Those who have read my stuff know that I used to frequent Duffy’s Sports Grill in West Palm Beach almost every night.
And it was at this Duffy’s that I met a fascinating guy named Buzz Braman about ten years ago. Damn, it feels like 10 minutes.

Buzz (Shown on top back in the day with Shaq), who is part of the Braman car empire here in South Palm Beach, used to be the assistant coach of the Philadelphia 76ers and then the Orlando Magic, where he coached Superstars like Shaq and Penny Hardaway.

His job was to improve the players’ shooting skills; the weird part was he was better than all of them.
He is known as the “Shot Doc” and once threw a record-shattering 738 free throws in a row, plus 246 out of 250 3-pointers and made 1121 out of 1144 free throw attempts in one hour, not mention beating Larry Bird in a three-point shoot out.  See trophy above

Even now, Buzz is talking to the NBA about a new shooting technique he’s created that he claims will revolutionize basketball, which he said took a nice right turn last night.
Unfortunately, as he told a good friend of his in Orlando recently, he’s a little nervous because of his severe back problems, so he hasn’t been able to shoot a basketball in about eight months. His buddy said, “Hell, Buzz, it’s like riding a basketball.” 🙂

Anyway, back at Duffy’s, where I seldom go now because, as the saying goes, “Familiarity breeds contempt.”
I guess I must have overstayed my welcome, so when the service went south, I switched to BJ’s and brought a few of my friends with me.

Okay, enough of my whining; let’s get back to the story, enough of these sidebars.
Anyway, one night. there’s Buzz and I at Duffy’s having one or three adult beverages at the bar, talking about all the guitar links we’ve exchanged over the years. (Buzz and I are both big Blues guitar fans.)

After a while, Buzz, needing another drink, starts looking around for a bartender, but none are around, so he turns to me and says, “You would think with the thousands of dollars we spend in this joint, that they’d buy us a fucking drink once in a while.

Less than 30 seconds later, from out of nowhere, the GM comes over and says, “Can I buy you guys a drink?”
Buzz and I fell off our stools.

GEO’S LIFE-LINERS

I wonder what percentage of female athletes are gay?

It takes a lot of courage to speak out and a lot to not.

The future don’t look anything like the past.

What President ever halted inflation?

Were there ever any signs that read, “No whites allowed?”

When I got into radio, I thought everything was too fucking long, so I spent most of my career shortening everything.

My biggest failure in life was trying to make the people I love happy.

Speaking of failure, NOT! I’ll never forget the day we were all gathered in Jim Hilliard’s office in Indy because the new rating book for Indianapolis had just arrived. We’d just come off our best ever, which was a 17 share, and were quite anxious to see if we maintained it. We laa lean forward as Jim turns to page 54 and says, “Damn it, Johns, I was sure you had a twenty; you only got a 19.3.

The best part about getting into a Hall of Fame was the amount of money you made while getting there. Trump kinda reminds me of a used car salesman because, like all salesfolks, he lies for a living.

Who took down the “Looters will be shot” signs?

A noble person is one who can give and forget but receive and remember.

Is there anything more boring than being in a meeting where everyone agrees? Hell, I was already gone after the first “yes.”

Wouldn’t you just once like to hear someone say no when asked in a movie if they’re okay?

If you ever wonder if you’re crazy, you ain’t. Crazy people don’t ask themselves silly questions like that.

When people don’t answer your questions, it’s a good reason to keep on asking them.

Has anybody in DC ever read a book?

Wow, Jimmy Buffet is gone at 76.

COMMENTS

Wendy Homes: The most important thing about playing Poker is to remain calm and retain your Poker face. Years ago, when we had our cottage on Lake of the Woods, we usually played Canasta in the evening with two other couples. One evening, our adult children convinced us to play Texas Holdem, which I had never played before. Well, I was one of the last remaining two, and I laid down three of a kind! The whole table erupted, and one of the kids asked me if I was sure that I’d never played before; what a gas!! I’m really good at Blackjack, too but I never tried it in Las Vegas.
Geo: Wendy, I don’t usually like to play games of any kind. However, when I was taking my Grandson Nathaniel college shopping on the train, at some point, he got bored and asked if I’d play poker with him.
He’d previously heard the “Deal Me In” story, and because I adored him, I reluctantly agreed to play.
So, there we were in the dome car, using M&Ms and Skittles as chips, and he was kicking my ass. Finally, he says, “Buppa, I always know what you’re holding because if you’ve got a good hand, you do this, and if you’ve got a bad hand, you do that.”
I won the next hand and most of the rest, and he couldn’t believe it and when he asked what just happened, I said, “You forgot the part in the “Deal Me In” story where Jim Hilliard says, “If George Johns ever sits in, cash me out.” He knew that if I ever sat in, I knew the rules. Hey, grasshopper, you taught me the rules!

Bill Gardner: You think it’s fun visiting Las Vegas, you ought to live here as we do! It’s Disneyland for grown-ups.
Had to laugh when you describe my former WFIL Philadelphia Program Director Jim Hilliard in the air as a “white knuckler.” Take it from a now airline captain, Jim has every right to! He’s the ONLY guy I know that survived an airline crash! I believe it was a DC9 aboard Hughes AirWest. (Deal Me In)
Geo: Bill, what was so weird about all that, Bill, was, he was sneaking up to Winnipeg to interview for the CKY position and when Pat O’Day saw the list of survivors, he was only one of the few who knew Jim’s real name and was pissed. As Pat told me later, when they sent Jim to KNEW in Spokane Pat asked him how much money he wanted so the company wouldn’t have to worry about him looking for work. Jim told him, the company paid it and a few weeks, Pat, was reading about Jim flying to Winnipeg for obviously a job interview.

Radio Geo’s Media Blog is a politically incorrect inside look at Radio, TV, Music, Movies, Books, Social Media, Politics, and Religion, but mostly about Life, primarily written with men in mind.
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