The Weekend that was (mostly sports related...spoiler alert)

I left Friday evening for Knoxville and the University of Florida - University of Tennessee football game (Jonathan, I did that correctly by spelling it out for those not in the know right? ;-))? It is a very quick and easy drive from my house to my friend Marc's in the western burbs of Knoxville. The night was beautiful and I had the roof open, windows down and iPod blasting my FAVORITE mix and it just let my mind wander and prepare for what I knew would be a great couple of days. I rolled in around 10:00 and got caught up with the my friends and then went to sleep. Up early on Saturday we were out the door for a tailgate party at 10:30. Kick-off was not until 3:30 so it was going to be a long day. Marc had a buddy that hooked us up with an awesome party right outside the stadium. The Tennessee folks at the tailgate could NOT have been friendlier and really, besides a few obnoxious students the fans were hospitable all day and night. While I ABSOLUTELY love home games in THE SWAMP I really enjoy going on the road where there are 100,000+ people rooting for the other team. The atmosphere in the SEC is second to none and Knoxville is probably my favorite away game to go to for the atmosphere. Our seats were in the Florida section right under the 'jumbotron' so that would be the last row. However, it was only row 33 so it was really not bad as the pictures will attest. We had the added benefit of a great breeze all day and the Tennessee River behind us. Oh yeah -Gators romped 30-6 - "IT'S GREAT TO BE A FLORIDA GATOR".









Besides college football there was so much else going on sports wise. We are in the middle of the pennant chase in Major League Baseball, the NFL is in fool swing and the Ryder Cup was going on. Being an avid golfer and homer, I was pulling for the U.S. and enjoyed watching periodically throughout the weekend. What I did see showed great shot making from both sides and I was pleased to see the emotion and spirit the Americans played with. I give a ton of credit to their Captain, Paul Azinger, who has survived cancer and truly is inspirational.


On Sunday morning I hustled out of the door in Knoxville to make it home in time to take the family to the final home game of the year for the Braves. The girls looked ADORABLE in the pink Braves hats and their Tomahawks. I, of course, was in a PHILLIES cap but for the first time I can remember actively remember rooting for the Braves because they were playing the New York Mets. The mets and Phillies are in a battle for the division and every Met loss is a good one. The Braves battled back and won and I am almost beginning to feel comfortable that the Phillies will be in the playoffs. I forgot to download those pics but I'll add them at some point.

The only disappointing part of my Sunday sports day was hustling home to catch the Eagles-Steelers game only to find out it was not on in Atlanta.

Besides the big boys playing sports I did miss the girls' soccer games on Saturday though I am happy to report about them. Cydney's team WON their first game of the year in the 8/9 year old division. They won 4-2 and Cydney scored the game winner when it was knotted at 2. I can't tell you how proud I am of these girls as their coach. I only have 3 girls who are even 'of age' and they are new to the team. The rest of the girls will be turning 8 throughout this year. We lost our first 2 games soundly but they are playing with heart and determination and really having fun and enjoying each other. On a side note, from an embarrassment standpoint I am glad to have missed the game as Ilene apparently did a cartwheel ON THE FIELD after Cyd's goal. G-d forbid there is video of that I would love to put it on YouTube! Rachel's team also won and she scored 3 goals. They too have moved up divisions and are playing great soccer and are now 2-1. Coaching both teams is challenging yet very rewarding and as I told one of my coaches, maybe I should stay away from games more often.

Lastly, I watched some of the New York Yankee game last night as they closed down Yankee Stadium. Fortunately I got to see several games there. It is by no means a 'beautiful park' from a cleanliness standpoint but I was always truly in awe knowing the history that had preceded me being there.

I think that covers the weekend

What's with these bike riders (it's not all about bikes and sports dear)

As my friends will tell you, if it's a sport, Gil will watch and somehow Gil even knows something about it. "What does Gil do all day" might even run through their minds...

Well, one of my favorite yearly traditions is keeping up with the Tour de France and this year was going to be pretty easy as I spent the last week in bed and I had it on TV in front of me.

On a side note, my 7 year old watched a bit with me on Saturday and she had a 'unit' of French in FIRST GRADE this year and she pronounced 'Tour de France' in perfect French diction and corrected me when I said France like an "American". She also asked me if they were in "Paris (pronounce PA - REE) yet"? Note to self - too smart, need to re-think this Private School thing :)

Back to the Tour and these idiot riders. A couple of days ago I watch this AWESOME ride by some Italian guy named Ricco. He is young, dynamic and according to the announce team, at 22, he can one day look to winning the Tour and live up to his idol Marco Pantani. Well, yesterday he reached his idol MUCH SOONER than he thought because he got kicked off the Tour for DOPING. Yes, despite the fact that these guys know that EVERY DAY they will be tested they still do it!

To us as Americans, who are watching the steroid battle in baseball and all the other crazy things people do to get ahead it's not shocking it's just DISAPPOINTING. My girls, Cydney in particular, have become fascinated with sports like I have. She might not be the world's best female athlete but she will love sports for the reasons I do, I can see that already. The other night we watched the beginning of the All Star Game together and they were announcing the 3rd basemen. Out comes Chipper Jones, who plays for the Braves (Cydney's favorite team) and they had all the Hall of Famers out at their positions so there next to Chipper was my childhood idol, Mike Schmidt (3rd baseman for the Phillies). I looked at Cyd and saw her at 7 and a 1/2 and I looked back in my mind to see me at the same age in 1977 and sitting at the Vet watching "Schmidty" and the Phils start to turn things around that would lead to a World Championship in 1980. It was a very cool and humbling experience. I also realized I did not get enough of those experiences as a kid so I have vowed to change that for the girls. I HATE the Braves but I will 'suck it up' and take them to more games. In fact, I am starting tonight and taking Rachel out to see the Nationals and next Tuesday I will take Cyd to see the Cardinals (I think I'll even teach her how to keep a score book). I even promised the girls that as long as the Braves are NOT playing the Phils I will root for the Braves, BUT I WILL NOT DO THAT DAMN CHOP - EVER!!!!!!!!!

Rest assured I'll have one eye on the out of town scoreboard seeing how my boys are doing but I'll be with one of my girls!

Weight Watchers Update

So there was no weigh in last week because of Labor Day. I set a goal for myself to lose 2.4 lbs I think...

Did I? No. I only lost .2 lbs but hey, at least I didn't gain. Let's dissect the 2 weeks and see where I failed:

1. Spent 4 days in Florida with the boys - playing golf, fantasy football draft, drank a few beers and I probably ate too much bad food and didn't think 'portion control'.

2. Labor Day - flew home and took the girls too the Braves-Phillies game. I did well here; no beer, not hot dogs, etc...just a grilled chicken sandwich and peanuts.

3. Took the company to the Braves - Phils on Wednesday for a day game AND we sat in the 'All you can eat seats'. Again, I did relatively well compared to Old Gil. I had ONE LIGHT BEER and 2 hot dogs. Old Gil would have been 2-3 beers, 4 hot dogs, fries and nachos.

4. This past weekend we drive down to Gainesville and took the girls to their first HOME Gator game. On the road I had a Chick-Fil-A sandwich on the way down and nothing on the way back. Before the game I had a Subway Turkey sub and NO chips. At the game I had a little of Rachel's pizza and Diet Coke's (actually Diet Pepsi's but that's a horse of a different color).

5. I only ran 4 days of the 2 weeks as well.


All in all I'll take the fact that I maintained and try to get back on the horse this week. I would like to hit the 10 pound loss this week.