A Rainout and A Rap

Over the years, I've been able to have some fun while at SHARE. In particular, I've been able to attend various sporting events with my SHARE friends. Most recently, I attended the ACC men's basketball tournament final in Atlanta, Georgia. We watched Florida State upset North Carolina. I recall seeing a couple NHL hockey games, including Tampa Bay Lightning when they were still playing in old Expo Hall at the Florida State Fair grounds back in 1992. Baseball games included Boston's Fenway, Baltimore's Camden Yards, Toronto's Skydome, San Francisco's AT&T park, Atlanta's Turner Field, and Chicago's Wrigley Field.

I remember one game at Wrigley. After about two innings, some rain started falling and they pulled out the tarps. We were seated in an area with an overhang, so the rain didn't bother me at all. The Cubs never got the game in, but that didn't bother us. We sat there and chatted, had a few beers, and dined on Chicago dogs and pizza. That's one of my favorite non-work SHARE memories. Actually, we probably talked a little VM performance as well, so there was some work. :-)

There was also at least one minor league game, watching the Nashville Sounds play. That was early in my SHARE journey. That game would plant the seed for the new nickname Rapmaster Bill. It started when leaving the ballpark when I stopped to buy a ball cap. I made the mistake of putting the ball cap on backwards. Jeff Wilk, one of the VMPR ribbon wearers at the time, got this big smile and goes, "What's with the hat? Are you like a rapper or something?" Then the smile got even bigger as he proclaimed, "That's it, we're gonna call you Rapmaster". There were various stories told through out the week about what happened at the ballpark. Someone had also collected all the souvenir beer cups from that game to create a large stack of them known as the "torch". The story would change as to how many the new IBM Rep (me) had contributed to the stack.

Craig Welch was the IBM Rep from the Storage Device group at the time. He egged me on and convinced me that we should have some fun and do a rap. Silly me, I sad yes. So for the closing session, Craig and I came running in wearing our suits, well at least the tops of the suits. We also wore shorts and high top sneakers, and baseball caps on backwards. And we did a little rap that went like:

We're the VM rappers that's who we be          
Rapmaster Bill and Craig MC              
and we're here to tell you two fast stories
                          
First is a tale we hope you like         
so here's the Rapmaster on the mic         
                                
I went to the park to see a Sounds game.          
And it was there that I got my name.                                
Rain came down  I bought a hat                 
Had 2 beers  and that was that!
                                
But Roger, Carol, Jeff, and Neal
embellished the story; And that's the deal
                                
 Now sit right back and you'll hear a tale         
 from Craig MC who just can't fail
                                
Many SHAREs ago a cookbook was tried            
soon we produced the Perf Info Guide
                                
Now when you name something, be careful, you dig? 
because what we ended up callin' its the PIG        
                                
so now that the PIG's the latest SHARE rage           
Carol Mac and Jeff, come up to the stage

I thought we were going to give some of the more dignified IBMers heart attacks. Apparently our act was new, both in dress code and enthusiasm. In ways, I think it helped me feel more approachable to my customers.

Over the years, Craig and I would do a number of Raps. Craig's role would change and he stopped making it to SHARE. I did a few solo raps, but it wasn't the same. The Rapmaster has since retired. My fifteen minutes are up. But it was a lot of fun.