I was sitting in O’Doherty’s Pub in Spokane last Thursday, waiting for the Griz-Nevada game to be aired, and the owner, Tim O’Doherty came over and introduced himself (and poured me a free beer). He asked me where I was from and what I was doing in Spokane. I told him I was picking up my son at the airport.
He told me all about his kids in college, how he came to open up the pub, and told me how much he liked Montana and the Griz (next to Gonzaga, he said Montana was his favorite team). Anyway, he was a very pleasant fellow, and we had a nice conversation.
After he left, the fellow sitting next to me, a regular, told me that I should come back in tomorrow (St. Patty’s Day). He said that, every St. Patrick’s Day, the place was filled shoulder to shoulder with people, and that Mr. O’Doherty gave every penny he made that day to charity (did you hear that, Gordie?). In fact, he said, Mr. O’Doherty gave away tons of cash each year (he ventured that he probably donated over half of his profits).
And that got me thinking. Why does everything revolve around money? Isn’t it refreshing that there are still people in this world who can keep things in their proper perspective?
And for some reason, I thought of Michael Jordan, the time he had the flu so bad he could hardly stand up, but he still dug down deep and found a way to will his team to victory against the Jazz. And I wondered, was Jordan doing that for money, or was something else motivating him? And I thought of Jiggs Dahlberg, and I wondered if it was the money that kept him coaching at UM for 22 years. And then I looked up at the TV screen and I saw Larry Krystkowiak.
And I wondered…
He told me all about his kids in college, how he came to open up the pub, and told me how much he liked Montana and the Griz (next to Gonzaga, he said Montana was his favorite team). Anyway, he was a very pleasant fellow, and we had a nice conversation.
After he left, the fellow sitting next to me, a regular, told me that I should come back in tomorrow (St. Patty’s Day). He said that, every St. Patrick’s Day, the place was filled shoulder to shoulder with people, and that Mr. O’Doherty gave every penny he made that day to charity (did you hear that, Gordie?). In fact, he said, Mr. O’Doherty gave away tons of cash each year (he ventured that he probably donated over half of his profits).
And that got me thinking. Why does everything revolve around money? Isn’t it refreshing that there are still people in this world who can keep things in their proper perspective?
And for some reason, I thought of Michael Jordan, the time he had the flu so bad he could hardly stand up, but he still dug down deep and found a way to will his team to victory against the Jazz. And I wondered, was Jordan doing that for money, or was something else motivating him? And I thought of Jiggs Dahlberg, and I wondered if it was the money that kept him coaching at UM for 22 years. And then I looked up at the TV screen and I saw Larry Krystkowiak.
And I wondered…
arty:
