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!!!)

On The Fly...

Hola, It's been a bit since I've written. I have been one busy nutcase. Iowa was... well, Iowa. Saturday night was cowbell night. It wasn't so much a giveaway as much as it was for Iowans to accessorize in a fashion sense. Only kidding. I have been on a whirlwind schedule and will continue to be so through the weekend till monday morning. I'm putting in 18-20 hour days every day. I'm doing lots of broadcasting so that's okay by me. Been watching tv on the fly and haven't been yakking too much in my friends' blogs/journals... but know that I'm visiting when I can... Hope that you all are well... I'll chat with y'all later...

Another Day In Paradise

Hmmm... the hospital had a fire in the psych unit??? Now THAT is crazy... and that was just the beginning. One of the ICU's which is located beneath said psych area had a pipe burst and flooded the whole ICU... Nice... The patients had to be moved out to other departments. The irony of this was unbelieveable... This all happened with JCAHO in to visit and determine the level of accreditation for us... YEEEE-HAWWW! I don't know how that panned out... but everything else seems to have settled down. At least for now... I've got a long weekend ahead. I have to go to Iowa this weekend with the Cherokee. We go to Davenport to take on the Quad City Express. I'm not an Iowa fan... we used to have an on-going joke about Iowans...
Q: Why are all Iowa football fields made of artificial turf???
A: So the cheerleaders won't graze after the game....
Not my joke. Honest. But I've never been a Iowa fan. It's not much to write home about. So I don't mind a little wise-crack about the state. It seems only right. Anyway, I talked this week with our old coach who was fired the day before tryouts. Vargs and I are still pretty close and he was talking with me for over an hour. I think I got about 3 minutes of talking in with the other 82 going to Vargs. He's still hurting and has gotten bitter. But I think once this season has passed. he'll get back into hockey and I think he'll be okay. We'll see what happens. I suppose I should go get some shuteye and pray that I don't meet any Iowa cheerleaders...

Recap...

Hmmm... random thoughts as I look at some old things and am tossing them away... the Cherokee won on Saturday night vs Cleveland and then got shut down on Sunday vs Dubuque... Such is life. No real memorable moments from the weekend except after the game on Sunday. I left the rink and went to go get some dinner with someone and as I'm sitting there, some guy comes up to me and says: "y'know, you kinda look like that guy up there on tv" It was me on tape. "naw, I don't look like him... he looks younger than I do..." The slightly drunken response: "yeah, I think (hic-up) you're right..." What could I do but smile and go back to my dinner... I always tell people that my epitath will read: Loved by few, Hated by many, Ignored by NONE!

Reasons to Smile

Hey,
The last few days have seen me do little things that added up to some big things. I'm praying hard for my sister Lou. She has a tumor on her ovary and is having to go through daily chemo. The bad news is that it's daily... the good news is that the mass has shrunk 2cm and hasn't spread. We'll see how it goes. That's two sisters who have gone through this crap called ovarian cancer. Both are in good spirits. Very positive attitudes so why should mine be any less. Lou is keeping up a positive front. When she's not vomiting... but even that is beginning to get a little bit better... Hockey is back in full swing... the team is going to go through a big test this weekend. We open the home part of our season schedule against Cleveland this Saturday night and Dubuque on Sunday. I have to broadcast both games on the net like always, but Sunday's game is going to be broadcast on BCSN-TV here locally and I have to broadcast that too. It'll be strange to simulcast like that, but hey, it should be a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it...

Five Years Ago...

It still hurts to think about and look back at such a terrible day... It doesn't seem like it's been only 5 years. I think a lot of us would rather forget... because of the pain involved. But I was glad that I forced myself to watch this morning. Especially when the 2nd plane hit the other tower. How often do you see that video footage anymore? They don't show it. I think if they did show it more frequently, we as a country wouldn't be so divided... that everything else wouldn't be so politicized... we wouldn't be democrat, republican, liberal, conservative... black, white, christian, or jew... we'd just be what everyone wants to be... AMERICANS! Or is that too much to ask...

Rest of the Q's...

6) What's one thing you HAVE to do before you die?
I don't really know. In the past, I used to say 'marry my true love' but since that no longer is a possibility, (thank God), I have to re-think this one. It's not the most important, but I'd like to visit all 50 states and 11 provinces before I go to Heaven. I've been to 24. The hard one is going to be Alaska. Been to Hawaii. Been to most states on the eastern side of the country. I guess that's the only thing I can currently think of... a lot of words to say I DON'T KNOW...

7) What's the best vacation you ever took?
It was great... I took almost 3 weeks off... Went to Toronto, then Hawaii, and then San Antonio... Had a blast in all three places.

8) What's the best advice your mom ever gave you?
My mom died when I was a kid. But I have one lasting memory. We had a neighbor who we didn't get along with and had an argument with... long story short, the neighbor had a nervous breakdown and was taken to the hospital, which meant that some of her kids were at home alone. My mom went over there and made them food and made sure that they had everything that they needed. They asked her why was she doing all this and she told them that arguments didn't matter anymore. Priorities are what's most important. That's why I put a high value on forgiveness.

9) What is your biggest phobia?
fear of deep water. I guess that's why I live on the lake... HA!

10) Who is the hottest (as in sexy) actor in Hollywood?
Um, I don't have one... honest! So help me Sandra Bullock!

11) For $100 would you pull the wings off of a butterfly?
Nah, I'd do it for five bucks... I'm cheap... :)

12) Do you have a living will or would you sign one?
In the will, I'd probably owe some money... :) ~

Five Q's

Never one to pass up a good quiz (thanks to JXN, M1999, and Riccie)...

1) If you could change your name, would you? If so, to what?
Little story about Moi' ... when I was born (during the height of the Beatles popularity) the nurses all wanted my parents to name me after one of the fab four. Okay, I am eternally grateful that the 'rents didn't tab me with something like that. There's no doubt in my mind that I would have come back to haunt them for naming me something like RINGO!!! So to make a long story short... I would not change my name...

2) What is one thing you'd change about yourself if you could?
I couldn't do just one. But I'd probably say to be a better Christian. Somedays I feel good and try to do the right things. Other days, I don't always make the right choices. But I know deep down, my heart is in the right place. And I take comfort in knowing that HE knows my heart. I just hope that I can do a better job of being a good person.

3) What's one thing you wouldn't change about yourself?
I have to say that I wouldn't change the passion I have... My passion for life, for sports, for all that I love. The cast of characters have changed, thankfully so, but the passion that I have for all that is good, still endures...

4) What's the best decision you ever made in your life?
To say good-bye to my past and focus on the future... Giving my heart to God and not being ashamed about that. To forgive those whom I've deemed enemies in my past and to forgive myself for my imperfections because I know I'm probably considered an enemy to others... just ask my past girlfriends... :)

5) If you could have dinner with 5 people (living or dead) who would they be?
My first thought would be the last five girlfriends I've had but that would be worse than an episode of Jerry Springer... and with the exception of my second girlfriend from about 15 years ago, I have no desire to see or talk to any one of them. Oh yeah, I guess I'd better pick five:

1- Steve Yzerman (recently retired from the Detroit Red Wings)
2- Joe Montana (former NFL and Notre Dame QB)
3- John Candy (my only deceased pick)
4- Don Cherry (Hockey Night In Canada Broadcaster)
5- Sandra Bullock (a little cheesecake never hurt anyone)

Pickin' and Grinnin' (my apologies to Hee Haw

Sometimes it’s a bit weird around here and sometimes it just downright whizzes. But every once in a while, just every once in a while, things straighten themselves out and work to a tee. This week has been one of those times. I can’t go into details, but safe to say that I am looking forward to the future more than I ever have. Let’s see… I almost forgot to mention that hockey has started. The Cherokee started their regular season with a pair of wins over Columbus. This weekend, the team travels to Lakeland MI, and then Detroit. So I’ll be on the road continually. Looking forward to that too. So for the most part, I am a pretty happy camper. Hey, life could be worse… I remember last year at this time. It wasn’t too good. I’m glad (and relieved) to have moved on in my life. I am a much better person for it… Yak at y’all later…

Live and Dangerous

Howdy to all... hope everything is well... Had a moment of near panic on the air yesterday as we prepared to do a soccer game on TV... LIVE! Now more often than not, the events we cover during the week are tape delayed. No problem for me... that way if I screw up the beginning or end, I can re-do them and then ride the middle of the broadcast for all it's worth. But every so often, I have to do Live events. I did some back to back on consecutive nights this week. Simply put, no room to screw up... again, no big deal for me... I've been at this long enough to know that anything can and usually does happen. For me, that was this past wednesday night. I had to broadcast a girl's high school soccer match Live at 6pm... not a big deal... EXCEPT that the JV game was running way behind and didn't end until 5:57pm... the varsity girls had to do their 20 minute warm-up. So the game wasn't starting until about 6:25 or 6:30... and we're LIVE on the air... with nothing to fill it with! Soooooo... me and my color analyst were able to talk for that whole time and my director was very cool cause he ran more commercials during that half hour than he was supposed to... but how we managed to talk about these two teams for that half hour with no previous knowledge of the two teams was nothing short of miraculous. Or I'm just naturally full of crap and some kind of BSer... Thank the Good Lord that He was with me and gave me the gift of gab to blab coherently... I had Thursday off from everything and boy was it much needed! I slept in till about 7am... lounged around till 9:30am. I went and had breakfast down the road from my house. The waitress who knows me, sat and shot the breeze with me for a bit. She met a new guy and things are going swimmingly for them. I was happy for her. I went home and did some work on my computer and then got a phone call. It was from my groupie. I was hesitant to take the call but I took it anyway. She and I haven't talked in quite a long time. She got a new job at another hospital in town and we hadn't talked in forever. The groupie was talking in generalities for quite some time. So I could tell something was on her mind. I wasn't sure... we had talked before... and knew that we couldn't be around each other much because she knew that there were some emotions there and she has a boyfriend. I told her that I wasn't going to interfere with that and that even if she were available, it wouldn't work because of the age difference (she's 22). Well, I didn't duck it and asked her how things were going in that department. She said they were going incredibly awesome. She's now wearing a rock on her finger. The guy proposed. I was happy (and very relieved)... I told her it was so great and that things are really going well for her. I hung up with her and went and took a nap. I got up and mowed the lawn and then my nephew called me. He had to go shopping for some clothes to start college and didn't have much money. So I took him over to Steve and Barry's and he got a crapload of clothes for cheap. He had never heard of the store and when I took him there, it was like a little kid on Christmas. He was just going nuts shopping for all the college wear... I told him he was shopping like a girl... he started laughing. We talked about football, girls, a little bit of everything. I felt like for the first time in a while, we connected. It was a lot of fun and he wants to drive up to see me next week (and go back to that store I'm sure). I'm looking forward to it... I came home, and sat down for a while and had a smile on my face. Relationships can be a funny thing. I watched my groupie talk about starting a new life with her boyfriend and make the commitment to be his and his alone... the waitress at the restaurant was cooing with her new beau. I sit here alone and am doing okay. I still think about the ex-girlfriend who destroyed my heart into 23.3 million pieces... now that I have the perspective of time, it's been really difficult but a worthwhile experience. I now see her for who she is... and looking back, I'm glad that we parted (as ugly and painful as it was) when we did. And to be honest, I'm glad she's gone now. There are times where I almost miss her. But I now realize that it's best that I fly solo from now on... I trust in God and let chips fall where they may. Life is definitely much better now...

Sleeping Through My Day...

ZZZZZzzzzzzzz... Oh! Hi !!!!
I have nodded off while trying to write this little post. I fell asleep last night when my intention was to watch pre-season football. I woke up this morning to 'Fox and Friends' waking up out of a sound sleep, laughing. That's what happens when I try to sleep while Steve, E. D. and Brian are on... Steve had an ink pen explode in his hand and spent the entire show trying to figure out how to get the ink out of his hand. Nothing worked. It was comical... Went to work and my boss was telling me how someone got a hold of her checking acct. number AND her router number to allow for withdrawals... and she has never, ever, done any business online for anything! Wow! I guess you never know, huh?
I left work and was going to go home (in a massive rain storm), but something told me to stop by my sister's house and check on her. Lou seems to be doing a little bit better, so that's a huge thing. She bought a new car and I stood out in the rain and looked at it... It was saaweeeeet! I talked to Lou for a while. She said that outside of the nausea and vomitting from the chemo, that she actually feels better. She has more hope than she did last week. And also, so does her doctors. That made me feel a lot more chipper today. My other sister filed a grievance over her getting laid off from her teaching job and everyone from the school system to the folks handling her grievance feel she will win her case. Plus, Lou told me that there are several openings in the school system so it shouldn't be a problem. I'm hopeful. I came home and had the gourmet meal (also the traditional single guy's meal): hot dogs and potato chips with orange crystal light... and a creamsicle for dessert. All that was missing was the blonde bombshell and a mariachi band... ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

Not The Road Less Travelled

Hola,
I hope all of you are well. Me, I'm beyond exhausted as I have come home from doing 4 games in less than 48 hours... all out of town. I put a boat-load of miles on my car. Yep, my insane broadcasting schedule has kicked into high gear. My schedule this coming week is nuts. But for some strange reason, I'm looking forward to it... As Mick Jagger said so eloquently: "I know it's only rock-n-roll... BUT I LIKE IT!!!" When I got home I sat down on my couch, ready to watch the news on TV. I started to watch the TV screen (hint: the TV was NOT turned on) and the next thing I knew, I woke up and the sun had gone down. I was toast. I woke up and decided to surf online and saw about the horror of the Comair plane crash. Ugh, that was very sad to see. I don't know how far that is from you JXN, but with the base of news reporting coming from Lexington, I'm guessing that it's pretty close to your neighborhood. Speaking of news reporting, I'm glad to see that the two Fox News guys were freed... Other random thoughts... My nephew was the happiest kid on planet earth. I gave him my old laptop to use for college. He thinks I'm okay now... He still won't help me move my old refrigerator out to be tossed, but he'll take the laptop to make the most of it... gotta love those kids... someone has to... My sister Lou went through her first week of chemotherapy for leukemia. She's battling hard and I'm hopeful that she'll pull through. We'll see how it goes...

Godzilla and Golf... What a Pair...zzzz

Oh my am I tired...
I am running on fumes but it was a lot of fun. I had to go into work
yesterday very early (5am) and put my time in. I went to visit my sister
Lou and she was pretty emotional. She has to undergo more chemotherapy and is still trying to rebound from having her foot amputated.
She is trying to keep a positive perspective on things. But it's really getting to her. I saw her and my other sister Terri. Terri lost job on friday (she's a school teacher) and it really hurt her a lot. They still haven't officially told her. She found out on friday by total accident. They'll tell her officially tomorrow, which is the first day of school. Budget cuts... arrrrrgh! I spent a little time with them and tried to stay upbeat but it was very depressing in the house yesterday. I think part of it had to do with the fact that today (sunday) would've been our dad's birthday. I thought about him at Church this morning. I slept in and went to a later service cause I was up late on saturday night watching football and a really bad Godzilla movie... "Godzilla's Revenge" I thought most of those movies were bad back then. Now I wax them a bit nostalgic... Watching a portly Japanese kid (with just atrocious english overdubs) talking with Godzilla's son ( a dwarf in a plastic dragon suit that was maybe 4 foot tall) with a high pitch overdub that was not at all in sync with the Japanese version. It was awful. But kind of fun... Until I looked at the clock and realize that it was after 2:3o in the morning and had to wake up for Church in a few hours. I went to Church and it was great. I loved it. We didn't do anything much to celebrate my dad's birthday so w I went and hung out at my place when the guy that I do the golf show with called me and invited me to golf for free at one of the area's more nicer golf courses... so we golfed, ate good food, and laughed alot! I'm just now getting home late (near midnight) and am going to nod off for the night... Happy Birthday Dad! I love you a ton and miss ya...

In the Cards...

 Howdy,
Had today off from work and slept in today for the first time in forever. I went to sleep just before 3am and woke up around 9am... I was tired and laid in bed till about 10 and went to eat breakfast down the road. I came home and mowed the lawn and did some work to get things prepared for the upcoming sports seasons: football and (more important to me) hockey!  I can't wait for everything to start up again next week.
I feel pretty good after going to play poker with the boys on Wednesday night. My buddy was in okay spirits, all things considered. He was a little subdued but tried to keep joking around a little.  We all toasted him with a drink and talked for the longest time before we finally decided to play cards. He knows he doesn't have long. So he's trying to do some things that we all did for years in the past: play another round of golf together at a great course, get together and be wacky over some sushi... after he left to go home, some of the rest of us were talking about how precious life truly is. No matter how bad things can be, we know that we are very fortunate (read: blessed) because we are not in the situation that he's in. Since most of the guys (with the exception of me and one other guy) are doctors, the prognosis is obvious... maybe a year if he's lucky, more than likely, six months.  Most of the guys have a minimal belief in God. They don't talk much about it. But we all agreed that we have to pray for him.  He's not the most spiritual guy, but I think at his heart, he believes in God...

Gut-Check...

Life as I look at it...
Okay, what can I say. Insanity rules the day. A small peek into my world: some good things, some bad... but my attitude remains the same... I'm prayerfully optimistic. My sister is going to the doctor tomorrow after a vacation and is going to find out about how her situation with leukemia is going. I found out tonight that one of my poker playing buddies has been diagnosed with gastric cancer. That whizzes bigtime. I watched as he had to deal with it when his wife was diagnosed and she lasted about 3 years with it before it took her... The diagnosis for him is that it won't go the distance meaning that the usual prognosis is that the patient usually has about 5 years left. His cancer is advanced and they don't think he has anywhere close to 5 years. They're going to treat him with chemo and more chemo... that's about all there is to do. We're playing poker Wednesday night and he wants to play. He doesn't want us to make a big deal about it. The core group of us have been playing for about 15 years... I'm taking the approach of enjoying the time he has left and hoping for the best. I think of how much he really missed his wife. I know when she passed, it destroyed him. I think he may be thinking as this is an opportunity to reunite with her. When asked about the situation by one of the other poker guys', he responded in his typical gruff demeanor: "well, it's the same shit sandwich that was handed to my wife!" Ahhh doctors... someone's gotta love 'em...
The easy thing to do is to have a pitty party and say 'oh the heck with it'... but my faith is something that I have to lean on... I have to remind myself frequently that my faith is what is important. I have to find things to be joyful about and keep on keeping on... I choose to be happy in the face of fear and negativity... I choose my faith in God!

All things nutty...

Trying to catch my breath as the time has been flying by.
So much stuff has happened since last I checked in... I've probably forgotten more than I remember but I'll try to get to a couple of highlights:
Well since last I've written, the head coach of the lady's football team resigned, the head coach of the Cherokee hockey team was fired. Uh, let's see... I was doing a baseball game for BCSN when we came back from commercial, there was no batter going up to home plate. When I announced that there was an unexplained delay, my color analyst chimes in with "uh, mik, he's in the port-o-let down the right field line". When I said "okay", the guys in the production truck opt to get a camera shot of said port-a-potty. The guy comes out of there and his teammates are giving him the business pretty good. Our camera guy decides to stay with him and get a close-up. Let's just say it was a little too close-up! The guy's zipper was down as he was walking toward the plate and he spent 'quality time' trying to adjust himself (if you know what I mean), and had a tuff time getting his zipper pulled up... all of this going over the air of television. I sat there stunned, just watching my supposed broadcasting career going up in smoke when I finally thought "y'know what? just laugh at yourself and relax, will ya?" So while I'm watching this emmy-caliber broadcast on my monitor and wondering why the director didn't cut to another camera shot, I finally regain my composure after what felt like ten hours, but in reality, was only about 30 seconds. And I took a breath and made the only obvious comment that could have been made: "well, you can't get this with a satellite dish!!!" The entire press box broke up with laughter. I never did ask the director about what happened, but I guess he thought it was all funny and we joked about how it was the top of the mountain, in our broadcast careers. Looking back, I can now find some humor in it.
Yesterday, after the radio show, I went out to a local ball park as the lady's football team was playing our local Christian rock station YES-FM in a game of softball. Now the guys from the station are HORRIBLE. I watched them play... they're NOT softball players. However, as I came to find out yesterday, NEITHER ARE THE SPITFIRE!!! In fact, they were worse! They got their lunch handed to them by the radio folks to the tune of 16-6... So now I have to go on YES-FM on Monday morning at 7:20am and take the (almost) good-natured drubbing by the morning show... Yeah, it's a little crazy...

Checking In...

Popping in and out as I check the journals/blogs...
Today I feel better but my thoughts still float to others... JXN, I hope your mamaw recovers from her heart attack. The fact that she's going home is a great sign. Tina, I know it's been a bit, but I still think about you often and pray that you are dealing with things as best you can my friend... Riccie, ahhh yes my friend, I hope that things continue to be positive and that you continue to grow in your faith. You will be tested by the enemy in different ways, but your faith will get you through... Maggs, just a note to let you know that life isn't always perfect, but it's a lot better to think about what's good about this world instead of what's bad. You my friend, are exhibit A...
I tried to help my sister to find a certain water toy for her work and I drove all over town trying to find it, to no avail. So as an afterthought, I joke that she should try and use a garden hose sprayer to have fun with... she text messaged me this morning and said she took the advice and it worked out perfectly. Hey, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Tonight, I'm finally home with a little daylight for the first time in donkeys. My other sister and her hubby and their kids are on vacation and I am baby sitting the dog... who just so happens to be MY dog! But that's okay. I know that I can't give Penney all the attention and time that she needs. But here I sit and Pen is snuggled up against me, sleeping as I type. A man and his dog... does it get any better? Luvvvvvvvvvv that dog...

Time's Flyin' and I'm Having Fun... at least a little bit

Thursday musings as I throw out random thoughts...

August.... AUGUST??? What the hay?
I can't believe that we're in the eighth month of the year already... wow! Two-a-days start this week and on the hockey side, the main tryout camp for the Cherokee is this weekend. I can't wait... that is going to be soooo much fun...
Lots of little things have been going on... some things I've noticed, other things I haven't until they jump up and bite me... perfect example: I work during the mid-day at the hospital. I don't get to pick up my mail during the week very often because the hours of my local post office are not conducive to my work schedule. So I usually go down there about once a week (maybe) when my schedule permits. I went down there since I had today off... I hadn't been down there since early July... as I tossed away all of the junk mail etc, I discovered a couple of birthday cards that were sent to me (thanks Riccie and Jan) BEFORE my actual birthday (july 15) ! I felt like a big schmoe but then decided to just laugh about it and not take myself too seriously... I'm such a dork!
Woman update: the lady that liked me from the restaurant but I wasn't interested in her... well she's found somebody else! I was happy (and relieved) that she met a nice guy and they're hitting it off... ahhh yes! She was telling me all about it this morning. I sat there and with a big grin and probably seemed too supportive of her about it... ha-ha!
My fridge here at the house went on the fritz... so I'm going to go put it out with the garbage and think about the fact that I don't want to spend the money on a new one. I know someone who works at Whirlpool so I think I may go that route...
Is it me, or has anyone really heard much about that American Idol guy, Taylor Hicks? He did a single that went to #1 (I guess) but he's already jumped to doing jingles for Ford... Isn't that a bit of a step backwards? And so soon? The guy STILL looks like Joey Buttafuco!
And finally, it's been a blessing to write and keep in touch with you all. Even though my schedule is nuts and will jump to warp drive insanity in about two weeks, though I don't write every day anymore, doesn't mean that I don't get a few minutes to read emails and blogs... I'm still thinking about you guys: Tina, Maggs, Jan, Riccie, JXN, etc., you all have been very cool friends and that has made a lasting impression in this tired old scribe... Thanks!

Sunday School at WalMart...

As the song from KISS goes... HOT HOT... HOTTER THAN HELL! It was soooo hot this weekend. I spent my 2 days off from work doing the radio show on Saturday morning and then doing a couple of girls college softball games for TV. I didn't get the benefit of the broadcast booth. So I sat in the blazing sun, roasting from medium rare, to well done. We're talking lobster tan... I was getting wobbly out there with the temp in the 90s and 100% humidity... ahhh life. On Saturday night, I was so exhausted I sat and fell asleep in a chair. I woke up and yakked with a couple of friends (hint: I didn't start chatting with them until I was awakened by their rings. I am such a dork) Sunday, I went to Church in the morning and the message scored a direct hit on my psyche'. I needed to be smacked out of the funk that I was in for a couple of days. I started feeling that light back in my heart and left there feeling MUCH better. I had such a nice chat with God in the car on my way to... WalMart!!! Don't ask me why, but it was a about 15 minutes out of my way... and I felt that I had to go there. I'm glad I did. I grabbed a shopping cart and didn't make it 20 feet into the store when I saw school supplies on sale: ridiculous prices on school supplies. SO I knew right then and there, I had to load up! I went crazy and bought lots of supplies: colored pencils, notebooks, crayons, #2 pencils, glue... you name it. Now I managed to get about 20 more feet into the store when I ran into a friend of mine, Ron, who I hadn't seen in ages. He was telling me about his dad who is in the hospital and struggling a little bit. I smiled and let him know that I knew what he was going through... we stood there and talked for about 20 minutes. I saw another buddy of mine, Rick, who I haven't spent much time with him and his wife. The group of us were talking away like school kids when it occured to both of them that my shopping cart was full of school supplies... and I don't have any kids! I still loaded up and figured that I going to shock the crap out of my sister and brother-in-law and their boys... I'm such a dork! Ha!

Faith, Hope, and Love...

Ahhh,
It feels so good to be home. I have spent the last few days in a whirlwind of activity. Going all over the place and putting miles on my car like crazy. I went and saw my God-daughter. Man, is she getting big. I've been trying to get her to warm up to me... she cries whenever I pick her up... she doesn't like to hug or kiss me... man, it sounds like my love-life... Ha! Well, my other sister is going to the doctor on friday. They told her she indeed has leukemia. But the outlook seems to be more optimistic than previously thought. So we'll see what turns up. As of late, sometimes I can feel my faith being challenged. After losing Doug, and Julie and seeing things go kind of south in personal issues, it would've been easy to give in and say the hell with it all, and blame it on not being able to, or more appropriately, not WANTing to deal with life. But then I do things like go to church and I find messages that seem to speak to me and bring me back to reality and I realize that I have a purpose on this earth and even if I don't have all of the answers, I have to have HOPE. Hope is what sustains me when things don't always go my way. I make myself think about things I want to do in the NEAR future, not the distant. By making myself think about the near future, I find that those goals are reasonably attainable. Thinking about the football and hockey seasons coming up and wondering what games will I be able to broadcast on radio/and or TV? Little things like that are what I make myself focus on until it becomes natural and automatic. Things that are positive and good. I went to the county fair tonight. The house band at the church I go to was invited to play for the 3rd year in a row. It's a dreary, rainy, night and I wasn't expecting much but they pulled it off. The band rocked the house (well in this case, Skeldon Stadium) and people left the dry confines of seats in the baseball stadium underneath the 2nd deck over hang, to go out onto the baseball stadium grass (in the pouring rain) to stand near the band. That coupled with the music they played, was just what the doctor ordered for me. While the rain fell on me, I felt the pain of loss, frustration, exhaustion, dullness, repetition of things in my life... start to roll away with the rain drops that ran down me... I came home and after eating some ice cold watermelon... my tummy is fat and happy and I am ready for a good night's sleep. Gotta work at the hospital and then I have to go to my nephew's and help him fix something on his car (which I know nothing about), and then go somehow try and broadcast a tennis match for TV. I guess I should say broadcast without falling asleep during the match.... zzzzzzzz

Celebrating A Life... or Two

Hmm,
been a wacky couple of days. Yesterday was a tough one. Went to work and then left for a while so I could attend Doug's funeral. That was pretty tough on a lot of folks. I listened as Doug's sister gave the eulogy. It was of fond memories from the earliest childhood up through Doug and Carolyn meeting up and getting married just over a year ago. They lived together for some time but never got hitched until 13 months ago. The minister who did their wedding, also officiated this gathering as well. It was hard to see Doug lying there like that when I seen all of the pictures of him rock climbing. Carolyn was sitting there, looking tired and defeated. The wind taken out of her sails, trying somehow to make sense out of the senseless... Afterwards, I went back to work and sat there for a while. It seemed out of sorts to come back to some sense of normalcy when Carolyn is saying good-bye to the love of her life. Life really whizzes sometimes.
After work, I headed home and was hungry so I stopped at a local restaurant that I frequent and treated myself to a nice dinner. The girl who waited on me is always nice to me. We joke around from time to time and pick on each other when we see each other. On my birthday, when she found out it was that day, she went and brought me out a piece of strawberry pie with a candle on it. Just because. When I went in there yesterday, I saw a huge floral arrangement with a birthday balloon on top of it. I asked her who's birthday it was. She said it was hers. I asked if it came from her boyfriend and she tried to downplay that completely. Apparently it was from a customer who thinks that she's hot stuff. So she was trying to figure out who to dump the flowers on. I think she said her mom... anyway, I was razzing her about something or another and she was asking me about my day. I didn't want to replay it but I told her anyway and it kind of brought both of us down... so I decided right then and there that I wasn't going to end my day like that! I paid my bill, looked at Jaime and just gave a non-chalant nod and said "c'ya later" and left... what she didn't know was that I went to the store and bought a birthday cake, had them put 'happy birthday jaime' on it, and got her a bottle of wine for her and her boyfriend to relax with later... I walked back into the restaurant and surprised the living daylights out of her... she was 12 shades of red and laughing hysterically and totally shocked that I did this. She kept saying over and over 'you shouldn't have done this, I can't believe it!' I just smiled and said "hey, just enjoy yourself" and smiled and left. The look on her face when I made my exit was priceless... I went home in a very good mood... poured myself a diet lime coke and thought of Doug and Jaime... with a smile... Cranked open the computer and saw the great success of Riccie passing her exam. Now that was great! Congrats Riccie! I started the day off not really having much to smile about, but by the time my head hit the pillow, I was feeling a whole lot better...

A day off from work...

Had a day off from work on Thursday and told myself I needed to get some sleep. Boy did I. I think I slept something like 11 hours. I woke up at 6am and caught Fox News Channel's 'Fox and Friends' for a while. I love that show cause it feels like they're my friends and I'm having breakfast with them and we're talking about the day's happenings. They share their own personal opinions and I form mine. It's a blast.
Any way, I woke up late and grabbed a shower before heading back into town. I grabbed some lunch at McDonald's (normally a no-no) but today was a day that I didn't care about much of anything. I went shopping at office max and then went to the grocery store to pick up some stuff. Then I had the daunting task of going to the mortuary to see Doug and pay my respects. Carolyn looked to be okay as she was talking with a few folks. I walked over to the casket and Doug looked a lot older than he did when he was alive. But of course, he went through sheer hell to earn the right to go to heaven at the end of his life. So it all works out in the end, I guess. Anyway, I said a quick prayer and then went over to where Carolyn was talking. She looked over to me and her eyes grew big. She walked over to me and as I went to hug her, she buried her head into my chest and sobbed. She cried and cried and said 'I don't know if I'm going to be able make it through this.' That kind of rocked me. I was not expecting that necessarily. But I sucked it up and very gently, but confidently told her that she would make it. Not because she won't go through any more pain, but rather, although she lost the love of her life, the rest of us were here to hold her up. That it would take all of us to be there for her and do the things for her that Doug was able to do by himself. It clicked in my head that perhaps that is why we grieve so deeply for a spouse or partner. It takes everyone else that we know to mildly substitute for the one person who was able to do everything to satisfy their true love! I told her that we're all going to always miss him and that it will hurt. But that the best way to honor his memory is keep doing what we know how to do... live. Not to forget him, but to keep his memory alive. We talked about some things that Doug used to do. Carolyn managed a small smile and continued to talk with people that came up to offer her condolences. It was hard but I went over watch the video of pictures of him. Wow, I was moved in watching his pictures that documented times in his life. and now that life is over... at least here on earth. It was a little weird in that he passed on the same day (one year later) that my dad did. I shared that with Carolyn and she was stunned as was her son who was standing there. I mentioned the difference was one year and twenty minutes... that was kind of weird. But as I told her (to make her laugh), my big prayer at the time Doug went to heaven was to my dad to go have a beer with Doug while they are up there and that we'll be up there someday... hopefully not too soon. But that we continue to live and honor God and one day be reunited with all of those that have gone before us...
After I left there, I came home for a bit, and went to my kid sister and brother-n-law's... Tried to repair her printer but that was an excersise in futility. Now I'm home and am ready to hit the pillow and try it all again tomorrow... Good Lord willing...

A Solid Rock (climb)

Now then,
I'm more chipper today than yesterday. I am also more sore... more on that in a moment. First, we heard from Carolyn's son yesterday. He said that Carolyn has pulled it all together and is now 'a rock'... She sent the kids to their respective homes because she had 'stuff to do'... It was amazing, the transformation. That really surprised me. I knew how hard she battled to keep him alive. The docs offered her the opportunity to take him off of life-support. She didn't even think twice... NO WAY! Under no circumstances would she do that. He actually came around just enough that she could tell him that she loved him etc., I personally think it was Divine Intervention because Doug lasted long enough so that his step-son could go through with his own marriage a few weeks ago. Not only that, but Chris was able to go on a honeymoon too, I think. Maybe that's why Doug lasted this long. He wanted his family to celebrate all that is good about life, before he went on to eternal life, which is good for him, but sad for us because he's not with us here on earth. And Doug was a good man. A very good man. His accomplishments were many, but his outlook was simple...he loved life. He was an avid outdoorsman who loved hiking and rock climbing... and he was 63 years old!!! I'm more than 20 years younger and I don't even do anything near that active. Holy smokes, I start to sigh when I comb my hair and this guy was rock climbing out west in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming up until this year! Geez, I feel like I need to do a whole lot more living! I am very sad at losing my friend, but am proud that he lived life to the fullest. I only hope that in the remaining time I have left on this earth, that I can pack more LIVING into life... I'm glad to have known Doug for as long as I did...

Bittersweetness...

Well,
Today was one that can be best described as bittersweet. Today was the 1st anniversary of my dad's passing. That was going to be tough to think about. But I got a good awakening from my radio partner Jamo. He called me on Sunday morning (while I was sitting in Church) and told about a phone call from the Golf Channel last night. The Channel wanted us to follow and film the golfer from the LPGA who's name is Natalie Gulbis. In her history, she very briefly dated Ben Rothlisberger last year. She does a reality show on the Golf Channel called (oddly enough) 'The Natalie Show'. Jamo, Dave and me had to wait for the producer to fly in from Florida to tell us what he wanted us to shoot. Most of the footage was of Natalie's dad. She and he are very close and he looks more like a biker that the father of an LPGA professional. Well since the LPGA was in Toledo for the Jamie Farr golf tournament, we were amongst the throng of people who were out there in the insanely hot weather. The heat index was well over 100 degrees farrenheit. I had to carry a TV video camera all over the golf course. It was heavy and I sweat myself silly. I walked all over the course. I was severly dehydrated and hadn't eaten much. But we got a lot of video footage and we thought for sure that Natalie would win. But she missed a key putt and finished regulation tied for first and ended up in a two hole playoff to determine the winner and lost. Prior to the playoff, the producer was making plans for Jamo, Dave, and I to follow Natalie out and about to paint the town red for her first victory on the LPGA tour. But instead, she finished in second and went to her rented house to be alone... So the producer, Jamo, Dave, and yours truly went to dinner and ate and really had a great time. I felt kind of odd because it was the anniversary of my dad heading to heaven. But my family told me earlier in the day that He would be proud of me... so I took it as a good sign.
I came home late Sunday night with the feeling of sheer exhaustion. I thought I'd check my email and head for bed... got a note from a co-worker that told me that Doug passed away on Sunday afternoon. That hit me in the solar-plexis... one year after losing my dad to the day. Wow. I didn't need that... Carolyn is a mess. She's trying to stay strong but is losing the battle. I really feel for her... God is picking himself up a good man. I hope that Carolyn can feel God's love. She's going to need it to survive a terrible blow like this...God Bless Doug... and Carolyn!

Ups, Downs, and Updates

How do,
This week started out pretty good... I was in rare form while figuring out what I was going to get Dylan for his birthday. I was all set to go see him and do the 'birthday' thing with him. But they opted for celebrating it this friday at Dyl's favorite place... the bowling alley! I personally can't stand bowling but I will be out there throwing that ball down the lane, making a fool out of myself because I love that kid... I'm still feeling a bit stung because with the joy of Dylan's birthday and the AAA baseball all-star game was here in Toledo this week and I had an absolute blast by my friends. The hospital network that I work for was the title sponsor for the week's events. I couldn't believe how much fun we had, but that was no match for my sister Lou's announcement that her docs believe she has leukemia... not much to smile about there... I've been having a wild variety of thoughts go through my head. My birthday is this weekend. Also this weekend is the first anniversary of my father's passing. Now Lou is dealing with this. I can't deal with it all. I ate like a moose the last few days. I don't know what to think or do. I'm used to being able to fix things or come up with a solution when it comes to my family. Right now I feel helpless and am kind of hacked off that I can't really do anything. But that is what true faith in God is, by it's very definition: the ability to believe when there is no reasonable explanation to show why something has or has not happened.
Today was day one of the Jamie Farr LPGA golf tournament. It's being held here in Toledo (okay the suburb of Sylvania... work with me here!) and I will look forward to it as I have to broadcast our radio show on Saturday morning from the tournament... Our show is a golf show after all... My head is swimming right now thinking about everything and nothing at the same time... ahhhh the heck with it. I'm going to stand on my faith for Lou and I am looking forward to enjoying myself this weekend...
Doug Update: I know it's been a while since I've mentioned my friend Doug. He was on death's door. We thought it was just a matter of hours till the end. But through faith and prayer (even his doctors don't know how he's hanging on), Doug is still alive. They still don't know how. My faith tells me he's still alive because he has a purpose. I believe he is still on earth, instead of in it, for a specific reason. I hope it's to survive and turn a negative into a positive and give God the glory... Keep fighting Doug!!! Carolyn has been off of work for about three months now and has not left his side... she loves him so... God Bless Her!

Lobster-fest (sunshine editon)

Before any of you go thinking that I spent the weekend eating seafood, the lobster reference is a reflection of how I spent the weekend out in the sun and let's just say I didn't have any suntan lotion nor shade for that matter. I am beet red and it hurts just to make facial expressions. I spent my days off (from the hospital) doing work for the TV station and I was broadcasting motocross (dirtbike racing) on Saturday, and Baseball on Sunday. I was fried by the time I made it home on Sunday. I thought about going and doing something but I ended up falling asleep watching the TV screen (hint: the TV was NOT turned on)... Well, today is day two with a new cell phone and new number. Those of you that have followed my blog for a while know about my previously delightful cell-phone experiences involving hoodies and toilets! Yippeeeeee! (no pun intended). Anyway, I switched carriers as soon as my T-mobile (aka 'useless') contract was up and now am with Verizon... hope things go better with them... at least they can hear me now... Good! And before I forget, a very happy 10th birthday to my nephew Dylan. That kid never fails to amaze me with how cool he is... and he's only 10 years old!!! He and his brother are two of the smartest (and craftiest) wise acres that I know... I feel like I'm chatting with two adults sometimes... I guess I am getting old...

Sleeping through fireworks

Tuesday was a day that was lonnnng and boring... Went and had breakfast at my usual stomping grounds. The waitress I know asked if I was going to work and I acknowledged that I was... she said "ohhhhh, wow, I didn't think that you'd have to work today..." she said it in a way that suggested that she wanted to do something today... maybe with me. I don't know and I don't really want to know... Work was borrring to say the least, but at least it's time and a half. I came home and thought about going to downtown Toledo and watching the fireworks but told myself to just walk to the beach and catch them from home... of course I was sitting on my butt watching a movie when the fireworks went off, so I opted for the movie instead...I'm such a dork!

Red White and feeling blue no more...

Ohhh man...
I'm dragging but a good kind of dragging... This weekend was the first one where I didn't have to go out of town or work at the hospital in quite some time... To say that I needed this time off is a great, great understatement... The area here on the lake where I live had an area-wide garage-sale day today. I left early Saturday morning to go and do my radio show and when I came back home and went to park alongside my house... people who I didn't even know had already parked on my grass... I saw them come towards the car and very politely asked them to move their vehicle because I had to park my car and I lived there. They said "you should put a sign on your property that says 'no parking'... it took everythng I had to not laugh outloud and say "um, now explain to me why I would put up a no parking sign on my own property"???? But the locals near me got a kick out of it and we enjoyed the day's proceedings. People were very friendly and it was actually a terrific time... People were walking up and down the streets and we laughed lots and lots... After doing a little garage sale-ing, I went home and took a brief nap. My sister called and her and her sister-in-law and their kids were putzing around since both of their husbands were working. I invited them over since I'm only about 45 yards from the beach. Plus, we had the fireworks going off at about ten... so they all came over and were surprised at where I live... They didn't realize how close to the beach I was...
At night-fall, the kids were all giddy with anticipation... I watched them swim out in the lake and they just had a ball. They ate corn dogs, elephant ears, and other food that was unhealthy. I wish I could've fed them (and me) more... we drank fresh squeezed lemonade and it was so wonderful. When the fireworks started, we all sat on the beach and I watched my nephews and the expressions on their faces said it all... They were applauding throughout the fireworks display since it was literally right over their heads. They watched in awe... I am so jaded from being able to appreciate simple pleasures like that anymore... but watching them in their innocence, appreciate something so simple as a fireworks display, really touched me inside. So maybe I'm just jaded and these things don't always mean as much to me... but to watch them look at the night sky as if it held the key to their happiness, It caused my heart to warm and grow which is something it hasn't done in quite sometime. As we walked back to my house and said so long, the boys were grateful and I just said "hey, no problem... come on back". Inside I wanted to say 'thank you guys for restoring some of the warmth I used to have' and letting me feel like a kid again... even though my innocence waved bye-bye to me a long time ago, I still felt a flicker of it on Saturday night... I have to find a lot of gratitude in that...

Rebound from feeling down and questions about Tree Town

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. I think I did for the most part... Worked at the hospital all day on Saturday and was supposed to go to a graduation party... instead, I walked down to the local watering hole and chowed down on a burger and had one beer. I didn't feel like going and hanging out with the high school kids. I was thinking about my dad. I wasn't completely depressed or anything like that, but it's coming up on one year since he passed away and I have been thinking about him alot lately. I was asked by one of my sisters to bring over the DVD that me and my friend made of my dad that was shown at the mortuary. I knew I didn't want to watch it again and go down memory lane. But I watched it anyway... I watched it and cried like a baby... I really miss him. But I felt sooooooooooo much better afterwards. I went and dropped it off at my sister's. She popped it in and promptly wept. But again, she felt better. I needed to let that pain out of my system and continue with life... I left there and had a smile on my face. I just did... went to the women's football team end of the season party. Turns out it's the end of the Toledo Spitfire party... The franchise is being moved to Ann Arbor, MI and be known as the Tree Town Spitfire. Some of the players will stay with the team, others will not. Some of the coaches will be leaving. A couple of others will stay. It's going to be different. I think the team is under the impression that I'll be coming back. To be honest, I'm not so sure. I'm getting tire of everything (losing, dissention in the ranks, etc...) and I may need a break and do something else next spring... we shall see... if I had to decide right now, I wouldn't be back. I'd leave... but I love the ownership, they are really wonderful people... I guess I don't love them enough to stay... but I love them alot... Man, I wish hockey season would get here... ha!

Sick to death of...

My, my, my...
It's been a strange week. I've had a couple of setbacks, but I've been able to still feel very positive and (dare I say it) hopeful! At the end of last week, a very close friend of my sister's, lost her 17 year-old son in a car wreck just a few miles from my house. Also, the brother of the team president of our hockey team passed away the same day from liver failure and lung cancer. On Sunday (father's day) a long-time friend of mine, Julie, lost her battle with cancer over at hospice. I had known Julie for about 20 years... She was a doll. She would call me on the phone at work at the hospital anytime she saw me broadcasting on TV (she would be a patient at the time), and tell me that she was watching me on TV and how cool that was. I would just shrug it off and say thanks because I always downplay my supposed 'celebrity'... But now it's sad because I didn't give more consideration to the fact that she was a big fan of mine. I didn't consider it before because I never wanted to have an 'ego'... so I always downplayed any compliments. But I have learned from Julie's passing that she had an appreciation for life and the people in it... She was a pediatric nurse and a might fine one. She will be missed by her hubby and family obviously. But she will also be missed by her hospital family as well... Enjoy paradise Julie, say hello to my parents for me...
Despite the events of the last week, I have realized in my heart that I am yearning for more... more out of my life. I've been frustrated at times but I've learned that I have to like myself and to do more for those around me if I am to expect greater things in my life... I am learning to appreciate life a whole lot more than I did before... I used to consider myself a fatalist because to be honest, I wasn't truly happy with my life. I was miserable because I was missing something. We are all empty in some aspect of ourselves. Some have financial success, but are missing something emotionally or spiritually. Some have their poop in a group in terms of being responsible but aren't either financially or physically able to do anything. We all have our shortcomings. But I've learned that instead of seeing each other's imperfections, that it is more fulfilling to focus on what is good about each other... and to appreciate that!

Four Days Off and Missing Dad...

Happy Father's Day! (where applicable)
Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Me, I'm just trying to recoup from the weekend that was... I've travelled throughout the midwest. I've gotten to know the different ports of call that are a thrill to say the least. I'm tired but it's a good kind of tired. I could expound about the different things that happened to me this weekend but it pales in comparison. I have been involved in things ranging from rockers and festivals to blue grass (hi JXN) and the fact that the women's football team won their season finale and there was celebration amongst the masses... okay about 30 0f us... but I digress...
The most important thing that really hit home for me was that this weekend was father's day and it was the first without my ol' man... Even that was not soooo bad... but in one of the movies that were being shown on the bus to Erie, PA on Saturday was 'Glory Road' and part of the soundtrack included the motown classic 'Shotgun' from Jr. Walker and the Allstars. That was my father's absolute, all-time favorite song... bar none! Didn't matter what mood my dad was in, when he heard that song, I could see my ol'man start shucking and jiving like a kid... it would bring an instant smile to my face and to those around him. I remember at my kid sister's wedding when the DJ struckup 'Shotgun'... our whole entire family surrounded my father and we danced like crazy fools and it is one memory I'll always remember! Sunday was my first without my pop... It was bittersweet in that I smiled at the memories that I have of that song but it still didn't matter... my dad's gone and anytime that I see the Cubs play baseball, or hear that song, I think of him and miss him tremendously. I wish he was healthy and around. But I know that he is in a much better place and I'm not here to wish him back on any terms... He's in paradise... why would I wish him to be pulled away from that?

Bugging Me...

Trying to dig out of the storm that is freaking MAYFLIES!!! I woke up to a complete coating of my car of those sorry things. I was cleaning my house windows of those stink-bugs and was in my slippers... only to slip as I was on what I thought was my grass... nope, you guessed it... my grass was completely coated in mayflies... UHHHGH!!! I threw away my slippers immediately. The street cleaner had to come down my street 4 times to clean some of the those crud bugs off of the road... the funny part is that they'll have to come back every morning to get it cleaned for another month.
Anyway, I went on Wednesday night to see a private screening of the new Jack Black flick 'Nacho Libre'... it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. It opens on Friday. I laughed out loud several times... It's actually pretty safe to take the family... something unusual for JB films... the wrestling scenes are cheesy but Jack is Jack and I laughed...
Well, I don't know what else to say except that I hope that you all are well. I am feeling better because I've slept more and have the mayflies to keep me occupied... oh joy! Going out of town so I'll try and touch base sometime this weekend... Peace (an NO mayflies)...

May-flies... In June?

Whew! what a weekend! I survived my insane schedule and am enjoying a nice Sunday night/Monday morning watching the moonlight outside my window. Of course living on the lake, I have the unique pleasure of watching the mayflies land on my house... and stay there! Ugh! I hate these things. For those of you that might not know, on Lake Erie, for between 4-6 weeks every June, the mayflies hatch and bombard the local communities that are right on the lake. Mayflies are harmless flies (or bugs with huge wings) that do nothing but hatch, fly around and land (and stay) near anything warm and bright, and reproduce... all within 24 hours... and then they die. Wow, some could make the argument about the quality of life a mayfly has vs. humans... but I digress.
Church was really good today. They had a guest speaker who spoke about the DaVinci code and as he so eloquently put it: "why the davinci code is always in the fiction section!" I can't wait for the church to put this video teaching up on their website... verrrry imformative. And very interesting. The guy's name is Tom Short. He doesn't just try to feed people church position and the usual "believe us or you'll go to hell" sentiment. Instead, as Dan Brown tried to make points with the 'lost gospels' etc... Tom Short shows documentation that debunks every thing that Dan Brown 'infers' about Jesus. Very thought prevoking stuff... for christians and non christians alike.
Spent the rest of the day at graduation parties... ate too much food and came home to mow the lawn and clean the sides of the house of mayflies... UGH!

Let Me Sleep On It

Well,
It's been a few days since last I've written. Just been extremely busy. More than I care to be. Several of you have emailed and asked about the ol' energy level and how I do it... To be honest, most of it is because I have no real responsibility to anyone. No wife/kids etc... My jobs are about communication and the people that I work with in my main job think it's cool that I am on radio and TV so they help me anytime that I need a change in my schedule. But I answer to no one but God and when I look in the mirror. Sounds like a life to be envied, but to be honest, it's not... like the old saying goes: 'the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, but they have to water and cut that grass too.' I think the thing that bothers me, is that I'm always tired. I have 'just enough' energy to keep going everyday. But I'm always exhausted. One thing about this hectic pace: I'm getting more sound sleep. I used to just sleep about 4-5 hours a night (on a good night). Now, I still have short nights but I'll get about 5-6 hours solid shut-eye between 4-5 days out of the week... on a day off if I don't have anything going on in the afternoon, I'll sneak a nap in... Sundays in the summer, I turn into Rip Van Mik as I wake up and go to Church, but in the afternoon I'm usually counting sheep when ever possible... I'll contribute something maybe remotely interesting this weekend. But this is my feeble attempt to let those who emailed, that yes, I am still alive and ticking... nighty night... Zzzzzz

Drinks, Rinks, Links, and Rock (me thinks)

You know something? I've got to say I am comfortably numb... no, not from any drinking unless you consider Diet Coke with Lime to be a highly toxic elixir. I am way beyond exhausted. I've gotten a lot of things done, not the least of which was to find a trainer or trainers for the Cherokee tryout camp this weekend. If you read my previous post, I was in a mild panic because the person who was going to be the athletic trainer for the weekend, backed out and left me kind of hanging. I was not thrilled at the proposition of trying to find coverage for the camp with only 3 days to do it, but I knew I had to have faith. More importantly, I had to demonstrate it. I got some friends from work who stepped up to the plate for me. (side note: thanks Rebecca for being willing to do band aid duty... By the way, do they make the band aids out of potatoes out there in Idaho? LOL) I was so grateful to have them offer to help. My great friend DJ who's an ER physician came out on thursday night and when we walked into the rink, I was stunned to find that our old trainer came back for the camp. He didn't tell anyone until he got there. So I had to tell the people that I struggled to get to cover, that I didn't need them afterall... arrrrrrrrrgh! Anyway, DJ and I hung out together and talked like a couple of school girls as we hadn't seen each other face to face in over a year. But we hung out at the rink and then went to get a bite to eat and talk some more. DJ is now interested in being the team doctor if his schedule will allow. I was happy as DJ is truly my manic counter balance. We both know that we have each other to lean on if the other is going down the tubes because of work, life, or the women in our lives, etc... you get the picture.
Anyway, Friday was an incredibly long day. Woke up just before 6am, went to Krogers for doughnuts, over to my buddy Todd's radio show on Yes FM and did an interview on the air with him, went to pay my car insurance, all before I went into work at the hospital. After the hospital, I went to the rink for more tryouts, left early as my nephew Tony graduated from high school and I had to drive across town for that. After the commencement finished and everyone went outside, we got hit with a wicked rain and lightning storm almost on cue. I got soaked but was still in good spirits. Was supposed to go downtown to a going away part for a couple of girls I know, Erin and Rachel, who are taking new jobs within the hospital... Saturday was almost a carbon copy of Friday, except I started with my own golf show on our sports radio station. Everything else was more of the same. Except that I had two hours to myself this afternoon before the Spitfire women's football game I had to broadcast. So I zipped home and fell asleep for a little over an hour and I felt so refreshed. After the game, which Toledo lost 20-6 , I almost went to a bar I know to see a band play. I was too tired and went home. The reason I had wanted to go was because Jada Pinkett Smith is the singer in the band that was playing. I'm not kidding. JPS is the lead singer in a heavy metal band... I'M NOT KIDDING! Yes, the same Jada Pinkett-Smith who is married to the fresh prince himself, Will Smith! A heavy metal band??? In an interview with the local paper here in town, she said that in addition to all types of music in the house growing up, a couple of big favorites were Iron Maiden and Judas Priest... huh???? I guess it's not an everyday happening that young, incredibly beautiful african-american girls dream of fronting a heavy metal band... I still am trying to figure this out... I wonder how she would've done on 'American Idol' ? On second thought...

Tears for Fears (or for Van Morrison fans... Dancing in da Escanaba Moonlight)

Watched a beautiful sunrise this morning. Watching it rise up over the lake was very refreshing. I needed to see some beauty to get my batteries recharged. This has been a long week and I've been short on sleep and am now officially in mild panic mode. Reason: Cherokee tryout camps are here starting Thursday and going thru Sunday and I have to find a trainer for the tryouts. My original trainer was all set to go and then on Monday emailed me and told me he can't do it afterall (His wife said NO). I'm trying to find someone that would be willing to do it. Just sit there and watch and hang out and only treat cuts or the odd bloody nose or two from the occasional fight that goes bad. Just little things. Anything major would require a trip to the hospital anyway... so a small amount of work would be all they would be responsible for. Ahhh life! Taylor Hicks was on Fox & Friends this morning. It was funny like always, but I have a small question about the new American Idol: is it just me, or does Taylor Hicks look like Joey Buttafuco???

Long Days and Short Nights

Thinking about coming to the end of a 22 hour day. It started early long before dawn. Went and got up and did some show prep for the return to radio. I wasn't nervous until I got to the station. I figured Mike and Dave would be there but I was the first to arrive at the studio. I got out of my car and just stood in the parking lot, looking at the studios and thinking about the past. My years in radio coming back to me... Going home again, sort of. I had a chance to continue in radio across town at the rival Fox Sports Radio affiliate, but didn't take the chance. I was afraid. I didn't feel right about it. When my buddy Jamo told me about going back to the old station (the ESPN radio affiliate) I was anxious at first. My show got axed because the sales manager got bumped from his time slot because of Ohio State football so guess who was the odd man out? I took the high road about it and have not once said anything negative about the then sales manager nor the program director. Even though I wanted to strangle them both... lol... But I have since worked with the sales mgr who works at the TV station I work at and we had a good heart to heart talk about everything and cleared the air and get along great. The PD is always polite to me whenever I see him but I can tell he was always glad that I was gone. Jamo told me when Norm asked him to do the show, and Jamo told him that Todd, Dave and I were coming back to work with Jamo, that Norm kind of winced and didn't say much. Jamo also told him that I was coming back with the hope of doing my own show again sometime, Norm just rolled his eyes. I know that he doesn't want me there (even though he won't say it). But I'm not going to do anything but be polite and respectful. I'm sure that Norm will listen to every show... Our first show back was okay. We laughed alot and we were a little rusty from not working on air together for over 4 years. But it was still okay. We're going to be a bit rusty starting out but I think we still have a good chemistry and it will work out okay.
Left the radio station and went to the bus and headed to Cincinnati for women's football. We lost 27-14 but played well. I am pulling into Toledo early (as I write this entry, I'm still on the bus) and won't get home until about 3am... I have to get up on sunday morning to go to church. Right after church I have to drive to Detroit to go to an Islamic wedding. A first for me... Should be interesting... I also have to work on Monday (a double header of soccer in the morning for TV, and then 8 hours at the hospital in the afternoon...) My whole next week is like that. yeesh, I'm whipped... I'll yak at y'all later

Jack Frostless My Sweet Dupa

So now I'm sitting here watching more playoff hockey and yelling at my fridge and frostless freezer. Why you ask? Oh, the answer is simple. The dang thing has ice build up! That's why! When I travel with the Spitfire women's football team down to Cincinnati this weekend, I'm going to unplug it and let the ice melt. Of course I'll have to move all the frozen food that is in there but since I don't have a ton of stuff in there, I'll take my chances...
Nothing new with Doug. Carolyn called today to thank us for sending her a gift basket of munchies etc. for her and her family. She said he had a stable night but things are still very critical. His kidneys are starting to fail and he's on dialysis now. The clots in his stomach are starting to clear up a little but his breathing is still in the toilet. I'm po'd when I think about it because Doug and Carolyn deserve better. They are very good people and I'm just hacked off that they have to go through this... But I guess I should be grateful. There but for the grace of God go I.... Talked to my sister Lou today. She's getting frustrated because her physical therapy isn't going well. When she first had the majority of her foot amputated, they told her it might be a year before she got back to walking again. Well, she thought it would be sooner and actually was doing well ahead of schedule. But now she's got a problem with a nerve in her back. She's going to go see her doc today so I hope it all works out... I'm trying to figure out why I'm in such an ornery mood... there's nothing on my mind that I'm pondering. I'm not in a bad mood, per se'. But I'm feeling cantankerous for some reason. I dunno... Well, I guess this saturday I make my return to radio... sort of. I'm am reforming a golf show with the guy who gave me my first shot in radio all those years ago. I'll be Jamo's sidekick once again... with our other sidekicks Dave and Todd... should be interesting... we'll be on Saturday mornings from 8-9am ET on WLQR 1470 'The Ticket'.... I'm going to try and stream the show on my website http://cherokee.totalink.net and see if that works... I'll be doing the Spitfire-Sizzle women's football game from Cincinnati on Saturday night. I hope they don't break out into a pier six brawl like the last time they did when they played in Toledo...

The 3 amigos

My nephews Dylan and Brendan... with (what used to be) MY DOG!!! This picture made it into a local magazine in a story entitled "kids and their pets" ... My sister and brother-in-law refer to Penney as 'the attention wh*re'... doesn't matter what they're doing... Penney wants to be in the middle of everything...

Me and My Gal

Me and my fat head... getting a smooch from the only girl that matters to me... My nephew is in the backround wondering why we're watching 'Andy Griffin' on the TV...

Pigskin or not to Pigskin? That is the question

My what a weekend...
here we are in the off-season of traditional football, and I actually had a weekend off this weekend from the Spitfire women's football team... a rarity! So what's to do in Toledo on a weekend off? Watch football stuff of course! Tonight instead of going out and catching a birthday party for one of the Spitfire players, I stayed home and caught 'Remember the Titans' on TV. It still is one of the better football movies I've seen. Plus yesterday, Charlie Weis, the head football coach for Notre Dame (one of my old favorites from when I was a kid), was in town to speak on behalf of a local charity for Autism. Charlie truly is one of a kind... Anyway... other stuff... Doug is still hanging on and is baffling doctors at this point. They don't know what's keeping him alive. They asked Carolyn if she wanted to take him off of the machines and she said 'no'. They didn't think he'd make it past last monday and here we are on saturday and he's managed to hang on still... God has got a good guy in his hands... I only pray that he does what is best for Himself, Doug, and Carolyn. What more can we ask for?

No Runs, Mis-hits, Cold Air...

I've decided that I am a pimple of the butt of humanity. I'm cold, tired, and sick of rain. It has rained every day for the last two weeks. I'm sick of it. I had to broadcast a ball game today on the TV station. We couldn't sit in the press box and they stuck us in left field... literally. One of the players hit a line drive right at us. I was cool as a cucumber on the air, but I just about dropped a deuce in my drawers. Then another pop foul ball came down just to the left of me... I had to laugh... plus, the temperature (which this time of year is around the mid 70's) dropped like a rock into the 40's... I didn't bring a jacket cause I thought we'd be in the press box where it was warm... oops! The wind was blowing at about 40 mph... making things down right freezing... I was so cold that I struggled to keep my teeth from chattering on the air. The game was exciting. But I was so cold that I didn't really care. Stopped and got a bite to eat and came home to nod off... Doug update: not too good I'm afraid. His lungs are a little better and clearer, but he is now bleeding internally. I'm afraid it's looking a bit grim for my friend... I'm trying not to think about the whole thing... it makes me sad. It's in God's hands now... his will be done.

A Mom and Pop Shop...

First off, Happy Mother's Day to you all that are Mothers in some form or another. I hope you all had a happy and enjoyable day. My parents are both up in Heaven so I had them on the brain over the last couple of days. Especially my dad. I don't know why. I guess I just miss him right now. I haven't followed the Cubs much this baseball season. I think that I must be in a little funk right now because I've been thinking about him a lot lately. I had a dream about him last night. I dreamt that I was in different places and each place I went, he was sitting there in a chair, watching me. I finally went up to him and hugged him and told him I loved him. I woke up and for a split second, thought he was here on earth again. It was at first scary, but I got rid of that feeling quickly when I realized that maybe my dad really loves me. It wasn't a nightmare. My folks are in a much better place than I am. They're happy. I'm glad they aren't in pain anymore. They aren't suffering. In fact, they are experiencing the ultimate in love... I know that I miss them and love them a ton. Maybe that's why I've been sort of surly today. I went to Church and the topic for today's service was 'marriage'... Oh perfect! I can't even imagine marrying someone but I toughed it out and didn't dismiss it altogether... BUT...
I don't know... Well my dog Penney and my 2 nephews had their picture in a local parenting magazine called 'Toledo Parent'... the boys are 9 and 7 while Pen is a little 3 year old mini-daschund... It was for an article called "kids and their pets"... I let the kids and their mom and dad keep my dog because theirs turned on them. Well, with all of my travelling for broadcasting it wasn't fair to my Penney to be alone for a few days at a time... so I told them they could "borrow" her... Let's put it this way... my sister says of how they feel about "their" dog: "the boys absolutely love her. And as for my husband, after 10 years of marriage, I thought I'd have to worry about him being bored and looking at women... i didn't think the woman in question would be a damn dog!" the little dog sleeps with my sister and brother-in-law... need I say more :)~ Well, another week of work awaits so I'll yak at you folks later... Peace...

Understand

Didn't feel much like anything today... I think this song by Jeremy Camp says it all:

Artist: Jeremy Camp
Album: Stay
Track: Understand

Every time I fall down on my face
I see the one who bore all my shame
To know that you are everything I need you to be
You're my ever present help in time of need

I know you understand it all
So why don't I get back on my feet again

Every pain I feel inside my heart
It takes a faith I know I can't depart
To know that you hear every cry I raise to you
Bringing thoughts of hope the words I bring I know are few

I know you understand it all
So why don't I get back on my feet again

You hear me when I call
You're there when I fall
You hear me when I call

I know you understand it all
So why don't I get back on my feet again

No beers... just a cold case...

Ahhh a day off!
Slept in this morning and felt great waking up. I stayed in bed and tuned in 'Fox & Friends' on Fox News Channel. I would doze in and out and wake up laughing because I love Steve, E.D., and Brian. They really get my mornings off to a good start... even if the news of the day is lousy. I went out to eat breakfast at a local restaurant here and hung out there for a while, talking to the waitresses and the two cooks... I laughed lots and felt good. I was talking with the one waitress who would flirt with me but I let her know that I wasn't trying to hit on her... I know that she was going through a tough time so I found a computer that I could slap a couple of new parts in and it works like new... so I'm going to give it to her... not for money, not for 'anything else', not for any kind of personal gain... I can't do it for any other reason other than to 'be a blessing'... I'm not mentioning it here for any kind of accolades or a pat on the back. I'm just mentioning it because that is how I've spent part of my day. I want the day to go well... and so far it has.
Locally, the big news is the verdict in the Fr. Robinson trial. He was found guilty of in the murder of a nun, Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl, which happened back in 1980... This was a 'cold case'... Lots of famous forensic folks came into town to testify... Henry Li, Dr. Sutton, et al... The case was re-opened 2 years ago and the trail led to him. Court TV was here for the whole thing and downtown Toledo was wall-to-wall satellite TV trucks... This priest was sentenced today also... an unusual occurrence in a trial. He'll get 15 to life. Because of the state statute, that was the only sentence available to him so it was easy for the Judge to pass sentence today. And at age 68, that is a life sentence for him. Wow... It's really shook up the Catholic community here... don't know what to make of it... My only thought is that if he really did it, then I'm glad that justice is served. I don't care if he wears a collar or not. If he's guilty, he's being punished. End of story... After the verdict, he was sent to the Lucas County Jail where he is being kept from other inmates because they all want a shot at him. He is also on a suicide watch. So the TV around here has been nothing but this trial. Thank God for sports. Been watching lots of playoff hockey and have enjoyed the heck out of it. Well, work awaits so I'll talk to y'all later... K?

Catching Up (part deux)

ARRRRRGH,
Okay, there... I needed to get crap out of my system. This week started out so nice. I had a couple of unexpected surprises to go my way. I thought that this week would be a good one. So much for that! I had a lousy game with the TV station. I made 3 very glaring errors during a broadcast. Boy was I hacked off about that. I could just feel the migrane wanting to kick in but good. I'm wishing at this point to crawl under a rock. So I do what is not in normal range for me anymore. I go back home and walk down the block to the local watering hole, and toss back a few cold beers. Normally, this would be another non-event in my life except that while tipping my cold ones... I was in conversation with the bartender who was also in another conversation with someone else and the other person mistook my comment to the bartender as a comment directed at them. So I'm on that person's black list. Beautiful... I'm having a banner day as the Labatt's are being tossed down. So, after I had enough to eat and drink, I walk home (all 50 yards) and check my email. I find something that one of my hockey friends sent me and laugh. SO... I sent it to my email address book, figuring in my liquid state, that some others might find it amusing as well. Apparently not, as I got about 3 emails saying it wasn't nice... The bad part is that I vaguely remember what it was about since I deleted it from my computer right after I forwarded it. Ahhhh Life! So to any who reads this and were offended by some dumb email I sent after tossing some beers down, hey, I apologize, okay? Nothing I can do to take it back... I'm just not doing anything right this week. I was trying to compliment a co-worker today and it ended up coming across as a slam. Jeez, I feel like Schlep-rock from the 'Pebbles and Bam-Bam' cartoon. Oh wow-zy, wow-zy, woo-woo... Or like eeyore from 'Winnie the Pooh' ... you get the idea... PITY PARTY!!!
All right, enough about my lame-butt... Got word from Carolyn that Doug is doing a little bit better. The swelling is down and his oxygen levels have improved quite a bit. He still is in ICU at UofM but has been able to open his eyes. Never thought I'd get so excited about something that is so taken for granted. He's still in an unconscious state. He still has a trach in and on a ventilator but his B/P and heart rate are strong. Thank God. I'm glad something is going in the right direction. Carolyn says that they think it will take at least another month for him to turn the corner as they still don't know what the virus is that they are battling... She is whipped and will not leave Doug's bedside. Now that's love... Some friends are thinking of getting together and donating some vacation time to help Carolyn out as she is staying up in Ann Arbor which is about 40 minutes from Toledo...
Tomorrow is a much needed day off... I don't know what I'm doing but I'm going to enjoy myself because otherwise, I think I'm going to go batty... ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!

Catching Up (part one)

Sorry it's been a while since I've written. I've been on the go, in and out of town, and lots of stuff going on. I've really logged the miles. But that's showbiz, now isn't it? Let's see, since last I wrote, my friends Carolyn and Doug and what Doug has been battling... His body was/is full of edema and it's viral. At first they thought that Doug caught something when they were vacationing in Mexico. But after checking some tests and stuff, it turns out he started showing symptons before they had left. Anyway, Doug's adenoids were so swollen that they had to have an ENT specialist (ear, nose, and throat), come in to try and remove some of the excess fluid off of him... They took 20 lbs... that's twenty POUNDS of fluid off of his face... they also are going to trach him... that really sucks but I guess that it has to be done so he can breathe... It's never fun to see someone who's on a breathing machine in ICU... but to see that ventilator hooked up to a newly created hole in their throat so they can breathe... that just whizzes. But at least he's still alive. They think they might have a beat on what is wrong with him but are not sure... so they transferred him to the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor... I've never liked the Wolverines in sports but when it comes to a friend's life... then I say GO BLUE!!!