May Day, May Day, May Day!!!! 5-1-13
The port is out, you should have seen that thing. It looked
like a little mouse, had a good sized raised spot they aimed the needles at and
then it went down a tube that had been inserted in a vein going to my heart. That’s
what all ports do, they have to get to the blood subway system. Didn’t debate the
topic for long as it went in the trash that evening….I’m a collector but c’mon,
not this thing. Still have the gargantuan mask that they pinned me down with
every day, but the port is outta here. The mask could end up being a pretty
cool piece of art if it ended up in the right hands…..
Opening weekend at AT&T Park was off the hook. We won OD
1-0 and got a calendar. We lost on Saturday but got a Buster Posey MVP
Bobblehead, and got smoked Sunday but it didn’t matter one bit…..we got a ring……quite
possibly the greatest fan giveaway in the history of Western Civilization. Many
of you saw Kiki and I on local TV last Monday night showing off our bling on Comcast.
Evidently we got hella air time……it helps to hang around with beauty, but I
thought I looked pretty good, thanks to all of you who sent video and photos.
Of particular note were my new (as of late 2011) implants…..what you say…..yes,
new teeth, #8 and #9 also known as the
front teeth. They were broken in a Little League soft toss warm up by our
league’s version of Dave Kingman. He hit that sucker so hard off the fence that
it came back at hyper speed……broke em under the gum, so that was my 2011 deal.
Dr. Dan Barry, DDS and SI ’75 came to the rescue and did some great work on #7
and #10 while he was at it…..shout out…..back to the rings. As my seat neighbor
said, “I have 14 years of paying for a Charter Seat, 2 tickets every year, that
I feel a part of it all, this is so apropos, I’m wearing it EVERYDAY!”
He’s right…..and my twist is that it signifies a reward, a
championship ring for going through all that we, as a family, went through in
2012. That whole baseball season, as anyone who has followed this knows, was
what got me through, the rhythm, the consistency, the joy and eventually, the
wild abandon of celebration, after 6 times facing the brink.
The whole thing is NOT lost on me, so yep, I wear mine
EVERYDAY too. And it’s awesome.
Our 4th seat that day was occupied by grammar
school classmate Dr. Tom Hales, Burlingame High ’75, Stanford ’79, Case Western
’83 and currently living in Cincinnati. He was out to visit some family and
took that bling BACK to Cincy, where they were just a Buster Posey Grand Slam
away from getting smoked by the Cards!
Trust me, that’s the ONLY SF Giants ring in Cincy.
Watch for an email blast about a video Kiki has been working
on celebrating just that season and that victory…..it’ll be on YouTube soon and
we think you’ll really like it. Mote info soon come.
And finally, a prayer and some reflection for the life and
times of John Louis Bacchini, SI ’75 who we lost in mid-April, succumbing to a
valiant battle with an aggressive cancer. John’s treatment paralleled mine, and
I last saw him at our SI Class lunch at Alioto’s in December. He was brave and
fighting it hard then, and gave me great support. Now, I remain and John is
gone. He was larger than life, a big man and the center of his community in
Burlingame, a passionate member at his
parish, OLA, the leader of his ‘50’s and ‘60’s doo-wap band, Johnny B. and the
Speedshifters, the best Dad to his 19 year old daughter Emma and a successful realtor
on the Peninsula. The church was dark on a Friday night, hundreds of candles providing
light and warmth, and there was an overflow topping out at about 1,200 people…..lucky
for me, Rita Arnold was with me, herself a 5 year out cancer survivor, and we
went through it together, John being her old friend and neighbor…I am inspired
by John’s life, enriched by our common brotherhood, moved by the Jesuit ideals
under which Johnny B operated, and saddened beyond belief for the absolute best
friends he left behind, Julio, Jim, Ed, En-Cat, the guy had 20 people who would
say he was their best friend…….that’s rich…..
Yep, that one got to me, folks, there but for the grace of
God go I……and none of those left behind get to come with you……just miss you,
mourn you, celebrate you, remember you, toast you, pass you on……kinda like
Springsteen when he crowd surfs…….just don’t drop him!
Tile the next time, thanks for reading,
Way down in Louisiana close to New Orleans,
TS
