Who gets hurt playing KICKBALL???? Me!!!! Again!!!!

After 3 rainouts and a game missed because I was out of town, I finally returned from the DL to play some kickball yesterday. And because of all the rainouts, we had a doubleheader yesterday. Luckily our team plays for fun, and isn't too competitive, hell, half the team is from other countries and don't know much about baseball, so we're there for fun, beer and more beer.

So the first game starts, we're ahead 1-0 in the 5th inning or so (we play 7). I get myself my first hit (kick?) of the year. So, I'm on first base. Next batter (kicker?) gets a hit and I took off and scampered to 3rd base. I over-ran the base a little bit, because, no one in there right mind would slide in kickball, right? After I overslid the base, in trying to get back, I did kinda dive back into third base. Only because the pitcher got the ball back and was headed my way. In kickball, if you throw the ball at a base-runner and they're not on the base...they're out. With one exception: you cannot hit them in the head. well...you'll never guess where he hit me! Yep, right smack square in the face. Luckily those kickballs are pretty soft so it didn't do much damage other than getting my glasses dirty. So, no, thats not how I got hurt...although I tried ;)

Very next play, 2 outs, I'm on third. The next batter hits a ground ball and I take off from home, kind of assuming that the play will be at first base. No such luck, they were coming after me. I saw the guy was about to throw the ball my way, so without really thinking, i dove. Head first. In the dirt. Luckily I was safe or I would've been REALLY pissed. But with the big insurance run came came lots of blood and fun scratch marks on my legs and right arm. My teammates loved it though, got high fives from everyone. Of course, no one had any first aid of any kind, so I'm just sitting there, bleeding. Someone did find a couple of napkins, so I got some water and tried to clean myself up a little. I just got to play cheerleader the rest of the game. We were up 3-2 going into the bottom of the 7th and managed to lose 4-3, so that kinda took away from my hero status I think :)

A couple hours later was game 2. Luckily we had a pretty full squad so i didn't have to play in the field, but I got 2 at bats and managed to get RBI singles in both of em, all while limping my way around the bases. But it was fun. I'm sure the 7-8 beers I had helped ease the pain :)

After the game I got a ride to my car, which was parked in front of Erica's house, so I hung out there for a bit...then Erica cleaned me up a little. Hydrogen Peroxide hurts like HELL!!!! Just thinking about it makes me squirm a little. But it was for a good cause I suppose! Then after sobering up, I went home and planted myself on the couch with some ice and watched a 4 overtime thriller between Dallas and San Jose. After the 3rd overtime, around 2am...I was kind of falling asleep, so to enhance my pain, I took a shower. Owwwwwwwwwwowowowowowwww. Finally the game ended around 2:30 (8th longest game in NHL history) and Dallas won. I was rooting for San Jose, but, whatever, I was ready to sleep!

Don't worry, I'm hoping to get some good pictures up pretty soon...waiting for them to get emailed...

Quadruple Header Complete!

The weekend got off to a crappy start. From about 4:00 on it had been raining. So on my way home from work i call the Braves ticket office to see whats the best way to find out about the status of the first of three Mets - Braves game. I was told to either call back or listen to the pregame radio show. At about 6:30, as we're about to leave, I call again and am told "You crazy, they're gonna play. Starting time is still 7:35." Ok, I guess we have no chance but to buy it. We head down to the stadium and we get about a mile away from parking when they announce that tonight's game has been postponed. As if that's not bad enough, they decided to make it up as part of a day-night doubleheader on TUESDAY May 20th. Which means they're making the game up at 1pm on a TUESDAY. Bastards! Both teams are off on Monday May 19th. I don't get it.

Saturday was the big day though. Baseball would kick off the quadruple-header. Game-time 3:55pm. I met up with my friends Carl & Alycia, and sat with them in the Lexus Level. (Which is code for fancy seats). The only important part is that the seats were covered. Because there was a non-stop drizzle all day. (Drought my ass!!!!) After the 4th inning I went over to my actual seats with Lauren and her friend Stephanie.

I did get to see one of the most controversial moments I've witnessed. The Mets had the bases loaded, 1 out. Jose Reyes hits a line drive to center field. The ball CLEARLY hits the ground and THEN into the glove of Braves center fielder Mark Kotsay. The 3rd base umpire calls it a catch and the Braves get a double play out if it. Mets manager, Willie Randolph comes charging out of the dugout for a rare argument. The Braves trotted off the field, into the dugout during the argument. Randolph convinced the umpires to discuss the play and they ruled it was NOT a catch. They forced the Braves back onto the field to continue the inning. I don't think I've EVER seen that before. It took at least 5 minutes. I really don't understand why the don't use instant replay in baseball. It would be much easier and faster than that. Each team should be allowed 1 or 2 challenges per game and that's it. You can challenge anything other than balls and strikes. That's my proposal.

I have a policy against leaving sporting events early, but I had to make an exception for this one. After all, I was headed to another sporting event! If there was any way what-so-ever I'd be able to see the full game, I'd need a quick one. Ha! The Mets wound up losing 11-5. And in a game with 16 runs and sloppy weather...that's not the recipe for a quick game. And the Mets never beat the Braves, so I wasn't gonna miss anything (turns out I missed a Braves grand slam...yippee). Thanks to Lauren's near play by play text messages, I definitely didn't miss anything.

So, 2nd stage of the quadruple-header: Philips Arena, AKA - Blueland. The last Thrashers home game of the year. My 38th game of the year (out of 41). I got there just in time for the National Anthems, which began at 7pm. Now for the challenging portion of my day. I had to completely ignore the many TV's and scoreboards within Philips Arena. Luckily we (Me, Erica, Peter, J.B. - Matt is busy protesting the Olympics in London) were sitting in a section where half of the stadium's scoreboards were blocked. I managed to only glance and see a score one time...Kansas was winning 9-6. So I felt pretty good about making it through a 2 1/2 hour hockey game without accidentally learning any Final Four scores. The game itself was pretty meaningless. The Thrashers were going to finish with the 3rd worst record in the NHL no matter what. But they'd be better off if they lost. They were playing division rival Tampa Bay, owners of the worst record in the NHL. If Tampa Bay would have won, they would've finished with the 2nd worst record instead of THE worst. Yes...it makes a difference. More on that later. The highlight (lowlight?) of the game was during the 1st intermission. Comcast's "Dating on Demand" was on hand. They played a version of a dating game, where one girl got to ask a question of 3 guys, whom she couldn't see. The questions were bad, the answers were worse. The first guy was asked, if you could be any animal...what would you be? Answer - A polar bear. Wow. He kept talking but we were too busy booing. The next guy was asked...if you could be any alcoholic drink...what would you be. We were practically begging him to say beer (he was quite the large redneck type). No, he came up with...A Bloody Mary. We couldn't boo loud enough. He said (in his redneck twang) that he's hot and spicy. The booing wouldn't end. The third guy was asked, if he could be any entree at a fancy restaurant...what would he be? I don't even know what he said. The booing was too loud. They then had the crowd text in who they thought she should date. The Bloody Mary guy apparently won the fans over. They screwed up the contest so bad that she didn't even have a say in who she would go on a date with. Contestant #2 it is. Worst intermission idea ever. Actually, there was one good twist. He had his choice...the date with the girl...or whatever was behind curtain #1. So, there wasn't really a curtain, but the redneck chose the girl. What did he pass up on? A 36" plasma TV...and a 2yr lease on a Mustang. Now, no one knows for sure if that's legit or not, but serves him right.

Oh, the game, the Thrashers won 4-1. Rookie Bryan Little wound up scoring the first and last goals of the season. Whatever that means. But the most important part of the Thrashers season is tonight. They have a 14% chance to win the NHL Draft Lottery. If they do win, they will be awarded with the first pick in the June NHL Amateur Draft. Which means prized center sensation Steven Stamkos. He's a franchise changer. So, that's tonight at 8pm...I'm sure no one will miss it. Now back to my story...

After the Thrashers game, I hurried home to watch the DVR'd final four. Got home at about 10:30. First up...Memphis vs. UCLA. Memphis was VERY impressive. I think I yelled out "wow" at least 10 times. Memphis won 78-63. Next up, Kansas vs. North Carolina. This was probably built up as one of the most exciting match ups in semifinal history. Roy Williams, was the coach at Kansas for a long time before jumping ship to UNC a few years ago. As Brian described that situation...he's like an ex-girlfriend. Well, Kansas probably had a warrant out for their arrest because they were beating the SHIT out of Roy Williams' Tarheels. It was 40-12 at one point! 40-12!!!!! There's no coming back from that...right? Well, my newly adopted second favorite college team wound up scaring the shit out of me. North Carolina stormed back to make it 54-50 halfway through the second half. But that was as close as they'd come. Kansas held on and pulled away and won 84-66.

Watching basketball without commercials may be the best thing ever. I watched 2 full games, minus commercials, minus halftime in about 2 1/2 hours. It was great. And I pulled off my quadruple header.

There was still Sunday though, another busy day. Mets @ Braves...again. 1:30. This time I was meeting up with: Lauren, Shea, Shelley, Dave, Davis...and Jill and Josh were in attendance as well, although I never did see them. Well, I did. During one of the in between innings things on the giant scoreboard, there was Josh. I wasn't thinking fast enough or I would've gotten a picture. I was really looking forward to this game because it was the debut of Johan Santana (new Mets pitching STUD) in Atlanta. So, I got a picture of his first pitch: which you can clearly see was a strike... This game went about as well as any Mets-Braves I can remember seeing. I wasn't lying when I said they ALWAYS lose. They were down 1-0 in the bottom of the 8th when Mark Teixeira hit a 2run HR to make it 3-0 Braves. Great. But the Mets gave me a bit of hope in the 9th. They got it to 3-1, had 2 men on base with 2 outs. Then, Mets newcomer Ryan Church (and a member of my fantasy team The League Dumbass) hit a line drive down the first base line...Teixeira made a diving stop and ended the game. Ughhhh. Swept again. I really don't know why I keep putting myself through these games! The Braves fans were extra classy (sarcasm) on Sunday. Check out the sign: (Warning, choking hazard...with a Mets logo)

It took a lot for me not to remind them of who has finished ahead of who the last two seasons (for those of you not keeping score at home, the Mets have finished ahead of the Braves the last 2 years).

If you really look at the buildings in the 3rd picture you can see a TON of windows boarded up from the tornado. It really is unbelievable how much damage it did and only 2 people died.

The Braves game was not the end of my sports-filled weekend, however. There was still kickball. I went from the Braves game over to Piedmont park for the game. Along the way (while stopped at a red light) I had the bright idea to check my email via my phone. And wouldn't ya know it. An email saying kickball was cancelled. That's not my favorite part. Why did they cancel it? "Muddy conditions"!!!! I was in my car, all alone SCREAMING MY ASS OFF. MUDDY CONDITIONS????? Where the F&^*( was that decision LAST WEEK when I could barely walk for the next couple of days because of the damn mud. Bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A First Class Nap - Weekend in DC

Pretty busy couple of days. March Madness began on Thursday, which is really the only time you'll catch me watching basketball. Especially with my advancing love of hockey these days, it's taken away from my college basketball viewing (I sure as hell would never watch an NBlAme game!). I run a pretty decently sized bracket pool, usually around 80 participants so that helps drive my interest. Using my nerdy obsessive excel skills I have the power to know exactly where everyone standings after each game. So, with the way technology is these days...may as well bring the laptop to a sports bar! So I did. There was basketball to be watched pretty much from noon to midnight on Thursday and Friday nights. Friday I had the conflict of a Thrashers home game. Not that I was gonna miss it. It was also my buddy Matt's last game of the year. We got to see Alexander Ovechkin's 60th goal of the year, only problem is, he plays for the Washington Craps. The Thrashers blew a 3-1 3rd period lead and lost 5-3. So score one "L" for Operation Believe in Tankland.

After the Thrashers game, me and Matt needed food and wanted to watch basketball. We met up with some fellow Sweetwater friends - Stevens & Rochelle. They picked out a bar to go to a couple miles away, decided we'd take a cab. They had us walking all over downtown Atlanta looking for one. We walked towards the Westin, but noticed the road to our left was blocked off. So we went through the garage of the Westin to the main carport area, thinking there'd be a cab there. Nope. Roads were all closed because of the broken glass everywhere. We kind of snuck out the other side of the hotel. The street was definitely closed. Stevens and Rochelle walked ahead, me and Matt played the role of tourists. See picture - look at all the broken glass all over the place!!!! We turned a corner, trying to head back to an open street and there was a cop car sitting in the middle of the road. Me and Rochelle walked off, but the cop rolled down his window and asked why we were there. (oops). They told the cop that the guys from the Westin told us to go the wrong way. To which the cop replied "those guys are fucking retarded!" (No confirmation of the F-word was given though). Matt then asked the cop for a ride, but he had to stay where he was. Oh well. Next stop - The Ritz. We had a good plan cooked up, if anyone asked, we were in room 302. We did get the concierge to get a cab for us...and I scored a free bottle of water out of the deal! That was the end of the entertainment...I didn't really like the bar we wound up. There was a TV, but no sound and the kitchen was closed by the time we got there. The men's room had an Out of Order sign and I got yelled at for going in the women's room. Whatever. Bitches! Eventually me and Matt needed to get food, so we hopped on Marta, and wound up on the last train back towards his house. Whew! Got back at about 2...went over to Waffle House...back to Matt's couch (my second bed) and asleep by 3. Only to wake up at 5:15 for my 7am flight to DC!!!! D'oh!

I somehow managed to wake up and get myself to the airport in time. Oh, I need a shout out to my friend Jennifer. She's a flight attendant for Delta and hooks me UP!!!! I have to fly on standby, but I get whatever seat is available. If that just happens to be first class...so be it! Well, it had never happened before but it finally happened. Score! I've got me a first class seat! Of course, all I wanted to do was sleep. And that's all I did. I got a bottle of water and a pillow and I was done. Chugged the water, put my head on the pillow against the window and the next thing I know...we landed. I've NEVER been able to sleep that well on planes, but the combo of a first class seat and being on 2 hours of sleep I guess was all I needed! I guess if you're gonna look for a disadvantage of first class, since I was one of the first ones of the plane, I was the first to baggage claim and it felt like I was waiting there FOREVER. Finally my bag (aka - my bed - I was in charge of bringing my air mattress and pillows) showed up and Kim came and got me.

I don't think I ever talked about this on here but after Kim & Brian got married they temporarily moved into Kim's port-a-potty sized condo. They eventually decided to sell it and get a bigger place (Brilliant!) Well, it took them all of 5 days to sell it. So they had to scramble to find a place to live and they did a pretty damn good job! They're new place...which I'm still not sure how to describe - it's 2 stories, but its within a building of about 5 other "units". So it's not a house. Not a townhouse. Maybe a condo. I've never heard of a two story condo though. Whatever it is...it really is nice. And it's HUGE! And it's in DC! I didn't think that was possible. They've got a bedroom upstairs, a bedroom downstairs. A living room upstairs and living room downstairs - to be known as the "man-cave".

Saturday was also Kim's birthday. Later that night there was to be a birthday / basketball / housewarming party. The highlight though was the cake that Brian got for Kim. Yep, that's basically a photo shopped picture of Kim's head on a body sitting on their couch, reading some financial reports while watching her new favorite show - Real Housewives of something or other. Nicely done Brian! After a nice and well needed nap, they put me to work. I helped Brian put together a desk while Kim went out shopping for the party. I managed to keep myself out of harms way but Brian manged to splinter and staple himself. Also at some point we managed to scrape a piece of wood on their wall. Which is when I learned about Oxy-clean (I think that's what its called) Rubbed a little that on the wall and the black line we put on the wall was gone!!! After the desk was done, it was basketball time. It was nice watching Duke lose...as always. But then Kim got home and put me to work again getting ready for the party. The party was good enough for me, all I really wanted to do was watch basketball, so thats what I did. The social types were upstairs, while most of the guys were in the "man-cave" watching the games. One thing I learned is that I'm glad I don't like wine! About 9 bottles of wine found their way into their house as housewarming presents!

After bringing my air mattress with me, turns out I forgot the pump-charger, so the bed wasn't really inflated and I didn't feel like working at it anymore, so I just crashed on the couch and got a good, much needed 10 hours of sleep or so. Woke up just in time for some more basketball! The big activity for Sunday was that Kim was gonna finally teach me how to do my own taxes. I've managed to go all these years and got out of it every year! Between my dad and Kim, I've been pretty lucky with that. But, I guess after going through it, it wasn't that bad. Managed to get that done just in time to go back to the airport to go home. So, it was a quick visit, but it was a good one.

Flying back to Atlanta, again I got to sit in first class! Baby steps but I took a little more advantage of it this time. It was nice sitting there why all the poor little humans walked passed me. I actually felt important or something :) In first class you apparently get free alcohol but I drank enough the last couple of days that I didn't even take advantage of it. I did learn something though. I've always wondered why flight attendants say "we'll be by to collect any cups and glasses". Glasses? Yep. In first class, you get a GLASS! Fancy! I had about 3 bottles of water, but in that fancy glass it seemed like it tasted better than water :)

A Sad Day in my Sports World

Last night the Anaheim (we're not Mighty anymore) Ducks won the Stanley Cup - thats hockey, by the way. I'm not mad that they won, I weren't rooting for them, but I'm just sad that there's no hockey now til October!!! What am I gonna do???? I sure as hell won't be watching the NBA finals. I guess its all baseball all the time for the next 3 months. Of course, I guess there's some non-sports related things that can take up my time.....nahhhhhh :)