Hoops to Tebow…a 3D weekend
This was one of the rare weekends in which I didn’t have a lot going on so my family and I planned to relax and go with the flow. It is always good to do this because as a coach and a sports official the weekends are usually truncated because of what game I am coaching or officiating or what practice I am attending. This weekend there was no such scheduling issues the world was our oyster. It was very eye opening and yes, it was very relaxing.
Friday night I took some time and wanted to do some “me” time. I did clear it with the “boss”, after a discussion in which she felt I was being selfish by leaving her alone on a Friday night, she relented by saying, “I’ve been really tired, I will probably falling asleep early”. She is 6 months pregnant, I figured that would be the case. I decided I was going to go up to the Holy Name vs. St. Peter-Marian boys’ basketball game. I am glad I did. It was one of the best high school basketball games I have seen in a long time. The gym up on Granite St was packed to the gills. I am glad I have keys to the building to let myself in the back way to avoid lines and possible issues about cutting lines. The gym was absolutely electric with fans from both teams very excited about their teams as each team took significant leads and all came down to the last 10 seconds of the game. One of my former players at the Friendly House Tyler Delorey drained a three with 7 seconds left to give Holy Name a three point lead and ultimately the win. Both teams should have been proud and hold their heads up for the way they played. It was a great night running into old friends and former players. It was definitely what the doctor ordered. I capped the night off with a drink with some officiating friends and then headed home and hung out with my wife for about an hour before we went to bed. Great start to the weekend.
On Saturday I was up really early, like 4:00 am early. Don’t know why, but I was. I turned on the TV and the movie “Brian’s Song” was on. That movie will be watched in my house no matter when and what channel it is on. It just sucks me in and I can never let go. Movies don’t make me cry, but if there was one, “Brian’s Song” would be it. At about 5:30 my daughter came down stairs and then an hour later my wife came down and our day was starting. We decide we were going to do stuff around the house in the morning and then go do something as a family in the afternoon. After a busy morning of cleaning and running around doing errands we decided we would head out to the Natick Mall (I refuse to call the Natick Collection), and then grab dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It is amazing how stupid people get when in a mall garage or parking lot. It is like the atmosphere that surrounds it is designed to suck common sense and courtesy out of people. As my wife so eloquently put it “It breeds stupidity”. We didn’t spend too much time in the lot getting a spot, but someone needs to alert Washington that the economy is not bad in Natick, that place was packed.
It’s a good thing we didn’t go there to truly shop it allowed me to people watch. That place has become the most pretentious and trendy place on earth. Two minutes into our mall walking I came across a “nightclub” couple. They walked out of a store in front of us so we were directly behind them. The guy has so much gel in his hair he may as well been on Jersey Shore. He was not nearly bad as the girl though. She was about 5’7″ wearing heels and tight jeans. She had a half-shirt tank top straight out of 1985. This is the kicker though, she had more fat than a Big Mac and her love handles covered up the waist line on her jeans. I am no looker but I am a truly a believer of knowing your limitations. This girl does not follow that credo. I kept saying “Oh my Lord!” over and over so my wife ducked into a store to avoid me embarrassing her. I next saw an Asian man talking on his cell phone with a medical mask. I felt like going up to him and telling him that the SARS epidemic was 10 years ago. Going through the mall I realized I am either too old or too simple a human being to be in a place like that. I am guessing it’s the latter because most of the people I could not stand to look at were older than me.
We didn’t do much in the mall so we decided to just head to dinner. There was a small wait at the restaurant, since it was gorgeous outside we waited outside. Next to the restaurant was an “America Girl” doll store. My wife was telling me how appreciative that our daughter was too young to want those because of how pricy they were. I never knew, she told me to go check it out. I went inside and saw that a doll and a small story that comes with it is $105 and the clothes probably cost more than what I was wearing. At that point I was done with the Natick Mall. We had dinner and my wife bought a pair shoes and we headed home. We capped the night off by watching the movie “Bridesmaids”. I liked it but it was not as funny as I had been led to believe. But overall a very entertaining movie. It was a great Saturday and got to spend some great quality time with the family.
Sunday was a normal Sunday. I woke up and went to church, as I am a church lector. When I got home I did some laundry and cleaned up around the house with my daughter “helping” me. My wife took my daughter to my parents for Sunday lunch. I had to miss it this week as I had to head to our team practice as we have a game tonight. After practice I went and picked up my wife and daughter from my parents house. My brother and his family were still there so we hung and watched our kids get into trouble with each other, it is quite entertaining. We closed the weekend by visiting my in-laws and watch the Denver vs. Pittsburgh playoff game. As much as I want to hate Tim Tebow, I just can’t. He is such a great guy and a very inspirational human being. However, I will be rooting for his demise this coming Saturday night in Foxboro.
As I sit here writing this while my wife and I watch “Country Strong” I realize how important weekends like this are. I enjoy coaching and officiating so much and my wife has always told she would never stand in the way of me doing things that I love. But with a second child coming in a few months something has to give, and a tough decision will need to be made. The one thing I do know is “la mia famiglia viene prima”, that’s Italian for “My Family comes first”. The decision won’t be that tough though it just has to be which one is most helpful to me and my family. Would I give up something or all things I love if it was the most helpful to my family? You betcha, no doubt.
3D
Coming Right Atcha