Sport: Keepers of the Cup

Newport's Cameo Café was awash with wassailing sailors. Broken beer glasses littered the floor, and a steady stream of fresh pitchers was passed precariously back over the heads of the yelling, singing crowd. Atop the bar, the most incongruous chorus line in Newport memory clumped groggily to the strains of Waltzing Matilda, with Sir Frank Packer, the doughty "Big Daddy" whose money built Australia's Gretel, in the lead. Weatherly crewmen, hugging their Aussie counterparts, poured drinks down their necks with fraternal abandon. Just as a huge mirror crashed from the wall, the police barged in to urge the celebrating yachtsmen out...

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