In looking back at the year that it was, today’s midday post will look back at number 66 on the year-end countdown.
Ever remember what it was like when you made your first basket in a basketball game or hit your first home run in a baseball game?
You look around among a sea of people that are cheering for you as you run around the bases or after a game in a small gym, celebrating your performance.
Then you look up and try to see one person, one person that had a hand in helping you reach your peak in a certain area.
And they’re not there.
That was the case when on three different occasions, I tried to invite my big sister Krystal to come to a game and meet the chocolate cutie down at the corner of South Third and Union Avenue.
For much of the summer, she gave me a lot of advice on dealing with what is now known as the greatest summer love story in the history of Memphis professional baseball.
The first time that I tried to invite my big sister to the ballpark was the night of the most romantic radio moment in the history of Memphis professional baseball when the chocolate cutie and I shared the microphone for a half-inning on July 4th.
Two hours prior to that, there was some miscommunication problems that led me to celebrate the Fourth with the chocolate cutie without the one person that actually helped a great deal as far as my summer fling with the chocolate cutie was concerned.
The next time that there would be a chance to introduce the chocolate cutie to my big sister was when the Redbirds would face the Round Rock Express on July 20th, sixteen days after the “Doc and Miss Candy Show”, the same night of “The Spook”.
And much like the Fourth, another miscommunication problem came up, this time being my fault.
Two days later, I received an email from her which had the line, “You’re a joy to my heart.”
The third and final time that I tried to do it was when the Redbirds faced the Iowa Cubs on August 11th, when it seemed like my big sister would finally meet the chocolate cutie and the rest of the characters that you read in this column.
Then it happened.
Her friend’s boyfriend straight-up punched her friend in the eye and adding another chapter to the bittersweetness of the summer.
The next day, I wrote a letter to her explaining my feelings about the barriers that kept her from meeting the chocolate cutie and everything else about the summer that it was.
I said, “If you hadn’t gave me the advice on the chocolate cutie, I don’t think this whole thing would have happened.”
And it would have never happened.
