Hav-a-Tampa Today..... Laaaaaa!

Over a short flurry of emails Brad and I were reminiscing over our athletic careers in grammar school We were both bench warmers in our chosen sport, he Junior football and I Little League. As I said, it was a very short flurry.




I told of the one time I actually got to be part of the game. It was the last ending of last game of the year. It was some kind of playoffs and our team was losing terribly. They knew we were going to lose anyway, so they sent me to be the last person at bat. Did I mention it was at the Ponce de Leon Ball Park where the Crackers played in Atlanta? I stood there and held the bat like an idiot and the catcher said all sorts of intimidating things to me. If he only knew my state of mind he didn’t have to say a word, I was already about intimidated as one could get. The pitcher threw three strikes right over the plate, one after another and the game was over. That was my baseball career.



However, that reminded me of another time I was at the same ball park to see a Cracker game. Our scout troop went several times. I remember one time we were to keep in a group so the scout leaders could keep an eye on us but some of us not interested in the game climbed to higher bleachers just because it was more scenic the higher you go. The scout leaders was so caught up with the game they didn’t know we were gone.



I remember there were about four of us. Jimmy Pat Presley, me and I forgot the other two. Back then we all were into collecting cigar boxes. Tampa Nugget boxes were the most plentiful and the easiest to get, so they were not that rare, therefore, no fun to possess. The second easiest to get was Hav-a-Tampa Cigar boxes. I don’t know how it started rolling, but we started making up cigar commercial jingles. Most we tried flubbed but one, with a little retries came out perfectly. It was like the Jingles God shot magic beam our way. It was a musical commercial for Hav-a-Tampa Cigar. Now, the only thing I remember was the last word of the jingle, which was “Llaaaaaa” with each our right arm outstretched. Unfortunately, the Get’em-A-Good-Agent God was not there.