By Juan Montoya
Among the characters who congregated at the Sportman's Bar in downtown Brownsville was a guy named Ramon.
We never knew his last name because it's really not kosher to ask. Ramon was just fine.
During the summer you hardly ever saw him because he worked in air conditioning and those were his busy months. It after the weather cooled off a bit and a northern or two came in that he would frequent the bar with his assistants.
Like most patrons, Ramon had a favorite saying. Some would shout "Esa no," when a tearjerker song by Vicente Fernandez like "Volver, volver, volver," was played on the jukebox
Others would comment when someone would be hitting the brewskies hard and a bottle of tequila was passed around and the man or woman took long drink that made the bottle gurgle. They would say something like "Que tal pollo!"
Ramon's favorite saying when a dance song was played was "Esa la bailo con madre!"
Over time, he became known for that saying and when a song cam in, we would turn expectantly to Ramon and he would dutifully intone "Esa la bailo con madreo!"
There was a short man - though not young - named Ruben who started to mimic Ramon when he wasn't around and went around saying "Esa la bailo con madre."
After a while people got tired of hearing him repeat Ramon's saying and as Ruben approached a guy at the bar to delivered his version of Ramon's saying, the man turned and told him: "No seas Ramon." (No seas mamon!)