Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Gheorghe: The Yearbook

Unlike some of your more mainstream, corporate blogs, we at Gheorghe: The Blog – in the vein of our namesake and inspiration – don’t keep you the reader at arm’s length. We speak plainly and conversationally, right down to earth in a language that everybody here can easily understand. Patronizingly so.

We also share of our personal lives in ways many of our counterparts in the ‘sphere do not. You know our bad habits, our flaws, and our shortcomings. Mostly Rob’s, but to some extent, all of ours.

The last link in the chain, the last hook-eye fastener in the corset, if you will, is meeting us. G:TB Summits have been discussed, planned, aborted, and laughed about. We’ll see if it ever happens. With our roster expanding like MLB in the latter half of the 20th century, it could prove logistically difficult.

In lieu of a meet, greet, and get three sheets, we’ve tried in the past to provide you some evidence of what we look like. Today we’re taking that one step further. We’re giving you a glimpse of what we looked like in our embarrassing middle school, high school, and college eras. It takes a brave man to let down his guard and display “the awkward years.” We are those brave men.

With a great deal of help from the clever people at Yearbook Yourself, we’ve uncovered some of our old yearbook pictures. Without further ado,

Gheorghe: The Blog presents:

Gheorghe: The Yearbook

[Click on any of these pictures for a closer look.]


Dave is a good place to start this segment; a couple of us have known him for 20+ years, he’s got a brevity-bound blog of his own where he remains mostly faceless, and let’s face it – Jersey people look funny.

<-- The Gawky Years – who knew to look at the lanky sumbitch back then that he’d top out at 5’8”?

Hair! Dave remains one of the hairiest contributors we've ever seen, but not so much on the head. -->




<-- In the journey of life, Dave’s been to and fro in the road between dweeby and cool. Here he was fro.

The Colonel! Dave’s time in the South brought about many changes in his appearances. To say the least. -->






Mark
’s visage has been spotted a few times on Gheorghe’s pages, but never quite like this. There's a reason he goes follicle-less these days, I guess.


<--High and Tight – Later, he’d be less of one but more of the other.

“Lettin’ it all hang out.” Eat your heart out, Danny Bonaduce. -->




<--BMOC – cleaned up and ready for action. Of some kind or other.

Silky smooth! And that was just the shirt. -->





TR has mostly sported the straight-and-narrow look in his life . . . while living something other than that. You can't fool us, dude.


<-- Kent Dorfman’s got nothing on you, TR.

Horn-rimmed glasses? Check. Checked blazer? Check. Virginity? Check. -->





<-- A lot of people feel like when they were in high school, their parents never knew them. TR’s couldn’t pick him out of a lineup.

Ah, the so-don’t-care 90’s. TR fell into the super-cool look that he maintains to this day. --->



Ever wonder what Zoltan, our newest contributor, looks like? No?


<-- The Reverend and Mrs. Zoltan always wanted young Z to look his most dapper!

…but there was rebellion in their midst, and the Z-man looked to be headed astray. -->




<-- Fortunately for everyone, the “Z-cock” rebounded with a new outlook and a new passion for hip-hop, hair spray and good times.







It took a lot of guts for Teejay to okay our research into his yearbooks. A lot of guts. Give the man credit.


<-- Those Latham winters can get mighty cold, but not with a sick turtleneck and a Simba mane!

TJ always did see the world through rose-colored glasses. Some guys are just bright-siders! -->





<-- “What song is it you wanna hear?” “Free Bird!”

So smooth, on the R&B tip! -->






<-- A natural wave, and natural charm!







Which of Rob's high school chums would have suspected he'd be cool enough to found one of the Internet's most savvy blogs? Well, none, in part because they didn't know about the Internet or blogs, but you get the point.


<-- Many don’t know this, but Rob’s first calling was “pudgy milkman.” Didn’t work out.

The Hitler Youth thing didn’t pan out so well, either. -->





<-- There are “awkward years,” and then there is this era.

Rob finally settled into his true comfort zone when he saw his favorite movie, Weird Science! -->





This would all be pretty mean-spirited if I didn't also open the shudders and let you in to my own little world of bad haircuts and getting shot down by the fairer sex. Enjoy.


<--Those were happy times back then.

So misunderstood… by parents, classmates, barbers… -->






<-- Business in the front, party in the back!

And college was a trying time. At least I sort of felt cool one night a year, at the 70’s party. -->






Oh, and we can’t forget about FOGTB Jerry, who also authorized our delving into his past…


<-- Over a decade without a girlfriend? Say it ain't so!

Every kid in central Jersey had this phase at some point. -->






<-- Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you… Oates!!!








And there you have it. Gheorghe: The Early Days of Cool. Oh, but before we go, there are a few other things the archivists dug up. Looks like back in the day some of us were trying to emulate one very bad-assed fellow we all know...

51 comments:

d-train said...

quite good.
whit - your photo on the left looks strikingly like a young boy I know named Jackson....coincidence?

T.J. said...

Whit, there are no words.

T.J. said...

I'm changing the photo in our goofy online work directory to that R&B pic.

rob said...

the picture of whit with a mullet is actually real, circa. 1988-89.

T.J. said...

Nice loss by Cuse last night to D2 LeMoyne. Exhibition game or not, that is poop.

d-train said...

went to my 1st bball camp at lemoyne 30 yrs ago

T.J. said...

This post could use a camp photo of you from 30 years ago.

T.J. said...

I just accidentally spilled coffee on my desk and keyboard, and then managed to mash part of a banana into the keyboard as I hurried to clean up. Good start to the day.

illprobablyhavetowritelikenospacebardanallday

zman said...

My mullet photo hits close to home. Nicely done.

Geoff said...

I think, per TJ's typo, Dan should be known as the "No Space Bard" heretofore.

Geoff said...

Actually not a typo...just poor reading on my part. I don't sleep much.

d-train said...

that photo's in the mail...
nospacebardanihopeandbelieveis
apersonofthepastwifescomputer
goingingarbage

d-train said...

;

zman said...

No Space Bard Anal Day? When is that?

Geoff said...

June 9th

Whitney said...

Apologies to Dennis, and all FOGTB besides Jerry -- couldn't get any old yearbook pics of you authorized for release. Getting Woodbridge High to give me Rob's pics was hard enough.

Dan, maybe send me the picture of Shlara you have pinned up in your garage...

Geoff said...

The voters in Maine barged into Rob's bedroom and voted down his proclivities and antics last night.

d-train said...

will do - though it will be difficult to decide which one to send. and thanks for using codeword "garage"

Whitney said...

The Mainers figured there's no need to make it legal to roofie and bugger a moose when there's no way in hell anyone's gonna come deep into the woods on their property and peek in the cabin window.

T.J. said...

The Mariners decided the same thing. Well, all except Ichiro - that guy is into some weird shit.

Dennis said...

There's a reason why I never let me friends near my yearbook...

Dennis said...

Shiver me timbers, Smee.

Whitney said...

Ah, you beat me to the punch. I had something queued up to ask if that's because your yearbooks are all back in Dublin.

T.J. said...

Vincente Paddila apparently Plaxico'd himself the other day. Couldn't of happened to a nicer guy.

Greg said...

Wait....TJ had a banana? Isn't that a fruit? It must have been wrapped in 3 burger patties and dipped in ketchup.

T.J. said...

How many times do we have to go over this Greg? I enjoy fruit a great deal...I strongly dislike vegetables.

rob said...

what of the tomato, a fruit disguised as a vegetable?

zman said...

What of geoff, the fruit disguised as a republican?

Geoff said...

I've been told that if I'd would like to remain a member of the Log Cabin Republicans I will be required to grow a mustache. Negotiations are on-going...

TR said...

WTF? Does he go by the moniker DJ Swarth? Does he pay Pearl Washington and Sherman Douglas to carry his gear?

The Heat filed a lawsuit a few weeks ago against Rony Seikaly, its first No. 1 draft pick (1988), but reached a settlement that Seikaly seems happy with. The problem was that Seikaly did not pay for his seldom-used AmericanAirlines Arena floor seats last season or this season (the last year of his lease) because he's spending most of his time overseas as a traveling disc jockey. ``I'm playing every corner of Europe. It's an artistic passion.''

d-train said...

http://www.wagrankings.com/elsa-benitez/

he's cool in my book...
cuse is in dahouse ohmygodoymygod

rob said...

the latter half of dan's lyric being the jewish version

TR said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TR said...

A guy I went to high school with got recruited to LeMoyne as a soccer goalie. The guy was good at being a goalie, doing coke and banging anything that moved. I guess that's about all there is to do at that school. Sounds like fun.

d-train said...

sounds like that first bball camp i went to 30 yrs ago, without the soccer stuff of course. needless to say, i fell in love with the sport.

zman said...

I have never riden a motorcycle or handled a firearm, which may explain why I'm at a loss as to how Delonte West managed to carry a shotgun in a concealed manner while riding a motorcycle.

WASHINGTON -- Cleveland Cavaliers guard Delonte West was indicted Tuesday on additional weapons and traffic charges stemming from his Sept. 17 arrest for speeding on a motorcycle and carrying multiple weapons.

The eight-count indictment sheds no new light on why West, 26, was riding a motorcycle on the Capital Beltway in Prince George's County, Md., at 10 p.m. with two loaded handguns and a loaded shotgun. Prosecutors on Wednesday added an 8½-inch Bowie knife to the list of concealed weapons West was carrying.

More at: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4620134

rob said...

just heard the sklar brothers on the radio talking about gheorghe muresan. kinda glad they didn't mention g:tb.

Whitney said...

Why???

T.J. said...

And why did you not change the channel/turn off the radio exactly?

T.J. said...

Dammit...need to hit refresh next time.

rob said...

i think those two whys are not created equal. i didn't turn it off because i'm lazy and dan patrick was on commercial. and i was glad they didn't mention gtb because i don't think we want sklar brothers fans mingling with our commentariat.

Mark said...

I can't believe everybody missed the chance to make Matsui porn collection joke to follow up TJs Ichiro joke.

Delonte West was carrying his shotgun in a guitar case whilst on his motorcycle. Evidently, he's so nuts he now thinks he's Antonio Banderas.

And TJ, if I know Greg (and I think I do) you're going to have to explain the whole fruit-vegetable thing many, many more times.

zman said...

How do you carry a guitar case while speeding along the Beltway on a motorcycle? Was it strapped to his back?

d-train said...

sidecar maybe?

TR said...

Actually, I think there was a sidecar on that motorcycle. Not sure why I seem to think there was.

(pause)

"...was traveling north on the Beltway in a three-wheeled motorcycle."

Google rules.

TR said...

I get your joke Rob. Good one. Everybody know there are no such thing as Sklar fans. Everybody, that is, except the Sklar brothers. And ESPN. Are they just around to pad the Jewish numbers with Mike Greenberg?

zman said...

Blahzay Blahzay is Jewish?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blahzay_Blahzay

d-train said...

http://www.canamspyderforums.com/cmps_index.php

this is what he was riding...no sidecar...had gee-tar case strapped to back.

d-train said...

once he gets comfy w/the 3 wheels, he'll move on up, or down, to 2.

Mark said...

Wasn't one of the guys in Blahzay Blahzay black?

What is he, Rod Carew's kid or something?

Whitney said...

Sammy Davis III.