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That crazy October 1989 day at the Stick lives on . . .
by sgr2 on Fri Oct 22nd, 2010 at 10:56:36 AM EST
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for sure.  i had my back to the stadium, so was looking out over the fifty rows of cars, when i saw their roofs roll like waves coming in. i knew what it was, spread my legs and surfed it in shock.

i took me almost five minutes to realize, damn, that was a big one. at about 7 minutes i saw the first ashen faces descending the long escalator from the upper deck, then i realized i had also spun and saw the light standards in motion. at about ten minutes came the news a section of the
Bay Bridge was down.

first thought, my car's in the first row, i'm outta here, where's my son. picked my way through so rubble strewn streets and got home to find he'd already gone down to the Marina.

over the next days learned much about the psychology of severe earthquakes.  some great baseball stories too as amurka's baseball elite gathered to drink at the Washbag.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Oct 22nd, 2010 at 07:18:18 PM EST
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Your missive brought back many remembrances CH. A day etched forever in the memories of all who experienced it. Some of us thought it was lights out forever. As it turned out, it was lights out for a few days only. One of the things I remember the most was how courteous everyone was to one another. No street lights on busy Van Ness. And four way stops at all the intersections, with everyone motioning for the other guy to go first. Simply amazing.

And your mention of SF's most venerable watering hole, the good old Washbag. Everybody's got a story about that swell place. Much better (IMO anyway) before Moose sold it and departed for across the way though. While it wasn't exactly a 'baseball' team, do you remember his beloved Les Lapin Sauvages? Oh, those were the days.

by sgr2 on Sat Oct 23rd, 2010 at 02:08:30 PM EST
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Oh yes i do, complete with Ron Fimrite, one of the great baseball writers. There was indeed some brilliant debauching in those weeks, as pretty much a who's who of baseball got souced there each night.

Les Lapin Sauvages?  ja, i remember when they invited a team from russia for a match. i was so enthralled to meet some very famous russians i ran up russian hill (to my home) to get some real amurkan baseballs for them to bring back to the land where baseball and pizza were invented.

god they made great drinks. god we made great conversation.

(i'll be back there 2nd week december, god willing and the creeks don't rise.)

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Sat Oct 23rd, 2010 at 05:26:04 PM EST
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great drinks + great conversation = a winning combination.

well give my regards to beautiful Baghdad by the Bay and hoist one (or more) for me while you're there, will ya?

(if Uribe keeps hitting 'em like he did last night, the WS will surely be won by your Jints!)

by sgr2 on Sun Oct 24th, 2010 at 10:45:32 AM EST
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