OK - here's the story. Years ago I worked at Montgomery Ward here in Portland. We had a basketball team that played in the Portland City League (Industrial Division, for some unknown reason). Our biggest "rival" was the team from Coca-Cola bottling (we also played against Freightliner). We had very rough games. One year, there was a fight during a game that involved our power forward, Marvin (last name omitted on purpose). Marvin was a former D1 player and was huge.
The next year, I went to register us for the league at the Portland Parks Bureau offices. There were a limited number of spots available so you had to get there really early and get in line. The office opened at 9:00 am and people started lining up at 6:00 am. We usually would have two or three guys go and take turns standing in line. That year, I went with Marvin. I got in line while he went for coffee. Coincidentally, the rep from Coca-Cola got right in line behind me. It just happened to be the guy who got into the fight with Marvin the season before. We started talking and I told him how much I appreciated him not reporting Marvin to his parole officer for the fight. The guy stared at me and asked me what I meant. I told him Marvin was out on parole for manslaughter, and that he had killed some guy in a bar fight. I told him the only reason Marvin hadn't come after him later was that he didn't know where he lived.
You should have seen his face! Just then, Marvin started coming towards us. The guy just took off! Marvin saw the guy run and asked me what was happening. I told him what I had said. He couldn't believe it, mostly because he was one of the nicest guys in the world and had only defended himself in that fight.
The upshot of the story is that their team missed the registration and we finished in first place that season.
I have another really funny Marvin story, but it's not appropriate to post.
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Yom HaShoah
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