A Few Good Beers

What a busy week this could be.

For those of you who aren’t in constant touch with me, here’s a brief explanation of where I happen to be in this wacky world of Fungus/Beerman/Davey.

I was blessed enough to get the opportunity once again to be the mobile beverage dispenser at Charlotte County Stadium, not just for the local minor league Charlotte Stone Crabs but also for the AL champion Tampa Bay Rays. Some days I have help from the professional vendors from the Trop in Tampa, but most days it’s just me.

If you’ve been to a game this year, you’ve seen me. So far, I’ve missed only one game, and the day following that game I was bombarded with so many complaints about taking the day off, that I knew it would be my only one. No worries… because I am a trooper. Besides, on my off day, I missed the park as much as it missed me.

The weather has not proved as cooperative as it could be for this inaugural season. I’ve spent many days soaking wet yelling through the raindrops and I’ve been drenched most nights either from humidity or precipitation. I’ve spent every night following a game doing laundry, since I only have one shirt. We’ve seen some extremely hot days and have had our share of older fans overcome by heat, but that’s all part of the price to live in Paradise.

Sound like a fun job?

I love it.

I love everything about it. I love feeling tired at the end of the day. I love trying to make everyone happy and providing an atmosphere where the fans feel like they’ve gotten entertained and not cheated out of their hard earned dollars. I love the staff. I love the regulars. I love the ballpark.

Part of my duty (yes Box… I said duty) is to keep track of my sales. My paycheck is commission based and therefore calculated from the totals. In case you were wondering, YES… I DO ACCEPT TIPS! I know beers are pricey at $5 each but I do have a large dog to feed. Anyway, this means that from Day 1 of Spring Training I’ve had my beer total noted on my calendar. One day a while back I got curious and decided to add it all up.

I was amazed by the sum.

Some time in this upcoming homestand, barring a hurricane or plague, I will sell beer number 10,000.

Ten thousand bottles of beer…

Think about that for a while.

160,000 ounces… 413 cases… 1,250 gallons… 83 half barrels?… 10,000 bottle caps twisted off…

10,000 mostly happy people.

I remember some of the good ones and some of the bad ones too. Some have fallen to the ground and been replaced. Some have been to family and close friends. Some have been to weathered veterans and even a couple to a stripper on her 21st birthday (bought by her mother). Many have been to regulars who buy at almost every game and many were to people I met once and will probably never see again.

But EVERY one was a joy…

Even the difficult ones with no tip.

I’ll post the running total in the side bar so you can all follow along. I’m planning on taking a camera that day and writing a press release celebrating beer 10k so everyone will know when it is and who buys it.

Thanks to all involved.

Stay tuned for the next blog where I’ll be promoting the grand opening of the Broad Street Bar and Grill, a new deck bar in town that has decided it’s in their best interest to hire two fat guys to bartend.

Honestly… what could they have been thinking???

The grand opening party is all weekend August 28 to 30. Come on out!

FYI… the tagline at the bar says it all.



NOTE: I had to remove and reinstall the poll due to the fact that the moron who developed it could not spell. If you voted and it doesn't appear, please vote again.

Perspective

Tonight’s post has a lot to do with the ballpark. It was a busy Wed. night…. Not according to management, or ticket takers or ushers or parking… but it was a good night to me. Apparently we had beer drinkers.

I like beer drinkers. They are happy… for the most part.

Yesterday I caught my second foul ball. I felt bad and gave it to the guy I stole it from. It’s not the ball that gets me; it’s the thrill of the athletic ability to time the catch.

No one at this park knows that I once played in a state championship… that I should have played in college… that I could have played at this level…

Perspective.

Tonight our home team blew a 3-1 lead in the ninth. I bought our pitching coach a beer afterwards, because I knew he thought it was his fault we lost, but more so because I just like him. He felt like he was to blame because it was his decision to put in the new guy… 3-1 lead in the ninth….

Perspective.

I love the park. I love my job.

I meet so many fun people. I meet interns who are just getting out of college and working for peanuts. I meet people trying to climb the ladder into major league baseball. I meet young girls chasing future stars. I meet fans, trying to get autographs. I meet …

Everyone.

And I love it.

Perspective.

I tried to tell Bill our pitching coach that for every one we lose… we win one we shouldn’t have. That’s life too. Sometimes it just doesn’t matter what choice you make…

One of my favorite lines from a movie is from Remember the Titans…

Coach Boone’s wife says, “Sometimes life is hard, for no reason at all”

That’s perspective.

And sometimes… we just get that good day. We get the rainbow. We get to see the osprey fly into the left field lightpost carrying a fish. We see the awesome catch and the comeback.

Perspective…

When I was in high school I lived close to my high school. I never missed a day of high school and I was the first one there every day, mainly because I love my friends… they are my family.
I remember driving to the school one afternoon and sitting in left field, past the foul pole, all alone. I remember thinking (at 18) if I was ever to be buried somewhere, this would be it. They had just mowed the grass and it was heaven. There was a grove of three evergreens there and the view overlooked the valley.
I am now almost 30 years older and I had that same feeling tonight. After the game, the cleaning crew sees me sitting in the stands and we joke and laugh about making me leave and go home… but to me…

it’s all perspective….

Some of the people I have met when I played ball in high school are still friends of mine that read this blog… and some of the new friends who read this I will have just met this year… but they are all friends.

And good ones at that.

Perspective.

Yes… we lost tonight, but I feel lucky because I seem to win every night.

Happy birthday Dawn, I luv ya Keith, I miss ya Big Jim, You are the best bartender (without a doubt Mary), Go Vols (for Nick), I’ve been crushing on you for 30 years Kim, Thanks Ray for ending Beercott 2009, Stick with the school Box, Luv ya Sis and Nipper and GNO and this could go on and on…

And this was supposed to be a post about getting to beer 10,000 at the park…

To be continued?

I’ll end with a picture.

This was a regular when I was working for the Redfish. I remember him because he always smiled and he was always happy. His name was Jay and he always had his boy JJ with him…
He was killed in a car accident a couple weeks back.
I did not know him all that well, and he probably only knew me as beerman… yet it has me in tears because he was a good soul and I miss him.

Perspective.