I Can't Be Missing Taylor Swift

  I actually went a period of time without watching sports. Not a lot of not watching, but still I watched less than I normally would. 

This was our son’s wedding weekend, and it was a fantastic time. We spent Thursday through mid-Sunday afternoon in the Borough of Queens, having a blast. Greek food. Meeting the new in-laws and family. Eating little at times, then gorging one’s self. I have had more smoked salmon than I would like—and I love smoked salmon. 

Reminiscing. Making new friends. Seeing family for the first time since the pandemic. Botching an attempt to greet somebody in Swedish. 

Ubers. Shuttles. Tuxedos and gowns. Dancing more than I have in years, especially with younger people who repeatedly forgot my age. 

My esteemed editor met a few readers and I picked up some more people who would like to read what I have to say. Touching vows were exchanged in a theater. People came from South Africa, England, Florida and Maryland. 

In attendance there were doctors, dentists and Ph.Ds . Retired people. Very active people. And more lawyers than can be believed. I could not tell if there were more graduates from Emory University than the University of Miami School of Law. 

There were gay people. Plenty of queens in Queens, as the officiant remarked. After all, the wedding involved two gay males.

As I write this blog, I am suffering from exhaustion from staying up late on Saturday night to waking up suddenly and make it to the Sunday Brunch and a ton of goodbyes. You know I napped this afternoon—the fatigue from the adrenaline high comes on quickly.

My right arm stayed intact, able to easily write the final checks and deliver the tip money. While I did get in some good exercise on Saturday, it took until Sunday evening to re-injure my left quadriceps muscle by simply walking down the steps. 

I saw some of Thursday night’s Detroit-Green Bay game while at the rooftop bar at the hotel. Our TV reception was spotty and the game was on Amazon Prime, which was not even remotely within the purported package. The YES Network was unavailable, which kept me from seeing the Yankees defeat Toronto in the series finale. 

For the record, I didn’t see any baseball until I was home on Sunday, when all games began at 3:10 p.m. What little I did see reminded me as to why the Yankees annoy me so much. 

Bases loaded, none out, top of the first inning. A couple of pitches later, Kansas City turned a double play then got a ground out to keep the Yankees off the scoreboard. 

Next time I tuned in, starter Michael King uncharacteristically surrendered two 2 run homers in the same inning. The final score was lowly Kansas City 5, New York 2. 

The Yankees lost two of three to end the season. A lost season—one that had been filled with promise.

Sure, I will watch the playoffs to see if the Orioles and Braves can meet in the World Series, bringing together the two teams from each league with the best records. But I won’t be tuning in to watch my regular dose of which Yankees team will show up—the one which hits the ball hard, plays good defense and has solid pitching, or the one which looks so moribund. 

Friday night, after the cocktail hour, the group migrated once more to the rooftop bar. The television had the ending to the Columbia-Princeton football game. The Tigers downed the Lions, but I didn’t see any real action. I went to bed coincidentally when the University of Hawaii’s volleyball team appeared on the screen.

But before I went to sleep, I checked on the Franklin and Marshall game at arch rival Dickinson. Which made me very unhappy. Capping a 98 year drive, the Red Devils scored on the final play of the game to come away winners. The next morning, my college roommate, who was in attendance with his wife, was equally as bummed out with the result when he read my text. 

I did not see any football on Saturday. The lobby screen was focused on the House of Representatives trying to avert a government shutdown. 

That didn’t mean I didn’t check in on games through my cell phone apps. I saw that Penn State asserted their dominance over Northwestern. Michigan romped. Texas and Georgia remained unbeaten, although the Bulldogs worked hard to win 27-20 at Auburn. Syracuse is no longer unbeaten courtesy of Clemson. USC went up big, but held on to defeat Colorado. Alabama won handily at Mississippi State. All in all, there weren’t too many surprises this Saturday, so I didn’t miss too much.

Baseball settled the playoff picture, with Florida and Arizona securing the final Wild Card berths in the National League and Toronto and Texas in the American League. Somehow the Houston Astros came out on top in the American League West, while Seattle fell just short of the Rangers for that final Wild Card spot. 

Of course, I didn’t know this until much later. I was a bit busy with the wedding and the reception. 

Do not feel badly about my not seeing much televised sports. I engaged in so much dialogue with attendees on sports. There were fans of the Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants and New York Jets discussing their teams respective positions. A few people skipped the Wagner-Rutgers football game to come to New York City. (RU won 52-3 over the FCS Seahawks) 

A number of Yankees fans were interspersed with Mets fans, Reds fans, old Brooklyn Dodgers fans and younger Atlanta Braves fans who actually have tickets to the NLCS should the team get that far. 

There was hockey talk. New York Rangers fans mingled with Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Toronto Maple Leafs and a preponderance of New Jersey Devils followers. One man wore an old Hartford Whalers shirt, while another person brought upon memories of the Atlanta Thrashers from his college days at Emory. 

Stories were told about Ohio State, Notre Dame, a game at the University of Georgia (was I ever envious), John Hopkins lacrosse. There was a former swimmer from N.C. State amongst the guests. 

I didn’t lack for sports talk. I did get to see the Buffalo Bills handle the Miami Dolphins. I caught the end of regulation and the overtime between Philadelphia and Washington; the Commanders tied the game on the last play, but Philly won on an OT field goal.  Checked out Dallas returning to dominance over New England. 

But I gotta go. I gave up my Kansas City Chiefs-New York Jets tickets to my son-in-law’s two brothers. I can’t be missing Taylor Swift.