Monday, October 06, 2008

Sports of All Sorts

Let me say a little something not related to the main subject of my post just to clear off some residue from the last post. I just want to say that if you are unaccustomed to how people act when under the influence of drugs, even those taken exactly as prescribed, the whole thing can be unnerving, particularly when your first experience with this is in the middle of the night, and the person under the influence of said drug is unable, due to said drug usage, to explain what is happening and why and provide some reassurance as to everything being okay. Also, when the person under the influence of said drug tries to make a funny, but you aren’t sure if the person is joking or serious and can’t really get a coherent response from him, again due to said drug usage, it can get a little unnerving, or perhaps as things often seem worse in the middle of the night than in the light of day, it can seem downright scary. I don’t do well in those kinds of situations. I’m a wimp. So when the “fight of flight” reflex kicks in I opt for flight, and did, in the wee early hours of Saturday morning, around 5:00 a.m. leaving a somewhat out of it, somewhat bewildered, somewhat scary BJ back at his place while I hightailed it home.

While I love BJ a lot, I can’t say that I much care for the drugged up BJ. It has always been a priority for me to stay in my right mind, to be as alert as possible, and I find a certain amount of discomfort with being around pharmaceutically enhanced individuals. Now I am not talking about medications like, oh say, blood pressure meds or allergy meds, but I am talking about the kind of meds that would alter your personality like his sleeping pills seem to do. Normally when BJ takes a sleeping pill around me it is at bedtime, and he goes to sleep, and sleeps soundly, and isn’t scary at all. After all, how scary can a big sleeping lump be? But seeing him teetering on the edge of consciousness, sitting in his living room, incoherent and unable to respond intelligibly to me, freaked me out. I wasn’t even entirely sure he knew who I was or why I was there, and that was the scariest part because if he didn’t realize that then how safe was I? That’s when I decided to bug out. Now I did find out later that he did know who I was and why I was there and he was fine with me being there. It’s just that he didn’t/couldn’t communicate that in his drug-altered state. So we talked it all out later in the day, and maybe I’m a little clearer on things, and maybe he’s a little clearer on things, and maybe it’ll all be okay.


Thus ends my post length prologue to my real post.

And now, on with the real post:


This weekend was not great, but then again not horrible, for sports fan Trueself. I’ll do bad news first and then the good news.

As one of the many long-suffering Chicago Cubs fans of the world, I watched as my beloved Cubbies folded under the pressure of their World Series centennial year and tanked in the playoffs to the Dodgers (the Dodgers for pity sakes!) losing three in a row to go home once again with heads hung low and the ever present cry of “Well, there’s always next year.” Yeah, I’m still a Cubbies fan. I suppose I always will be. I would love to see them make the World Series once in my lifetime, but I think of the number of diehard Cubs fans for whom that hasn’t happened and I see this year’s performance, and I can’t help but think that it may not happen for me either. Sigh. . .

Oh well, at least we had the “Big Soccer Tournament” to attend. Alas, N’s team lost both of their games on Saturday, putting them in the Consolation Game on Sunday. His team played well in both of Saturday’s games. They just met up with some really tough teams, teams that were much better than any they’d seen before. They didn’t lose horribly either time, only by two goals in each game. Nevertheless, they lost. . . both games. . . and they were nothing if not a little down trodden by the end of the second game. I was a little worried that they would let their losses get them down so much they wouldn’t play well on Sunday. However, they were going up against a team that had also suffered two losses on Saturday so morale-wise the two teams should be pretty evenly matched. N’s team took an early lead on Sunday and although the other team fought back hard in the second half and nearly tied the game at one point when all was said and done N’s team won. . . a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy tournament.

The big bright spot in my weekend sports-wise though was the Illini performance against Michigan. The Illini won big, and not only did they win big they did it on Michigan’s turf. Now I know there are a couple of readers who will not be as excited at the outcome of this game as I was, but all I can say to that is to quote one of my favorite Illini t-shirts: Muck Fichigan! Yes, we beat Michigan. I can’t wait to watch the game on Tivo. I had to miss it due to N’s soccer tournament, but I made sure to set the Tivo to record it just in case we won. If we had lost, I would’ve just deleted it, but given that we won I’ll be having my own version of Monday Night Football tonight. I just need a little Papa Del’s and Bud Light, and I’m good to hunker down on the sofa for an evening of fine football, and because it’s Tivoed I can skip all the commercials. Perfect!

7 comments:

Serenity said...

Well talking it out afterwards is fine, but i also think a sound spanking is in order for scaring you like that. Silly boy.

2amsomewhere said...

Mmmm... Papa Del's... Their sausage is unbeatable. :-)

--
2amsomewhere

Unknown said...

I agree that talking things out is always a good idea and I hope you don't have to face that again.

Your version of Monday Night Football sounds great! The sausage statement has given me a craving. *drool*

Desmond Jones said...

Well, years ago, I adopted the Cubbies as my 'Team B', since most of my family lives in Chicago, and they're in the other league from my beloved Tigers. (The whole rest of my family switched over and became Sox fans! Can you believe that?) Been to games at Wrigley, all that. . . Plus, the Cubs had a Class A team in OurTown for several years, so I've seen many of the current Cubs play as minor-leaguers. . . All I can say is that, man, y'all Cub fans have got it rough. Haven't even BEEN to a WS since 1945 (when they - *ahem* - lost to the Tigers). And trust me, us Tiger-types would MUCH rather have seen the Cubbies in '84 than the Padres, fer cryin' out loud!

Ah well. . . there's always next year. . . (which, come to think of it, has become the mantra of Lions fans. . .)

And listen, I share yer sentiments with regard to, you know, that school from Ann Arbor. . . (a little Sparty humor - we like to say that 'AA' really stands for 'Arrogant A**holes'). I just hope we can do like yer Illini, and get out of the Big House with a win (ain't gonna be many better opportunities than this year. . .)

Fusion said...

At least now you know how he reacts and your reaction will be different in the future. Just have him stay off the meds while we're in Indy, ay? Esp if we have ajoining rooms like Drama said... ;)

Trueself said...

Serenity - Ah, between BJ and me a good spanking is often in order. . .

2am - You can't beat Papa Del's anywhere on earth. At least not that I've found. . .

C-Marie - Talking is good. So is Papa Del's pizza. . .

Des - It ain't easy being a Cubs fan, but then they say the most worthwhile things aren't easy. Plus, there's always next year. . .

I forgot to mention that on the back of the Muck Fichigan t-shirt it says "Ann Arbor is a whore." I don't actually own one of these t-shirts as I think it doesn't set the proper example for N, but it is one of my favorites when I see it on others.

Fuse - Yes, we're supposed to have adjoining rooms. That's so if you guys get too annoying we can stick you and BJ in one room while Drama and I relax in the other.
;-)

Drama said...

Ooooh how did I miss this exchange? Yes....BJ and Fuse will most certainly be rooming together at some point this weekend...they are BOYS after all. Heh