Are you ready for some football ??!!

Football season is here, my friends. It's my favorite time of year. I LOVE fall. Granted, I live in Florida so fall comes MUCH MUCH later and we usually call it winter by the time it gets here.

G and I got off the waiting list for Buccaneers season tickets this year. Our seats are on the third deck in row G. We're right off the 10 yard line. It doesn't sound good here, but trust me the seats are GREAT ! The picture to your left, is the view from my seat before the game. Yes, we're on the East side of the stadium so there's lots of sun!



The people sitting around us are all other season tickets holders and all seem, at this point, to be really nice people. There WAS, however, some drama in the third quarter that I'll get to later.

Before the game, G and I found parking and got there about 90 minutes early. The game started at 8pm, so we headed out to find food. Note to all those heading to Raymond James stadium: There are NO healthy options on the menu !! Beer, chili cheese dogs, fried chicken fingers, nachos, hot dogs, and hamburgers are all that is there. Next time, I will be eating ahead of time. Once regular season starts I'll most likely be tailgating so I can grill something healthier. I"d rather not pay 8 dollars a piece for my heart attack! (Plus drinks) I settled for chicken fingers.

The opening: the guy singing the National Anthem, must have won a contest or something. He was AWFUL! Maybe he was related to a player or coach. They should have explained the reason, cuz he was really REALLY bad.

First quarter the Buccs dominated, Griese looked amazing!

Fun part #2: The Pee Wee Football half time. Lutz Chiefs vs Land O Lakes Gators! The kids were SO CUTE !! 5-9 year olds playing football on the GIANT field at Ray Jay. They were so pumped. One little guy from the Chiefs even ran it in for a touchdown and then jumped into the stands like the pros do. It was so funny. I was waiting for the endzone dance, but it didn't happen. It was definitely a major highlight of the game for me, once the game became kind of a blow-out. It's hard to tell from the picture how tiny the kids are, until you look at the adult coaches in the picture!


The real drama came in the third quarter. Some random guy and his "Girlfriend" came and sat four seats down from G in our row. They didn't belong there, but we left them alone (for now). About ten minutes after they sat down the guy started having a really LOUD conversation about what "girlfriend's" sister is like to date, in bed, etc. This guys is talking EXTREMELY loudly. To the point where G turns to me and goes "more crowd noise please". I could hear the guy's entire conversation and I was sitting six seats away. Finally, the guy in front of him asks him if he can keep it down, in deference to the two 9 year olds sitting in front of him. Gauntlets were thrown, along with F bombs and another guy leaps in the aisle to go get security. Security shows up and check tickets. Amid complaints from the guy and "girlfriend" that they "didn't do anything" security escorts them out because they don't belong in our section to begin with. I was just glad the drama was over.

The rest of the third quarter: Chris Simms goes in as quarterback !! Jess, trust me, I was laughing the whole time! It was really ugly. His chances of getting picked up by another team if he gets dropped are slim if they look at that performance.

Overall, a great time was had by all.

And speaking of tennis...

I just saw on NBC that James Blake beat Roger Federer in the Olympic tennis semi-finals. The American WON! Did NBC cover the match on regular coverage? Nope. It might have been on MSNBC or Universal HD, but I didn't know about it. I"ll have to see if they posted the match online or are re-broadcasting it later. Hmmmmm off to check the internets.

Apparently, the match was on USA. It took me checking three different schedules online as NBC.com to figure out where the match was. The Serena Williams match is at 2:30 on MSNBC. Might have to check that one out while I'm cleaning the house. It's better than soap operas!

Life and Tennis

Last night it finally stopped raining long enough for me to play tennis. This was the first time my Wednesday tennis lesson wasn't canceled in five weeks! I had the lesson at 5pm , then hung around the club house until 7pm for the Wednesday night adult clinic. Trust me, I need all the help I can get!

The rain started up again late last night, however. Today is one of those drizzly rainy days that make you just want to stay in bed all day with tea and a good book. I've been cleaning, doing laundry, and watching the Olympics (between bouts of drinking coffee on the couch).

G comes home tonight for a week at home. He's got one more week of vacation to kill before the end of the month or he loses it. So, he's taking next week off to bum at home and do things around the house. It'll be so nice to have him here when I get home from work. Maybe he can even go to next weeks tennis clinic with me.

CE is complete!

G and I returned yesterday from my fun and not-so-fun filled weekend of CE. The fun part: 2 days enjoying the sun and fun of Captiva Island/Sanibel Island , Florida. The not so fun: I took 10 hours of classes while G got to play 9 holes of golf, hang on the beach, and take a 22 mile bike ride.

I did, however get to run with G along the beach Friday night. Saturday night I met up with a recent UHCO grad, who was in Captiva to take the medical errors class. I also ran into another doc who took boards with me. So, I had someone to sit with in classes all weekend. YAY! Saturday night G and I took the new grad out to dinner at a little italian place we found on Sanibel. The food was pretty good, but the service was horrible. Oh well, it's not like we were in a hurry... I think they count on that.

We were staying at the South Seas Island Resort which is on the north side of Captiva Island. It was very nice and we had a great view of the harbor.

I had one last class on Sunday morning. They let us out super early, so G and I headed back to Tampa to relieve our doggie sitter. The doggie was more than delighted we were home so early.