Thursday, April 7, 2016

National Beer Day

Prohibition was pretty much a disaster from the start. Woodrow Wilson vetoed the bill but Congress in their wisdom overrode the President. Thirteen years later Franklin Roosevelt lifted the ban on alcohol and it became legal again April 7th which is today thus the National Beer Day. There's a wonderful picture of a giant crowd on Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee as far as the eye can see celebrating it. All that silly law accomplished is make a bunch of gangsters and bootleggers filthy rich.

I'm sad to hear that former NBA player and coach Jerry Sloan has Parkinson's Disease and a form of dementia. He played for the Chicago Bulls and coached the Utah Jazz for an eternity. I'll always remember him for spending a summer afternoon with me and my friends playing hoops and talking basketball.

My high school coach knew Jerry so he came to a basketball clinic at a small shopping center in my hometown of Yorkville, Il. He was just coming off major knee surgery but he shot baskets with about a dozen of us for a couple hours and we sat at a table and talked basketball with him. He wasn't in any hurry and seemed to be having as much fun as us. He was a small town guy who never lost touch with his roots.

As a player he was a ferocious. One of the toughest defenders who ever played the game. He had his nose broken multiple times. Nobody else was tougher and that goes for the modern players as well. I've always said he was one of the few guys who would have been able to slow Michael Jordan down a bit. I know one thing about Jerry, he will fight this to the bitter end. Go Jerry!!!

Later

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