Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:BCMurt09 {l Wrote}:Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:BCMurt09 {l Wrote}:Logitano {l Wrote}:Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:Logitano {l Wrote}:Dick Rosenthal {l Wrote}:Why is anyone over the age of 30 still a member of the AC? The AC is a way station, a place you join on the relative cheap while attending the FLS diploma mill if you are too donkey Irish to get into the U Club. But the idea that one would still be there when you have procured enough cash to join an honest to goodness country club is beyond ridiculous. The AC is for children and irredeemable alcoholics.
You would have a more intimate view of the current membership since your cousin (iona prep graduate) works for the NYAC.
Wait. Back that up for a moment. As you well know, one of the more shameful aspects of my extended donkey Irish family is the number of Iona Prep grads. Which particular cousin is an employee at the AC. I take it that it was the once promising hoopster turned tennis pro. The other two or three do not seem to have skill sets that would lend themselves to working at the AC—and seemed to be above that station in life at this point. The tennis pro also makes sense as his brother-in-law is your former classmate at Parkchester Prep and apparently a member at the AC. I believe the tennis pro also resides in New Rochelle and would thus be a prime candidate for employment at that pathetic island facility that always gave the Hollow tennis team a good chuckle when we steamrolled the AC in MITL matches. I believe my butler’s pool boy’s gardener used to play there.
Fordham Prep should thank your family for it was a certain IP alum converted FP father, member of the Hollow that influenced one of the best golfers to come out of the northeast in a generation to grace the halls of the Prep and I believe win 4 city titles in golf.
The brother-in-law and my fellow FLS/parkchester prep alum (not classmate) only has spousal privileges. His wife, your cousin, is now and has forever been the "member". I crashed a first birthday party for your first cousin once removed at the city house back when NYC was still a thing in February. Your uncle is found on the lawn of Travers Island most weekends.
And a special thank you on my part to your cousin for endorsing my membership application 10 years ago. Of course, Mrs. Murt and I have moved on after they did almost irreperable damage to our butler's boat by not turning the battery on when they put it in the water, thus resulting in the bilge not pumping and the enging compartment filling with salt water. When confronted, their response was ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Mrs. Murt also did not like the flower arrangements on the pool deck, particularly the ones that were just herb gradens which I can't be sure they weren't just plucking basil from the flower boxes and using that in their dinners.
I have heard they renovated and updated the Tiki Bar which was in desperate need of an upgrade, though generally speaking on the weekends that thing is crawling with Ginzos from New Rochelle (I can say that because I married a Ginzo) and kids from grammar school I hated who are children of members pretending they are WASPy when at best they are just a half step up from lace curtain Irish but only because they went to Miami OH or Holy Cross and not Manhattan or Fordham.
Four things:
1. I am surprised that Logi was not beaten and tossed out of the Christening after his "unfortunate" relationship with yet another of my cousins. I am fairly certain I could have collected a not unsubstantial bounty had I maimed you in the aftermath of that meltdown.
2. I doubt that the IP alum turned FP parent would even concede to having attended IP at this point. IP seems to be the school of choice for my various relations who resided in Yonkers during their high school years (with one or two exceptions who got into Regis). Despite some nostalgia for the City of Gracious Living, I think if you asked the IP alum, "in his mind, he was always at FP". Of course, I sometimes also think that he might feel the same way about our respective alma mater vis a vis Holy Cross.
3. I wish things were going better for the FP golfer. He is a nice kid, but Skip informs me that the general consensus amongst the golf cognoscenti at The Hollow is that he is unlikely to make it on the PGA Tour. I am told he was leading the Q School tournament for the MacKenzie Tour (the Canadian PGA), but the final round was cancelled and the tour has been shut down ever since. The general consensus, such as it is, is he will likely make the Web.com tour at some point and might be able to hang around the fringes of the PGA Tour if everything goes well. Don't know what that assessment is based on, but it is what it is. There is apparently some other junior phenom there now who is allegedly better than the FP kid was at the same age, but I have not seen him play.
4. Murt, you deserved what you got, putting on airs and taking your boat to Travers Island. The Yonkers Yacht Club is a far superior alternative and is where you and your boat belong. If you really want to get into the Long Island Sound, take your boat down the majestic Hudson, into the Harlem River and out through Hell's Gate like decent people do.
I tell the people at our new club that I grew up in Bronxville and went to Prep school in the Bronx. They assume I mean Fieldston or Riverdale and so we don't need to discuss anything uncomfortable and I can conceal my Yonkers donkey roots.
FP strives to be Regis Monday to Friday and Iona on Saturday. IP has essentially stopped pretending to care about academics and more or less offers athletic scholarships by telling the athletically gifted kids some rich alum will pay their way. They also stopped requiring the COOP for kids coming from Iona Grammar since a whole generation of that school from the 90s and 00s jumped ship for FP. What's funny is, except for football, FP usually beats IP in every other sport. These day IP is more or less people from Toughchester afraid to send their kids to the Bronx and slightly above average athletes who will get Division 1 scholarships to Buffalo.
You could probably still collect on that bounty.
So you are passing as an RCD or Fieldston grad? Are you also telling everyone your name is Murtstein, Murtberg or Murtenthal? If you belong to Century or Quaker Ridge, these are acceptable adaptations, but I don't see you pulling it off in the long term. I thought FP was only good at white kid sports? Are they also good at basketball and if so, are they playing the city game or some sort of Bronxville/Scarsdale meets the Wisconsin Badgers type of slow-footed rock fight style?
It is interesting to hear that IP is morphing into Stepinac. I wish I still lived in Toughchester to enjoy the spectacle.
I always thought that Wisconsin was awesome at college basketball. They are particularly good late in the season, slow footed rock style is just fine. I suppose its easier to win 22+ regular season games a year, add at least two more wins in the B1GT(14)N tourney, and advance to the semi-finals each March/April (usually at the expense of at least one higher ceeded team) when you always have at least two, 22 year old, 7 foot senior forwards on your team defending the hoop from the 19 year old whipper-snapper "one-and-done."