Hostylefax: Youngstown
Maps tell us nothing about distance. They can only tell you how far two cities are from each other, which, I suppose is a useful piece of information. But only sort of. When we moved from New Mexico to Northern California, I insisted that we were actually moving closer to New York. When we lived in Hobbs, you had to drive 90 minutes to a plane that connected you to another plane that eventually took you to NYC. In Davis, you only have to drive 20 minutes to catch a direct flight. I'm obviously conflating space and time here. But say you can travel 3,000 miles in six hours or 2,400 in eight, which trip is actually longer?
I write all of this only to say that Youngstown, Ohio is really fucking far away. For me this weekend it was the world's worst redeye (Sac to Houston, which is less than four hours), followed by a tiny express jet to Pittsburgh, followed by a 75-minute drive to NE Ohio. That's a long way to get somewhere like Youngstown, which is a hole, a despondant man's Detroit. Youngstown is an old mining town. As Joel said when I called him for baseball scores, "Our industry is dying. Their industry died 40 years ago." Well put.
Now the area's biggest export, as best as I can tell, is football players. Hence this discussion of a particularly uppity and unliked high school coach, "He always acted like he never needed nobody," said Codger 1. "Yeah, and look at all the talent that came through there. Maurice Clarett, Mario Manningham, Prescott Burgess, what did he ever win?" I found the main campus haunt called MVR, which has pretty good Italian food. And I spent all day Saturday at the local Buffalo Wild Wings watching college football. Following the game I retreated to Pittsburgh's Airport Comfort Inn with the intention of grabbing four hours of solid sleep. About 2:45 in the morning, the couple in the room next to me began to argue. Moments later, they began to make up. They made up quite enthusiastically, if you must know, jarring me awake. Then it was time for the long trip back.
I write all of this only to say that Youngstown, Ohio is really fucking far away. For me this weekend it was the world's worst redeye (Sac to Houston, which is less than four hours), followed by a tiny express jet to Pittsburgh, followed by a 75-minute drive to NE Ohio. That's a long way to get somewhere like Youngstown, which is a hole, a despondant man's Detroit. Youngstown is an old mining town. As Joel said when I called him for baseball scores, "Our industry is dying. Their industry died 40 years ago." Well put.
Now the area's biggest export, as best as I can tell, is football players. Hence this discussion of a particularly uppity and unliked high school coach, "He always acted like he never needed nobody," said Codger 1. "Yeah, and look at all the talent that came through there. Maurice Clarett, Mario Manningham, Prescott Burgess, what did he ever win?" I found the main campus haunt called MVR, which has pretty good Italian food. And I spent all day Saturday at the local Buffalo Wild Wings watching college football. Following the game I retreated to Pittsburgh's Airport Comfort Inn with the intention of grabbing four hours of solid sleep. About 2:45 in the morning, the couple in the room next to me began to argue. Moments later, they began to make up. They made up quite enthusiastically, if you must know, jarring me awake. Then it was time for the long trip back.
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