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I know sometimes I get pretty windy. I'm so grateful I've had such a great life and met so many wonderful people. I never forget.....if it wasn't for Basketball, I might have ended up as a failure. Basketball touches so many lives and the stories seldom get told.....
It's 1966.....my lost years. I'm living in a tent on Venice Beach. I'm wasting my life.....reffing Beach Rec League Games for chump change and chasing California Girls until my feet hurt.
One night, a couple of the girls and I were sitting in front of my tent reading my new copy of the Official's Manual by the fire light. I see this sadsack Ivy-League kid walking by.....I could tell he was down so I yell,
"Hey, pardner! C'mon over...we got some extra Bali Hi."
He comes over. I tell him to take off the bow tie. Pretty soon he spills his story. He's got a chance to get into Rock Band with some dymamite musicians. All he's got to do is write some lyrics.
I say, "So let's hear what you got."
The kid pulls out a sheet of paper and croons,
"Why do you build me up,
B-u-t-t-e-r-c-u-p, baby.
Just to let me down....."
"Stop! Stop it!", I screamed.
"Kid....I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Mahatma Ghandi....you don't get nowhere sitting down. You wanna be the Leader of a Rock Band? God gives us all a PURPOSE in life. Rock Musicians are put on earth to be one thing....BAD EXAMPLES! That gives Basketball Coaches somebody to point to when they tell their kids.....don't be like that freak! First, I need to see more chest hair...and get some leather pants."
The kid nodded in appreciation.
Then we went to work on some lyrics.
I said, "Kid...I'm going to say a line...then you say the first thing that pops into your head....NO THINKING....just the first thing that flashes in your brain.....OK?"
ME: "The time to hestitate is through."
Kid: "No time to wallow in the.....err, aaah..
ME: "Mire! .....Try now we can only lose."
Kid:" And our love becomes a funeral pyre."
Me: "C'mon baby, LIGHT MY FIRE!"
I just wish I had known that Jim couldn't handle his booze well or I never would have given him that darn first cup of Bali Hi. He took my advice and did his damnest to set a bad example for the rest of us. God bless him.
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