Canzano: A lesson in college football (and perserverance)
A mystery solved.
Need a fun story? I heard one this week. A guy who was working at National Frozen Foods in Albany told me that his general manager a couple of decades ago was a huge college football fan.
Every year, the employees at the shop participated in a college football bowl pick ‘em contest. Entry fee: $10. One entry per person. Prizes to the top finishers.
Anyway, the manager handed that employee, John McDaniel, a stack of the bowl-game pool sheets and asked if he’d drum up some enthusiasm with the rest of the staff. As they were talking, a staff member named Azra Khalidi walked past.
Khalidi grew up in Pakistan. She’d immigrated alone, and dreamed of becoming a U.S. citizen. She was well regarded as an employee. That said, there were cultural differences. Her accent was thick. She didn’t know a lick about college football, and struggled to keep up when the employees talked sports.
The boss saw Khalidi approach, smirked, and said, “Give one to her.”
An easy $10 for the pot, he thought.