The drought is over!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I finally did it ... again. After going homerless in softball for somewhere in the vacinity of the last year-and-a-half, I hit a bomb last night in a softball league at USF. With a 1-0 count on me, I put a belt-high, inside corner pitch into the trees in left field. Thank you, Tyler, for the mocking screams and cheers like it was a walk-off homer in game 7 of the World Series. I refuse to let you rob the glory from the moment. I'm a happy man and it felt good to have the power back. Here's to hoping the power sticks around and brings with it a little more trotting around the bases in the near future.

What I've learned about soccer ...

from watching the World Cup so far.

• There are really no clear rules for what contact or how much contact constitutes a foul. Sometimes I feel like I'm watching hockey on grass or a rugby match. I'll see a foul called for a slight tug of the shirt and other times it looks like a guy gets checked into the boards (figuratively speaking, of course) and there's no foul called. Can someone please explain this to me??
• Inside the penalty box, defenders can pretty much do whatever they want. I guess this pretty much comes down to the fact that the refs and the powers that be in soccer don't want games decided by penalty kicks, especially World Cup games, but come on. I've seen guys get their calves stepped on in full stride, elbowed, scissor kicked, leg-locked ... I think one guy even got picked up and suplexed ... all in the penalty box with no foul called. If normal play in the field sometimes looks like the kind of contact you'd see in a hockey game, play in the penalty box looks more like Wrestlemania. Want to make the World Cup better?? Allow every country to "draft" one professional wrestler who just sits in their own penalty box to try and maul any opposing player who comes in there with the ball. Wouldn't you love to see The Big Show get a hold of Ronaldinho in the penalty box one time and choke slam him to the turf?!! I think Hulk Hogan would pass on retirement for the chance to do this.
  
• You need more than one ref in a soccer match. I know you have the linesmen, but they rarely make calls other than offsides and who gets possession when the ball goes out of bounds. One ref is not enough.
  
• Soccer players are both the biggest hypochondriacs and worst actors I've ever seen. They're like a combination of your little brother and Freddy Prinze, Jr. The way they roll around in "agony" after every foul makes you think the helicopter could land at any minute to lifeflight them to the nearest emergency room. I know they're trying get the yellow card for the opposing player, but give me a break.
• Finally, despite the high international ranking, the U.S. still has a long way to go before they catch up with the rest of the world.
  

Here's to hoping for a U.S. victory over Italy and looking forward to August when our own brand of Football gets back on the scene.

Brian "Nasty Boy" Knobbs

Wednesday night, at the Devil Rays-Angels baseball game, my friend Brian who works for the Rays introduced me to "Nasty Boy" Knobs. Wrestling fans might know him from his days as a pro from the late 1980's through 2001 (I looked this up on Wikipedia). Today you'd probably recognize him as the guest star/"babysitter"/friend of Hulk Hogan on the reality show "Hogan Knows Best".

All I can say is that he seemed like a really nice guy who's just enjoying life. I can't imagine how many times he has to make small talk with people like me, but he was really cool about it. Came over, shook our hands and talked with us for a few minutes like we had known him a lot longer. It was fun meeting him.

Knobbs has become a huge Rays fan! It was great to watch him during the game because he loves it and was trying to get the crowd pumped up a number of times. He's even done a few short video clips that they'll play on the jumbo-tron to get the crowd into the game. All good stuff. Let's just hope the day comes when he's getting 40,000 fans into the game instead of 15,000.

My airline adventure (part 2)

Picking up where I left off ...

12:00 am - After making a couple phone calls and figuring it might be hard to sleep anyway, I decide to sit down and read a book I had already started.
1:30 - Finished The Signature of Jesus, by Brennan Manning. Really enjoyed it and found it challenging as he talked about what it means to be a disciple. Since it's so late, maybe I can get a little sleep now.
1:45 - Thankfully, the chairs in the Atlanta airport don't have armrests and there are plenty of open seats to lay down on. Only problem is that they're putting some new tile down near the gate, so it's pretty noisy. Guess I'll check out another gate a little further away.
1:50 - After finding my new "bed" and rearranging the things in my bookbag to make the most comfortable pillow possible, I'm just starting to get sleepy when an airport worker gets my attention and gives me a blanket-in-a-bag. No complaints there. It's freezing in the airport! Thankfully I had worn a long-sleeve t-shirt and now I can keep my legs warm.
2:00 - Some couple who just got off a flight has decided to sit down within about 10 feet of me to rant and rave to a third person about their flight and travel problems. Are you serious?!?! So many options for a place to sit and talk. Why next to a guy (me) wrapped up in a blanket with his hat over his face who's obviously trying to sleep?? I was almost out. Someone make the bad people stop!!!
2:03 - Mainly due to the same couple who are still talking with no regard for common courtesy, but also because of the 3rd drive-by from the "vacuum mobile", I'm on the move again. I've become an airport nomad.
2:06 - There is no really quiet place in an airport, but I did find a corner in an Airtran customer service area. In the middle of the area, there's a group of customer service phones that I'm guessing are used to talk with Airtran reps for help. No joke, one of the phones is dangling off the hook with some guy just passed out on the floor right next to it. If I weren't so tired, I'd probably laugh. Wait, that would be mean.
4:23 - I wake up out of my half-sleep hoping with all my heart it's at least 6:00am. No such luck. Not happy, I roll over and close my eyes again.
5:14 - The searing pain in my neck and back means it's time to get up. Thankfully, the Atlanta Bread Company opened at 5. Please allow me to give my highest recommendation to their turkey, egg & cheese on a plain bagel sandwich. That thing was amazing!! Mixed in a Kona Mocha Iced Coffee and I had myself a great breakfast.
7:45 - I am on the plane!!! We leave in 20 minutes! Oh sweet Tampa, I'm coming home!
8:20 - Trying to sleep on the plane in my window seat has been difficult because of the horrendous smells that keep invading my nostrils. Noticing it again, I adjust my hat and notice that the lady sitting next to me is looking out the window. Maybe she slept in the airport too and has a bad case of morning breath. Would it be bad if I offered her a mint??
8:35 - The smell is back, but the lady is not looking my way. Is she passing gas on me?? Shouldn't I be able to distinguish between the two? I give up. I'm too tired to worry about this.
9:15 - We are home! We've taxied to our gate and we're ready to get off. As the lady next to me stands up to leave, I become convinced I have been the victim of a barrage of silent farts during the flight. (I wish I was making this up) Oh well. No worries. I've reached my destination and it's time to go home.

My airline adventure

Have you ever seen Terminal, with Tom Hanks? If not, check it out. I thought it was pretty good and a couple days ago, I lived it out for one night. My little adventure started on Thursday afternoon.

5:25 pm (central)- After getting to the Bloomington (IL) airport and saying my goodbyes, I get to the gate to find out my Airtran flight has been delayed from 5:45 to 6:25. Not good because I only had a 1 hour layover.
6:20 - As we back away from the gate, the pilot tells us we're scheduled to arrive in Atlanta at 9:05. My connecting flight is scheduled to leave at 9:15. Uh-oh. One of the flight attendants tells the lady next to me who's also headed to Tampa that they'll probably hold the plane since there's a lot of us on the flight on our way to Tampa. Feeling better.
9:00 (eastern) - Touchdown. As we taxi on the runway, one of the flight attendants makes a bunch of announcements about connecting flights. For those of us headed to Tampa, there is another Airtran flight heading to Tampa at 10:40. If we miss our scheduled flight, she says they can hopefully put us on that flight.
9:12 - Our plane does a U-turn between two terminals. Are you kidding me?!?!?!
9:18 - We finally arrive at Gate C2. Our flight leaves from D4. Must hurry!!
9:30 - Fast walking/jogging up to gate D4 with about 10 others, I see a plane there. Sweet!!! We made it! ..... The plane is for the next flight. Thanks for holding the flight for us, Airtran.
9:40 - An angry mob begins to form around the counter at the gate, which I stay out of. The last scheduled flight to Tampa is booked full and the next one doesn't leave til 8:05 the next morning. As people get more upset, they begin to lie saying they were "guaranteed" a seat for that flight. What a bunch of bull. No one ever said that. It's a fairly ugly picture of selfish human nature.
9:55 - After waiting and listening to those before me complain, lie, yell at the clerk and yell at their kids just because they've been a little inconvenienced, I make my way to the front of the line. The clerk (whose name I can't remember) has been incredible! It would have been so easy for her to just go off on some of these people, but she didn't. Some may chalk that up to professional courtesy, but I was impressed with her gentleness and humility. After telling her what a good job she was doing, she puts me on stand-by for the last flight (just in case) and gives me my seat for the morning flight. With it comes $25 off my next travel purchase and a $10 voucher for some food.
11:20 - After getting to the gate of the last flight to Tampa, using my voucher on some Popeye's chicken (which was pretty good food) and watching them close the gate door, it's now official. I will be spending the night in the Atlanta airport.

I'll stop this "action-packed" story here for now and finish it off tomorrow. I'm sure you'll look forward to it just like you would the next episode of Lost.

Retreat and vacation

Once again, it's been awhile since I've posted. This is mainly because I've been gone for the last 16 days up in Illinois. The first week was spent at an Impact retreat for campus ministers and other staff. It was a great week and much needed. I really look forward to that each year. Then I spent about 9 days with my family up there. Did some fishing, catching only one in the three times Dad and I went out. He caught more, but I did have the biggest fish - a 16 inch walleye (not that that's a really big fish). I did do some work up there, but for the most part it was a chance to relax, enjoy being with the family and play a lot of games. If there's one thing my family and I love to do with each other, it's play games and play them we did. Hand and Foot, Dominoes, Farkle (some people call it "10,000" I think), Euchre, Pinochle, Spades and probably a couple others I forgot. For those of you who know the game Pinochle, we were playing a 3-handed game one time and I had 67 meld (or 670 if you keep the zero after the numbers) in one hand - a run, double pinochle, 100 aces, 80 kings, and a couple marriages. 67!!! That's got to be some sort of record or something, the stuff legends are made of. Ok, maybe that's a little carried away ... not the record part though.

Finally, it was time to come home yesterday. Only problem is that I didn't make it home yesterday. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I had my first experience with an overnight stay in an airport, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport. It was a crazy day, one that I'll fill you in on over the next post or two. But for now, it's time for bed. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night, worked most of the day after getting home and then got worked over in a softball game tonight. Needless to say, I'm exhausted. Hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend and I'll tell you about my airline adventure soon.