By Laurie Whittier
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Wind Crest Executive Director Craig Erickson was confident that the Colorado Rockies would emerge victorious at the World Series, netting free lobster dinners for Wind Crest staff and residents. But things didn’t work out quite like he planned.

“I was certain that the Rockies would win,” says Erickson, who had a “put up or shut up” bet on the series outcome with Jim Wingardner, executive director of Brooksby Village, another Erickson community, in Peabody, Mass. “But alas, the baseball gods did not smile upon Colorado.”

If Colorado won, Wingardner was to provide enough lobsters for all of Wind Crest to enjoy.

“I was looking forward to eating lobster with our residents as we watched the snow descend upon the Rocky Mountains,” Erickson says.

As it turned out, staff and residents at Brooksby enjoyed around 1,500 steak dinners—courtesy of Erickson corporate in Baltimore.

In a company press release just after the bet was made between the two executives, Wingardner jokingly called Erickson a “misguided dreamer” for expecting the Rockies to win the pennant.

“That’s OK,” says Erickson. “This may have been the first time Colorado has made it to the World Series,  but it won’t be the last.”

And if the Rockies ever get the chance at a rematch with Boston, Erickson plans to reinstate the bet. “We’ll eventually get our lobster,” he says. “And when we do, I’ll enjoy mine with plenty of drawn butter.”