2010 The Year in Sports

The Masters

2010-04-30T06:28:00.000-07:00

Heading off to the next YIS event, the Masters, with three great buddies. One, Tim, I've known since high school, and the other two, Artie and Frank, I've known for going on twenty years. Perfect example of how sports are the common bond among guys. Tim is about as different from Art and Frank as can be, but we will all have a blast together. Helps that everybody is a nice guy to start with. Plan is to be at the Masters for the first and second rounds, get a round of golf in on Saturday, and watch the final two rounds on TV, where we’ll be able to see more of the action in real time, before flying home.

-Wednesday, 4/7 PHL airport

Well, that didn't take long. Get to the airport nice and early...no lines, no hassles. Settle in at the gate with my newspaper. Email from Frank..."We are drinking...Come find us." Shit! It's 7:30 a.m. and I have a cranberry and vodka in my hand. This doesn't bode well. A couple of refills and "travellers" later we are on our way.

Plane is FULL of people heading to the Masters. I do get a kick out of golfer-types as a whole. All of these guys wearing their snazzy club logo polo shirts and shorts, looking like they’re ready to tee off.

- Wednesday, 4/7 Augusta

What a cool airport. Small, quaint, clean. Looks more like a nice big southern home than your typical airport. Lines and lines of private jets already parked all around the airport. This event equals MONEY.

Lunch at a local joint 1/2 mile from the course. Augusta National really is in the middle of strip mall heaven. No character at all to Augusta. Cross between King of Prussia and Cherry Hill. Plenty of Jiffy Lubes, Waffle Houses and CVSs. The entrances to the course are an innocuous couple of driveways off the main drag. If you didn't know to look for it, you'd miss it.

Everything in site is revolving around the Masters. People buying/selling "badges", restaurants and bars hyping Masters week specials, etc. Hard to figure out what goes on here the other 51 weeks of the year.

Dinner at Outback…one of the higher-end establishments in Augusta. NOT kidding. The four old men even went out to a club with a live band. Our polo shirts fit right in with the cowboy hats, boots, etc of the locals. Hope our hearing survived.

-Thursday 4/8 Morning, etc.

Picked up our badges at a hospitality house (owned by the ticket broker we used) in the neighborhood across Washington Street and within easy walking distance from the course. There really is a little Masters micro-economy going on here.

Writing the rest of this after-the-fact because there is an absolute, no exceptions prohibition on cell phones, blackberries, etc., as well as cameras within the course property. This is NOT a place to break a rule by hiding a cell phone in your underwear, etc. You get caught…and you will get caught….and there goes the badge you need to get into the event. Not just for the day you got caught….for the rest of the tournament and for all future tournaments. Explain that to the ticket broker.

The public entry gate was recently moved to the west side of the course. The club basically bought up a whole bunch of small homes in the neighborhood adjacent to the course on that side, knocked them down, made it all into free parking lots and built a new entrance that rivals anything I've ever seen at a museum, amusement park, etc. These guys have some serious cash. Beautifully done, with every detail executed just perfectly. The most efficient, polite and friendly personnel you could ever imagine, too.

Wow! I can't even do justice trying to describe the other facilities (concession building, merchandise store, etc.), no less the course itself. Absolutely beautiful. The money that must have been and is spent to maintain this is beyond my comprehension.

We got as close as we could to see Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer tee off as the ceremonial first twosome. This goes beyond celebrity adoration. These guys are gods to the people here. As they walked off the tee back towards the clubhouse, Artie and I were lucky enough to be right in their path. As I stood there in awe, Artie was smart enough to stick out his hand. Doesn't Jack shake his hand. Damn! Now Jack is telling all of his friends that he got to shake Artie's hand, instead of mine :) In true Artie fashion, he now swears he will never wash his right hand; will learn to wipe his butt with his left hand and will sign his name forever more as "Art Newcomb, FOJ" (FOJ = Friend of Jack). What a character...Artie, not Jack. Bears mentioning here that, of the four of us, Artie is definitely the most serious about golf. He literally started vibrating when we walked through the gates.

They say Augusta National can care less about the money they make from the Masters, but they certainly must rake it in. On top of TV money, they have the most efficient and comprehensive high-end memorabilia, collectibles and branded clothing operation you could imagine. People were dropping hundreds and thousands of dollars on shirts, hats, bags, and anything else you can think of. All very high quality stuff. Between the four of us we easily spent $5K. Once again, run as well as any store I've ever seen.

Spent the day walking around and seeing as much of the course and as many players as we could. Being Masters “virgins”, we didn't know enough about how to best approach the day, so we just went with our gut. We did take the cue from some Masters vets that we spoke to and bought folding chairs to stake out a position at a key hole or two that we could come back to later. One of the basics of Masters viewing is to get one of these chairs at $30 a pop, then place it in one of the designated seating areas around the greens or tee boxes and then leave it there while you walk other parts of the course. While you're not there, somebody else can use the chair, but will relinquish it when you get back. The Masters honor system. Never a thought that someone might steal your chair or even move it to replace it with their own. Very cool.

Most amazing thing you notice as you walk the course are the elevation changes. Can’t really tell on TV how hilly the course is and how exhausting it has to be walking this layout. I know it’s hard to compare golfers to other athletes in terms of physical stamina etc, but this is NOT an easy course to play four days in a row, even from the standpoint of walking it.

Rain was forecast for the afternoon, but it held off until very late in the round. Play was never stopped and it didn't keep us from staying until we were ready to head back to the car. Not quite sure what exactly would happen with the crowds if a major thunder/lightning storm did come through. There are a lot of spectators; I mean "patrons" out here...Augusta National’s preferred term. Saw everybody from Freddy Couples to Tiger to Phil to Ernie. Made sure we spent some time down at Amen Corner and the other famous points on the course. Stuck our chairs at the 18th green and ended up there as the afternoon progressed. We got to see a lot of the bigger names finish up their rounds since the way the threesomes and tee times worked out, they teed off later in the day. Biggest surprise on the leaderboard was Tom Watson, 60 years old and still competing against the next couple of generations. Freddie Couples and Bernard Langer also up there, waving the flag for us older guys.

You knew there had to be some “Tiger episode” somewhere along the way. Part way through Tiger’s round, all of a sudden you hear/see a prop plan trailing a banner (like at the beach) “Tiger, you sure you didn’t mean Bootyism?” Then, a little later…”Sex Addict? Yeah, sure. Me too.” To think that somebody took good money out of their own pocket to do that is pretty weird. Joke was that Augusta National was going to have the plane shot out of the sky.

- Friday 4/9 Morning, etc.

Back at it. The sun might have been shining bright, but it was freakin’ cold out. Wind was blowing pretty good, and, especially on the high spots on the course, I was wishing I had long pants on. We once again dropped our chairs at the 18th green then headed to the “store” to get our shopping done before things got crowded. Artie took the prize. Spent $2300. They even had a set up where you could check your shopping bags and pick it up as you left the course, or you could ship stuff right home. They really do think of everything.

Did the Masters virgins thing and went and had our picture taken in front of the clubhouse where Magnolia Lane comes in (free service provided by the club). Great memento.

That same wind that was making me cold early in the day was making scoring a bit harder than yesterday. Not only was it affecting ball flight, but also drying out the greens, making putting hairy.

Gotta make a comment about the food concessions. I’m sick of hearing myself say it, but, like everything else here, it was better run than any concession I’ve ever seen… and cheap….egg salad sandwich - $1.50, chicken cutlet sandwich- $2.50, iced tea - $1.50, beer - $2.75. AND the famous Masters pimento and cheese sandwich on white bread - $1.50. Crazy!

Warmed up nicely as the afternoon kicked in. After a lot of walking around following Freddie Couples and some other groups, I settled in at the 18th to watch a good 1/3 of the field finish their rounds. Really neat to watch how they all made the same mistaken reads on certain puts, etc. Since this was our final day on the course, we stayed as long as possible before reclaiming our merchandise and returning our badges to the hospitality house.

Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter leading by two with a bunch tied for third, including Phil, Tiger et al.

As for the planes from the prior day? No sign of them.

-Saturday 4/10

Now it’s our turn to do some golfing. Who would have ever guessed it would be 39 degrees out in April in Augusta GA. Not me. No way am I going out there in shorts until it warms up a little at least. A couple of cups of coffee and maybe an hour of wait time later we head to the range and then the first tee. Not a beautiful course but pretty challenging for a muni. Of course, challenging for me is a pretty easy standard to meet. Glad the only thing hanging on the outcome of our little match was lunch since Tim and I came out on the short end. Tough to play one against two, wasn’t it Tim? . Couldn’t let Tim contribute to the lunch tab since I didn’t contribute anything to our team’s performance. Barbecue and sweet tea on me at the infamous Skonyer’s Barbecue on the outskirts of Augusta. Pork and beef were good, but what the hell was that hash on rice gunk?

Watched the third round back at the Comfort Inn before taking Art and Frank to the airport.

Speaking of planes…..According to the papers, the plane from Thursday with the Tiger banners got grounded when one of the well-placed Augusta National members called the FAA and had a surprise inspection done on the plane. Found a non-conforming seat belt or something and forced the plane back to Ohio to have repairs made. End of that party. Don’t screw with the Augusta National guys. They are WELL connected.

- Sunday, 4/11

Packed up all of our acquired Masters paraphernalia etc., checked out and wasted a couple of hours at a driving range and the mall. Hope Tim doesn’t take any of my swing observations to heart. He may never recover.

Since fourth round coverage doesn’t start until mid afternoon, we headed to the airport to watch. Not a bad way to finish the trip given how nice the airport is. Plenty of flat screens all tuned to the tournament. Not a soul in the place who wasn’t in Augusta for the Masters. Flight boarded with the final twosomes still on the course, but the pilot made sure to provide updates and final results. Flight was as smooth as Phil’s back nine.

Would like to have been there in person for the final walk up the 18th, but it sure was nice to be home and on my couch to watch the highlights.

Second Wave...

2010-04-05T06:16:00.000-07:00

FINAL FOUR

My travel companion this time is my 12 year old nephew, Jack. Originally, I had three buddies who "committed" to going with me for this trip. I put the word committed in quotes because one by one they dropped from the planning as they realized that 1) this is Easter weekend, 2) this is Passover, 3) this is Spring Break time, and 4) fantasy league baseball drafts typically happen this weekend. Hard to argue with family, religious and/or fantasy baseball commitments. Their loss. They are going to miss a great time.

Taking my nephew with me is a perfect audible on the original plan. I don't think he has slept since I asked him to go back in January. He is a huge sports fan, and a huger college basketball fan. As it turns out, Duke being in the semis is an added bonus for him (and me, BTW) since, as he maintains.."I have been a Duke fan since I was born...or at least six months after I was born." Sports…its in a man’s (boy’s) blood.

The tournament this year has been as good as any I remember. Can't say the same for my pools. There used to be a time when I actually did pretty well in those things. Not this year. The upsets of Villanova and Pitt derailed me early. Kind of funny how, every year, no matter who I have picked in a particular game, I find myself rooting for the underdog team if the game is close.

Closest I've come to a Final Four before was the famous Regional weekend in 1992 held at the old Spectrum in Philly...the one where Duke beat Kentucky in the final on Christian Laetner's turnaround jumper from the key with time expiring after a court-length inbounds pass. "The Greatest College Basketball Game Ever Played" some call it. Duke went on to win the national championship that year. Starting five - Bobby Hurley, Thomas Hill, Grant Hill, Christian Laetner and Brian Davis. How is it I can remember that after all these years and I can't remember what I did last Tuesday? That's sports for you.

-Friday 4/2 morning (Philly)

OK, here we go again. No snow to deal with this time. Gonna' be 80 and sunny in Philly, they say. Not quite as nice, but no snow in Indianapolis either. Seems like a smattering of Final Four bound people will be on our flight this morning. Former Temple coach, John Chaney, heading out to the games also. First time I've ever seen him without a rumpled suit and tie ranting and raving on the sidelines of a b-ball game.

Funny story to start the trip. Another example of how, if left to their own devices, most guys will screw up the best made plans. My sister, Chris, takes my two other nephews on a quick Easter week roadtrip to see a couple of the colleges my oldest nephew is considering. She packs J's bag and leaves my bro-in-law in charge of getting him and it to the airport for our flight while she is away. I guess he heard the part where he was supposed to get J to the airport, but didn't get the bag part. Given the drive time, no way to do another roundtrip to get the bag and J reunited. Nothing like flying light! Let's hope UPS comes through or I'll be underwear shopping in the a.m. in the kidz department at Walmart.

-Friday 4/2 flight to IN

Quiet flight. No cranky babies, talkative travelers, etc. We're going to go straight over to the stadium when we land to see the practices as well as an all-star game later in the afternoon.

No minivan for us this time. Since when is a giant GMC Sierra pickup truck an "Intermediate" rental. A bright red one to boot...with Arkansas plates. Perfect for Indianapolis. Jack was stoked.

-Friday 4/2 Afternoon Lucas Oil Stadium

This place is freakin' big! They could fit a football field in here. Oh, that's right, they do. Flight didn't get us in early enough, so we missed the Butler practice session. Their practice session drew over 29,000 people according to what we heard. WVU is out there now, with MSU and Duke to follow. Lot of people here just to see the practices. Seems to be a lot of locals as well as out-of-towners. Either a lot of people are unemployed or a lot of people have off for Good Friday.

I don't know what it says about who is going to beat who tomorrow, but, while WVU and MSU basically came out and had casual shoot-arounds, Duke has worked a real practice...even running baseline to baseline gassers for the big men to finish up. Their game faces seem to be on.

The stadium seems much more like a gigantic basketball venue than an indoor football stadium that they are using for basketball. A lot different than the Carrier dome, etc where they have the b-ball court off to one side and everything seems sort of off-kilter. The court is centered and everything is appropriately proportioned. The court is even miked so that, no matter where you are in the arena, you can hear the ball bounce and sneakers squeak as if you are close to the action.

BTW - the way they run this would never work in Philly, NY, etc. Free to all comers. No issues, no fights, no problems. You'd have marauding kids and/or a riot if you tried this in Philly.

All-Star game was so-so. It's hard for a game to be exciting when nobody is really rooting or cheering. Can't have good spectator sport without interested spectators, I guess.

All in all a great warm-up for tomorrow.

-Friday 4/2 Evening

No live basketball tonight....other than watching replays of some of the old Final games from back in the 80s and 90s on ESPN Classic.

-Saturday 4/3 Morning

Waiting for a call from my ticket guy to make arrangements for a hand-off. Waiting for UPS to deliver J's bag. Patience isn't one of my virtues.

Sky's are gray and rain is expected. Glad that I haven't been depending on the weather on these YIS trips for a good time.

Spent the majority of the morning waiting on J's bag. UPS delivered it...but to the wrong hotel. By the time we sorted that all out, J and I had gone to Old Navy and gotten him a new wardrobe for the day...all in Duke Blue.

-Saturday 4/3 Afternoon

Drove downtown early to get our tix and to walk around. Stadium is right on the edge of downtown, so it was easy to park and walk around. Finally met Philippe from OnPoint, the ticket/event service I've been talking to about some of my YIS events.

Despite the balky weather, the downtown area is full of people...all in Final Four mode. Bars and restaurants are packed. Very little police presence until you get near the stadium. No apparent need.

Get this...we are walking down a crowded street and who do I come across but Lenny from New York, the guy I bought our USA v Finland Olympic hockey tix from when we were at the Olympics. What a weird coincidence. What a way to make a living!

We came over to the stadium early to see warmups, etc. Let's play some basketball!

-Saturday 4/3 Gametime

Place is full...71,000+, including Magic Johnson and us.

First game - home town Butler Bulldogs v MSU. It's late first half and Butler can't seem to get into a rhythm, but MSU can't get more than 5 points up on 'em.

Butler has hung around all half despite bad shooting by everyone but Gordon Hayward, their star-in-the-making. Twenty seconds left in the half. Game tied. MSU ball. Butler fans makin' some noise. Big stop.

Tie game at the half. Twenty minutes left.

Four minutes left. Butler up 4. Classic NCAA tournament game. Looks like it will go down to the last minute.

Twenty three seconds left. Butler up one. MSU with the ball. Timeout MSU. Pressure.

Missed a shot. Butler rebound. Foul. Six seconds left. Butler shooting two. First one's good…and the second too. Up three. MSU timeout. 5.8 left. MAN! Full court to go. Foul. Hits the first. Intentionally misses the second. Rebound Butler. GAME OVER 52-50.

This city will be hopping on Monday night!

Now for the night cap, Duke v WVU. Butler probably has the most fans here of the four schools, but I think the WVU fans are the loudest ...and very visible in their bright gold shirts, hats, etc.

5:42 left in the half. Duke has pulled out to a 31-21 lead. Kyle Singler making up for his poor shooting in the Elite 8 game. ...Up by 13 now. Duke has the better looking cheerleaders, too :)

Spoke too soon. WVU has it down to 8. These Mountaineer fans are LOUD. 30 seconds left in the half. Duke ball. 19 on the shot clock. Timeout, Duke. Turnover.

Halftime 39-31, Duke.

Duke by 15 with 7 minutes left. WVU's star, Da'Sean Butler, left the game with what appeared to be a bad knee injury.

Duke wins going away by 21. They shot the lights out from the arc. Not a nail-biter, but fun for us Duke fans.

The lure of "beating the traffic" was strong for a good portion of the 71,000+ (even at a Final Four semi). One of life's universal rules, I guess. Couldn't have paid us to leave early.

Quite a sea of humanity flooding out post-game. Glad we parked a fair walk away. One of the things that can ruin the good post-game feeling for me sometimes is a bad traffic jam. We cruised out. Watched all of the highlights back at our hotel before shutting it down after a great day.

-Sunday 4/4 Easter morning

Biscuits and gravy for me for Easter breakfast. Feeling a little under-dressed with all of the people coming in after Easter services. Our Final Four and Duke hats kind of stick out.

-Sunday 4/4 Noon

Bracket Town. Coca Cola's, Lays', etc. marketing shindig with the NCAA. Jack's going to do a basketball skills clinic and then we head to the airport. This must have been crazy on Friday after the Butler practice session. Lot of fun stuff for kidz. Training the new generation of sportsaholics.

-Sunday 4/4 IND Airport

Thought there would be more people from the games leaving. I guess there was more of an exodus first thing in the a.m. Easy trip. No good stories.

Trip takeaway...you consume much less alcohol when you're travelling with your 12 year old nephew than with 50 year old semi-alcoholic bnuddies. I had one beer the entire trip. Think of the calories I saved.

On to the Masters! Will make up for alcohol abstinence, I'm sure.

2010-03-09T06:43:00.000-08:00

2010 The Year in Sports

…on the seventh day, God rested

…on the eighth day, God created sports

…after that he created good friends, understanding wives and alcoholic beverages (not necessarily in that order) to go along with the sports thing

I turn 50 this year.

I haven’t gotten caught up in getting old and I haven’t exhibited any of the mid-life crisis warning flags that an almost 50 guy has to watch out for…no little red sports car…no desire for a trophy girlfriend/wife…

But, just the same, 50 does merit some note, if not reverence.

So, I got to thinking. I always toyed with the idea of going to a bunch of the major sports events over the course of one calendar year. Things like the Super Bowl, the Masters, Wimbeldon, the Tour de France… That was a good start, but it seemed sort of empty to just start booking flights and buying tickets.

Then it hit me…..

For one out of every million people, sports is a platform for super-human athletic ability and a way to get rich. For the rest of us, sports are a way to waste away a summer day; our first and maybe only exposure to being part of a team; a chance to push ourselves until we hurt; probably the only time any of us have a chance of getting a trophy handed to us; and, most importantly, the mother of all male bonding rituals.

Sports for me are a connection to every other average Joe across my city (Philadelphia), state and country. I don’t play football, baseball, hockey or basketball anymore, but I sure do spend a lot of time talking about them, watching them and rooting for the guys that do.

Whether it’s going to a game, playing a round of golf or watching Sports Center, sports provide guys like me with a reason (excuse?) to hang out with the buddies, talk trash, drink adult beverages and spend some quality time without any worries about political correctness, work, money or the wife/kidz. I probably spend more of my free time with my friends doing or watching sports than anything else (Note: large caveat…drinking is also usually involved.)

Voila! If I was really going to enjoy working through my list of events, I had to do it with the guys I typically share sports with….doing the list would have to be as much about spending time with the friends I have assembled over 50 years as it would be about the events we would be going to.

The List

I put together my starter list to try to cover all of the major sports. Never intended it to be exclusive or absolute. Any good other ideas welcome. Anything that didn’t end up working out…so be it.

Super Bowl

Winter Olympics

Final Four

Masters

Kentucky Derby

Wimbledon

Tour de France

British Open

World Cup

USC v Notre Dame football

Sent out an invite to about 20 of my best friends to join me for whatever and whenever they could to celebrate our years of maleness together. The response was immediate and hugely supportive. Count me in! Whatta fabulous idea! Spouses invited? Suggested additions…the Winter Classic (Flyers/Bruins)… and the Daytona 500, in respect of Nascar Nation.

Now the Hard Part – Herding the Cats.

My friends and I are lucky enough to be able to afford some extravagances that others might not, so it didn’t figure that money was going to keep any of the plans from working out. Forgot about kidz spring vacation schedules, mother-in-law visits, etc. It also became apparent as planning commenced that most of my friends can’t plan a trip to the bathroom without a secretary or a wife, or both, checking conflicting plans.

Event No. 1 – The Super Bowl (Miami, FL)

Turned out that the Super Bowl ended up being the first event anyway, since decent tickets to the Winter Classic were harder to come by than water in the Sahara (not to mention trying to find hotel rooms in Boston…or anywhere within 50 miles… over New Year’s Eve).

-Thursday, 2/4 Early a.m. Philadelphia area

How’s this for a start…having my wife, Tracey, drive me to the airport to fly to Miami on the Thursday before the game as KYW blasted warnings of the “Storm of the Century” coming Philadelphia’s way on Super Bowl Saturday. See ya later dear. Have a good time navigating that 130 yard uphill driveway. 44 total inches later…after not just the Storm of the Century but a follow on major dump during the week after the Super Bowl while I was still in Florida…we’re still married. Much whining, but she survived just fine. That’s what 20 years of living on Valley Forge Mountain will do for you, I guess…

-Thursday, 2/4 Philadelphia airport

Not a great first flight for the YIS kickoff. No sooner do we taxi away from the gate and into the line for takeoff than the guy in front of me signals the stewardess to tell her he feels sick and needs to return to the gate. Ugghh!. Bad enough that they take him back, but then someone else on board reports that the guy who they took off was pulled aside at security for extra scrutiny. So, they decide to go through all of the checked luggage to get his bags off before we can leave. Another ½ hour. Then it’s back in line…a line which is twice as long as when we first taxied out. Oh well, better safe than sorry. No further problems and we arrive in Miami only about an hour late.

-Thursday, 2/4 afternoon Miami

Now we’re cooking. I end up with a minivan, of all things. Great vehicle for a couple of middle-aged white guys to cruise the Miami and Lauderdale strips in, huh? The automatic sliding doors will definitely impress somebody. I head over to Miami Beach to check out the pregame hoopla. The weather all weak has been beat, so people are jonesing to get out and about. Quite a scene even though it’s only Thursday afternoon. I park myself on the patio at “Fat Tuesday” with a bunch of …what else?...New Orleans fans decked head to toe in Saints garb. Saints fans outnumbering Colts fans by a wide margin everywhere you look. I’m wearing an Eagles polo shirt and get stopped by a couple of other Philly guys who have to share an Eagles high five even though our team didn’t come close to sniffing the Super Bowl this year. Loyalty goes a long way but it didn’t stop us from joining the Indianapolis / New Orleans party.

While I’m sitting there sipping margaritas, I get the dreaded email from my buddy John, one of my best friends from college, who is supposed to be flying down from Connecticut to join me. His flight got cancelled as he taxied out to takeoff…the dreaded undefined “mechanical problems”. They’ve rebooked him on a flight the next morning. Plan was that I would be picking him up in Lauderdale and then staying at his condo for the duration of the trip. Quick plan revision required. Luckily, the other buddy joining me for the Super Bowl festivities, Raul, my best friend from law school, lives in Miami. He’ll put me up.

-Thursday, 2/4 evening Miami

Dinner at a famous old Cuban restaurant on Calle Ocho with Raul, his father and his brother, Eddie. Brings back memories of my trips to Miami during law school to visit with Raul’s family. I was like their adopted fourth son. Too bad Raul’s son couldn’t have joined us to extend the tradition.

Despite my pleas to sleep on the couch, Marie, Raul’s wife, won’t hear of it and I end up kicking Raul’s daughter out of her room for the night. Thanks Danielle.

-Friday, 2/5 morning

After getting the kids off to school. Raul, Marie and I go to a local breakfast joint before I head up to Lauderdale to fetch John. I swear Raul could run for mayor in Miami, at least in the Cuban area. Seemed like he knew everybody that walked into that restaurant…not just know them to say hello, I mean know them to the point of having kids at the same school…know them from the old neighborhood…know them from business, etc. Unbelievable. Not a lot of Super Bowl hysteria in this neck of the woods. The Dolphins had a worse year than the Eagles.

- Friday, 2/5 afternoon

No problem with John’s flight this time. He thinks the minivan is cool. What do you want? He’s a dentist from Connecticut. We get settled into the condo and then head up to the Lauderdale strip for some cocktails. Not as crazy here as Miami Beach, but there is a pretty good size crowd of Bowl fans wandering the strip and populating the patios of the restaurants. Colts fans seem to be a bigger presence here. Weather isn’t great, but pleasant enough to not be putting a damper on anybody’s fun…but iffy enough to be minimizing the bikini quotient.

-Friday, 2/5 evening

Thought we might have wrangled free invites to the Commissioner’s party thanks to a friend of John’s from Connecticut, but that didn’t work out. Ended up bouncing around some clubs around Lauderdale area. Fine dining at a KFC in the middle of a rainstorm. So much for acting our age. Never did get around to selling the Official Tailgate passes that Raul scored. Full report on the night to be given only verbally. What happens in Florida, stays in Florida. Gotta leave some mystery. Suffice it to say, we drank too much, spent too much and stayed up too late. Raul, whether you lost it or spent it…you did owe John the $400. BTW - replace that navigation device in your car. It’s worthless.

-Saturday, 2/6 morning/afternoon

The late night definitely took a toll. Made our way out to a late breakfast at a great local joint in downtown Lauderdale. The grits sucked, but the rest definitely hit the spot. The wind was pretty harsh, but the sun was up so we hit the beach in front of John’s condo. I’ve never gotten sand-blasted so hard at a beach. Minimal eye candy. Walked down to the area of the Lauderdale beach where there will be a big free Super Bowl-related concert featuring the Bare Naked Ladies tonight. Quite a set-up. They are expecting huge traffic jams. We’ll be heading in the opposite direction to the big Super Bowl charity shindig, “The Taste of the NFL” at the convention center.

-Saturday, 2/6 evening

Raul drove up and met us at the convention center for the ToTNFL party. Late as usual….Some things never change. I’m just saying… (inside joke) This is an annual event to raise money for the food banks in all of the NFL cities. The basic idea is to have each NFL team represented by a couple of alums and/or current players and each NFL city to be represented by a restaurant/chef. Each city/team/chef has a stand where they are cooking up some dish for everyone to try along with a wine to match the food. They also sell some basic memorabilia and auction off the more expensive stuff…signed jerseys, pictures, etc. Stuff like that. Clear from the start that they do this shindig the right way. No overcrowding and plenty to eat and drink. Food was great. I guess they should do it right for $600 a pop. Also lots of former players from the era when I/we were kids. Took a lot of pictures of Raul getting autographs of old Dolphins players from the undefeated team, etc.

Night ended with the Bare Naked Ladies coming over after their beach concert to do a long set for the crowd at this party. Can’t say I knew any of their music, but they were very entertaining. After last night, we made sure we got to bed a lot earlier. Yes. We are pushing 50.

-Sunday, 2/7 morning

Weather report was for a threat of rain with a lot of wind. The wind wasn’t bad and the rain held off so we got our round of golf in at a course that John often plays at while he’s in town. A mixed bag of borrowed clubs were my excuse for my poor scoring, but we had a great time. John played his steady eddy game. Played with a couple of guys from Canada. They didn’t complain about the wind/temp…They were even in shorts.

-Sunday, 2/7 afternoon/evening

We made the decision very early in the planning process for this trip NOT to try to get tickets for the actual game. Everyone we spoke to who had attended in the past reported that the game was the least part of their fun. The only exceptions were situations where the attendees’ home team was actually in the game. Consensus was that, because the crowd is populated largely by “corporate” types, the fervor of a playoff game etc never materializes. Add, on top of that, the huge number of TV stoppages etc to accommodate the famous Super Bowl commercials and the fact that you have to be in the stadium like 2 ½ hours before game time for security purposes and it wasn’t a hard decision at all not to pony up five grand for good seats. We concluded that we would watch the game somewhere on the Miami Beach strip.

Drove down early …and waited for Raul…again. Staked out a table at Mangoes, a club offering up singing and dancing waitresses and waiters who performed before and after the game…kids from the local “arts” college. Kind of like Miami’s version of Fame. Paid a reasonable minimum to keep a table throughout the afternoon/evening/game and proceeded to eat AND DRINK against it from about 4 p.m. through the end of the game.

Game was as good as any Super Bowl I remember. And our adopted team won. Isn’t that what really counts. Lot of whooping and hollering after the game, but everyone was pretty well behaved.

-Monday 2/8 morning

Dropped John off at the airport to fly back to the great white north for a quick turnaround before he flew back down for the 500 the following weekend. I headed west to spend the week working out of my in-laws house in Naples before driving up to the 500 with my father-in-law.

All in all, a blast. Great to spend time with John and Raul and to introduce them. Even though I’ve known each of them for over twenty five years, they had never met before. Part of the whole theme behind this YIS thing. Couldn’t have had a better time…mini van and all.

Event No. 2 – The Daytona 500 (Daytona Beach, FL)

-Friday 2/12 late morning Naples

Expectations of rain as we set out to drive from Naples to our hotel in Lake Mary, midway between Orlando and Daytona, to hook up with my brother-in-law, Murry. Didn’t realize that along with the rain, the temperatures were expected to drop into the lower forties. Shorts wouldn’t have been a bad idea IF the car had heat. Pete failed to mention that his heater had gone on the blink at some point in his aging Impala and he hadn’t gotten around to getting it fixed. Not a big issue in Naples, but not a great situation in rainy, cold central Florida early February weather. My teeth were chattering by the time we got there. Just another component of the overall story to retell in future years.

-Friday 2/12 early evening Central Florida

My bro-in-law, Murry, was able to leverage a business trip to Orlando and joined us early evening for a ribs, wings and beer dinner. Good kickoff for the 500. More travel problems for John. Plan was for him and his family to fly down to Lauderdale on Friday and then for him and his son to drive up to Daytona on Saturday morning to meet us for the preliminary race on Saturday. His flight got cancelled, this time due to the weather brewing in the Northeast. But, get this…he goes to the airport with his wife and son to attempt to get on a flight as stand-bys late Friday. When it’s their turn there is one seat is left and his wife says “Go ahead, you take it.” Yeah, Machelle! John’s son, Chris, didn’t make it, but he still got a hat. John wins the great wife award for this one.

-Saturday 2/13

I guess my wife had some pull with all mighty who gave us weather more like what you would expect to have in the Northeast in November rather than Florida in February. Thirty degree wind-chills under a cloudy sky. Didn’t exactly pack for it, so four tee shirts, two windbreakers and my Mountain Dew Dale Earnhardt, Jr. hat would have to do.

Got our first taste of Nascar racing and the whole Nascar Nation thing. Saw Danica Patrick crash, but not burn, in her first race at Daytona in a 300 mile warm-up for the big race. Realized that Nascar Nation must consume 2/3 of all cigarettes sold in the US. Also learned that one of the basic rules of Nascar events is that you CAN bring all the beer you want into the event…kind of like a god-given right as far as they see it. These are not your average rednecks (or are they?) There are more people walking around with $450 Daytona 500 jackets, etc. than you can imagine. Brand new jackets from this year’s crop of apparel. There is some serious cash getting thrown around here.

Surprised by the way the crowd really does root for a particular driver. You’re either a “Junior” guy, or a “Gordan” guy, etc. I brought down Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Mountain Dew hats for all of us, so we were “Junior” guys. The Saturday race was a kick and got us in the mood for the real thing tomorrow. Can’t wait.

On the way out we stopped and did a bit of Nascar shopping for the wives etc. I’m sure Tracey will love her itty bitty Nascar tank top…rhinestones and all .

-Sunday 2/14 Morning

Did the obligatory big breakfast at Bob Evans with sausage gravy and biscuits, grits, etc. We’ll need it because the temperature isn’t supposed to be any warmer than yesterday. Clearly we weren’t the only 500 fans fueling up for the race. Lots of driver hats, etc all over the restaurant. The route to the race clogged up real fast and we bailed and put our faith in John’s Garmin to get us there via the back roads. Our faith was rewarded with a smooth trip to within a couple of miles of the track. UNTIL, some young kid in a pickup truck rear-ended us at a stop light. After an hour’s worth of swapping insurance info etc and getting a police report for John to submit to the rental car company, we were back in action.

-Sunday 2/14 at the race

Sun was shining, so even though it wasn’t any warmer than yesterday, at least it felt better. Lots of crashes and cautions throughout the afternoon. Then, the mother of all delays. Caused by a pothole of all things. Perfect for four guys from the northeast. Damn thing took a total of over three hours to get fixed. As they neared the end of the first attempt to fix it, the sun was going down behind the stands and the temperature had dropped WAY down. We, like many others, bailed and headed for the car. Right move. A second delay shortly followed the first as the pothole reopened. We were comfortably seated in some chain restaurant almost back in Lake Mary watching on TV as Junior almost pulled off the victory with a dash from tenth to second in the last two laps of the race. Not your classic Daytona 500 experience, I guess, but great fun just the same. The power of the cars etc is unbelievable and the spectacle is worth the price of admission.

-Monday 2/15 early morning

Pete is taking me to the Orlando airport for an early flight to Philadelphia. Low thirties and no heater in the car and its still dark out. What does that add up to? Foggy windows with the glare of oncoming headlights to deal with. Great. We spent the thirty minutes to the airport wiping the windshield down and driving with the side windows open. BBBBRRRR! Got there somehow or other as the sun came up. The switch from dark to sunlight made for a better situation, but I’m glad I wasn’t going to be driving all the way back to Naples with Pete. Said he planned on stopping at every rest stop to warm up with the hand blow driers in the men’s room. Whatever it takes, I guess. Flight home was a breeze. Can’t wait to see how much snow piled up while I was away.

Event #3 - The Winter Olympics

Week and a half to regroup and get ahead of the game at work before heading for the Olympics/

-Thursday 2/25 PHL airport 7:00 a.m.

Getting out of Dodge just ahead of another big snowstorm. Cutting it a lot

closer this time than when I flew to Miami for the SB, but flight seems to be on

time, etc. From what they are saying, flights this afternoon are going to get

screwed. Hopefully no issue with PHX connection.

Based on overheard chatter at gate, other Philly folks using same flights to get to the Olympics.

Looks like there might even be a couple of young disabled athletes heading to

the Para Olympics which take place after regular Olympics.

How is it that, in this economy, every flight I get on is full?

Looking forward to seeing my father-in-law trading pins from the other Olympics

he has attended. He will strike up a conversation with anybody at anytime, so

this will be perfect. I hope he made it through security with all the metal he

had with him. Maybe we'll be able to leverage his pin trading into some tix.

Would love to see some of the speedskating...the refined version as well as the

roller-derby version.

Wore my Russian olympic team jacket that I got in Moscow in 2006. Maybe I can

trade it?

-Thursday 2/25 Mid-Flight (first leg to PHX)

Sitting in front of three people who won't shut the ?/-.*# up.

Each has an opinion on everything from Andy Reid to global warming; and each

seems intent on divulging every facet of their personal lives in voices loud

enough for the pilot to monitor the dialogue . The woman feels compelled to

recite a portion of each article she is reading in the Inquirer to reinvigorate

the conversation every now and then.... Now she's reading aloud her calendar

entries for the day for each of the kids she left at home. Like fingernails on

a chalkboard at this point. I'm ready to pull the emergency window open and

jump. Is the Olympics worth this? At least there aren't any wailing

infants/whining kids...The worst part is that I ended up sitting here because I

agreed to change seats with a guy so he could sit next to his friend. So much

for being a good Samaritan.

Wait...what's that sound? Quiet at last.

-Thursday 2/25 PHX airport

No probs so far with my connecting flight. Ready to depart on time. Lots of people talking Olympics as we boarded. Starting to worry about the strategy of looking for event tix once we get there. Everybody I overheard, seems to have tix in hand. Could be a problem. But we'll have a fine time in any event soaking up the atmosphere, etc. Hope the weather cooperates...raining in Van at the moment from what they are saying.

BTW - word from others on the PHL-PHX flight who called home when we landed is

that the snow was already coming hard in Philly area. Go figure...isn't it supposed to be the other way around?

-Thursday 2/25 mid-flight (2nd leg to Vancouver)

Jinxed myself

1) We were delayed at takeoff due to some paperwork glitch; and

2) The whining kids are on THIS flight

Little girl behind me decided to take an ill-timed dump in her diaper as we

prepared to pull back from the gate. Then decided to squirm, wriggle and whine

about it just to make sure everyone knew and could share the aroma. Brings back

memories of my fraternity's bathroom on a Sunday morning. I think I’ll hold off

on eating my lunch.

Once on the ground, my suggested plan of attack will be to try to score some

speed skating tix for tomorrow and to get the lay of the land re good TV-viewing

bars, pin swapping locales, etc.

3 hour plus flights are never fun, but two back-to-back completely full ones

really blows. (Excuse my French). At least I didn't have to share my seat with

an oversized slob on either flight.

I need a Red Bull or something. 5 hours of sleep, up at 3:30. Large coffee and

two cokes hasn't done the job. Gotta get a second wind so we don't waste the

afternoon.

I hope the line at Immigration isn't long.

-Thursday 2/25 Vancouver

Funny how Immigration still felt obligated to ask every person going thru the

line why they were coming to Vancouver. You'd think the Olympic and national

team gear would have given it away.

Turned out that the weather was very nice when we arrived. (Al Gore must be

celebrating. The weather has been so mild here this winter that the cherry trees

are blossoming.)

We were able to score tickets for USA v Finland semifinal tomorrow. Bought them

from a guy on the street...Vinny, a middle-aged ticket broker from New York.

Hope they are legit.

My Russian jacket seems to be attracting a lot of attention. The only other

people that I have seen wearing similar jackets are clearly really Russian.

Walked into Chinatown for dinner. Expected to have tons of restaurants to choose

from. NOT the case. Got lucky and ended up having a fabulous dinner at a

place called Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie. What a meal! Met the owner and a couple

of Vancouver natives who each gave us some good recos for meals for the rest of

the stay. Very nice people the British Columbians.

-Friday 2/26 Vancouver Morning

Met a guy staying at the hotel who says he can get us tix for short track tonight. Hope he comes thru.

Met two families from Montana checking out of the hotel. The kidz were way into

the pin trading thing, so Pete hit it off big time with them. A perfect Olympic

moment as they bargained. A seventy something and three pre adolescents. I think

they got the better of him.

Heading to Canada Hockey Place for the semi. The building is normally called GM

Place or something like that, but since GM didn't pony up for the Olympics, they

covered up GM on all the marquis. I guess that's the way things work these days. Call it the Jerry Jones syndrome.Big difference from 1980 Lake Placid games etc.

Those tix we bought for semi game....apparently not the best buy I've ever made. Just

got rejected at the door. Invalid. Called the guy we bought them from and he at

least says he will bring valid tix over to us. We'll see if he shows.

My faith in mankind has been restored. The guy came over and gave us valid tix.

"Lenny from NY", my new best friend. Part of the whole "Olympixperience", I

guess. He said he will also get me a ticket for closing ceremonies, if I want one.

-Friday 2/26 USA v Finland Men's Hockey semifinal

4-0 USA - ten minutes into first period. Can't beat that for a start.

Crowd is balanced between Americans, Finns and Canadiens, so it is a great

atmosphere.

Make that 5...no 6-0. Go USA!

How's this for small world?...sitting next to a woman who lives ten minutes from

us at home. AND she's friends with one of my best friends. Unbelievable.

Final score 6 -1.

Bring on Canada. Great time.

Saw Scott Hamilton on the way out of the arena. Man, is he a tiny guy. The only

other celeb that they made a big deal about at the game was Vince Vaughn...wearing a USA team jersey.

-Friday 2/26 post-game

The tix guy from the hotel hasn't come thru with speed skating tix so we are

going to go over to the venue and try our hand at game-time scalping. There were

plenty of guys selling tix at hockey game today, so we should have a good

chance.

-Friday 2/26 Short Track Speed Skating

Not as easy as we thought, but we got tix from a scalper outside the arena. This

should be way cool! Despite fairly heavy drizzle, there had to be 1000 people waiting in line at ticket booth for the last minute tickets they release. If they get tix, they'll pay $45 face for what we paid $275 for.

In the US, clapping, whistling and yelling dominate in a sports crowd. Here

Cowbells and tambourines are very popular. Forgot mine :)

Can't quite figure out how they can go so fast around such a tight course. Seems like it would be physically impossible. I guess that's why there are so many crashes. Skating on the edge.

Apollo Anton Ohno DQ'ed in the 500 meter final. For a second, it looked like he

had a silver.

Overall this event was very exciting. Crowd was raucous...as load as any sports

crowd I've been a part of, especially when the Canada men won the 5000 meter relay

race.

-Friday 2/26 evening

Cabbed over to restaurant right after last race to beat the crush from the CAN v

Latvia hockey game. Got there just in time to see CAN hold on for the win. Crowd

was in an uproar

Had another great dinner at Chambar, one of the restaurants recoed to us last

night. Moulles Frite and Chimay. Not a bad combo.

All in all a GREAT day.

-Saturday 2/27 Morning

Rain, rain go away. Come again some other day (when we're not here.) Forecast is

for rain all day. We were planning to go over to see the Olympic flame, but that

won't be a great thing to do in this weather.

Maybe we'll head over to Long Track Speed Skating instead and see if we can score some cheap last minute tix.

Walked over to see the Olympic flame anyway.

Gray, dreary day. Our energy levels are

way down from yesterday. Bagged the plan for long track. Would have involved a

45 minute train ride and a mile walk in the rain. Call us whimps.

Second to last day of the Olympics, so, despite the less than perfect weather, the city is just teeming with people. Many locals. Very friendly people. It is jut amazing how many local people are in the city just to be part of the whole Olympics...not even thinking about seeing one of the events. Most have some form of Canadian team apparel on. Its a sea of red everywhere you go.

-Saturday 2/27 Afternoon/Evening

Need some down time to recharge. Definitely used up my stores of adrenaline

yesterday.

We ended up lazing around our hotel room for the better part of the afternoon

watching events on TV, given our lack of get-up-and-go and the bad weather.

Walked around downtown Olympic area before heading to dinner. Still amazing how

many people are wandering around the entire city.

Headed for dinner at the same place we enjoyed so much on Thurs night. It was

that good. Once again, it didn't disappoint.

Even though it was 9:30 when we got back from dinner, Pete decided to walk over

to the Hudson Bay store to try and time it so he wouldn't wait in line to get

into the Olympic SuperStore. Time for bed for me. (Pete's plan did NOT work. The

line was just as long as when we went over yesterday morning.) My choice of

sleep over shopping was the right one.

-Sunday 2/28 Morning

Raining AGAIN.

Big miscalculation on our part. We figured that we'd go to a bar and grill late

morning, have something to eat and then stay to watch the gold medal hockey game

and drink some beers. WRONG. Based on what we have now learned, people (mostly

twenty somethings) were lining up at bars around the downtown and arena areas at

6 a.m. this morning to watch the game. We ended up buying a six pack (even had

to wait twenty minutes in line to get into a beer store to do that) and watching the game in our hotel room.

Game was great. Pete had to leave for the airport midway thru the third period,

so he didn't get to see USA come back from 2 down to tie it up with 24.4 seconds

left in the 3rd period. CAN won it in overtime. Wow! Very appropriate way for

the competitions to end.

Looking out the window, I think I'm better off not being out and about right

now. Quite a celebration.

Couldn't just sit inside with the party going on outside. Had to go check out

the scene. My God! This dwarfs the Phillies World Series celebration by a

factor of 10. Majority of the crowd is twenty somethings but there are plenty of

families, couples (young and old)...even a lady in an electric wheelchair

high-fiving everybody in sight as she rode down the street. Coolest thing is

that there are no drunk assholes breaking things, fighting or puking. The sun

finally broke thru after 2 and 1/2 days of rain/clouds just as the celebration

got going. Very neat.

Can't imagine what would have happened if US had won.

Should have worn earplugs. The car horns are deafening.

Six hours after the game and the hooping, hollering and beeping of horns

continues unabated ....and my hotel isn't close to the real epicenter of the

celebration.

Heard car horns thru to 1:30 a.m., a good 10 and 1/2 hours after the game ended.

Hard core.

-Monday 3/1 EARLY morning

Major warnings from all fronts about how crazy busy the airport will be today.

Got up at 3 for a 4 a.m. cab for a 7:45 flight.

Saw one of the US snowboarder chicks and Kathryn O'Hare (the mom in Home Alone, etc) at the airport.

-Departing Observations

It was truly amazing to see the unifying effect of the Canadian team's efforts

at the Olympics. In particular, the Canadians were really obsessed with Curling,

speed skating and, of course, hockey. It was clearly more than just rooting for

a sports team. Way more. But sports were at the heart of it.

Very cool experience all around.

Next up....the Final Four