Friends Play Tag For 23 Years: Nordstrom CMO Brian Dennehy, Gonzaga Prep School Pals Locked In Elaborate Game

Forget email. This group of 40-something men has a much better way to keep in touch.

For the past 23 years, Brian Dennehy, CMO of Nordstrom, has been playing an elaborate game of tag with nine of his former classmates. According to the Wall Street Journal, the group met at Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane, Wash., where they spent morning breaks darting around campus.

Today, the game remains fundamentally the same -- one player is "It" until he tags someone else -- but with a few twists. Players can only tag in February, meaning whoever is "It" stays "It" until the next year.

"You're like a deer or elk in hunting season," one of the players, high school teacher Joe Tombari, told the news source.

WSJ explains:

Players get tagged at work and in bed. They form alliances and fly around the country. Wives are enlisted as spies and assistants are ordered to bar players from the office.

Geography doesn't matter, either. During one ambitious attempt, Tombari travelled to Munich, Germany to tag Mike Konesky, the Daily Mail reported.

Another time, Sean Raftis, who went on to become a priest, flew from Seattle to California to hide in Tombari's trunk, startling his wife into falling and tearing a knee ligament, the Toronto Star reported. Now, Tombari always checks under his car.

Konesky, who is currently "It," says the roots of the game started in school.

"Back then we used to get up to some crazy things like running through the halls, but after we graduated we went our separate ways," he told the Daily Mail.

Eight years after graduation, the group attended their high school reunion, the Star reported. Missing their prankster past, they engineered the new game as a way to keep in touch, sealing it in January 1990 with a signed "Tag Participation Agreement."

Game on.

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Brian Schatz Senate: Hawaii's Lieutenant Governor Tapped To Replace Late Sen. Daniel Inouye

Hawaii's Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz has been chosen to replace the late Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).

Hawaii Democrats picked U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, Schatz and Department of Land and Natural Resources Deputy Director Esther Kiaaina as final nominees for the open U.S. Senate seat. Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced Schatz as Inouye's replacement Wednesday evening.

After fighting respiratory complications, Inouye passed away December 17 at the age of 88. The day Inouye died, he sent a letter to Abercrombie asking him to appoint Hanabusa to his seat.

Abercrombie said that he wanted Hanabusa to remain on the House Armed Services Committee because of her close relationship with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Politico's Manu Raju reports Inouye's office is "very disappointed" the late senator's choice of successor was not honored by Abercrombie.

After the announcement, Schatz noted he would run for Senate in 2014 with hopes of serving the last 2 years of Inouye's term. He also announced he would seek the Senate seat for a full term in 2016.

The AP reports:

HONOLULU — Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz of Hawaii was appointed Wednesday to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced the appointment after receiving a list of three candidates from the state Democratic Party earlier in the day. The other candidates were U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa and Esther Kiaaina, a deputy director in the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Inouye died Dec. 17 of respiratory complications at the age of 88. He had sent Abercrombie a letter that day, saying he would like Hanabusa, 61, to succeed him.

"Sen. Inouye conveyed his final wish to Gov. Abercrombie. While we are very disappointed that it was not honored, it was the governor's decision to make," Jennifer Sabas, Inouye's chief of staff, said in a statement. "We wish Brian Schatz the best of luck."

Schatz will serve until an election is held in 2014. Had Hanabusa been appointed, a special election would have been needed to fill her seat.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had urged Abercrombie to name Inouye's successor before the end of the year. Schatz could be sworn in as early as this week, which would make him Hawaii's senior senator heading into the new Congress, which begins Jan. 3.

Sen. Daniel Akaka is retiring at the end of this Congress, after 22 years in the Senate. Democratic Rep. Mazie Hirono was elected in November to succeed him.

Schatz, 40, is a former state representative and a former chairman of the state Democratic Party. He also was a leader of President Barack Obama's campaign in Hawaii in 2008.

In making his case before the party's central committee Wednesday, he said he understood the importance of seniority in the Senate and said that if he was appointed, he would strive to make serving in the Senate his life's work.

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