Hitch-Hiking—sure, I did it in college. I attended Harris Teachers so I could walk up to Grand Ave (a long block) & put out my thumb. Many thought that I was a SLU student going from 1 end of campus to the other. But…it didn’t bother them when I said that I was going as far South as Meramec Street. Maybe ….it was because I actually talked to them. Some drivers indicated that the “hitch hikers” never talked!  Well…I never had THAT problem 😊  Let’s go hitch hiking again…

….putting out my thumb, I quickly get picked up! It was a short ride to the other end of campus..so St Louis U sports came up in the talk.  I learned that SLU Softball team had gone to the National Tournament for 6 straight years! After losing in the 1^st round in their first 3 years, SLU has advanced further in 2 of the 3  years. Coach Katie Shield made it to the 2^nd round in 2021, in 2022, SLU was bumped out in 1^st round but in 2023, St Louis U Women Soccer made it to the 3^rd round by beating Indiana 2-0 & Georgetown 2-1 but fell to the #5 ranked team-Penn State in 2-OT 4-3. As indicated, I was dropped off & immediately stuck out my thumb again.

…A couple stop-lights later, a young Mizzou fan pulled over. I jumped in.  Immediately, William (actually told me his name—rarely done when hitch hiking) started rambling on about Mizzou football. I just listened, shook my head “yes” frequently and stayed quiet. William reminded me of last year—MU won 11 games (including a win over an Ohio St team that had several starters “sitting out” in the bowl game last year. That surprised everyone…except William…he was all-in on the Black & Gold! Wm next talked about 2024 season—MU was voted as having the 2^nd easiest schedule in the SEC! That made him happy since MU had been picked by the experts to win 9.5 games! At the next stop light, suddenly Wm said, “Ride’s over…I turn here”…so, I got out and put my thumb out again. I wasn’t ready for that quick exit.

…not more than 10 cars later, another driver pulled over. He was the 1^st driver to be listening to a “sports talk station”. Sooo…I said to him… “That  Jason Tatum is something, isn’t he?” You would have sworn that I’d stuck the driver with a pin or something, his head turned sharply towards me and said,”Yea…he’s good but he’s not the best NBA player out of the Lou. I don’t even know em all…but the best was Jo-Jo White! Have you heard of him?  Of course not, I hadn’t.. so I just shook my head “no”.  “Well young man, let me bring you up to speed. Jo-Jo (his real name was Joseph) went to McKinley HS. I actually had a chance to see him play my school (St Marys) in person! Man….he was in a league by himself. I still remember parts of a special cheer than McKinly cheerleaders used ….it went something like this….”you may be good…we may be good…but we got Jo-JO (an elongated  JO-JO) …so we’ll win”!! They were right!  He then played his college ball @ Kansas…and in those days, you couldn’t walk away after a year or 2…. he sat out his Frosh year as required in those days, then played 3 years for KU. The Boston Celtics drafted him om the 1^st round of the draft. The Celtics were getting ready to “move on” from the Bob Cousy /Bill Sharman days at guard. Jo-Jo played 12 years….man, how good was he?  Well….He’s in the NBA HOF…what does that say? He was “there” when you needed him .. like in the playoffs. He averaged 21.8 ppg in the 80 playoff games he played for Boston. The Celtics won 2 NBA titles while he was “running the show”. Man…nobody in the Lou even remembers him…funny thing..Tatum is playing for Boston also!  He’s already played 7 years and carries a lifetime 23+ ppg average! His name is found many times in the record book….he’s only the 6^th NBA player since 1980 to win a Championship while leading their team in PTS, REB and AST in the Playoffs! And…. Tatum led the Celtics to a 4-1 championship set in the final playoffs against the Mavericks. Tatum is good….but hell….I’m still going with JO-JO. Suddenly, he put on the brakes…”Hell…I missed my turn because I was in the middle of my Jo-Jo story.. gotta get out here quick  kid.” Soo..out I jumped out…and just barely made it to the curb as the car raced away.

….In just a few minutes, I was picked up by a baseball “nut”. All he could talk about was baseball and with Willie mays dying, you can imagine the major topic. Finally, I said,” Willie was probably the best NL  “all-around” player in my lifetime”. Right away, the driver slowed down and said, “What? Who else comes close?” Regaining my poise after it deserted me momentarily, “ I said, Stan Musial was the best NL batter of my lifetime. IN the AL, the best All-Around player was Mickey Mantle , who granted missed many games do to injury, but when he DID play, he was something. The Best AL batter in my lifetime was Ted Williams. With that, the driver pulled over and said, ”Well…this is far as you’re going with me!!” I jumped out..more relieved that he was gone.

…But, after a 10 minute wait, another driver pulled over. We “hit it off” right away as we talked about the Battlehawks.  I was surprised first of all that he knew anything about them! Then I  learned from him  that NFL teams have offered tryouts, workouts, or visits to wide receiver Hakeem Butler, running back Jacob Saylors, linebacker Willie Harvey Jr., and kicker Andre Szmyt of the Battlehawks. Good luck to them and a quick GoodBye to him!

… This time, it took about 7or 8 changes of the stop lights before another car pulled over. He just said, “get in”. I did & off we went. This guy kinda scared me….he was going in & out of  the lanes (of course, that’s how I drove too😊 ) Finally, he said, ”Cardinal fan?” I had hardly completed my 1 word answer of “YES” when he was talking already about the Cards. “man… our 2 main guys aren’t the same this year…I mean…Goldy & Arenado…don’t even look the same…then…. what’s happened to that Walker Kid? I mean..that kid had 420 official AB’s last year..he was 4^th on the team in HITS, 5^th in HR,  5^th in RBI’s, 2^nd in batting  average (of the starters) & 5^th on the team in OPS. And….we send HIM to the minors to change his swing? Hell….why don’t we change the swings of ALL OF THEM except Burlison, Winn, Gorman…I know that Gorman kid is going to strike out… hell…every HR hitter strikes out, don’t’ they? He suddenly jumped on the brakes as the light changed….he was still “worked-up” over the Cards. I was getting a little nervous … and hoped the topic would change…but…then he blurts out.. “hell man… our pitching stinks-we’ve lost 2 of our key starters from last year… Hudson  — ok…. He’s just another guy but Flaherty ..HE could do something..he had the lowest HR rate last year 0.8 HR over 9 innings…now…he was a cocky son-of-a-gun but .. ya know…don’t ALL those guys THINK that they’re hot crap? Flaherty just showed it more. And then… Ollie… Hell…I don’t think Ollie could lead them to the field from the dugout! I chuckled at that one  but.. then he says”time for you to get out… I’m turning here”. So…that’s what I did.

…I was getting closer to home but…this was an unusual day with so many short rides. Again I gave my best posture of a student (books in my hands, thumb out, looking right into the eyes of the drivers…sure enough… in another 5 minutes… another car pulled over. It was a young guy… some ol’ car ..probably his 1^st car. “Get on in” He bellowed!  Then we were off. This time the driver led the discussion. I sat & nodded my head “yes” to everything…heck, I wanted to get home! He had a City SC shirt on so I knew where this “talk” was going to go. Sure enough, he starts off… “”Damn…City just can’t win this year. We have a good team, a good coach, best fans in the League but…just can’t win. Our main-man- Joao Klauss—just can’t get enough goals for us. He’s found the back of the net 5x but statistically, it says he should 8.81 goals according the statistics from where the shots were taken…they’re not my stats! Maybe he’s getting nervous…he has the most off-sides-5- on the team. He’s 3^rd highest in minutes played by a field player so he’s getting the field time. He continued,’ Man…it’s gotta get better, we’ve only won 1 of the last 6 matches and have been shut out in 3 of those matches. We’ve only scored more than 1 goal ONCE in that time….ugh! I know it’s a team game…. the scorer’s gotta do their “thing”. “Hey man” he says as he pulls towards the curb…I gotta turn here…”see ya later”—a universal good-bye- he said as I shut the door quickly as he was pulling away almost before the door closed. I looked around… I was way more than 2/3 way home…this has been a “good” day…quick pick-ups and guys with plenty of BS to make the drive seem quicker and for me to miss all the changing lanes, slow-downs, speed-ups, etc.

…sure enough…the last ride took the longest to arrive. I was out there almost 20 minutes waiting for this car…finally, an older gentlemen in a big, old car pulled over. He had a big cigar in his mouth as he said, “Where ya going kid?”  I said, “Meramec”. He says,”hop in…I’m going to Ted Drewes .. right there by Meramec”. He had some Jazz music on the radio….soooo…I knew this was going to be a strange ride. “Like sports, Kid?”, He said to me.  “I love it”, I said in response.  The ol’ guy coughs a “smokers cough” and adjust the cigar in his mouth, then mumbles…”damn” , he says” that cough is going to kill me”.  “Like sports, Kid?” He says to me again. “yes sir”. The ol’ guy chuckled when he heard that..”Hell, I haven’t heard word “sir” since I was in the Army …decades ago. Well…whatta want to talk about in sports?  I said  SLU Basketball….then was interrupted by the driver.  “man, it’s about time” he said. It looks like the Billikens are actually going to try to be real good…not just good. This new coach, whatever the hell his name is….he can recruit. That’s the most important part of college basketball these days…may it always has been? I don’t have the names memorized it…but this is a new team…a team that’s going to score….a team that’s going to run. His excitement even got me going when suddenly he says, “Well…here’s Meramec”  and pulled over.  I jumped out, said, “thank You Sir”….and headed home….what a set of rides it had been!! Thanks to all of your for joining me in the RIDE HOME!  Your thoughts/ideas on any part of this “ride” are encouraged. You don’t even have to “pick me up for a ride” 😊  Bob