Hawk Love

I eliminate punks cut 'em up in chunks
You were souped you heard me and your ego shrunk
I'm devastating I'm so good it's a shame
Cause I eat rappers like a cannibal they call me insane...

1987. Another Summer. Another Number. Sound of the funky drummer. A young Commish had one of those summers where the grass always seemed greener, Dad's barbeques were always tasty, you ran with your crew playing ball, getting into juvenile mischief, and being a kid with what seemed nary a worry. Hip Hop was LL's Bigger and Deffer , Eric B & Rakim's Paid In Full, BDP's Criminal Minded, PE's Yo! Bum Rush the Show.

This was pre-Rockies so most of us kids followed MLB in general. Since WGN was on the cable systems, the Cubs were on full blast during the day all summer long. Chillin, drinkin some cold lemonade after a morning about watching the Cubs in the afternoon. Like alot of folks in the Denver Metro, they kind of became the team to follow.

That year the Cubs brought in Andre Dawson, who had a taste of Denver in the late 70's with the AAA Denver Bears. He was part of a dreadful last place Cubs, but indvidually he was a monster. The Young Commish was enamored. His steely, icy glare while staring down the pitcher was the coolest thing to me. His small fluttering of the bat while in his stance is something I always tried to duplicate in my own stance that summer. He had the curl rocking hard, the fly mustache, the tough guy gait around the bases. Eric Show of the Padres beaned him is the face in what seemed an entire summer filled with cool bean ball fights.

My Pops came back from a business trip to Chicago with a blank Cubs jersey which I tried to affix a number eight on the back. Eight became one of my "numbers" (kids always seemed to have their own "numbers" didn't we?) and to this day I still use an eight when picking lotto.

Years later, Dawson was hobbling around with the Florida Marlins and I finaly got to see him play in person. Lemondae was replaced with Coors and LL was replaced with Raekwon, Dawson's MVP of 87 was replaced with an average below the Mendoza line. Yet, he hit one out of Coors Field that day and a few of us stood up and gave him a hearty cheer. A cheer that was more for the memories, for a part of our lives that seemed more than just eight years prior, for the back in the day moments.

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