Was watching “Big Fish” on cable yesterday …. I am going to go a long way on this one …. Matthew McGrory, the actor who played Karl the Giant in the movie “Big Fish” used to tend bar at a place called the Sports Harbor near the corner of Lincoln and Washington in Venice, CA. He has since passed away but he was a real life giant and had to always duck his head under the glasses that hung overhead and it seemed like his hand and fingers wrapped three times around your beer as he set it down in front of you. He just worked there for fun and something to do and it was always a pleasure to hear him greet you by name when he came over to where you were sitting or to ask you if you wanted another round in that deep booming voice of his. I haven’t been there in at least 10 years but I used to hang out at the Sports Harbor quite a bit. Back in the day before the NFL network and all the other thousands of sports channels were up and running they had satellite dishes and would run seven or eight TVs showing different college/NFL games on Saturdays and Sundays. It was a loud and lively place with die-hard fans avidly watching, rooting and cheering for their teams.

They had GREAT chicken wings and other bar food but you could also order off the menu and just say “I’ll have a steak” or something and it would be delivered in front of you at a reasonable price. I remember chatting up the beer promotion girls in between sloppy bites of chicken wings, my mouth and cheeks orange with buffalo sauce. Played a lot of Pop-A-Shot, tabletop shuffleboard, pool, darts, everything. The owner was the best I have ever seen at Pop-A-Shot racking up crazy, unheard of high scores. From the split second the game started he looked like a well-synched perpetual motion machine windmilling in an average of a shot a second and never missing one …. well he might miss one every tenth game or so but he was unbelievable at it. Just crazy to watch.  I was sitting at the bar when they had their brand new fancy, colorful, laminated menus delivered. As the owner and some others stood around oohing and aahing over how beautiful the new menus were I casually mentioned to him how I couldn’t see how he could stay in business selling hamburger platters for thirty five cents and pitchers of Heineken for fifty five cents. In the seven seconds while the owner’s head was exploding and he frantically searched the menu before I gave him the old “just kidding!” McGrory just looked at me shaking his head and rolling his eyes at the owner not taken in by the joke at all.

The new tallest man is taller than Big Ben…. Fact!