Slammed & Split

Tradition

Download Tradition as an mp3

Tradition …

is the killer crossover and flashy passes
dished out by Brooklyn's blacktop ballers.

Tradition …

is owning every version of the Answer
and still being able to describe all eight pairs.

Tradition …

is 80-year-old Allie Sherman acting out plays in his living room
so my brother can understand football
the way the Giants did under their old coach.

Tradition …

is three-plus seasons of KeySpan Park sellouts
after 52 years without a team
because baseball is back in Brooklyn.

Tradition …

is 94 years, 4 national championships and Carolina blue jerseys.
and maybe that one's trivial,
but it matters
to me.

Tradition …

is loving baseball because you had a deaf grandfather
whose sister repeated the radio announcer
so he could read her lips and listen to the game
the only way he could.

Tradition …

is keeping loose track of the White Sox
because even though he's a Mets fan now
you know your dad remembers games at Comiskey Park
from when he was a little kid.

Tradition …

is getting the recipe for your mom's artichoke dip
so your own Super Bowl party seems official.

Tradition …

is showing your younger cousins
the hideouts your great aunt didn't know she had
in her UN Plaza apartment.

Tradition …

is telling Aunt Rosalie the pumpkin pie is too spicy —
again.

Tradition …

is progressing through the kids table and then the big one

Tradition …

is your mom offering to reveal the nookie spots
at the camp you're going to 30 years after she did.

Tradition …

It's also your dad laughing when you're busted
before he tells you that Playboy will remain one of your best friends for the rest of your life.

Tradition …

is an annual Chanukah party with relatives you didn't know you had
and still don't know even though you're now 21.

Tradition …

is singing off-key versions of "Chanukah, O Chanukah"
even though Cousin Laura is no longer around to lead them.

Tradition …

is an unbroken string of female rabbis —
it's eight to date and counting.

Tradition …

is a Werther's to keep me quiet during services.

Tradition …

is passing a Torah physically down three generations at a Bar Mitzvah.

Tradition …

is your mom stopping you from taking communion at Christmas mass
just because you're hungry.

Tradition …

is celebrating holidays for your dad because he grew up that way
and mom says it's only fair.

Tradition …

is your Grandma knitting stockings for every member of your family
to hang on the chimney at Christmas
when she knows you were raised Jewish.

Tradition …

is being the white kid
and not thinking twice about it
because your dad stopped talking to his
because Grandpa was a bigot.

Tradition …

is the way you tie a tie
and making your dad teach you —
just so the old guys at Temple don't have to do it anymore.

Tradition …

is never forgetting.

Tradition …

just…
is…