Danny January: Blog

I've received a lot of great responses and feedback from my stories. I've asked for it and you responded. Here's a sampling:

The school newspaper - One reader noticed I said we didn't have one and later we did. I corrected that to say it was published inconsistently, which is more accurate.

Corpulent is a nine letter word. Sometimes, I miss the obvious. Corrected.

I spelled Mrs. Diedrich's name incorrectly throughout Summertime and the Living is Easy. I corrected that.

Rum is not the national drink of Puerto Rick. It is, however, the national drink of Puerto Rico.

A few others:

I have used several restaurants that are currently open rather than those that were open at the time and have since closed. Some of my readers have visited Charleston and gone to locations I've mentioned. Rather than have them look for a great restaurant that no longer exists, I've used the name of one that does.

Loran C was used rather than GPS at the time of these stories. I used GPS rather than Loran C since everyone knows what it is.

Rarely have I used song or album titles outside their proper time. Coney Island by Van Morrison is a rare exception. It fit too well not to use it.

I do my best and have a couple of great editors but readers help and I appreciate it. If you find an error, send me an email with the story title, chapter # and the error and I'll address it.

Thanks for the input and feedback.

As I write for the Jack Pierce universe, I realize that I probably have some younger readers that lack context or older readers who have forgotten. Here’s a refresher, or introduction in no particular order:

In 1982:
Video-taping athletic efforts to analyze them was pretty new. Instant replay for NFL games wouldn’t begin until around 1986.

Sports massage wasn’t common. By the late 80s, it was common to have a massage booth at the end of a triathlon. Those were great.

We didn’t have YouTube or Google. A lot of the techniques we were experimenting with came from word of mouth, watching sports on TV, or reading about them in a book or magazine.

Jim Galloway’s book, “On Running” hadn’t been published yet. It was my training Bible for years.

Aluminum baseball bats were relatively new. Some guys loved them, but most of the guys I played with hated them. “Ping” isn’t nearly as satisfying as “Crack” when you hit a ball solidly. To this day, I still take my own wood bat to the cage.

Shoes have changed a lot since then. In 1982, you could buy gel inserts for your new shoes but I don’t think they became a standard part of shoes for quite some time. If I remember correctly, Sorbothane was the brand.

The book “Aerobics” by Kenneth Cooper was published in the 60s (1962, I think) but until Jane Fonda popularized the term in 1982 or so, no one cared.

The exercise physiology and dietary information “Dr. Legare” provided was absolute cutting edge. The typical high school kid didn’t have access to the wealth of information he provided. For me, this is the most important thing on this list.

SAT testing has changed several times over the years.

Cell phones were a long way off.

Everyone used maps and a Thomas Guide was essential. We all had them in our cars.

Shopping malls were popular.

Gas was about $1.20 a gallon

We had the best music.

I just posted a new chapter to Something Fishy and it really got the nostalgia going for me. I find that, as often as not, it's music that gets me in a nostalgic mood. For this chapter, that was definitely the case. I found myself listening to an album I hadn't heard in a long time. Too long.

On top of that, there has been some great swimming competition at the Olympics this year.

Katie Ledecky is a fish.

It's been raining for nearly a week here in Chucktown. It might sound funny, but it's tough to get a good swim workout in when that happens. Lightning nearby closes the pools and drives people indoors to train. With the end of the triathlon season upon us, no one wants to lose a day of training so the Aquatic center is packed.

Nearing the end of summer is a sad time. It will be even sadder if the Yellow Jackets don't do better on defense this year.

If you're like me, you love the Olympics. Everyone has their favorites. I'm sad the Baseball is not part of the Olympics this year and hope to see it back when it goes to LA in 2028. The swimming has been amazing, like always.
It's almost impossible to describe just how much time and effort goes into becoming a world class athlete in any sport. I understand that better with sports I've participated in. At one time, the idea of swimming at the college level, with hopes of competing on the Olympic stage, captured my imagination, I have no regrets in not pursuing that. You have to be single-minded in your pursuit of excellence.
I'll be watching the women's 1500 meter finals on Wednesday to see if Katie Ledecky can do it one more time. What an amazing ambassador for the sport.

Something Fishy seems to be well-received. This is a bit surprising to me since it's a fairly simple, straight-forward chronicle; almost a diary.

I enjoy reading comments and feedback so don't hesitate to email me directly or comment on the story. I plan to re-write some of my earlier works as they seem pretty crude to me now.

Plot changes - I've had a few recommendations on plot for the story. Some of them are pretty entertaining, however, I don't plan on making any.

I am considering a very short chronicle of a weekend trip, meeting 'Michael' from the Beach House series for the first time. We'll see.