OH, MONDAYS, YOU COME TOO SOON

As I was lying in bed, my eyes blinking and adjusting to the light at the crack of noon, I thought to myself, “Mondays, why must you come so soon?” Rubbing the sleep from my eyes after my 12-hour slumber -- hey, I worked hard on Sunday. ..it’s not easy watching THREE football games back-to-back-to-back -- I kicked the covers off me, hopped out of bed and was ready to tackle the day…. “Only six more hours until dinner!” is what pushed me through.

Okay, I embellished somewhat. I was up a bit before noon. But I woke up groggy. I think it’s the weather. It was gray and rainy, which is excellent sleeping/lounging/loafing-around/doing-absolutely-nothing-productive kind of weather.

After I brushed my teeth, I decided that I needed a nap after that taxing endeavor. I kid. I kid. I decided that I needed coffee. I read the paper, drank aforementioned coffee, had some toast and then decided it was time to walk the dogs. Both Thor and Tasha (left to right in the photo below) get excitable when it comes to walks, and are quite happy when we are on said walks.

But they crash, and they crash hard, when we return.

                           (Thor hiding his head under the bed to maximize his sleep after a walk.)

        (Tasha resting on her bed after a walk. Of course, she looks like this most of the day anyway.)


While resting myself after the long excursion, my beautiful wife asked if I wanted to go out with her while she jogged. Me? I don’t jog. My doctor once told me to take it easy…something like 12 years ago after a nasty cold… and I have heeded his advice ever since.

I actually climbed on my bike and caught up with my wife. It’s always nice being with her. Of course, my idea of “alone time” with her doesn’t constitute being in the great outdoors, but this is a family blog. Anyway, besides the bonding time with her, we got to see actual, real-life nature.

(There he was, all 700 pounds of him, just roaming around freely in the back yard of a neighbor's house! Okay, I made that up.)

Here is what we actually saw...

          (A mama deer and her youngun's, presumably named Thor and Tasha, or Bambi and Fred.)

SHOUTOUT OF THE DAY

My friend, Lindsay, is the best dancer/performer in the NBA. She's on the dance team, the Charlotte LadyCats, that performs at the Charlotte Bobcats basketball games.

Lindsay has started a new "Lady Cat Lindsay" page on Facebook and she is looking for fans. Yeah, she's okay looking (sarcasm), but she's really, really sweet and super funny. You should help her out. Click on the link below and "like" her page.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Lady-Cat-Lindsay/397845203605182


　
FLASHBACK OF THE DAY

In a new segment to this blog, I have decided to unveil a photo or two of some of my favorite people I have covered during my sports writing career. It was neat going through old newspapers and looking at some of the photos I've taken and stories I’ve written, bringing back all kinds of wonderful memories.

Of course, I’ve been doing this for over 20 years. While I do have quite a few old newspapers, I didn’t keep them all. Still, what I have will bring me smiles for many years.

I’ve also gone through some old photos. Maybe, just maybe, YOU will be the Flashback of the Day.

In the first installment, here is Lindsay (at left) in an article I did on her when she landed a gig with the LadyCats.

Here are the awesome Eddie "Eagle B" Baptista and Jen Swartz, who were Gazette Award winners. Both were tremendous athletes in high school. They are two of my favorites. Besides being tremendous athletes, they are exceptional people. They always wore smiles while playing; they were competitors; and they were classy. I miss you two!!