Weekend at Grossinger's

Grossinger’s Resort.

Grossinger’s Resort.

Grossinger’s Resort.

Did I mention -- GROSSINGER’S RESORT.

Those two words changed my blog.

For at least a day.

You see Sunday I wrote a blog about my recent trip to Cooperstown.

And in that blog I mentioned that my father and I went to Grossingers Resort in upstate New York when I was 12.

Then I made the smooth, almost seamless transition to the trip I took with my 12-year old son last week to Cooperstown.

In upstate New York.

Those are the types of segues that win Pulitzer Prizes people.

But what does this have to do with my blog.

Well, here’s what.

Monday night I was watching Goldmember in the basement with my kids.

At some point between Mike Myers costume changes I picked up my iPhone and clicked on sitemeter.com.

That’s the software that shows me who is reading my blog at that exact second.

(It’s so addicting.)

Well as soon as it loaded, I immediately noticed something abnormal.

The number of eyeballs on the blog had gone bonkers.

Now when I say bonkers, I’m not talking youtube bonkers.

Or even perezhilton bonkers.

Sir Bacon is still a local mom and pop operation.

But at 10:30pm ET on Monday night, I had dozens of readers on my website.

At a time when on some nights I don’t even have one.

Readers from Port Saint Lucie, Florida.

Amarillo, Texas.

Mattawa, Washington.

Bixby, Oklahoma.

Warrenton, Virginia.

And the Czech Republic.

And MANY others.

So I put on my Inspector Clouseau hat to get some answers.

That’s what journalists do.

Well it turns out every single one of those readers had found Sir Bacon from the same exact place.

The yahoo search engine.

By searching for the same exact words.

Grossinger’s.

and

Resort.

I hear Grossinger’s is huge in the Czech Republic.

I did some snooping to see if Grossinger’s was in the news last week.

Nothing.

My friend said maybe Howard Stern mentioned Grossinger’s on his show.

Nothing.

Maybe the return of Fear Factor is being shot at the Grossinger’s Resort.

Nothing.

Now the initial surge into sirbaconville certainly caught me off guard.

But what really blew me away was how it continued.

For the next day-and-a-half.

And during that time I had literally 20 times the amount of readers I usually get.

And 99% of the readers found me by searching for those same two magical words.

“Grossinger’s” and “Resort”.

Now the fact that hundreds of people -- from all over the world --were all searching for a resort in upstate New York at the same time is a little funny.

And the fact that they all stumbled across my blog by doing that search is a little bizarre.

But here’s where it gets flat out creepy.

Oliver Stoney if you will.

According to wikipedia, Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel closed its doors.

In 1986.

25 years ago!

(Cue the Halloween music.)

Now I’ve been writing this here blog for the last 18 months.

And I’ve been constantly blown away by how many people have found it.

And I thank every single one of you for doing so.

But it’s not like I’m advertising Sir Bacon on the Super Bowl.

This is a word of mouth thing.

And the fact that anybody has found me still blows me away.

But how is it that casually mentioning a hotel in my blog.

A hotel that closed its doors 25 years ago.

Can increase my audience by 20 times.

That makes no sense.

If it’s really that easy...

I’ll be writing a blog on Grossinger’s Resort every Monday.

The 1959 Edsel Ford every Tuesday.

My favorite M*A*S*H* episodes on Wednesdays.

I’ll have a million followers by Thursday, right?

Thank you Grossinger’s.

RIP.

Yours, Miners and Ours

It's been 59 days since I boarded the plane and left my wife and three kids behind.

This Friday we will be reunited.

And it will feel so good.

Even if only for a few days.

I have spent much of those 59 days thinking of my family.

Texting with my family.

Skype-ing with my family.

Missing my family.

I have also spent much of those 59 days enjoying life.

Doing what I want.

When I want.

Where I want.

As much as I miss them and as hard as this has been, I have nothing to complain about.

Not when you compare my life to the 33 brave men and their families who have captured our hearts from across the world.

Watching the incredible images of the last few days from Chile has served as reminder #5397 just how lucky I am.

Like me, they too have been separated from their wife.

And their kids.

And in some cases their mistress.

Them, not me.

They left for work 70+ days ago.

Today, they are home.

Finally.

It is impossible to comprehend what life must've been like for them.

True, I may, possibly, be able to relate on some tiny level to how much those men have missed their wife.

And their kids.

And their dog.

But that's where the comparison stops.

For the last two months I showered every day.

Twice if I wanted.

I eat three meals every day.

Four if I wanted.

More if I wanted.

I also could watch any reality show I wanted.

I wasn't forced to live one.

Like millions of people around the world, I watched as the hype built for this rescue attempt.

You couldn’t help but recognize what was about to happen.

But honestly, I had no idea how amazing it would be.

The first miner to reach safe ground was exciting.   

So was the 2nd.  And the 3rd.   And the 13th.   And the 19th.   And the 26th.   And the 28th.    And the 32nd.

And finally, the 33rd.

It never got old.

With each man brought back to earth and brought back to his family, the story got even better.

Seeing the reaction of the men who were rescued and the reaction of the men doing the rescuing was truly inspiring.

But to see the reaction of the family members waiting to hold their hero was overwhelming.

I don't do very well watching other people cry.

I usually join in.

You should’ve seen me at the movie Ghost.   It was ugly.

For anybody who was able to watch the rescue in Chile and keep a dry eye, shame on you.

This was a real life miracle, unfolding right in front of our eyes.

These things just don't happen.

Ok, Capt Sully might disagree.

But with all of the bad in this world and all of the stories that seem to gobble up our attention, this was one for the good guys.

This was truly must see TV.

Just imagine if Survivor, Amazing Race, Fear Factor and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Outta Here got mixed into one. 

Come on -- 33 miners trapped nearly a half a mile underground.

They survived by eating one spoonful of tuna every two days.

17 days later, they get a note out that they are ok.

Oliver Stone, is that you?

Then, with more camera angles than a match at Wimbledon, we watch these men take a 2,200 foot ride back to safety.

In a capsule the size of a New York apartment.

If you want to see a story like this, it usually involves George Clooney or Matt Damon.

Not Florencio Avalos Silva the first guy to be brought back.

Or Ariel Ticona Yanez, who became a father while being trapped underground.

Or Jose Henrique Gonzalez, who has been married for 33 years, worked at the mine for 33 years and was one of 33 trapped men.

I wonder if he’s heard of Larry Bird?

Perhaps the most shocking part of this story was how good these men looked when they got out of the capsule.

Especially after what they’d been through.

What was in that cave after all?

They were all clean shaven.

Hair and makeup was perfect.

The clothes were dirty, but not messy.

Nobody was hungry.

It was exactly like a Hollywood set.

Which is exactly where this story is headed.