I’d been grumbling for the last couple of weeks that we
weren’t getting a day off for the Fourth
of July at work. On Thursday, I was
walking someone out and noticed a sign on the door saying we’d be closed on
Monday. Rather than being happy, I was
panicked since we have to have holidays set in advance on our computer
system. I immediately called my boss. We’d had conversations earlier in the year
about whether or not there was going to be a day off for this holiday. Apparently, they’d decided last month that we
were going to have Monday off, but nobody told me. I would have felt dumb about this, but apparently
I wasn’t the only person confused about this.
No official announcement was ever made.
Okay, since there was no harm done at work and I didn’t
show up on Monday with no else there, now we’re happy about getting a three-day
weekend. I had big plans for the time,
which involved me watching TV and eating out.
I know. I’m terribly ambitious
and should moderate my activities. On
Saturday, my plans achieved fruition, though not quite the way I’d thought they
would.
Dad’s TV is still not able to pick up NBC right now. I’ve offered
to buy him a new antenna, but he wasn’t interested. Going over to his apartment to watch the two NASCAR races on NBC this weekend was my
first choice. Ron wanted to watch the
races too and suggested going over to his father’s house. That was good with me. For lunch, we picked up a pizza . . . for
$26! It was 20” large New York style
pizza with three toppings, but ouch! It
was good and the both of us were floored after only eating two slices
apiece. Keep in mind, the pieces were
probably about the size of two normal large slices. The thing was huge.
I’d love to give a detailed synopsis of the NASCAR Xfinity race at Road America. While I did watch the race, there were three
furry distractions in the house at the time.
The dogs were pretty rambunctious.
Moreover, there was an enormous amount of action on track that would
make an easy summary impossible. (Not to
mention, it’s kind of weird taking notes on a race on TV in front of people.) I was rooting for AJ Allmendinger. He managed
to go from last to first at later in the race, but couldn’t hold the lead on
old tires.
Kyle
Busch passed AJ for the win.
Kyle had gone off track twice in the race earlier. Actually, the only boring part of the race
was when he’d taken the lead and dominated late in the race. Kyle had said earlier in his career that he’d
quit the series after 100 Xfinity wins.
He’s well past that now. Nobody’s
sure what he’s going to do after this season.
Ron and I went out for ice cream at Caliches. Unfortunately,
about 50 other people had the same idea at the same time. Even standing out in the heat for 15 minutes,
I’d have to say it was worth it. I had a
blue raspberry Italian ice mixed with their frozen custard. Back at the house, I made the bad mistake of
having another piece of the pizza before eating the ice cream. I had a bellyache for the rest of the
night. Ron also had one more piece, and
his brother, who was also at the house, ate the last two. (That was a couple of hours before he went
out for dinner. Wendell has a prodigious
appetite.)
Ron and I wanted some baseball. He started watching Arizona playing the Giants,
before realizing it was a replay of last night’s game. We then found the Padres versus the Phillies. It had been delayed a couple of hours for
rain. Philly Rhys Hoskins hit a home run, but missed first and had to run back
for it. The game was stopped again in
the fourth by rain and something that looked like a funnel cloud overhead.
The Dodgers/Nationals
game came on at 5:00 on FOX. I’d thought I’d be home by now and watching
this game, or SRX Racing, and/or
listening to tonight’s Chihuahuas
game. I called dad to let him know where
I was and to let him know that the Nationals were on. His best friend, Joe, is a fan of the
team. I told him that he should invite
him over to watch. This game then got
stopped for rain shortly thereafter.
Now the D-Backs and Giants were playing live. We tuned in just after a fan holding a baby
and a cup of beer made a catch of a foul ball.
Bob Brenly summed it up best,
“I was holding my breath that he was going to drop that beer.” However, we flipped back over to the FOX,
which was now covering the Red Sox
and the A’s and we stuck with it,
since it was just about over.
The A’s had tied it in the eighth and looked to win it in
the ninth, but didn’t after a poorly executed bunt attempt. The Red Sox also might have taken the lead in
regulation, but for a poor steal attempt.
In the tenth, the Red Sox made another bad steal attempt to run
themselves out of the inning. The A’s
were even worse. They loaded the bases
with no outs, but after a poorly conceived bunt attempt, they came away with no
runs.
By the twelfth, Ron and I were dying watching this exercise in futility. The only thing keeping us going was the coverage becoming fascinated by the fan-made “Beer Snake” in the stands. It was a bunch of empty cups being stuck together. It might have been 10’ long in the ninth, but was getting bigger as it was being carried around, maybe about 30’ by the end. Dad called. He was still watching. It was past his bedtime and the baseball had run over the news. He’d had Joe with him for a while. Joe was an even bigger fan of the A’s, so he was happy that they’d switched games, but couldn’t stay. Dad was keeping him updated on the score.
Finally, the Red Sox broke through and scored two
runs. I don’t think we really cared who
won, as long as somebody finally scored.
In bottom of the twelfth though, the A’s rallied and tied it. We were momentarily terrified the game might
go to another inning, but Tony Kemp,
who’d made the bad bunt in the tenth, hit a sac fly to bring in the winning
run. 7-6 A’s win. I’d never cared
so much about an A’s win before. I’d
never cared this much about the A’s period.
“Hey, let’s finish that D-Backs game.”
Or not. We called
it a night. (It was tempting.) I got back home a bit before 10:00pm, about
five hours later than I meant to. I
turned on the radio and got a little of a static-y postgame show for the
Chihuahuas. They’d won I think, but that
was all I’d heard. I got no signal for
the ongoing Rockies game, but the Rangers/Mariners game was on and only a
bit passed half done. The Rangers were
whooping the M’s and I’d missed most of the excitement, but it was good to hear
Eric and Matt for a few innings.
The last sports item of the night was an interview show I ran into that I’d never seen before. Canelo was having a sit down. If I’d caught this when it started, I would have tried calling my friend Mike to let his Canelo-loving girlfriend know about it. As it was, I watched about half of it. Canelo was talking about family members being held hostage and having to pay ransom for them. Other times, family members are getting in trouble with the law and embarrassing him. Then Canelo took the interviewer out to his ranch to ride horses and go off-roading. The stunt driving served to scare the interviewer and worry Canelo’s fans that he was going to hurt himself.
No comments:
Post a Comment