Hey Bo Diddley!

I read on the internet where Bo Diddley passed away today. I figured now is a good time to share my brush with Mr. McDaniel from many years ago. Cue the harp... Picture yourself back in the early 90's. I was volunteering as security for some branch of student government at UF that hosted concerts at the bandshell near my apartment. I don't think you'd call me a security guard or anything formal, since we didn't get any training or even a radio. There may have been a free t-shirt, but I don't recall. Anyhow, I was out there several hours before a concert was set to begin, just hanging around killing time trying to be helpful, when I see Bo Diddley and his grandson playing catch with a tennis ball. The grandson missed the ball one time, and it rolled to my feet. I picked it up and tossed it back to Bo (the grandson, like any small child might be, was distracted by something shiny and wasn't paying attention to me). I guess that Mr. Diddley was distracted, too, because even though he was looking right at me when I tossed the ball back, he didn't make any move to catch it, he just let it bounce right off his shoulder. He didn't get mad or anything, he just bent down, picked up the ball and went back to playing catch. And that's the story of how I hit Bo Diddley in the shoulder with a tennis ball. Somebody should write a song about that!