This is a clip-out of the pic that I have in my office of the Ottumwa Babe Ruth league's Wapello Dairy Giants, circa 1955 or so. He would have been 45 years young.
The hard thing for me to process today is that he passed away over 18 years ago. Lots of water under the bridge since then.
More here in a while. Just wanted to get this up for the day.
NOW LATER...
The PGA event this week is in San Antonio at the JW Marriott resort where I attended a conference in early May last year. That's the high-end place that had the $18/glass of Louis Martini low-shelf Cab in the lobby. The course looks lush from the pictures on the Golf Channel telecast. For anyone looking for a really nice place to visit, not-on-a-budget, this Marriott would qualify.
There was an interesting editorial-like piece in the Scorecard section of this week's SI observing that a by-product of the Petrino mess in Arkansas was a further hurdle for women job-seekers in high-level D-I football programs. That premise being that coaches would be less-inclined to hire women candidates to avoid any suggestion of impropriety in the hiring process or in the future during the job itself. I'm not sure that I agree with that point of argument.
The reality in the Arkansas situation was/is that a guy with coaching skills was/is a reckless dirtball egomaniac. He's got a resume that details character flaws throughout his career. This time, he got caught in big lies that couldn't be covered-up, and his get-out-of-jail-free card reached it's expiration date. Unfortunately for the young girl involved in the deal, she qualifies as collateral damage. She's not exactly innocent, but I don't see her choices as damaging women's rights.
Speaking of sex scandals, let's hear it for the Secret Service for trying to help out the economy in Columbia. Really, this just sounds like another case of an, "I'm bullet-proof", mentality gone to steroids. From the little that I have read on the case, it sounds like the agents got cheap on the girls, the hotel or others in the arrangement, and at least one girl got very vocal, very publicly. My bet is that there was no small amount of alcohol involved. That always leads to great choices. Anyway, I'll take the Over that there will be a few more early retirements or unscheduled departures from the SS in the next few weeks.
I had to read the story about Larry Brown going to coach at SMU twice. I thought he was dead, or at least in a home in Florida. Is there a bball coaching job that he hasn't had? The story relates that he replaces Matt Doherty, the North Carolina alum and one-time Wonderkid, who has proven himself to be Mr. Mediocrity at several stops (including ND for a year). There's something about these old coaches that can't get it out of their systems. Why would you put your body through it at 71 years old?
To wrap up about Daddy, here's a Top Ten list of favorite memories. I say ten, but it could be fifty. Just sayin'.
1. Bailing hay in the Summer with him throwing the bales in to the barn from the wagon, and always saying that that last one was the hardest because he had to stand on it while he was throwing it in.
2. Coming over to see me play ball at ND and deadpanning stories to the truck stop waitresses about this being his first time to town.
3. Being mortified at Sunday Mass one time when he and the priest had an exchange from the altar to his spot at the back of the church as lead usher about a special second collection.
4. Playing H-O-R-S-E with him in the haymow. His underhand free throws.
5. Sunday morning breakfast at Molly's Restaurant after church. Does toast and jelly qualify as breakfast?
6. Reading the Sunday comics with him on the couch in the old farm house (with Rosie). I still think of him every time I read a Dagwood strip.
7. Playing "pepper" with him in the front yard of the old house when I was maybe 10. And braking the windows from "foul" balls.
8. Listening to his courthouse friends give him a hard time when they found out how much he spent on a new glove for me (maybe $30!). Early high school, I think.
9. Knights of Columbus Friday fish fries in Ottumwa when our girls were young.
10. His $5 weekly letters when I was in college.
This is a fun list to do. If we wanted to spend some time, the stories could get a little long. If you're out there having a cocktail tonight, give Daddy/Grandpa/Phil a salute.
So I'm on the road Friday. Meeting in the AM in Galena, Illinois and then continuing North to check out progress on Harvest Path in Woodbury. I'll be adding Twitter reports along the way. The plan is to pack the bike for a couple of weekend rides.
Thanks for reading.
BCOT
4 comments:
Love the post about grandpa. Good list :-)
I didn't know that's where the $5 weekly letter came from. Have you ever calculated how much cash you've parted ways with over the years? Counting weekly "lunch money" in high school, you've been supporting my coffee habit for nearly a decade...
Martha said:
does Skip look like Dadddy?
I'd say Pat looks more like Grandpa than Skip.
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