Rochester, NY
I found a new place for football on Sundays. I had been spoiled by living with my brother a few years ago when we had the NFL Ticket. Any game you want to watch is on there. We used to do our best to see all of them. We got good on the remote. A play would end and bam, we’d be off to the next game. And the next. And the next. I thought we had it good, but I went over to a friend from high school that I hadn’t seen in 5 years or so. We tired to figure out how long, but couldn’t come up with anything concrete. Mike and Andy have always been buds. I entered the scene during my junior year. They are a year older.
Anytime I see my friends as grown up, it’s strange for me. It makes me feel like I need to get my act together. I went over to Mike’s house. His baby was sleeping. His wife was out of town working. The boys had run of the roost. We didn’t get crazy, we just watched football and told stories of the past. I miss those guys and my people here at home. They all have new and different lives and I find myself not a part of it as I used to be. I guess you can’t walk back and pick up where you wanted it to be. I’m not sure if I could pick up at the pace we all used to run at anyway. It was fun to be with these guys again. Greg was the remote anchor. He flipped from game to game. What eclipsed my brothers place was that hey had set up two TV’s with the local games and then had the Ticket on the big TV. We had 3 games at all times. I felt like I was back at Stool Pigeon’s in Charlotte.
I brought over a special treat from back in the day. Most of my friends from high school will laugh at what I brought. If you know what Old English is, you’ll probably smile too. A 40 of that back when you’re 17 and 18 would make you feel different. I stopped and grabbed one for old time’s sake. Laughs were had when I pulled it out. We all had a little of it, but it tasted as I remembered it: bad. We had a few Labbatt’s. The TV was active, surfing from game to game. I had a big matchup for my fantasy team which I tried to gear up for by making a trade. I traded for Chester Taylor and Jerry Porter just before the deadline and they performed well, but I lost my QB, Bulger, in the first quarter and had no chance from there on in. Oh well. Once I knew he was hurt I brought my printout back to the car and just worried about having fun.
The little man, Adriano, woke up and came out and joined the fun. What a kid. He sat and played and gave us hugs and played with his trucks and football. I read him a book.
The point of this is that there is something about male bonding while watching NFL on Sundays. It’s fun for everyone, and I don’t want like I’m pitching for Direct TV, but if you’re a football fan, the NFL Ticket is worth every penny.
It was great to see my boys. They’re grown up but we are still the same. We still laugh and still worry about things. My worries are a little less as I just finished up some of mom’s famous beef stew. This is my top 3 favorite meals. Time to watch The 5 People you Meet in Heaven. This is a great book and the movie should be good too.
A new week is here. I have an interview at UPS tomorrow and another with a marketing firm on Thursday. I may be able to do something with Marriott as well. I ran into a buddy who works there. Options are there, but the road is where I want to be.