Texas Baseball

[CharleyHorse46]

Weird how some things stick in ones mind.

I was just 2 when JFK was shot so I don’t remember that particular event as a crystalized moment in time like most folks from the generations ahead of mine do.  But I have vague memories (either real or imagined) of everybody in my family being rather shaken by something.

I do remamber where I was during the ice bowl, when Texas beat Arkansas 15 to 14 in 1969, when man walked on the moon, when I heard about RFK and MLK being assisanated, when I heard General MacArthur had died, LBJ’s funeral, George Wallace getting shot, when some lady tried to kill Ford, when Reagan (and Brady) were shot,  when John Lennon died, when John Belushi died, when the Challenger exploded, when the Federal Building in OKC exploded, when 9/11 transpired, and when VY beat USC.

[FearlessF]

Weird how some things stick in ones mind.

I was just 2 when JFK was shot so I don’t remember that particular event as a crystalized moment in time like most folks from the generations ahead of mine do.  But I have vague memories (either real or imagined) of everybody in my family being rather shaken by something.

I was less than two.  I do remember my mother sitting on the floor in front of the TV crying
Always thought it was JFK, but I was too young.
I assume it was MLK Jr.

[CharleyHorse46]

I said upthread that I remember hearing General MacArthur had died.  That can't be right because he died in 1964.

I remember being in the classroom of a school I attended from the fall of 1968 through the spring of 1970.  And I remember my teacher with a beehive hairdo making a big sentimental speech about how America had just lost a hero.  I think we had to draw and color pictures of army generals with stars and medals to commemorate this tragedy.

Must've been Eisenhower.

Seems like the stupid teacher would've mentioned he had been a president as well as an army general.  I mean sheesh.  She would've left a better impression on me instead of a 50 year misunderstanding.

Eh.  Maybe she did mention it and my mind was wandering at the time.

It was March of 1969 and I was seven, so I was probably thinking about Burt Hooton on the mound for Texas, or humming Sly and the Family Stone's Everyday People, or watching Susan Turner, the cute little squirmy blonde who wore short dresses and sat at the desk in front of me.

A busy man like me can't be expected to hear everything a teacher has to say.  I caught part of it.

[BrownCounty]

It was March of 1969 and I was seven, so I was probably thinking about Burt Hooton on the mound for Texas, or humming Sly and the Family Stone's Everyday People, or watching Susan Turner, the cute little squirmy blonde who wore short dresses and sat at the desk in front of me.

A busy man like me can't be expected to hear everything a teacher has to say.  I caught part of it.

You started early.

At 7, I was likely thinking about Roger Staubach's duel with Craig Morton, humming Sweet's Little Willy, or visualizing how I could keep my wheelie up for more than 20 feet.

Squirmy blonde in a short dress?  I would have never noticed.

[longhorn320]

I still remember very clearly where I was and who I was with when I heard JFK had been shot.

The only time I had a similar feeling was when the Challenger accident happened and of course 911

[CharleyHorse46]

You started early.

At 7, I was likely thinking about Roger Staubach's duel with Craig Morton, humming Sweet's Little Willy, or visualizing how I could keep my wheelie up for more than 20 feet.

Squirmy blonde in a short dress?  I would have never noticed.

Trust me, BC. You would have.
I may have mentioned that my heinous Okie accent landed me in the speech class two days a week with a stutterer, a stammerer, a French kid and seven Mexican nationals.
I was with my speech class on Track & Field Day when Susan competed in the standing long jump.  The length of her jump was unspectacular but her effort was memorable because when she came down, the hem of her short dress rose up to the middle of her back, exposing her undie-clad backend which elicited:
a g-g-g-g-golly from the stutter;
a mmm mmm mmm wow from the stammer;
an ooo la la from the french kid;
seven ai chihuahuas from the Mexican nationals; 
and a shazam from me
But that wasn't all.

[BrownCounty]

Trust me, BC. You would have.

I'm sure I would have, given the circumstance...

But one thing that holds true if you just leave nature alone - walk into a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade class.  The little boys are talking about sports, and the little girls are talking about little boys.

Hate to upset the apple cart.

[CharleyHorse46]

We had a kid in our class named Robbie Johnston.  In hindsight, he was clearly an ADHD kid, but back then we just called him bad.  He was occasionally amusing but constantly annoying.

The teachers disciplined him mercilessly but they probably got tired from time to time and let him just run amok.  On Track & Field Day he was sprinting all around, annoying everybody.

As Susan came down on both feet, Robbie ran by, yelled "Woo," and slapped her on the buttocks, knocking her to her knees.  Thus eliciting a second round of g-g-g-golly, mmm mmm wow, ooo la la and a smattering of ai chihuahuas.

Being the consummate gentleman, I withheld comment and hurried to Susan's side to help her up.  Alas, she scrambled to her feet and lit out after Robbie, screaming "Robbie!" before I could get there.

For a minute, Robbie was a god.  With his wreckless gall and absence of boundaries, he had not only reacted to Susan's allure but had incited her highly motivated interest and he had touched her.

The speech class and I hurried after Susan who hurried after Robbie and in a melee that ensued I tackled Robbie to ask the burning question:

What was it like?

What? he asked.

Touching her there, like that?  I asked.

Who?  he asked.

He had already forgotten.

Occasionally amusing.  Constantly annoying.

[utee94]

We called 'em "hyperactive" when I was a kid.  

I was just a "talker."  I was still getting sent out of class for "talking" in high school.  My 9th grade honors English teacher would just send me out, at least once every few weeks. I'd ask her "where should I go?" and she'd respond, "I don't care, just get out."  So I'd wander past the cafeteria, past the library, and past the principal's office.  At first they stopped me and asked me for a hall pass, I told 'em they needed to talk to Mrs. Pruitt because she threw me out of class without a hall pass.  Eventually they just got used to me wandering the halls during 4th period and left me alone.

My 11th grade Honors American Studies teacher took a different tack.  The classroom had 5 columns of chairs, but it was an Honors section so it only had enough student to fill three of them. We never had assigned seats but she made everyone else in the class sit in three colums to the right, and made me sit in the column to the far left, so that there was a full column of chairs in between us and there was nobody next to me for me to distract.

What she didn't realize, is that she had basically just put me on stage in front of the entire class.  And I just happened to be VERY into theater at the time.  Her mistake.