Day 205

I cannot believe that Thanksgiving week is here. Leah and I were talking the other night that time has just flown by here. This Thanksgiving is different for us. For the first time since my senior year in high school, I am not traveling Thanksgiving week, and I cant say that I am disappointed about that. This is the busiest travel season every year and driving back and forth to Chicago usually took an extra hour. Add in the Dan Ryan expressway construction this year and it could have potentially taken seven and a half hours plus. A ton of our friends and family are returning to C-town this week so we are packed with plans. I am very much looking forward to seeing MD and the kids. The ex-Mrs MD actually sent me pictures of the kids this past week and they were adorable. I have posted one above. Thanksgiving week also symbolizes the worst of my world - Friday will be exactly two years since my father has passed away. Things have been moving in the right direction over the last 6 months, so I choose to stay positive and remember my father for all the good times we had during this week. The person who I most worry about this week is my grandmother. My mom, MD, and I are all affected and will have a tough time later in the week, but she has taken this harder than we have. The holidays in general are always tough for her. She is in her early 90's, has lost her husband and son, and is ready to go. She always says to me "I've lived a great life." I agree, but the last three years have definitely weighed on her. On Thursday, I will tell you what I am most thankful for.

My weekend was very football driven. First off, I am sick to report to all of you that I pretty much missed the entire Michigan/Ohio State game in Saturday. Here was my dilemma. One of my biggest clients is a huge Steelers fan. The Browns played the Steelers on Sunday. About two months ago, I gave him two tickets to the game and was going to take him. Therefore, I had to fly home on Saturday. There were only two flights on Continental that day. A 10:30 AM and a 12:55 PM. When we were booking, the 10:30 was already sold out and the 12:55 became our only option. Then earlier in the week, my client's mother in-law died and he had to cancel. By this time, trying to get out on Sunday was an $100 change fee plus the difference in fair, which would have cost me another $500. Three years ago, this would have freaked me out - missing a sporting event of this magnitude. But I have come to realize its just a football game. Ok - all that being said, I really wish I would have seen it. Everyone told me how amazing the game was. I know a couple of people that were at the game. My boy Ags, a die-hard Buckeye fan, said he can't imagine it getting any better than the experience he had. Earlier in the year, he had gone to Austin for the Texas game and I told him he had to bring a camera. He didn't. But this time around, he learned his lesson and I saw his photos today. As you probably know, I am a big picture taker. Like my father, I love to document everything if I can. I remember as a kid, dad always wanted to take our pictures at big sporting events, vacations, etc. We always hated it. But looking back, it was the smartest move he could have made. I picked right up on that. As for the game itself, it cemented Ohio State's #1 ranking and place in the national championship game in Glendale, AZ on January 7th. What is moronic about the whole thing is that the Buckeyes don't play now for 50-plus days. That is a great system they have in place there. Michigan's season is over with one loss. Notre Dame plays USC this Saturday and the winner will also have just one loss. Arkansas and Florida play each other in a few weeks and most likely the winner there will have one loss. The computers and pollsters will decide which one loss team gets a shot of the Buckeyes. If USC loses to ND, it will most likely be a re-match with Michigan, which I would love to see since I didn't get to appreciate the first game. But how is that fair to Ohio State? Having to beat an angry team twice and if they lose, both teas have one loss, yet Michigan is the national champion? Strange stuff. But congrats to the Buckeyes. Great picture above of the goalposts being guarded by the cops after the big win.

Now on to the NFL. I woke up yesterday, looked out the window and saw pouring rain. But it was Browns/Steelers week, so I knew regardless of the weather, I was going. The other thing I knew was that mom was going to back out. So I headed down to the Lakefront with my poncho in tow. Waiting to get frisked to get into the stadium is absurd. I wrote this after the opener, but it just reminds me of how 90% of Browns fans are lowest common denominator; Swearing up a storm, smoking cigs, drinking beers, and picking fights for no reason. The best part of the game is getting out of that swarm and into my seats. So I arrive about 12:55 in my seats and it is a driving rain storm. The real men (aka the idiots) sprawled across our eight seats were cousin Billy, Uncle Kenny, and me. A solid crew definitely. I was there because my dad would have been. In the meantime, it was a very entertaining game in which the Browns had control over for the first 55 minutes. Unfortunately for the Browns, the games are 60 minutes long. At the 4:14 mark of the 4th quarter, the Steelers scored a TD to cut the Browns lead to 20-17. I turned to Bill and Uncle Kenny and said "guys, its been fun." They couldn't get why I was leaving, but i am from the Bobby Dery school of Browns watching - "You don't want to be here when we blow it." I told them I already knew what was going to happen; The Browns would go three and out, punt, and the Steelers would drive down and score a TD to win it all. Sure enough, my call came true. I was in my car getting off at my exit when the game ended. I saved myself from the torture that is watching the Steelers do it to us again. Nothing good could have happened if I stayed. That is the way I looked at it. I don't leave tribe games early like that, just Browns games.

This story has flown under the radar, but Michael Richards, the man who played the lovable Kramer on Seinfeld, had a terrible incident at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles. While doing stand-up and being heckled, Richards launched into a racial tirade on the hecklers, dropping a series of N-bombs, amongst other insults. The whole incident was caught on video. Needless to say, his career has to be over with this one. Click on the link to see the video and read the TMZ.com article. It is not to be believed. I don't care of he was drunk, on crack, whatever; How can you be that stupid? Its clear this guy is a racist because any normal human being wouldn't have dropped the N-bomb the way he did. I am eagerly anticipating his public apology and see him backtrack.

Song of the Day: "To Be Racist is an illness" by Macka B