Best: SU basketball… a LONG time ago. I don’t remember who SU was playing. I know it was cold. SU was in their prime. None of our usual group wanted to go. My father-in-law surprised me and said he still wanted to go up to the game. He was a really nice guy - but henpecked like you could not believe. But a heart of gold and a deep desire to enjoy life. He got few opportunities.
He and I enjoyed the game from our usual seats, and even had a beer - maybe two. I know SU won. When the game was over I was ready to take him home, but he surprised me again and said, “How about we go for a beer?” I willingly agreed.
We ended up at one of my favorite spots - Riley’s on the north side. We sat just having beers and talking about SU basketball and life in general. It was gold. I had lost my own father ten years earlier, and we enjoyed each other’s company, though we never went out together before that. But you could tell he enjoyed not going home and probably felt like he was getting away with something, like a kid. A chance to be the man he was when he was younger, before life, and marriage and heart disease beat him down. It was a great night.
The next day I received the phone call that he had died at home. RIP Fred. And thank you.
That was my best Dome memory.
I don’t have any bad memories.
