A fun bathroom

The Dead Schembechlers have a song titled "I Peed in Ann Arbor's Water Supply."

Using the bathroom at Quaker Steak & Lube in Mentor, Ohio was reminiscent of that.

West Virginia, cheap beer and minor league ball

Last night I had the honor and privilege of going to Charleston, W. Va. for a West Virginia Power baseball game. The Power is the 'A' affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was Buck Night at Appalachian Power Park, which meant that tickets, hotdogs and drinks (beer included) went for a dollar each.

West Virginia, low-level professional baseball and cheap brewskies make for an entertaining evening, I promise.

The evening, in which we celebrated Nick's "Day of Jubilee," was hallmarked by plastic horns that almost everyone except our group bought. Several times throughout the evening I heard "This horn cost me three beers!" These plastic instruments were used in a variety of ways, but the two most amusing ways were when a guy bonged a beer with one and when another guy blew the horn right in the ear of the pitchen warming up in the bullpen with each toss.



The highlight of the evening, for me at least, was the national anthem. It was played by a pudgy rocker on an electric guitar who began and ended by walking around behind home plate with a hand in the air "rock saluting" the crowd of 300 people. As you can see, we all got a kick out of it.




4 hours total in the car, 2 hour rain delay. Well worth it.

Oh, Cleveland...

Should I care this much about the Cavs? Probably not. Why am I so emotionally involved in a situation that I have absolutely zero control over? Some SERIOUS emotional boundaries have been crossed in my relationship with the Cleveland Cavaliers. And for what? I had some serious dreams for our future! I was ready to commit to a long-lasting post-season relationship with some rings awaiting us and now I feel those dreams have been whimsically handed off to this Orlando.

I was talking with a friend from Cincinnati tonight who said that he kind of hopes the Cavs lose because Cleveland fans are so obnoxious. I think we are the way we are because we have come SO CLOSE over the past 15 years and each time seen our dreams shattered. He argued that even that is better than not having any hope for a championship in years, but I disagree. I will count this as the fourth time since the Indians were in the World Series in '95 that I have believed I had a perfect match- one that would last, only to be left at the altar (metaphorically speaking).

Right now it feels like someone dipped my heart in a vat of boiling tears, while someone else was hitting me in the grief bone with a frozen sledgehammer. Never has a team to which I have pledged my allegiance gone all the way and it's starting to hurt. It's getting a little unbearable. For some reason, Cleveland is seemingly incapable of winning a championship. I am calling the Cavs goners. I hope they prove me wrong, really, I do- but I'm not counting on it. Instead, I will resign to worrisome thoughts of next year and dismay that Lebron may well leave Cleveland as a free agent having never delivered a championship to a city that groans with each passing season.