[Update: 1/25 – Due to customs regulations, there was no Blackjack
the last two days. Drat!]
1/23…very late at night. The cruise con-tin-ues…
***Blackjack update: Your editor, down $150 and playing way too
recklessly with a bunch of real jerks at the table (meaning, folks
who don”t have to work another day in their life), stormed back to
win $70, thereby bringing his total trip earnings to $250.
But here”s the problem. You won”t believe this, but the Internet
has cost me about $750 the first five days. Ouch!!!!
—
And now, the formal Bar Chat.
*Folks, the nightmare continues…I”ll squeeze in more as the computer
system allows, daily, but until later, this is it.
ACC Quiz: The Atlantic Coast Conference, in celebration of its 50th
anniversary, has just published another list, this one of the “50 Greatest
Male Athletes.” [All Sports] 1) Name the only three golfers. Hint:
One is from a non-North Carolina school. 2) Name the four
baseball players. Hint: Each of the four was playing major league
ball as of last season. Answers below.
My QE2 Mini-Disaster
I don”t expect any sympathy, but thus far this has been a generally
lousy voyage. The biggest frustration, as some of you have already
gathered, is in the computer system. All day Tuesday, for example, I
wasn”t able to access e-mail, as it kept disconnecting, and the set-up
doesn”t allow you to work two applications at once, so it ain”t easy
for your editor.
But you”re thinking, who cares? Enjoy the boat. Well, the weather
has been absolutely awful and the last 2+ days we couldn”t even go
outside. They say the North Atlantic in the wintertime is the worst,
or down by South Africa, but the crew onboard admits the waves
we have been getting on our way to Hawaii rival some of the worst
they”ve had. I mean to tell you, consistently 25”+, with one
rogue monster that had the whole boat talking. I really thought
we had flipped over. At least I”m not getting sick.
But speaking of waves, one of my dinner companions is a veteran of
the transatlantic crossing and she said one winter, in the dead of night,
they were hit by a 96-foot wave. How did they know this, aside from
the awful feeling those awake had? There was seawater in the engine
room, which had come down the smokestack.
It really gives you an appreciation not only for “The Perfect Storm,”
but also just how brave those first chaps were who sailed the oceans
blue in their little dinghies. They were nuts.
Anyway, I did win another $10 at Blackjack last evening, extending
my trip winnings to $180, which means I paid for about 1 1/2 days of
Internet use.
Here are some other fun facts about the QE2, which, by the way, I
was misspelling and writing QE II…dope.
It has a capacity of 1,750 passengers…we have around 1,300
currently…and there are 980 crew. But get this, there are 56 life
rafts with a capacity of 1,400! Ergo, the math doesn”t quite add up.
The ship is 963 feet in length, which is small compared to the
behemoths being built today (the floating hotels), and we have 9
bars, though I am planting myself nightly at just one, the Golden
Lion Pub. I also learned that Heineken and Becks account for 50%
of beer consumed, while, personally, I am drinking mostly Carlsberg
draft.
One final note for now, I wasn”t being fair with the age information
the other day. There are more young people than I first thought. And
did I tell you I met Jack Jones? [Heh heh…that was for my brother,
who doesn”t understand why I”m a one-man Jack Jones fan club. And
Johnny Mac, Jack did sing “Love Boat” in his act. But as he put it,
“I”m doing this damn song whether you like it or not because it was a
hit.”]
New York Jock-Swinger
Overrated: Joe Namath – SI”s Phil Taylor notes few athletes have gotten
more out of one game than Joe Willie and Super Bowl III. In the nine
following seasons he didn”t win one important game. [Personally, I
still think he”s a God.] Namath threw 220 interceptions, versus just
173 touchdowns, but he parlayed the Big One into television
commercials and some forgettable movies and TV gigs.
Underrated: Walt ”Clyde” Frazier – And Clyde is as cool as ever, in
my opinion. Back in the New York Knicks” golden era, Clyde was
certainly as active on the Manhattan social circuit as Namath. “With
his wide-brimmed hats, muttonchop sideburns and Rolls-Royce,”
writes Taylor, “he had a groovy-stylishness that even Namath
couldn”t match.” Yet Frazier never got the endorsement opportunities
Joe Willie did, mostly because he was black, but also because some
of Frazier”s truly great moments on the court were never really
appreciated, including Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals, when Willis
Reed hobbled onto the court (after not being expected to play), giving
the Knicks a huge lift. But it was Frazier who dominated the game,
scoring 36 points and dishing out 19 assists. As Taylor notes,
“(It was) perhaps the most underappreciated big-game performance
in NBA history.”
Super Bowl Prediction
Boy, am I out of it, in terms of the big game this weekend. We
couldn”t catch last weekend”s playoff games on the television here,
though I didn”t miss anything, I guess, and I doubt we”ll be able
to get Sunday”s Super Bowl. But for the record, I”ll go with
Oakland, 16-10.
Top 3 songs for the week of 1/26/63: #1 “Walk Right In” (The
Rooftop Singers) #2 “Hey Paula” (Paul & Paula) #3 “Go Away
Little Girl” (Steve Lawrence…as the world eagerly awaited the
British Invasion).
ACC Quiz Answers: 1) Golfers in top 50 male athletes: Arnold
Palmer / Wake Forest, Curtis Strange / Wake Forest, David Duval /
Georgia Tech. 2) Baseball players: Kris Benson / Clemson, J.D.
Drew / Florida State, Nomar Garciaparra / Georgia Tech, B.J.
Surhoff / UNC.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday…plus daily updates above on my big
Blackjack effort…if you keep it where it is.
