Avast, me hearties!

Yesterday was "Talk like a Pirate Day". John Baur and Mark Summers began this national holiday. Here they are on on the topic:

Once upon a time -- on June 6, 1995, to be precise -- we were playing racquetball, not well but gamely. It wasn't our intention to become "the pirate guys." Truth to tell, it wasn't really our intention to become anything, except perhaps a tad thinner and healthier, and if you could see our photos, you'd know how THAT turned out. As we flailed away, we called out friendly encouragement to each other -"Damn, you bastard!" and "Oh, jeez, my hamstring!" for instance - as shots caromed away, unimpeded by our wildly swung rackets.

On this day, for reasons we still don't quite understand, we started giving our encouragement in pirate slang. Mark suspects one of us might have been reaching for a low shot that, by pure chance, might have come off the wall at an unusually high rate of speed, and strained something best left unstrained. "Arrr!," he might have said.

Who knows? It might have happened exactly that way.

Anyway, whoever let out the first "Arrr!" started something. One thing led to another. "That be a fine cannonade," one said, to be followed by "Now watch as I fire a broadside straight into your yardarm!" and other such helpful phrases.

By the time our hour on the court was over, we realized that lapsing into pirate lingo had made the game more fun and the time pass more quickly. We decided then and there that what the world really needed was a new national holiday, Talk Like A Pirate Day.

First, we needed a date for the holiday. As any guy can tell you, June 6 is the anniversary of World War II's D-Day. Guys hold dates like that in reverence and awe so there was no way we could use June 6.

Mark came up with September 19. That was and is his ex-wife's birthday, and the only date he could readily recall that wasn't taken up with something like Christmas or the Super Bowl or something. We also decided -- right then and there on the court on June 6, 1995 -- that the perfect spokesman for our new holiday was none other than Dave Barry himself, nationally syndicated humor columnist and winner of the Pulitzer by-God Prize. So, naturally, we forgot all about it.

For seven years we celebrated Interational Talk Like a Pirate Day pretty much on our own, with our friend Brian Rhodes actually reminding us that the event was coming up. Frankly, we usually forgot exactly when Talk Like a Pirate Day was supposed to be or even that there was such a thing. Brian is one of those guys who programs every important event into his computer so that a reminder pops up the day before. John and Mark may be the founders of Talk Like a Pirate Day, but Brian is certainly the midwife, or godfather or something. (Have a cigar, Brian!)

Yesterday I was definitely in "pirate" mode. I woke up, had breakfast outside, watched the Skins game (We'll get'em next time Gibbs!), ran errands, worked out with my brother, read a book outside (it was gorgeous, I had to be outside as much as I could!) and I ended up having a wonderful day. O.A.R.'s "Wonderful Day" kept replaying in my head. It wasn't much of a weekend because I ended up working on Saturday. (And no, Katherine. I haven't gone "corporate" on you!)

It was a nice weekend to sit back and relax...

My pirate name: Dread Pirate Vane ("google" a pirate name generator) :)

What does a pirate drive to work in?

A CARRRRR!!

What does a pirate keep his jam in?

A JARRRRR!!

What does the pirate wish upon?

A STARRRRR!!

Where does a pirate do his drinking?

A BARRRRR!!

Ah, I can go on and on....

P.S. Tonight is the world premiere of Ladder 49 with John Travolta. *refer to a few blogs back if you're not "in the know".