It's a Lovely Day, But I'm in a Mood

You know how you can wake up in a funk, but you're not sure if it's because of a dream that you don't remember, or something happened that you don't want to think about, or you're just regretting the bag of Raisinets you polished off in the middle of the night?

Well, that's how I woke up today. But first the good news:

My daughter across the pond just celebrated her first wedding anniversary. I sent her and my wonderful son-in-law a thoughtful [for me] anniversary card with a "paper" gift in it.  Hmmm, what's made of paper that would fit into a card? I wonder. Since I didn't send the card until last Sunday, I thought it might not arrive on time, so I emailed her in advance to get proper credit for my thoughtfulness.

She emailed back this morning from an exotic spot in Morocco. They are spending their anniversary at a charming place owned by Yves St. Laurent of all people. I wonder if he answers the door and changes the sheets? I even looked up the location on Wikipedia and there are at least a dozen lovely pictures. So I feel like I've been there too. If only in a pretty postcard tacked up on the bulletin board kind of way.

They're definitely living life the way you're supposed to, making some wonderful memories to enjoy throughout their marriage.

I have no memory of my first anniversary. I had a ten day old baby that was mewling and puking in my arms, so I don't think much more than a few hours of uninterrupted sleep was planned.

Meanwhile, back in the Midwest, my friends' son ran for three touchdowns in a 62 to something rout at my old high school's first home game last night. This is his senior year. The team is 3 and 1. They lost a non conference game earlier to a team they beat last year. And they beat a team they had lost to four years in a row. Go figure. The game they lost featured the most biased play by play announcer I've ever heard.

Most of them will limit their remarks to "Number 34, Joe Blow, for three yards, tackled by number 35, Joe Schmoe." This guy was screaming with glee with announcements like, "Number 54 just squashed their quarterback!" "Number 45 stopped number 24 in his tracks!!"  "The defense just buried number 8. He's not going anywhere!" 

Then there were the phantom flags. A forty yard touchdown run by my friends' son was suddenly called back for holding. I was shooting video in the stands. We checked the footage from all the cameras. No flag. Not even a late one.

This season is also the 100th anniversary of the football program at my old high school, so they invited football alums to come to the first home game to be honored.

Colleges might do something to honor old players on the field at halftime. Maybe with an announcement of their names and a little commemorative trophy. And a free hot dog. High schools, at least my old high school, just made the old guys stand up where they were in the bleachers and wave. Lame-O.

Today  my friends and their son are at one of the Big Ten schools meeting with the coaches. Manwhile, I'm making a video to show the team before their next game. We'll do highlights of the first four games with a SportsCenter theme. The announcer for their games has agreed to play the part of Stuart Scott or Kenny Mayne.

One of these days, I'll have to do one of Mrs. Linklater's infamous football columns. Do I hear clamoring? I learned a new term and I'd like to use it correctly in a sentence -- EMPTY SET. The high school team in the town where I live, which features Jim McMahon's kid as one of the QBs, just knocked off the Number 3 ranked team in the state, lining up lots of times with an empty set or maybe it's "in an empty set." Regardless, it doesn't sound like anything I'd use in the same breath as football, but watch me try.

Now for the bad news.  I knew if I wrote long enough I'd realize why I'm in a funk. It's mainly because I have to work this weekend. I have to review a bunch of footage. I have to write a five minute script. I have to do a layout for a website. All for Monday meetings. Crapola. 

At least the sun is shining and the sky is blue. I think I'll go to the deli for nova lox, onion, tomato, and chive cheese on a toasted sesame bagel. Oh wait, Notre Dame plays Michigan don't they? That should be good for grins. While I'm working, of course.