Thursday, April 29, 2010
A Fond Farewell
Back in the days of the Daily Update (circa 2004), a date which even predated TLBR, I penned a fond farewell to good friend The Village Idiot.
It was a great New York City bar. It couldn't exist anywhere else. And it couldn't be duplicated, no matter how you tried. (and that means you, Hogs n Heifers, Coyote Ugly, and McFadden's).
So when I read today that Jim Hegarty's in Milwaukee is closing tomorrow at noon, I had a similar forlorn feeling.
Hegarty's was my headquarters on Friday and Saturday, from 2 a.m. onward. (editor's note: I drank a shampoo-load during my 13 months in MKE. A SHAMPOO-load.)
It was literally next door to my apartment building. Door to door, assuming the elevator was running slow, was 30 seconds.
It had good food. Not great food, but good. That included a good burger. Not a great burger, but a good one. The beer was cold. Not the coldest, but cold. And cheap. Not the cheapest, but cheap.
You get the point. As bars went, Hegarty's was a solid B+. And in life, some things are perfectly fine with a B+ average. Bars are one of them. (Intermediate Macroeconomics is also one. But I'm living proof that you can still graduate with a D.)
I made friends with the bartenders and they were great guys. Some were unemployed law school grads - Hegarty's was a Marquette Law School hangout - and they all tried talking me out of taking the LSAT and heading to law school. They succeeded, temporarily.
The clientele did include some undergrads, but as they're generally taboo in my line of work, I never bothered with them. I had more important things to tend to.
Hegarty's never messed with anyone. Unless you messed with it. Or the Milwaukee Police Department.
My final night in the MKE, I was enjoying a farewell beverage at Hegarty's - last stop, as would be apropos - and there was a raucous group of kids in the back. All underage, all loud, but we paid it no mind.
The bartender was also paying no attention - to their ID's, their behavior, or to anything for that matter...I believe he was smitten with a bar patron.
A few of Milwaukee's finest walked into the bar, presumably to see who was illegally consuming Milwaukee's Best.
The officer glanced at the bar and we older folks nodded back. Then they headed to the back of the bar and you could head the party come to an abrupt halt, like a train collision.
The boys in blue started rounding up the young'ins, but not until one young lady decided to make a run for it, rounding the turn and heading for the door.
Mere steps from freedom, the particularly portly girl hit the doorway seconds after two officers burst through to grab her and - essentially - hog-tie her. She tried - in vain - to wrestle away, but there was no escaping. Her summons for underage drinking - a misdemeanor in MKE County - just became resisting arrest.
Without pause, the guy sitting next to me got out of his seat and walked to the jukebox. It was one of those internet jukebox things, where you could pay a buck extra and "request" a song.
(the song)
Priceless. Even the police officers couldn't keep a straight face.
And that was the beauty of Jim Hegarty's. It didn't take itself too seriously. It was what it was - and that was a great bar.
Fare thee well.
-----
A sore elbow for LeBron? Wow, shocking? He's played 90+ games over the last seven months and was one of the NBA's leading scorers. Of course his elbow is sore.
ESPN's "breaking news" had LeBron had ice and treatment on it?
Here's guessing that LeBron - and everyone else in the NBA - is being treated for something.
It's not news.
-----
Perhaps a TLBR opinion piece for a later date, but new NCAA President Mark Emmert wants to revisit the "one-and-done rule."
And this week's Sports Illustrated talked about several scenarios in which college conferences could expand (and contract).
And my general overall opinion for both topics is: good.
Some kids don't belong in college. Don't waste their time or ours.
And some schools are better off with their peers. Let the BCS football schools do their thing. They already do. Remove the boundaries and let them do what they do, and let the non-BCS schools with basketball as their flagship do what we do.
But more about that later.
-----
Great story about Bill Belichick sending Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon a hooded sweatshirt.
While coaches in basketball and hockey are all about the haberdashery, football and baseball managers dress much less like an accountant.
NFL rules stipulate that coaches wear official NFL gear. It's genius marketing and advertising. Belichick does it in his own way, as he's known to do.
Baseball managers are viewed as on-field personnel. And within the rules of baseball - rule 1.11 (a) to be exact - "All members of the team must wear a similar uniform."
-----
I'm all about this comeback.
-----
By my count, Tiger is 119-over par.
Not quite sure what that equates to on the modified Stableford scoring system.
-----
The Indians most hated?
Well, at least the Sox are better than the Yanks in something.
That's all for today.
(thoc)
It was a great New York City bar. It couldn't exist anywhere else. And it couldn't be duplicated, no matter how you tried. (and that means you, Hogs n Heifers, Coyote Ugly, and McFadden's).
So when I read today that Jim Hegarty's in Milwaukee is closing tomorrow at noon, I had a similar forlorn feeling.
Hegarty's was my headquarters on Friday and Saturday, from 2 a.m. onward. (editor's note: I drank a shampoo-load during my 13 months in MKE. A SHAMPOO-load.)
It was literally next door to my apartment building. Door to door, assuming the elevator was running slow, was 30 seconds.
It had good food. Not great food, but good. That included a good burger. Not a great burger, but a good one. The beer was cold. Not the coldest, but cold. And cheap. Not the cheapest, but cheap.
You get the point. As bars went, Hegarty's was a solid B+. And in life, some things are perfectly fine with a B+ average. Bars are one of them. (Intermediate Macroeconomics is also one. But I'm living proof that you can still graduate with a D.)
I made friends with the bartenders and they were great guys. Some were unemployed law school grads - Hegarty's was a Marquette Law School hangout - and they all tried talking me out of taking the LSAT and heading to law school. They succeeded, temporarily.
The clientele did include some undergrads, but as they're generally taboo in my line of work, I never bothered with them. I had more important things to tend to.
Hegarty's never messed with anyone. Unless you messed with it. Or the Milwaukee Police Department.
My final night in the MKE, I was enjoying a farewell beverage at Hegarty's - last stop, as would be apropos - and there was a raucous group of kids in the back. All underage, all loud, but we paid it no mind.
The bartender was also paying no attention - to their ID's, their behavior, or to anything for that matter...I believe he was smitten with a bar patron.
A few of Milwaukee's finest walked into the bar, presumably to see who was illegally consuming Milwaukee's Best.
The officer glanced at the bar and we older folks nodded back. Then they headed to the back of the bar and you could head the party come to an abrupt halt, like a train collision.
The boys in blue started rounding up the young'ins, but not until one young lady decided to make a run for it, rounding the turn and heading for the door.
Mere steps from freedom, the particularly portly girl hit the doorway seconds after two officers burst through to grab her and - essentially - hog-tie her. She tried - in vain - to wrestle away, but there was no escaping. Her summons for underage drinking - a misdemeanor in MKE County - just became resisting arrest.
Without pause, the guy sitting next to me got out of his seat and walked to the jukebox. It was one of those internet jukebox things, where you could pay a buck extra and "request" a song.
(the song)
Priceless. Even the police officers couldn't keep a straight face.
And that was the beauty of Jim Hegarty's. It didn't take itself too seriously. It was what it was - and that was a great bar.
Fare thee well.
-----
A sore elbow for LeBron? Wow, shocking? He's played 90+ games over the last seven months and was one of the NBA's leading scorers. Of course his elbow is sore.
ESPN's "breaking news" had LeBron had ice and treatment on it?
Here's guessing that LeBron - and everyone else in the NBA - is being treated for something.
It's not news.
-----
Perhaps a TLBR opinion piece for a later date, but new NCAA President Mark Emmert wants to revisit the "one-and-done rule."
And this week's Sports Illustrated talked about several scenarios in which college conferences could expand (and contract).
And my general overall opinion for both topics is: good.
Some kids don't belong in college. Don't waste their time or ours.
And some schools are better off with their peers. Let the BCS football schools do their thing. They already do. Remove the boundaries and let them do what they do, and let the non-BCS schools with basketball as their flagship do what we do.
But more about that later.
-----
Great story about Bill Belichick sending Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon a hooded sweatshirt.
While coaches in basketball and hockey are all about the haberdashery, football and baseball managers dress much less like an accountant.
NFL rules stipulate that coaches wear official NFL gear. It's genius marketing and advertising. Belichick does it in his own way, as he's known to do.
Baseball managers are viewed as on-field personnel. And within the rules of baseball - rule 1.11 (a) to be exact - "All members of the team must wear a similar uniform."
-----
I'm all about this comeback.
-----
By my count, Tiger is 119-over par.
Not quite sure what that equates to on the modified Stableford scoring system.
-----
The Indians most hated?
Well, at least the Sox are better than the Yanks in something.
That's all for today.
(thoc)
