Thursday, January 31, 2013

Cold and In The Way

Deep in the heart of the Great Northeast lies an old logging town, Bangor, Maine. It's population, once pushing 60k is around 30k these days and the major industry--wait for it-- is a cheesy slot machine parlor with a five story hotel attached. Across the seat from the Hollywood Slots, um, campus is the venerable Bangor Municipal Auditorium which has hosted second and third rate acts and basketball tournaments for decades. For example, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry once made a joint appearance there in the 1950's.

The dump is reportedly being replaced by a new facility funded by-- wait for it--- gambling revenues. But whilst it stands, our favorite traveling road show, Joe and Obie, have for years made an annual pilgrimage (for pay, I hope) to keep the Faithful Warm in the Frozen Tundra of Penbscot County. Oftentimes, the highlight is to see how Joe and Obie have held to their weight loss regimen during the off-season. This year? Rather Well!

Spring is definitely coming, since they have made their way there. The Bangor Daily News (really) has a detailed article recounting their relatively standardized "hope" for the 2013 season. e.g.

“We’ll have to see how it all comes together but what I like is they now have enough guys who know how to pull on the same side of the rope,” added O’Brien. “They are in it for each other. They’ve brought in guys with that reputation like Victorino, Napoli, Gomes and Dempster to go with guys they’ve kept [with that reputation] like [David] Ortiz and [Dustin] Pedroia.”


Oh, cool

Read it for yourself.

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