Phil Nee Bench Warmer

This week Those Were the Days on WRCO will not be heard because of a preseason game for Wisconsin’s own Green and Gold. That will make it like old times when I was a mighty Ithaca Bulldog sitting on the bench and waiting to get in the game. I learned a lot from that experience. There was a crafty teammate who gave money to a fan to go get him popcorn. He kept the bag in his helmet and carried it around eating during the game. Our teams were not very good so that meant that the subs would get to play late in the game nearly every week. This team member told me that he worried that he might throw up the popcorn when he got in the game. Another teammate played a joke on me and put soap on my mouthguard before a game. When I ran out to the field there were bubbles coming from my helmet. Coach yelled at me when I went for a drink of water to soon, but I needed to get the soap taste out of my mouth. Some of these shenanigans might be part of the reason that our football team was winless when I was a sophomore.

Those Were the Days will return to the airwaves on August 16th with the hits of the fifties through the early nineties. In the meantime, I will be sitting on a bench watching my grand babies on Saturday night. If I can’t be on the air with my friends, it will be great to get some memorable family time.

Grandpa Phil