A former casual acquaintance of mine, Jimmy Wynn, aka "The Toy Cannon" former player for the Houston Astros, has just died at 78. I met Mr. Wynn at a Super Bowl in Houston when the Minnesota Vikings lost me a few thousand dollars.. I honestly don't even remember who they played--Miami? Doesn't matter and I'm not looking it up. I imagine most people who went to a Super Bowl would remember who played but I'm 77 and don't care any more. Anyway, we had seats on the 50-yard line and Jimmy sat directly behind us. I spent the entire ballgame talking to him--he was far more interesting than the game. (Did I mention I lost several thousand dollars on it? That, I remember.) Anyway, he was fun to talk to and I remember him much more than the lousy game (on which I lost a lot of money...) The entire game cost me $100, believe it or not. I belonged to a group of gamblers--high-rollers--led by a guy named Stan Pitzak, who owned the Linebacker Inn, across from where I worked near Notre Dame,. and Stan had his own plane on which he flew a bunch of us down on. The game was supposed to be in the Super Dome, but they had flooding or something and it was moved to Rice Stadium,. Where I lost a few thousand dollars and met Jimmy Wynn. We ate afterwards at a seafood restaurant just across from the San Jacinto Monument and when I returned home and mentioned to my mother where we'd eaten she told us my great grandparents had founded the restaurant. I think this story is in my memoir, Adenaline Junkie, but not sure. After all, I'm 77. I do remember I lost several thousand dollars betting on that sorry QB Fran Tarkenton, who continued to throw passes to receivers covered by multiple defenders, ignoring wide-open receivers who were begging for the ball, but seemed to be in Mr. Tarkenton's blind spot. That was the main subject of our conversation--Mr. Tarkenton's bad eyesight, which was costing Jimmy some hard-earned greenbacks as well. Never seen a TV broadcast of that game so don't know if it was obvious on TV as well, but it sure was to our group of gamblers and Mr. Wynn, who I believe had excellent eyesight. RIP, Jimmy! You could sure rip the cover off a baseball.
Blue skies,
Les
Posts
