Christmas Card insert 2007...

I have come to the age where many of my friends are married with kids and send out Christmas Cards with an insert updating everybody on what they are up to...Well seeing as how I'm not married and don't have any kids, my Christmas card insert would be centered entirely on me and my dog Rocky...I'm not sure if everybody would find the humor in me sending this out in an actual Christmas card so I will just blog about it here.


Dearest Family and Friends,

2007 was an exciting year for Rocky and I. We spent a lot of time out and about and as usual we both went the entire year without girlfriends. 2007 could very well go down as the Year of Travel as an unprecedented amount of new cities and new stadiums/arenas were crossed off of my “To Visit” List.

My journey began and ended with Georgetown wins at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ and at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, VA respectively. Both venues were firsts for me. Sandwiched in between those Georgetown victories I took in games for the first time at the following venues (in chronological order): The Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, The Comcast Center in College Park, Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, NC, The Georgia Dome in Atlanta, The Pepsi Center in Denver, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Denver, BMO Field in Toronto, PGE Park in Portland, Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, NC, and Toyota Park in Chicago.

I continue to play competitive sports even though my days may be numbered. The Donkies won two championships in Montgomery County while FC Dynamite just missed out on winning the League in Fairfax County. The KG Vets made the final four in the Vienna Men’s Basketball League only to lose once again to One on One Basketball. Next year we will beat them I swear.

For the first time since I was in school I took a vacation that lasted longer than a 4 day weekend. Brendan and I went on a cross country trip that saw us drive back home from Portland, Oregon with numerous stops in the middle. Our biggest achievement might be the fact that we are still great friends after so much “quality time” together.

Each and every year the Barra Brava experience in Lot 8 gets better and better and 2007 was no exception. I was able to get more friends than ever before to actually become official members. The tailgates continue to be my selling point – but hopefully I have converted some of them into actual DC United fans by accident. I even got some press in the Washington Post in their article covering the best supporters group in MLS.

As of this writing I plan on attending two more Georgetown games and one more Redskins game. Those three games will push my final yearly total of games attended up to an even 60! The scary part is that it could have easily been more.

Rocky made some great strides by the time of his last checkup earlier in the month. He lost over 20 pounds throughout the year with the help of a new diet and more activity thanks to his roommates. He also had his teeth cleaned. If he doesn’t meet a nice Chocolate Lab in 2008 he can’t use the tired old excuse about stained teeth. He’s ready to knock them off their paws!

I hope everybody has as much to be thankful for in 2007 as Rocky and I do. We want to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a great start to 2008.

Lucky #14

As we head into final stretch of 2007, it looks as though I have gone on my last sports related roadtrip. (Anybody interested in going to Memphis on Saturday? Just say the words and I'll gas up the truck!) A few weeks ago I headed down to Norfolk to watch Georgetown take on ODU. This trip was planned the minute I walked out of Georgetown's on campus, high school sized gym completely dumbfounded by their upset loss last season (Nov 19, 2006...not like I remember or anything). Not wanting my career record against the Monarchs to stand at 0-1 for who knows how long, I natrually had to see the Hoyas avenge the loss in person.


Luckily all is right with the world as the Hoyas rewarded my three and a half hour trip with an easy victory over their CAA foe. Lady Luck showed her face again seeing as how I had a friend to go to the game with. I won't even point out the fact that she was rooting for ODU...hey beggars can't be choosers right? Way too many Georgetown road games turn into solo missions! It turns out that ODU has a really nice arena but very little parking options for sold out events. Seriously though I imagine it is a tough place for conference foes to come in and take home a win.

So here is a list of all of the games that I saw outside of the Metro DC Area in '07:

Jan 19 - Georgetown @ Seton Hall - Hoya Hoop Club Bus Trip

Feb 17 - Georgetown @ Villanova - Hoya Hoop Club Bus Trip

March 15 - Georgetown vs. Belmont - NCAA Tournament

March 23 - Georgetown vs. Vanderbilt - NCAA Tournament

March 31 - Georgetown vs. Ohio State - Final Four

April 6 - Dallas Mavericks @ Denver Nuggets - AI with the Nuggets!

April 7 - DC United @ Colorado Rapids - United Season Opener

May 19 - DC United @ Toronto FC - United first trip to Canada

Aug 11 - Vancouver WhiteCaps @ Portland Timbers - Cross Country Trip

Aug 13 - Denver Broncos @ San Francisco 49ers - Cross Country Trip

Aug 16 - Miami Dolphins @ Kansas City Chiefs - Cross Country Trip

Aug 18 - Louisville Indians @ Durham Bulls - Cross Country Tip

Oct 25 - DC United @ Chicago Fire - Playoff Game #1

Nov 28 - Georgetown @ Old Dominion - Too close to pass up