Mar 04 2009
Who Are These Guys?
Last time I introduced you to my beloved BU Krushgroovers and gave you a little background on the team. Thought you might like to know about the players themselves.
1B -Matt Riley - aka Chach, aka Riles, aka Cassius King, aka JJ Flash - first baseman and the true soul of the team. Matt hails from America’s only 3d world city, Detroit, Michigan. On weekends he plays in a Rolling Stones cover band and has often been mistaken for Mick Jagger. His apartment was also the site of the only known “self water boarding” to occur on American soil. Matt got his M.B.A. from BU in 1985. He returned to Detroit and was a founding partner of Midwest Door and Window. There is no man on earth more generous or more fun loving.
2B - Bruce Goldman - aka Smurf, aka Goldy, aka AARP’s Mike Tyson, aka He Hate Me - the kindest, gentlest, most liberal soul to ever yell at a deaf waitress and to punch out 2 senior citizens for cutting him off in traffic. Bruce works in Philadelphia, lives in New Jersey and can often be found riding in tanks with Mike Dukakis. Bruce got his J.D. from BU in 1985. He is one of the few Krushgroovers to actually improve over the years. He is also almost always the first player up in the morning and can often be seen pacing the hotel lobby clapping his hands saying “lets go folks”.
SS - Harry Packman - aka Pack, aka Usher - the founder and heart of the Krushgroovers. Currently has more marriages than home runs in the past decade. Lives and works in New York and hopes for at least one more year to be able to out hit his 14 year old son (who happens to worship teammate Matt Riley because Matt eats Doritos and spaghetti for breakfast). Pack got his J.D. from BU in 1984. Not sure everyone would think this is a good thing but at least half of the best 50 days of his life have been spent with these clowns - and yes he does keep lists (at least in his head) of those types of things.
SS- Don Shanin - aka Donnie, aka Puff, aka Fredo - the beloved brother who seems like he is from a different family. He played in the first BU tournament with friends who financed the same with sales of various forms of contraband. Returned to the team last October for the first time since the late 1990s. Lives and works in New Jersey. Don got his J.D. from BU in 1982. For years he played with the infamous White Trash team captained by one of the greatest players and characters to ever come out of BU Law School. The captain’s name is Mark Goidell (Class of 1980, 1981, and 1982) and he still holds every career softball record at BU and not just because he had a longer career than any other player. That team also featured an outstanding pitcher named Steve Harkavy (Class of 1982) otherwise known as V but often mistaken for Jerry Garcia. As if that was not enough, the team also had the most memorable softball player in the history of the game. Jeff Regan (Class of 1982 and “Wahoo” to his friends) actually kept a section of a chain link fence in the trunk of his 1968 Chevy Impala which he would attach to said Impala and use to drag the field before games. He would also wheel out his team’s bats and other equipment in a shopping cart convincing every other team that at least one homeless person was in the tournament. Assuming all statutes of limitations have long expired it can also be said that Team White Trash was usually enveloped by a cloud of smoke.
3B - John Clancy - aka Clem, aka Sybil, aka Clanseco, aka Stella, aka S. Grooveback - has won 3 Wayne Newton look alike contests. First met many of the rest of the Krushgroovers in Ann Arbor while he was covered in his own vomit. Lives and works in New York.
3B - Doug Schur - aka Dougie, aka Butch - former college hockey player who nearly got a starring role in the Mighty Ducks movies. He got his law degree from St. Louis University School of Law in 1985. He chose to practice law in L.A. before opening up a series of lucrative beauty salons called “Manny, Peddy, We Will Get You Ready”. Lives and works in L.A.
P - Rich Blumenreich - aka Lefty, aka The Accountant, aka P. Marwick - the team’s pitcher for 25 years. Has actually thrown 2 no hitters in slow pitch softball but since they were both in the 1980s everyone wants to know what have you done for us lately. Lefty got his J.D. from BU in 1985. He lives in Maryland, works in D.C. and will be the one carrying the brief cases full of money when the team goes out at night.
C - Doug Rayvid - aka Rags, aka Larry David, aka Thurston Howell III, aka House - youngest person to speak before his local Boy Scout troop as well as a noted germaphobe who changes his underwear every hour. Rags got his joint J.D./M.B.A. degree from BU in 1986. His “cousins” Passion and Most Eyes serve as the captains of the team’s cheerleading squad. He lives and works in New Jersey but is happy to complain in any location. Rags spent last summer touring the French countryside with his wife on a bicycle built for two. The natives were constantly amused by his happy shouts of “bonjour”. His wife would have preferred that he pedal every once in a while.
OF - Jay Zerner - aka Z, aka Jay Z, aka Highway, aka Beyonce’s Boy - once told the team how he had dated a woman who was 1/2 Greek and 1/2 Jamaican. Chach immediately commented how she must have liked to smoke pot and engage in certain sexual acts. Three players were seriously injured when they laughed so hard they fell off the bleachers where they had been sitting. Z got his M.D. from BU in 1995 and lives and works in Dallas, Texas. He is the closest thing the Krushgroovers have ever had to the Natural or Josh Hamilton.
OF - Evan Kushner - aka Kush, aka Jarvik - literally brought a great deal of Joy to the team last year. Evan is an attorney who lives and works in Boston. He got his J.D. from Suffolk University School of Law in 1991. Recently returned from an extended visit to Africa. There is no truth to the rumor that Packman sent him there to recruit some new players for the team.
OF - David Shladovsky - aka Sarge, aka Shlee, aka Sundance - former “cover boy” for GQ, still holds the record for fastest time driving from D.C. to Charlottesville in a blizzard. Shlee got his J.D. from BU in 1985 and is an attorney who no longer practices softball or the law in L.A. but still somehow manages to play at the same level he played at in law school. Shlee is also at all times the most likely Krushgroover to get thrown out of a game for arguing balls and strikes - from right field.
OF - Arnie Friedfertig - aka The Warden, aka The Keeper of the Chart, aka Raul’s Boy - lives and practices law in Boston. Arnie got his J.D. from BU in 1983. He also once ran the NYC Marathon and for 26 miles was sure that somehow thousands of people knew his name and were cheering for him. It was only when he crossed the finish line that he realized that they were not cheering “Arnie, Arnie” but rather “Army Army” when he saw the 2 U.S. soldiers dressed in fatigues finish the race right behind him.Next time - bios on some of the former Krushgroovers.
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The BU Krushgroovers are a softball team formed back in the early 1980s by a bunch of BU law students. Remarkably, they are still playing together. An argument can be made that they are quite simply the best "lawyers softball team" to ever play the game.