Bobby Murcer died today.  I obviously never got to see him play, but I have great memories of watching him announce Yankee games, first on WPIX with Phil Rizzuto, then during the Tim (I don’t know how to correctly pronounce the name of Mariano Rivera) McCarver on WPIX and in recent year on YES.

In August 1996, I saw him as the MC for the unveiling of Mickey Mantle’s monument, about one year after he passed.  That also is famous for being the game where my dad told me that I can go on Year Course (which started one week later).   Earlier this year, YES showed the game after Thurman Munson died where Murcer singlehandedly won the game for his lost friend.  Now they can share that memory together.

I hope the Yankees do something special for him.  He used to play the Old Timers game with a microphone for YES, which was fun.  He’ll be missed, but he will also be remembered.

This is something I think about every year, but thanks to a blog post from my old YJ friend Talia Klein, here’s my two cents:

Memorial Day should be moved to July 3rd, the day before Independence Day.

In the US, there is very little difference between Memorial Day and Independence Day.  Memorial Day is always on a Monday and Independence Day is always on July 4th, regardless of the year.  Independence Day is also associated with fireworks.  However, both are now based around major movie premieres, big sales and the closing of schools, banks, the stock markets and the government.  Both fun days off.

In Israel, Memorial Day is a solemn day to truly remember the sacrefices that their countrymen made to ensure their nation’s existance.  Here, the only people that seem to care are the actual veterans and their families.  Its an afterthought to the barbecues, pool parties and the impressive $100 Million box office for the new Indiana Jones movie.

Nobody wants to be sad, and businesses would be furious if it was socially unacceptable to be open for only 363 days (the only real time this nation stops is Christmas, another argument for another time).  The closest thing to that was the first few anniversaries of 9/11.  This is a country to celebrate, but we need to also remember the many who have died to ensure our freedom.  I suggest to return the current Memorial Day to its original name of Decoration Day, and have a true day or rememberence on July 3rd of each year.