Weekend of Sports

Flying back from Ohio, was interesting. Maybe a little creepy, but maybe not. I was reading a book and just happened to over hear the girl sitting diagonal from me say she was a student from Loyola. Well I didn't really ask any questions, just listened. However, I was more excited for my brother to pick me up from the airport and head straight downtown for an electric environment.

Friday night, two international soccer powerhouses clashed at M&T Bank Stadium, which is home to the Baltimore Ravens football team. AC Milan, a prominent club from Italy, battled the well-known Chelsea Football Club based out of West London. I’ve attended almost every home game for the Baltimore Ravens over the past two years and the tailgating festivities prior to the start of kickoff are always a marvelous time. Naturally, I was skeptical that soccer tailgating may not meet my expectations, but some fellow student-athletes of mine proved me wrong. I had the privilege of bumping into eight international members of the Loyola men’s soccer team. I was reluctant at first to join my comrades, but I realized their animated soccer songs and chants didn’t entail the thuggish persona that the typical soccer hooligans possess. So we took to the streets, donning the red and black colors of AC Milan and made our way into the stadium. Both AC Milan and Chelsea treated the sold out crowd of 71,203 to a dazzling performance that consisted of two spectacular goals in the first half that were worth the admission alone. During the 69^th minute of the second half and with the score tied at one goal apiece a young Russian player for the Chelsea club bent an astonishing shot into the back of the net. There was little the AC Milan goalkeeper could do and the score remain 2-1 Chelsea until the final whistle blew to bring the game to a close.

The following day my cousin, Susan, and her boyfriend, Jon arrived at my house bright and early to pick me up to head off on our road trip to Citizens Bank Park to watch the Philadelphia Phillies host the St. Louis Cardinals. We took a quick detour to pick up Susan’s brother Robert who lives right outside of Philadelphia. There was a lot of unexpected traffic on the highway and all four of us were becoming antsy as we neared the ballpark. We parked the car and leisurely strolled into the ballpark. Our seats gave us an elevated view of the entire ballpark that overlooked the bullpens of both teams. The Phillies are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now. Their bats are red hot and sure enough their bats came alive in the sixth inning when the Phil’s shortstop Jimmy Rollins crushed a go ahead grand slam into the right field stands. I’m envious of the energy that the Phillies fans bring to the baseball games, but that can be expected given the fact that they won the 2008 World Series. The Phillies won the ballgame with a final score of 14-6. Our visit to the ballpark ended on a sour note when we were informed that a dispute spilled out of a stadium restaurant and a fight escalated in the parking lot and as a result a young man in his 20’s was beaten to death.

My weekend was capped off with a lacrosse game in Jarrettsville, MD. My team took control early in the game and never let up against the opposing team. After starting the season with three consecutive losses, my team has won three straight games. We began the season with three losses because our offense would play selfish and not share the ball. Thanks to a four goal spurt in the fourth quarter and a strong second half defensive performance we were able to secure a victory. We kept our playoff hopes alive after an impressive win. Directly after my game I hurried to my house for a quick shower, and then it was back to the airport. This time I am going to Alabama home of "Dreamland."

Dewey Beach

One week ago, I jumped in the car with my sister and her two kids and went on a road trip to the beach. For two days and one night we visited the quaint, modest town of Dewey Beach. Dewey Beach lies just south of Rehoboth Beach along the Atlantic Ocean in Delaware. After a quick two hour car ride, we waited for my dad and brother at our rendezvous, the Atlantic Oceanside motel. I exited the car and immediately ran and dove headfirst into the ocean after trekking down hot pavement and even hotter sand that scorched my shoeless feet. Because the water temperature is ever-changing I was still having trouble convincing myself how much time I would be spending in the water. As it turned out the water was not cold, but in fact, refreshing and invigorating. After surfing some mild waves, I emptied the sand from my bathing suit and proceeded to assist my nephew, Garret, with his construction of a sand castle. Our sand castle consisted of large towers and a shallow, water-filled ditch that surrounded the castle. The only structure missing from our castle now was a drawbridge. We were probably better off without a drawbridge for fear of mini sand crabs seizing our castle and holding my niece captive. The creation of our castle was now complete and as I was basking in the glory of our triumph, when Garret decided to celebrate in a different way by destroying our masterpiece with his shovel. The violent manner that he used to demolish the castle was highly amusing. Who could get mad at a rambunctious two-year old little tyke? I retreated to my beach chair and umbrella after sensing that my skin was beginning to sizzle under the hot summer sun. I was also under the impression that it was only a matter of time before I would pay both mentally and physically for stubbornly refusing to apply sunscreen to my fair and sensitive skin. I was enjoying the bliss of the warm, breezy beach when it was interrupted by overzealous shrieks from my sister who had just spotted a school of dolphins that were swimming relatively close to the beach. I’ve seen dolphins swim up and down the beach hundreds of times, but the elegance and grace that dolphins use to dive in and out of the water never gets old. The dolphins were just out of sight, when the speed of the wind increased and lifted our umbrella out of the sand. The umbrella was viciously propelled down the beach and was headed directly toward two unassuming beach going women. My initial thought was that the bottom of the umbrella’s shaft, which is moderately pointy, may severely harm one of these women. To my amazement the umbrella didn’t harm either women and they were reasonably good sports, considering the circumstances. A short while later I found myself playing an unusual game of beach basketball with my dad and brother, which proved to be challenging, but also enjoyable. I now had food on my mind, and not just any food, but Mexican food. Que Pasa was the answer and it was delicious.

The Buckeye State

I flew to Ohio on July 20, and little did I know the trip was already planned out completely. I would be staying from Monday the 20th until Friday the 24th. Last night we went to the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. It was pretty incredible. However, it did not compare to The Beatles Museum in Liverpool, England. After the visit to the museum we went out to dinner at a place called Stir Crazy. Only the second time going to this place, but it gets better every time. They should move the franchise to Baltimore because it would be a huge hit. Its basically a Pei Wei on steroids. This place is incredible and were actually planning on going two more times this week. It never gets old. Today we are just relaxing around the house. Tomorrow were going to Cedar Point, which is an amusement park outside of Cleveland. Thursday, were going bowling and at night were going back to Stir Crazy. Friday, I have the day to relax and then my flight takes off around 5 back to Baltimore. I don't know if this trip will compare to last years trip however. Last year, we went to Lake Erie and were on jet skis the entire day. It was unbelievable. Then at night we had a fire and bbq on the beach. But for now I'm getting ready to go play some tennis with the Thomas family. After we are going to Stir Crazy for the second night in a row. Should be interesting.