So what did you do to commemorate one of the greatest achievements in the history of Trinidad and Tobago?
Well, three big, hardback men went into a beauty salon in St James that Wednesday evening and took shave heads to mark the special occasion.
They almost got tossed out of the establishment a few times for being a bit too boisterous while they were waiting to be trimmed, but Boo, Rufus and Weasel soon won over Melissa and the other girls who attended to them, putting the exclamation point on a day of revelry last week when T&T's Soca Warriors played their hearts out to shock Bahrain and qualify for the 2006 World Cup.
The trio, with Pappy and Rocky in tow, had traversed the western peninsula in celebration of a singular accomplishment, first gathering at noon to look at the play-off match on a big screen at The Bight in Chaguaramas, where, after the goalless first half, people were getting a bit edgy, Rufus actually praying out loud: "Oh God, Lord, please, please, give us a break for once."
Then just before play resumed, Rufus remembered he had his "lucky bandana" in his pocket and proceeded to tie it around his head.
Obviously, it worked, as five minutes later Dennis "Tallest" Lawrence was jumping to head a perfectly-weighted Dwight Yorke corner past the Bahrain defence and into the net.
Well, the noise that ensued almost blew off the roof as Carib, Guinness and other liquids were tossed into the air there and everywhere around Trinidad and Tobago as the Warriors embraced each other on the sidelines in Manama.
It then became a matter of "how much more time" and it was only with five minutes left that Boo, having sat through November 19, 1989 at the National Stadium, actually began to believe that it was possible that we could be going to the World Cup.
Usually taking a pessimistic approach in such situations, knowing that the opposite sometimes transpires, he did nothing to tempt fate, although he kept picking up his shades off the table to protect them anytime the Warriors looked they were getting close to goal, worried that if they scored Pappy or Rufus might overturn the table they were sitting at.
With a minute left, Boo had to contain his tears and then was reminded that it wasn't yet over when Kelvin Jack picked out the ball through a forest of legs in front of his goal and tipped the shot over the bar to deny Bahrain's last effort.
Whew, that was close!
Then, at long last, the final whistle blew and the place went crazy, all hugging and high-fiveing as the DJ had everyone singing: "I'm a Soca Warrior ", followed by: "It's Carnival", then "Get mad now!", while Rufus, who immediately announced: "I going Germany" to cheer on the team next year, started to move the tables and chairs out of the way to make room for the dancing.
Soon he himself, with a beer in each hand, was down on the ground "doing the dog", joined by Rocky, as Boo and Pappy stood on the sidelines, grinning from ear to ear, while Weasel, the only person wearing a mustard yellow T-shirt that day, took a seat.
When Rufus said: "Let's go in St James," Boo thought he would head to work to write something for the next day's Express, even though it was his day off, but soon had his mind changed.
"You going where? You mad or what? You go miss this you ever celebrate going to a World Cup before?"
That was the clincher and then they were driving up Western Main Road, where everyone passing was getting the hang of what to do, even dim-witted Boo, who took awhile but soon was blowing his horn and flashing his lights everytime he went past someone, from the bars in Carenage up to Point Cumana, especially those displaying a national flag.
Have you ever seen so many T&T flags?
By the time they got to Smokey & Bunty, there was standing room only, with people packed from one side of the pavement to the other, as two guys with
a long sheet of clear plastic snaked through the masses and as they got closer you could read what they had written on their banner: Bahrain 0 T&T 1.
And after all the beers, the first bottle of rum was purchased by Rocky and Boo and they put it to stand in the drain along with the ice and chasers and took their place at the edge of the kerb outside the bar.
As the crowd grew throughout the afternoon, their recollection of all that transpired is a bit fuzzy, but Boo remembers seeing Pappy, who was in his work clothes from that morning, with his shirt pocket hanging down, thanks to Rufus.
Then Boo went to get something in Smokey's and when he came back out, Pappy's shirt was busted open with all the buttons gone.
Boo later went to take a leak and, on returning, Pappy was standing bareback in the road, his torn and tattered shirt at his feet and the vagrant picking up bottles treated him like a new-found buddy.
Sometime after that, as dusk descended over the smallest country to ever qualify for the World Cup, Rufus made a move to go, followed by Weasel and Boo, and as they walked down Dengue Street, just a few buildings from Smokey & Bunty on the other side of the road, Rufus barged into Sun Tropez Beauty Salon, slapped some money down on the counter and told the manager: "We want to get three bald heads."
Weasel was a willing participant, once he didn't have to pay for it, but Boo tried everything to get away, including offering drinks to all the beauticians and then going back up to Smokey to buy them.
On his return, though, he was ordered to sit and was promptly shorn of his locks, then shampooed.
After that there were a few more stops before they made it home, including at The O, where Rufus turned Boo over in his chair-maybe that's where he got his swollen left knee-and the evening dissolved into a hazy blur.
But a few things stand out beside Pappy bareback in St James.
Sometime during the match, a guy at The Bight came over to Rufus and spoke to him.
When he left, Rufus called across the table: "Boo, you remember about 25 years ago, we got in a fight with some rugby players outside a fast food place after a party Eppy get hit with a plank and King get a bust head...
"That's one of the fellas there and I hadn't talked to him since then. Well, he just walked over and shook my hand and told me it's time to put all that behind us."
Then at the end of the game, as Boo stood on looking at Rufus and Rocky spin on the floor, a fella who Boo had gotten into an altercation with in the car park outside Pelican Inn about 20 years before strode over from the bar and, with a big smile on his face, held out his hand and the two of them shook on it.
There are surely countless other feel-good stories from that epic day, Wednesday November 16, 2005, which kicked off for Boo when the first song radio DJ and avid football fan Mikey Ross played on his morning programme was Queen's "We are the champions", a harbinger of things to come.
Actually, it had flowed from since the Friday before when tickets went on sale for the home tie with Bahrain, when, despite the long wait at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Boo Pappy and Rufus enjoyed some good laughs with the other people in the lines, young and old from all across T&T.
And other nationals would have been "vibesing it up" since June, when the Soca Warriors registered their first win in CONCACAF's final round of qualifying on the Road to Germany 2006, a 2-0 victory over Panama.
Long may it continue-it's more than a week Boo hasn't cussed any inconsiderate maxi taxi drivers-even after Trinidad and Tobago parade in front of the world next June.
Well done, Warriors!