Shoe’s News: They call me The Shoe
By Tim “Shoe” Sullivan
Greetings to all of the Portage County Gazette readers. I’m Tim Sullivan, and they call me “The Shoe.”
Writing columns is nothing new to me. I’ve done it before. The nifty thing about doing a column is that you can choose whatever you want to write about. The hardest part is coming up with something.
Hopefully, my column will educate or inform you. You might on occasion even find it entertaining. For example, I could tell you that UWSP alum Terry Porter was the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2003, but you probably already knew that. Or what about Kathy Kinney of Stevens Point? She matriculated at SPASH and UWSP, and the local actress played Mimi Bobeck on television’s “The Drew Carey Show.” We could also talk about my cousin Peter Weller of Stevens Point. He was RoboCop in the 1987 cult classic of the same name. Perhaps you knew that too.
I bet you didn’t know that Blaine Reichelt, an NBA ref for 25 years, once lived above Partner’s Pub. His roomie Randy Wievel called Blaine “Goose,” and the nickname stuck.
It also might be news to you that Clint Kriewaldt, a UWSP linebacker and fullback (1995-98) made the opening tackle in Super Bowl XL when his Pittsburgh Steelers beat Seattle, 21-10. If you knew that one, you should go far in Jim Oliva’s Trivia.
Many people are aware that Stevens Point was founded by George Stevens, but he never really stayed here. Apparently George lived in what is now Wausau. And speaking of “Point,” here’s an odd one –kinda a chicken or egg deal – what came first, Stevens Point or the Point Brewery? Well, the Point Brewery was founded in 1857 by George Ruder and Franz Wahle, and the city of Stevens Point was incorporated the following year in 1858. How does that one grab ya? I imagine some folks were sitting around the brewery pub one day and said,“You know, we should actually build a city around this place.”
You can usually expect to see a dose of history in this column, and I’ll tell you now that I’m really big on names –names and nicknames. It’s fun to give people “some ink,” stories that they might clip out and stick up on the fridge.
The sky is the limit with this column gig. You might learn about the use of the chisel in western civilization, or I might just try to explain the infield fly rule. You never know. I could talk for hours about birds, streets, spaghetti, and wiffleball. Only the Shadow knows what’s coming up next.
My writing style is basically simple. I’ll make every effort not to end a sentence with a preposition. I know that’s something you heard of. Big words will also not abound in this space, although I have been known to use “pneumonoultrmicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis” on occasion.
Might even do a page on why participation medals are stupid. Or perhaps, a column on softball teams of yesteryear or an interview with that elderly gent who goes around picking up aluminum cans. Could even dig into some blurbs from the Facebook site “U.Y.”
Oh. One more thing before I go. I just recently learned that Sharon Tate actually was in 15 episodes of “The Beverly Hillbillies.” Do not tell me you knew that.
Hopefully, this will be a fun ride.