The Sport's Page

The coolest thing about the Sport's Page was that you didn't have to be 21 to get in. Hell, you didn't even have to 18. It was just a pool hall with a little bar & a juke box. It wasn't a hang out for any one group in particular, everyone hung out there on the weekends. My friends and I though, we were there a little more often than most because The Sport's Page was just around the corner from my house. Playing a game of pool and having some coffee was a nice way to blow off some mid-week steam.

About a week ago I drove by the Sport's Page and noticed that it wasn't there anymore. The building is, but the Sport's Page is gone. The last couple of days I've been thinking about all the memories I have of that place and what song best represents them. Being that we were regulars there, we had a lot of say into what went in to that jukebox. The owner took written requests, but rarely added anything that she didn't like. Luckily she was an older biker chick, whose taste pretty much was the same as ours. Stevie, Allman brothers, Zeppelin, Doors, Metallica, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, Skynyrd. Man, that Jukebox had EVERYTHING. Some people would roll their eyes if they walked in and saw my friends and I there, because they knew that juke box was filled for the next twenty dollars.

This morning, as I was drinking coffee and tending to the daily doings of my household, Mainstreet came on the radio. I drifted off and began gazing out the window and realized this was the perfect song. It brought me back to those nights at the Sport's Page. Hanging out with my girlfriends, hanging out with my guy friends, flirting, dancing on the hardwood floor near the bar, first dates, making out in the parking lot, drinking beer in the parking lot, learning to play pool, and finding out I loved it. Bob Seger was certainly on regular rotation in our constant control of the jukebox. This song inparticular.

I remember once it came on and this guy who I knew from school said, "Man, I love this song!". He didn't strike me as a Bob Seger fan so I said, "really?" . He said, "Well, yea. Everybody's got a Mainstreet in their past, don't you?" Yea, I guess I do.