_{(Photo: Logan on stage in white tee and hat at groundbreaking of Rays stadium in St. Pete, Fla.)}

It reminded me of being a kid and the ground rules we had for the house, the trees and neighbor's yards while we played sports in my backyard or what became known in the neighborhood as Logan Buschwick Memorial Gardens.

Due to the lazy nature of baseball I started to daydream about those goofy ground rules and playing in our backyard stadium.

Growing up in Tuckahoe, NY I was "almost" always the best athlete in my neighborhood. Granted my small world consisted of about six kids my age and a couple of others 2 years older or younger. I was better than them all … almost.

Actually the best athlete in my Winslow Circle neighborhood was my childhood best friend Marc Siciliano. However, since Marc was two years younger, I always seemed to dominate … almost. He did get older and bigger, a detriment to my domination. Plus Marc had a brother Phil who was two years older than me, an excellent athlete himself and the person who kept me in check. Yet the confidence my early sporting achievements instilled in me were critical in the development of at least this young man.

As kids we played sports incessantly. My home in Tuckahoe was adjacent to Concordia College and we used all their ball fields and courts for both their intended purposes as well as for the games we made up along the way. You'd be surprised at our creativity inside a tennis court's fences.

But the most fun occurred in the comfy combines of Logan Buschwick Memorial Gardens. That is the name Marc and I came up with for my backyard which we used to play every sport possible and then some. My home at 33 Winslow Circle in Tuckahoe had a split level backyard and that provided us with everything we needed to play any sport.

The "upper portion" was a long narrow grass yard that we used to play football; all varieties of football … tackle, touch, tag, nerf, sock and our two all-time favorites Mud Football and Slow Motion Football. With a swing set at the far end of the narrow grass yard that we used as goal posts for field goals, it was perfect! Especially so when we would use white lime to line the field much to my Fathers chagrin.

"Hey you're killing the grass"

This strip of grass was also used on occasion for soccer. The swing set also doubled as a great soccer goal. This usually happened when Alex Calabrese was over. He played soccer at his school, they had no football. That seemed weird to me then.

Logan Buschwick Memorial Gardens' "lower portion" was where most of the magic happened and where our name for the yard was inspired. The upper portion of the yard was supported by a retaining wall in the "lower portion". The retaining wall provided the perfect backstop for 3 Flights Out, Stick ball and our passion Wiffle Ball. This is also where the first "Official" Wiffle Ball World Series was held when I was 10.

(SIDENOTE: I remember being stunned when I found out wiffle ball was played with the same enthusiasm elsewhere … often …and like us kept stats and had "announcers". Some even had scoreboards! Yes, we did too. The panels on the garage door were perfect for that.)

The "lower portion" was stadium like, surrounded on three sides. The back of the house was on one side, the retaining wall ran the length of the backyard and there was another large retaining wall on the other side that was covered in Ivy, ala Wrigley Field. It had old time baseball stadium charm. But it also had a whole bunch of ground rules relative to the sport being played. Much like Tampa Bay's stadium today!

To top it off was a large square asphalt portion of the lower yard that was the bottom of the driveway leading to the Garage. When I was very young my Dad installed a basketball hoop. I painted the key and foul lines on the blacktop and now Marc and I had a full fledged athletic complex.

So we had to name it.

Logan Buschwick Memorial Gardens is what Marc and I came up with over 7-Up, popcorn and Archie comics while sitting in our tree house. The first ever luxury suite!

The suite... 'err tree house … was a large Oak on the far backside of the upper portion of the yard and it overlooked all fields of play. It provided prime viewing. While the house had windows closer to most all the athletic action they were used mostly to spray water on us from the spray hose on the kitchen sink or to yell at us to quit playing because:

1- The neighbors are complaining
2- You have homework to do
3- It's dinner time
4- Mrs. Siciliano called and Marc has to go home

So the tree house suite beat the window seats big time!

In developing the name for our complex it broke down like this.

The Logan part of the name is obvious. Marc got no naming rights because it was my yard and my ball. I think we may have eventually named the football field Siciliano Field. As in, "Welcome to today's game between the Giants and Jets here on Siciliano Field at Logan Buschwick Memorial Gardens in beautiful downtown Tuckahoe." But my memory may be gracious in this regard.

Buschwick … it just sounded so old time baseball like! Plus the St. Louis Cardinals were in the actual World Series a few times back in the 1960's and they played at Busch Stadium.

Memorial … everything seemed to have Memorial in the title back then, especially Football Stadiums. Plus our dead pets were all buried there. Fish, turtles, birds and more I'm sure.

Gardens … Growing up just 12 minutes from New York City, Madison Square Garden was and still is the Mecca for sports. Plus we had the large Ivy wall. It just made sense.

Logan Buschwick Memorial Gardens.

Plus it sounded good when it rolled off my tongue as I announced each and every game played in LBMG. Out loud! As it happened! While playing! It added to the charm of our Athletic Complex … and drove every neighborhood kid crazy over time.

Except Marc! He understood.

Both the ground rules and my announcing.

Charlie, a 30 year radio vet, was formerly Senior Director of Rock Programming for XM. He's had Radio PD stints in Tampa Bay and Las Vegas and on-air and APD/MD positions in Chicago, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Rochester, NY.

In 1994 Charlie opened an internet design firm Ruffsounds.com that to this day still creates websites, including this new version of the RBE website.

Charlie now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, runs two small businesses and tries to stay ahead of his two daughters college tuition bills!

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