So, Red has already regaled you with his slightly embellished memories of our first annual Surviving Grady “F%ck Cancer” event. The truth isn’t very flattering: the twenty-something-year-olds schooled Rich and I at Beer Pong. Which doesn’t bother me at all because I happen to think it is a pretty stupid game. Bars used to have pool tables, didn’t they? Rich didn’t seem to mind the shellacking very much…he was too busy working the crowd for more than just donations, if you know what I mean.
Gaming deficiencies aside (both my own and the Red Sox), it was an awesomely entertaining and successful night. Red’s appearance alone made it worth the price of admission, which was free anyway. He shows up about as frequently as Halley’s Comet, so if you weren’t there to see the show, you missed out. His barroom version of “The Triple Lindy” cannot be described with mere words.
But I’m not here to talk about the past. We have already begun assembling a team of experts: marketing professionals, drinking consultants, and a flock of lawyers, to strategerize next year’s bigger and better bash. You will not want to be on the “I missed it” list when the dust settles in 2010.
I want to express an honest, all-kidding-aside THANK YOU to everyone who came out to fight the good fight with us. Whether you dropped a few coins in one of the cans, or slipped a $150 check in (you know who you are), you helped. And huge props to Mike and the staff at Crossroads for giving us a place to play and letting us harass and shame the paying customers into parting with a few bucks. And if you haven’t given yet – I’m looking at you – please listen to the clip below on WEEI. If you don’t empty your wallet and Swiss bank accounts to the Jimmy Fund, you’re not human.
Until next year, back to baseball. Mother Nature, that often-fickle bitch, decided to let the Sox finish the game. Papelbon struck out the side in the ninth (after loading the base with two outs). Bay homered, Ellsbury returned to the line-up with a couple of hits and JD (who did not hurt himself on his homerun trot last night!) added a couple hits of his own. And the division remains six games from our grasp. I am not ready, on August 29th, to settle for the wild card.
Party on, Wayne.
