What's In A Name

     I'm a fan of nicknames.  I've doled out my share of them over the years, several of which have stuck.  Three friends from the old neighborhood each had their own.  Jeff Beach was "Beacher", Brian Woods was "Woodsie", and Mark Cavallon was "Cav".  I didn't have a nickname based on my last name like these guys did.  "Funner" or "Funsie" didn't pass the poetic-sounding test apparently.
     I did achieve nickname status during my sophomore year of high school however.  Kyle was a senior on the lacrosse team and took a liking to me.  My guess is that it had a little something to do with my sisters Joann and Jackie, both of whom he either dated or tried to.  He also seemed to like the fact that I had a predilection for hanging around the prettier girls in the hallways between classes. 
     "Hey, Johnny..." Kyle said to me one day in the locker room before practice.  "That cute girl I saw you with today...  So, you get your noodle wet yet, or what?" he asked laughing.  My shy and embarrassed reaction in front of the whole team only fueled Kyle's comedic harassment.  Every day from then on, I'd hear "Hey, Noodle...!" from him, and most everybody else for the rest of my high school years.  Of course, I shied away from it as best I could, never acknowledging it as my own.  But no matter.  When I became captain of the team my senior year, my nickname earned a status upgrade as well: Captain Noodle.
     Thank goodness some things shall pass.  Exit high school, exit Captain Noodle.  Enter college, enter Johnny Izzo.  Johnny and I became instant friends as freshmen laxmen.  But two Johnnys on the same team brought communicative confusion, so new names were needed.  On the field, Johnny liked to isolate offensively from the midfield, easily earning the nickname "Johnny-Iso".  As much as I liked and appreciated Johnny as a great guy and terrific teammate, it was the nickname he gave me that I'll always appreciate most: "Johnny-Fun".  I liked it a helluva lot better than "Noodle".  And it's lasted for thirty years and counting.  I've managed to avoid seeing Kyle for just about that long, which is a good thing.  'Cuz I'm sure he'd attempt to end that streak.