Weekend Recap

Like most of you, I enjoy watching football on the weekend. I really enjoy watching football on the weekend when my teams win. However, sometimes things don't go right. Sometimes stuff comes up. And sometimes you have a weekend like me.

A quick backdrop. Brooks loves Thomas the Train. He is as ate up with Thomas as I (and probably you too) am with fantasy sports. If you have kids and know who Thomas is-great. If not, just think about something you were obsessed with as a kid (like Star Wars or something) and imagine having the chance to see it in person. Okay, this weekend Molly and I had planned to take Brooks to Nashville, TN to see A Day Out With Thomas-where you can actually see this train and stuff. We're planning on leaving Saturday afternoon and coming back Sunday (which we did), but I thought it'd be more fun to tell it via a running diary. So....

Saturday---
11:05 a.m.-I just got home from running my errands (bank, post office, gas station) and am just sitting down on my couch to watch the Michigan/Notre Dame game.
11:20-ND 7, Mich 0. Brady Quinn just looked like Tom Brady on that drive. Not the start I was hoping for.
11:25-Molly: "Hey, have you packed yet?"
Derek: "No, we aren't leaving for atleast a few hours."
Molly: "I thought you were going to take a shower before we left."
Derek: "I am-we aren't leaving for a few hours."
Molly: "Are you watching a football game?"
Derek:
Molly: "I'll talk to you at halftime."
12:38 p.m.-I head upstairs to talk to my wife. I tell her it's looking like me may be able to leave a little earlier than we originally planned. "Why, is Michigan losing." My wife may not know sports, but she definitely knows me.
12:39-I pack.
12:42-I shower.
12:45-Ready for the 2nd half. Michigan cannot play any worse than they did in the first half. They're lucky to only be down 14-3.
1:35-I think Chad Henne had a few too many Budweisers last night.
1:50-Field Goal good, ND 17, Michigan 3.
1:52-We're loaded up and heading to Nashville.
5:35-Check into our hotel. See ND won 17-10. Nothing like an entire Fall down the tubes. College football, could you please go to an actual playoff? Thanks.
10:15 p.m.-After a trip to the mall, dinner, and the 3rd Big Ten top 10 team to choke today I'm ready for bed. Big day tomorrow.

Sunday
8:33 a.m.-Wow. I just slept something like 10 hours. This may be a new league record.
9:20-Check out of the hotel.
9:24-Arrive at the Waffle House.
9:25-Some dude with a few teeth pours me a cup of coffee.
9:26-Brooks: "Mom, what's that?" (pointing to the booth where Molly is sitting)
Molly: "Oh gross." (she grabs a napkin and wipes off a big chunk of an egg that was stuck to the booth)
Derek: "Where are we?" (thinking to myself, Sunday NFL Countdown is on in 30 minutes)
10:15-Arrive at the Thomas Gala.
10:25-I'm ready to go (home).
10:30-I notice there are some kids not being supervised properly.
10:33-"Hey kid, where are your parents?" "I don't know." "Alrightythen."
10:40-Are there any last minute changes I should be making? What if Ashley Lelie is passed out drunk somewhere on South Beach? Can I get a TV around here?
11:05-Ok, 1 hour until our train ride and then we're home free.
11:30-I take Brooks down one of those inflatable slides. I think I fell down 4 times going up. Going down I did everything but slide. I bounced, rolled, scooted, & cussed, but didn't slide.
11:37-Derek: "Hon, you can stop laughing now."
Molly: "No I can't."
11:39-Molly stops laughing.
11:45-We get in line to ride the train.
11:46-It's like clockwork with us. The kid in front of us is coughing like he's about to hack up a lung. At least neither he nor his parents are covering his mouth. Thanks, I'll go ahead and see what the line at Caesar's is on me, Molly, or Brooks getting sick this week.
11:55-We board the train.
12:25-We came all this way for this? I've seen more scenery in public restrooms.
12:40-We all tell Thomas bye and head for the car.
12:45-Within 5 minutes I find foxsports radio out of Nashville. Nothing but updates on here. It's like my living room with the Sunday Ticket minus the picture.
1:05-No one has Willie Parker? We draft way too early.
1:21- Molly & Brooks are asleep. I'm having a guilt-free feeding frenzy of foxsports radio. Todd Lyght and some other cat are keeping the updates flowing like the Bud man at the ballpark. Only one thing is missing: I'm not hearing any Horned Puffins being mentioned in the updates.
1:35-Halftime of most of the games. If I can keep my speed up I can be home at halftime of the late games. This isn't so bad after all.
1:40-Brian Griese has 2 TD's in the first half? My Lord, my blog tomorrow is going to be how we were all just kidding when we laughed at the draft.
1:50-Molly wakes up and I tell her I can't believe I'm still picking up this station.
1:52-Why did I just say that? Why? I'm an idiot.
2:20-I find Mike Shannon on KMOX and I'm in the middle of Kentucky.
2:25-It's pretty staticy (is that a word?) which leads to this exchange:
Molly: "Is that really the Cardinal game?"
Derek: "Yea."
Molly: "It's either not coming in very well or that guy sounds drunk."
Derek: Thinking.
Derek: Still thinking.
Derek: "I think it might be a little of both."
2:36-The baseball game just isn't doing it for me today. Which Jake Plummer showed up in the 2nd half? Have any studs got hurt yet? Is McGahee having a big game? How about the Panthers & Saints? GET ME HOME!
2:48-Pass a cop parked on the side of the road. Glad I wasn't going 80. Not glad I was going 81. Real glad there was an exit about 1/2 mile down the road for me to get off of just in case he was planning on coming after me.
3:02-Happy meal from McDonalds-check. Bag of pretzels and gatorade from store-check. Rams game coming in on radio already? Check! Yes!
3:50-End of quarter. Rams 3, Niners 0.
4;00-I think this is where I'm going to stop the diary.
Here's a quick summary of the rest of the day. The Rams forgot to show up in the 2nd quarter, buried themselves, made a inspiring comeback, only to give it away in the last minute of the game. Disappointing to say the least. I thought the one-handed effort Isaac Bruce made on a poor throw from Bulger was disgusting. The ball was thrown behind him, but he could have definitely made the catch. Instead, he made a half-hearted attempt to reach behind him and catch the ball and the result was an interception. Whatever. Same old special teams letdowns. Talk about special teams all you want in the offseason-but SHOW me something on Sundays. SHOW me you're dedicated to them. SHOW me they are important to you. And by the way, if Chris Johnson has his forty time tattooed on two spots of his body because he is so proud of it why tiptoe on Kickoff returns? Run! Whatever. This is why I stopped the diary and I'm doing it anyway, so I'm done. D-U-N done.