Listen my children, and you shall hear . . .

Of the midnight case

Of diarrhea!

Ha! Ha! Ha! Gotta love those poems from the third grade!

Anyway, Happy Freakin' Patriots Day to all of my compatriots throughout the Commonwealth who are forced to go to work today just the same.

Yes, it was on this date in 1985 that Jim Koch and his partners introduced the world to Samuel Adams Boston Lager.

More importantly, though, it was on this date that Paul Revere and William Dawes headed off on their midnight ride to warn Sam Adams and John Hancock that the British were coming.

While John Hancock had absolutely nothing to do with either writing insurance policies, or lighting signs above the Fenway bleachers, Sam Adams indeed was a brewer; however, he was not very good at it. His father, Sam the elder, had been a brewer of sorts, and they went into business together after Sam the younger had graduated from Harvud. After Sam the elder became Sam the deceased, Sam the younger became Sam the only. His brewery struggled, and then it folded. And so it goes.

Still planning today to visit Johnny's gravesite out at Quivett Neck, then dropping in to the Lost Dog. Never tell your real name. Never ask what others do. Always pay your bar tab!