"He instinctively can find the shining greatness of our American culture and does a good job of highlighting it (although he also does have those rare lapses when he writes about hockey, but that is something caused by impurities in the Eastern waters or something)." Erik Keilholtz
Under the patronage of St. Tammany
Mark C. N. Sullivan is an editor at a Massachusetts university. He is married and the father of three children. Email
New England raises a Gansett to the memory of Curt Gowdy.
In the 1950s and early '60s the sound of summer from Bar Harbor to Block Island was Curt Gowdy calling the Red Sox, sponsored by Narragansett.
The Hall of Fame broadcaster has passed away, at 86, and the tribute boards are up at the Sons of Sam Horn and Royal Rooters.
At about 1:22 of this NPR report you can hear his call of Ted Williams' last home run.
Cut and paste to hear the Gansett jingle: http://www.blohards.com/gansett.mp3
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Funny thing is, when news came of Curt Gowdy's passing, I'd been composing an ode to Narragansett. New England's beer has been re-launched.
People are drinking it for one simple reason:
"It doesn't suck anymore."
So said a patron who turned out for a recent launch party at Bovi's Tavern in East Providence. He raised a pilsner glass filled with the American lager and toasted a small group of working-class fellas who turned their backs on Budweiser to embrace the local brew once again.
Our beer is back, they said.
I'm quaffing some now, and it's pretty good – a beach beer, a mowing-the-lawn-while-listening-to-the-Sox beer.
That was the idea of the former Nantucket Nectars exec from Providence who bought the rights to the brand, with the idea of restoring the beer to its place in the New England cosmos.
At a time when so many New England institutions have been swallowed by outside conglomerates (John Hancock, Gillette, the Boston Globe, the Bank of Boston), moved out of town (the Atlantic Monthly) or merged out of existence (Filene's, Jordan Marsh), it good to see one New England institution being renewed. Cheers, Gansett.
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