 As a kid, Pat enjoyed lighting things on fire.
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Straight Shooter| How many jerseys and shoes do you go through in one season? | Since I don’t give away jerseys during the season, I think I go through only two home and two away jerseys a year. And I say “I think” because that is largely up to our equipment manager. From what I know, he puts out new uniforms for everyone at about the halfway point in the season. Who knows, though? He could be putting them on eBay after every game and putting out new ones without any of us knowing. Some guys go through more because they put on new jerseys at halftime (replacing the sweat-drenched one). As for shoes, we have a different pair for home, away, and practice so assuming I change once a month, a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation would put that number at about 21 pairs a season. Others change much more frequently than I, though. |
| Are you often asked by strangers to assist them in reaching stuff off of tall shelves (i.e., in Home Depot or the supermarket)? | One would assume that this would happen all of the time, but I can’t remember it ever happening when I’m out in public. My wife, however, more than makes up for it at home. Thank God for those new CFL lightbulbs that are supposed to last years. |
| Have you ever run into teammates in a store (e.g. Target) or supermarket during the offseason? | Since most guys on our team live in the same part of town, running into guys is not uncommon in the least. I run into Carlos Arroyo every once in a while since our kids go to the same preschool. There’s also a great breakfast spot that quite a few of my teammates frequent. When Darrell Armstrong was on the team, I’d always run into him at the Super Wal-Mart that’s close to where both of us lived. The funny thing was that he was rarely there for anything in particular. I think he just liked to browse. And of course, on an off day, at any time during normal business hours, there are probably no less than three members of our team at the local mall. |
| Who do you want to play you in a Pat Garrity biopic? | I think Christian Bale would do a good job. He’s one of my favorite actors and can pull off any role. And chicks dig him. |
| What’s the most trouble you got in as a kid? | I was in the fifth or sixth grade and a friend and I learned (somewhere) how to start a fire using only a steel wool and a 9-volt battery. (Note: please do not attempt to do this.) We thought it was the coolest thing, so we went into my garage and tried it out ourselves. My dad walked in to find me holding a smoldering piece of steel wool. He told my friend Brad to go home and made me go to my room for the rest of the day. Both of my parents tabbed me as somewhat of a pyro at an early age, and I think they were both deathly afraid that, at some point, I was going to burn down the house. Their fears weren’t entirely misplaced as evidenced by the time, about six years later, I swiped a piece of magnesium from one of my high school chemistry lab experiments and tried to replicate the highly exothermic experiment in our living room. They were ill pleased. |
| Are you planning an outing to Medieval Times anytime soon? | No. Mead and jousting don’t do much for me. |
From the July/Aug 2008 issue
