Shoe Column: This and that
By Tim “Shoe” Sullivan
I’d like to see a “Letters to the Editor” column in the Gazette. You know, a reader participation thing.
I recently did a column on numbers. It got a lot of feedback on Facebook. Emily Woolridge correctly pointed out that my mentioning of “100 Dalmatians” was incorrect. It should’ve been “101 Dalmatians.”
Tom LaBoda said that I missed “Jenny 867-5309”, a song by Tommy Tutone.
John Lawlis brought up the fact that Yankee Hall of Famer Bill Dickey’s jersey number was 8. And my dentist Timmy Cooper agreed with him.
Bob Gollonik had several numbers to add to the list. Like “21-gun salute”…”23 skidoo”…”20,000 Leagues Under The Sea”…and “300” game in bowling. (By the way, Bob was one of the area’s top bowlers back in the day).
We should also have a complaint department. We had one where I worked years ago. A little old lady named Helen was in charge. She married a Mr. Waite. So when someone had a complaint, we’d tell them to go to Helen Waite.
Who named the streets in Stevens Point? Why is Prairie Street closer to the river than Water Street?
One thing I enjoy doing every Friday at noon is going to the Final Score for heavy discussion. There’s usually Jim Billings of Fort Dodge, Iowa, his son Jay, a fun guy named “Rings”, Tom Quimby, Mike Donlan, and Ashley Balfanz. They all sit around and come up with trivia questions, usually about sports. The sessions are quite educational. This one came up the other day: Adam Vinatieri was an outstanding placekicker in the NFL for 24 seasons. Do you know that his third cousin is daredevil Evel Knievel? And Adam has some great family history. His great-great grandfather was Felix Vinatieri, General Custer’s bandmaster. And on one fatal day, Custer told Felix to go back to the camp instead of proceeding with the regiment to the Little Big Horn. Crazy Horse and the Sioux wiped out Custer’s entire regiment a few hours later.
Here’s another one that made the rounds at the Score: Name the six state capitals west of Los Angeles. Good luck getting that sixth one.
By the way, that “Rings” (Keith Ringberg) is hilarious.
Another column I’d like to see in the Gazette would be a Divorce page. You know, like quote the sad couple. Joe said Mary spends too much. Mary can’t stand Joe’s snoring. It would be the first thing I read every week.
The Final Score “roundtable” also asked if Stevens Point was the only city where a brewery was there before the city? The second building in “Point” was a tavern. (The first was a lumber storage building). The Stevens Point Brewery is believed to be the fifth oldest brewery in the country. It was founded in 1857. Four years before the Civil War. Stevens Point was incorporated in 1858.
The Pillsbury Doughboy’s wife divorced him when he ran our of bread. She also had a bun in the oven.
Took a walk downtown on the Square the other day. That lit-up Christmas tree is awesome.
When everything is said and done, more is said than done.
The other day, I was cleaning out a closet in the basement. And what did I find? A little kid’s record player.
From 1960. And it still works.
A “45” was on it. “The Wanderer” by Dion & The Belmonts. My first record. Bought it from Graham-Lane downtown.
So what was your first record? Everyone should remember.