They Called Him One...

Well we will get to that later. Shawn Sullivan A.K.A Sully, only about two years apart in age, however running in the same circles we seemed to always be on opposite sites in sports. He was a guard in basketball and I was a small forward/guard and we always seem to have the job of guarding each other. Sometimes it was not pretty as we spent a lot of time pushing and shoving and fouling each other, however after the game we could enjoy a beer together and swap stories of our individual triumphs.

In the summer, we played rec league softball on opposite teams. Sully played short stop on a team sponsored by a national fast food restaurant that may or may not have served a Big MAC, or was in the Big Mic? I played short stop for a team sponsored by a small-town insurance company.  

Over the years, we became very good friends and enjoyed the rivalry of our athletics as well as simply hanging out.  While I could not help Sully much with his insurance needs, Sully was most helpful at making me look like a God when I pulled through the drive through at McDowell’s. When he took the order, he would always have me pull over to wait for the order and when run the order out to my car himself. The bag would always contain extra burgers and a hug sack of extra fries making me a hero in the eyes of my buddies and a big man in the eyes of a date.

One Friday evening Sully’s and my team we playing in the rec softball league and Sully led off the inning with a single.  The next batter hit a ground ball to me which I bobbled a second, made a quick pivot and fired a throw to second base just as Sully was sliding in. The second basemen was late getting to the bag and my throw was low and right into the groin of Sully. I head a large “Pop” and a quick scream followed by a guttural grown.

We all gathered around Sully while he withered in pain in the dirt. There was not much we could do except wait and then help him from the field. Later that night while we were sitting having a beer Sans Sully I heard they took him to the hospital and had to remove one of his testicles!  Yes and now you know the rest of the story of “They Called Him One Nut Sully.”

Actually, I never called him that and was a little upset by the incident. I saw him a week later for the first time and he walked up to me and said, “Thanks a lot,” in a little squeaky made up voice. We both smiled and that was that.

We competed against each other for a couple more years and then drifted away and lost touch. I did hear  years later that he was happily married and had two kids. So I guess some guys can do more with one nut than some can with two.


Cheers
The Professor

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 14, 2017 at 12:53 PM

    Remind me to wear a cup around you going forward!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MySideOfTheBarApril 15, 2017 at 5:38 PM

      That's Right, also goes it you are behind my bar :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Riding the Rails, Clickety Clack

Image
A few weeks back we took the Amtrak from K.C. to Naperville Ill. and as usual we had a great time. If you have never taken the opportunity to travel by train you do not know what you are missing. I recommend for your first trip nothing over four hours just in case you may not enjoy train travel. Also this will keep the price at a minimum and I recommend choosing your travel dates that are not during the peek seasons. (From around June 15th to August 15th.) to avoid high ticket prices You will be pleasantly surprised by the size of the train cars and the size of the seats. The cars are two levels with the lower level where you put your luggage when boarding, handicap seating and the rest room/changing rooms. We generally sit in the club car (now called the observation car) where they have many booths and seats and then entire care is plexieglass so you can see the beautiful sites as you travel. You can even carry on your own food and drinks and yes this means you can carry on your own
Read more

A Spittoon and a Blanket

Yes, what I really meant was a chamber pot; however at one in the morning staging down the long dim hallway with the creaky wooden floors and facing the long stairway down to the bathroom spittoon was all I could think of. The evening started innocent enough as we were traversing the interstate from K.C. MO to NW Iowa for a visit. I did not have a drink until after 5:00 and I was not driving, but as usually I never went anywhere without my trusty ten shot flask. That day it was loaded with Buffalo Trace Bourbon. By the way it had been awhile since I had imbibed in Buffalo Trace and I had forgotten how good it was. We arrived at the farm and continued happy hour. As the night progressed I opened the new bottle of Four Roses (the official Bourbon of MySideOfTheBar) that Central Patti had purchased as part of a case and kept drinking throughout the night. As the night progressed and the bottle emptied we headed up the afore mentioned stairs and to bed. I woke a couple of hours later a
Read more

The Key West Cocktail Challenge

Image
Recently we were on the road with MySideOfTheBar in Key West with a couple of "Unusual Suspect" friends of ours. As you might expect we were in a bar when A.S. found a brochure for the Key West Cocktail Challenge. Also as you might expect we took up the challenge. The premise was easy, visit 6 participating bars, enjoy their signature cocktail and you get a T-Shirt. You can visit them in any order and take as long as you need to. (you could even do it in 6 days, but...) I am not going to try to describe each bar as you can follow the links to see and learn more. The first stop was The Green Parrot Bar . The Green Parrot is an open air old school bar that I absolutely loved. Their signature drink was Root Beer Barrel and at least two of us liked it ;) Stop two took us to Charlie Mac's and beside the great Signature Drink, it is also a BBQ joint. We only had the chicken wings, however they were awesome. The drink here was the Huckleberry Lemonade and I have to
Read more