I may make a gumshoe yet.

I headed for the French Field House Saturday morning, knowing that Varsity O holds a breakfast on the morning of Homecoming Weekend. A lot of the "Old Timers" come back for that and they make grand copy. When I arrived however, I found what I feared... some pretty stern ticket takers at the door making sure riffraff like me didn't crash the gate. The door to the gold mine was barred.

My next best option was to hang around outside with the chance of making some new friends with the folks coming and going. As I did, I heard a couple of fellows 20 years older than I standing and talking next to me. One said to the other, "So and so was going to come but got sick, so I have some extra tickets!" There was my opening and I took it.

"You guys play?" I asked as I casually strolled over.

"Yea," they answered.

"What year?"

"1950, we played baseball," they replied.

"Oh, you played with Hop Cassady," I responded.

They seemed surprised I knew that, which led to a discussion of what I was doing and how I knew that. I complimented them on their accomplishments of long ago and blew a little smoke how great it was they were here, to have played with Hop, and how I loved to follow Ohio State Baseball...all of which was true.

"You going in there?" one of the guys finally asked me.

"Would love to, but I don't have a ticket," I smiled.

"Here, take one of my extra's," he said as he extended a hand.

I did. It worked. I'll save what happened inside for another post.