i don't know why

 the thought came to me

But why I'm here I really can't see, and now ( Collins/Van Zandt)

not sure what made me think about it, but something did.....and through the beauty of technology and the internet i was able to research and pinpoint the exact date of a trip i took so very long ago...

It was a Sunday afternoon in the Lief ( July 6th, 1986 to be exact) and a commercial came on TV for the next nights Monday Night Baseball telecast....the Free swinging Oakland Athletics against the unhittable 14-1 phenom Roger Clemens and the 1st place Red Sox from the confines of Fenway Park.....not only was this enticing us to tune in....but for me and Steve Collins we saw this as an invitation to fly up to Boston and attend the game....and so we did.

it was 38 years ago.....and i haven't thought about it much, but some details are crystal clear and others are not......we didn't realize at the time but in 3 short months the Mets would be up there battling the Bosox for the World Series....I remember it was brutally Hot......Steve looked it up.....July 7th was the hottest day of the year in Boston for 1986.......he also remembered that the beers in the concession were pre-poured and were warm and flat......things sure have changed in that regard....back in 86 each stadium only sold 1 or maybe 2 brands of beer....deal with it......and if they were warm ? tough.....

I remember our hotel was near the stadium....i know we drank in Cask & Flagon before the game....but not sure where we went after the game.....i remember that Canseco and Kingman homered off of the eventual CY Young and MVP pitcher and the A's won the game......i remember the next day drinking in Fannuel Hall at the Ames Plow... and on our flights back to Newark we gave the names Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter....nobody checked ID's back then.......sometimes it feels like a distant universe.

I miss old friends that I once had
Times ain't changed and I'll be glad when I go home