Friday, September 27, 2013

The Bald Eagle Takes Off

On this date in 1991, the CFCL Front Office paid tribute to one of the great owners in league history with the publication of a massive, 19-page newsletter special titled The Bald Eagle Takes Off.

The subject of the tribute was Bob Monroe, who had joined the CFCL in its third year of existence (1986) and immediately changed the league forever with his wild wheeling and dealing management style, his tireless drive to identify and exploit every constitution loophole humanly possible, and a biting, caustic wit that he loosed in an unending torrent on the league’s co-founders (though Rich was probably targeted 85% of the time to David’s 15%).

Rich was able to exact some small degree of revenge when he started publishing the CFCL newsletters in 1987. Bob was a frequent target of Rich in his LHEB (Lord High Editor Bentel) role, with frequent references to Bob’s age (relative to the co-founders) and his follically challenged scalp.

About halfway through the 1991 season, Bob’s job transferred him to Denver. The CFCL was still a number of years away from being prepared for remote drafting and team management, so that spelled the end of the Bald Eagles reign of terror in the CFCL.

To commemorate Bob’s contributions to the league during his 6-year tenure, Rich and I gathered together the best of our Bald Eagle related writings, drawing heavily on Rich’s barbs from the newsletter, and compiled them into The Bald Eagle Takes Off, with cover artwork by my brother and former CFCL owner, Paul.

Bob returned to Chicago in late September to attend my wedding, so Rich and I were able to present him with a copy of the tribute. We actually gave it to him at the rehearsal dinner, on September 27, 1991. Looking back, I’m lucky Michelle didn’t call the whole wedding off right then and there, but she was a good sport, sharing part of the spotlight with the Bald One.

The evening was made extra special when Bob’s wife Julie perused the document and actually broke out into song, singing “Bob Monroe”, Rich’s parody to the tune of the Beach Boy’s “Barbara Ann” (page 11).

Now you too can enjoy the Best of Bob (or BOB) – just click below for “The Bald Eagle Takes Off”.

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