Monday, September 18, 2006

GRIDLOCKED!

I am startled from my heavy sleep this morning from what sounded like trumpets of car horns and angry voices. I'm so violently awakened from my deep sleep that I have no concept of what day it is, what time it is, where I am, etc. So I run to my window and see what could be termed "The traffic gridlock from hell". Now when you are living in Manhattan, loud noises in the morning is a common occurrence that every Manhattanite deem as a rite of passage of being a true New Yorker; You can't escape it, you simply deal with it the best way you can. And for the most part, I am usually good about dealing with it. But for some reason, today the noise levels were at an all-time high. Sirens blaring every few minutes, parades of security details zipping around the neighborhood; what in the hell is going on?

Then it hits me. This is the week of the United Nations Assembly. This is the week where all of big politicos from all over the world descend onto New York for meetings and such. And normally that means a visit from the President of the United States. Add to that, numerous protests from every group imaginable and that equals TRAFFIC HELL. I'm sure looking forward to that....

What a great weekend, huh? The weather was awesome, lots of great football games and tons of eye candy all over the neighborhood. I guess this is the beginning of "Indian Summer".

Week 2 of FANTASY FOOTBALL SUNDAY was a bit more laid back than the previous week, no doubt due to the overload of sports and partying from the last few nights. Some of those participants that were able to pull themselves out of bed included T-BILL, AFRIKA BAMBATTA, JON CUSACK (looking worse for the wear), SILENT BOB, DIRTY SANCHEZ and AMERICAN PSYCHO (the Peanut Gallery), MR. CHIPS and NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (who literally came to the bar straight from the airport). As usual, we got in our share of close games, laughs, hijinks and the usual rounds of Gentleman's Drinks.

A very hung-over JON CUSACK...

AFRIKA BAMBATTA & MR. CHIPS in desperate need of a GENTLEMAN'S....

MR. CHIPS leading the bar in a New York Giants fight song during overtime of the Giants/Eagles game...

T-BILL wondering what in the hell is going on....

All eyes on the Giants going for victory!

SILENT BOB and DIRTY SANCHEZ... the last survivors of the day, singing tunes from The Smiths...

Speaking of Gentlemen's Drinks, someone asked what was a Gentleman's. A Gentleman's Drink is basically a Gimlet (what is a Gimlet? Liquor and lime juice) made with MAKER'S MARK. General rule of thumb is to have one at some point during the 4:00 games, when the boys are relaxed and are in full fun mode. The Gentlemen's Drink is usually the catalyst that gets all the crazy stuff going. Usually by the end of the 4:00 games, all parties are thoroughly hammered and need to be sent on their merry way. It has become a tradition of sorts, although we are thinking about bringing in a new drink called the CLARETT (Grey Goose Gimlet in honor of former Ohio State running back MAURICE CLARETT and his latest brush with the law), but we'd have to modify it due to our continuing ban of GREY GOOSE (going back to the Afghanistan War and the protesting of the French).

At the end of the day, I was so exhausted from the weekend's events that I actually found myself falling asleep on MR. LOW-KEY as he was sharing his tailgating highlights at the Jets game. I knew then it was time to go. It was definitely an awesome weekend, and a sign that this is going to be a great fall.


DOLLAR DRAFT MADNESS CONTINUES TONIGHT!


NUFF SAID