A Tribute to Ben Getz

The following comment was screened by the Secretary of Comment Analysis here at WDWG yesterday: 

I call for a tribute to BEN GETZ!
May 3rd came and went with nary a peep from the staff at What Dave Wants Dave Getz.

This comment was sent in by none other than my cousin Jon Getz who currently lives in Malyasia.  The comment appears to be calling into question the respectability of this company.  However, today's post will hopefully clear the dust of confusion off of everyone's armchairs.  The fact is not that Ben's Birthday Post was forgotten; that idea is rubbish.  The fact of the matter is that Ben's Birthday brought about a lot of peeps here at WDWG.  The problem lies in the fact that too many peeps can spoil the broth, and in this case, the Broth of Ben's Birthday Soup was spoiled by too many peeps (this can be taken figuratively and literally, as Peep Soup would be absolutely disgusting).  However, amidst the carnival of celebration that erupted on May 3rd, I happened to scratch out this motivation tribute to my older brother, but in the cacophony of noisemakers and pinatas, it never got published.....until today!  Here is the original message in its entirety:

May the 3rd, 1988; a day that will forever go down in history as "Tuesday" (I looked it up.  It's true).  That day saw the birth of one of our nation's greatest figures.  Without the birth of this man, we would never hear the famous words: "And now it's time for a CBS Tournament Tradition.  Luther VanDross and "One Shining Moment."  That's right.  Today is Greg Gumbel's birthday!!!!...........

Oops.  We got our messages jumbled up.  We apologize for any confusion caused.  Here, now, is the real transcription of the piece entitled "A Tribute to Ben Getz."

May the 3rd, 1988; a day that will forever go down in history as "Tuesday" (I looked it up.  It's true).  That day saw the birth of one of our nation's greatest figures.  My oldest brother.  Ben Getz.  I have been lucky enough to know Ben for the last 18 years.  We met in a hospital room in Madison, Wisconsin, and my life has never been the same.  

Ben is a very fun-loving, carefree, easy-going, rip-snorting, cow-wrangling, sonofagun that has been a very influential person in my life.  As the eldest of 8 Getz children, the example that he has set has trickled down through the ranks and made our family a bunch of fun-loving, carefree, easy-going, rip-snorting, cow-wrangling, sonofaguns.   

When people joke about they don't get along their brothers, I really feel bad for them, cause the relationship that I have with Ben is something that I treasure.  I know I can speak for both of us when I say that we are great friends.  That isn't to say that we haven't had our share of differences.  For example, Ben had a knack for angering me by calling me "Duvid" when we were younger.  However, whenever I would threaten to tell mom, he would say: "If you tell mom, I'll tell her that you called me a 'bad umpire!'"  What could I do?  He was right.  I had called him a "bad umpire" on several occasions.  I had no choice but to grit my teeth and bear being called "Duvid."  Thankfully, I'm past that stage now....although I still insist that I was "safe" on that one play!

Ben has been a good example in being a son, a brother, a student, a christian, an athlete, and a college student for me.  I don't know how I would have got through high school without him.  His talent in sports sometimes discouraged me because I could never beat him, but that's probably because my competitive drive has never been as high.  Still, you only get better by playing people better than you, so I thank him for never going easy on me.  When Ben moved off to college, it really opened my eyes that I needed to step up and fill his shoes around the house.  I did my best to model what I saw him do, and I think I'm safe in saying that I did a decent stand-in job. 

So, that's all I got for now.  I could probably crank out several more paragraphs, but it's lunchtime and I'm getting hungry. 

So, there it is Ben!  Happy Birthday 5 days late!  I want you to know that the staff here at WDWG served cake in the break-room on May 3rd.  Good luck with Finals!  Remember what Albert Einstein said: "Finals!?  I'll tell you what I think of Finals!  Bah Humbug!"  Hmmm....maybe that wasn't Albert.  Oh well.  It's true.