40 Years in Beer, Part Twenty-Six: From a 1990 portal, Sportstime Pizza to Rich O’s BBQ to NABC
Current view of New Albany’s north side, where pastures became a tax base.
Previously: 40 Years in Beer, Part Twenty-Five: The end of the beginning (1989-1990).
An anecdote to kick off this installment, as relayed by the Irish musician Sean Cannon (The Dubliners, The Dublin Legends).
“In the Irish love triangle there are three parties involved: A man, and a woman – and drink, and so the girl gives an ultimatum to her boyfriend: It’s either the drink, or me. He chooses the drink. But afterwards, he relents. They get married and live happily ever after … the three of them.”
Earlier in this series we saw that Sportstime Pizza came into existence during the summer of 1987 when a budding entrepreneur named Richard “Rich” O’Connell took over the management of a moribund Noble Roman’s pizzeria franchise located off Grant Line Road on New Albany’s about-to-explode north side, and got to work.
In 1990 I turned 30. As the New Year dawned, I was poised to join the Sportstime Pizza family, both personally and professionally. At the time, it seemed a logical symbiosis; considered in retrospect, the phrase “be careful what you wish for” springs quickly to mind. The 1990s made me and broke me,...Read more