Recently, I was asked to cover the Phoenix Regional since two teams from the SEC, Vandy and Alabama made it that far. It turned out to be the worst trip I've ever made as a journalist and things got little better when I got home. Thursday- I took the redeye to Phoenix. Forced to toss divot repair tool on keychain at ATL Hartsfield airport because it may be a weapon. Not!!!! I picked up my rental car and it was a Chevy Aveo, perhaps the ugliest car in the world. Plus the fact that it was a meager four-banger lashed to a slushbox, I knew that motoring around Phoenix traffic was going to be an adventure. I get on the hwy to my hotel, which was not far from America West when my tire blows. It is completely gutted as if it had an alien gestating in its innards. I call their help line. They say help is on the way. It is now 5 a.m. There is no spare!? 7 a.m. Still no tow truck. 8 a.m. Tow truck arrives. I go back to the rental car folks and all they have left is a Chevy Silverado truck with a V-8. Thank God for blown tires!!! I return to my hotel......where the high-speed connection does not work and the bathtub is dirty. Hotel gives me another room. In the midst of my combat nap, I hear a gurgling. Turns out the toilet, which I had flushed before going to sleep, has overflowed all over room. I can only laugh. 5:45 p.m. After procuring my third different room and moving my stuff for the third time (my stay was free), I arrive at America West after navigating traffic that makes ATL or Houston's look pleasant by comparison. The security folks refuse to let me park in the media lot despite my media lot parking pass, but I convince them with my press ID that I am indeed, a member of the sports writing community. I get an extended search (guess cops are automatically suspicious of people with long hair and fu manchus and yes, I do look like an stereotypical Asian villian) but I am given entry to the Arena. Game ends with Vandy getting housed. I can not file my story and have to send it via personal email to editor's personal email. My alma mater wins the second game and I'm estatic. Gottfried, whom I played against in high school (we are both from Mobile, AL) and I have a good conversation and he gives me plenty of material for my "how the hell does an 8th seed keep killing giants" type stories. He laughs about the time I blocked his floater in the lane during a game between our schools. Return to hotel room after being cut off EIGHT times in traffic, causing me to slam on brakes hard. I am quite grumpy. Field calls from wife and kids. Find comfort in freshly stocked (and free min-bar). I stay overnight in Phoenix. Go to dinner with Alabama after being invited by Gottfried. My rental truck is rear-ended by a Ford Focus on the way back to the hotel. No damage to the Chevy, but the Focus is history, baby! (sorry, I couldn't help but lapse into Vitalism). Whiplash is killing my neck and down Goody's Powders like no tomorrow. Saturday Wake up, neck is in excruiating pain, check out and turn in rental truck. Arrive at America West and watch Alabama get crushed. Alabama trainer helps me with my neck problem after he noticed a couple of grimaces when I moved my head. I feel bad for Gottfried and the rest of the team. UConn is unstoppable. Filing problems with work continue and again I'm forced to use personal email. Arrive in ATL Hartsfield airport and home two hours later after fighting more weekend traffic. Sunday I'm still jetlagged and the wife informs me we're headed to pick up some kittens for my kids in LaGrange (which is a two-hour drive from Dahlonega). I say no, but wife is insistent. Begrudglingly I go despite my neck slightly smarting from whiplash. On the way back from my cousin's place, stupids in a SUV rear-end my wife's Volvo station wagon. Kittens, wife and children are scared to death. Back end of wife's beloved Volvo is a mess of shattered glass and bent sheetmetal. I exchange info with the morons in SUV, tell them to get their collective heads out their asses and call cousin. Cousin arrives and we are like NASCAR mechanics making Volvo somewhat driveable with crowbars and mallets. The twisted, sad wreck of what once was a beautiful red Volvo motors down the road. Kids, wife and kittens are all right. I'm going through College Park, GA and I'm ticketed for having a busted stop lamp. I explain to the officer calmly, but he does not listen. I call him a glorified tax collector and a schmuck after he gives me the ticket anyway. Second time I've been ticketed by College Park and their traffic nazis. Finally I arrive home. What a weekend! -two rear-end collisions -three hotel rooms -three basketball games -one b.s. ticket for busted taillight.
Everybody that DIDN'T get to watch three NCAA tournament games in person while getting all their expenses paid, please raise your hands. also...divot repair tool?
Is this a deadly weapon? The points are blunt! This is a divot repair tool and this is what they would not let me take on the plane.
You had the weekend from hell? I got 0 sleep Friday night because of the mother of all toothaches. Then I was driving home completely exhausted and I slammed into a curb and blew a tire. Then the toothache returned and again I got .3 hours of sleep Saturday night. So I spent all day Sunday sleeping then I find out this chick I like was hanging out with my friends most of the day while I was in bed.
I had a tennis tournament Sunday morning and so when I went out Saturday night I decided I was going to lay off the drinking so I could win this thing. How was I to know they were going to have Zeigan Bock and it'd be delicious and I'd get called by an ex-fling at 3am wanting to hang out and drink everclear. I wake up a few hours before the tourney, splitting headache, and I couldn't find my keys or my car, and it took me a while to remember where the hell I was. Played four matches, and lost in the finals 4-6 after realizing I hadn't eaten anything yet that day and it was like 4pm by that time. The guy sucked too. It was tragic. I felt like the kid from that anti-drug commercial where he loses the karate tournament bc he smokes too much. Lesson learned.
That sucks! Sorry to hear about. Everclear is seriously nasty stuff. Friend of mine consumed too much Hunch Punch (Everclear and Hawaian punch) and he had to have his stomach pumped.
Sorry bama, but I must concur with A-Train. Traveling around the country covering the NCAA tourney on someone elses dime doesn't sound too bad to me even if it involves crappy hotel rooms and rental cars. Just be glad your family is OK after the accident.
bama, what paper do you write for? Also what is the name of the radio talk show you host? Is it available online?
What paper do I work at: A paper in GA, near ATL and I do stuff for the Associated Press Radio show available online: no, but we're working on it. We focus mainly on college football and basketball, with some Falcons and big stories thrown in for fun. Kittens are black and named Peanut and Milo. Hope that answers everyone's question and thankfully, the only injury is to our beloved Volvo and my aching neck.
