THE TIGERS - A'S - OUTLAWS 2003 REUNION SERIES -- Brian Lackey's Diary

Saturday, May 31st: The Big Day
Otterburn Park to Chester Field

Waking up Saturday morning to blue skies was a big "YESSSSSSS!" . I felt an instant revitalization, a shot in the arm, and shed any doubt about the day ahead. I wanted to go ....I was ready.

My first task at hand, though, was to wake up my neighbour, and ride for the day, Sylvain Leclerc. We were on a mission. We had been handed the responsibility of "finding" BOOG, the scorekeeper, and getting him to the tournament. We knew not of Bar St-Georges in Marieville, except that is where BOOG would be waiting for us. We were told to just drive into town, if we got lost, just ask anyone, they would know.

Shortly after I woke up Sylvain, we were on the road. Coffee in hand, smokes on the dash, windows rolled down and tunes blaring from the radio. A perfect start to what felt like a perfect day ahead.

We spent the better part of our first 15 kilometers stuck on a one lane country road behind a cycle club with a police escort...crawling along at 25 kph. Our patience grew slightly thin, however nothing would dampen this day we had long waited for. Numerous insults later, we arrived at a STOP sign in town of Rouville. The cyclists were few and far between now, however, one small group was taking a break at the STOP. Slowing down for the STOP and lowering the volume on the radio, I hear a shout come from the drivers seat..."TAKE THE BIKE PATH! BITCH!"! ........"Thank you", came the reply back from the young female cyclist as we pulled away.

As we arrived in Marieville, we only had to back-track twice, but ALAS! Bar St. Georges. BOOG was sitting there, all by himself, at one end of the bar, 11:00 in the morning and already on his 2nd quart of beer. The farmers at the other end of the bar stopped talking and just stared. Either they were gay or they just hadn't heard any English spoke since 1974....most probably the latter. We sat for 5 minutes while BOOG finished up his quart. One last gulp and with a hearty, WAH-HA-HA-HA-HA, {his signature laugh} we were on our way.....we were mobile. BOOG hadn't changed since I last saw him, some 10 years ago.

Many WAH-HA-HA-HA-HA's later... {you're OK kid} we were there.....we could see Chester Field and the Player Registration Tent. As we got out of the car, RKR was pacing about, no time to relax. The OUTLAWS were already on the field practising, and "Gunner" had sustained his first of what was to be 3 injuries that day.

So many faces I had not seen in years. Frank Sivilla with his yellow moustache, Ted Golding, Yvan Thiboutot, Denis Pednault, Jos Boisvert to names a few. All were older and greyer but everyone looked healthy enough to play a game, maybe two! The city of St-Lambert had neglected to put out the bases, so RKR just found some styrofoam and we had our bases.

To be continued...