My wife’s the coolest. Somehow she managed to find me a North Valley League Bears baseball jersey (c. 1976 — a second place finish for the Bears that year), complete with a hand-stitched “Chico’s Bail Bonds” sponsor patch on the back and a small, pale-blue Bear patch on the left sleeve. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about — shame on you! Really! I mean, for the love of Tanner Boyle, get thee to a Blockbuster! For those of you who do know — and I trust you to be legion — she bought me a number 3 jersey, a Kelly Leak (who I still say beat that tag at home plate, which would have tied up the game). At any rate, the jersey sure* does bring back memories…

Speaking of which — whatever happened to that Amanda Whurlitzer kid, anyway? She had a nasty hook, that chick — and the most tantalizing knuckler you’ve ever seen (‘t came right up to the plate and disappeared, like a-a…ball of melted ice cream…). I heard Timmy Lupus got hooked on heroin, then cleaned himself up and became a veterinarian (he lives in Bakersfield, from what I understand, where he specializes in canine pulminary medicine) — but I lost track of Amanda in the mid 80s, around the time she dropped out of UC-Santa Cruz to follow Echo and the Bunneymen on their “UK and Beyond” concert tour…

[*It occurs to me that the contextual homonym, “the Jersey Shore,” brings back memories, too — a story for another time (when I’m feelin’ a bit daffy…)]

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