Today is Columbus Day which has been a federal holiday since 1937 and of course is to celebrate Christopher Columbus’s first journey to the Americas. 

Christopher Columbus circa 1500
Christopher Columbus circa 1500 (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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Interestingly South Dakota, Hawaii and Alaska do not celebrate Columbus Day or treat it as a legal holiday and in recent years other states, including Texas & California no longer allow government workers to use it as a paid holiday.

Locally there are some schools that have regular sessions today and others that give students off but have teachers reporting for an in-service.   More and more banks are now open but the Post Office is closed.  If you really think about it, the second Monday of October is really a waste of a holiday but I’ll admit I’m saying that partly because our company does not observe it unless your name is Chris Columbus.

If you are off today go out and celebrate by visiting one of the many businesses holding some type of holiday sale.

What I love most about sports is that the more you know the less you know.  Many of us so-called “sports fans” think we have games figured out before they start.  Take for example last Friday’s high school football matchup between Neptune and Brick Memorial.  Both teams were 4-0 coming into the game but just about everyone with an opinion, including yours truly predicted the Scarlet Fliers would be too much for Memorial.

So what happens?  The Mustangs dominate the second half and collects a 40-28 victory in a game we broadcast on the Shore Sports Network.  What I do know is Memorial has some tough, hard-nosed football players including Ryan Cieplinski, Cody Pinho and Nick Costa, who was our Klee’s Bar & Grill/Ocean Trophies Player of the Game.

No rest for the Stangs though as they prepare for Toms River North this Friday.

Garrett Graham
Garrett Graham (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
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Former Brick Memorial standout Garrett Graham will have his own rooting section tonight as plenty of family and friends will be making the trip to MetLife Stadium to see the Houston Texans tight end as they play the Jets.  Graham is getting more and more playing time in his third season with the Texans after a terrific career at the University of Wisconsin and with starter Owen Daniels hurting you might see plenty of #88 tonight.  Houston is one of only two undefeated teams in the NFL.

 

 

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