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Day 10 - Redux

Time for some Beijing takes. First off, let me just say I am not into the Olympics. Watching Michael Phelps was sweet, but those races are at the longes three minutes long in a night-time block of four hour programming. Do I want to watch Usain Bolt shatter the world records in the 100 meter and 200 meter dashes? Absolutely. But how long does that take? Ten seconds for one and twenty for the other? I am supposed to watch three and a half hours of boring, dull-ass diving, beach volleyball, women's softball (where nobody ever scored by the way), or men's parallel bars? No thank you.

That said, I am riveted by Team USA basketball. I just love the way Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker play the game...just kidding.... Seriously, one of the joys of working from home is that I have been able to see the last two Men's games live, which start at 8 AM here. This morning was the start of medal play and I had been reading articles and seeing interviews that the Australian team would pose a major threat to our chances at Gold. They feature former #1 overall pick Andrew Bogut at Center, International play veteran Chris Anstey, and future NBA point guard and current St. Mary's star Patrick Mills.

The first quarter was very close, despite Bogut's foul trouble. Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Lebron James, and company were taking (and missing) way too man three pointers and showed a horrendous touch at the free throw line (10-20 in the first half). It was 25-24 USA at the end of one. The second quarter was close as well, before a late surge capped by a Deron Williams buzzer-beating three gave Team USA a 55-43 lead. The second half started with a 14-0 run by our boys and then it was a runaway from that point on. The final was 116-85. So much for a close game.

What does this all mean to me? I've now watched two and a half games played by "The Redeem Team," and I've come to two major conclusions:

1. Lebron James is the best team basketball player on the planet.

2. Kobe Bryant is not made for International, team play.

I don't care if Kobe scored 25 today. If you saw his first half, you would have been appalled by his wild shot taking and poor decisions offensively. The majority of his 25 were second half garbage buckets, taking guys one on one when the result was long-since decided. These games are all about team play, moving the ball, and swarming American full court defense. Take a look at the line-scores of Lebron in each game. It is usually about 16 points, six rebounds, five assists. Not to mention the fact that he is playing great defense and if you listen to NBC analysts Doug Collins, Lebron is clearly the leader of this team.

Lebron is bigger, stronger, and faster than Kobe. Kobe may be a better shooter, but does he take better shots? Nope. Is he a better teammate? Nope. People speak glowingly of Lebron. Kobe? He is on an island when he plays with the Lakers and is doing a nice job of snowing the press on the Olympic team. They are clearly the best two players in the world, but give me Lebron's all around game all day over Kobe's scoring ability.

Here are a take from the best sports blog in the business The Big Lead:

Lebron > Kobe

Watching the two of them on the same court, on the same team, there’s no question in my mind.

Keep in mind, I don’t want this to sound like Kobe-hate. I like Kobe. I have a #8 Kobe jersey. When he went on that scoring streak 2 seasons ago, I was as excited as Kobe around a female bellhop. I love watching the man play basketball.

But LeBron…

LeBron James is a whole other beast. He’s William Floyd with a basketball. He’s so big and strong and athletic and he makes it look so damn easy. No one his size should be able to move like that. No one that size should be able to do what he does.

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Back to the Olympics as a whole. The Big Lead another another interesting take on why NBC is butchering the coverage:

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt is the fastest man on the planet. He won the 100m race in record-time last week. This morning, the long-legged cyborg shattered Michael Johnson’s world record and captured the 200m in a blistering 19.30. (Only Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis have pulled off the double.) The race was at 10:20 am, and despite checking USA, MSNBC and NBC, we couldn’t find it anywhere. Why? Because the greedy suits at NBC wanted to ’save’ the race for tonight. What a fucking joke. This is an absolute abomination. (Watch the race here, thanks to a reader.) Ten minutes after the race, ESPN, Fox, SI, CBS Sports and Yahoo all blared the headline. So now everyone in America has to wait 11 hours and 50 minutes to watch it?

OK, most people are at work, but isn't this just a tad ridiculous? The Internet for the most part has ruined the Olympics for the most part unless you are in a 3-5 hour vicinity. If you want to watch Bolt for example and go in fresh, there is no way you won't hear about it all day long. That is society today. That is also why to me, the Olympics for the most part are irrelevant. Worst of all though is the Gold medal Basketball game is at 2:30 AM here on Sunday morning. Zero chance of me seeing it. I don't know where I'm going with all of this....

Day 9 - Redux

Gotta tell you about a milestone moment I shared with Andrew. This was something he won't remember and I always will. There are important moments in a kids life; crawling, taking their first step, eating with utensils on their own, learning to ride a bike, etc. Andrew crossed off a major one on Saturday - he attended his first Tribe game. We had this date in the works for a while; it was a Saturday afternoon 4 PM start time - perfect post-nap activity. There would be no rush getting down there since he wouldn't be lasting the whole game, and there is always plenty of parking. The weather Gods were smiling on us as well. It was probably 78 and sunny, and where we sit, you are in the shade at that time of day.

Vintage that Andrew decided to take his longest nap in two months Saturday. We left the house at 4, Mom, Leah, and me. No traffic had us off at 9th street at 4:15. Andrew was in his Tribe shirt and was ready to watch some ball. He took turns between my lap and Leah's. Sat and took in the sights of the Jake while stuffing Goldfish into his mouth one at a time. He clapped when everyone else clapped and cheered. Even when Ryan Garko hit a home run and the fireworks went off, he clapped. I was worried the fireworks would freak him out, but it didn't even faze him.

It wasn't all roses though. He kicked the seat in front of him a bunch of times. He wanted to beat the back of the guy in front of us a few times as well. After about three innings, he clearly did not want to sit still any longer. I walked him around the concourse on my shoulders for a little before heading back down to the seats for some photos. We then headed for Kids Land, which I have to say is a solid operation down there. Its way out in the right-field mezzanine section, they have a ton of Step-2 toys for kids between the ages of 16 months-3 years. It was right in Andrew's wheelhouse. It's a small enough area where kids won't get lost and one parent has to be in the area at all times. He loved it. We had to drag him out of there because it was the 8th inning at this point.

We sang "Take Me Out To the Ballgame" to him and he laughed and smiled. He was so happy, that he decided to drop a huge dump. Nothing like having to change a kids diaper in a Stadium bathroom. Regardless, fun was had by all. He ran around the left field plaza for a little and we all walked to the car and headed home.

Again, this is something that he won't remember. But its another one of those moments that I

will never forget. I took photos and a little video. For me, it was special. I grew up going to games with my father and I look back at those moments so fondly. Once Andrew is a little older, I'll do what my father did for me, explain the game, answer questions, and just have fun. I'd say we are still about two years away from that. But his first game was a success. I kept the ticket stub and want to frame it, along with the picture above. The only thing that saddened me was that it was a moment that I always thought I would be able to share with my father. Three generations together at the ballpark. I know he was with us in spirit.

Day 8 - Redux

So I'm on the road in Philly and I left a sick son behind. Andrew had a 101 fever yesterday and was up in the middle of the night twice. Leah ended up sleeping on the floor of his room from about 3-7:30. He's much better today. I had to go to South Jersey to visit my client's NJ operation. The thing of it is, this sales force and these people are known for one thing - bitching about pricing. This has been going on since the day I climbed aboard. They had set up this meeting as a way to "bridge the gap" between what they want in pricing and what we are willing to give. The thing of it is, we aren't willing to budge.

Indulge me if you will.

This may be boring, but follow me. The pricing in the NJ/New York/Philadelphia/DC/Baltimore areas is very cut throat. Our into stock pricing is as good as at can be. Yet, nothing is ever good enough for them. We have offered to do deviated contracts for them to ease this issue. They refuse because they are lazy. This works in the other five distribution centers, but their sales force's opinion is that they need to sell at their everyday into stock pricing to succeed. Fine. But the laziness and anti-my company's sentiment has seeped in so deep that these guys have essentially thrown in the towel. This attitude comes from the top.

Essentially I sat there for two hours while four guys yelled at me, told me our pricing sucks, my answers aren't good enough, and unless they get their way, they will get some other company that will give them what they need. Keep in mind this is something that goes way over their heads and the amount of money we make for them as a whole is staggering. These guys don't get the big picture with rebate programs, pricing, etc and what this does for their organization as a whole. All they care about is getting what they want.

I sat there and took it and didn't yell or scream, and they kept saying to me "i'm sure you are enjoying this." As I told them walking out, I've had a lot worse things happen in my life to let this meeting get to me. Coming out of the hardships and tragedies that have happened to me, I have really learned to put the proper things in perspective. OK - I did get really upset when Joel Skinner held Kenny Lofton at third in Game 7 last year, and I was even more upset when Casey Blake grounded the next pitch into a double play. (SIDE NOTE - That was the ultimate killer. Not only did Fake swing at the first pitch and ground into a DP, but let us not forget that horrible error that started the bottom of the next inning. A season full of solid play was erased in two minutes). But I'm not going to blow my stack over a meeting where a bunch of guys tell me how bad me and my company are screwing them and how bad we suck.

Can we move on to happier notes - like me BURYING both a Pat's and a Gino's cheesesteak tonight? Yes, I took the challenge head on. So far, my stomach feels fine. Anyone who has been to Philly knows you gotta hit Pat's. It's 1000 times better than Gino's, but I felt like I had to make the statement tonight. Pat's was first - steak "wit" wiz. So good. Tender steak, warm, semi-hard bread. Loved every bite of it. As for Gino's. Their bread falls apart too easy. It was a tad on the soggy side, and the steak was tough. Plus, their neon lights are the WB. Pat's > Gino's all day.

Day 7 - Redux

Sorry for the delay. Crazy week and weekend. The family took the good ole' Taurus on a road trip to Chicago on Thursday. We stayed at chez' Graines in Bucktown, which is extremely kid-friendly. The only negative was their house is for sale and keeping everything clean for showings while you have three kids under three running around the house was no easy feat.

Lets back it up to Thursday. Andrew was money in the car. Barely made a peep and we only had to stop once. We made it in five and a half hours, essentially listening to Hi-5 and Music Together CD's for four and a half hours. We met Jaimo, Steve, and Ella at a park, Sara and Dave and Sara's sister Lindsay came as well. AD needed to run off some energy after a full day in the car. (SIDE NOTE - I am starting to reach my breaking point with kids music. I know I'm nowhere near close to getting off it either.) Our goal this weekend was to hit as many favorites food spots and see as many people as we could.

Thursday night we went early to The Athenian Room, the most solid Greek food you will ever eat. Leah and I were both jonesing their Kalamata Chicken. It was a beautiful night outside and we went with Jamie and Mira. Mira, who is 3, was an angel during dinner. Andrew on the other hand, was a terror. Didn't want to eat anything, didn't want to sit in his high chair. Leah and I took turns eating while the other walked AD around the block and watched him point out trees. Leah always says she just wished she could enjoy a meal again. This one, as good as the food was, was tough.

Getting Andrew to sleep this weekend was also a chore. The little man was out of his element, sleeping in a pack and play in the basement bedroom of Gregg's house. We tried him in the hallway outside of our room, but that wasn't going to work. We knew we'd probably be in for little sleep, but we didn't know just how little it would be. All three nights, he was exhausted, yet wouldn't go to sleep unless we held him in bed, and then transferred him to the pack and play. Thursday night - 2 AM, he stood up and cried until we'd pick him up. That turned into three nights of him sleeping in bed with us.

Friday I worked and Leah and AD were hanging with friends all day. He only slept 20 minutes in the car and wouldn't nap. Long day for Leah to say the least. Friday night we had a solid crew in place and went out in Wicker Park to The Boundary. For those of you who know the city, the Division/Damen area has really taken off with bars and restaurants. It was always good, now its even more legit. Anyways, for the first time ever, Dave was actually on time and I was late. Andrew flat out did not want to go to sleep. Clearly, his mother had to take control and got him asleep. Had good food, good food, solid conversation, and even better people watching. I sound like a broken record, but you really realize just how ugly the city of Cleveland is after you spend 10 minutes in the city of Chicago on a warm summer day. It was one hot girl after another in this place.

But I digress.

Teddy came up with the ultimate way to take shots of Jameson Whiskey. Its all about the diet coke chaser. Once it hits your throat after the whiskey, the burn is killed. Dave got me into Jameson a few years back. No clue why I like it so much, but its better than taking Jaegerbombs, the old go-to. Leah and I haven't gone out drinking in ages and it showed. She got pretty lit and went home about midnight. P, Dave, Gregg, Sara, and the great Sandy (the pride of Orangewood) walked up the street to a Inn Joy and Small Bar. P and I immediately loaded up the jukebox with old school hip hop - this was seriously the best jukebox I've been around since the old days of LS.

Gregg and I ended up walking back to his place and passing out about 2. When I got to my bedroom Leah and Andrew were cuddled in bed. The next thing I knew, I was being popped in the head by someone sitting up saying "da-da, da-da." It was 5:50 am. Andrew was ready to go. My head was pounding and my throat was dry. I turned to Leah and said "now I remember why I don't go out anymore." Thus began a long, drawn out, but extremely fun day.

Gregg and Rebecca had two showings on their house in the morning and we were at Starbucks by 8:30 feeding Andrew his breakfast. I could barely put a sentence together at this point. We all met Jaimo, Steve, and Ella at the park by their house and the kids played for a solid hour and a half. Dave and Sara live right there so they came up as well. Leah left for the afternoon and the boys and the kids headed for my graceland - Hot Doug's.

We figured if we go around 11-11:30, the line wouldn't be that bad. Well, it was. It was at least 100 people deep. If you hit the corner alley in line, its 45 minutes from there. We started just past it. Now we are waiting in line Me, Dave, Gregg, and three kids: Samantha (Gregg's 3 year old), Benjamin (his 15 month old bruiser who buried Andrew all weekend), and Andrew. Surprisingly, they kids were very good. Andrew was exhausted as he needed a nap badly, but his father was forcing him to stay up. By the time we got to the front, AD was in full melt-down mode. Then, he actually fell asleep while I was holding up him. When we go the food, he was out cold. I put him in a high chair and he slept, head conked back, for 30 minutes. Look at that photo! The long awaited fry eating contest between Benjamin and Andrew had to be postponed. (ANOTHER SIDE NOTE - Gregg is an amazing dad. No clue how he handles it all. Two kids running around and he was so calm. Plus he's got a third on the way. Unreal).

After the meal, Dave and I put Andrew in the car where he stayed asleep. I didn't want to wake him, so Dave let me take the car and cruise around with Andrew until he woke up. That was a good hour. So I enjoyed the city some more and tried to visit some more people so they could at least see him asleep in the car. We rolled around for a while, picked up Leah and visited Sheri's new pad, the hit the Lyons' place before coming back to feed and bathe Andrew at 6.

Again, it was tough to get him to sleep, but we had a reservation at Joe's at 9, so it gave us plenty of time. Joe's was amazing as always. It was as good as always. King Crab legs, tomato onion and bleu cheese salad, stone crabs, peanut butter pie. So good.

We were stuffed and tired. 3 AM Andrew wanted in. He rolled around and kicked us the rest of

the night until 6:20 when he woke up. We were lucky enough to have a solid brunch waiting for us at Jamie and Darren's. The whole Rosenstein crew are like family to us. It was great to see everyone and watch Andrew and Mira play together. All weekend, we were surrounded by great friends and great kids. As we drove home, we definitely realized we missed the city, but mostly because of our friends. But what a great city. I've said it before - there is no better place to be in the summer than Chicago. The weather was perfect all weekend, there was so much to do and we had such a full schedule, we didn't even get to see everyone we wanted to or make all of the stops we wanted to.

The good news is, we will for sure be back. Lastly, props to the Graines' for putting us up and Dave for letting me have his care Saturday to drive Andrew around during his nap.

One last piece of news to share - my good friend Jen gave birth to a son, Charlie, on Wednesday in San Francisco. He came out with a full head of dark hair and both Charlie and Jen are doing great. We can't wait to meet the little man!

Day 6 - Redux

One of the things I have longed dreamed about was taking my son to the ballpark and teaching him all about baseball. Like my father did for MD and me, I want baseball to be something we can share. Going to games was "our thing." There was nobody I'd rather be at the ballpark with then my dad and brother. I know Andrew is not even two years old yet, but I've been dying to take him to a game down at the Jake. Now I'm not talking nine innings here right off the bat. I'm figuring 3-4 innings at this age and we should be all good. And, as a wise friend once told me about having young kids, "its all about activities."

Leah and I are planning of taking Andrew to his first Indians game in on Saturday August 16th against the Angels. Its a 4 PM start, so perfect for his post-nap activity. I figure we go about 4:30, stay for as long as he lasts and come home. So I decided to give him a trial run.

When the Indians traded CC Sabathia to the Brewers, the key guy they got back was AA stud Matt Laporta. He was going to be playing in Akron for the Tribe's AA affiliate, the Aeros, which is about 40 minutes from here. My friend Jeremy and I decided we had to go see him play. So we settled on a Sunday afternoon game. He'd take his oldest daughter Stella who is 4, and I'd take Andrew. The games start there at 2. We went after Andrew woke up from his nap, around 2:40. We got there in the 4th inning.

Lets just say it was the perfect warm up. Amazingly, when we sat, Andrew sat on my lap quietly for two innings, burying Goldfish one by one. Stella is an amazing little girl. You can tell she is a big sister. She was so good with Andrew. Here is the rundown of how the activity went down:

1. The tickets were $10. Jer had a coupon, buy one, get one free. You can't beat that deal. Love minor league action.

2. Jer and I held Stella's hands while walking into beautiful Canal Park in the heart of downtown Akron.

3. Stella went to the bathroom while Andrew scoped out the stadium from my shoulders.

4. We sat for 2 innings, while Andrew scarfed a bag of goldfish and clapped every time the crowd did.

5. Stella enjoyed the ice cream sandwich race, a takeoff of the Sausage race in Milwaukee.

6. We got up to get Stella some ice cream and roamed out to right field, where nobody was sitting or standing because of the sun.

7. We hit the team shop, where Andrew and Stella tried on purple Aeros wigs. Stella
decided between the white rubber baseball and a stuffed Orbit doll. She got the ball.

8. Stella couldn't decide between Dippin Dots and real Ice Cream. I ended up getting her some rainbow ice cream and we watched Andrew run in the right field concourse. (SIDE NOTE - having they been calling Dippin Dots "Ice Cream of the future" for like 20 years? Still hasn't caught on. I don't get it either.)

9. Stella and Andrew played a pseudo game of tag in the right field concourse.

10. The four of us watched some dudes warm up in the pen from atop the bullpen.

11. We left.

Two things of note. Normally I never forget my camera and would not miss this opportunity, but for some reason, I did. I'm real pissed about it too, especially since Andrew was so good, as was Stella. Also, when we set this up, it was originally to get a glimpse of Laporta. That didn't happen. He left four days earlier to play in the US Olympic Baseball team.

Regardless, we had a great time and now Andrew is ready for some big league baseball. Lord knows his father subjects him to enough on television.

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Of to Chicago this weekend with the fam. I'm sure we will have good stories and photos. I know Saturday afternoon we are hitting Hot Doug's with Gregg and the kids. Andrew and Gregg's son Benjamin are set for the big Duck Fat Fry eating contest! May the best less-than-two year old win!

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Rafael Perez should finish out the year closing for the Tribe. He was lights-out tonight.

The rest of it....

Here is the rest of the show in segments. I fixed the ghetto production...

Day 5 - Redux

So my television hosting debut was a success, or at least that is what I think. Wednesday night, as you know, I guest-hosted More Sports and Les Levine. I had a plan going in with topics to discuss and everything flowed well. My guest, Paul Cousineau of The Diatribe, did a great job and had solid chemistry with me. I was a little nervous when it started, but got into a groove after the first segment.

I'll be honest, there is nothing I would rather do with my career than being on TV or writing about sports. I know, at age 32, it seems like a pipe dream, but my path is going to be to put myself out there as much as I can with my blogs and some potential other things when my website (todddery.com) launches. I will continue writing over at theclevelandfan.com and Dump David Dellucci, and today I got an email from the web editor for Cleveland Scene Magazine asking if I would like to do a weekly column for their re-launching website in the fall. He evidently liked my work on the blogs.

So back to the TV show. I want to put this up so everyone outside of C-town can see it. In the past, the production company put the show right up on youtube in segments. They wouldn't for me for some reason, so I had to take matters into my own hands. They gave me a DVD copy to work with, but it was all in one giant file that was too big for youtube. I'm somewhat computer savvy, but most of it is me asking my boy Teddy how to do something and he sends me in the right direction.

So I had to "rip" the DVD and save it online, and move it into a Windows Movie Maker file. Then break in into segments. Those segments have to be uploaded to youtube. Somewhere along the line, the video and audio didn't mix perfectly. It's a little off, but definitely watchable.

So for your viewing pleasure, here are the first three segments:

Segment 1 - fast forward about 45 seconds.

Day 4 - Redux

ALERT! Your old buddy TD is making his television hosting debut Wednesday night as the guest host of local Cleveland Sports talk show "More Sports and Les Levine." I've been on the show before as a guest "sports professional," the title my father used to hold, but this is my first shot at hosting. As my guest, I will be having on fellow Tribe blogger Paul Cousineau of The Diatribe. I met Paul in person last night at the Tribe game to discuss our plan. He couldn't be a nicer guy. Its funny because I've been reading his stuff online for so long and I think he is a brilliant, well thought out writer, then meeting him, he was just like me. A regular guy, probably my age, a big Tribe fan who blogs as a hobby.

It should be a lot of fun. I mean, how could it not be? An hour of me talking Cleveland Sports? For those of you who don't get Time Warner Cleveland channel 23 (which is most of the people who read this), I've been assured it will be up on youtube within a day or two. Once it is up, I will put the embedded screen on this site, as well as our Tribe blog Dump David Dellucci, which was renamed on Saturday, thanks to Casey Blake being dealt to the Dodgers.

SIDE NOTE: If you know me, you know I despised "Fake" for the last five years. I caught a lot of flak from commenters for my proclamation in this piece that the day Casey was dealt was the #3 greatest moment of my life, just behind the birth of Andrew and KU's national title. Said in jest obviously.

In the meantime, the show is on at 6 PM, replayed at 11 PM. I wish my pops were around to see it.

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Celeb question: Who the hell is this Shia Labeouf and why the hell and I supposed to care about him and his problems? Seriously, dude crashes his car and it makes major headlines. I checked out his IMDB page, his biggest role to date was in Transformers, which seemingly got him the role in the new Indiana Jones, which had to be terrible. Oh, but he may be battling an alcohol problem.... To quote John Bender: B-O-O H-O-O.

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Brett Favre, please, I beg you, go away! We are rapidly entering Elian Gonzalez territory.

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Watched another episode of Locked Up Abroad on National Geographic. That is one intense hour of TV. This time, an American couple, missionaries who were on an anniversary trip at a Philippines resort, were taken from their rooms by the Abu Sayef, a militant Phillipino terrorist group, and held hostage in the jungle for more than a year. The husband was killed during the rescue, while the wife survived. You have got to Tivo this show.

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Going to bed now....peace

An Ode to O'Hare...Kinda

It's a friggin miracle.... I actually flew back from Chicago today via O'Hare and made it home on time! Why is this so miraculous to me? Lets take a step back for a second and set the scene.

I've been flying in and out of Chicago for work now for two years pretty much twice/three times a month. I always have flown Continental to Midway and it was a breeze. Rarely was I delayed and Midway is located three minutes from my office and 10 from my client. Then one day in May, I see in the paper that Continental is discontinuing its service to Midway May 31st, so after that it's either O'Hare for me, or going back to Southwest, which if you were a past reader of this blog, you know I will never do. (For the story, click here.) So since June 1, I have been flying in and out of O'Hare. The first four times I have flown through O'Hare I was two hours late, cancelled and held over until Saturday, three hours late, and two hours late. Talk about the weak beav. O'Hare is a friggin nightmare. Check out the differences in the two for me:

Midway
1. 90% ontime
2. Continental gate is literally in front of the airport
3. The rental cars are in an attached garage a short three minute walk from the gate.
4. Midway is right by my office and my clients office, allowing me more time to stay at either place on Fridays.
5. There are probably 50% less people at Midway, meaning shorter security lines.

O'Hare
1. Up until today, I have yet to make it home any earlier than an hour late
2. The gate is in terminal two all the way at the end of the concourse
3. To get to my rental car, I have to wait for a shuttle, which then goes through terminal three, and terminal five, before getting to the rental car place.
4. O'Hare is 3o minutes away from my client with no traffic and 45 from my office.

I forgot to mention that I got there on time today, yet sat on the runway for 45 minutes because our gate was being used by another plane. So essentially when you are on time, its actually a bad thing.

Others have told me the answer is easy. Drop the anti-Southwest routine and get back to Midway, but if I do that, I lose my Continental status and miles, and other than Chicago, Southwest isn't flying anywhere direct from here anymore. I've got no choice but to suck it up and deal.

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Meanwhile, there is no better summer city than Chicago. We cannot wait to go there in a few weeks. Today, I took my clients to the most underrated place in the city, Hot Doug's. We buried four different kinds of Sausages and three orders of Duck Fat Fries. Here's what we ate:

Über Garlic Pork Sausage with Roasted Garlic Dijonnaise and Widmer Brick Cheese

Saucisson Alsacienne: Bacon Sausage with Crème Fraîche, Caramelized Onions and Comté Cheese

Merguez Lamb Sausage with Chili-Garlic Mayonnaise and Feta Cheese

Bell Pepper and Mozzarella Chicken Sausage with Pizza Sauce, Sauteed Peppers & Onions and Fresh Mozzarella Cheese.

How good? I'll be taking Andrew there two weeks from tomorrow and getting a photo of him with the great Doug Sohn himself.

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Can't wait for some live Tribe ball tomorrow night. Haven't been to a game in almost a month. The good news is I'll be going to three games in the next six days.

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Brett Favre - please go away...more on that later.

Day 3 - Redux

Now I would normally never bother to even mention, let alone discuss, the abomination called the WNBA, but they have finally done something newsworthy! In case you didn't hear, at the end of the Los Angeles Sparks/Detroit Shock game on Tuesday night, Sparks Forward Candace Parker got tangled with Detroit's Plenette Pierson and a melee ensued. Here is the video:



That video is comical in a way, but you have to feel sorry the most for two people. The first one, you wouldn't think to fell sorry for, but I do. That would be Rick Mahorn. The Shock assistant was clearly coming in as a peace-maker and got caught up trying to separate Sparks Center Lisa Leslie. She ended up going down and int he postgame press conference, she cried, saying she couldn't believe Mahorn would push her like that. Mechelle Volpel wrote in her ESPN.com piece:

Then there was the further absurdity of Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn's knocking over the Sparks' Lisa Leslie. Mahorn, Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer and even L.A. coach Michael Cooper said after the game that Mahorn was trying to restore order -- but it didn't turn out so well.

No, it didn't. Why wasn't Mahorn -- it probably goes without saying that he is a very intimidating figure physically -- focused on restraining one of his own players? He simply had no business whatsoever laying hands on an opposing player.

Mahorn is now seen is the guy who pushed the woman to the floor, which couldn't be further from the truth. Sure, people saying Ricky is a little off from time to time, but my brother swears by him. He has spoken to him and says he is extremely broken up by the whole situation. Lets see what happens over the course of the next few days.

Then we come to the real victim if this "brawl," Shock star Cheryl Ford. Up until yesterday, Ford was best known as the daughter of Karl Malone. Now she will forever be known as the WNBA player who tried to hold back her teammate and tore her ACL in the process. That's right, Ford is now out for the year. It's very sad for her as she was just trying to calm her crazed teammate down.

Why do I care about this? I don't. I figured it was a better topic to discuss today than Eric Wedge's moronic decision to intentionally walk the bases loaded in the 5th inning, up 6-5, to bring in a new pitcher (Tom Mastny) who hasn't pitched in nine days and expected him to be sharp. A walk, followed by a first pitch grand slam from Jeff Mathis ended their chances of winning.

Day 2 - Redux

Summer Television is brutal. There is literally nothing on but garbage reality shows and Tribe ball. This has been a tough couple of weeks especially with the Tribe off for the all star break and then heading West for nothing but 10:00 PM start times, which obviously I can't hang for more than four innings tops these days.

At least Big Brother started last week. That's a three night-a-weeker for us. I refuse to watch any show in real time anymore as Tivo has ruined me for good. I am trying to watch random shows while on the treadmill. I gave Generation Kill (HBO) a shot the other day. It was average at best. Thanks to my boy Teddy, I did find a gem on the National Geographic Channel called Locked Up Abroad where it shows true stories of people in foreign countries who on their travels end up in jail for one reason or another. It's like that bad movie with Vince Vaughn and Joaquin "hairlip" Phoenix where Phoenix gets thrown in a Thailand jail for drug possession.

Other than that, we've given the Greatest American Dog on CBS a watch, but are one episode behind. It was pretty solid.

------

A couple of weeks ago during one of Andrew's naps, I watched Revenge of the Nerds start to finish for the first time in probably 15 years. It was just as good as it ever was. Talk about an absolute classic. So many phenomenal scenes. You decipher for me which is the best. Here are my top four:

1. the Lambdas party trying to impress UN Jefferson.
-"So I say I gotta be freeeee. So I say I gotta be meeeee."
-The Omega Moo's arriving - "I could call my sisters, they're really spontaneous people." "not the moo's, they're a bunch of pigs."
-Wonderjoints - "you Moo's sure can party."
-"We thought you could use some more pigs for your party, nerds."

2. The Homecoming Carnival
-Lamar winning the javelin toss with his "aero-dynamic javelin" and "limp-wristed throwing style."
-Takashi winning the tricycle race
-"Eat a PI for Charity." Oger eating the pie "It's good....thisiswhy!"

3. The Coach Screaming at the Alpha Betas after losing the Carnival
-"when you were a baby in your crib, and your father looked down upon you. He had but one hope, that one day, my son would become a man. Well look at you now. You guys just got your asses WHIPPED, by a bunch of goddamn nerds. NERDS! Well if I was you I'd do something about it. I would get up and REDEEM myself. In the eyes of my father, my maker, and my COACH."

4. Trying to get into any fraternity they can and subsequent meeting with Lambda, Lambda, Lamdba President, U.N. Jefferson.
-"We went over your application, and it's not even close. Next time we recommend you don't include a group photo."
"Did we send a photo to everyone?"
"All except....Lambda, Lambda, Lambda."
"Here's one who will see us!"
"LAMBDA, LAMBDA, LAMBDA?"
"The're gonna love us."
-------

The Tribe has won seven of eight now that the pressure is seemingly off. Big shocker. Even better news, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.com, both the Rays and the Mets are after my least favorite Tribe player of all time Casey Blake.

I'm Back

It's been a year, but I think I'm back. Temporarily, we will be here commenting on daily life. But we will be moving to our new home, todddery.com, hopefully soon. We've got our "crack staff," (aka the staff on crack) building the site. I tried to do it myself, and it's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

Since we've been gone, a lot has changed. Andrew is now running around, babbling up a storm and loves to shoot hoops in the pool.



80% of the people tell us he looks exactly like Leah. The other 20% say me. I don't think he looks anything like me, but its all good. I know I am biased, but the kid is the cutest kid I've ever seen. Not to mention the fact that he really is a good kid. He has a great temperament and loves to laugh and smile. Could he be a better eater? Of course, I mean, my man refuses to eat anything healthy - especially fruits and vegetables. One day he'll eat an entire piece of grilled chicken, then the next time around he won't eat one bite. He'll figure it out one day soon....I hope.

The economy is in the tank. Gas it almost $4 a gallon here in C-Town. The Indians have gone from a team on the brink of the World Series to a team in such disarray, they rank at the bottom of the league, which you know kills me. I have, however, chilled way the F down when it comes to my teams, thanks to one man, and one shot. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, Mario Chalmers and the end of my misery.



I wrote about that night and the subsequent money off my back at length on my now closed-down sports blog My Teams Are Cursed. I'd probably still be whining over there, but once my first championship had become a reality (no I didn't dream it), my teams were no longer "cursed," and it was time to move on.

I took some time off, and while the Tribe was melting down, MD told me that last year we turned it around when I started blogging again, so I told him the only way I'd come back was if he shared it with me. That is when Dump Casey Blake started. It's 100% Tribe-centric and basically is my brother and me ripping and praising (but mostly ripping) our boys in red, White, and Blue.

My job situation is the same. Still working for the same large corporation and things have definitely changed. The truth is, you don't realize just how good you have it when you are working for a family-owned, small company. It truly felt like a family over there, but when we were purchased, it all changed. I'm just glad to have a job these days honestly. Do I want to be slinging cups, plates, and to-go containers the rest of my life? Negative. But that is what is putting food on the table and a roof over our heads these days.

Writing has become a passion of mine. If I could turn this into a book, a collection of short stories, blogging as a sports writer, anything, and I could get paid for it? I'd be in in a heartbeat. But that isn't reality. So for now, I'll just stick with this as a hobby and go from there.

We will see how often I can get to this, but I'm glad to be back blogging. I hope you all are too.

Day 251

Here's the deal. I am taking a break from the blog. Maybe a few weeks, maybe a month, maybe longer. I don't know. All I know is that Its been almost two years of this. I enjoy sharing my experiences and opinions with all of you and I receive feedback from all over. Sometimes I didn't realize how far this blog had reached. I always said to myself that I would take a break when this became more of a chore than fun, and that is how it has gotten. No doubt, I do want to keep everyone up on what's going on with Andrew (as of last week he is now 16.5 lbs), my opinions on how ridiculous our President is (this commuting of Scooter Libby's jail sentence is an absolute joke and a ridiculous abuse of power), what TV shows to watch (Big Brother is back, Big Love is still great, Entourage is getting better, and watch out for Scott Baio is 45 and Single on VH-1), and my eating or lack their of (yes - the starvation diet has begun again and i've got Leah on it as well). I will be back from time to time when the mood strikes me, but the days of a daily, 2 times a week, and then weekly entry are pretty much over. Thanks so much for all of your support. If you wanna know what's up on a regular basis, email me....

oh oh oh bye now....

Song of the Day: "The End" by The Doors

Sorry Again for the delay.....Give me one more day...Blog will be up Tuesday

Day 250

Travel Stories: This blog entry comes from 30,000 feet above. I’m on way to see my family in Arizona. I figured it out the other day; this is the longest Leah and I have been apart since early 1999. Obviously, I haven’t been away from Andrew for this long either. I have been jonesing for him. For Hanukah, we bought web cams for Scott and Lauren, Jessica and Justin, and my in laws so that they could see Andrew from their homes in Arizona and New York. MD already has one for his kids. So while Leah has been in Arizona, we did it a couple of times. Is it possible for a boy to get cuter because he is on my computer screen a couple thousand miles away? So I’m en route to see them. Getting here has been quite an interesting experience. Get ready for a lot of TD minutiae.

My original plan was to fly out after the 12:05 Tribe/A’s game today (4:05 flight through St. Louis. The weather in the Midwest has been bad over the last two days and I had only a 25 minute connection window in St. Louis. Had I been late, I’d be stuck in St. Louis for 4 hours before the next flight to Phoenix. A change had to be made. There is only one non-stop flight on Southwest from Cleveland to Phoenix per day; it’s at 8:40 am. When Leah first got out there, I think not having me around for an extended period of time and with her dad in LA, her grandparents visiting, two puppies running around, and her mom dealing with all of that, it was more than she bargained. Not exactly a stress-free vacation with Andrew slowing adjusting to a time zone three hours different than he is used to. So I decided to skip the tribe game and get on the direct flight at 8:40, where I saw there were seats still available. When I went to change my free ticket, Southwest told me that they had exceeded the amount of “Rapid Rewards” seats on the flight so I couldn’t make the switch. I begged them to make an exception and they wanted no part of it. So my wheels began to turn. I figured out I could get to Chicago direct on one free segment Wednesday night on an 8:25 flight, getting to Chicago at the same time. The next morning I could get on a direct flight from Chicago to Phoenix at 8:30 getting to Phoenix at 10:15 local time, giving me essentially an extra full day out there. So that’s what I did. The plan seemed good in theory. The only negative was that I had to use a third free segment ticket to get this done, but with the amount I fly to Chicago on Southwest, its no big deal; I earn free tickets all the time. I get to the airport at 7:15 last night and my flight is now scheduled for 10:15 and the 6:50 flight is scheduled for 8:30. I waited in a long line for a good 30 minutes to get on the waiting list for that flight standby. As it turned out, a girl I knew from high school (Julie G) was on my flight as well and higher on the list. When her name was called, she told them we were traveling together and I ended up on this flight. As we got on the plane, I ended up having to check my bag, which I knew was bad news at Midway since the baggage claim area is always a zoo. But I was on the plane. Just as we were about to take off, a crazy electrical storm hit and we were held at the gate. About 9:00, they moved us to the runway. There we sat for another hour. We finally took off at 10:10. I then waited for my bag for about 35 minutes. I stayed over at Ags’ place – I didn’t get there until 11:45, and I was getting picked up by a cab at 6:15. Solid. (Props to Ags for staying awake and having to deal with my bullshit). But it’s all working out because I’m on my way…..FYI – I didn’t eat anything from lunch with my grandmother yesterday until these Lorna Doone cookies I am currently burying on the plane.

Out Like Southwest? I have been a very loyal Southwest flyer for a good seven years. Three years in a row while living in Chicago, I earned a companion pass, which is their most elite status. I have flown back and forth to Chicago every other week for a year since I moved back to Cleveland. I have never really had any issues with them out of the ordinary. But their latest treatment of this loyal customer has me with one foot out the door. Leah and I are supposed to come back the 4th, but wanted to extend it a day. So I called Southwest to see if we could move our tickets to the same flight the next day. I was told there were plenty of seats on the flight, but only one Rapid Rewards seat was available. I said “how about doing me a favor here, there are two of us and a baby. I’ll even buy an infant fair for him if you can get us on this flight.” The woman flat out wouldn’t budge. So I called back and figured I’d give it a shot with a different customer service rep, I received the same rap. No way could they do this. So I asked for a supervisor. They gave me the main number for Rapid Rewards reservations. I called it. I was put in touch with a nice lady, I explained to her my situation; I told her to look at my Rapid Rewards history to see what a loyal customer I have been and if there was any way she could make this happen, I would really appreciate it. After being on hold for a while, she came back with the same lame answer – the flight only has one Rewards seat available. Did she not just listen to what I said? Now I am starting to steam. I said “I have spent thousands of dollars with this company and this is the thanks I get?” I was dumbfounded. I asked for her supervisor. She said “I’ll have one call you back in a few minutes.” I gave her my number. Sure enough, two hours go by and I get no call back. So I made another call. Got a different guy. I said I had been waiting for a call back from a supervisor and never received one. He said his notes said they made an attempt and left a message. I was home the whole time and the phone never rang. I asked what number they used; he gave me some random 480 area code number. I said “that’s funny, I’m in Ohio and that’s a Phoenix area code.” I asked for the supervisor’s name and he gave it to me. He then said he was going to check with accounting to see if he could make this work. 10 minutes later he came back saying “accounting is very confident they will sell these seats, so they won’t help you out.” What a joke! He said he’d have the supervisor call me back in the morning – he was gone for the day. So first thing yesterday morning I called and asked for him specifically. They told me he was on another call and would call me back. I said He has to call me back within the hour. Of course no call back. I tried again two hours later and again he was “another call.” Long story long, unless they move us onto this flight on the 5th by the end of the day tomorrow and I get the answer I will be pulling all of my business from Southwest and going Continental exclusively. I’ve taken everyone’s names down and I am writing a letter to them – Mark P style! On top of that, there was a story in today’s USA Today Money section about Southwest making changes. One of which is cutting 39 daily non-stops – one of which is Cleveland to Phoenix. The one we use to visit my in-laws. I told you – get ready for a lot of TD minutiae!

Nice World We Live In: There are three stories I need to touch on that are just awful. First, living in Cleveland, we received extensive coverage of the disappearance and eventual murder of Jesse Davis. The crime went on in Canton, 45 minutes south of C-Town. It just defies logic that someone would kill a nine-month pregnant woman, the mother of his unborn child. The man charged with double murder, Bobby Cutts Jr. is a Canton Police officer. That makes it even worse. After Davis first disappeared, Cutts was a front page story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer titled “Who is Bobby Cutts jr.?” The article touched on his past as a police officer and the fact that he seemed to be visibly shaken by Davis’ disappearance and was taking part in the search. This was the biggest sham since O.J. declared that he would be “searching for the real killer.” Hey Orenthal – the real killer isn’t on golf courses or in Miami, he’s in the mirror. In the meantime, Davis left behind a two year old son who is believed to also have been fathered by Cutts Jr. The kid was found in Davis’ house crying and screaming about his mother being taking. Does this kid have any chance of a normal life? Easy answer – negative. What is wrong with people? Cutts and Scott Peterson can have fun rotting in jail the rest of their lives. This is why I am all for the death penalty. These two committed murders on their pregnant wife or girlfriend, yet they are allowed to live in jail? They should be castrated, and then fried to death.

Now we move to the crazy story that is the Chris Benoit murder/suicide. The WWE wrestler was found dead hanging from a weight machine in his house. His wife and seven year old son were also found choked to death, with bibles lying next to their bodies. According to reports, Benoit first choked his wife to death, than potentially waited another day before dealing his son the same fate before hanging himself. Everyone knows that many WWE wrestlers are on steroids. There is no doubt Chris Benoit snapped in a ‘roid rage. Normal, sane, right in their mind type of person, argues with their wife, strangles her to death, the crushes his son’s throat with a choke hold, and then kills himself. The disturbing trend is that over 45 former WWE wrestlers have died under the age of 40. Steroids have been linked to a lot of them. As a father, how any parent could ever kill their child is flat out mind-blowing to me. I’m not kidding, I have become nauseous writing about this story. The WWE has vowed not to mention Chris Benoit’s name or story ever again. I am taking their lead in this blog.

Lastly – woo hoo! Paris Hilton is free! So the heiress, famous for being famous is out of jail after her 40 day or so ordeal. Nothing better than seeing the hundred or so losers waiting outside the jail to see her emerge so they could yell for her. “We love you Paris!” You know you are a serious P-Rod if you are standing outside a jailhouse waiting for Paris Hilton to be freed. Her first order of business was being interviewed by Larry King. Now I didn’t see the interview, but I’m sure she gave the predictable “I’m a changed person” routine. Now that she is free, she will try to be a better person I’m sure. It will last two weeks before she turns back into America’s favorite party-girl. I’m still partial to Lindsay Lohan. The more times I read she is out until 5 am doing coke and getting loaded, the hotter she gets to me for some reason.

Family: I’ve talked about it at length, but I really have a great family. This past Monday, I went to the Tribe/A’s game with cousin Billy. Bill spent his formative years in the bay area and is an A’s fan. So every year I make sure I get him tickets to see the A’s at the Jake. Not that I didn’t think this before, but after the game, I left thinking to myself – “that is one rock-solid guy.” Seriously, there may be no more solid guy in my family than Bill. The funny thing is, when Bill was first brought into our family by my cousin Susie, MD and I were a little icy to him. It wasn’t anything he did – he just wasn’t Ags. For those who didn’t know, Ags dated Susie on and off for eight years or so. He basically was around my family as much as anyone could be and we became great friends. Susie and Ags split in the fall of 95 for good, but our friendship has remained. To this day, he is one of my best friends. But the more I got to know Billy, the more I realized that he and Suz were perfect for each other. Now that Ags and I are so close, I still don’t know how he and Suz lasted so long. They couldn’t be more different. Regardless, everyone is better off. I love that Billy is a member of our family (has been for 11 years now). I’ll say this, cousin Steve couldn’t have gotten more legit brother in laws than Bill and Steve J. Back to the Tribe, Bill’s boys were derailed by the C.C. express and the Tribe came away with a 5-2 win, moving my record to a stellar 10-1. Bill has a standing invitation to Tribe games with me regardless who they play. As I said before, there is nobody more solid in my family.

Tuesday Night, Uncle Kenny and I met for dinner at the bar at Hyde Park. We were supposed to battle on the tennis court beforehand, but it was 95 degrees with 100% humidity and to quote my uncle “what are you, trying to kill me?” The original plan was to grab a burger at the bar and catch up. It turned into several glasses of wine, scotch, and steaks. You start to drink that wine, and the steaks just call you. I told him, I am following your lead – if you order a burger, I’m ordering a burger. He went for a filet, so I followed. Again, it was so great hanging with him. As always, with KD, you start a conversation, it becomes very long and engrossing and you get off topic several times before getting back to the original point. For example, I asked him how he became the one who had to make the phone call to tell me that dad had passed away. 45 minutes later I was still waiting for my answer. It was vintage KD. Seriously, as different as he and my father were, everytime I see him or talk to him, I feel like a part of my dad is there. Close your eyes when talking to him and it sounds like dad. Regardless, I had an absolute blast with him as always. We shared some laughs and some seriousness, watched the Tribe game (I was home in plenty of time to see the Tribe’s 5 run ninth to win 8-5 on Kelly Shoppach’s three run HR – best backup catcher in baseball), and ran the gambit of topics. He is such a good man. I’m very lucky to have him around. The next day I had lunch with my Grandmother. She was great. She is still sharp as a tack at age 93. Not many people still have a grandparent who is so with it when they are 31 years old, and I’m the 8th of 10 grandchildren. Her oldest great-grandchild just graduated from high school a few weeks ago. Crazy.

Sorry for the length of this entry, but I had a lot to tell you all. I guarantee my next post will be telling you how different Andrew looked to me and how hot it is in Arizona….oh oh oh bye now.

Song of the Day: JFK to LAX by Gangstarr

Sorry for the delay....this week's post will go up later on Thursday....

Day 249

Bittersweet Day: Sunday was my first father's day as a father. As you can understand, father's day is not something that I circle on my calendar every year. But this year was obviously different. Now that I have Andrew, this day that has been horrible for me the past two years turned better. When I woke up Sunday morning, the first thing I did was walk to Andrew's room and take a look at him in his crib. Instantly, it made everything better. Just to look at him laying peacefully asleep was the highlight of my day. Andrew and Casey got me a bottle of my favorite wine, Jordan Cabernet, and Leah got me a Lacoste shirt. We spent part of the day attending the baby naming of Andrew's girlfriend Ella Schneider at Fairmount Temple. Because it was Ella's day, Andrew was good enough to sleep through the whole ceremony and subsequent brunch. How solid is that? Much props out the Fairmount Temple caterers - the food was the whup. Much better than the food at our baby naming. The kugel was legit. We sat with our friends The Frankel's and their five year old son Jacob. I cannot wait for Andrew to be that age. Matt is big on programming Jacob to say things that are hilarious and he just says them and giggles. As they drove past us on the way out Jacob yelled out the window to me "You look like Daniel "Boobie" Gibson." It was so cute.

From there we stopped at Leah's grandparents so they could see Andrew. He was ready to get out of his car seat at that point and was happy just chillin on a blanket on the ground kicking away. Leah and her mom went back to the house and Andrew and I had a stop to make. I have yet to take Andrew to the cemetery to see my father and in fact, I haven't been in quite a while. I have been waiting to go on father's day to take Andrew. He cried the whole time from Leah's grandparents until we pulled into the cemetery. The second we pulled in, he fell asleep. It was odd. So we parked and I took Andrew in his car seat and walked over to my father's grave. I brought 409 and towels to clean off his stone, as well as my grandfather, and my mom's parents. I have my usual routine when I go - I see my dad first, then go over to my grandparents on my mom's side, then my grandfather, and I have now added my neighbors Peggy and Cliff's daughter Lindsay who died 9 years ago of sepsis. I put down Andrew right on top of the ground where my father is, facing his gravestone. I cleaned off the stone and stood with my thoughts. I wanted Andrew to feel the energy and love of his grandfather. Any sort of vibes he could get. I am not one who talks out loud and speaks to the ground, but for the first time, I did. I just said "Daddy, this is your grandson." I did the same at all of my grandparents graves as well. MD asked me how it went at the cemetery and I told him "its just great introducing my son to his grandfather who is in the ground." No matter how far removed I get, I can never get over the fact that he is gone and missing out on this. My kids will never know my father and that just kills me.

Going to the cemetery always makes the rest of my day pretty gloomy, but I had a nice rest of my day. I took a little nap in the basement while watching some Golf and them my mother and grandmother came over for dinner. Leah and her mom (came in town Thursday) cooked me a master feast of my favorites; Flank Steak, Hash Brown Casserole, wine, and a mint chocolate chip ice cream pie for dessert. It was great. I put Andrew down to bed, took a bath, watched Entourage, and went to bed. All things considered, it was a pretty good day. I toasted to new beginnings with Andrew and never forgetting my father; the circle of life.

Bobby D: You all know how much I revere my father. In honor of Father's day, I figured I should give you one of my favorite stories about my father. There was no more unselfish man then pops. He always put MD, Mom, and me first. Every year Dad used to take MD and I to Spring Training games in Palm Beach where the Braves and Expos trained. One year, we went to a Braves night game against the Mets. Like most little kids do, MD and I wanted food during the game. Of course we asked a bunch of times. So during the 6th inning or so, we badgered him again. He said "lets wait until after the Mets bat." MD and I of course couldn't''t wait, so he went anyways. He returned with popcorn, drinks, and hot dogs about 10 minutes later. That was the good news. The bad news was that the Mets hit back to back to back home runs. All he could do was shake his head and laugh. Classic.

Oh Oh Oh Bye Now: This morning Leah, Andrew, and Stacey left for Arizona. Leah had planned this months ago so she could spend extra time there as I have to stay behind and work. This is Andrew's first plane flight. Yes, I am not on the flight, but Stacey is, so Leah has help. I dropped them off at the airport this morning and Leah called after she got through security with no issues. I am anxiously awaiting to hear how the flight went. I got up with Andrew at 4 AM and fed him, I couldn't really fall back asleep and Leah was up at 6, as was Andrew. It was definitely sad saying goodbye to them - I felt like Andrew was going off to camp, but I won't lie, I am very much looking forward to uninterrupted sleep for nine days and attending three Tribe games. Its just me and the Casey dog. I will be joining them on the 28th and looking forward to it (I need to work on my tan).

Reliving the Sickness: I had to go to Florida for a conference for my biggest client from Thursday/Saturday. Randomly, the Tribe was playing the Marlins in Miami Thursday night so clearly I had to be there. There was a little trepidation on my part going to that piece of crap Dolphins Stadium. 10 years ago, the Indians were two out away from winning the World Series and getting me my first ring. Well, we all know what happened, Mesa shakes off Alomar, blows the games, Edgar Renteria in extra innings wins it for the Marlins who win their first title, a mear 5 years after they began play. Of course in typical TD luck, the game I go to is the night they were honoring the 97 Marlins. They brought back all the old players. They showed highlights of game seven on the jumbotron. They handed out replica 97 World Series rings as you walked into the stadium. The Marlisn wore the 97 uniforms they wore duing game seven, and the Indians were in their Blue jerseys as they were that fateful night 10 years ago. I bought a $16 upper deck seat behind home plate. As I sat there watching all of this, all of the awful memories of that series came rushing back. I couldn't look at the jumbotron. The whole thing just sickened me. I called Ags. I called MD. I called Jeremy. I called Fritzer. I had to share this with the others. Jeremy was actually at game seven and for years has been telling me how horrible the experience was. While I cannot even begin to imagine how bad it was for him, it is a little clearer now. You should see this stadium. Its a piece of crap football stadium in the middle of nowhere. There is one parking lot and nothing around it. The Marlins have NO FANS. The ones that were there didn't care. yet they have two championships? Its a sick joke to real long-suffering fans like me. The silver lining was Jason Stanford came up for AAA Buffalo and pitched a gem. Victor Martinez homered off of Dontrell Willis and the Tribe held on for a 3-2 win and exacted a tiny bit of revenge. Its still not good enough, but for one night, it was sweet.

The conference went well. My Florida rep Bonnie won Vendor of the Year for her distribution center for the third consecutive year. My guy George has been on the Atlanta DC for three years. Last year, I got nothing but negative feedback about his work ethic and he was officially on the hot seat. His numbers still aren't great, but he has worked his ass off. To my surprise, he too won vendor of the year for the Atlanta DC. I was stunned and so happy for him. He is really a good dude. I shot my boss and email telling him the good news and later in the day, he fired me back the following: The real credit goes to you and don't think I don't know it. Pat yourself on the back my friend. I believe winning them all is something that has never been done before and you are the guy driving the bus! It was really big for me, especially with the new company taking over. My boss is still in place and hopefully I can now be used in a big role to integrate the Pactiv line into the Prairie line with all of my key accounts. When I got hoime Saturday, I got a treat as my boy Doug was in briefly from Atlanta and he got to briefly chill with his daughter Natalie. Jeremy and Amy and the girls came over as well before we went to Red Robin with the kids for an early dinner. We got some solid photos, one is above.

Down and Out: So the Cavaliers were swept by the Spurs. I say who cares. At the beginning of the season, if you would have told me that the Cavs would have made it to the Finals and lost, I'd have taken that in a heartbeat. This series showed more than anything how flawed this roster is and how much GM Danny Ferry has to do to improve the team in the offseason. We need a point guard badly. We need more shooters badly, and we need Lebron to rest. But I am not bummed out at all. Well, maybe a little - I was offered a ticket to Game 5 Sunday night; a game that never ended up happening. The sweep also cost the city of Cleveland. It has been reported that each Finals game made the cith of Cleveland $4.5 million dollars in revenue. Our city can always use more money pumped into the economy. Bottom line is that with Lebron, anything is possible and we could be seeing more NBA Finals appearances in the near future with the weakness of the Eastern Conference.

A True American: Love him or hate him. Call him what you want. But I call filmmaker Michael Moore a true American. One of the most controversial figures in the country, Moore's movies definitely move the needle. I loved Fahrenheit 9/11. Bowling for Columbine was extremely thought provoking about this country's gun laws, and now Moore is going after the healthcare industry in his new movie, Sicko. Sicko is a documentary scheduled for release on June 29th. It investigates the American health care system with a focus on the behavior of large health insurance companies and contrasts the U.S. system with those of other countries with universal health care coverage. I am very anxious to see this film. I still have yet to see An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary on Global Warming done by Al Gore and will be renting it soon. There is definitely a place for movies like this, as this is for movies like Oceans 13 and Knocked Up (which everyone keeps telling me is great). I am very interested in seeing the Right-Wing spin that is put onto his movie. Moore says at the beginning of the movie, he states, this is not a Democratic issue. This is not a Republican issue. This is an issue for all Americans. It is getting great reviews. I wish I could say I'll be seeing this right when it comes out, but the days of us going to movies have pretty much ceased. Hopefully we can see one or two when we are in Arizona. We haven't been to the movies since Andrew was born. I am a Michael Moore supporter, even though many say he skews the facts. That may indeed be true, but he is out to make the American public think. You gotta at least respect that.

Song of the Day: "Dancin in the Moonlight" by King Harvest

Day 248

Genius or Weak?: I've gotta start with the Sopranos finale. There had been a ton of speculation about how the show's eight season run would end. My prediction was way off - either Meadow or A.J. would get clipped right in front of Tony and he'd end up in jail. So you have all heard by now, the show came to an end with an edge of your seat scene with Tony waiting for his family at a diner and they come in one by one. Just as Meadow enters, the screen goes black. At the time it left me very hollow. I thought it was so weak at the time. It left us feeling hollow, but this is the genius of David Chase. He says screw the Hollywood ending and he will end the show how he wants. He left everyone talking too. With the screen going to black, what does that mean? Was it foreshadowing in the first episode when Tony and Bobby were fishing and Bobby asked Tony how he thought it all ended. Tony's answer? "It all goes to black." The last scene was powerful, yet unsatisfying. I was so nervous every time someone else entered the diner. You were just waiting for someone to walk though that door and pop Tony right in front of his family. And what was it with Meadow and her parallel parking? The more I am removed from it, the more I liked it. I watched the last 10-15 minutes again last night, it gave me more of an appreciation for the way Chase did things. He laid low during the last few months, but gave one interview Monday. Click here to read it. A major negative for me was the song playing during that last scene. "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. Those close to me know there is nothing I hate more than the sound of Steve Perry's voice. Its like fingernails across a chalkboard. And of all the Journey songs, that one rates as my most hated. Regardless, it is the end of an era for one of the greatest TV shows of all time. To me, in the Pantheon of classic shows, you have a Mount Rushmore of Dallas, Seinfeld, and The Sopranos. Then from a character standpoint, you have J.R. Ewing, Tony Soprano, and Archie Bunker as the three most infamous. All three were loathe-able and lovable at the same time. The thing about Tony Soprano is that he was a murderer, addicted gambler, cheated on his wife at will, and yet we all rooted for him. That is what you call brilliant writing. We are all used to life without the show, because they would always take crazy long hiatus' in between seasons, but it will definitely be missed. We now move on to "Big Love" on HBO which started last night.

Mark P in the House: Mark P had been trying to pick out a weekend to come here and visit and he ended up choosing this past weekend. I wanted to have him com e in when the Tribe was in town, but that didn't end up working out. We had an interesting travel experience. I was in Chicago Thursday and Friday for Gregg's 30th b-day surprise party (I'll get into that later) and P and I were going to fly back together on the 4:05 flight. I picked up P at his pad and he met me with the news that our flight was already delayed until 5:30. When we got to the airport, it was now delayed until 6:00 PM. There was an FAA problem on the East Coast that caused a ton of delays and our flight was originating in Baltimore. Another 40 minutes go by, and now our flight is delayed until 6:30. So I call Southwest and they say there are seats available on the 5:50 and it is on time, but we had to pay $54 each to get on. We decided for 40 minutes, we'd just stick on our flight. Another half hour goes by, and now our flight is delayed until 7:30. So we made the call again and got on the 5:50, which was still on time. We board our flight and were ready to go and the flight attendant announces that we will have to sit for a few extra minutes because our pilot was pulled off the flight as he was needed on another flight. We had to wait for another one. Finally we take off. We landed at 8:10. Two hours later than we were supposed to. The good news is that we were on this flight. Our original flight didn't land in Cleveland until after 11.

Because of the flight situation, we had to get Geraci's picked up instead of eating it there (where it is better). We polished off a couple bottles of wine, chilled for a little and called it a night. We wanted to give P a real taste of suburbia, so Saturday we went up to Legacy Village and walked around and had some lunch. The weather could not have been better all weekend. Then P and I walked up to the Tennis Courts in our neighborhood for the big battle. The throw-down in c-town. Mano-e-Mano. On the court next to us was a kid who was probably 12 years old. He couldn't have beaten us both 6-0, 6-0. He had the full tennis regalia on, his ground strokes were immaculate and he had a pretty killer serve. As P put it, I saw glimpses of my youth while watching him, so when we were playing, I was trying to kill everything, the way I did when I was younger. Believe it or not, I was once a pretty good player. Mom buried me Sunday morning when discussing my athletic prowess. She said I had enough skills to be good, but I never put forth the energy and effort to be great. So good enough, was good enough to win. I took offense to that, but there is definitely some truth in her rationale. But I digress. P and I battled on this sunny afternoon in Orangewood. We must have had deuce in every game. I was trying for winners, as I was prone to do as a kid, and it just wasn't working. P held a 5-4 lead. I served to tie it at 5. I broke P to take a 6-5 lead - his first serve (when it went in) was wicked. The problem for P was it went in only 10% of the time. I served out for the 7-5 win. I couldn't have played another game as I was real winded. We would re-match on Sunday morning. P broke me to go up 1-0. We had two epic games back to back where there were 5 deuces in each. I took both games followed by two more to go up 4-1 and eventually won 6-2. It definitely beats beating my 60 year old mom. The bottom line was it was a ton of fun, I forgot how much I love playing competitive sports, and we got a ton of color being in the sun.

Saturday night we went to Sushi Rock with the Bilsky's. Jeremy and P were fraternity brother at Indiana and hadn't seen each other in 6 years. Good food. Good drink. Good company. After dinner, P, Dave (in town for his grandmother's stone setting) and I went to Bar Louie for some drinks. All I can say is thank goodness I'm not single living here. Its a strange scene. Bar Louie was an eclectic group to say the least. I ran into randoms as usual (Robyn Sulzer, Kerry Danzinger, Nick Warner, the orignal Fritzer - Brian Friedman), and then you had your drunken 40/50 somethings in there as well. It was pretty funny. I think overall P had a solid time in C-Town. he got in some sun, some Andrew time, and we got to chill. It was great to see him. Made me realize how different my life is now and how much I miss my friends back in the city. As Leah put it, "I feel like we never left him."

A Grundell Surprise: As I stated earlier, I was in town Thursday night for Gregg's 30th b-day surprise party. A couple of months ago, Gregg's wife Rebecca sent out an invitation to me and said that she knows Gregg would love it if I was there. With the way my schedule works for work, I knew I could make it happen. I flew in around 4 and went to Ags' pad where I stayed. There was 19 people at Scylla Restaurant in Bucktown. We got there at 7:30. Gregg was going to show up at 7:45. As he walked in the door, he was stunned by the surprise. I stood towards the back. As he made his way hugging everyone, he saw me and gave this shocked look. He bypassed everyone else and gave me this huge bear hug and picked me up. It was all worth it right there. We drank a lot of wine and Dave, Taich, and I ended up going out and getting pretty banged up. All I know if I buried a bad burrito from Flash Taco at 2 AM. I loved being back in the city like that. There is such a great vibe in the city during the summer. I still say there is no better place to be in the summer than Chicago.

Cavs vs. Gregg, Cavs vs. Sopranos: I had quite the dilemma on my hands - it was game one of the NBA Finals and the party started at the same time. This was a very small restaurant and they didn't even have a TV. Dave and I were screwed and we knew it. The good news was the Cavs ended up playing like garbage and I didn't have to see one second of it. I figured we'd be done by halftime, but the party ran real long and the Cavs were out of it pretty much by mid-third quarter. Everyone told me "be thankful you didn't watch." Sunday night was game two. The tip time was 9 PM, same as The Sopranos. You know there was no way I couldn't watch Sopranos Sunday night because I couldn't have avoided finding out what happened. So i made the executive decision - I'd watch The Sopranos live, then start the Cavs game on Tivo when the show was over. I'd most likely be caught up by the third quarter. So I was halfway through the second quarter when Leah said "you should fast forward now, they are down 25 at the half." She was right. So I fast forwarded. Bottom line on the series - the Spurs are the better team. No two ways about it. Tonight should be electrifying in Cleveland. Game three. Everyone is excited. I will be watching from home. I think the Cavs win tonight and that is it. They had to steal one of the games in San Antonio and they were blown out in both. No big deal.

MD and Joe Tait: See the photo above. MD with his mentor and career idol, Joe Tait, play by play man for the Cavs.

Later Biatch: You know I had to weigh in on Paris Hilton. Is there anything funnier than this Paris Hilton jail saga? She's in, she's out, she has a "medical condition," she's very sad in jail and won't eat because she's so miserable. Did she think jail was going to be fun? Now she calls Barbara Walters and says she "acted dumb" all of these years and it is not funny anymore because so many young girls look up to her as a role model. She is so depressed and has a medical condition, yet is good enough to pick up the phone and call Barbara Walters? Classic. My personal favorite is that she has now "become more spiritual" and has "found God" in jail. What a joke! I still cannot believe the amount of press this story has gotten. She is famous for being famous. She's a dirty, disgusting, annoying whore and I hope she rots in there.

Song of the Day: "Behind Bars - Remix" by Slick Rick and Warren G