February's Brimmer

February’s Brimmer


Well, another exciting month in and around Division #87, on Jan. 3rd, about 12 of us went to New York City with the group from 29th & Tasker Sts., the Notre Dame Harvey crew which was led by Matty E’s Step Dad, Harvey himself, we went to see the Irish play basketball against St. John’s, a group of us took a side trip to a few different Irish watering holes in and around NYC, Obie was astounded to find “O’Brien’s Pub”, neatly tucked away on 47th St., before he left, Obie picked up a golf shirt, some coasters and a toilet bowl cover, all monogrammed with the Obie crust, I mean crest, he also picked up a very nice golf shirt for his Dad for Father’s Day, oh sorry, was that a surprise? On the recommendation of a fellow Hibernian from Brooklyn who I reached out to on the Internet, our last stop was the “Pig N Whistle” which is another Irish Pub which is situated on Times Square, nothing but the best for our traveling group, a great stop if you are ever in the area




for a Broadway musical, yes, Tigger, it says “Broadway” not a “Broad St. musical”, which according to the Tig is the Mummers Parade.
A good time was had by all.

Speaking of trips, if anyone has any interest in going to a baseball game, this spring/summer, Lehigh Valley, Reading or Trenton, let me know, always looking for co-conspirators to enjoy an afternoon/evening out.

Our about 10th annual Beef and Beer to benefit the Division was held on Sunday, Jan. 18th at Finnigan’s Wake, unfortunately the Eagles picked that day to lose in the NFC Championship game, so, it cut into the crowd, but we still made about $3000., which has been given to the Home, so, that they can work their magic with different bills that may and will come about. There is a lot of thanks to go around and I am sure that I am going to forget someone, so, don’t feel offended, everyone in attendance deserves a thank you, especially P.J. and Barb Driscoll, “Door” Matt and his silent partner, Acme Bob, who decided that the tighter






you put the wrist band on, the better off you would be, my partner Obie who decided to taste test all of the Coors Light in the building, Dominick would have been so proud and a special thanks to Peggy who not only worked the whole time but also donated her coat to the Finnigan’s coat drive. The crew at Finnigan’s, led by Mgr. Jimmy are top shelf and always do a great job, Super Bowl has the Boss for halftime entertainment, we had “Paddy’s Well” play at halftime and after the sad ending of the game, Paul Moore and the group did their fabulous job of entertaining the despondent crowd except for the Cowgirls fans, Mo and Martin who relished in the down mood of the Birds fans, if you are looking for a fun place to go, check out www.Paddyswell.com and find out where they are playing, also, pick up their CD, “First Friday” where AOH Division #87 is mentioned in the liner notes of being a proud sponsor, next year, we will do it again, same time, same station, mark it down, Jan. 17, 2010, we do get a lot of participation from the Division, we could always use more bodies there, it benefits US!





“Falcon Mike” Fetters will be running our new website, www.aoh87.com, check it out for updates and also, you will find “Tug’s Talking Here” which will have a special place on the site, I am sure. If you are a Norff grad or just a fan of the sports program, check out Mike’s www.falconnest.com which has great stories and pictures from the various events in and around North Catholic. That’s All Folks

You Go Girl..........................................

Ex-Cheerleader

A story with a happy ending! This nineteen-year-old ex-cheerleader (now an Air Force Security Forces Sniper) was watching a road that led to a NATO military base when she observed a man digging by the road. She engaged the target (i.e., she shot him). Turned out he was a bomb maker for the Taliban and he was burying an IED that was to be detonated when a US patrol walked by 30 minutes later. It would have certainly killed and wounded several soldiers.. The interesting fact of this story is the shot was measured at 725 yards. She shot him as he was bent over burying the bomb. The shot went through his butt and into the bomb which detonated; he was blown to pieces. The Air Force made a motivational poster of her:

The Green Legion on Fox 29

On Monday, Dec. 29th, the Green Legion was featured on the 10PM newscast on Fox 29, the infamous "Quimby" is featured, look for the "Spokesmodel" next to the Grim Reaper.

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=8163142&version=1&locale=EN-US

January '09 Brimmer

January’s Brimmer

2009, where does the time go? First of all, I want to thank Frank Gallagher for his service as President of AOH 87, personally, it was a pleasure working with you, thanks, Frank.

The newly elected President, Tom Healey has been my boss on the police department, I know that a lot of guys don’t know who he is, he will be a good leader, has experience, he was being considered for a Deputy Commissioner post in the police dept., he was the President of Penn Academy, A.A., if he could deal with the soccer Mom’s and Dad’, then this should be easy, congratulations Tom!

Okay, enough being nice, don’t want to hear from Bobby Murphy, left over from the last newsletter, Tigger when he was in Baltimore for the ND vs. Navy game, got into a cab for the ride back to the bus, he being this mathematical genius, think of rain man, but more on the partly cloudy side, anyway, he gets in to the cab and tells the cab driver, not to turn on the meter and he would give him $20. for the ride, the driver obliges, we get to the bus and driver leaves with Tigger’s $20., we found out later that everyone else paid $8. for the same ride, again, congratulations Mrs. Kiger, all of that money that you spend on his education is definitely paying off, for me, anyway!





Tom Wenger the Jr. leaves Atlantic City and exceeds the speed limit and gets stopped by a New Jersey State Trooper, Tommy tells the nice Officer that the reason he was speeding was because he was the God Father at a Christening and was running late, the Police Office, obviously, full of Christian Charity himself, tells Tommy that he will write the ticket as fast as he can, you can’t make up this kind of stuff!

On Thanksgiving, I went to a tail gate party with the Green Legion for my Thanksgiving dinner, just picture this, I am standing in McFadden’s backyard, bundled up with hat and gloves in place, eating my dinner with about 75 other people, the Brotherhood Mission on Girard Ave. has nothing on me, thanks, Quimby, you still are the best, speaking of him, he has a few ski trips upcoming, if you are interested, go to www.phillytrips.com.

On Sunday, Jan. 18th, our annual Beef and Beer fun/fundraiser will be held at Finnigan’s Wake, from 3P – 7P, the cost is $30. in advance and $35. at the door, I have tickets, if you are interested, if you would like to be a seller, that would be appreciated as well. Paddy’s Well with Paul Moore will be the entertainment, they will also be selling their new CD, “First Friday” where in the liner notes, AOH Division 87 is mentioned for being a big supporter of the band, also, for your entertainment pleasure, the famous “Door Matt” will be working the door, last year, we had over 300 people, this year, we are hoping to improve on that number, give me a call at 215 570 7385 or call Obie at 215 300 6332, I am aware of the Degrees that day, but you should be out of there in time to make Finnigan’s and enjoy the afternoon with AOH Division #87.




Thanks, as always, for reading my column, hopefully with the new administration, I will get a raise, it was always tough negotiating with Frank, I never received a raise from “no pay” job, I even joined Obie’s union to try to get help, but I guess having Tigger as my spokesman wasn’t such a good idea.

December's Brimmer

December’s Brimmer

November was another busy month in and around Binlids,
first of all congratulations to everyone that got elected to the Executive Board for the next 2 years and hope to see everyone at the election for President on December 9th.

The “Comedy Night” on Thurs. Nov. 13th was a blast in front of a sold out room, good job by Tommy Wenger, our illustrious Steward who put it all together, our very own, Tommy Healey was his normal, abnormal self, Nicky Attytude, a former classmate of Pat Dever, was hilarious, but Joe Conklin stole the show, he did a solid hour of his comedy and impressions, the “man of a thousand voices” was very entertaining, great job by all! A brief infomercial shall follow, Joe Conklin did us a favor by appearing, I think a nice gesture would be for us to go to www.2funnyphillyguys.com and order the DVD featuring Joe and Big Daddy Graham, a great Christmas gift, but not for me, I already ordered it.




A group of us went to Baltimore on Nov. 15th for the ND vs. Navy football game, Billy Gibbons was in rare form, enough said about that, but Obie, Mo and Harvey’s stepson, Matty E. was in his glory at the Green Turtle, a watering hole in Fell’s Point, our bellies were full and we all got a new tee shirt to wear, thanks to Matty’s visa, not the one that got him to Fell’s, but the credit card, oh, Matty E., you’ve done it again! We went over to Notre Dame Harvey’s tail gate party in Lot J, ran into a lot of old friends, Harvey gave Billy G., the “T” and ejected him from the party. Harvey will be the referee at the North Catholic vs. Bonner basketball game at North on Fri. Dec. 19th, Kieran is getting a bus together to go cheer on the ref, not since Tim Donaghy has a ref had a cheering section, give Kieran a call if you are interested. Speaking of the trip to Baltimore, Freddy Mac became a Big Brother and took his little brother, Tigger with him, unfortunately there are no Tigger stories, Fred, you must have done a great job, I am sure that Tigger’s Mom appreciates that fine work.





Time for another commercial, on Sunday, Jan. 18th, our Annual Beef and Beer at Finnigan’s Wake, 3P – 7P, starring again our very own “Paddy’s Well” featuring Paul Moore, last year, we had over 300 people there, we are looking to improve on that number, if you were there, the last 2 years, you know how good it was, pass the word, the cost will be $30. in advance and $35. at the door, I have tickets, if you want to be a seller, give me a call, they will make great Christmas gifts. I spoke with Jimmy at Finnigan’s and he assured me that both bars will be open and his great staff will ready to serve us.

That’s All Folk…………………………..

Merry Christmas to All and to All, a Good Night!

November's Brimmer

November’s Brimmer


First of all, I want to thank our Editor, “Perry White” for financing my Green Legion trips, last month, I am sure that he will have a full report on the monies spent at our next meeting.

I am a big fan and supporter of the Green Legion, if you ever want to enjoy an Eagles away game, let Marilyn and Quimby take care of all the details, first class all of the way, www.greenlegion.com okay, enough for the plugs, back to the (ab)normal part of my newsletter, the weekend of Sept. 28th, Matty E. and myself headed to Chicago for the Eagles vs. Bears game, we had a great time, there are pictures and links to the march to the game from Bar Looie, where we had our tail gate party, on the web blog, on Sat. afternoon while in a bar on Division St. in anticipation of watching the Phils clinch the NL East, about 300 of us showed up to find out that Fox had blacked the game out, so, we could watch a meaningless Cubs game, of course, we were in Chicago, so, I guess that makes sense, undaunted by this happening, Quimby sent Marilyn back to his hotel room for his lap top, connected to his Sling Box at home, climbed into the ceiling at Shenanigans, got the security camera, mounted it near his lap top and we watched the Phils victory on 8 TV’s, great job, Macgyver! Matty E. was in his glory, a whole town full of people that have never seen his act and the boy didn’t disappoint, we were walking to breakfast and I was behind him, I turned on Bellevue St. and Mr. E. kept on walking, about 2 blocks before he realized that I wasn’t behind him, Sat. night, we went to Bar Chicago, where it set up that if you had on your wrist band, we had free beer from 8P – 10P and $2. bottles after that, till 5AM, no,




Obie wasn’t bartending with those hours, anyway, our hero tells me while walking in the block of the bar, that he forgot his wrist band and knew exactly where it was, on the sink in the hotel room, he decided that he would be like Slick Willie Sutton and sneak pass the doorman, which he did, well, the next morning, Matty realized that he was wearing the wrist band, the old time, it had rode up his arm when he put his jacket on, oh, Matty, you have done it again and again and again!

The weekend of Oct. 12th, Joe McGarrity and myself made the trek to San Francisco for the Eagles vs. the Niners, thanks again to Perry for getting me first class seats, I will be turning that expense report in soon! Anyway, it was Fleet Week in San Fran, besides it being a beautiful city, we rode the cable car, saw the Golden Gate Bridge, Joe was upset to find out that it wasn’t named after his golfing partner, “Joe Golden”, on suggestion of the reining Putso Award winner, Jim McGovern, we went to Lefty O’Douls, a fine restaurant to watch the Phillies playoff game, unfortunately, the dinner music that was playing in the background wasn’t conducive to watching a baseball game, so, we relocated to another sports bar where we hooked up with the gang from Owen’s in North Wildwood, Mike, Shawn, Phil and the Patterson boys know how to party! I have to tell you that there is nothing like being at Alcatraz, sitting in the recreation yard watching the Blue Angels do their thing and buzz The Rock, by the way, Hal “Back in the Day” Carty told this reporter that he remembers the rock when it was just a pebble. There are photos and links to these trips on the web blog, http://www.aohdivision87.blogspot.com check them out, I know that I haven’t been updating it, but it will be updated on a continual basis.






A couple of quick announcements, the Scats Dever walk/run is on Sunday, Nov. 9th, at AOH Division 87 South, aka Callahan’s, Taney and South Sts., a great time, starting about 9AM, also, Nov. 13th is the Comedy Night, if it isn’t sold out, already, check with
Tommy Wenger, it promises to be a fun night with Joe Conklin and Tommy Healey reliving their childhood where they grew up in the same neighborhood, having a “Joke Off”, Perry, that does say “joke off”, not the other, so, call off the censors. Well, how much more damage can I do, I am sure more, stay tuned!

Young Tom Lavelle

LCPL Lavelle, Thomas
Echo Company
2nd Battalion
25th Marine
4th Marine Division



Tom's address in Iraq is

LCPL Lavelle, Thomas
2/25 Det. 1, Echo Co. HQTR Platoon
Unit 43507
APO AP 96426-3507

The Green Legion goes to San Francisco with Joe McGarrity and Tug

Green Legion goes to San Francisco - 10-12-08

Try to find Waldo in this picture and an even better trick is to find Joe McGarrity, (hint, he is sitting next to me)

Wrigley Field - Labor Day Weekend - 2008

The Green Legion Invades Soldier Field

On the weekend of Sept. 28th, Matty E. and Myself went with 600 of our closest friends to Chicago with the Green Legion, Quimby and Marilyn, again, did a great job! Check out this clip from You Tube of 600 of us walking the mile and a half from Bar Looie where we had our pre game tailgate party to Soldier Field.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rosTgC-HlI&feature=related

Another clip has your hero (me) and my sidekick (Matty E.) doing what we do best, drinking at Bar Looie in Chicago at the tail gate party before we marched to Soldier Field.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuUgsdNavDk&NR=1

October - Tug's Talking Here - Unedited Version

October’s Brimmer


Well, where do I begin? It has been a busy month for Tug’s Talking Here, on Labor Day weekend, 10 of us went to Chicago to see the Phils vs. the Cubs with Phils Fever which is a part of the Green Legion, that I always rave about, Quimby always runs a top shelf trip and this was no exception. We had a pub crawl on Fri. night, “crawl” is the operative word here, we were on Division Street which has bars, bars and more bars, our illustrious steward, Tom Wengo, believe it or not got up on stage at Shenanigan’s and did a medley of Rolling Stones’ hits, included in this was him spraying the crowd with champagne, there are photos of this on www.greenlegion.com, under photos, obviously! Wengo and Obie decide that they were going to take beers out of the bar, so, they can drink while they walk to the bar, next door, you do never know if you are going to get thirsty, anyway, the Obster, takes one step out of the bar, falls down and breaks the Coors Light in his pocket, think “down goes Frazier, down goes Frazier”, Wengo has 3 bottles in his pocket, open of course, climbs into a cab and they spill all over him and the cab, good job, guys! We were staying at the Whitehall hotel right off of the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chi Town, which is a beautiful hotel, anyway, our hero, Obie, gets into a cab, slightly intoxicated, okay, more then slightly, anyway, Tom Wenger Jr., hears him tell the cabbie that he was staying at White Castle,

Tommy told him that he wasn’t at the hamburger joint, when Obie corrected himself and told the poor driver that he was staying at the White House!

There is a lot more to talk about with this weekend, with the roof top seats, Mo donating his glasses to the poor of Chicago, Rich, well, just being Rich, Freddy Mac, who slept all day and wanted to party all night, but lack of Space makes it impossible to tell the whole story, by the way, Arnold, I just wanted to get your name in the newsletter!

On the flight back to Philly, Wengo gets up in the plane turns towards the passengers and makes an announcement, well, think post 9-11, which was only a week away at that point, the shock on the passengers faces was quite evident, Wengo says “My name is Tom Wenger and I spent the weekend with Obie O’Brien and I am an alcoholic”, people sitting behind us were quite relived when we informed them of what he said! You can’t make this stuff up!

When we last heard about our hero, Tigger, he was trying to get a job teaching Tiggerish in Korea, well, their gain is our loss, on a recent afternoon, Tigger was directing a fellow worker on how to get on the Schuykill, after helping his buddy load up the back of his car with some left over foam, Tigger was leading this poor soul who had to get direction from Tigger, think of a GPS that speaks a foreign language, Tigger’s buddy, Pooh, gets smacked in the back of head by a piece of foam, he hits the gas pedal and rams Tigger on the expressway, ruining his truck, he now has a new truck, stop by the Club on any Fri.


afternoon for a free ride, Mrs. Kiger, I know that you are so proud!

Obie and Peggy has made an adventure land at their house on Aramingo Ave., they will be dressed as Mr. And Mrs. Pumpkin and lead your children, under 5 years old, please, thru the “Pumpkin Patch”, that they have created there, admission is always free, you must make reservations though, in case Obie is watching SportsCenter, operators are standing by, so, please call ahead of time to make reservations.

Enough said…………………………

P. S. Coming attractions, I am heading out to Chicago for the Eagles vs. Bears game with Matty E., so, please save me a couple of pages in next month’s Brimmer with the antics of Mr. Edgar, talk about a Windy City!

July's Brimmer

Happy Summer to All:

While writing this, it is the first day of summer, even though someone failed to mention it to Mother Nature after the recent bout with 90 degree temps, I think that Hal should have told her because “back in the day”, they used to hang around together, speaking of Hal Carty, as I am apt to do, he recently came back to the Club on Wed. evening after a fine, for him, 9 hole total of 61, when he found out that Timmy Kober shot a 69, Hal thought he finally beat someone other then Kerrigan, then to his chagrin, he found out that Kobs played 18 holes, “back in the day” went back to the driving range, this time, he took his car!

During the past month, I noticed 2 very disturbing things going on in the Binlids, first of all, Racetrack Matty E. has a blue tooth and the sight of that thing growing out of his ear is not for the weak of stomach, also, Kieran has a bad back, to match his head, but anyway his Doctor prescribed steroids, think of Barry Bonds without the tan and you get the picture, Kieran also just returned from Myrtle Beach with a few of our goofers, I mean golfers and the rest from Callahan’s, Ernie’s fine establishment at Taney and South, on Wed. evening, he was complaining of a problem that Shrek had on hole #9 of the Myrtlewood Country Club, where the gents played on Father’s Day, evidently, his ball kept getting stuck in the windmill, I guess his back was okay, South of the Border!

On June 7th, 5 busloads of people headed up to NYC with a Division #88 run trip to the Yankees game run by Joe McIvor, great trip by the way, well, Obie, Matty E., Jim McGovern and myself went, what a foursome that is, we lasted one inning in the seats, the bleachers are first of all, very hot and sunny and it is an alcohol free zone, so, that combo doesn’t work, we went to Stan the Man’s across the street, where our Hero, Matty E. did it again, put up his credit card for our drinks, beers are $7., each, so, you get the picture, oh Matty, you done it again, again and again.

The following day, we played our first and last playoff game, our 9 -5 team lost to a 3 -11 team who we beat twice during the season, the blame has to go to “Obie” Ozark, who was fully responsible for taking the troops to NYC the day before, his “excuse” was that Babe Ruth used to drink during the games, unfortunately the Babe doesn’t belong to AOH #87.

During the past week was also the one year anniversary of the death of Peter J. Hanlon, the softball team used our left over funds and bought a plaque which hangs in the Club, the “MVPete” award is handed out each year following the Penn State vs. Notre Dame Division #87 Softball Classic, next month there will be a full report on this game which was played on June 29th, I am sure that our “Angel in the Outfield”, Pete will be smiling down on us!

Talk to you, soon!

Tug

May's Brimmer

May’s Brimmer

Well, the last few months have been busy around Binlids, here is a recap, in case you haven’t been part of the festivities or like Obie who doesn’t remember them!

There was a North Catholic Soccer Hall of Fame dinner at Romano’s, where a few of the Falcons stars were inducted, our own soccer star, too many head balls, Tigger showed up, sat down and was amazed to find out that the guys were getting inducted, not indicted, as he thought!

We had a beef and beer for the softball team which at this moment is 3 – 5 and heading to the playoffs, believe it or not, Tom (Mr. Happy) Healey was the entertainment and put on a heckuva show, people pay a lot of money for that kind of fun, that was his first attempt at standup and was hilarious, as any of you who have seen him on Wed. nights at the Club, he along with Hal (Back in the Day) Carty are like Martin and Lewis or maybe it is Lewis and Clark!

The dog park’s VP, Jack (Obarka) Cassidy is running for another term at the dog park, unfortunately the election was April 26th, we hope that it wasn’t ruff for the VP, he is also involved in a fundraiser for the park on May 10th, the entertainment will be Three “Dog” Night and Jimmy “Ruff”in, if you are interested, give Jack a bark!

Our annual trip to Delaware Park is Sat. August 23rd, the price this year is $65. per person, it includes the usual, party in the grove, plus beer on the bus, up and back, we also will have another Trophy race, the AOH Division #87 Handicap, our own horse whisperer, Matty Edgar will give out tips, free of charge, remember you get what you pay for and if Matty gives you a tip, then take it with a couple grains of salt. This trip always sells out, so, get your name to me, ASAP, plus your monies, the cost of bus transportation is very high, as I am sure that anyone that stops at a gas station will attest, so, I need sign ups and money, real quick.

On March 17th, a few of us went up to Out of Wack Jack’s bar, Healey’s neighborhood watering hole, for the 2nd annual,
“Healeypolluza”, not too many people showed up, but next year’s gala promises to be a good time, look for the ads on TV for that event!

Breaking News! We all saw the Pope in his trip to the U.S. driving around in his Pope Mobile, in fact, the Yankees brass forbade the Pontiff of driving on the Yankee Stadium grass, well, we had a similar incident recently at the Binlids when Kieran could not park his Shrek Mobile in the back parking lot of the Club, please, we will have no more benefits that include using the parking spot of Shrek, no one could enjoy themselves when our hero sulked all day!


That’s All Folks!