Pearlman on sportsjournalist.com: "long-faded turf"

Love what this thread has morphed into. I may have mentioned this, but I was at a hockey game where one of the opposing stars was a player Huggy knew very well. I went up to him afterward and introduced myself and said I was always told by (Huggy's real name) to say hello if our paths ever crossed. The player said that was cool and asked how I knew (Huggy's real name).

"Talking music on the Internet," I said. Seemed easier than explaining the whole thing.

 

All this thread is missing is someone indiscriminately chucking lemons.

 

And doing Rod Stewart covers in a hotel lounge!

 

When I found out HC and JR were Toronto types I offered them tickets to one of our games and they eventually came to a LOT of them over the years. (HC was the best anthem singer the league ever had.) We would chat at the games and eventually decided we should meet for a few drinks away from the rink one night so I remember going home and telling my wife that I was setting up a night out for us "with a couple I met online".

I am sure she was VERY skeptical but with that disclaimer out of the way she agreed and we have tried to meet up with them a couple times a year ever since.

 

You and I didn't necessarily clash here but tended to bump elbows.

Then we met at spnited's funeral and hugged it out and now, every so often, it's a joy to #caahoops you.

 

That's 11 years ago. Can you believe that?

I know it's on the Spnited RIP thread, but that introduction was so classic.

"Are you (real name)?"
"Yes."
"I'm (real name)." Then, in a hushed whisper like I was a fucking super secret spy revealing my identity, "I'm BYH."

 

I'm really bummed that I can't access this photobucket account unless I have the funeral photos under a different name there.

Started synching all photos to Google a few months AFTER the funeral.

But I do have this one of Ron Drogo, Little League USA superstar.

 

Thanks for checking in. Have a safe trip home from Beijing, Les.

 

Meeting Ron in Toronto was great. We had a really good chat about his days covering baseball.

 

What did he say covering Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson was like?

 

HC busted into a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner in a Toronto Tim's late one night in 2006, and it was a spiritual moment. She can sing.

A few years ago an old regular saw I'd be in his town. "E-mail me," he said. So I did, and we had a fun afternoon hitting up a few really good breweries. We'd met once before, at the first SJ outing (RIP to those), but it was like talking with an old friend.

Some of my most fun moments — usually at a drunken outing — have been spent with folks I've met here. Thank you for every one of them.

 

BYH(2) and I met when I was on my way home covering a game at Stony Brook probably a decade ago. Took me to a cool comedy show. We still riff on Twitter today. Tried to hang out in the fall when I was coming home from Maine but I couldn't get there in time. All to say, there were and all good people here, and I'd be totally down for any sort of meetup in the future.