I’m the Wandering Spectator – traveling around the country in search of America’s best sites, sounds and smells at stadiums, ballparks, and arenas in big cities and small towns.
Whenever I travel, I prefer to check out the local scene as much as possible. Many times, this means mom-and-pop restaurants, or more often, an event such as a baseball or basketball game.
Football is my favorite sport, college football even more so. Nothing beats a fall Saturday of tailgating! I usually travel to see my beloved Bills and Nittany Lions at least once a year and with the Valley of the Sun as my home base, I always catch an ASU game or two. The end of the season is always topped off with the Cactus Bowl and Fiesta Bowl, and if I’m lucky, a Cardinals playoff game.
Along the way, I’ve had many memorable events – from picking up a hitchhiking Chuck Mangione on his way to a Bills game to seeing records being made like Mariano Rivera’s 602nd save or Kobe’s 61 points at the Garden, to visiting historic places like the Masters, Wrigley or Fenway. Life is made up of little stories. And these are some of mine.
Listen to my interview on Tailgate Radio to learn more about me and the inspiration for the Wandering Spectator.
Update:
During Covid, my travels and sporting events were eliminated. At the same time, someone mentioned Tommy Atkinson in a Facebook post. Tommy was a pedophile that terrorized our neighborhood growing up. I wondered what ever become of the man – and what I found was movie material. That lead me on a journey to add True Crime stories from my hometown of Scranton, PA to my site. Since then, I’ve written several stories that date back to the early 1900s covering stories of the early mafia days, then known as the Black Hand to even more recent events that included the more commonly known mafia. I’ve covered heroes and villains. Heck, I’ve even covered the famed Pizza Capital of the World, Old Forge. So, if you’re interested in Northeastern PA or True Crime, follow along for great stories from our area. Some tragic and some insightful. Enjoy!
wanderingspectator.wordpress.com 
Hey Bill as a local of Scranton I was fascinated to read some of the articles you had put together. I was wondering where you found the information or if it was just from deep diving into old new paper articles and such. I would love to discuss the local history more thoroughly if you would be interested.
-Brian Jones
Hi Brian. Thanks for the comments. I use several sources to get information including Google, newspapers, and genealogy sites.
What’s your connection to Lackawanna?
Happy to answer any questions.