Friday, January 18, 2008

FanFests, etc.

Went to the Braves FanFest a few years ago, on a cold day at the Ted. Will got to throw on the bullpen mound. If there were a FanFest for the NHL All-Star game, I’d consider going. Took Will & Anna to the NBA FanFest, and in the past had gone to those put on by the MLB All-Stars and NFL Super Bowl…much better than those for the Peach Bowl and ACC Tourney.

Years ago Lang and I went to the NFL Experience before the first Atlanta Super Bowl, when he was still in high school. He wanted to stand in a long line where we’d be taped as sports reporters on “11Alive News.” The line gave us time to repeatedly view the tape and rehearse the lines. Everyone gave the same lines. It gave me time to totally rework the comments, based on the football video. When we took our turn Lang went first, perfectly reviewing the NFC Championship Game, going by the script. Then my comments told the story of Montana’s Chiefs beating the Bills, instead of losing. The weekend anchor sitting between us was amazed.

They ought to call them either the Buford Braves or Hog Mountain Braves. Guess it’s a good deal, can’t hurt. It’ll be a lot harder traffic-wise to go to games over there…almost easier to go to Rome Braves games. We would be able to see phenoms, especially those on AL clubs. Guess now most rehab assignments will be in Buford. We’ll keep going to the Ted. They could use that stadium for special college games, like they do the Gwinnett Arena. Hold the ACC or SEC or high school state championships there.

More seems to be falling into place…Kotsay, Tex, dumping Aybar…guess that ex-Cub will take his place. People say we need more relievers, but we still have a bunch to choose from. They’re probably forgetting about Gonzalez, too.

Interesting article in the new SI about a dad who gave his speedskating son steroids. Will’s teammate/classmate Jonathan is the top ranked speedskater in the country, and he may soon compete internationally. Doesn’t take steroids…at least he’s not muscular. He is in such good shape that suicides are easy for him. You can tell he’s cruising, but he still beats everyone by a wide margin.

Will has been getting credit cards offers for a few years now, but not so much the other two. Recently he got one of those dinner invitations to an investment seminar, but he didn’t go. Yesterday I noticed an opened Geiko junkmail envelope laying on the couch. Matthew had read the funny comments on the outside of the envelope, and opened it, looking for more funny comments or pictures of the lizard. Later he read the comments to me.

Got good MPG on the trip, sticking mostly to just under 70 MPH. Over one stretch I got 47.1 MPG (best ever), and it was over 40 for the whole trip. A little surprising considering those hard tires I had put on last tear, which had driven down the MPG.

Will didn’t play much in last weekend’s narrow victory over rival Crown, and was pulled after turning the ball over after a rebound. He had a game down in west Atlanta yesterday, then stayed for the varsity games with the Normans. Will was at the Normans when it snowed, and they played a lot.

Matthew got a 100 on his first quiz, but he didn’t know what that meant. He and Anna seem to be more into their schoolwork more now. I’m the world’s worst about installing things, particularly technical things, but also hanging things on walls. Ceil is better than me, but we waited til her father came down to put a shelf on Anna’s wall. Will would enjoy stuff like that, but he doesn’t have a dad to teach him. Now our oven isn’t working…could be the pilot light. The handle on the microwave is broken, though it works fine. We do need a new vacuum.

Hear Bill Murray won’t be at Pebble Beach any more.

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