#97 - 1995 Hoop It Up
1995 was the year of my first ACL surgery and so I attended Hoop It Up as a spectator on crutches and not a player. Friday night at San Jose Live was full of memorable occurrences. Being on crutches didn't keep me, and certainly didn't keep my friend from getting tanked. For those of you not familiar with San Jose Live, it's a massive bar that gets extremely crowded. The night began with Jeff and Craig taking turns borrowing my crutches and while one would walk through the crowd on crutches, the other would bolt from the crowd kick the crutches out from under the other and then flee into the crowd. The crowd was typically shocked and disturbed by this and would scramble to help the person on crutches up. Many a threat was levied at the guy that would kick the crutches away and run into the crowd.
Later on that night as the bar closed and the crowd streamed out Craig would pick groups of people that came out then go staggering into them while retching at the top of his lungs. Nobody fake vomits better than Craig.
Luis and Jeff ended up lost in a parking garage wandering looking for a way out and finally sleeping in the parking garage. I got locked out of the hotel room and slept in the corridor with my back to the door until the hotel security made me leave (no way to treat a man on crutches!)