She took his loser ass back! My cousin took her husband back. He is on
his way from Florida right now (his car broke down twice in Georgia. At
least that state has done something good for a change) and should be
here tomorrow. She says that this is his absolute last chance. She
thought John and I might be pissed since we went all the way down there
to get her stuff. I don’t care about that. This guy is a loser, a
scammer, a liar, a con and a dumbass all rolled into one. She can do
WAYYYYYY better. I never trusted him from the first time (and still the
only time) I met him. He seems to be racist and a homophobe, and just
generally represents everything I despise. Even though I think he is
bad for her and a loser, I will support her in what ever she does. She
is family and she has earned my support. She has done so much for us
over the years, that my loyalty to her knows no bounds.

Work is work. Nothing big to talk about, except today we were a lot
less busy then yesterday. I just wish I didn’t have to get up as early,
but what can I do. I’m thinking I might start working some OT to make
up for the lack of money that I am making compared with AAA. The thing
is, I don’t want to work overtime.

I knew there was a lot of stuff I left out about the trip, so I will fill in what I have realized is missing at this time.

John is crazy. We drank bottle after bottle after bottle of water the
whole way home. He would not throw his bottles away, instead saving
them so that he could recycle them when we got home. Now, I’m all for
recycling, but that is a bit much. Its not like we had tons of room in
the cab of the U-Haul.

Throughout the trip, I kept thinking of when Jt and I drove to Florida
4 1/2 years ago. Dave, Jt and I have taken so many road trips together.
Jt and I by ourselves have taken a lot of long road
trips………….ok, maybe only 3 long trips. But, I couldn’t help but
reminece (spelling please……….damn, I can’t spell worth a damn)
about all of our trips, and how I miss them. Some of those trips the 3
of us took, were the best times of my life. We never had so much fun.
And its sad that its never going to happen again, even though I’m past
all of that. I really want to travel and take lots of road trips. I
need to find a new person to drive around the country with. This was my
only real road trip of the year (sorry, but going to Springfield really
doesn’t count) and I fear that it will be a long time before I have
another one. I must find somebody that loves to travel as much as I do,
as the road is calling my name.

Although we drove through all red states (that means Republican
states), I was very disappointed about something I saw in the only blue
state (glorious IL!!!!). We stopped for gas in Metropolis and read some
anti Kerry graffitti on the bathroom stahl. It said “Which ferrys (that
is how the red neck loser spelled fairies) voted for Kerry? All of
them”. It also said some other anti gay and anti Kerry message. I would
like to think that it was somebody from Kentucky that did it, since
Metropolis is right nex to Kentucky, but I fear that it was a fellow
resident of IL.

John was his usual non talkative self on this trip. I wanted to come
out to him during the trip, but I chickened out. It would have been the
perfect time to do it too, since we had nothing but time on our hands
to have a long and honest discussion about it. But, instead, we spent
most of the drive just listening to the radio, as I would flip stations
when a crappy song came on. Sure, we did talk about some things, but it
was not like the times with Jt when we would just get into the most
interesting and long discussions, most of which would eventually lead
to an argument, but it was fun. The funny part is that John and I did
not talk sports at all. No baseball talk whatsoever, which is odd.

Its funny how you keep running into the same people on the road. One
time when we stopped in Georgia to eat at a Subway inside  at a
T/A rest stop, we saw this guy with his wife and kids. Hours later
while gassing up in Tennessee, who pulls up next to us to get gas but
the same guy. I would have said something to him, but I was too focused
on the hot boy that was gassing up at the pump across from me (he was
so yummy!!!). Anywho, what are the odds that we would pull off to eat
and pull of to gas up at the exact same time and at the 2 exact places?

The whole time we were in Orlando, I was a little paranoid that we
would run into Sharon’s loser husband, Robert. As we sat in an empty
parking lot waiting for the tow truck driver to properly connect the
car to the trailer, I kept thinking how I would react if he saw us. I
mean, here was a U-Haul towing a car in an empty parking lot, partially
blocking the enterance. We really stuck out, so its not like he would
drive past us and say “Oh, thats nothing, it certainly is not Sharon’s
car.” Than again, he is pretty fucking stupid, he just might say that.
But, really though, it would have been obvious it was us. So, I was a
little worried he would see us and there would be some sort of nasty
confrontation, but it never happened.

I was suprised at all the adult book stores we saw on the way. This is
supposed to be the conservative south, but there seemed to be either a
porn shop or fireworks shop every 20 miles. Also, advertising for strip
clubs that catered to truckers, who they gave special discounts to. Not
that I’m complaining about any of this. I’m always one to encourge
sexuality and perversion, I think it keeps everybody at a healthy
sexual state.

There is really nothing else I can remember about the trip, but if
anything else pops up, I will be sure to add it, not that anybody
really cares.

Man, this post was just all over the place. I wonder if I might be nuts?

Man, it feels SOOOOOOOOOOO good to be back home.

I will try to get the whole trip in this entry, and it might be long, so hang in there. I will start with Friday morning.

I did not sleep well Thursday night, as I was nervous about flying. We
left for the airport about 8:20 in the AM, and I was so nervous, I
seriously thought about taking one of the pills then, but held off til
shortly before boarding. We arrived and went through security. We were
selected special to have to be searched extra, I think it was because
we had a one way ticket. We had to take our shoes off, and at that
time, I was very happy that I wore socks without holes.

We boarded the plan at about 10:30. I had already taken one pill and
was still very nervous. According to the board, the captian, and
everybody else, we would land at about 2:30PM EST. Josh told me that we
would land about 2:16, and I was HOPING he was right. Shortly before
take-off, the pills still had not taken affect and I was very nervous.
So, I took another one. We got in the air pretty much on time, and off
we went.

The best part about being on Ted, is that we were able to listen to
some of Ted’s radio stations. I even heard American Pie, which I LOVE
and it was great to hear, but also ironic, since its about a plane
crash. We were also able to listen to the flight deck, which really put
me at ease, as I was able to hear when were were going to turn and
whatnot. It was very reassuring.

John had the window seat, I was in the middle, and some old guy who I
swear was dead for most of the flight sat next to me. Overall, though
the flight was actually pretty good. It went very smooth. If only the
rest of the trip had gone as good as the flight, we would have been
sitting pretty. We actually landed at 2:17, which was only a minute off
of what Josh said it would be. He was very nice in reassuring me about
the flight, he had all sorts of info and it truely did make me feel
much better.

One thing that really saved time was that we did not have to check any
luggage, so we did not have to wait at baggage claim. Instead, we
walked around trying to find the exit. We walked until we saw some
monorail thingy. I decided to take it, for if nothing else, it would be
fun to ride. We took it to another part of the airport and got out. We
wandered around and finally found our way outside. Sharon had called a
cab for us, so we had to meet up with him.

For some reason, John, who as you might already know is ALWAYS hot,
only packed sweatshirts. I, on the other hand, packed 2 t-shirts and my
Nike hoodie. I figured, I wouldn’t need any other clothes, as I was
hoping to be back my late Saturday night, maybe early Sunday afternoon
at the latest. So, John was hot, so I gave him one of my shirts. I
figured I could get by on wearing the same shirt 2 days in a row. It
was actually only in the low 70s in Orlando, and by evening had dipped
down into the low 60s.

It took us quite some time to meet up with the cab driver. He was on a
different level than us, but eventually we saw him. The first stop was
to the storage unit that had her car. I’m still not completly convinced
this guy was a real cab. He had a green Grand Marquis, had no meter and
was not in the best of condition. The check engine light was on the
whole time. We seemed to be in this cab for about 20 minutes, but it
cost $65!

We arrived at the storage unit and I went inside to get the keys from
the dude. He gave me the keys and a location of the car. It was a long
walk from the enterance, but I walked it while John took care of the
cab. I found it and got it unlocked, but I was unable to get the door
open. Finally John showed up and was able to get it open, as it turns
out I was just being an idiot.

There sat the car. It was loaded with shit. The window was open, so I
got in and turned the key. Nothing. Made no noises. No dinging.  I
have had doorknobs that have made more noise. This thing was deader
than roadkill. Shit. We were supposed to drive this car to get the
U-Haul, which Sharon had not gotten yet. We called her and she said
that there were jumper cables in the trunk (which was full of shit by
the way). She suggested that we ask the worker dude to give us a jump.
Also, she had said that she got a U-Haul, which was not in the same
place as the stuff we were supposed to load it with. Anywho, I walked
back to the main enterance and the kid said he would give me a jump. He
gave me a ride back to the storage unit. His car was actually
immaculently clean. It was 6 years old, yet it was the cleanest car I
had ever been in. He had to be gay.

He and John connected the cables and I turned the key. Nothing. They
did an adjustment on the cables and I turned again. The lights went on,
and it wanted to start. I turned again, and POOF! it started. We asked
him for directions to the U-Haul and went on our way. I drove the car
out and we arrived at the U-Haul place in about 10 minutes.

We got the U-Haul actually pretty quickly. They offered us the
insurance, which I was about to take when John said not to because it
would be covered under our car insurance. The workers were going to
hook the car up to the trailer on the U-Haul for us. I had to drive the
car onto the trailer, which the worker poorly directed me onto. After
about 15 minutes, we got it on. It took another few minutes for him to
poorly hook this car up to the trailer, but eventually he got it. We
took off. It was very noisey for some reason. Really really loud
actually, and I suspected something wasn’t right and my suspicions were
confirmed when somebody told us at a light that our ramps were hanging
down off the trailer. The morons at the U-Haul place had forgotten to
push them up.

We arrived at the other U-haul place, where her stuff was stored, 
at about 5:30. They told us they normally closed at 7PM, but would stay
open til 8 for us. Sharon told us that it would only take an hour to
load stuff up, so I thought we had plenty of time. Her unit was
acutally up some stairs and we had to carry everything through, for
lack of a better description, a warehouse. There was a loading dock
that we would take everything too, but we could not pull the truck up
to it because of the car attached to the end of it.

It wound up taking us til 8 to get the truck loaded. There was some
heavy shit in there too. The problem, was that we had not had a chance
to stop to eat or even drink much. I had not eaten since breakfast, and
only water I had was a small cup on the plane. My body was sorta
dehydrated, and we were carring this very large and heavy piece of
furniture and because of this, I had a very bad cramp in my
neck/shoulder of all places. It hurt like hell for a few minutes, and
still bothered me throughout the night, but I had to go on.

We eventually finished and headed to Arby’s for dinner. Afterwards we
were trying to find our way back to the expressway when we had to turn
around in what we thought was a large parking lot. We had some
problems. He was trying to back up, and this is when things
went………..weird. Things did not sound good, at least as far as the
car and trailer were concerned. I got out to help direct things, and
this is when I noticed that when he backed up, the truck, car, and
trailer all went in 3 different directions. It actually looked like the
trailer was hitting or coming close to hitting the car. One of the
things that are supposed to go around the tire had come off. Those
fuckers at the U-Haul place didnt know what they were doing. I
suggested that we should call a tow truck to put it on the right way.
We called Sharon to have her get in touch with a tow truck company, but
she told us to call U-hauls emergency road service, so we did. John
spoke with them for a few minutes, and they said they would call us
back. Long story short, they went back and forth calling us. After
about 45 minutes, they called us back for the last time and said they
said they could help us, but it would cost $65. We said that was fine.
Then, they told us that because it was not an emergency, they could not
help us at all. So, we were back to square one. Sharon called a tow
truck and they arrived in about 45 minutes.

The driver was sorta cute. I would definetly do him. He was also very
very helpful. He was able to give us a jump on the car and properly
hook up the car. He told us we were lucky we didn’t loose the car. He
also gave us directions, and only charged us $65, although we did tip
him. Unfortunetly, he gave us bad directions, but it was ok.

We drove for about an hour and a half and decided to look for a hotel,
which was harder then it needed to be. We eventually settled on a Days
Inn. It was a dump, but we were both very tired and it was 1:45 in the
AM.  In fact, not only did the one light in the room didnt work,
but neither did the phone or remote control. I was so tired though, and
I actually fell asleep pretty quickly.

We got up about 10. I showered and got ready for the day. John then
showered and we were on our way to breakfast at a Waffle House. I love
Waffle House. The workers are always so…………interesting. They
were very loud and boysterous. After eating, I went to wash my hands in
the bathroom. One of the workers had just walked out from cleaning it,
so I thought it would  be fine. Well, I guess her way of cleaning
it was pouring bleach all over the floor. The fumes were overwhelming.

We got done and went on our way. Everything was rolling fine until we
hit Georgia, which I’m convinvced is the 3rd dimension of hell. The
last time I drove though Georgia, I swear, it rained from one end of
the state to the other end, and we seemed to be in it FOEEVER. This
time would be no different.

We were in southern Georgia and had been on the road for about 3 hours
when it started to drizzle off and on. We had some construction, and
therefore traffic was sorta stop and go. We had stopped and started up
again. A red pick up truck in front of us stopped. John started to
stop, but it was hard, as we were carrying a lot of weight. It looked
like were going to hit it. I closed my eyes, hoped, and said to him
“please stop.” Then, I heard a crash. Shit. We hit it. It sounded
awful. I said to John “Damn, we should have gotten the insurance on the
truck. John and the other driver got out. So did a guy in front of the
truck. At first, I thought it was hit too, but it was not. John got
back in the car and he said that the pick up truck said we should get
off at the next exit. We did and pulled into a gas station. His truck
was not that damaged, it had some scratches on the bumper and his
trailer hitch was damaged but otherwise it was fine. The U-Haul, on the
other hand, was dented pretty good. Long story short, we waited for the
cop to arrive for about 2 hours. I remember thinking that we would not
get home until Monday.The other guy we hit was on his way back to South
Carolina, actually. The cop wound up giving John a ticket for
folllowing too closely.

Damn, this is one hellva a long post. We continued on, but this time,
we were both very paranoid of hitting people, so John really took
things slow. He would be sure not to get too close to people and did
not speed. It continued to rain, for most of the way though Georgia.
Fucking state. Again. second time through the state, and it rained a
lot. Again, we seemed to be in Georgia forever. The best part about it
though, is that around Atlanta, there are 6 lanes. Sweet. We saw a
billboard for a radio station called Dave FM. Cool.

We drove until about 8 when we finally stopped to eat. Subway. It was
actually at a TA travel place. It was huge. Great bathrooms actually. I
was even able to finally buy my sunflower seeds, and a road trip is
never complete until I have seeds.

Finally, about 10ish, we were out of the shithole state of Georgia. Its
not that Georgia is all that bad, but its just that I have bad luck in
that state. Tennessee was beautiful, although it would have been nice
had it not been dark and we had been able to see the scenery. I have to
say, though, that driving through the mountins was sorta of nerve
racking. After the accident, I was sorta paranoid about hitting people,
and it was rainy, dark, and sorta foggy. Plus, we eventually were going
down the mountins, which was a steep downgrade.

We drove until a town called Murphysborro its about 30 miles south of
Nashville. This time, we got a Ramada, which is usually a reliably good
hotel. Ironically, we had the same room number as the previous hotel we
stood at. This place was much, much nicer, although the remote control
didnt work. We arrived about 11:45PM. I don’t remember the last time I
was in bed before midnight on a Saturday night. I fell asleep pretty
quickly, though.

We got up about 7:30. We grabbed breakfast at Pondreosa, which had an
average breakfast buffett for only $4. The food was ok, but they had
really good corn beef hash and browines. This post is getting very
long, so I should find ways to wrap it up.

We actually were on a roll until we were about 45 minutes from home.
There was a very bad accident on I57, and backed up traffic for miles
on both sides of the road. Had we not been delayed, we would have been
home by 6. Instead, we arrived at Sharon’s about 6:30ish.

My sister was there and she was going to give us a ride home. The first
thing she asked me was “So, did guys stay in an hotels?”. I know I
should have more patience with her, but sometimes, she just asks the
dumbest questions. It drove me nuts.

We got home about 7:20PM. They had already started working on the roof
today and there are shingles all over my yard. They should be done by
tomorrow.

The food was pretty damn good tonight, but the gravy for the turkey
really sort of jelled pretty quickly, so it tasted yucky. Everything
else was very good. There were a ton of dishes to do, so that kept me
busy for quite some time.

After dinner, we played some game that………….well, its called
horse racing, and there is this board and dice and cards and even real
money involved. I think Amy’s aunt my have made it up, but it was
pretty cool, except I kept losing. After that game, Scooty and his
chick arrived and we played Cranium. That was a fun game, but we got
creamed. After that, we played Trival Pursuit, DVD edition. Normally, I
do very very good at this game, but for some reason, we got our asses
kicked again.

Tomorrow is the big day. I’m pretty nervous about it all. I am
completely petrified to fly and I’m also worried about her husband
starting shit with us when we get down there, although she said we
won’t see him. We also have to drive through all the red states, which
I was planning on boycotting for the next 4 years.

Wish us luck. And if this site is never updated again, its because I died down there or on the way back.

I went over to Dori’s house for a little while and I finally got to
meet Zander. He is adorable! But, he always seems to have a scared look
on his face. I held him for quite some time, and every time he started
to cry, I would walk around and/or rock him. The other 2 kids were
adorable as well.

It looks like Dori might be moving back out here. Financially, things
are not good for them. Although, I would be thrilled to have her back
up here, it only makes my concern for her rise. I know that eventually,
her loser ass husband will leave her again. And it can’t be good for
those kids to be moving around every couple of years. I hope that
someday, she is able to get her life together and completely
straightened out. There are more jobs out here, and they pay a lot
better, but none of that matters if she keeps spending.

I woke up this morning and John was playing Christmas music. He said
that since we will be gone tomorrow, he figured he would play it today.
I have to say, I’m completly and morally opposed to Christmas music
before Thanksgiving ends. I have to say, I feel bad for Thanksgiving.
It is always overshadowed by Christmas, which really isn’t fair.
Thanksgiving is a great holiday on its own, and it doesn’t need
Christmas stealing its thunder. After all, its a 4 day weekend every
year (if you are lucky enough to have it off) where as Christmas is not
a 4 day weekend every year. And the food, the food just might be better
on Thanksgiving. Plus, there is football. Sure, Christmas has
basketball, but thats not nearly as big of a tradtion as football on
Thanksgiving. And than there are TONS of Christmas songs, and only 1
Thanksgiving song, as far as I know. Also, tons of Christmas movies,
and not many Thanksgiving movies. And to make things even worse, most
of those Christmas movies are released before Thanksgivng, and in some
cases, the day before Thanksgiving. And then there are those people
that put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. Even cities and
towns have Christmas type things before Thanksgiving, like the whole
magnificent mile holiday Christmas thing, complete with Santa Claus and
Mickey Mouse. Meanwhile, Thanksgiving is in the background screaming
“HELLO, WHAT ABOUT ME?”  I wonder if Thanksgiving or its
parents are offended by this. After all, you wait all year long for
your big day in the sun, and as it gets close, people are not talking
about you, but instead overlooking you in favor of Christmas. I wonder
if Thanksgiving ever gets jealous of Christmas. I hope it doesn’t.
Thanksgiving should be secure in itself in being a great holiday. Maybe
we call can start errecting (heheheheheh, I said errect) a giant
Thanksgiving Pilgrim Hat in our living rooms just like people errect
(heeheheheheh again!) a Christmas tree. Just remember Thanksgiving,
there are plenty of us that love you and will not treat you any less
than Christmas.

Thank God for Scooty. He is going to drug me up real good so that I
won’t freak out when we fly. He gave me a perscription, and it only
cost 13 dollars American. Much to my suprise, the Walgreens near my
house is not only open 24 hours, but it also fills perscriptions 24
hours as well.

Clems was cool. Pool was pool……………what can I say, most of the
time I suck. For some reason, Randy kept picking everybody up. And
Scooty kept dancing, although I have to say, when Outkast came on, we
both danced, and horribley I might add, but it was ok because it was
Clem’s, and its almost impossible to embarass yourself there, because
by comparsion, the other people there are usually much
worse…………..that was one hellva long run on sentence.

Its all set: John and I leave Friday at 10:55 in the AM. Man, I hate flying.

We had some 2 hour class today about ethics and complience at work. It
was boring, they showed us one of those cheesy videos with stupid
people, alhtough they did give us a free stress ball person thingy. The
rest of work was very very slow, we were not busy at all.

We were supposed to all meet at Gino’s East at 6:30. Because of the
snow, I heard that the roads were very very bad, so I pretty much left
right after work to head over there. I got on the road about 5:15, and
much to my suprise, it only took about a half hour. I sat in the car
for about 15 minutes before going in. It was 6, and I was a half hour
early. I waited, and waited, and waited. I called Dave twice and Keith
and Heather once. No dice. Nobody picked up. Finally, shortly after 7,
I gave up and left. I drove to Keith and Heather’s, but nobody was
there. So, I went home. I heard a couple of messages on the machine
from Kelli and Heather both saying that they weren’t going. I called
Scooty, he said they had just left IHOP. Damn. All this could have been
avoided if I had just had a cell phone. But, no! I refuse to get one
and will still refuse to get one.

I was starving, so I went to Subway to get a delicious meatball
sandwhich, on their great Italian Pramasean bread. The girl behind the
counter said they were all out of all bread except white, wheat, and
honey-oat wheat. And, they only had 6 inchs of each. So, if I wanted a
footlong, I would have to mix and match. I was very hungry, so I mixed
and matched. I’m not sure, but I think the girl taking my order was
flirting with me. She asked me what I was doing for Thanksgiving. Then,
she asked me if I had a footlong for her………….wait, she didn’t
ask that. But, she asked me if I was having turkey for Thanksgiving. I
said that “it damn well better be a turkey, because thats what it says
on the package. I would be pretty suprised if I opened it and it was,
say, a salmon, or a chicken.” This turkey banter continued for a few
minutes. She gave me my total and it was right about then that I
realized I did not have my wallet with me. Damn! What a fucking night.
I went back home and got it, and promptly returned. I said “Hi. I have
a sandwhich on lay-a-way.” She laughed and we completed the
transaction. I told her I had checked and it was indeed a turkey that I
had at my house.

Although most of my night has been very crappy, one very good thing
which really made my day is the fact that Dori is in town! I shall see
her hopefully tonight, if not then tomorrow.

Man, today seemed like such a busy day. I found at at work that I can
work overtime if I want, but I probably won’t be able to do it til next
week at the earliest. There is this one insurance agent that keeps
calling everyday, he is pissed off about something and for some reason,
he keeps getting me. I hope that today was the last day I have to talk
to him, but i doubt it.

Today, I got home from work and had a million things to do. First, I
exercised. Then, I called Tom the roofer (kinda sounds like a mafia
nickname, doesn’t it?) back. He said he was going to come over in about
a half hour, or when his wife got home. I proceeded to eat dinner and
do the dishes. I called Sharon back with a Florida update. I told her
that airline prices on Yahoo! are pretty reasonable for Friday. I still
don’t have a partner to go with me, but I hope to have that resolved
within the next 24 hours. I was still waiting for Tom to come over, so
I called Danel. Got her voicemail. Left a message (do you really need
to hear every detail? just tell me to shutup!). I started to pay bills
and she called back. We spoke for about 20 minutes. After we got off
(the phone call, you pervert!), I finished paying bills. And still, its
2 1/2 hours later, no Tom. I’m busy the rest of the week, so tonight
was the best time.

Tomorrow night is supposed to be a beanbag tournament at a local bar. Wish me luck, I’m really looking forward to it.

I packed a bag with a change of clothes when I went to Dave and Kelli’s
Saturday. I was putting that bag bag in my closet tonight when
something fell out. It was John’s wallet. This the the wallet that he
thought he lost at Christie’s wedding, but for some reason, it was in
my bag. NO, I DID NOT STEAL IT!

Well, it looks like we will be going to Florida, I’m pretty sure Tony
is going to go.  The only problem is getting there. We might have
to drive, which means renting a car and dropping it off down there. I
would love to drive, but even I realize that flying might be better,
although I HATE HATE HATE to fly. A couple of other things have
changed. We will only have to bring back a U-Haul and 1 car. And, this
part really really really sucks. We have to meet up with her husband
down there. I don’t want to see him. He is a complete loser. I don’t
like him at all. I’m going to be very cold towards him. I just hope he
doesn’t go “Artest” (for meaning on that, its later in the post ) on my
ass, but I don’t think he will.

Speaking of Artest, damn he is fucking nuts. Now, back when Ron Artest
was with the Bulls, (and even his first year with the Pacers) he was my
favorite player. I loved the way he played…………except for the
fact that he was a headcase. He played with a lot of intensity. He
played the type of defense I like to play, and could change a game with
his defense alone. But, the Bulls traded him because he was nuts and
refused to take medication to control himself. And he has been a
complete and utter headcase since getting to Indiana. Always getting
suspended. Earlier this month, he asked for a month off to promote his
rap album (don’t even get me started on atheletes that make
music………..thats a whole different situation), and this was 3
games into an 82 game season. Then there was last night, which in my
opinion, was not only the ugliest scene in the history of the NBA, but
one of the ugliest in sports history.

Now, I’m not defending the fans. The whole city of Detroit should be
embarrassed. Those fans should be arrested and prosecuted to the full
extent of the law. But, Artest never should have gone into the stands.
The behavior by the fans and the players was inexcuseable. But, the
players have to be smarter than that. For starters, you open yourself
up to a whole shitload of lawsuits. Also, there are 20,000 fans. You
are way out numbered. You have to be the professional here. As far as
I’m concerned, fans should NEVER go onto the playing field, and players
should NEVER go into the stands, no matter what.

As for Artest, (and this will never happen, because the union will
fight it) I would suspend him for the rest of the
season…………..without pay. It would give him plenty of time to
promote that rap album that wasn’t going to sell to begin with and will
sell even less now. As far as I’m concerned, he has had too many
breakdowns and situations in the past to not be suspended for a long
long time. And, hopefully, he will be charged and sentenced to anger
management classes, and hopefully, he will take his medication (I heard
his is on medication) and get his act together.

One other very sad scene, one of the players illegitamate childern was
crying in the stands and he was being hugged and consoled by his
illegitemate half brother. This really tugged at my heart strings, as
when I see kids affected by things, it gets to me.