November 19th – 21st
Louisville vs South Florida – Big East CFB
Flew down early Thursday morning to enjoy some much needed sunshine!
However, a FAA flight computer crashed and had the most of the flights on the east coast grounded for a few hours.
Agh!!!!
So I got into Tampa a few hours later than planned.
Meanwhile, my father was stuck in Atlanta due to the FAA computer issue. So I was attempting to fix his travel situation with Delta.
My wonderful Thursday migraine was building in the background.
Made it up to the pool – FINALLY!
Are you kidding me?
There were 3 chaise lounges with padding. One patio table with 2 chairs.
And 2 beach chairs – which why were these even at a pool?
Their purpose is to sit on the shore and let the waves wash over your feet – they have no point at a pool!
But that was all that was available. Not exactly comfortable.
I lasted about 20 minutes in it before just laying on the cement.
After about 2 hours, I gave up. My migraine was in full swing and I needed darkness.
So I went to my room and laid down for a while. I HAD to kick it because tonight was my last Thursday dinner with the guys.
Eventually, my meds helped dilute the pain a little.
I threw up too and that usually is the sign of things getting better.
So I got ready and headed out for dinner. We ended up at Mitchell’s Seafood Market – which even though I don’t eat seafood, was fine with me because I know they have excellent steaks. It is part of a chain started by a chef in Columbus.
Tonight there was about 10 of us for dinner. I sat on the end because I was fearful I might have to run out at any moment. One bite of bread and I knew ordering dinner had been a mistake.
I could barely keep my eyes open the pain was so bad.
Dinner came – mmm! One of my favorite meals.. Filet mignon, mashed potatoes & asparagus.
I tried taking a bite of the steak and thought for sure I was going to projectile vomit all over the place.
I gave Jason money and told him I had to leave. It broke my heart to miss out on my final Thursday night dinner AND to miss out on a great meal.
But I knew things were about to get violent.
Sure enough, I was 2 steps into the parking lot and I threw up again!
I made my way back to the hotel and went to bed. I put myself into my little coma trance and eventually went to sleep.
Friday morning – all better! Thank god! That one was a doozie!
USF plays at Raymond James Stadium – where the Buccaneers play.
Grr.. another NFL stadium and their security issues.
Jason and I went out to see the field.
Friday night, I had dinner plans with my friend Mark from Pittsburgh. He works on one of the FOX NFL crews and they were doing the game on Sunday in Tampa. Our crews were even staying at the same hotel.
As we were heading out for dinner, we ran into Dave, ironically a stats guy from Columbus. So he joined us as well. Dave and I used to work boxing together years ago – so it was fun to catch up with him!
It was great to see Mark and this gave him ample opportunity for him to give me crap for not visiting last month when I was in Pittsburgh. He claimed the triplets cried when they found out I was in town and didn’t come over. Yeah right! But he did do a good job of making me feel bad.
Saturday was good. Since the NFL crew was setting up, it was tight quarters in the TV compound!
Our truck
Louisville vs South Florida – Big East CFB
Flew down early Thursday morning to enjoy some much needed sunshine!
However, a FAA flight computer crashed and had the most of the flights on the east coast grounded for a few hours.
Agh!!!!
So I got into Tampa a few hours later than planned.
Meanwhile, my father was stuck in Atlanta due to the FAA computer issue. So I was attempting to fix his travel situation with Delta.
My wonderful Thursday migraine was building in the background.
Made it up to the pool – FINALLY!
Are you kidding me?
There were 3 chaise lounges with padding. One patio table with 2 chairs.
And 2 beach chairs – which why were these even at a pool?
Their purpose is to sit on the shore and let the waves wash over your feet – they have no point at a pool!
But that was all that was available. Not exactly comfortable.
I lasted about 20 minutes in it before just laying on the cement.
After about 2 hours, I gave up. My migraine was in full swing and I needed darkness.
So I went to my room and laid down for a while. I HAD to kick it because tonight was my last Thursday dinner with the guys.
Eventually, my meds helped dilute the pain a little.
I threw up too and that usually is the sign of things getting better.
So I got ready and headed out for dinner. We ended up at Mitchell’s Seafood Market – which even though I don’t eat seafood, was fine with me because I know they have excellent steaks. It is part of a chain started by a chef in Columbus.
Tonight there was about 10 of us for dinner. I sat on the end because I was fearful I might have to run out at any moment. One bite of bread and I knew ordering dinner had been a mistake.
I could barely keep my eyes open the pain was so bad.
Dinner came – mmm! One of my favorite meals.. Filet mignon, mashed potatoes & asparagus.
I tried taking a bite of the steak and thought for sure I was going to projectile vomit all over the place.
I gave Jason money and told him I had to leave. It broke my heart to miss out on my final Thursday night dinner AND to miss out on a great meal.
But I knew things were about to get violent.
Sure enough, I was 2 steps into the parking lot and I threw up again!
I made my way back to the hotel and went to bed. I put myself into my little coma trance and eventually went to sleep.
Friday morning – all better! Thank god! That one was a doozie!
USF plays at Raymond James Stadium – where the Buccaneers play.
Grr.. another NFL stadium and their security issues.
Jason and I went out to see the field.
Friday night, I had dinner plans with my friend Mark from Pittsburgh. He works on one of the FOX NFL crews and they were doing the game on Sunday in Tampa. Our crews were even staying at the same hotel.
As we were heading out for dinner, we ran into Dave, ironically a stats guy from Columbus. So he joined us as well. Dave and I used to work boxing together years ago – so it was fun to catch up with him!
It was great to see Mark and this gave him ample opportunity for him to give me crap for not visiting last month when I was in Pittsburgh. He claimed the triplets cried when they found out I was in town and didn’t come over. Yeah right! But he did do a good job of making me feel bad.
Saturday was good. Since the NFL crew was setting up, it was tight quarters in the TV compound!
Our truck
2 of their 3 trucks
I hung out with Mark for a while in his truck. Which is always interesting to see how other shows have things set up.
Can't believe my football season is over!!
After the game, I flew to Louisville via Atlanta. While in Atlanta, I caught up with my friend Dave from Cincinnati. We then met up with a few other guys from Ohio and sat in the Delta Sky Club for a while. That always makes travel a little more tolerable when spent with friends.
On my flight from Atlanta to Louisville, I had an insane flight attendant. She was attempting to share her southern charm and zest for life – but basically she came across as an annoying nut job!
She never shut up on the PA. Went on and on about every branch of the military and giving them thanks, which is common. What’s not common is telling us about every person in her family and listing which branch they were in and which war they fought in. Then she went into this tirade about how the coast guard is an often forgotten branch of the military and never get thanked. It was very bizarre.
I just wanted to sleep.
Before landing, she approached each of us in the first class cabin and greeted us by name and shared a little story and thanked us for our loyalty to the airline. Her story for me was how her family was able to eat because she had a job with Delta – without my loyalty to the airline, she wouldn’t have a job and therefore her family would go hungry.
I finally escaped the loony lady and made my way to National to get a car. For a brief moment I considered taking a cab since I didn’t really need a car. But was already closer to National than the taxi stand.
Upon arrival to the hotel, I ran into several other crew members in the lobby. Several people from my football crew also flew from Tampa to Louisville to work the volleyball game tomorrow – but we flew different airlines.
There was only 1 person running the front desk so the line was long.
Next thing you know the flight crew from my flight walks in. Loony Lady recognized me and of course had to come over and talk to me and thank me and blah, blah, blah. Then when she realized I was with co-workers she started telling them what a loyal Delta customer I was.
It was a scene man!
Time for bed – have to be up in 6 hours.
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