On my way to cheer on Nicholas’ Mudpuppies starting their new season at the ice rink in Wake Forest (they’d end up losing 3-1…boo hiss!), I was lucky enough to get my mother on the phone to make that trip much more interesting!
Our conversations on Mother’s Day tend to be somewhat wide-ranging starting with a bit of a recap of a very exhausting birthday (that was very enjoyable!) and some news about her grandchildren’s activities and ultimately ending up conversing about one of her favourite baseball managers who had just passed away (ironically a couple of days after Ted Turner, the owner of the Atlanta Braves during the Cox era, had also passed away).
You never quite know where the conversation will go when we get together or talk over the electric telephone.
I’d shared this story with a dear friend of mine on Facebook who had noted Bobby Cox’s passing about just how much fun it was watching Braves games knowing that when (and usually not if!) Bobby was going to have words with one or more of the umpires that we’d know exactly what was being said even after the microphones were cut to spare the audience the case of the vapours brought on by our delicate Southern ears being assaulted by the many naughty wordy derds that were likely to be deployed during said conversations:
Some of my best memories of Atlanta Braves baseball have Bobby Cox in them front and centre.
Especially the ones when the microphones in front of Skip Caray and Pete van Weiren would go silent and admire the sublime stylings of Bobby just warming to his subject as he’d be on his way to one of his record number of ejections.
Skip and Pete were most definitely Hall of Fame worthy announcers but my mother’s play-by-play including lip reading what Cox and the umps were saying was truly legendary that would often end with her going “oh…I don’t think he should have said *THAT*” right as the heave-ho signal was given!
Let’s just say that one word in particular was usually the last one I’d hear at least partially before she’d realise it and right before predicting his walk to the clubhouse behind the dugout!
Most of the time Bobby and the umps would have a chat about the weather just as much as how much of a bonehead whatever umpire had earned his ire was.
What most people would never truly appreciate was how many of those heave-hos allowed his player that was about to get tossed stay in the game and keep playing and that’s why you’d have to look very far and wide to find a player that didn’t adore playing for him knowing he had their back always.
Every now and then, the TBS cameras would catch a glimpse of him sitting just down the tunnel outside the view of the umps enjoying the show and continuing to manage the game.
It seems only fitting that Ted Turner and Bobby Cox would leave us together in the same week.
Certainly Ted made history by taking over a second-rate struggling TV channel in Atlanta (who else remembers WTBS on UHF Ch 17?) and a ball team that couldn’t draw flies unless you gave away free chicken dinners (and even then they still had a hell of a time filing Fulton County Stadium)…eventually building them into the Turner Media empire and “America’s Team” and forever change the news cycle to 24 hours with CNN.
But the Braves never would become “America’s Team” that was one of the first to be syndicated on a dedicated TV station if it wasn’t for Bobby Cox making the Braves relevant, then respectable, and finally in 1995…champions forever.
Rest in peace Bobby. And try not to call the Almighty “that word” if he occasionally blows a strike call, will ya?
But I have to say my favourite thing about this Mother’s Day is this picture taken by my sister Meghann of Mom in her happy place doing some form of crafting (it looks like scrap-booking to me but then I’m hardly a savvy crafter).
It’s definitely nice seeing her complexion decidedly closer to pink rather than the usual black-and-blue epic amount of bruising she’s been sporting of late having challenged the Earth’s gravitational acceleration (9.8 m/s2 downward!) multiple times and lost badly enough that it’s a miracle Fayetteville PD hasn’t taken one look at her and banged poor Meghann off to chokey to answer to charges of elder abuse!
That intense look of concentration may make one think otherwise but I can assure you that it’s really a scene of peace and contentment doing the crafting she’s enjoyed for years.
Were it not for the bowling alleys, this town would have no culture at all!
Quote referring to Orlando after the symphony disbanded and at one point was attributed to Pat Williams, GM of the Orlando Magic NBA team
I remember when she came to Orlando for my graduation from the University of Central Florida and I’d worked out all of the places I was going to show her before I got my degree and got the heck out of Florida for good.
And then I had to toss each and every one of them into the nearest rubbish bin and rejigger the tour itinerary because you know what she was really interested in seeing?
Yep, you guessed it…pretty much every craft store in the greater Orlando area from Altamonte Springs all the way to near the parks and International Drive! 🙂
Happy Mother’s Day to all those who celebrate and may your day also bring you peace and contentment! 🙂
