Austin Fontanella, Sports

An Awesome Gift for One of our Nation’s Heroes

This is a story I did about retried Sgt. Rick Yarosh. He sustained his injuries while fighting for our country in Iraq. On Tuesday two SUNY IT graduates gave him a simple but amazing gift. I know we usually try to keep things fun and light here on the blog. However, after meeting Sgt. Yarosh and learning about his amazing journey I wanted to share it with all of you. The first video focuses on the sergeant himself while the second takes a closer look at the two students who made his dream a reality.  Enjoy and just remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so we can do the things we all enjoy.

Sgt. Rick Yarosh

 

 

 

The link (sorry I can’t figure out how to imbed the story in the blog:

http://www.cnyhomepage.com/story/d/story/golf-club-presentation-to-sgt-rick-yarosh/31558/SA9EX16CBUKOaGGbrqtM4Q

Can I Be Frank, Frank McCabe

Shaving Grace Period

It’s that time of year again.  That spooky, scary, eery time of year. That time people try to look like someone else. Nope, I don’t mean Halloween; it’s No Shave November.

Per their website, http://www.no-shave.org…

The goal of No-Shave November is to grow awareness by embracing our hair, which many cancer patients lose, and letting it grow wild and free. Donate the money you usually spend on shaving and grooming for a month to educate about cancer prevention, save lives, and aid those fighting the battle.

With the precursor of “it’s for a good cause” the next month I, and many other self-proclaimed men, will attempt to prove they have testosterone to all the world.

What I realized is so few people can pull off the growth. Facial hair grows like a vile weed – patchy, multi-colored, multi-lengths. It quite weird.

My scruff looks like the color of rainbow – brown, red, gray, black. You name it. My face is the United Nations of shitty beards.

Now, If you are a real man (and slightly whacko) you rock the full on mustache for the month. This takes guts. I would contend that only like 8 men in the whole world can pull off a mustache without appearing creepy or simply batshit crazy. My fellow CIBF blogger @therealdantobin attempted and failed in 2013. I would say if his goal was to lure small children in to his Prius, then mission accomplished my good man.

I rolled with the ‘stache for a few short days toward the end of last November and received looks bordering on accusatory. I was randomly shouting at gawking strangers “It’s for cancer, OK, dude!”

(NOTE TO SELF: having a pedophile-like mustache and yelping about cancer in public does not validate anything about your character. You’re making it worse.)

So, be a man. Don’t shave for the next 30 days. If you want to be an official participant in the cause, go to the No Shave website, search for “Beard Science” and join our team!

You might just look this cool in the end….

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Dan Tobin

Creatures of the Lowell Line: Superheroes

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What is this guy’s superpower you ask?  Invisibility? Clearly not.  X-Ray vision? Unlikely.  The ability to break up “six….ahhhh, actually seven” fights at Saturday’s Fleetwood Mac concert?  You guessed it.  (It was 3 fights, two stops ago, but you know how it goes with Superhero’s… you get super exaggeration too.)  Hey, we all know how it goes with those Fleetwood Mac fans.  They’re all just normal geriatrics, complaining about the weather and speed limits being too high, until they hear the base lick in the middle of “The Chain” and they lose their minds.  Its like some sort of tribal call to arms.  One would have to imagine it was a scary scene… “The ush’ahs were piss’n demselves.  Thank God I wuz the’yah.”  (Translation:  “Just went on instinct, No weapons needed.  It’s what I do.”)

And here he is two days later warming the purple seats on the commuter rail with the rest of us mortals, with hardly a scratch on him.  And unlike most superhero’s, who are all usually guarded and introverted when they’re not saving the world, he was extremely forthcoming. (To anyone who accidentally made eye contact.)  For instance, we learned that he just acquired a pet Red Tail Boa, that he temporarily named “Destroyer.” (Temporarily?  Like he’s going to come up with something better than Destroyer?)  And haven’t you all wondered what superheroes order at Dunkin?!? Well, you’re in luck.  This superhero runs on a “Great One” Hot Chocolate with a Turbo shot…which demonstrates a palette and stomach lining that is operating on a super human level.  Clearly this man has no weakness. (Save for the onset of Type 2 diabetes or the eventual wrath of Destroyer the snake.)

Uncategorized

Austin “Champ” Fontanella is a TV star

 

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So very proud of our own local “Champ”, Austin Fontanella. Still at the tender age of 24 and he is the nightly sports anchor for a major NY station. Pretty awesome and while I wish him the very best, I wish more just to be him. As the 2nd most famous Austin (Powers) once said, “Men want to be me and girls want to be WITH me.”

Actually, forget that, I am filled with jealousy and rage. Smug little bastard. Who does he think he….ah hell, can’t go through with even the fake insult. Great stuff buddy! All of us here at CIBF, WCAP, the city of Lowell and beyond….all proud of Ya.

Don’t screw up being drunk on air or chasing interns around the news desk a la Bob Lobel.

Austin Fontanella

Oh And Then This Happened….

There are 271.8 miles between New Hampshire and Utica NY. How do I know this little tidbit of information? Well, I recently rented myself a truck and drove every inch of that. The reason for the ride (and no I’m not a leafer so it wasn’t to see the beautiful country side) is because I recently took a sports director position (shameless plug) in that quaint little New York city.  The first week has been anything but mundane, and now you the reader get to re-live it with me.

This glorious adventure started when I arrived at the pickup station only to find the 10 foot truck I had reserved wold not be making the trip with me. Instead I would be navigating a 16 footer. Oh, and I would still be responsible for refilling that 35 gallon tank after each gas guzzling mile. Furthermore, I HAD to throw down an extra $100 for insurance because these new extended dimensions were not covered under a normal insurance plan. Like a dog who was caught going through the trash I put my head down and accepted defeat as I was shown the door.

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From here things could only get better right?… Little did I know I had only stepped in a pothole, and still had the rest of the mountain to go before I hit rock bottom.

The move itself wasn’t terrible. Yes,I hit traffic that would have made even a Californian cringe, but seeing how the truck topped out at 60 MPH anyway I wasn’t in a rush. I had left shortly after breakfast, and now the sun was setting when I finally pulled into the parking lot of what is now my new home. The whole scene was actually pretty beautiful and dare I say symbolic? I mean the sun was literally setting on one chapter of my life while the next would begin the following morning.

My Mark Twain moment was abruptly cut short when I went to turn on the apartments lights. That flick of the switch produced… nothing. I then realized that symbolic sunset was actually a count down clock until I would be moving things up in the dark, and beginning my new life as a member of the Amish.

Why was everything shut off you ask? Well it turns out the previous tenant hadn’t paid his bill in 2 months. This may come as a shock, but the power company wasn’t amused, and their gift in return was to place a lock on the box. This meant  for the next FOUR DAYS my only source of light would be via candles, lanterns, and the always fashionable headlight. I still don’t have internet, but I’m calling it a success since I was able to cancel my homemade butter making class with brother Abraham.

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Unfortunately the story doesn’t end there. Within 48 hours of moving my belongings in I found out my roommate was moving out. Yes, the man who had found the apartment and was going to pay half of the rent was bolting for greener pastures. And now the icing on the cake: the landlord had already found a woman who was ready to take over on the first of November. Thankfully, after kidnapping her eldest son and stealing a family heirloom I was able to hold onto the powerless apartment for the foreseeable future.

They say things happen for a reason. If someone could just show me the reason for this stretch well that would be fantastic.