Let's go to the judges

One of the tough things about being away from home is the extra effort it takes to keep up with the sporting world. Poor Kerry had to go two whole weeks without hearing me scream profanities at the TV. So sad.

Well one of the main reasons I wanted this blog was to scream profanities at the internet as well. No this does not replace the screaming of profanities to the TV, but as we all know, sometimes sports demand multiple outlets. With the teams I root for, I may ultimately have to set up a multi media headquarters, but for now the blog will do… hopefully.

So let’s grade the performance of the home-blog heroes over the last two weeks.

• Houston Astros: F-
  The Astros weren’t active during this time, but I didn’t have the blog during the season, so this grade is retroactive. The only positives this season were Biggio’s 3,000 hits (even the Yankees don’t have one of those), getting rid of the stupid fat man, GM Tim Purpura, and getting a chance to personally watch the young players beat up on the Reds from the GE Luxury Suite in Great American Ballpark.
  
  
• Houston Texans: C-
  Yeah, they went 1-1 during the break, but it seems that the loss to the Chargers just wasn’t even close and we lost Dunta Robinson during the win at the Raiders. When you’re hoping he’s just out for the season, that’s not good. Our list of injuries this season is longer than… my flights. What did you think I was going to say?
  
  
• Florida Panthers: C
  They went .500, but they had a great chance to pull within a few points of division leader Carolina and instead got slammed causing G Tomas Vokun to question the effort of the team. Nothing like the new guy calling out his teammates to build team unity.
  
  
• Northwestern Wildcats: D
  We went 0-2. Yeah, they were tough opponents and your expectations for Wildcat Football shouldn’t be too high in the first place (not healthy), but we were leading both games late in the second quarter and got beat soundly. Not good
  
  
• Houston Rockets: A-
  This is what we call a sprinkle of sugar on a pile of shit. Finally one team that didn’t suck. They went 3-1 to start the season and lost a tough one to Dallas yesterday. Dallas is still one of the best teams out there, and they had to pull off a pretty impressive run to steal the win. Considering the new coach and new players, I’m going to give them a little bit of a pass on this one. If they make that a trend though, expect it to change.

I'm on my waaaayyyy... Home Sweet Home!

Whew, what a trip. No matter how cool it is to see other parts of the world, it’s always nice to come back home. Hmm… that doesn’t sound right… let me rephrase.

No matter how cool it is to see other parts of the world, it’s always nice to be back home. Coming home sucks. Seriously, I get to fly from Christchurch, New Zealand to Auckland, New Zealand to Los Angeles to Dallas to Orlando. Once in Orlando, I get to rent a car and make the hour drive back home to Melbourne. Then on top of that, I get to go into work on Thursday.

The crappy part is that I don’t even get credit for time served traveling. I leave my hotel in Christchurch at noon on Wednesday the 7th (local time) and get home at 2am on Wednesday the 7th (local time). That’s 14 hours off the clock, but I estimate 32 hours of uncomfortable, stinky, sober(ish) time sitting in a tiny airplane seat or a noisy uncomfortable airport.

At least on the way here, I left on a Wednesday and got in on Friday afternoon. Sweet! Weekend! Now, I get to go back and it’s still the middle of the week. If I’m going to have an 8 day week, the extra day should at least be the weekend.

All that said, however, for those of you who would use this as an excuse for not making such a trip to see these great countries (and by “those of you” I mean mom), just know that it’s totally worth it and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Of course ask me that again 32 hours from now.