John Lennon, 28 Years Later

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) December 8, 2008 --

I would be remise if I didn't say something about John Lennon on the anniversary of his death at the hands of a very deranged assassin. Most of us learned of his death from Howard Cossell, who was in the booth of Monday Night Football. Lennon had been a guest on the show a few years back when he and ex President Richard Nixon both appeared in the booth at the same time. One of Cosell's most famous quotes when he told Frank Gifford, "You take the ex President, I've got the ex Beatle." (Well it was something like that.) I'll never forget that December 8th night. I was at my mom's house in NJ. It was a fairly warm night for a December evening. I went out for a run at around 7 or so. There were wispy low lying clouds moving fast through the sky and the moon was pretty bright. I noticed the silhouettes of the tree branches reaching up into the evening sky; it created an eerie feeling, reminding me of some black and white horror flicks I had seen. As I was running through a park, I thought that something bad usually happens on nights like this. When I got back to my mom’s house, which itself had the essence of horror house, I settled in to watch Monday Night football. Well, when I first heard that John Lennon’s had been shot, I was hoping it was a mistake. If he was shot, I was praying he would be ok. Then came the news of his death. There was no internet, no CNN or MSNBC. If I remember correctly, all my mom had was just the over the air stations, 2,4,5,7,9,11. When it really hit me, I remember calling an old HS friend who lived in Washington and cried. Why I called that person is also a little sketchy. I finally went to bed late and devastated. On the next Saturday I played touch football with a few friends in Central Park. On Sunday I had decided to attend the memorial service for Lennon in Central Park. I went with a lady friend and it was a pretty cold day, much like it is today. My body was sore and the coldness of the day didn’t help. I stood there aching and stiff shivering as the cold reached into my bones. There were thousands gathered on the same lawn which I had played football the day before. Today, there were no such games being played. I remember the somber mood of the people that had gathered. Both the day before and before the memorial I had walked by the Dakota and saw the memorials had left at the entrance where Lennon had been shot. There was still the continuous vigil of people paying their respects across the street in the park, with Lennon songs being played on tape decks. At both the Dakota and the memorial service, there wasn’t any shouting or excess noise. A few people had banners, but the mood was solemn and everyone there seemed to be in some kind of extended shock. The one noise I do remember during the whole time was the rotors of the helicopters that hovered overhead, which bothered me. Other than the intrusion of the helicopters, I will never forget the respect of those gathered. I hadn’t ever felt like that before or sin