Wasted Days and Opening Day

Ok, so it has been almost a week, or rather a whole week in and of itself, since my last blog. I did inform everyone last blog about how busy and inebriated my weekend would be. It turned out much as I expected. It had kind of a rough start as Fernando had some travel issues and didn’t get into DFW till almost midnight on Friday. Then, we rushed in a way to Main Street Bar in Richardson to get the weekend started right. I started my weekend with 2 shots and 4 beers in one hour. Rough, but I survived enough to get everyone to Whataburger for some taquitos before bedtime. The next morning as my alarm clock was going off I made the spur of the moment decision to sleep in some more and ended up sleeping till almost eleven. I took Fer to go get his rental car but was turned down by the rental place due to some credit card snafus, so we just sucked it up, reorganized, and went to Snuffers. I, as well as most everyone else, stuffed myself with cheddar fries and a cheddar fry burger in preparation for my evening plans. We went back to the house, blissfully, and got to get to see the video from Fernando’s wedding. I enjoyed seeing myself making an ass out of myself, and though I can’t speak for Jon and Chris, got some pretty good laughs out of it all. Although Fer said the video was only thirty minutes, it ended up being an hour or more, so right afterward we had to all depart our separate ways for our Saturday into Sunday plans. Fernando and Claudia were heading up to Wichita Falls to see Fer’s brother, I packed up and hauled ass to the racetrack, and Jon, well, I’m not sure what Jon did. When I got to the track I settled into the race weekend groove. Everyone was enjoying crawfish and other delicacies, but I was still so stuffed from Snuffers that I couldn’t take it. I started in on the beer. My brother made the “excellent” decision to bring some Natural Light to the track, which was pretty gross, but cheap beer is cheap beer. We sat around the campers and camp chairs, drinking and watching people play cornhole. It was a redneck holiday of sorts. As the evening turned into late night, the Oklahoma boys yelled, “Let’s go see some titties!” So, everyone stuffed a couple beers in their pockets and topped off their mixed drinks to head over to the “parade” where ladies, young and old, attractive and disgusting, would compromise their morals for ten cents worth of plastic beads. It wasn’t that great. In fact, if you were sober enough, you would realize that for twenty dollars you could have a relatively attractive woman’s undivided attention for three or four minutes at an actual titty bar. The hangovers keep most of us in bed till ten the next morning, but the rest of us were shaken out of bed because of the raging winds and freezing cold that came about in the middle of the night. Sleeping on the floor of a camper with an egg-crate beneath me and an old worn blanket was not the best circumstances for this type of weather. But, I toughed it out and enjoyed the excellent breakfast my brother made before heading to the track. The race wasn’t that good and my sister got sick near the end, so they split out early and I was on their heels to beat the traffic. Sunday night we all got together again since we were all back in town and enjoyed some more good times. Claudia was going back Monday morning so we had to work out the driving plan for the game. We boiled it down to Fer taking Claudia to DFW and then going back to Love to drop off his rental car, then me going and picking up both Jon and Josh on the way to getting Fer from Love and going to the ballpark. It turned out like clockwork, but it didn’t mean that everything was fantastic. It was still cold, maybe even colder. Our seats were upper deck, right behind home plate, and when I say upper deck, we were one row down from the top and had the cold North wind at our backs the whole time. But, we won, and I will get to that later. Monday night we were cool out and relaxed, just enjoying our last good times before we all split ways again. I took Fernando over to Jon’s because he was going to stay there that night and Jon was going to take him to the airport because I had to work the next morning. It was such a good weekend that parts of it are just blurs, but I know I had a great time and I know I will miss Fernando till I see him again.

Now on to my Texas Rangers…The Texas Rangers are going to make people forget about those miserable starts of the recent past if they keep playing like it is 1996 again. For the first time since the season of their first AL West title, the Rangers are 3-0. The Rangers can still hit, that has not changed. But if they keep pitching the way Kevin Millwood and the relievers did in a 9-1 opening victory over the Cleveland Indians on Monday, this could finally be their breakout season. Plus, Elvis Andrus hit his first career homer, and Nelson Cruz added two solo shots and three RBIs to lead the Rangers past the Cleveland Indians 8-5 Wednesday. And Marlon Byrd and Ian Kinsler hit long home runs and the Rangers outslugged the Cleveland Indians 12-8 Thursday. Texas, which got its only series sweep last season in late August, is the only American League team still undefeated. The Rangers got off to a 7-16 start last season that raised questions about the future of manager Ron Washington, who made his debut a year earlier with a 20-loss May that pushed Texas to a season-worst 19 games under .500 by mid-June. Texas won its first seven games and went on to win its first AL West title in 1996. They won the division again in 1998 and 1999, but still haven’t won a playoff series. However, with kind of start and the knowing nods and glances we are getting from ESPN, it is hard not to be optimistic about the Rangers chances. Now if you know me, you know I am not a bandwagoner. I am the hardest of hardcore Rangers fans that brave the oppressive heat of Texas summer just to enjoy a game and lives and dies by the numbers on our players stat sheets. I love the Rangers, even though they have not paid off in my previous wagers in their favor. Good thing I only gamble in cookies. Needless to say, Opening Day, and the remaining two games of the week have made me a believer all over again, as if I needed it. How can you not believe it when the former President George W. Bush winds up his right arm with two windmill whirls, then fires a high strike in to help the Texas Rangers start the season?