Guilty

I reckon Tom Brady is guilty, so he will miss the nationally televised Thursday night season opener against Pittsburgh - but he will have four fewer games of wear and tear on his creaky body when the playoffs roll around. Doesn't seem like his Sportsman of the Year public image will take much of a hit. He has few endorsements, unlike Peyton Manning. The Patriots might not get a first round bye, but they should be able to get past any opponent who barely makes it into the playoffs. How many other teams cheat? The Falcons were guilty of piping in loud noise over the speakers. But in general the NFL works hard to maintain their squeaky clean image.

Photos of Todd Gurley in a lighter blue number 30 Rams jersey suggest St. Louis might be returning to their blue and white Fearsome Foursome uniforms from the late 1960's. There have been other rumors to that effect.

An old boss I had that is now retired that was collecting autographed balls from all the 500 home run club members. And a month or so ago Lang sent me an article about a guy who has the world's largest collection of Sports Illustrated issues autographed by the cover subject. Every week he has a new autograph he has to get. He said it was often hard to track down some of the cover subjects, and some don't want to sign. He said the joy and adventure was in the hunt, and I agree. Otherwise it's easy for a rich person to buy any memorabilia they want. This weekend I found a talking Duck Dynasty Jase Robertson bobblehead and a Braves Hank Aaron 715 HR bobblehead, swelling my collection to 145.

I like skyline photos and have been posting a few to my blog. There used to be a good photo of SPdL with the Buckhead skyline in the background on Google Images, but the last time I looked for it I couldn't find it. There is a good picture of Passion City Church at night all lit up with the Atlanta skyline in the background. Also pictures of Grant Field are great with the downtown skyline in the background. The new downtown ballparks in both Charlotte and Greensboro feature great views. When the new ballpark is built the skyline photos of that location will be fun to see.

Cleveland is heating up and the Hawks are struggling. Not a good combination.

So last Friday with the plane crash the concern was traffic on the way home. We had determined the cause of my car overheating was the radiator fan wasn't turning. I knew Holcomb Bridge would be jammed so I took the more northern Pleasant Hill/Old Milton Parkway. Whenever I hit a red light I turned off the car, but all things considered I made good time and caught more lights than usual. I knew Highway 9 traffic southbound through Roswell would be jammed so I took Kimball Bridge across 400 then cut down to the Westside Parkway all the way across Mansell and Holcomb Bridge to the roundabout, then through downtown Roswell to Oak Street, then Atlanta Street to the square and 120 west home.

Ceil and I cleaned the next hour, then drove up to Matthew's school's year end worship service in Roswell. M's choir sang and we had a gluten free communion. Afterwards we raced home to clean more, then C went to the grocery. M spent the night with several classmates, and Anna was down at a Grace Midtown gathering. At ten I went upstairs and took a nap until Ceil's brother's family arrived at 11 pm.

Saturday morning I met the other party dads at FBC Alpharetta to load up tables and chairs for the party. Then we drove over and set them out at the Hargreaves. Afterwards I picked up M from his sleepover. Anna and her cousins went out to the Hargreaves to decorate, and Ceil drove separately to arrange flowers. Matthew napped and I took Rusty over to the PGA Superstore to look around. Back home we watched the Players Championship.

I was sore on Sunday morning. Anna had to study and M wasn't ready, so Will, Ceil, and her mother left at 9:15 for the 10 am service. I got A and M ready to meet them for lunch at Panera in the Avenue East Cobb. I had a turkey sandwich, but the salads looked good as well. Later I drove M down to PCC. I got caught with a dead phone battery because I wasn't driving my car. After the service M and I hit some thrift stores and ran an errand to Barnes & Noble at Perimeter Mall, the gas station, and Kroger. At one store several men were huddled around the TV's watching Cavs/Bulls. When I left the store I turned on the radio to hear that I had just missed seeing LeBron's game-winning shot. We took my car up to the shop in Roswell around 10:30 pm.

Monday morning Will shadowed at an East Cobb orthopedic practice. M had a test at 10 am. Anna also had an exam. Monday night Ceil baked chicken in a cream of mushroom sauce. Also rice and green beans. Will was out with Joel and Kevin after a round of golf.