For a long, long time, the local Pub was, and still is in some places, the place to catch up on the latest in the neighborhood, national political views and of course, sports. Let’s walk into a pub with the usual setting…
…sitting @ the far end of the bar where he could spot anyone entering the pub, was Gus. Gus was a big, burly man who worked in construction. He wasn’t shy about voicing his opinion but enjoyed the banter of his comrades. Looking to his immediate right was Len.
…Len, a skinny man with a full head of black hair had just settled into his usual spot, ordered his “usual”—which was a Budweiser. He’d be damned if he was going to support some company outside of the Lou. Just like that, Len blurts out,”Mizzou is in the wrong league…we can’t play with these guys”.
…Bernie, who hadn’t even sat down yet, “whatta mean? ” he said with a scowl on his face as he took his usual spot to the right of Len. Bernie was a debt collector so just wanted to back/forth conversation. “The SEC isn’t REALLY that good”, his volume increased as he seemed to get more “worked up”!! He continued in a loud, excitable voice,” Look @ the scores from last weekend– Utah 24, Florida 11; N Carolina 31, S Carolina 17; Florida St 45, LSU 24; Miami 48 Texas A&M 33; and Texas 34, Alabama 24.” How many SEC winners there—ZERO, NONE, Nada!!
…Gus shook his head in up & down as if to agree but said, “Hey Len… get a grip….that was only the 2nd week. Maybe you’re right…but hell…that WAS just week 2.
…Len, worked as an IT person. Sooo, Len had little interaction with others and became very animated & often reacted strongly.. maybe stronger than necessary when he jumped into a sports discussion. He continued in a loud voice ”How about those spoiled Bama fans..they really showed their class! Because Texas was beating them..I guess. They were yelling homophobic remarks, & “go back to the projects” remarks @ the Texas players. They actually have a tape hearing those remarks.” There’s your “classy program”! Frontrunners all the way…
…arriving late…as usual…was Arnold. Arnold was late arriving but NOT late or slow in getting a quick beer order. He walked in during Len’s tirade. Holding up his fore-finger, the Bartender knew that it meant his usual IPA beer! He jumped into the discussion but he’d wanted to bypass the Bama fans talk, “ so he changed the topic with “who’s on the Cards IL now?….there’s always someone hurt or pulled a muscle, or stained his arm, leg, or sore feelings…whatever” I think that I’m in better shape than these guys” he said smiling as he took a big gulp above his rotund figure!
Len, still whiled up, jumped into this topic, “Man, keeping these athletes “off their feet” is a croc, he blurted out. OK…they’re on the field, on their feet, for 10-15 minutes. Then they go to the dugout & sit for 10-15 minutes!! That happens 8/9 times depending if you’re the home team. GIVE ME A BREAK!!”
…Bernie smiling @ Arnold’s opening & Len’s response, kept stirring the pot with “yep…”Gorman & Contreras are both back on the IL!” What’s with those guys? These guys are supposed to be good athletes. We’ve already lost Steven Matz, Brendan Donovan, Packy Naughton, Guillermo Zuniga for the season. Gorman is like O’Neill….big muscular guys who “pull” muscles almost every week!!! Big muscles….big “pulls”..big “pain in the A_ _” for us fans.
…Len….seemingly still “wound up”, jumped right back in,”I don’t know about those OF but the pitchers may have brought it on themselves. The latest “analytics” have made pitchers realize that if they extend their stride of their front foot in their delivery, that their arm will have more time (a split second longer) to snap their arm around. Hence, more arm speed, more speed on their pitches is the thought! Yet…apparently, there’s more stress on their arm with that additional length of their arm snap”:
….Arnold started chuckling… yea, yea..there it is… Doc Len with the analysis. 😊 All of them chuckled at the interaction, then they all took a nice, big gulp of their beer and wanted to “move on”. They weren’t here “that long” each night & didn’t want to hear all that “noise” from Len.
…Gus tried steering the conversation into a “more neutral” field. Hey, what’s going on with the Blues these days? Haven’t heard much about them…
Bernie…you haven’t? Where’ve you been? You didn’t hear that Kasperi Kapanen is facing charges of aggravated drunk driving last month? He actually apologized for his DUI charge later on! Those spoiled athletes….
Gus interrupted… “Ease up Bernie….we’ve all goofed in some way! Quickly, he changed the topic, “What’d you guys think about Aaron Rogers season ending on his 4th play of the year for the NY Jets? Rodgers suffered a torn Achilles—out for the year!!
…Bernie—that NFL….ya know… Not For LONG league has so many injuries! But…I guess you have to expect it…all these huge men running at incredible speed into one another.
..Arnold interrupted him,”Yea, yea…. There are plenty of injuries but even despite that… it seems to me,and even though Rogers got hurt—it really was a weird kinda tackle that ruined his knee & probably ended his career, I think that the players & referees really are actually trying to protect the QB just a little bit more than they did a few years ago. Heck, those guys ARE the stars of the league..period. If they all get hurt…the league gets hurt. Ratings drop…sponsorship drops. THEIR money drops!!!
Gus…jumped in….wanting to change the topic….he’d abandoned NFL football the day that the Rams moved out…’Hey….just for the heck of it….who’s the biggest surprise team in the MLB..that is.. a good type of surprise? We already KNOW who’s the biggest negative surprise…those Dead Birds”.
Len… sat straight up….”are you kidding?” He looked back & forth @ his 3 comrades. It has to be the Orioles!! They’ve won 91 games this year and are 26-12 in 1 run games! ….only Atlanta has won more wins with 95. Yet, with that great record the O’s are only 2.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East! Heck, Tampa has practically assured itself a spot in 1 of the Wild Card spots.
….Bernie, shuffled around in his bar seat, something didn’t sit just right there today…and it wasn’t just HIS seat! “Yea, yea Baltimore is good but in the AL West, there are 3 really good teams—Houston 82 wins & Texas & Seattle each have 80 wins. And … oh yea Minnesota has a 7 game lead in the AL Central w/ a crappy 76-70 record!! Each division has its own battles. It’s funny, both the AL Cen & the NL Cen are the worst divisions.”
Arnold… the quiet one…sarcastically snickers as he says…”that’s an easy one man…. all the Big Cities are on the Coasts, the Big companies (sponsors), Big EVERYTHING! The Good players go where the BIG money is…period. The Central Divisions have the Great Lakes & the Ozarks… big woopie”, he said sarcastically. Then reached for his nearly empty glass of beer. He found the bartenders eyes & nodded his head up & down (ordering another beer).
…Gus was checking his watch…he knew that he’d be “pushing off soon”. He knew that this would throw the others into a tizzy (he was an ol’ time S_ _ _ disturber). “Soooo…who’s got the best minor league system right now? Our Cardinals?”
Len, sat up straight, took the bait, and pounded the bar with his fist and barked out, “It’s gotta be our Cards” Gus smiled….it was going just as he expected 😊
…Bernie looked right at Len and shook his head while saying, “You’re NUTS”! His voice kept raising as his voice elevated (drawing the “looks’ from the others at the bar), the Cardinals are rated as having the 22nd best minor league system right now. After all, man… , they just brought up Jordan Walker, Masyn Winn while Nolan Gorman has been “up” for awhile now. We’ve got the constant feed. Then he pounded the bar to make his point!
… That loud pounding seemed to do it…each guy looked at his watch! No matter what time it actually said, they heard Gus say, “ well…I gotta get going, it’s getting late”. Then, like a sign, the others looked at their watches, nodded their heads and then they all mumbled something about, “I gotta run too”. Off they went!!
… Now It’s My turn “run too”. Thanks for your read!! YOUR thoughts are invited! You don’t’ have to go to a bar to send the notes in 😊 Bob
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