As I type this, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick are first, second and third respectively in the Cup standings. Its "all in" for the three of them Sunday at Homestead.
Jimmie Johnson drew first blood today by qualifying solidly in the top 10. Harvick went out second of the three, but he could only muster a start in the mid 20s. Hamlin went out last, laid an egg and now must start in the Back 40 amongst the start & parkers and racing tards.
I have no doubt the three of them are pretty keyed up about now - but likely none more so than Hamlin.
Consider this about Johnson:
JJ has won four straight Cups
Many folks have forgotten forget JJ finished a close 2nd for the Cup the year before he started the Cup-winning streak
His crew chief, Chad Knaus, has ice water in his veins.
The 48 has 3 level-headed teamies who know the overall objective for the company and could play the role of spoiler if called upon to do so. Wait - Dale Jr. works for HMS, right? Sorry - JJ has two level-headed teamies.
Harvick you say?
His car owner knows a thing or two about winning championships having won six of the big Winston trophies with a driver named Earnhart.
As the third dog in line, he has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
He plays head games at an exceptionally far better level than Hamlin or Johnson.
If he wins, his team gets to celebrate with an unlimited supply on his incoming sponsor, Budweiser, vs. his outgoing sponsor, Shell/Pennzoil.
And Hamlin?
Toyota hasn't won a Cup championship in its limited time in NASCAR.
A Virginia driver hasn't won the Grand National/Cup championship since Joe Weatherly in 1963.
The team's conservative call at Phoenix resulted in a loss of about 3 dozen key points, and the poor qualifying effort today is going to hurt his catching sight of the 48 early as well as a less-desirable pit stall.
One teammate cares little to nothing about the overall team. The other teammate will be too busy trying to keep his Adam's apple inside his driver uni to help 11 hang onto the 48.
So who do I pick? My pre-season pick for the Cup was: Denny Hamlin. In the office pool today for a winner-take-all on the champion, I drew at random: Kevin Harvick. But in the end, who do I now fear will win yet another Cup: yep, Big Johnson.
If Hamlin prevails, he'll be elated - as will I for having called for him to do so in February. If he loses - especially if its because of an avoidable error...
Well, check out Darrell Waltrip's reaction after losing the 1979 championship in the final race to Richard Petty. (DW went into the final race with a 2 point advantage over the King.) I'll hand it to Waltrip. He conducted the interview with digity. But the pain of seeing it slip away is so very real.
What? Richard Petty Motorsports is in dire straits? The King is between a rock and a hard place...again?
Aren't you concerned TMC? Stressed? Anxious? Beside yourself?
Well, maybe I am a bit. But any anxiety I may have can wait another day to be blogged - because I found THIS today. A rowdy Texas party band covering Neil Young's rock anthem staple: Hey Hey, My My.
In digging around a bit, I learned the song is by a band named Loco Gringos. According to their still-standing MySpace page, they were a punk-drunk-rock band from Dallas many years ago. Having gone separate ways, they apparently reunited a couple of years ago and are back for more.
From the songs I listened to, it seems to me they could have been channeling The Beat Farmers a bit. Also, I saw they were influenced by another one of my favorites from the late 80s, The Hickoids. (I had the cassette of one of their thrashing but hilarious releases: We're Only In It For The Corn.)
I found this 2007 photo of the Loco Gringo guitarist's axe that says it all...
You can still purchase their self-titled CD with intriguing song titles such as:
Fruit Fly
Ain't No Corndogs
Hug a Jug
Nurture My Pig
Sadly, the Schaefer track doesn't seem to be included on the CD.
Maybe the Schaefer Racing Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor should hire the band for the 20th Annual Schaefer Racing Schelebration in 2011. Wonder if they'd accept a 30 box as payment? Hmm...
As I understand it, the voting for the second class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame is scheduled for Thursday, October 13. Those chosen will be inducted into the Hall in May 2011.
I'm really not sure who the voters are. If I really cared to know, I'm sure the info is out there to be found with a token Google search. But tonight, I really don't care about how the voters will cast their ballots. I'm here to state a case for my own choices.
The Patriarch - Lee Petty
The stats:
54 Grand National wins - a NASCAR record Lee established with his final win in 1960 and stood until broken by his son, Richard, in 1967.
3 Grand National championships - the last in 1959. This record stood for 10 years until David Pearson matched it. His son later shattered it by winning 7 championships.
Winner of the inaugural Daytona 500 in a photo finish.
The patriarch of the Petty racing family. For a painfully brief period of time, four generations of racing Pettys were alive - Lee, Richard, Kyle, and Adam.
The Silver Fox - David Pearson
The stats:
1960 Rookie of the Year
105 Grand National/Winston Cup wins
3 Grand National championships - 2nd to reach that accompishment
1973 - Won 11 of 18 races entered
1976 - Won 10 of 22 races entered
Winner of 1976 Daytona 500
11 consecutive pole positions at Charlotte Motor Speedway from 1973 through 1978
3 World 600 wins
3 Southern 500 wins
Bobby Allison The stats:
85 Grand National/Winston Cup wins
1983 Winston Cup champion
3 Daytona 500 wins with 3 different car owners (Bud Moore, DiGard, and Billy Stavola)
Countless short-track late model wins from coast to coast and north to south
2 time participant in Indianapolis 500
Cale Yarborough
The stats:
83 Grand National/Winston Cup wins
3 consecutive Winston Cup championships - the first to accomplish it
4 Daytona 500 wins - three of them with different car owners: Wood Brothers, Junior Johnson, and Harry Ranier
5 Southern 500 wins
Raymond Parks
The stats:
Pioneer stock car racing car owner
Car owner for NASCAR's first two seasons of Strictly Stock/Grand National series with World War II Red Byron as driver and Red Vogt as mechanic (all 3 shown in above photo)
Fielded cars for legendary modified and early NASCAR drivers Roy Hall, Lloyd Seay
Attended the late 1940s meeting called by Bill France in Daytona Beach, FL where the founding of NASCAR resulted.
Helped the fledgling sanctioning body by providing Bill France Sr. some much needed financial support.
Personally, I believe Raymond Parks and David Pearson should have been in the inaugural class over Dale Earnhardt and Bill France, Jr. But what's done is done. The 5 who made it in the first class were indeed deserving. For this second 2011 class, I'm certain the 5 who make it will also be very deserving - regardless of whether they match my selections or not.
For the record, here's my call for the third class for 2012:
Dale Inman - long-time crew chief for Richard Petty - only crew chief with 8 championships (7 with Petty and 1 with Terry Labonte)
Darrell Waltrip - 80 wins, 3 time Cup champ, 1 Daytona 500, multiple wins in World 600 and Southern 500
Ned Jarrett - 2 time champion, multiple wins, and successful transition from competitor to media member on radio and TV
Herb Thomas - 2 time champion in 1950s, 48 Grand National wins - most driving the Famous Hudson Hornet (popularized in the Disney/Pixar movie, Cars)
Bruton Smith - This is my soft pick. I'm not convinced of it just yet. His mark on track ownership is undeniable. How he got his tracks, how his races were promoted, etc. is somewhat questionable. I'll likely wrestle with this one a bit more the next 12 months.
October 5, 2010, for the most part will be just another day. A Tuesday - no holidays, no quarter-end financial date, no tax filing date, just another work day, and just another school day. Not the beginning of a long weekend or the end of one. Its not even humpday.
In researching the day, October 5 has had only a smattering of what I'd call memorable events. Some of the ones I found unique are:
1902 - Wiry-haired Stooge, Larry Fine, is born.
1921 - The World Series is broadcast on radio for the first time.
1925 - WSM-AM radio begins radio transmissions from Nashville, TN. The call letters stood for We Shield Millions - the marketing tag line for the station's owner: National Life and Accident Insurance Company. A couple of months later, WSM aired the WSM Barn Dance - which later became known as The Grand Ole Opry.
1962 - The Beatles release "Love Me Do".
1962 - Michael Andretti is born.
1965 - NHL great Mario Lemieux is born.
1969 - Monty Python's Flying Circus begins airing on BBC.
1969 - Tom Dempsey from the New Orleans Saints kicked a 55 yard field goal - unheard of in that era. A season later, he kicked a 63-yarder. That record still stands and has been matched by only one other kicker.
While October 5th trivia is unique but a bit limited, the date is a good 'un for Petty Enterprises history.
1957 - Lee Petty wins a 200 lap race at Southern States Fairground, a half-mile dirt track in Charlotte. The picture below shows Lee leading the last race run at the track in 1960 - where Richard won his first of 200 Grand National/Winston Cup wins.
1958 - Lee Petty wins at Salisbury Speedway in North Carolina. Two Chevrolet entries owned by Lee's brother/Richard's uncle, Julian Petty, and driven by Roy Tyner and Ken Rush finished 5th and 9th, respectively. (Rookie Richard finishes 22nd in a Petty Oldsmobile numbered #2.)
1963 - Richard wins at Tar Heel Speedway in Randleman, NC. Bob Welborn finished 3rd in a second Petty #42 entry. This race was the third and final GN race at the track, and all of them were held in 1963. Plymouths fielded by Petty Enterprises won all three races - the first two by Jim Paschal and the third one by Richard. For an interesting story about Tar Heel Speedway's history, read this excerpt (PDF) from Perry Allen Wood's book, Silent Speedways of the Carolinas.
1968 - Richard finished 3rd in the Augusta 200 at Augusta (GA) Speedway. OK, so a Petty car didn't win on October 5th for a change. But a top 5 on any day is a great day.
1969 - Richard finished 2nd to rival David Pearson in the Wilkes 400 at North Wilkesboro. Yes, these were the days before the explosion of cookie-cutter intermediate tracks that bumped tracks like Wilkesboro off the schedule.
1975 - Richard wins his 12th race of the season, the National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Despite running well and Petty Enterprises cars winning races at Charlotte with other drivers, Richard struggled to "close the sale" at the track himself until 1975. Finally, he nabbed the World 600 in the spring and backed it up with the second win in the fall event.
1980 - Kyle Petty - a second year driver still with rookie skills - finished 9th in the National 500 at Charlotte driving an all-red STP Petty Chevrolet Monte Carlo. His top 10 finish, while not a win, was a notable finish considering how Kyle tried to knock the wall down during qualifying for the World 600 in 1979. He qualified for the fall 1979 race. In 1980, he scored a pair of top 10 finishes at Charlotte - a nice recovery considering his less-than-stellar debut at the track.
1992 - Like his dad, Kyle got around North Wilkesboro really well. However, UNLIKE his dad, Kyle never took home hardware for his efforts. On this day, he finished 3rd in a caution-free Tyson Holly Farms 500 at North Wilkesboro. (Richard finished 27th in his final race at Wilkesboro.)
2008 - Bobby Labonte finished 6th in the Petty Enterprises/Cheerios #43 Dodge in the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega. The King was known for his wins at Daytona - both in the 500 and the Firecracker. Lee Petty and Pete Hamilton also scored victories for the team on the Daytona and Talladega superspeedways. Otherwise - especially after Richard's retirement as a driver - Petty cars didn't have much to show for their efforts on the big tracks. So for Labonte to score a 6th place finish, that in itself is a notable achievement.
Everyone knows about the dog days of summer. What you may not know is hot summers result in cool Schaefer times. After some great experiences in May through July, the Schaefer Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor raised the bar (and more than a few cans) during Scheptember. (Many celebrations happened in August too; however, I couldn't out a creative way to work it into the blog title without taking away from Scheptember.)
August
When I was in San Antonio, I paid an unannounced visit to the corporate HQ of Pabst Brewing - the parent company of Schaefer. (Yes, I realize this was technically late July vs. August. But I've already blogged about July and didn't include this story. So sue me.)
Pabst's corporate office is technically in San Antonio. The company moved there following its acquisition by Pearl Brewing. Then, Pearl was a San Antonio-based brewer. Today, its brewery and operations are no more. The remainder of Pabst's operations in San Antonio is limited to the fun departments like HR, accounting, some local marketing, and IT support. All of the execs, sales leadership, and marketing folks work in an office outside of Chicago. Yet - in the end - I was there. At the Pabst base camp - with my Schaefer. You know the old saying. Home is where you hang your hat.
Here is Schaefer Hall of Famer Cuba with Ring of Honor members Stephanie (L) and Havana Montana (R) at a Carolina beach. Lesson learned from this adventure? When drinking Schaefer, be sure to remove all Sharpies from your pockets before washing your shorts.
Keeping the SHOF race-centric, here is Philly enjoying some dirt tracking with Schaefer Light at Charlotte Motor Speedway's Dirt Track.
SHOFer Uncle D couldn't make it to the Coca-Cola 600 this year. But he made his presence known at the CARFAX 400 at Michigan Speedway. He also inducted his bud, John, into the Schaefer Ring of Honor. They also met a Canadian ... drinking Mexican Corona beer ... at a United States NASCAR race. Its possible the SHOF will need the services of its legal counsel, Rev. Randy, Esq., to determine if some sort of Geneva Convention law was violated in all of that.
SHOFers Philly and TMC, SROH member Chet, and probationary SROH intern Wilbur (Philly's son) made the trek to Bristol for the legendary night race. One of our newest members, 200WINZ, was formally inducted into the Ring of Honor. And Philly and I were proud to bestow SROH honors upon Deirdre aka Koleslaw - a proud volunteer in the United States Navy. She plans to send photos for me to blog of her wearing the Schaefer colors when she returns to her next overseas assignment in 2011 - Afghanistan. God bless you Koleslaw. (For more details on the Bristol weekend, here are links to part 1 and part 2.)
As Philly drove from North Carolina to Bristol, he passed by the legendary North Wilkesboro Speedway. Of course, in Wilkes County folks are known for sipping self-created alcoholic beverages with a kick far stronger than a tall-boy Schaefer.
SROH member Ron ensured his Schaef was well represented during an August trip to the beach
Cuba and Havana Montana wanted all to know nothing makes a couple happier than a night of cards and a cold Schaefer. Peace out.
When one is down to a single card in UNO, its time to begin celebrating...
But if one calls UNO! when looking in the refrigerator for another Schaefer...
its time to send someone on a beer run.
The hot August days brought about warm memories with friends such as...
Friend of Philly on visit to Helen, GA.
Brother of Ron
Friend of Ron - Da Murf!
Neighbors of Ron
Lanie (R) and friend
Some who don't understand the phenomenon of the Schaefer experience choose to hate on it. They dismiss the SHOF/SROH as old timers drinking an obscure, out-of-favor beer. While the beer brand itself may be legendary, the SHOF is creative in its procurement, enjoyment, and promotion of it.
For instance, Philly is now the proud owner of "new" used race truck with a Schaefer-gold base coat of paint. Once he adds some red striping, it'll be race ready for the 20th Annual Schaefer Racing Hootennany in May 2011.
September
The calendar page may have flipped to the ninth month, but the hot temps remained for much of the country. No worries as the Schaefer schelebrations continued.
Ron went all photo artsy-fartsy on us with this creative shot at Atlanta Motor Speedway while there to enjoy the Emory Healthcare 500.
Question: What washes down hot wings better than a cold Schaefer? Answer: Well, duh. Nothing.
Ron and his family returned to the beach - this time New Smyrna Beach, FL - where Fort Schaefer was constructed. Some may view this creation simply as a sand castle adorned by a single Schaefer can atop it. To me, however, the build speaks metaphorically as the arms of the masses longing to secure their own Schaefer. Take that art interpreters.
Cleveland, OH's own SHOFer Uncle D and the recently SROH-inducted John went to Richmond International Raceway to enjoy some of the sights, sounds, and smells of the Air Guard 400.
New Jersey's SROH representative 200WINZ also made the trip to Richmond. But he focused just on the sights part by meeting Miss Sprint Cup (or is it just Miss Sprint? Sprint Cups?)
Shortly after the race ended and I had turned off the TV, my phone buzzed. 200WINZ texted me to say he and his buddies were singing the Schaefer jingle theme song back at his motorhome. I returned the text asking him to video it. He replied "call me and we'll sing it". So I did - and they did!
As an aside, the Schaefer Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor have had a fantastic year at the track in 2011. We've had representation at the following races so far this year:
Shelby American (Las Vegas) - Philly and TMC
All-Star Race - Philly and Rookie
Coca-Cola 600 (Charlotte)- Philly, Lanie, Rookie, Erin, Cuba, Havana, Stephanie, Padook, Ron, Rev. Randy, Monte Dutton, and TMC
Sonoma - Kristi
Coca-Cola 400 (Daytona) - Ron
CARFAX 400 (Michigan) - Uncle D. and John
IRWIN Tools Night Race (Bristol) - Philly, Chet, 200WINZ, Koleslaw, Kristi, and TMC
Emory Healthcare 500 (Atlanta) - Ron
Air Guard 400 (Richmond) - 200WINZ, Uncle D., and John
NASCAR Banking 500 (Charlotte in October) - Philly
With my race season in the rear view mirror, I find myself having to creatively expand ways to enjoy Schaefer the rest of the year. First up? Baltimore, as previously blogged.
The summer of 2010 is now pretty much in the books. We have hit the double-digit months of the year. Its now time to turn our focus to autumn - and before you know it, winter. Ron is taking no chances with the looming cold winter, a predicted tumultuous series of November elections, and an uncertain economy. So as part of his home emergency preparedness plan, he loaded up on six cases of Schaefer in south Georgia to hold him over for a few days... weeks... months.
In February, Bench Racing's pre-season picks were blogged. With the first twenty-six races in the books, I thought it might be good to revisit how awful we were in our predictions. The jury is still out on some of them because 10 races remain in the year.
Daytona 500 winner:
BT - Kasey Kahne - Grabbed a twin win but that's as close as he got
TMC - Smoke - Um, 22nd. NEXT!
Cup Champ:
BT - Mark Martin - Gotta be in it to win it. Enjoy playing cards with teammate Dale Jr. the next 10 weeks.
TMC - Denny Hamlin - So far, so good.
Chasers:
BT - 75% - Pretty good
Mark Martin - Miss
Smoke - Hit
Cuzzin - Hit
Gordo - Hit
Harvick - Hit
4x champ - Hit
Kasey Kahne - Miss
Kenseth - Hit
Hamlin - Hit
Rowdy - Hit
Kurt - Hit
Montoya - Miss
TMC - 67%
JJ - Hit
Gordon - Hit
Martin - Miss
Smoke - Hit
Cuzzin - Hit
Hamlin - Hit
Rowdy - Hit
The Biff - Hit
Kurt - Hit
Kasey - Miss
Truex - What was I thinking? - Miss
JoLo - Miss
Underachiever
BT: Dale Jr, Jamie Mc, T-Rex, Keselousy, and Danica (Nationwide, but had to mention anyway) - Except for Jamie, he nailed it. McMurray has had a career year.
TMC: Brian Vickers, Clint Bowyer - Hate to pick on Vickers because of his medical situaton, but he was headed nowhere anyway after an overachieving 2009. So I say WIN. Totally whiffed on Bowyer.
Overachiever
BT: JoLo
TMC: Marcos Ambrose
FAIL for both of us.
Most Improved
BT: Kevin Harvick - Huge win
TMC: Scott Speed - Huge slip away into the shadows with damaged pride after this colossal blunder
Penthouse to Outhouse
BT: Greg Biffle, Brian Vickers - 50/50
TMC: Ryan Newman, David Reutimann- Flyin Ryan got his 1st win for Stewart-Haas and Reuty got a legit win for MWR to silence critics such as me for his 2009 Coke 600 win. So I claim a WIN.
Prior to this week, I've only visited the city of Baltimore one time - about 7 or 8 years ago, I stayed near Johns Hopkins, and it rained during much of my stay. Not a memorable trip. But this week I returned to Baltimore with a zero-based opinion and a Schaefer-themed agenda.
As my trip date grew closer, my research about Schaefer intensified. I learned a couple of Schaefer-related facts before arriving:
A longtime political fixture as Baltimore mayor, Maryland governor, and state comptroller was William Donald Schaefer. WIN!
Fellow Schaefer Ring of Honor member, Bill Combs, tipped me off to Muggsy's Mughouse as a place serving Schaefer. I tweeted Muggsy's owner, Danny, and he said he indeed offered Schaefer. WIN!
Another Schaefer - Mike Schaefer (unrelated to the former mayor/governor) - is running for county sheriff. I guess I'd vote for him if I lived there.
I specifically took an earlier flight last Sunday to walk the half-mile or so from my hotel, watch some NFL at Muggsy's, meet Danny, and toss back some Schaefer. Unbelievably, the place was CLOSED - on opening day of NFL season! Incredible.
But - as the late, great Paul Harvey always said: now stay tuned...for the rest of the story.
I had another ace up my sleeve, and it paid big dividends. A few months ago when I knew I would be in Baltimore, I found a 2008 Baltimore Sun article about a bar appropriately named Schaefer's Bar & Restaurant. It turns out Schaefer's was only about another half-mile or so from Muggsy's. Not a bad Sunday afternoon stroll.
I admit I wrestled with the decision to walk there. With Muggsy's, the neighboring liquor store, and even a corner market all closed on Sunday, I began to doubt if Schaefer's would be open. But as fellow SHOFer Philly has taught me over the years, there is magic in believing. So off I went.
I found the place easily and immediately bonded with the couple of regulars in the place including one Bud drinker named Leroy. I learned the bar was founded by a married couple named Schaefer. The waitress showed me a glass used to hold swizzle sticks with an etching of the Schaefers. I tried to talk her into giving it to me - but no dice. Schaefer's also has the 2nd oldest liquor license in all of Baltimore.
Incredibly, however, Schaefer's Bar didn't have Schaefer beer! The waitress said she'd never even heard of it which crushed me to the core. So I had a Miller High Life as my fall back. And then I tried my first ever Natty Bo - a National Bohemian made by Heileman Brewing.
However - NattyBo is only 3 degrees of separation from Schaefer.
NattyBo is a product of Heileman
Heileman is owned by Pabst
Pabst owns Schaefer.
One of the neat things I learned from the Sun's article and immediately spotted as I walked in was all of personalized dollar bills taped to the wall and mirror behind the bar. I found the bill for the article's writer Sam Sessa. He marked his "EBSS" - short for Eccentric Billionaire Sam Sessa, his life's goal. After getting to know a couple of new friends, I asked if I could leave my own version and they responded "absolutely!"
As I was working on my Natty Bo, the bar's owner came out to meet me. Just that quickly, I guess word got to him a stranger was in the Schaefer bar, wearing a Schaefer shirt, asking for Schaefer beer, and defacing a dollar bill with Schaefer Hall of Fame. Craig was super from the moment he introduced himself. He said he used to drink Schaefer when he served in the merchant marines years ago. He also said I was the first person to come into his bar and ask for it.
He showed me around the place a little bit - including a newly painted floor in the back of the place painted to resemble the Ravens football field. Green hardwood "turf", yardage markers, the Ravens logo in the end zone, and even yellow plastic goalposts.
After telling Craig a brief rendition of our Schaefer Hall of Fame story, he then blew me away with his next statement. He planned to buy his supply of booze, beer, and food on Monday in anticipation of a large crowd for the Ravens v. Jets Monday Night Football game. He offered to buy me however much Schaefer I wanted and sell it to me at his cost.
I tried to politely decline saying I wasn't sure I could make it back to Schaefer's on Monday or tote a bunch of beer the one mile or so back to the hotel. He said he'd drive me back to my hotel. The answer then became easy: two 30-packs please.
So Monday after lunch, I slipped away for a bit and returned. I was greeted by a regular named Bo. As I strolled in, he sensed who I was. "Hey, are you dat little guy who wanted da Schaefer?" I responded "Yes sir. That would be me. My name is Tick. What's yours?" With a handshake, Bo and I sat down to wait for Craig to return. He then pointed and said "Well, there it is. Is that what you wanted?"
I now had my beer, but I was also ready to return to my hotel to get back to business. But Craig was still out running errands. So I talked to Bo some more. And then Terry - who spoke a bit like Boomhauer from King of the Hill except with a Mid-Atlantic accent. And then some guy Terry called Hammerhead arrived. Then Terry told a bunch of jokes. Most of them were old. Some were new to me. All of them were offensive, but I felt obliged to at least chuckle a bit. At least he was an equal-opportunity kind of guy as no group escaped his attempt at humor.
I then asked the waitress if she'd take my picture holding the beer under the Schaefer's bar sign. She couldn't seem to get the sign, beer, and me all framed in the viewfinder without standing in the middle of road risking her life. So Bo came to the resue. He offered to pull his pick-up truck with sweet, purple flames up to the curb and let me stand in the bed. I nearly laugh-snorted Natty Bo through my nose at the silliness of the situation but also at the genuine hospitality of these local folks who had quickly accepted me as one of their own.
Shortly afterwards, Craig returned, he gave me a lift, and to the 12th floor I went with 60 brews. Immediately, six of them went to the mini-fridge.
(As an added nugget to this part of the story, I e-mailed Sam Sessa at the Baltimore Sun to tell him his 2008 article prompted my visit to Schaefer's. He forwarded my message to Erik Maza, another Sun writer, who a day later gave me a bit of shout-out in a follow-up to the 2008 article.)
I was in town with a friend/business associate. We were scheduled to make a conference presentation on Tuesday. Right before "showtime", it seemed appropriate to crack a couple of the chilled cans and head to our appointed room. When the presentation was complete, we returned to resume with a second...and a third.
We then strolled the short distance to Camden Yards to watch the Baltimore Orioles destroy another bird team, the Toronto Blue Jays 11-3. As the game was clearly in hand for the local good guys, I turned to my friend in the top of the 8th and said "ya know...we could check out Muggsy's one final time."
So we did. Sure enough as promised, $2 Schaefer cans were available for us. Sadly, the place was dead and Danny wasn't around. Apparently everyone was still recovering from Monday night's Ravens win, and Danny was visiting the opening of another local establishment. Yet, WE were there.
Another successful Schaefer Hall of Fame outing in the record books.
