Sports Nirvana

Watching sports is a passion of mine; surpassed only by the love I have for my family. It is the ultimate Reality TV show, unscripted (except if you’re an SEC referee), exciting, and full of surprises. I’ve been lucky to see the college (UGA) and pro (Eagles and Phillies) teams excel in recent years. Most times, it has been on team doing well at a particular junction, which allows me to channel all of my focus, joy, and frustration all in one spot.

The stars have aligned, however, to provide me a once-in-a-lifetime week of sports programming that could not have been scripted any better if I set pen to paper (or Arial Font to Microsoft Word). I truly believe that the upcoming 6 days are the greatest personal collection of sports viewing of my teams in my lifetime. Here’s a breakdown, and the reason why a larger portion of my take home pay will be going to Caribou Coffee this week:

Monday: Eagles @ Redskins, 8:30 PM (Monday Night Football)
Wednesday: Phillies @ Yankees, 8 PM (World Series Game 1 – Lee v. Sabathia, both with ERA’s under 1.5 in the postseason)
Thursday: Phillies @ Yankees, 8 PM (World Series Game 2 – with the possibility of Pedro Martinez going one more time)
Saturday: Georgia v. Florida, 3:30 PM (World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party from Jax)
Saturday: Yankees @ Phillies, 8 PM (World Series Game 3 – Pettite v. Hamels)

Finally, Sunday, which might serve as the biggest day in Philly vs. New York sports history:

Sunday: Giants v. Eagles, 1 PM (Game is in Philly)
Sunday: Yankees v. Phillies, 8 PM (World Series Game 4 – also in Philly, about 1/2 block away from the football game)

Somewhere in there, I’ll manage to work, get the house chores done, hit a corn maze, carve a pumpkin, and oh yeah, have Halloween too! Ol’ Gentleman Jack may have to help me make it through this week in one piece.

Pray for me.

A Different Perspective

As anyone who reads this knows, I'm about as big a UGA fan as there is out there. While I try to be objective and rational, sometimes I can get carried away after a big win or loss. Which brings me to yesterday's sun-splashed battle between the Dawgs and LSU between the hedges. I'll admit we were not the better team for the first 3 quarters, but we still had a shot to win and almost pulled it off. We can debate the merits of that unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on AJ Green (it's BS if you ask me), but the fact of the matter is that we followed up his amazing TD catch with horrible kick coverage and tackling. If you're missing those 2 facets, it's easy to see how a talented SEC team can score on you in about 20 seconds of game time. Ugh.

Had this type of loss occurred 5 years ago, I would have not been a pleasant person to be around today, and probably clear into Tuesday. It's amazing how having kids changes your perspective. We took Zachary and Liam to the game yesterday and those guys hung in there the entire game! They cheered, they pushed each other a bit, they bumped into the people in front and behind us plenty (sorry rows 35 and 37), and they had a great time. As we were trekking it back to the car after the game, Zachary showed no sign of dejection, saddness, or frustration. All he wanted to know was when Mommy would help make the "silver britches" she promised him. And today when they got up, it was like any other Sunday filled with breakfast decisions, stalling before getting changed for church, and swim lessons. Both of them moving on with their lives is a great reminder to me about letting go after a tough loss (or a big win too) right away and engaging in what they want to do and talk about. Thanks guys.

A couple of other random tidbits:

1. Holy crap do I have a busy week ahead. Now it's mostly a "fun" busy, but still requires a bunch of organization and planning. Golf tomorrow afternoon in Peachtree City, U2 at the Dome Tuesday night, and a trip to Burt's Farm on Friday.

2. Usually shows that involve high school kids, romance, couples with marital problems, and random instances of singing and dancing are not what I would normally gravitate towards. But I have to admit Fox's "Glee" is growing on me. It's a goofy kind of humor that I get, and the folks they have singing the songs are quite good. Case in point, this cover of Heart's "Alone". An added plus are some of the "that guy" or "that girl" supporting cast, like the cheerleading coach who was last seen trying to hook up with Steve Carrell in "The 40 Year Old Virgin".

3. If he didn't realize it by now, Herschel (our dog) is officially at the bottom of the "pack" again. I think it was Liam bossing him around going "Herschel! NOOOO!" while pointing at him that clinched it.

4. I finally pulled off a surprise for Rebecca for her birthday. She recaps it here nicely. Now that I've pulled off one, I need to start planning the next one. Like all sequels it promises to be bigger and more extravagant! And with more stuff blowing up!