Scratching It Off My List

#15 Attend a World Series game

My game ticket, my cost "I believe that will be free of charge"

The Backstreet Boys sang the National Anthem

"Oooooooo" say can you see

The seats were awesome!!!!!
There were no signs of these guys!!!!

And this picture has nothing to do with the story, I just like it.

Cheers and Hail!

Crock Pot Sundays

mmm..that looks good, and the pot roast doesn't look half bad either

I love to cook. Whether its firing up the grill and throwing on a nice steak, or challenging myself with a difficult recipe. I just love cooking, and I think I'm pretty good at it. However, when football season rolls around, you got to keep it simple. I can't keep running outside checking to see how the meat is cooking on the grill. I can't add this ingredient after a half hour, and saute this ingredient after 2 hours. No, I need simple preparation, dump it in the crock pot and forget about it. Over the past 4 weeks we have enjoyed a brisket from some hot chick, chicken and dumplings twice (they were so good), and today's pot roast.

Here are my directions for crock-pot cooking:

Step 1

Put ingredients into crock pot (approximate prep time 10-15 minutes) - grab a beer and watch Terry, Howie, and Jimmy talk about today's games. Ignore Strahan. Admire Jillian. Drink more.

Step 2

Enjoy the aroma coming from your kitchen, but relax you don't have to do anything for the next 5-6 hours, except watch football. Enjoy as many beers as you can during this time.

We're gonna need a bigger boat

Step 3

Fill your plate with the delicious treat you have created. Around this time your "comfort food" will start ruining your beer buzz, this is OK. If your favorite team has already played, then you can take a nap during 60 minutes, you need the rest.

Step 4

This move depends on whether your team won or not. If they lost your probably done for the day, if they won, you get your second wind. You tune into the Sunday night game, or if that sucks, you put on Smokey and the Bandit, and have a couple more beers.

Step 5

You're at the water cooler on Monday morning, and you share the gas with your coworkers that you acquired by eating 5 bowls of pot roast and drinking lots of beers. And......you are proud!

Go Rays!

Cheers and Hail

O, The Rays are Good

So this year marked the 11th straight season the Orioles have finished below .500. During the previous 10 seasons, the O's finished in fourth place. They could always count on the Rays to finish in the cellar. Now that the Rays are playing in October, I'm afraid my Orioles have a firm grip on last place.

After living in Northern VA for the first 30 years of my life, the O's are a part of me. I was 9 years old in 1983, when the O's beat the Phillies in the I95 series. This came the year after the O's took the Brewers to the last game of the season in 82. Orioles Magic indeed. I thought at the time the O's would win countless World Series (I bet Cal did too!). It's hard to imagine that we are so far removed from the glory days. How did it slip away so fast?

Baseball was my #1 sport growing up, the one that I excelled at. If there wasn't a baseball around, then it was wiffleball. When a wiffleball wasn't available, then a wad of paper and a stick would do just fine. And in everyone of those backyard, driveway, or living room games, I was imitating my heroes. Eddie Murray's crouched stance, Cal's upright/closed stance with the bat horizontal to the ground. Pitching the wiffleball like Jim Palmer, sliding in the rain like Rick Dempsey. The list could go on and on. Those days are long gone, but I keep hanging onto the hope that one day, things will be special again.

And that brings me to the Rays. For the last 4 years, I have lived here in Tampa. I knew this Ray's team was close to breaking out the past 2 seasons. I'm surprised it did not happen last year. I will guarantee you this, they will not be going away any time soon. They are loaded with young talent, and they have more stockpiled in their farm system. I am amazed to watch the community in which I live in rally behind this team. Everyone has Ray's fever. We have 2 year old kids getting blue Mohawks, we have 60 year old politicians getting Mohawks. A new stadium is also on the horizon, a beautiful outdoor stadium, right on the Gulf of Mexico. It's a great time to be a fan of the Tampa Bay Rays.

But, you'll never see a blue Ray's hat on this head. Sure, I'll pull for them to go all the way. I surely will be pulling for them if they face the Red Sox. Its easy for a lot of people to jump on the bandwagon and root for a winner. I can't do that. I've got to much invested in my O's. So while a team headed to the World Series, loaded with young talent, getting an awesome new stadium, sounds enticing, I'll pass. Give me my MLB Extra Innings for $250 again next year, because the O's are 0-0 right now, and my O's mug is half full!

And besides that, when my son and I play wiffleball, I do a great imitation of Nick Markakis.