Back from the ends of the earth

Hey. I've been gone for a while. It all started last Thursday night. I was writing a blog entry when my cousin called because his dad suddenly couldn't take him to the U.S. Open the next day because of work. He wanted to know if I'd take him.

I never thought I would attend a PGA Major tournament, but there I was, about ten hours later. I saw Tiger and his army of followers and everybody else. Interesting experience. If you want to follow what is happening at a golf tournament, actually being there probably isn't your best bet. But it's good juhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifst for the experience of saying, "I've been to a Major."

As soon as I got home, we left for North Carolina, where I did not have internet access. Now I have returned.

Not much has changed with the Pirates. Since Laura mentioned the Phillies attendance (103%) I'll take this opportunity to point out that the Pirates have had as little as 8,102(!) people at a home game this season against the Astros. I've been to Tommy Maddox Foundation celebrity softball games with more people!!

What the heck, the less people that attend games, the more money the Nuttings get from revenue sharing, perpetuating our sad, losing existence. Yay communism!

(A few notes about that Tommy Maddox softball game. It was to support his new Pittsburgh-area charity, and it was during summer 2003, when he had somehow fooled everyone into thinking he could be a good NFL quarterback by beating the Cleveland Browns three times. I doubt this charity still exists. The two teams competing were called "The Tommy Guns and the Auto-Maddox." The slow-pitch softball game featured such "celebrities" as Steelers backup center and aspiring rapper Chukky Okobi and Steelers punter Josh Miller. Plaxico Burress was supposed to be there, but...)