Sleepless In Seatt... er... my place!

Will someone please take my pulse to make sure I'm alive? lol... I was a complete walking zombie on Saturday night during the Cherokee broadcast. I got a couple of emails from people that heard the broadcast online and were very concerned because I sounded so miserable. I appreciate the concern and for the record, I feel much better now. Thank the Lord. I tried to sleep during the day today, but I kept doing little errands and finally settled down tonight after dinner. Now more random thoughts.
Saw my sister Lou today. She looked awful. She was hacking and coughing and was all kinds of miserable. I was worried about her cause the chemo treatments she's taking have really kicked her butt like nobody's business... She still puts up a brave face, but I know this whole mess is really bringing her down. Spent some time with my nephew today. Tony and I went shopping (i'm almost embarrassed to admit this)... for... (gag)... clothes! There... I said it... two guys shopping for clothes. Thank GOD we're related otherwise I'd worry about 'brokeback' jokes... and NOOOO neither of us asked the other if our butts looked big... We had a pretty good time together. It was kind of strange. He and I don't see each other a great deal but we're still pretty close. He asked me today if I ever talk to or see my former girlfriend. I smiled and said 'no honey, we don't have any contact with each other.'... In the past, I might have added some nasty editorial comments to the answer. But as I said in previous posts, I've left that time of my life in the past, and tossed everything else in the trash can. I think the last time I tried to contact her was back in January. But anyway, Tony asked a couple of more questions about her and instead of trying to slam her, I was polite and just said something like "it didn't work out but it's for the best... for both of us... we're both much happier" and he finished with his questions and dropped it. I must be getting old or something. Normally, considering the circumstances, I would have said something much more negative if he had asked me this about 7 months ago. But by the spring, I made my peace with it and left it at the foot of the cross. And I am soooo much happier now and glad she's gone. I mean no malice with that comment... I'm happier without her than I was with her... 'nuff said. Stay warm everyone... unless you're in Hawaii... (hi Tina)

You're Getting Sleeeeeepy...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,
My airway feels a whole lot better. I'm still not 100% yet... but I'm breathing again so I guess that should be good for something. Right now I'm in the middle of a long weekend of work. I about dropped over on Wednesday night as I had to broadcast 2 soccer games back to back. I hit my inhaler but I was still wheezy. I had a hard time getting through the second game but that's the way the cookie crumbles. My next 2 days should be fun... here's the schedule:

Friday: Work till 6pm... drive to Wayne, MI to broadcast Cherokee hockey vs Michigan Ice Dogs at 8:20pm. Get home around 12:30am... back up about 4am. Go back to work at the hospital Saturday till 2pm. Head from hospital to broadcast district soccer final for TV at 4pm. After district final, jump in car and drive to Cleveland to broadcast Cherokee hockey vs Cleveland Lumberjacks on the internet at 9pm... Now mind you, I'm not really complaining. After all, I get paid to do all of these things. But by the time I wake back up early Sunday morning, I'll be dragging my knuckles to say the least... But I'll be ready for it all... About the only thing that has me feeling down right now is that the Detroit Tigers are down 3-1 to the Cardinals in the World Series. But I'm optimistic...

Punks and Drunks

As much as I love and am passionate about sports (afterall, I work as broadcaster of them), I still have to deal with goofballs that are harmless, but no less annoying. As excited as I am about the World Series being played less than 45 minutes from my house, sometimes things can be downright strange... Let's set the scene: I'm awake and am leaving the doctor's office and going to stop at the local tavern in my little hick town trying to get something to eat. While sitting there, a guy walks by (obviously enjoying 'happy hour' just a little too much), and spills his beverage a bit on yours truly. The very brief conversation went something like this:

Me: Ahhhhhhhhhh!
Drunk guy: Ohhhh dude! TIGERS!!! (at this point, drunk guy walks back to his chair)

apparently, invoking the name of a professional sports team allows you a brief grace period to stagger back to your chair and pretend that nothing happened. I wouldn't have been mad at all if the guy would've said 'sorry' or 'dude, my bad'. I'm a big boy, that stuff doesn't bother me. We all make mistakes. But 'dude, TIGERS'??? I dried myself off and shook my head. Then I heard the guy talking loudly about his levi jeans and his male anatomy. At this point, I laughed. What else could I do? I grabbed my 'to go' order and left. I'm trying to think of where I could use that expression as an excuse the next time I screw something up... If I do, I'll let y'all know how it turns out... yeesh!

Fading In and Out...

I don't know if this will make any sense, but I'm tired, cranky, but still pretty happy. I guess I should explain. I came back from St Louis and on the way home, started wheezing and had some difficulty breathing. There's been a respiratory bug that's been going around our department at work. I came down with it and am now feeling like ten pounds of crap in a five pound bag. Rebecca, if you read this, you may not be a shrink my friend, but you're some prognosticator! So I took the last couple of days off from work to try and get my poop in a group... The only good thing about this is that in addition to getting some rest, I am getting some time to listen to radio, and watch the odd movie or two... something I've always enjoyed but haven't done in a while. I am still feeling the effects of gettin' old... But I'm going back to work tomorrow. Plus I just got my TV schedule for the next week. Ugh! But it's worth it... I'll be logging some serious miles and I can't wait... I start this entry griping about being on the go and feeling like crap. And end it looking forward to more of the same... Yeah I'm crazy... and I'm GLAD... mwahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Exhaustion Leads to... Being Tired! (profound, eh?)

Ugh... that's about all the energy I've got to say. These last couple of weeks have shown me that I'm not as young as I used to be and I have let the ol' body take a beating by putting in a ton of hours all over the place. I'm ready to collapse. To be truthful, I nearly did the other day. I got a few warning signs that I need to slow down. Of course in traditional Mik fashion... I ignored them. Too stubborn for my own good. Well, as I write this, it's on to the Loo... (that would be St. Louis) as the Cherokee have to go down and play the three time national defending champs... Oh well, c'est la vie... Found out that my best friend and his wife are expecting... very cool. Me, I'm trying to stay focused on what's right in this world. It's not easy, I can tell you this... Found some crap that was my old girlfriend's and that brought back some not-so-good memories of the past. Some anger and bitterness returned for awhile. Like about 8 days. I found myself getting mad at God for all the wrong (as usual) reasons. It wasn't His fault. I needed something to lash out and let it finally rest. Very odd, it came in the form of the 'Grumpy Old Men' movies. I watched those and for some very strange reason, I actually had a couple of tears in my eyes. I saw myself as the Walter Matthau charachter and I didn't like that one bit. I've done pretty good about not thinking about her and putting that worthless segment of my life behind me. I found a couple of things and it brought me back to another time in my life where all I did was practically kill myself trying to please her and take care of her needs at the complete expense of my own. I wasn't living my life at all. I was her servant. Nothing more... But after realizing what that mess was in my past with her, I was able to empty out the garbage and start over again. With much brighter horizons I might add. Today, I am drama queen free... halleluja!

Something I Won't Forget...

Some may question about the evidence of God. That's completely understandable. With things that happen in the world... bad things sometimes happen to good people. We have a showcase tournament that the Cherokee had to play in this weekend up in Detroit. Four games in four days. We got stomped big time by St. Louis on Friday night 5-0... Scored a come from behind 5-4 win over Chicago. And took one in the shorts on Sunday as Dubuque smoked us 9-5... We still have to play Grand Rapids on Monday afternoon at about 5pm ET... But for me... none of that mattered so much as the charity event that took place on Saturday night. I was sitting out in the lobby of the arena, watching the Tigers clinch the ALDS against the Yankees. I about crapped myself. I was so jacked to see that. it's only been 19 years since the Tigers were in the League Championship Series. Anyway, I was getting ready to head home for a night of wine, woman, and song when I was asked to help broadcast a charity hockey game that featured all the players that were in wheelchairs. And most of these players had very little mobility and use of their extremeties. As they were out on the ice, they were being pushed by a host of former hockey players. Some famous, some not quite as famous but it didn't really matter. The players in the wheelchairs were the stars as they battled heartily and it was neat to see former Detroit Red Wing Vladimir Konstantinov who dropped the ceremonial opening face-off to get things started. Vladdy was seriously injured in a limousine less than two weeks after the Wings won the Stanley Cup back in 1997. The limo driver who was driving Konstantinov, team massusse Sergei Mnatsakonov, and defenseman Slava Fetisov, fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a tree. Vladdy and Sergei were the only two who were severely injured. Fetisov was fine. Sergei was left in a wheel chair but is able to remember most everything. Vladdy spent a number of years in a wheelchair and can't remember alot. But he showed up in the arena using a walker with wheels on it. He still has great difficulty with balance and co-ordination. But he brought the crowd to it's feet in a wonderful display of love and emotion for the guy we all knew back in the 90's as 'The Vladinator'... I was stunned to see him in an improved condition. I don't think he'll ever be the well enough to walk without a walker or anything, but it was still moving to see him make it out for this event. And then there were the wheelchair players. Some could not really move their arms and legs but it didn't matter. With the guys that were pushing the chairs around the ice, everyone had an absolute ball. After the game, the people in the stands gave the wheelchair players a rousing standing ovation. I watched in silence as the wheelchair players were all smiles and had huge grins on their faces as they posed for pictures and thanked the guys that pushed their chairs around the ice. But I can guarantee you that to a person, the guys pushing the wheelchair players were more in awe of the players much more than the wheelchair players (guys and girls) were awestruck... As someone who watched the event and also helped broadcast it, I was blown away by these folks and really had a new appreciation for just how blessed I really am.... Even when I'm hurting and things aren't going my way... I was truly moved and realized that the issues that I have to face are absolutely nothing in comparison to what these people deal with day to day... I was truly humbled...

Bilingual (soccer) Foot In Mouth...

The following conversation occured between me and the TV station folks...

BCSN: Hey Mik, are you doing the Latino heritage soccer match next Sunday?
Mik: Uh, no... hadn't planned on it nor heard about it... why?
BCSN: Because... you're hispanic silly!
Mik: Um, where exactly do hispanics come from anyway? Hispanica?
BCSN: We thought it'd be cool for you to do part of the game in Spanish!
Mik: ARE YOU NUTS??? I can't even get the hang of doing it in English... and that's my mother tongue!!! Why would I want to butcher up a sporting event in two languages???
BCSN: We want to have an all Latino crew...
Mik: Uh, I don't mean to bring things down, but there's only me and Jon (a director) who would qualify. Are we going to do a single camera shoot with no production truck? There's two other guys who have some puerto rican mixed with lebanese backround. They don't even have latin surnames. (editor's note: a 'crew' consists of three camera people, a director, a VTR operator, a cg operator, a sound person, and a PA.) So in keeping with the immigration issue that persists these days, and in keeping with the latino heritage theme, maybe we can pick up a couple of 'relatives' of the soccer players who just snuck into the country and stick them in the production truck and be sure to get a camera shot of it. Just make sure to include a title "Executive Producer aka Coyote"
BCSN: Never mind Mik, I see your out of town with the Cherokee anyway...
Mik: Gee, that's too bad. (Whhewwww!!!)