Wednesday, April 06, 2005
The Legend of Action Al
This entry should have happened on Monday, so just pretend that no days have occured between then and the time you read this.
On Sunday, my Dad picked me up in the morning so we could head down to the dog tracks at Raynham and catch the races that started at 12:30. The plan was to pick up my grandfather in Waltham, then go to the tracks and meet up with Grampa Cliff's longtime partner in crime: Action Al.
Al is an 89 year-old life-long bachelor who loves to gamble, which is how he got the nickname "Action". My Grandfather and Al used to room together when they would go down to Foxwoods for the weekend. I think that this habit ended around the time that my Grandfather woke up in the hotel one morning, only to discover Action Al standing on his head in the corner, doing his morning yoga. What's so terrible about that, you ask? As Grampa Cliff explains it "He was completely bare-assed!". Nothin' says lovin' like naked octogenarian yoga in the morning.
Though Al is not married, he's never had a problem finding himself a ladyfriend. As Grampa Cliff explained, "Al had one girlfriend for 25 years, then she died. After that, he had another girlfriend for 10 years, then she died. Now he's got Irene." Irene is Action Al's new main squeeze, though she is still a few years shy of 70.
Once we arrived, we met Al and Irene at a table they saved for us right near the track. Action Al is about 5 foot 3 and, on this day, he was wearing jeans, basketball sneakers, a tweed hat, humongous glasses, and an ear-to-ear smile that never seemed to go away. It is entirely possible that this is the sort of smile that comes as the result of dating a woman twenty years younger, though I can't say for sure because I've never met Action Al before.
The topics of conversation mostly alternated between arthritis and dog racing, neither of which I know a whole lot about. Before each race, Grampa Cliff would pore over the program for a few minutes, then decide to make a bet based on a combination of the dog's record, weight, experience, and racing habits compared to the competitors. I would usually just look at the odds board, select a dog that was somewhere around a 4 to 1 shot, then pair it in a quinella with a dog that either had an interesting name or looked a little crazy during the pre-race muzzle check they show on the closed-circuit TV. Unfortunately, none of our strategies seemed to work that day, though I did win one big one that helped me to break even.
I'm wondering if there's anything left that people haven't sold or attempted to sell on ebay. Now you can pay a few hundred bucks to either give this guy a new middle name, or give this guy the middle name he never had.
|
On Sunday, my Dad picked me up in the morning so we could head down to the dog tracks at Raynham and catch the races that started at 12:30. The plan was to pick up my grandfather in Waltham, then go to the tracks and meet up with Grampa Cliff's longtime partner in crime: Action Al.
Al is an 89 year-old life-long bachelor who loves to gamble, which is how he got the nickname "Action". My Grandfather and Al used to room together when they would go down to Foxwoods for the weekend. I think that this habit ended around the time that my Grandfather woke up in the hotel one morning, only to discover Action Al standing on his head in the corner, doing his morning yoga. What's so terrible about that, you ask? As Grampa Cliff explains it "He was completely bare-assed!". Nothin' says lovin' like naked octogenarian yoga in the morning.
Though Al is not married, he's never had a problem finding himself a ladyfriend. As Grampa Cliff explained, "Al had one girlfriend for 25 years, then she died. After that, he had another girlfriend for 10 years, then she died. Now he's got Irene." Irene is Action Al's new main squeeze, though she is still a few years shy of 70.
Once we arrived, we met Al and Irene at a table they saved for us right near the track. Action Al is about 5 foot 3 and, on this day, he was wearing jeans, basketball sneakers, a tweed hat, humongous glasses, and an ear-to-ear smile that never seemed to go away. It is entirely possible that this is the sort of smile that comes as the result of dating a woman twenty years younger, though I can't say for sure because I've never met Action Al before.
The topics of conversation mostly alternated between arthritis and dog racing, neither of which I know a whole lot about. Before each race, Grampa Cliff would pore over the program for a few minutes, then decide to make a bet based on a combination of the dog's record, weight, experience, and racing habits compared to the competitors. I would usually just look at the odds board, select a dog that was somewhere around a 4 to 1 shot, then pair it in a quinella with a dog that either had an interesting name or looked a little crazy during the pre-race muzzle check they show on the closed-circuit TV. Unfortunately, none of our strategies seemed to work that day, though I did win one big one that helped me to break even.
I'm wondering if there's anything left that people haven't sold or attempted to sell on ebay. Now you can pay a few hundred bucks to either give this guy a new middle name, or give this guy the middle name he never had.
|
Comments:
Post a Comment
| Post A New Topic |
|
View Message Board |
| Search The Internet |
