around town identifying the Battle of Brooklyn sites.  This neighborhood is called DUMBO (Directly Underneath Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and Fulton Landing which sits directly across downtown Manhattan and the Wall St. District on the East River.  It looks a little different now than it did in 1750 though.

(Fulton Landing, Brooklyn in 1750, foreground)

(Fulton Landing, Brooklyn, Today)

The white house and lighthouse is actually

The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, awesome anytime of year!

There is a lot of construction surrounding it as Empire State Park is in the process of being built.  Miles of the Brooklyn waterfront along the East River is being reclaimed, rehabilitated and reinvigorated converting it from obsolete merchant docks and piers.

This bronze is embedded into the sidewalk.  There are several more, under the snow!

Back inside Green-Wood Cemetery, (remember Green-Wood?), many of our revolutionary patriots rest.  If it weren't for them, right now we'd be screaming 'Bloody-Hell' and clamouring for the good-ol-days of Margaret Thatcher, wearing our Manchester United jersies.

The story didn't end there however.  Those rascally British came back for some more and with a "litt'l bit more urgency towards returning his Majesty's insolent children back under his numerous abdominal folds"

  Those crazy Brits came back for what we call the War of 1812.  Heck! They burnt our nation's Capital City down to it's foundations.  But the lesson those Brits didn't learn the first time wasn't lost upon their memories this time around. 
The 7th president of the United States made quick, sure and decisive moves towards that end.  Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans ended any and all thoughts the British ever had of securing our home as their colony, again.  Andrew Jackson was one crazy individual though.  He gave his stamp of approval for the "removal of Indians" and was unconcerned with ending slavery.  However he did prevent our new nation from falling back into his Majesty's empire.

We had to wait till our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln to address the domestic issues that ailed our nation.  He kept the United States of America in tact when it was at it's most fractured.  Through the efforts of the American Civil War, our nation was preserved and endured.  Baseball, which evolved from Mahnhattan and Hoboken's Elysian Fields and then became great in Brooklyn, spread like wildfire among all the Civil War soldiers who came in contact with it.  They took their love of this new game back to their homes and the rest is Baseball and American History.

If not for these three Presidents of the United States of America, I may have grown up playing Cricket on the streets of Brooklyn in search of the ultimate three sewer-cap...."whatever they call a good hit".  In stickball, if you can hit a three sewer shot, you're gold.  Or, I could be a hooligan for some ficticious Brooklyn FC "Football" Club.  I like...eh hem...soccer!!  Yes I do.

But there is nothing like:
a walk-off
a can of corn
a hot corner
a Baltimore Chop
a triple to right
a Dodger Dog   ; )
Inter-locking NY and Pinstripes   ; )
Red and Blue States   ; )
the Idiots of 2004 and the Nation   ; )
 being Amazin'
Dem Bums
a squeeze play
a sacrifice
and singing the National Anthem.

No Rounders!! No Rounders!!

Thank You,
George Washington
Andrew Jackson
Abraham Lincoln
..and Thank You to F.D.R. who during WW II told us not to cave into fear and that BASEBALL needed  to continue on!
Pres. William Howard Taft, first president to throw out a first pitch.
And Big Props to Teddy Roosevelt too, for daring America to be great.


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