SACCO: Meeting an old thorn in the side

STUARTS DRAFT

The hand came over my left shoulder as I sat there taking notes during Stuarts Draft’s 14-0 win over Waynesboro in softball last Thursday.

“I want to introduce myself,” he said.

Finally, I got to meet him.

Randal Almarode, if I may provide some back story here, is an “e-mailer.” Don’t let his aged skin or rough hands fool you. He’s no Gen-Xer, but this man knows how to work an e-mail account and, for years when this slack-jawed sports columnist was this paper’s sports editor, he sent me plenty.

Most were not the kind you print out and hang on your cubicle wall to look at when you’re feeling down.

Almarode’s e-mails let me know he was a Riverheads fan and, gosh dangit, if this paper didn’t cover a Riverheads football game or had something wrong in the article, he would let me know about it.

And, sure, while seeing his name in my e-mail box usually elicited a what-the-heck-did-I-do-now sigh, I always looked forward to them. The guy might be a country boy, but he had a good sense of sarcasm that any self-respecting northerner just had to love. His e-mails were never cruel, but they did take some shots.

Truth is, he was always right.

I learned that Almarode was grandfather to former Riverheads quarterback Jacob Hutchinson, when I wrote the story on the state-champion gunslinger heading to Bridgewater to play, Almarode sent me a nice message and asked for a few of the photos we compiled for a slideshow to go with the story. I obliged.

He sent an e-mail back thanking me.

So as his hand hovered above my shoulder and he said his name, I didn’t quite know what to do. Was he going to chastise me again? Did I do something wrong? As a Riverheads fan, why was he here at Draft? Stalking me, perhaps? Was he going to take those huge stack-hay-bails-eight-high hands, wrap them around my pencil neck and squeeze the sports columnist out of me.

Nah, he just wanted to introduce himself. I was the one smiling ear-to-ear.

“It is so awesome to finally meet you,” I said. And I meant it. I longed to meet this thorn in my side for years. He loved sports, loved the kids that played them and just wanted to see the kids get covered. Is that so wrong?

He smiled, we chatted a little and got back to watching the game.

Turns out he knows the Cougars’ freshman shortstop, Emmy Blacka. (He might even be related, but I can’t find what he said in my notebook. My bad.) He even pointed her out to me during the game.

“Watch that girl,” he said.

We parted ways early. He left the game for some reason or another, we shook hands and again said how wonderful it was to meet each other.

Then I went back to taking notes and chastising Morgan Holbert’s mother for wearing a Denver Broncos sweater.

“Have a good Easter,” she said as I left.

“And you enjoy Kyle Orton,” I replied.

On Sunday, I didn’t sigh as I usually did when I saw his name in my e-mail box.

“It was good to finally meet you the other day at the girls softball game,” he wrote. “I do enjoy your articles even though I fuss on occasions about some things not getting covered. But, before you get to feeling too good, I just wanted to let you know that the picture above your article did show Emmy Blacka making the tag at second and not Tiffany Robertson as the picture stated.”

Sigh ... sometimes you just can’t win.

But if it means I continue to get e-mails from Almarode, then I have no problems with losing.