The Underappreciated Bloody Mary

Sorry about the lack of posts, but I have been cramming in 14 hour workdays with a pregnant wife while trying to start this blog.

Once a while we as Americans get so busy we forget about the important virtues such as freedom of speech, the right to vote and the right to enjoy delicious Bloody Marys on Hungover Sundays. This was my case in point on this past Sunday.

After having a few drinks with K.Rove, F.A. and a very intoxicated Ricky at a local pub on Friday, I went to see my boys One-Eyed-Jack at the Donegal Saloon. While catching up with the boys I put a real hurting on myself with way to many Heinekens and just as many shots of Jameson, with the occasional car bomb thrown in.

Fast Forward to Sunday afternoon! After lifting my ravaged body and now seemingly 45 pound head out of bed in the early afternoon hours I agreed to have breakfast with the wife hoping that getting something in my stomach may help stop the pain. After staring at my cheese omelet and pancakes for about 15 minutes and forcing down one bite of each, I realized there could only be one cure for this dilemma, Hair of the Dog!

Having already agreed to watch some football at an equally hung over Mike B's house, I figured my only choice was the lovely Bloody Mary. After picking up the proper ingredients and adding a few spices of our own we were off to the races and feeling pretty damn good, which got me thinking about writing this. As you can see from my story a Bloody Mary is not just a drink, but rather a meal, an aspirin, a shot of pepto bismol, hell it may even be a multivitamin for all I know, the bottom line is it is whatever we need it to be.

The bottom line is if you don't believe me, go out this weekend and try it yourself. That's right get stupid drunk on Saturday, wake up Sunday and go right back it. Please let me know the results! Also if anyone is willing to try this experiment give me a call so I can make sure last weekend wasn't a fluke.

Sunday's Best Bets

After a hitting a nice Notre Dame Virginia reverse on Saturday, here are my picks for a pro football Sunday. I figure the best two plays are The Bengals -31/2 and a great two game tease with the Eagles and Colts. Tease the Eagles down to one and the Colts up to nine and you will thank me later. Not even K. Rove can resist this stoke of genius gambling.

True Love! And Heartbreak)

Anybody who is a true sports fan would have to admit that being just that is probably one of the purest forms of love we experience. Now, I am not comparing it with the relationships we share with our families and friends, but it is pretty damn close. How else can you explain why at 12:09 a.m. EST after having worked 60 hours over the last four days I am sitting here heartbroken writing this blog.

My wife often can not understand why I get so upset over something that seems so silly and is just a game. I often try to explain it to her in this logic, I have loved the New York Mets since 1983 at which time I was seven years old. I repeat seven years old. I am now almost thirty (Oct 26), for those math wizards out there that is 23 years. While explaining this to her I ask her to tell me one thing she has cared about for the last 23 years. This question is usually followed by complete silence, and I rest my case. I couldn't name five kids from my fourth grade class in 1986, however without missing a beat I can pretty much rattle off the entire 1986 Mets lineup including backups and relief pitchers. Why you ask, because I could give two shits about those kids that I spent an entire year learning and living with, however I fell in love with a group of grown men that probably wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire. That's dedication, That's true love! And much like a battered wife now matter what they do to me I always go back to them in the end because "I love them!"

So as I look back on this season like another failed relationship, I will remember good times and bad. I will think about come from behind victories and seeing my first division clincher in person, however I will also remember awful Yadier Molina homers and called third strikes on Carlos Beltran in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and two outs down by two. God that Hurts! And I know come next march I will be there waiting for my love to come back to me and like the last twenty years I will go running back to her, because this time I believe it will work out, like I have so many times before. However march is a long way away and I am exhausted, so it is on this rainy October night I go to bed humming those immortal Bad Company lyrics, "Love Stinks!". Besides I have to rest up, my girlfriend the Miami Dolphins are coming over for a date on Sunday. I guess you can say I will never learn my lesson.

Benitez, Looper and Now Wagner

After having to work a 16 hour day on Thursday and having to be right back to work on Friday, few things in this world could've made happy. One of them just happened to be Mets tickets for Game 2 of the NLCS, which just happened to fall in my lap on Friday morning. After finding out the seats were ten rows behind first base I made some moves to get out of work early and jumped on the Number 7 headed towards beautiful Flushing, Queens.

I should have known from the beginning I might be in for a long night, while walking in to the stadium and enjoying a cold beverage in a red plastic cup with fellow Met fan F.A., we were warmly greeted by three NYPD officers who were kind enough to write us tickets for open containers. Thanks Boys! So as we sat there waiting for our tickets as about 30,000 other people with little red cups walked by with no problems I was hoping the worst of it was over with.

After getting inside and finding our seats you just feel the electricity in the air and the crowd was just dying for a reason to explode. Unlike our counterparts in the Bronx, big October games are have not be routine over the past 20 years or so. Anyway after a quick top of the first the Mets were at bat with Reyes already on second and Beltran walking, Delgado came to bat. Having been hot all postseason, he continued on his tear depositing a Chris Carpenter fastball into the cool Shea Stadium night. Ahhh, the ticket is forgotten the bills are forgotten, life is good and Mets are headed to the series. But ofcourse things could never be that easy.

Avoiding doing an entire play by play, The Mets gave back and then took the lead twice more resulting in a 6-6 tie heading into the top of the ninth with Billy Wagner coming into the game with the sounds of Enter Sandman having to face 2-3-4- hitters. Now we were all worried about Puljos and Edmonds coming up, but who need s them when you late game defensive replacement So Taguchi to crush a Wagner fast ball to deep left field. After a few more hits and three runs later, followed by an uneventful bottom half of the ninth, the Shea faithful headed home knowing we missed a golden opportunity.

So once again I would like to thank the NYPD and Billy Wagner for turning what could have been a perfect Friday night baseball game with celebratory drinks afterward into a a bitter loss, followed by a ridiculous amount of traffic and aggravation. Thanks again boys, Let's Go Mets!

It's A Boy!

I created this blog probably about three months ago after being inspired by my pals K.Rove and Historelli, however I could never figure out what the hell I felt strongly enough to write my first blog about. I guess you could say I had a case of Blogger's block. Today, October 10, 2006 I am glad to annouce that my block is over and my blog is just starting with the announcement of the sex of my unborn child. Just this morning myself and Mrs. Geen found out that in early March, that we will be expecting a baby boy and I couldn't be happier or prouder. While it is true that this will affect yours truly more than he will ever know, after seeing just the black and white grainy pictures of my baby I know it will be a small sacrafice.

Gone are my days of three day alchol induced binges in Las Vegas and random drunken nights crawling home at six in the morning replaced by midnight feedings and changing diapers. Part of me is sad about this, however the other part of me knows that I have had experiences in life that most will never experience shared with the type of childhood friends that most only dream about. Whether it me a music fetival in the tip of Maine, a party in New Orleans, Spring Break in Daytona, Vegas trips with the guys, dark nights in awful bars or just some beers in the kitchen, it is with great delight that I say thank you for making me who I am today and thank you for a real good time with many more to come.

For my wife, thank you for all the experiences for we have shared, Lord knows their are too many to list. With the exception of our wedding day having this baby is the greatest experience of my life and I couldn't imagine anyone else I would want to share it with.

In conclusion I know this blog is long, but so what. It is with great joy I announce to the world, I'm having a son!