9/23/07

Well, I woke up this morning with a little less anger, frustration, and disappointment than I felt last night. In reflection it was a pretty great weekend, the game itself notwithstanding. The beer was cold, the coals were hot, the weather was beautiful, the skirts were short, and the atmosphere was electric.

Remembering the tailgating festivities, I think the best part of the day was when a group of kids stopped by. Yours truly had just assumed the title of King Of The Hill in the round-robin of Rattle Rail Toss. I knocked off Jake, who had knocked off Brian, before the little ones showed up. They asked what the game was and we invited them to give it a go. Sitting back and enjoying some cold ones, it was refreshing to watch the kids play. They don't worry about scores or who wins and loses, they just have fun playing. Somewhere along the way we lose that.

After a long game last night, we drank some beers and played some poker until we were ready for sleep.

Today was a completely relaxing day, free of any timelines or obligations. We headed to Bob Evans for some breakfast. There was a 45 minute wait for a table, so we scooted over to Denny's. As we waited for our food, and waited, and waited, my buddy asked what I thought was the problem. Without hesitation and with 100% certainty, I told him that a cook had obviously called off and they hadn't staffed enough servers for a game weekend. The fact that I knew this without even thinking about it tells me that I spent too many years running restaurants. Luckily for me, I only deal with one truck hauling one load on any given day now. It's nice to be a grunt and leave the responsibility for someone else.

I got back home and worked on the remaining beers from the weekend. They didn't last long, but a quick trip to the corner store has me prepared to finish the night of football watching and relaxation.

Oh, I might not have mentioned... I met Joe Theisman yesterday. I told him I had always been a big fan. He replied, "You look pretty young to be a fan of mine." So there, Joe Theisman doesn't think I'm old. Sweet.