When Good Things Happen to Great People

This is not a photo to demonstrate my mastery of the camera. It's just a shot I caught in bad lighting and didn't have my flash ready. I didn't want to miss the photo, though, so I took the shot, bad lighting and all. On the left is my good friend, Jim Biewer, former game day director for the Saginaw Spirit; on the right, making his league-leading, third appearance in the blog is hockey hall-of-famer, Gordie Howe.

This post is not about Mr. Hockey, though, it's about Jim. Working with the Spirit, I've had the opportunity to work with a number of really talented, bright, hard-working people. It really is a testament to the organization that they are able to keep their offices filled with quality people.

Of all of the people I worked with, Jim was the guy I worked with the longest and, as a result, became pretty good friends with. We hung out, drank beers and played ping pong here in the studio. If my memory serves, I never lost a game to Jim. He may recall it differently, but this is my blog and in this blog I am a superawesome ping pong player.*

As of today, though, Jim is no longer with the Saginaw Spirit. Another friend once predicted that one day we'll all be working for Jim and the first step in that direction comes today. As of today, Jim Biewer is a marketing coordinator for my beloved Detroit Red Wings. I'm pretty sure that the boys were just sandbagging the past couple of games so that they could make Jim's first day even more memorable by clinching the Western Conference slot in the Stanley Cup Finals.

I am really going to miss Jim and our ping-pong-and-beer meetings, but I couldn't be happier for him if I tried. He's a really fantastic person and works harder than almost anyone else I know. Congratulations, Jimmy. You worked your ass off and got what you deserve--it really couldn't happen to a better guy.


* Okay, I lied. Jim beat me almost every single time we played. In my defense, he was a client and I was just letting him win.**

** Lying again.