Bittersweet way of things, but still happy otherwise

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.

The cute snuggie wuggie cuggie

In looking back at 2006, today’s midday post will look back at number 70 on the countdown of the things, people, places, and sayings that made 2006 a year to remember.

Kids, long before Myspace became all the rage, there was a little social networking website that was called BlackPlanet.

Every single person on your street had a BlackPlanet page, whether it was your neighborhood candy lady or the neighborhood bully that rode around in a bike that was similar to the one Deebo rode in the classic Next Friday, BlackPlanet.com was the site you had to be on.

A year ago, a few days prior to Thanksgiving, I ended up adding a very cute girl to my then-neverending list of female friends on my Messenger list who lived in western Tennessee.

We talked off and on as friends for much of the holiday season, which was right around the same time that I was talking to someone at school that I met in the campus bookstore earlier in the semester.

With most of my female friends, the ones that I refer to in my column, almost half of them have nicknames that I give them in order to avoid putting people on blast in my column, which from the looks of things hasn’t brought up any problems among my friends.

It was during one of those talks we had on instant messenger that I ended up calling my friend “snuggie wuggie”, which was just something that I made up in a New York minute.

And of course, I had her blushing when she heard me say that.

As the spring came in, I spent less time on BlackPlanet.com because Myspace was now becoming the rage among my friends.

I had started a Myspace page a year ago, but never went to the page because I was too busy bonig up my friends list on Black Planet, of which their were many.

So by May, I ended up finding out that the “snuggie wuggie” was on Myspace and a few weeks later, she posted a bullentin about what her friends (including myself) thought of her introductory picture.

One of the lines in the message said leave a dirty message, which I couldn’t think of at the present moment because I was at work.

I said on one of her pictures, “I think you’re sexy as hell, that’s as dirty as I will get because I’m at work.”

When I returned home from the office, I got a reply from her that said, “Awwwww, aren’t you the sweetest thing.”

Paging Dr. Joye

In looking back at 2006, this afternoon’s post will look back at number 71 on the countdown of the 100 things, people, places, things, and unique sayings that made 2006 a year to remember.

A frequently forgotten fact about what transpired during the summer is what had happened almost two months before the season began.

I was very interested (to say the least) in a girl that I met two days after Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans in the campus bookstore at school and from the looks of things, everything seemed to be going well.

That is, until two weeks before her birthday, I ended up having some concerns about the status of what was going on between us, which was nothing more as I look back on it, a causal friendship.

Towards the end of January, I started explaining what was going on between me and the girl from the campus bookstore to a friend of a friend on Yahoo.

The tricky part was that I ended up trying to help her get hooked up with a friend of mine from my Whitehaven days, who similar to what would happen this summer with me, met her during the summer session at school.

And she ended up trying to convince me that I was at the time, sprung on the girl from the campus bookstore, which seemed to be very true at the beginning part of the year.

Her theory was that I always seemed to talk about her, had no other options, and I wanted to tell the world that I liked her excluding her.

Which was true.

When the game between Da Crew and the Bible Boys seemed to be a go, I explained to her that she could learn how to play basketball by coming to the Chris Walker Court at Gaston Park to see the greatest streetball game ever played in this city.

As the month of Feburary rolled around, it was apparent that the sprungness theory of Dr. Joye seemed to be very true to me as for the first time, I asked the girl from the campus bookstore out on a date for Valentine’s.

Dr. Joye’s response?

“Sprung.”

Or in this case, sprung times infinity on a sundae with even more sprung sprinkles.

Sounds delicious.

The last time that I actually paged Dr. Joye was when I added her to my endless number of friends on Myspace during the middle part of May.

By that time, her and my friend broke up over something that was really stupid and the sprungness theory that she had in Febuary seemed to be a complete hoax.

When I told her what happened with the girl from the bookstore, she asked me why didn’t the two of us hook up.

Which was something that I tried to figure what went wrong when the choke-job was finally complete.

Blogs were very interesting at times this year

In looking back at 2006, this afternoon’s post will look back at number 74 on the countdown of the 100 things that made this year a year to remember.

I began to keep a blog of everything that I did during the tail end of last summer when I felt that I had way too many stories to tell in my own words.

The blog that I once owned on Blogger, was a minor hit with people at Southwest, where I was a student for the beginning part of the year, mainly because I kept the students abreast on things that were happening around the campus at the corner of Manassas and Union.

Which was mainly drama from within the confines of Da Crew.

At the beginning of June, I began a new blog that I only updated in the afternoon on WordPress.com, which is why the URL is theafternoonsnooze.wordpress.con, a URL that sadly, I can’t change.

Aside from my blog, a few of my friends began to keep blogs as well, though they were not as widely read as my blog.

For a time, a couple of my friends, Robert and Joye, who were dating during the first part of March, wrote about their feelings in their respective blogs, which was pretty much a way to keep their thoughts on their courtship and share it with the world.

Not only that, Joye kept one on Myspace, which is linked from the blog you are read, and is very interesting if I might add.

My friend Tracy, given the fact that she read the morning blog religiously (as well as her cousin), began to keep one on Myspace about how she felt each day, which I don’t too much read because I’ve only been on her page a few times.

In the Galloway Gang, Jason wrote about one of the guys that used to help out on Saturdays who was in Palestine and kept us updated on his condition (keep him in your prayers) and discussed George Orwell’s 1984 as well as shows that he was attending around Memphis.

Meredith’s blog covered things about her soccer team’s season over at Houston High, dumb ideas, and just some random thoughts to her own life.

As for Jeff, he shared with us on how to get kicked out of Kroger at 2:00 a.m., emo music (which I’m a fan of), and things that will make you wonder why I named him one of my “pastors” at the former Myspace church that I owned.

Of course, the blog that you are reading now went from 200 hits in August, which was the total for the month, to over 4,000 hits going into December.

And it’s because of the columns that I have written, that the blog has been a success.

But more importantly, it’s the readers that make this blog a success.

Hope sprang courtship madness

In looking back at 2006, this evening’s post will look back at number 76 on the countdown at the events, things, people, places, and sayings that made 2006 a year to remember.

When the 2006 NCAA Tournament tipped off, it began the madness that we call March Madness.

And in Memphis, the only madness that surronded my friends was the madness that surronded their various courtships.

With me, it was still that cute girl from the campus bookstore that I met when the fall semester began two days after Hurricane Katrina and the winding down of what was supposed to be one of the biggest stories of the year as far as I was concerned.

Further south in Whitehaven, my friends Dr. Joye and Robert began talking to each other and dating, something that Robert waxed poetically about in his blog throughout the middle part of March, which seemed to be going well.

One of my friends in the church that I attend was also talking to someone that he met in Indianapolis during the New Year’s and unlike the two courtships, he managed to do something that neither myself or Robert could do.

Sustain a healthy courtship.

As the Tigers were making a run for the Final Four, my friend ended up going to Cleveland for his very first date with his friend and to be honest, it was a huge success.

He mentioned to me during some of the conversations the details and how his lady friend treated him almost like a king (well, almost) and the trips to the Cavaliers game, the museum in downtown Cleveland, and her son.

Of course, I like most of the people in the singles minstry was happy that he finally went through with the date.

It’s just a matter of whether the girl is the one for him.

Which is all put in God’s hands.

The day when sparks began to fly

In looking back at 2006, this afternoon’s post will look back at number 77 on the countdown of the 100 things, people, sayings, trends, and events that shaped this year.

 In one of the first emails that my big sister sent me four days after the start of one of the cutest summer stories in the history of Memphis professional baseball, she explained to me that the type of love that somewhat began to blossom on May 21st when the Redbirds faced Portland was the type of love that was only seen in movies.

Couldn’t agree more, if you ask me.

The day that began one of the cutest backstories in the history of Memphis professional baseball, was only a day removed from when I called my first walk-off home run when Timo Perez hit a smash into the rightfield bleachers to beat the Portland Beavers.

And only two days removed from when the Redbirds got their tails kicked six ways to Sunday.

Everything that I did prior to crossing paths with Michelle, Sharika, and the chocolate cutie seemed to be missing from my rapid-sharp memory.

The only exception was that I had bought a huge tub of popcorn to snack on before I went to the broadcast booth.

Knowing that before I did a broadcast, I always made it a point to stop by and talk to Sharika and Michelle for a brief spell before I went upstairs.

Little did I know that one of those times would change my entire summer and maybe my entire life.

After I bought the tub of popcorn, I walked over to a girl that was around the three and introduced myself as the guy that did Fan Radio.

A few minutes passed and I walked up to Michelle and given the fact that I can be very nervous at times around girls that I considered to be out my league, I did the next best thing.

Introduce myself.

And the same as last year when I did the game against Nashville, she said to me, “We know who you are.”

Same answer that Sharika gave me when I did the whole introducing thing.

Realizing that I saw the chocolate cutie who was looking out at the action on the field, I had to think fast of something to say.

“Y’all wanna take a picture together?” I asked the four as I wiped my forehead, which they obliged.

I walked over to the guy who was over the entertainment at the ballpark and showed him how to work the camera and what to do in order to view the subject that he is capturing.

When I showed him that, I heard the chocolae cutie say, “We’re waiting on him to get in the picture.”

And given the fact that I was on my way to the broadcast booth, I felt that I was not really trying to focus on getting in a picture.

But I went on and did anyway.

For some reason, prior to the picture being taken, the chocolate cutie looked at me with this weird look and a huge smile on her face.

As soon as the picture was snapped, I made a dash to the booth, but then something else came up.

In the back pocket of my jeans, I had a bunch of St. Louis Cardinals beads that were supposed to be for some other girl, but the girl was nowhere to be found.

Realizing that I wanted to get rid of them, I felt the next best thing was to give them to somebody.

So I went back and said in a very smooth yet shy tone, “Well, I have a bunch of Cardinals beads and I wanted to give the beads to a very pretty girl,” showing the red-and-white beads to the four of them.

Of course to this very day, I’m not sure if the chocolate cutie ever got those beads because everything seemed to be a blur right after I got in the picture with them.

When I got in the broadcast booth, I said over the air during a point in the sixth inning, that I was going to change my home run call, which was up to that point, “Open the door, Miss Angie!!!!” to a home run call in honor of the chocolate cutie.

For some reason, the wind blew everything that I had in front of me when I came to a pause and caught myself saying that I was going to change my home run call, feeling as though it would be a very dumb idea to do that.

Of course, as the summer progressed, I didn’t regret that decision of doing that.

“The Omen”

In looking back at 2006, today’s flashback will look at number 78 on the countdown of the things, people and moments that made this a year to remember.

About three weeks before the most romantic moment in the history of Memphis professional baseball, I received an email from my big sister Krystal about the column that I wrote on June 19th about how in the world did I end up going from a journeyman writer who was known for his volatile temper and problems with almost anybody or anything that he came into contact to a guy that is now known for the most romantic moment in the history of Memphis professional baseball.

When I scrolled down to the end of her response to my column, one of the lines, went along the lines of saying,”Miss Candy’s gonna make you famous faster than you thought.”

Of course at the time, I was only known for one thing, that I went to school with a few of the Redhots.

So the idea of doing something for a friend or in this case, a girl that I liked, wasn’t really something that would gravitate any attention towards me as I did the Fan Radio broadcasts.

My own objective of doing the games was to try my hand at baseball broadcasting and see if it would work out as a career as well as my other ambition, being a sportswriter.

The belief of the “Doc and Miss Candy Show” actually happening didn’t strike me until I did the “Two Girls and a Doc Show” on June 25th when the Redbirds faced the Isotopes at Autozone Park with Michelle and Sharika.

As I mentioned before in one of my flashback entries, I asked Michelle did the chocolate cutie ever get the secret admirer note that I gave her to give to the chocolate cutie on May 24th when the Redbirds faced Tacoma.

“She’s normally the first one that gets here, so I left it where she could get it,” she replied.

For some reason, I asked Abbey when I caught up with her after I finished up the “Two Girls and a Doc Show” did anyone in the Redbirds organization find out about my plan to bring the chocolate cutie in the broadcast booth.

“Top secret,” she replied as I wiped the sweat off my forehead with my Cardinals hat.

“So no one knows?” I asked.

“No one.”

As the game progressed into the eighth inning, I ran into Michelle and Sharika again prior to heading up into the broadcast booth to do the final two innings of the Isotopes-Redbirds game and explained to them that this, like most of the pursuits or things that I have tried to do by impressing a girl in the past, was going to backfire.

“She was telling us about coming up in the booth,” Michelle said to me as I looked at the action.

Knowing that Michelle and I were on the yearbook staff together at Whitehaven High School, which was the same staff that the girl I had a crush on during my senior year was on, I quickly explained to her that there’s no way that I can pull this off.

Absolutely no way.

Before I left for the booth, Michelle said this to me.

“How can you let what happened to you in high school dictate what happens now?”

As I moved through the sea of people to find Abbey, I ran into the chocolate cutie who waved to me and we exchanged hugs.

Out of the blue, I asked her about the thing of coming up in the broadcast booth on the Fourth of July.

“I haven’t even got my work schedule,” she replied.

And much like the day that I admitted to liking her, she gave me a little nudge on my shoulder as I made my way to the booth.

No big deal.

In the eighth inning, I noticed that some of the cheerleaders were down on the second level tending to the guests from where I was in the broadcast booth.

Over the air, I said about my next broadcast from the confines of Autozone Park which went along the lines of saying, “We might have a very special guest on the Doc Hancock Show when the Redbirds face the Nashville Sounds on July 4th from beautiful Autozone Park.”

I also made a mention that there was also going to be a big fireworks extravangza after the game and some fireworks in the broadcast booth because of the special guest.

The kiss of death, if you ask me.

When I signed off the air after the game was over, I made my way down the hall and to my surprise, the chocolate cutie was hiding out in the press row area.

“What the-”, I said as I looked at her, stammering my words like a stutter.

Apparently she didn’t say anything, but she got out of the corner she was hiding in and the two of us walked together down the hall and for the life of me, I couldn’t find any words to say.

Then for some reason, she ends up running down the stairs that lead to the main foyer to head back to the field.

The day before the Fourth, I talked to a co-worker about the chocolate cutie coming up in the press row area after the game on June 25th.

“Have you ever seen her up there before?” my co-worker asked me.

“Once, when I did the broadcast between New Orleans and the Redbirds on June 4th,” I replied, “and she was busy with some people that came in from Collierville while I was headed to the booth.”

“Who was she with on the day that you saw her up there?”

“No one,” I said,”She was by herself.”

“She has her eye on you,” my co-worker said to me.

The Myspace domino effect

In looking back at 2006, this morning’s post will look back at number 79 on the countdown of the 100 things, people, places, and events that made 2006 a year to remember for me.

When I was growing up, I remembered there was this game called Dominio Rally that I would play when I would spend time at my cousin’s house.

I don’t remember the objective of the game because it has been thirteen years since I played it, but the way that the number of friends that I have on Myspace, the domino effect of adding friends became the main reason why as of this writing, I’m closing in on 500 friends.

And pretty much everyone on my friends list is connected to each other as if it was a social domino effect in the city of Memphis.

For example, I added Robert (sax-playing sidekick from my Whitehaven days), who added Dr. Joye (had a theory of sprungess), who in turn added Darius (the third Musketeer), who in turn added his sister (who confuses me with my cousin whenever I talk to her), which would be the friend tree of Dr. Robert Phillips.

Notice the picture, folks?

I added Dr. Jason Smith, who in turn added Dr. Jeff Smith, who in turn added Rev. Rainey, who added Dr. Adam Hite, who in turn added Nathalie, who in turn added Annie, who would add Lydia, who then later added Elizabeth, who then added Meredith, who added Kelsey, who in turn added the new member of the Galloway Gang, Christy to her friend list.

The friend tree of Dr. Jason Smith.

I added Michelle to my friend list, who in turn added Sharika (the witness to Memphis professional baseball history), who added Jamiliah to her friends list, who added her cousin (who keeps calling me ‘Pumpkin’), who added Adrice (who worked at the community center up north).

Which would be considered the friend tree of Michelle.

The same thing could be said when I added Tammy to my friend list, who added Kim (won’t go into detail) who in turned added people out of the friend trees of both Robert and Michelle to form one large Myspace domino effect in Whitehaven.

You’d think the domino effect wouldn’t reach the corner of South Third and Union, but that’s where you’re wrong.

I added Lauretta, who in turn added Singing Phillip, who in turn added Abbey (my other “big sis”), who in turn added Michelle, who added Kelly, who then added me,who then added Sabrina, who added Katie, who added Chris Naverson.

And created yet another domino effect on Myspace from the corner of South Third and Union and interlock with the dominoes that are falling into place thanks in part to the connections made through the three friend trees I mentioned before.

The thing is, what other person will be part of that ever-so increasing domino that we call Myspace?

Could be you, the reader.

Put your stunna glasses on and melt away

This afternoon’s post will look back at number 80 on the countdown of the 100 events, people, and things that made 2006 a year to remember.

One of the biggest songs of the year was the anthem to the “stunna frames” by rapper Nakia Shine, a proud native of Frayser, who had everyone wearing stunna frames around the city.

Even babies and elderly people were wearing the shades.

Of course, I don’t think a song about wearing eyeglasses in order to correct squinting in my right eye would cause a blip on the national rap radar.

I had figured that I needed glasses to correct the squinting that I had in my right eye that bugged me for about a week or so in the middle of June, when the Redbirds were in the middle of the longest homestand of the year.

So on a warm Friday afternoon, I went down to Fisher Optical in the Medical Center to buy some glasses to correct the squinting and made a mental note to wear the glasses when I did the broadcast on Father’s Day so I could be able to read the out-of-town scores.

And try to avoid being seen by the chocolate cutie, whom four days prior to that, I admitted my feelings to when I did the game between Oklahoma and the Redbirds and used the home run call for the first time

I was called to do the game on Father’s Day when the Redbirds faced the Omaha Royals, which would be the first game that I did since I admitted to the chocolate cutie that I liked her four days earlier.

And used that quasi-famous home run call for the first time.

When I entered the ballpark among thousands of people that were there to enjoy the day with their families, I figured that there’s no way that somebody is going to spot you out of 10,000 or so people in a ballpark.

I had turned the other way towards the Entry Plaza and tried to focus on getting prepared for the game and meeting up with Abbey to see what innings would I do that day.

And knowing how a couple of days earlier, my big sister mentioned to me that I was going to melt if I saw the chocolate cutie again, mainly because well, my big sister is normally right on these type of things.

So once I got near the middle of the Entry Plaza, to my right I heard a voice near the main entrance.

“Hey, honey,” I heard. It was the chocolate cutie.

Logic told me that no one spots you out of 10,000 people just out of the blue, especially a girl.

And definitely not a girl that you see every once in a while when you do the Fan Radio broadcasts.

When the chocolate cutie said that, I paid no attention to it, figuring it was because she was just trying to be nice and stuff.

Four days earlier, I was standing in the concourse area and was listening to Michael Jackson’s “Butterflies” play over the loudspeakers prior to me admitting to the chocolate cutie that I liked her.

Replacing Michael on the loudspeakers was his brother Jermaine’s song, “Do What You Do” as I went to get the scorecards and write the lineup.

As I was doing that, I figured that I should go back over to where the chocolate cutie was and say hi.

And make some little talk and be on my way.

I went back over to the Entry Plaza and said hi to the chocolate cutie, who by my surprise was wanting to know where I was for the last four days.

“Well, I work as a consuelor for parents at Porter-Leath,” I answered, “I missed you too.”

I brought up the home run call that I did when Mike Rose hit the homer in the bottom of the ninth inning of the game that I did between Oklahoma and the Redbirds four days earlier.

“Well, I wish I could have heard it,” she said.

And much like what happened on June 4th, the two of us looked into each other eyes for maybe 20 or so seconds as gray clouds formed over the ballpark.

I attempted though, to get to know her, but apparently not thinking, I figured it was the wrong time to do it as people kept pouring into the gates.

I talked to my big sister about what happened at the corner of South Third and Union Avenue later on that day and asked her why would the chocolate cutie be so concerned about where I had been for the last four days.

My sister’s response?

“Bro, she sounds like she’s interested in you the same way that you’re interested in her. Her questioning of your whereabouts is a sign that she’s into you.”

Enough said then.

“The Icebreaker”

In continuing with the top 100 events of 2006, this afternoon’s post will look back at number 86, when a Cardinals hat became an icebreaker.

For a guy that is normally shy around girls that he likes, the idea of trying to talk to a girl down at the corner of South Third and Union that I would see every once in a while was pretty much as laughable as George Bush and Kanye West collaborating on a track.

I had bought a Cardinals hat about a week before I did my next broadcast for Fan Radio, which was going to be during the second series with the Zephrys at the beginning of June.

As I did with a hat back in May, I figured that I would get the hat signed, this time for myself because the one I got signed in May was for my then-boss, who would be the guest in the booth on June 4th, when I did the game between the Zephrys and Redbirds.

Before the game, I went up to Kevin Estrada, Shaun Boyd, and Brian Esposito (the “legendary prankster”) and got them to sign my hat as well as a few of the Redhots prior to the game, which would make for a nice group of signature to wear on my head.

As I walked around looking for my then-boss, who caught up with me as I walked on the Boardwalk along the third-base side of the ballpark, I tried to see who was the girl out in the Entry Plaza.

Figuring that it might be the chocolate cutie and fearing that she might know about the secret admirer note that I wrote in a car two weeks before, I walked over to the other girl who was standing at the gate and asked if she would sign my hat, which she obliged.

After she signed the hat, I could feel my heart racing as I looked at the chocolate cutie and given the fact that I have an uneasy time talking to girls that I like, I figured the only thing I could say at the time was could I have her autograph.

When that happened, she knew about another hat that I got signed, which I explained to her, was a hat for my then-boss at my job that I got signed when the Redbirds faced the Zephrys on May 3rd.

And thinking that she didn’t know who I was, I said to her, “I’m Michelle and Sharika’s friend, Ryne.”

To my surprise, she remembered who I was and told me, “They said that you went to school with them.”

“Yeah,” I said, “I did.”

I don’t remember much of what was said afterwards by me, but I started to think of something to say, maybe some things about her, but for a minute I stood there and said nothing but look at her face.

When I finally thought of something to say after about 15 seconds, I said to her, “Well I do Fan Radio and I was wondering if I could use your name in my home run call, because I think you’re very cute.”

And then she was like, “What’s my name?”

If it was a Hilderbeast-looking girl, I probably would have forgotten.

But a girl as cute as that, not in a million years.