Indians and Giants

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Indians and Giants topic started 6/25/2005; 5:17:04 PM last post 6/25/2005; 5:17:04 PM

Dan Mitchell - Indians and Giants   6/25/2005; 5:17:04 PM (reads: 2580, responses: 0) "John, you're in charge," our Irish mom's standard refrain to her eldest of seven kids. My brother learned the art of management early on: how to plan the mischief, how to sustain the interest, how to spin the blame when things headed south. One favorite family story was when we all went on vacation and John stayed home alone. We returned a day early to find every bed had been slept in and unmade and the dining room with the remains of beer, cigars and poker games. "This wouldn't be a problem if you hadn't come home early," he logically explained. We still debate the 1954 World Series where the Giants swept the Indians. Dad had two tickets for game 5 that never was. The argument was always which kid would he have taken. John wasn't concerned. He would have scalped a ticket and been there. It foreshadowed his dream World Series that has yet to come: the team he grew up with and the team he grew old with. He also waited for his dream Super Bowl between the Browns and 49ers. "I couldn't lose in that game," he would say. I didn't know him well growing up. He started college at 16 years of age when I was three. He escaped a family of nine in a cozy, three bedroom, one bathroom house that was our parents' home for 61 years in Fairview Park, Ohio. To me he was this big guy that showed up from time to time. When I was seven he gave me my first "real" book (more words than pictures), "Ben Hur". It took me three months to read it and I couldn't wait to tell him the next time he came home. He went into the Army as a Lieutenant at the age of 20, then headed west to Utah and finally California. It was only in the last ten years that I came to know, appreciate and love my big brother thanks to the internet. Our family correspondence on the web brought a long distant family close together. I will miss his point of view, humor, backslaps, faceslaps, compassion, provocation and insight. When that dream World Series finally happens, I'll look for you Bro', cause I know you'll have scalped a ticket to get there. Kevin Lovas Discuss