I, for one, certainly don't mind (and I doubt anyone else does, either).

I spent a few hours yesterday going through the archives of Paul's posts. It was a good few hours.

Wow, what a shock. You'll be missed Plaw.

Gina,
Thank you so much for posting the links to all those different threads. He was something else, wasn't he? I know you and I have been getting rather silly in the Ladies Thread lately, and I'm GLAD. Plaw loved this place so much that he would be very happy that we're still all here, continuing to have fun, loving and laughing with our friends. This place brought him so much enjoyment, he's up there, watching, and chuckling along with us. I just KNOW it.

I like this idea - also just favorite posts of his. [/b][/quote]Great idea!

I've been re-reading some of his posts too. Luckily the stat nerd made quite a few posts on here...

Now I also notice (on the picture of the may 2005 dinner) how thin he had become, when compared to pictures of him that were not so much older...

My wife lost her mother last week so things are pretty low in our house already, now this

God Bless Plaw...enjoy your rest...we'll keep the red flag flying!!

Did Plaw knew he was going to die so fast?

In his last post, he said he faced death and planned to stay alive at least for a good while.

He didn't go fast. The last few months have been a steady decline. I think when he said he planned to be around awhile longer he knew he was counting it in days. He went home to die. He knew it.

Wow this IS so sad, he was all aways nice to me r.i.p PLAWRENCE

Thanks for saying that, SB. I realized last night that our chats were what helped keep me distracted, because when y'all weren't there to talk to, I returned to this...looking up those old posts was so nice, but it also brought back the sadness. That's how it usually works for me, though. It's not until I'm left alone with my thoughts that the emotion of it hits me (again). I'm so glad that we all have each other as support right now.

And to brighten things up, I finally found the original "Flopsie and Mopsie" story that became the legend. Not only could he take a joke - he could turn it around and make it his own.

What is the Frank Vincent story all about

I couldn't agree more SB, it is the way he would have wanted it. He never wanted to "burdon" us with what was going on in his personal life, knowing we ALL cared enough about him that it would have effected us. It's great that no matter HOW HURT WE ALL ARE, that we continue on with the way he would have wanted it.

I just wish all of that fun in the ladies thread didn't have to come at my expense. Besides we all know making jokes about me was one of plaw's favorite pasttimes

http://www.thegodfathertrilogy.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=003141

Plaw WOULD want it this way, I'm sure of it. And I had the best source - Plaw. He was a warm and caring man, a loving friend, but he was NOT given to mawkishness or exreme sentiment. He would like us to continue the fun we've all had with one another, because that was his favorite thing about this place. ESPECIALLY getting laughs at DMC's expense. :p

I'm sure you're Happy up there Plaw. RIP.

GoodFella

I feel awful to hear of Plaw's passing.
Though I've been around for a while I don't check-in so often ... and I was not aware that he was ill.

Though we'd responded to each other's posts, I did not know Paul in person ... yet the effect of finding out about his death feels right now as if I had. Without thinking, for just a moment my mind turned to making lasagna ... the first thing I do when I find out about a friends death is to take food to the family ... but coming back to reality I feel silly; I have no idea who I'd imagined I would take the food to.
It's curious how honest and real online-friends are even though they are not physically present.

The door shutting suddenly is a very difficult way to be reminded just how much we care ... and how we should never take others for granted.
It is so true that any one of us could be gone tomorrow (I just had a big scare myself - it is very real to me right now); and we don't know when those in our lives might be taken, sometimes unexpected, sometimes we knew ... but still can't get our arms around it easily. We expect to see them suddenly again, like Sonny reflected in the glass at Vito's birthday party. If only to get just one more evening together, one more post, just one more smile.

Maybe I do know who to take that lasagna to. Plaws family was all of you. Please accept my sincere condolences at Paul's death. May he rest in peace.

Tony

After reading the flopsie and mopsie story does anyone else remember the "I almost slept with a gangsters girlfriend" story?

I will try to look for it but in Plaw fashion, he builds up the scene to be a night, no wait a weekend of just hot passionate sex with this guys girlfriend and what was the ending? The guy came back inside, they ate their dinner and went home

I remember that one.. I'm having trouble finding it though

here it is: Link

I'm glad you found it. I had no luck. It's nice re-reading his words.

Geoffy,
Is there a way that you can make sure his GF book never gets deleted?

Gee my relationship with PLaw was much different than what most have posted, my dealings with him are more akin to two 12 year olds on the back of a school bus making fun of each other and others. I first became aware of PL back in the Sports thread when the fantasy games were just starting. It was different a few years back from what I read today. Basically if you revert yourself back to junior high where you make sexual reference to players names – and insulted one another, that is pretty much what you had. You wouldn’t much cerebral and deep thought provoking conversations occurring there. As time went on and the fantasy games took shape, PL would absolutely drive me crazy with all his stat posts – uggh they were so frustrating. I consider myself fairly intelligent and there were times I did not even understand what the hell the stats even meant yet alone understand how he derived at them, nor how much time he had even taken to generate them. I later came to the conclusion that he only developed and posted the stats that showed him in a favorable light.  :p I used to correspond to a lot of them with a – which used to frustrate him especially after taking all that time to compute them. I should note that DB found them very insightful, which is why PL anointed him his Most Worthy Adversary. A bit gay for me, but whatever .... :p But that is how it was, everyone would ‘bust’ on each other for most part but thinking back, PL did some but not as much as the others. He certainly took his share of ribbing though, that’s for sure. This was the guy that would inform us that while on vacation would wake up before 6:00am, leave his hotel, find some local café with internet access, pay something like $15.00 / day for access to post and change his line ups. For someone like myself – he was a constant source of material to bust on him for.

Although he wouldn’t get on the others as much as we got on him, he didn’t seem to mind the ribbing – as long as he felt it was not in any way mean spirited or derogatory to him or his family. In the occasional times we would PM me, he would joke how fun the leagues were. Personally, I simply think he enjoyed the camaraderie that existed and was just content to be part of a group or maybe clique that was basically just a light hearted, silly group that revolved around sports. And really can you blame him – c’mon who would not want to be associated with a group that has people calling themselves – Big Daddy, Crabby, Pork, Buffy and of course Douche Bag He actually PM me to help settle debates that he and Vickie would have over regional sayings. One time, they were in a restaurant and she asked for something in a particular way – I forget the details now. He of coursed challenged her and said that is not how you say or ask for that. She said yes it was that is how they talked where she grew up. Apparently that was not how they did in NY and being one not to back down from a debate kept it going with her. He PM’d me later asking to settle the bet they had – I agreed with Vickie’s use of the saying, whatever it was – it was how we talked in Phila. He was not thrilled with my response – knowing him he probably didn’t even go back and tell her that I agreed.

He asked me a few times to meet for dinner or drinks the times he was in Phila. As intelligent of a man as he was – he never seemed to grasp the fact that although I grew up in Phila, I no longer lived there, so getting into Center City especially on a weekend was 1 ½ - 2 hour commute with weekend traffic. But he tried and it turned out we never did actually get together. He mentioned if I get up to NY on business or something to let him know and he’ll hook me up with tickets to the Nets – wasn’t in NY much either.

It’s odd that there are probably only a few people on the board that would garner this type of attention in death. Not to say any one is any more important than another but I think it is because he was active in most facets of the board. He was a very active participant in discussions on the Godfather book /movie as well as Gangster history, he was a lunatic in the fantasy sports games as much as general sports. He was engaged in political discussions and often debates as everyone knows. Because of that he interacted with the mass majority of people on the board so with his death leaves a void in a lot of different areas and to a lot of people. Matter of fact the only place he probably didn’t visit much was the game section. And as most know he did not like them, in many cases he loathed them. Probably because in his mind there was no challenge to them. My favorite was when he started one himself called the Numbers game as a joke to the entire concept – below is his post;
That was a classic - and the funny part is as of today when I looked this up - there are still people playing it – a game in which you post the next number. PL must have seen that and simply scratched his head and rolled his eyes.

So what I would like to propose to JGeoff or SC as my last razz to him instead of renaming the Sports thread as some proposed (my entry is PLAW’s Sports Lounge) – but instead to rename the Word Game section after him. Call it something like PLAW’s Intellectual Word Games – Challenge your Wit …

That would steam him to know end – you do that JGeoff and he’ll be turning off your lights, television, computer – your car – the site that host this board ….you name it. That would be sooooo awesome …. Cruel but totally awesome.

But the truth is although I am not here very much anymore, and my ‘conversations’ with PL were occasional and never involved deep personal thoughts – yet when I learned that he passed away I was genuinely saddened. Odd that I never physically met nor spoke to him, but was still sad to hear of his passing. If he was in the pain that has been discussed here, he truly is in a better place. My condolences go to his son Steve and his girlfriend Vickie.

From reading all the past threads it seems that he was a friend to many on this board - and in the end that's a pretty good legacy to have.

After one of my earliest posts in a sports thread, a post that included a reference to the Bill James Baseball Abstract (the primary source for many of plaw's statistical analysis), I was surprised to see notification in my AOL mailbox that "plawrence has sent you a message from the gangsterbb" (or something like that).

His private message extended a hand to say "hi" and welcome me to the boards, offered to find the source material I cited in my post, photocopy and send it to me (on his dime!), then invited me to join the fantasy leagues. I lurked for a long time before posting, and it was reassuring to have plaw greet me at the door to make me feel welcome.

Paul, I pray there's someone there to extend a hand and greet you, to make you feel comfortable as you did for so many friends here on the BB. Equally as important, I hope that your family can experience the same kind of comfort in your absence that you brought to others with your presence.

tony b.

Didn't it have something to do with saying the term, "Going down the ocean", or "Down the shore"?

I can't ever watch a Bogart film without thinking of SC. I can't watch Carmela Soprano without thinking of TIS. I could never watch Paulie Walnuts without thinking of Plawrence, but it was always to a lesser extent than the other two, because Plaw was so different to Paulie's character.

Nevertheless, I await the last eight episodes of The Sopranos secretly hoping Sirico's character survives the show.

And needless to say, I won't ever be able to watch a Woody Allen film again without some sort of a knowing smile.

Thanks for putting up the links guys. Keep em' coming!

SC - Thanks for the update on the burial. I think it was really nice that our words went with him.

TM, Senza Mama - So sorry for your losses. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Here's another good "anonymous" poem I'v always liked.


May you always walk in sunshine, and God's love around you flow,

For the happiness you gave us, no one will ever know.

It broke our hearts to lose you, but you did no go alone.

A part of us went with you the day God called you home.

A million times we needed you, a millions times we cried.

If love could have saved you, you never would have died.

Always Loved and Sadly Missed,

I just noticed the change in the Sports Forum's description...

"The House that Plawrence Built"

I love it!

BDD, I really enjoyed reading your post - thanks.

I didn't notice the sports section name change until you mentioned it Gina.

Thanks Geoff. You're the best!

Awesome.

And no, BDD, I'm not talking about you. :p (Great posts, btw )

JG, that is too sweet. I miss our friend so much, in so many different ways. Little things that I think of to tell him, Gee, that would make Plaw laugh!!

Since going back through the newly dedicated sports thread I came across this Gem of a post by plaw and thought I should post it (he is in fact talking to the one and only Douche Ba ugh Bigelow):