The Popcorn Stand: It’s not the heat, it’s the humility

I don’t like the heat. Every year sometime late in the spring when I know the heat is coming, I try to psyche myself out into thinking I like the heat. I say things like I can’t wait to lie out on the sidewalk to soak in that heat when it gets up around 100 degrees.

As Yogi Berra once said, “it’s not the heat, it’s the humility.” Luckily here in Northern Nevada we really don’t have to deal with the “humility.” I periodically make trips down to my old stomping grounds in the San Joaquin Valley where it’s generally 10 degrees hotter down there than it is here and there is “humility.” Nothing like back east, but when you step outside in the San Joaquin Valley on what could be considered a humid day down there after being in Northern Nevada, the “humility” really takes its toll.

My all-time favorite Yogi Berra story involves a time when the New York City mayor and his wife visited Yankee Stadium and Berra was wearing a pretty fancy suit on a hot day. The mayor’s wife told Yogi “you look pretty cool in that suit” to which Yogi replied, “You don’t look so hot yourself.”

And talking about the “humility,” there’s a wonderful Abbott and Costello routine right up there with “Who’s On First?” in which Abbott keeps trying to explain to Costello the difference between “humidity” and “humility” ending with Costello saying “this is a damp joint.”

All I have to say to those dealing with this heat is try not to stay so hot.

— Charles Whisnand