WEDNESDAYS #9 vs. JAMOKES:

(vol. 20W, no. 9; newsletter by b.n.)
Boom-shock-a-lock-a ... Boom-shock-a-lock-a ... Boom. That's pretty much how it sounded after the Pirates season ended last week. With Mike Farrell scoring with less than :10 remaining in the game to spoil the Jamokes' shutout bid, the Pirates will have at least a little momentum going into next season. Still, the Pirates lost their Semifinal game by a comfortable four-goal margin to the Jamokes and were ousted from the playoffs — something that hasn't happened in quite a while. If you walked into the Boathouse last Wednesday night however, you would have thought the Pirates had pulled off the “Three-Peat.”

Boom-shock-a-lock-a ... Boom-shock-a-lock-a ... Boom.

Compared to the celebrations that the Pirates had after winning the prior two Wednesday Championships, you would have thought that the Pirates enjoyed losing more than winning. Everyone was smiling and laughing afterwards at the Boathouse in Belmar (and, unlike McCann's recently, the bartenders were friendly and outgoing even though we didn't have a trophy to plop down on the bar). In fact, the bartenders seemed to take a special liking to Wildman, who picked-up a new nickname for the night: “Rain Man.” Whether he was stacking empty bottles three high in the corner, or working the patrons on the far side of the bar, it seemed a moment didn't go by that the bartenders didn't share a laugh with us over Wildman's antics.

Boom-shock-a-lock-a ... Boom-shock-a-lock-a ... Boom.

Fortunately for all those involved, the season was all that ended that night.