Augie

The Battery where the Braves play in Atlanta is an awesome place and worth visiting for anyone coming to town. They have hotels, restaurants, bars, “adult arcades”, movie and live event theaters, apartments, office building, you name it. It’s very conveniently located where I-75 and the beltline around the city meet, so it’s pretty easy in and easy out. It’s defiantly a serious destination and I have to be careful not to just drop by for lunch if the Braves are at home that day.

So, that averages about a Billion per streaming service. I don’t mind them making money, but I DO mind them making it a PITA to follow my team.

He’s no Waldo in the crowd! The guy was easy to spot! I was listening to Dan Patrick and others talk about him. Apparently he was really about 7’2”, but he thought 7 footers were looked at like freaks so he always put himself down as 6’11”.

Chocolate.

He’s in his mid/late 50’s and has tried everything. He doesn’t really even want to eat eggs outright, but it’s all the foods that they are hidden in. He was staying with us once while attending a function in town. Dessert contained some kind of pudding he was suspicious of, so he took a little taste and waited. His tongue will tell him quickly if it’s dangerous to him, but it seemed fine. What he didn’t know was the little bits of marshmallows hidden inside would be his downfall. He drove over medians to get liquid Benadryl at a drug store, and by the time he got back to the house he was crawling, in a suit, along side our driveway between us and the neighbors vomiting EVERYTHING out. I’m sure “egg allergy” was not the first thought my neighbors had. .

I have a friend who is allergic to eggs. They are hiding everywhere! Another friend got bit by a tick as an adult, and not he can die if he eats red meat. He carries an epipen with him everywhere. My son’s middle school had picnic tables where nobody was ever allowed to enjoy a peanut due to some kids having nut allergies. Where did all this stuff come from? I don’t remember any of that growing up.

Heaven must be a very cool place right now with Bill Walton and Jerry Garcia getting reacquainted.

For the younger crowd who may not remember him because his NBA career was setback by injury. He was a true great, a technician around the glass. “Look back at the best NBA moments from Bill Walton's Hall of Fame career. His most famous game was the 1973 NCAA title game, UCLAagainst Memphis, in which he shot an incredible 21 for 22 from the field and led the Bruins to another national championship.” He made 21 of 22 in the NCAA Title game, and not because he was Shaq and trampled you. Classic Bill Walton: The great former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden tells a story about his all-American player, Bill Walton. Bill grew a beard, knowing that facial hair was against team rules. He said it was his right. "You believe that strongly?" Wooden asked. "Yes, Coach." Walton said. "Bill, I respect people who stand up for what they believe,” Wooden replied, “and the team is going to miss you." That afternoon Bill Walton shaved his beard.

He was so full of life, and always entertaining. RIP P.S. - And he was The Master of using the glass, a lost art. .

I went to an NCAA hoops Tournament in Orlando to see my Xavier team play the first two rounds. I got my ticket from a guy on the message board and apparently he’s been a BIG donor forever. I was sitting right behind the President of the school, and in the middle of all the families and biggest donors. You don’t know who all these people are, but they all seem to know each other. [EDIT: I was on the aisle too. Everyone around says he gets nothing but the best!] I became friendly with several people, including a couple who turned out to be the parents of our star player. We had a blast at the game, then we all went back to the bars to kill a keg and a ton of wings. I only sat thru AAU and high school basketball. I have no idea how they remained so calm and personable while their son was playing in the NCAA tournament before countless scouts. They were a BLAST and enjoyed the game in a way that was different from the rest of us. Their son sniffed the NBA, and is still playing in Italy at the age of 29. Not a bad way to start out your adult life. That was my best Xavier basketball story, kind of a bonus…..whether you like it or not. Sorry. 😋

The other thread has a more appropriate title, so if it’s gonna get merged…… 🤷‍♂️

I saw an old friend at a wedding recently for the first time in forever. One of the first things he tells me (knowing I’m a big Bills fan) is that his routine at home in Charleston, SC is a weekly poker game complete with cigars that includes Paul Maguire. I didn’t realize Maguire went to the Citadel, so it’s kind of home to him. My buddy says he’s a great guy, and the stories are hysterical!

That beautiful smelling tree on our neighbor’s lot that hangs a bit over our driveway damn near killed my wife when it bloomed this spring. I loved it, but the doors had to stay very closed. When we moved from Hilton Head to Sarasota her new allergist (who turned out to become close friends) ran some tests on her. Not only did she not react much, but she asked what he was doing. He asked about her previous allergist and his tests. He never said anything (at least for a decade) but he reported the other guy and he was a total crook.

My father was an odd man in many ways. He hated flies near his food so picnics were out of the question…..until they all had too much to drink one New Year’s Eve and someone said “There won’t be any flies out tomorrow” on New Year’s Day. And so the tradition of the New Year’s Day picnic in a state park with Bloody Mary’s, bacon and eggs and snowmobiles was born. There’s your random memory of the day.

In third grade I was friends with Jack Kemp’s son, Jeff. We used to walk home from school and go to his house. That was very cool, and it’s where I first saw a color TV. Jeff’s “toy chest” had nothing but AFL game balls in it, and he spent quite a few years in the NFL himself as a QB. It was great to have him visit my neighborhood and beat all the older boys for a change!

He’s a genius who has cornered the futures market! He won’t even need to play football soon.

I don’t want it to look like the Steelers are in town. PERIOD. Get the colors right, and I’m 100% on board! I had mine! .

It was strangely moving to see it again. Not so much a Bills reverence thing but more as a “WOW! What I remember is not what I remember” thing. Like the first home I remember in Hamburg, and I drive by now to find it’s a shoebox. But it’s still well worth seeing. I think you’d appreciate it. .

Right where they used to be? 🤷‍♂️ I’m not kidding, I only have a very rough idea of its location. My buddy who still lives in Buffalo took me by. Maybe @PromoTheRobot can give us a better idea.

I don’t think I’m allowed to laugh at that. Yet.

Not that Jets game, but my #2 response (after taking my boys to a game) would be the first time I walked up to the Rockpile. I had never seen a crowd like that, and when we walked up to the giant entry gates this little kid thought it was mightier than the Roman Colosseum! A friend took me by the old gates after a game at the Ralph maybe a decade ago. Funny how our memories work.

When each of our boys turned 16 I took them to their first Bills home game. It was a rite of passage type of trip with just me and my son. The first night we walked from the hotel to the Creekview restaurant for dinner. Somehow we got to talking to some people in the bar. When they learned that we were there from Florida to take my son to his first Bills home game, we were invited to about a half dozen different tailgates. People were begging us to join them. That memory tells me a couple things. First, people in a bar can get chatty and quite friendly. (Duh) But it was also a very “Buffalo thing” to happen. That was exactly the kind of thing I wanted my son to experience, the way the people rally around the Bills and invite you in. It’s not like that everywhere.

Aren’t you getting weary by now? I admire the stamina.

Giving in to pickleball?

I loved this pick once I looked him up to see who the hell he was and asked all of my UGA following friends what they thought. I’m once again strangely optimistic. I’m curious to see how this whole draft class works out. .