Ocean 16

|By: admin
Ocean 16

You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™

The Ocean 16

No that’s not the number of illegitimate children for Billy Ocean, it’s not the number of Powerball winners from New Jersey.

Ocean 16 is the appellation given them by the media.

It’s a play on the movie, Ocean’s 11 with Brad Pitt and George Clooney.

Only nobody in this  motley crue of new millionaires has a personal trainer and dietician traveling with them, at least not yet.

Normally power ball winners take weeks to step forward. If they do, they are sheepish and hide behind that big check, never really saying much.

“I’m going to buy Mildred a new truck. I am going to donate a portion to my church.”

It’s all contrived banter.

What they mean to say is the cocaine and Whores will soon be flowing.

But nobody says that.

I don’t blame them, I don’t need the entire world knowing I just won the 3rd largest lottery in history, either.

That’s what makes the latest group – Ocean’s 16 – of power ball winners interesting.

They paraded forward as a horde, like a soccer riot about to erupt.

Well maybe not as sloppy drunk as soccer hooligans, but certainly, Ocean’s 16 was a cabbage patch quilt of working class America.

These lucky winners are all from Ocean County N.J.

I don’t know much about Ocean County, but I am assuming like most from the Garden State, they have a terrible accent and a love for Springsteen.

If you recall, There were three winning tickets for the 448 million jackpot.
This group owns one of those tickets.
It means these 16 people will split 1/3 of a 1/2 billion dollars.
You do the math.

Other Power Ball winners come and go, but they don’t register in my brain.

Like spaghetti from a can, those winners are unremarkable.

But the Ocean 16 winners?  They have life, zest, personality.
They came to the news conference and acted real, like people who just stopped worrying about how to buy groceries and put their kids through college.
They were ecstatic and fun and relaxed.
One of them stepped to the podium looking like a marijuana farmer saying “my fellow Americans” like Richard Nixon. It was funny.
9 women. 7 men. All from an Ocean County New Jersey maintainance division.
The woman who bought the ticket said: “I had to wake my poor husband up. He’s not so poor anymore.”
Everyone laughed.
She is right.
They are not so poor anymore. After taxes and whatever else the Powerball people steal,  each of the Ocean 16 will pocket 3.8 million dollars.
Not a bad over night pay hike for a group that averages 38,000  a year.
The man who looks like a pot farmer is named Willie. He is works in the warehouse.
 “I am still going to watch NASCAR on Sunday,” he says.
Damn, he could buy his own car.
The majority of those interviewed say they plan to stay on the job.
“It is what we do,” one winner said.
It’s what we do.
I wouldn’t stay on the job if someone handed me 3.8 million.
I realize life is finite. I’ve seen the chalk outline on the street. Somewhere on the big calendar in the sky, your box is checked. The Big Guy knows the date. For the rest of us, well it’s a cosmic crap shoot.
Ultimately we are traveling from point A to point infinity. There are an undetermined number of stops along the way.
3.8 million dollars would sure make exploring those stops that much more enjoyable.
An umbrella drink here. A donation to your favorite charity there. A filet mignon for breakfast in the Florida Keys for no damn good reason.
Now that’s what I’m talking about.
It’d be nice to be one of the Ocean 16.
Wonder how long they’ll stay on the job the first time their boss yells at them like they still make 38,000 a year.
Life’s Crazy™

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