No Vick? No Problem

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

What a fantastic weekend! For those of you who are friends on the Facebook, you already know a little bit... but allow me to go into more detail. Saturday, I picked my dad up at the airport, went back to Truckee, and watched some pretty good college football games with my roommate. I think my dad really enjoys spending time with the guys... because well, my stepmom has him on a pretty nice leash. "Hey dad, how's it going? Just thought I'd call and see what you were up to this fine Monday night." "I'm ugh... watching TV." "Oh, so you've been watching the Giants destroy the Bears & Cutler getting thrown around like a rag doll?" "No." "No? Sigh... how's Dancing with the Stars?" "It's okay. Some of these guys are pretty good." "Really? That's not surprising at all... because half of them that aren't professional dancing stars... are professional dancers in boy bands and sh*t. Anyway, it's a pretty good game... especially if you don't like Jay Cutler... might wanna let your Broncos fan master know." "I'll let her know..."

Sunday morning, we woke up and drove to San Francisco through the beautiful Sierra Nevadas. Our first stop was to the hotel... and who was there to greet us at the door... but none other than 49ers head coach Mike Singletary. I am not even joking. He was right there (maybe looking into a future career as a valet once he gets fired from the Niners) at the entrance. I like Mike Singletary. I'm just giving him sh*t because... well, he can take it. I really do want to see him do well... but a career in football is a fickle mistress. So my dad & I were already psyched because apparently... we had found where the team was staying the night before (saw a few large men in the lobby). So we go to check in... and my dad leans over and whispers, "Hey dude, who is that?" motioning behind us. I saw this African-American man, about five-six it seemed, that looking INCREDIBLY familiar... in fact, I knew who it resembled immediately... but didn't want to be involved in some kind of stereotypical "They all look alike" kind of thing. Look, I don't believe in that at all... well, I didn't until I went to China... because they all do look alike there. But after a few seconds, I had the courage to tell him, "I think that's Brian Westbrook." "Who's Brian Westbrook?" At this instant, I thought, "Are you messing with me? I got you a jersey to wear to the game online" but he was just double checking I'm sure. "He's the guy whose jersey we're wearing to the game in a few hours." "That's what I thought. Want a picture with him?" He had his luggage and was on his way to the game (as the 4th string running back for the Niners after a great career with my Eagles) so I didn't want to mess with it... but my dad had other plans...

"Excuse me, are you Brian Westbrook?" "Yeah." "Nice to meet you. My son & I just came down for the game and we're actually wearing your Eagles jersey to the game tonight, so this is kinda weird." "Yeah." We all shook hands and introduced ourselves... and long story short, I met Brian Westbrook... and here's a picture... which apparently was taken in an all-encompassing angelic glow...

So yeah, my dad was SUPER stoked about that... and I was too... but I have a volume control when it comes to that stuff and was playing it pretty cool. Then it was time to head out to Candlestick Park for some tailgating. Now, I didn't have a grill or anything like that... but I did have Gretchen & plenty of Hornsby's Apple Ciders... along with ingredients for Copper Camels so... yeah, we were pretty good. Here are some pictures...

Not wearing shoulder pads, just an awkward position...

After a few hours of wandering about and trading banter with fellow drunken fans for both sides, we made our way from the parking lot to the park... and it's pretty impressive in my opinion... but you be the judge...

What can I say about the game that hasn't already been etched in folklore? The Eagles were dominating the game despite a fairly average performance from Kevin Kolb... but after a big f**kup by 49ers quarterback (and U of U alum) Alex Smith, we were up 24-10. The crowd around us started chanting, "WE WANT CARR!!! WE WANT CARR!!!" referring to backup quarterback David Carr. Well, coach Singletary gave Alex Smith a talking to... and then he led them on two touchdown scoring drives bringing the score to 27-24 with a few minutes left. At this time, in an obviously joking fashion, my dad & I started chanting, "WE WANT CARR!!! WE WANT CARR!!!" Nobody else laughed... but hey, we did. Long story short, the Eagles won by that final score of 27-24... and the 49ers record is now 0-5. Glad that a former U alum could get a little redemption... but they still lost. Great game.

Here's the thing that I didn't like about Candlestick Park. There were a number of different ways to get in... but they closed all but one way out... and it went through a residential area with only one lane each way (but as mentioned, the other way was blocked off for some reason). What the hell? Even after waiting an hour for the stadium to clear out, we were still stuck in traffic for another hour... to go one mile... to the freeway onramp. Once on the freeway, we went ten miles in ten minutes to the hotel... but yeah, maybe they should fix that. Just a heads up before you move to the new stadium in Santa Clara in a few years.

That night, we had a good buzz going... but my dad is also over a half-century now... so he was dozing off by 9 PM... so we just ordered some room service sandwiches and chilled at the hotel. I wandered around a bit... but there really wasn't much to see except airplanes. The next day, we woke up, drove back across California, dropped my dad off in Reno, then I went home and watched yet more football. Not a bad weekend at all. Oh... and I've been catching up with work pretty much ever since... but hey, only two more weeks until my New Orleans adventure... and I'm sure there will be plenty more adventures between now and then. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the weekend a bit... and maybe next time you'll want to go to an Eagles game with me and meet a few of your favorite players (both of you reading this who know anything about football). Have a great day everybody!!!