When I was a freshman in high school, Stewie Abramson's parents conveniently went to Europe for the week, which freed up their house for a track team party. The 40 year old coach showed up to the party with a case of Grolsch for us kids. He was divorced and a little lonely. I had run the two mile and one mile race earlier that day and only weighed about 100 pounds. One beer made me very happy.
Those track parties continued through high school, until I graduated to the big kid parties at college where the beer flowed so freely that my sneakers would be saturated with cheap beer from Matt's brewery. Guys from the dorm would speed up the progress of beer to stomach by doing funnel shots, upside down funnels, shotguns. We played quarters while watching Letterman. When the dorm parties got old, we sampled the local dives. Binghamton used to brag about having the most bars on one street in the country. I think Utica has that honor now. I'm not sure. But all those depressed cities in upstate New York have two bars and a church on every block.
When I graduated and went into publishing, the drinking continued as my boss felt that the best way to keep the authors happy was to get them drunk at fancy restaurants. After lunch, he would plop on a sofa in the hallway until his head stopped spinning. He spent more on wine than on my annual salary.
What my point? I don't know. I guess that I was very surprised about Harry's revelation considering I've been surrounded by booze since I was a teenager. Despite my stories, I have always concerned myself a moderate. I never went on Spring Break or participated in bar contests or rushed a sorority. And once I gained some weight and learned my limit, I didn't get too crazy that often.
Drinking is best when it's not the point of the evening, but rather the side activity while one has long conversations about life with your best friends.
Is binge drinking a big problem? Are you concerned about your kids being the kegmeister of their fraternities in college? Any other teetotalers out there? Does anybody else's kid come home from school with very alarming worksheets on the evils of beer and wine?
