Back in the good and bad old days at Spartan, there were two guys (probably in their early 30s or so at that time) who were most wonderfully loud and knowledgable and who sat in the first or second row right above the 4th officials table. Jerri Johnson and I would always chat with them, and it always pleased me to let them know before the game the first name of the 4th, because their comments were never insulting, but mostly funny and clever, and I got a kick out of them addressing the 4th as if they were old friends. Does anybody know who these guys were? When the team moved to Buck Shaw and then Avaya, I never did see them again, and have been wondering this for years.
Are they the two guys who heckled Wolde Harris unmercifully and also unfurled a Danish flag to support Ekelund from the first row of the "gold seat" section, fairly close to the aisle? If so, I can tell you one guy was named Steve and he sits behind me today at Avaya, the other was a friend of his. If not, I have no idea if these are the guys you are thinking about.
Perhaps. They were pretty good at razzing opposing players, especially when they were subbing on or off.
Let him know that "Bobby and Jerri" have often recalled those days, and that his participation helped us enjoy the games all that much more...
He is Steve Battcher, now Senior VP of Premier Properties. Steve tells me he and his old college friend Ken are the two you spoke of. He now sits behind me at Avaya in Section 107, second row, on the aisle between 107 and 106. He is still as loud and clever as ever, but brings his own kids now. I passed on your message and will post a photo of him if I can figure out how to do it. I'm sure he'd get a kick out of talking to you again.
Yes. I think I've told this story on BigSoccer before, but I didn't know Steve in those days. At Spartan I was in an adjacent section several rows back (behind the Quakes dugout). He and Ken were heckling Wolde Harris of the Revolution unmercifully at one game. Harris scored later in the game and made a point to come over to them to make sure they knew he scored. The next time the Revolution came to Spartan they started up on Harris again. I went down to Steve and with a smile I cautioned him to be careful ... since the last time they ragged on Harris he scored!!!!! :^) Anyway, it was a very pleasant surprise to find him and finally "officially" meet him at Avaya.
If I remember correctly, Steve Battcher was also the driving force behind the Make-a-Wish Foundation wish that we granted to a young fan who just wanted to attend a Quakes game with her family. If I remember correctly, she was flown in from Colorado or Arizona and was given then red carpet experience by Quakes fans and the front office.
Kind of scary that we can track down random strangers this easily simply by crowd-sharing on the Web.
It's a matter of months (likely) where you'll be able to upload a picture of anyone and have them identified by Facebook or Google. The reverse (complex text to picture) is way harder but I'd like to think language processing and context building could create that kind of service within three years.
Hey Bobby! Yeah, Ned and I sit right in front/behind each other in 107. Never left the Quakes, had season tix at Buck Shaw as well. Send me a PM so Ken and I can figure out a way to say hi to you and Jerri at the Minnesota game. We see you guys working every home game and always wonder "when are they going to give us OUR bottles of water?" (as was the norm back then, to go with the two beers apiece lined up on the railing). I sent Ken a link to this thread, he was laughing, and my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time of that picture, was pretty amazed when I showed her this. Have to say it make my day/weekend. Can't interact as much with the refs/other team now like we did in Spartan, but we did yell down to Kinnear in the first game of Avaya and he remembered us, too.... Those were the daze, for real. And Scotto - don't forget that your airline miles were instrumental in getting Tasha Sanders to the game. I haven't. I'm still around, I read the boards every day, just don't have much to say. So....."Hi all," I guess. Pumped for this season, should be really interesting. What a great community... Cheers, all! GO QUAKES!!! Battchy PS: DotMPP - about as non-furrin' as can be. Born and raised in a little town in Nevada...