I have a great friend named QT who was born in Vietnam, relocated to Oklahoma as a boy and retains a distinctive Okie accent that causes double takes regularly. He worked for me on several occasions and always did a great job. As much as I respect him, it did not preclude me from having some fun at his expense from time to time.
One evening after work, we took our auditors out for an evening at Dodger Stadium. Several beers into the evening, the four of us took to making friendly wagers about events on the field.
Would the pitcher find the ball on or off the mound when he went out to take his warm up tosses?
How many practice swings would a batter take before he stepped up to the plate?
Our seats were down the right field line and I noticed that the Dodger right fielder played catch with the ball boy and threw the ball to a fan in the stands when he was finished. It gave me an idea.
“That ball boy stinks,” I began during one inning. “The kid can’t catch. I’ll bet he doesn’t catch the last warm up throw from the right fielder the next time the Dodgers come out.”
“He looks ok to me” QT replied. “I’ll take that bet.” It was on.
I quietly let the auditors in on what I had seen while the Dodgers were finishing their atbat. They got in on the action with QT too.
When the right fielder took his position between innings, he began his throws and the ball boy was performing his reciprocal duties flawlessly. QT was getting excited. He stood up and started cheering the ballboy.
“Way to go ball boy” he yelled.
The auditors and I also rose to cheer against him.
“You stink ball boy!” We were chanting.
We were creating a bit of a scene and attracting the attention of the fans around us. Several people were focused on our wild screams when the Dodger right fielder softly arched his final toss into the crowd. I was watching QT. His jaw dropped in disbelief.
I made him go buy our next round of beers with our “winnings”. I let him sit with his loss a full two innings before I told him the back story and gave him the beer money back. I honestly do not recall QT ever accepting a wager from me again.
