Cup of Joe

In case you needed a little extra lift to get started in a new week, today was National Coffee Day around the nation. 

There were all sorts of freebies associated with this event and coffee drinkers stood to reap the rewards. If you watched the morning news or logged on to the internet this morning, it was hard to miss this fact.

As we’ve discussed in Coach Jeff’s Blog, it seems there are always these sort of gimmicky ‘holidays’ to help promote certain activities. We’ve talked about National Lefthanders Day and Talk Like a Pirate Day, for example. There are so many others.

I keep looking for National Former Youth Baseball Coaches Who Now Write a Blog Day…but once again, I have come up empty.

If you are a coffee lover, however, this was your day.

In a way, I wish I loved the stuff, but I could just never develop a taste for it. That’s a shame, because coffee is so ingrained in our psyche. When the guys in my office want to take five, no one asks if anyone wants to take a water break (my chosen beverage since last year’s stone’s throw). Folks go for a coffee break. And at work, when they go, they go to the ‘gourmet coffee stand.’ No one goes to the ‘gourmet soda stand.’

Slang terms are frequently associated with coffee. As is the case with a word like money (cash, bucks, skins, dinero, dough, bread, pay), there are various examples of nomenclature to discuss the beverage (java, brew, Cup of Joe). No one has developed alternate monikers for, say, hot chocolate (well…unless you count ‘cocoa,’ but that’s not very creative).

Coffee was always an important ingredient for Gary family gatherings. In fact, one of the items of décor at the homeplace was a collection of coffee mugs with each of the siblings’ names on it (my dad and his brothers and sisters). I always thought that was a pretty cool feature as they were always drinking coffee when we got together.

My grandfather – the master brewer for said gatherings – was said to blend his coffee so thick it resembled molasses. I’m sure that’s an exaggeration but then, what family stories aren’t fostered by hyperbole?

During my recent volunteer service (on our church’s pastor nominating committee) we had a member of our committee who always made sure to have coffee ready by the start of the meeting and he’d fill cups for anyone who was interested. I told him, on more than one occasion, that I regretted I couldn’t benefit from his handiwork.

My best friend Ed is a big fan of the stuff. And, I think as a college student, Paul has gotten into coffee, too. (Maybe that really started in high school?).

Even in my baseball coaching days, coffee was a key factor. During this time of year, especially, coaches ‘warmed up’ for some of those early Saturday morning games by going by the concession stand on the way to the Farragut Baseball Inc. fields – or stopping by their vendor of choice – to get a cup of coffee. It was quite chilly at the ballpark, especially at the waterfront fields (2, 3, 7 and 8), if your team had the 9 a.m. game during the fall season. Some guys would even lug in a Thermos® filled with the warm brew.

And speaking of baseball and java, it is said that a minor leaguer who is promoted to the major leagues for a very short stint “had a cup of coffee” with the big league club.

So you see, even though I’m not a coffee drinker, there are lots of connections between coffee and Coach Jeff’s Blog. I won’t be having a cup with you today but as all you coffee aficenados enjoy the day, please know…I’ll raised my water bottle in toast with you this morning!

JG

Originally posted 9/29/2014