My shronk memories
The first time I met Shronk, he had just gotten into town from PA. He was starting his new internship in a day or two and we had been friendly for a while via the internet so I met him at a PT's to hang out face to face.
He probably asked me 50 questions about poker and poker players in the first hour. What was this guy like, had I ever met this person, did I like it when people did this. From almost anyone else, this line of questions would be annoying, but Shronk always had this sheer enthusiasm about him that made it fun. He was legitimately so excited to just know about poker and poker players that it was infectious.
He was super excited about living in an apartment with a handful of other dudes to get up early in the morning and drive to the Rio to walk around all day, only because it meant he got to be around poker.
He just loved everything about poker. When he got to work with Joe and Gavin he was thrilled. When he had to take a 12 or 14 hour flight, he didn't bitch or moan, he took it all in stride because that's what covering poker meant...you had to go to where the tournaments were.
I honestly can't recall him saying a negative thing about anyone in poker. Even when retelling a bad beat he took, he didn't say it bitterly, just matter-of-factly.
When Shronk moved out here for good, he crashed on my couch for a little bit. I remember we had to make him his own key because he was always up before everyone else and didn't want to leave the front door open when he went out.
Above his love for poker, Shronk was a good friend. Like BJ, I've had many TV-related conversations with Shronk and once I told him about my love for Sports Night, he would hound me endlessly to watch the West Wing. He never refused to speak to me, but for a solid two or three months almost every conversation would be permeated with "have you seen West Wing yet/can I bring over West Wing DVDs/you can watch West Wing on the internet/you should really watch West Wing". He knew what made him happy and when he was speaking about those things, it was like he couldn't contain himself.
Another example would be a couple of years ago when I wanted to take up bowling. Shronk was a good bowler in his youth, so he insisted that he come along with me to help me get a ball, shoes, bag, towel, rosen bag, ect. He even joined my bowling team, and paid the dues every single week even though he was gone over half of them for work, just because he liked to bowl.
I remember he could NEVER get his thumb hole big enough on his ball and he would constantly take it to get redrilled. I believe the first night he got it drilled three separate times.
I'm gonna miss that dude. It's going to feel ****ty for a while when I listen to a podcast, or watch Top Chef, or see the Roots performing on Jimmy Fallon. But I take a little solace in knowing that he was a happy dude, and I honestly think he genuinely enjoyed every aspect of his life, from work to leisure activities.
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