Lunch with the stars

They haven't made it a TV show yet, but I just finished my luncheon with Jorge Posada. Being a confirmed cynic, I was amazed when I heard he'd agreed to attend the actual induction ceremony, much less the Calhoun luncheon. But he came. And he did not disappoint.

There were the usual speeches, but Jorge's platitudes seemed genuine. He actually came across as a nice guy with fond memories of his time spent here at Calhoun. I sat with one of his Calhoun chums and she verified that he was one of the players involved in the infamous "borrowed" 18-wheeler (doughnuts in the cotton fields) episode. Needless to say, that story was not revisited at the luncheon.

There was one little glitch in the whole ceremony. In here opening remarks, the Prez went on and on about Jorge's exploits and she also mentioned some of the other "stars" Calhoun's baseball program has produced. The problem was, she forgot to mention the only other former Warhawk with any sort of legitimate claim to that label -- Gary Redus. He was sitting at the next table over from me and several of the people at his table leaned in to comment on the omission. After the ceremony, I apologized to him as well. He was very gracious about it, but I mainly did it just so I could say I talked to and shook hands with Gary Redus. Hey, I'm just a regular guy, I don't have a foundation. Cut me some slack.

So anyway, it was a nice luncheon and a good shot in the arm for the relaunched Calhoun athletic program. I was glad they let interested faculty members attend, though they did stick us at the very back corner table. Still, I figure this'll be my "claim to fame" for a while -- until the next time I run into her in Oxford. No, I'm not stalking her; those night vision goggles I ordered are for scientific research purposes. Really.