I have my five year old grandson Elliot every wednesday night. It is one of the highlights of my week. I never know what he will say or do. This morning I was at breakfast talking with my buddies and told them his latest. He came up to me this morning with a long face and told me he had some bad news. I had been in the shower and the bedroom TV was on ESPN, as usual. When I asked him what was wrong his said Yogi Bear had died. So I had to clear up that issue with him. One of my friends told about the time he met Berra once in spring training some years ago. Said he was a very nice guy, gee, what a shock. Never heard anyone say a bad word about Yogi Berra. We should all be so lucky when it comes our time.
The morning breakfast talk can take off in any direction and this morning was a prime example. The Pirates are back in the post season and it reminded me of 1971 and the series champion team from Pittsburgh. I remembered watching that series at school in shop class. The Pirates were playing the Orioles and back then the games were day time, even during the week and at school often times they would let us watch during the school day. Yes, it was a different era. Mr Klocke was our shop teacher in 8th grade. He was also a guy who liked to bet as I came to learn. Anyway, I remember being at the home office of Pregame a few years back and I was sitting talking with Marco and baseball came up. He knew I was a Cardinals fan but when I brought up the 1971 Series his eyes brightened up. It blew him away when I sat and recited the starting line up for the 71 Pirates team. Weird the crap you remember, I cannot recall what I had for lunch yesterday but could tell you Bob Robertson was the first baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1971.
Lot's of apprehension about the Missouri Tigers first league game this saturday on the road at Lexington against Kentucky. The team may be 3-0 but the natives around here are restless. Amazing how quickly fans become spoiled. A lot of Chiefs fans around here so I am walking around with a big bullseye on my back this week because my friends know I am flying up to Green Bay this weekend and the game against Kansas City on monday night. They have been merciless through the years because the Chiefs have basically owned the Packers, been to several games between the two and I personally have not seen the Packers win a game since 1972 in a damn preseason game. They have had their number.
I was telling them about my most memorable moment at Lambeau and it came in the playoff game some years ago against Seattle. It was cold, really cold as it can be in Green Bay in january. My wife was a trooper but when it went into overtime I could tell she wanted it over quickly. Well it played out to perfection. They had the coin toss at mid field and Matt Hasselbeck won the flip and immediately blurted out where the microphone and the entire stadium could hear him, we want the ball and we are going to win it. The crowed went apeshit crazy. Well very early on in the overtime Packers corner back Al Harris jumped a route and picked it for a game ending pick six. It was complete bedlam at Lambeau. The Party was on. Very memorable night.
That was about it for this morning guys. Feel free to stop by with any thoughts, memories, whatever. Enjoy your day and best of luck with your action.