I don’t drink and I don’t party. . .unless you count the occasional birthday parties for kids and grandkids and I live in quiet, even boring Utah county. So, what was I doing in a bar in Salt Lake City at 10:00 pm on a Thursday night?
Well, I was watching the Seattle Mariners but that was happy accident. I was really there for a karaoke contest. I wasn’t in it. But that wouldn’t have bothered me.
I recently spoke in church. It’s a peculiarity of the Mormon church that members of the congregation are asked to deliver the messages each week. The people I attend church with are no more interested in speaking in public than you and your friends are. Most people begin their remarks with some form of “I wish I wasn’t up here.” Instead I said,
I wish I could tell you I’m not happy to be here. Or that I wish the hymn or the other speaker’s went longer. I can’t. I’m absolutely delighted to be speaking to you today.
And it was true. I have other insecurities, but getting up in front of people isn’t one of them. But, I was there to support my friend Rory.
It’s about a 45 minute drive from my house to Salt Lake City. My radio is broken in my truck. So, my phone was streaming the Mariners broadcast. Yes, I’m that big of a baseball geek. Last week the Ms were eliminated from the playoff picture. They’ll finish with a winning record but, they will be sitting home in October.
They are hosting the Texas Rangers. Texas was out of playoff contention weeks ago. So, why was I listening? Because I couldn’t see the video stream. Seriously. It’s $15 to buy the audio stream for all MLB teams for the year. Getting to watch a game is a rare treat.
The venue, The Green Pig Pub in Salt Lake City is a fairly typical bar. Lots of neon, a beautiful wooden bar, a stage area, lots of tables and plenty of TVs. Every single one was tuned to the Thursday night football game.
I knew exactly one person in the mass of humanity. I said hello and then headed to a quiet corner of the bar to nurse my Coke and wait for the competition to start.
And there I discovered the one TV not tuned to football. It was showing a baseball game between two teams who were out of the playoffs and simply playing out the season.
Yup, I walked into a bar in Salt Lake City and found a live broadcast of my favorite team, the Seattle Mariners.
Don’t mind me, I’ll just be over here in the corner watching baseball.
There’s something about live music that I really enjoy. Karaoke gets a bad rap because many of the singers are . . .bad. Fortunately this was the second round of the competition. The singers were passable to exceptional.
My friend Rory didn’t move on to the next round. . .and the Mariners lost. . .again.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved