Don’t forget that Publisher Foley watches an inordinate amount of pre-season NFL Football and can get your Kansas wager season off to a good start if you pay attention. This also seems like a good time to remind you that the State of Missouri could not get a sports gambling law passed. Also, a good time to tell you that Jefferson City is run by lobbyists and lobbyists only.
Pee Wee Herman is dead. If Pee Wee’s Big Adventure didn’t change you as a person, then we can’t be friends. If you remember, Pee Wee’s bike being stolen and his journey of goodwill to recover the bike was the basic plot foundation and this country has never been the same. That movie grossed $40 million in 1985 and now we’re watching movies about nuclear war and Barbie, you tell me if things are better.
I was a Big Jim kid, not much for Barbie. I had a couple of GI Joes, but they were afterthoughts behind the muscle-bound Big Jim series dolls. Occasionally my Big Jim’s would seek some amusement and invite a Barbie over from my sister’s doll lair.
Ken was never invited. That dude just seemed aloof and a little light in his loafers to the GI Joe crew. Ken didn’t have any guns, and they never trusted that about a man.
Anyway, I was never a big Barbie fan, they just seemed like a lot of trouble and all those clothes and accessories were just too much to take if you were used to Big Jim and his boxing shorts outfit that he sported daily.
I think I wanted to grow up and look like Big Jim. Unfortunately, that did not play out. Eight-year-old me had no idea that Mr. Potato Head was in play.
This is how Wikipedia describes Big Jim: The basic good guy leader of the P.A.C.K. He was an average Caucasian male with few distinguishable characteristics, except having a permanent good attitude and joy for life.
Hell, I struck out swinging on that thought. I guess I grew up to be average and Caucasian, but that is about it. Eight-year-old me was out of touch with who I really was.
I probably gave up on Big Jim when his Boat and Buggy set came out. Never could back a boat very well and I suppose this is when I learned that hard truth about life. Some guys can back a boat, and some can’t, its like an unwritten law of the human jungle, either you can, or you can’t. If you can’t, move on to some other pursuits like writing or reading books.
I suppose Foley can’t back a boat either.
Anyway, as you trek through your own existence this week and even if all your dreams came true and you became a muscle bound, average Caucasian that wears boxing shorts and a good attitude every day, remember to love something like Pee Wee loved his bike:
“I wouldn’t sell my bike for all the money in the world. Not for a hundred million, trillion, billion dollars.”
-Pee Wee Herman
That’s back in the days when a trillion dollars was a lot of money.
(Guy Speckman can be reached at gspeckman@me.com or working on developing a good attitude)
