For Bob

This weekend I’m going back to Virginia Beach for Bob’s wedding. Bob’s made it into a few posts, and has even left a few comments to keep me honest. Since, I’m a quiet heart in a tinderbox kind of guy, I’m going to use this space to say a few words about the greatness that is Bob, my best friend.

As previously posted, I met Bob at Casablanca. I met him through another guy I met their Josh. There were three things that our friendship first became based on: baseball, movies, and the Afghan Whigs. He’s also a funny, funny bitch. He gave me the first nickname I didn’t really mind: “Film School.”

So we’d hang out at the café for hours talking shit with friends and smoking cigarettes. We’d go to bars. Sing Karaoke at The Jewish Mother. Play poker till three in the morning. He’d kick my ass at EA’s Triple Play. We spent way too much time at Waffle House, and IHOP. Now I offer up my favorite Bob moments.

Baseball Trips: Being an avid baseball fan, yet never having any friends that shared the same passion, can suck at times. You want to complain about your favorite team, share your excitement for opening day, or bitch about the Yankees, and you get blank stares. We were both raised baseball fans by our fathers. Bob though is a Met fan. We don’t hold our team affiliations against each other. Three times we’ve done the baseball trip thing. The first one was sort of a warm up for big week long trip that was on the horizon. We went to Fenway to see the Red Sox play the Twins. We hung out around Boston for a couple days. The baseball gods were smiling down on us though. As we walked up Yawkey Way, we saw people passing out K’s. This meant only one thing. Pedro was pitching that night. I will also say this about Bob. The whole time there he wore his Mets hat. I thought for sure somebody was going to say something. Next to wearing a Yankees hat, that’s probably the worst hat you can wear in Boston.

Our big trip came in the next couple weeks. We hit four parks in a week, which really doesn’t seem that much, except the second park we went to was Wrigley. We did Baltimore, Wrigley, Shea, and Yankee. Wrigley and Shea were the obvious highlights. Shea though topped them all. Bob and I went early and just hung out at the ballpark parking lot. We watched some of the players come in. Hal McRae was our favorite because he played for both the Mets and Cubs. He also sucked for both teams. We both had great reasons to mock him, and mock him we did. The game was the Mets and Cubs. We had great seats. It was also of all things Meringue Night. The place was packed, and jumping. This was at the height of Sosa mania so there were also quite a few bandwagon Cubs fans. There was even a guy running around the park dressed to hilt as Sosa. The odd thing was that they honored Sammy Sosa. Which if you’re a Mets fan had to get under your skin. I know it got Bob fuming. The Mets won the game, so justice was served. We left as the Meringue concert was just starting. The place was still jumping.

The third trip was when Bob flew out to visit me on the West Coast. In between trips to Roscoe’s we hit the three Southern California ballparks: Dodgers, Angels, and San Diego. The best was easily San Diego. Even though it was an interleague game between the Mariners and Padres it was a blast. Eddie Money was playing a concert outside, we had great seats, and we saw John Olerud hit for the cycle. He is so slow.

Jail Time: One night I was arrested for supposedly driving with an expired license. I’ll share that story some other time. I ended up having to walk a mile to a 7-11 from the Police Station when they released me. Stuck out in the middle of nowhere and with my car impounded, I had to rely on my friends to pick me up. After one friend refused to pick me up, it was Bob and my roommate Dave that actually showed up. I hadn’t even been able to call Bob from the pay phone, but since I didn’t show up at the diner he came looking for me. That’s a friend. Big ups to Dave Baldwin too for showing up.

Late Nights: Because I worked nights as a delivery man for PaPa John’s I took full advantage of my night owl life style. My cohort was always Bob. We’d hit the diners or go to Taco Bell right before they closed. We’d wander Wal-Mart to see what new Star Wars figures they got. Good times.

My Mom: The first friend I called when my Mom died was Bob. He was the friend I needed at that moment. He understood. He knew he didn’t need to say anything. He knew I just needed a friend to talk to. Bob also ended up being one of my few friends to have actually met her. That seems fitting.

Top Bob Songs:

Prince-Let’s Go Crazy: The greatest karaoke performance I’d ever seen.

Any Afghan Whigs song: I should also say that this is one of my main regrets. I never got to see the Whigs with Bob. Every time we planned to go, something would happen. Dulli got hurt once. I got arrested. Etc.

Elvis-You Were Always on My Mind: This became the theme song of our week long baseball trip.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-Bellbottoms: Bob bought the Orange album on the trip to Boston. It became the staple album of that trip.

Easy-The Commodores: My last night in Virginia Beach, I said my goodbyes. Bob being the last. It was rather tearful. As drove back to my place, Easy was playing on the radio. I later found out that Bob was listening to Easy as well as he drove home.

One final minor regret is that during all the trips and other adventures I’ve had with Bob, and I don’t have one single picture of Bob. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have one of me either. I ended up having to steal this off the website for the radio station he works at.

There we go. These are really only snippets of the greatness of Bob, but I hope you get the idea. There are tons of other stories I may share along the way. So to Bob the best friend anyone could ever have. May God bless you as you start another chapter.