foofighter,

Speaking of high school, jealousy is a beotch, isn't it?

Among other things, the 8 Ball is a United tradition. In a seniority driven system its the only time in the 8 Balls career that he will get to go first in anything (except the equipment / domicile bid obviously). The Ball ceremony is a great team building exercise and helps form Espirit de Corps. Most new hires are anxious to join that group and would love to be The Ball. The Ball is essentially the Team Captain for that first week. I have no idea what that means under the current TK regime, but in the past it was special.

As a former Ball, I've got a crisp Andy Jackson that says if you put 100 former 8 Balls in a room, perhaps two would bad mouth the experience. I guess that you don't get it. And I guess there would be three if you were one.

There was a time when getting hired at UA really was a BFD. And now for some it still is. Hopefully we can all get together in the future and shove this joint back to where it once was. There are some that would rather be divisive and toss bombs while skulking around in their slick ties. That's OK, your type and scabs have always been a detriment to the good of the group. The rest of us will just have to pick up the slack, as we always have.