Aleen and Michael’s Blog

We had our 4th baseball game of the season last night.  We played very well again defensively and this time got a bit more offence in our 9-4 win.  I didn’t bat as well this time going 2-4.  I also hit our pitcher with one of my hits, which is an automatic out.  Luckily, it was low and he got his glove in the way to dampen it, but I still felt bad.  After that I tried more to place it rather than cranking it.

Out in the field I only had to catch a ball once, since most of their line-up were righties not many were hit in my direction.  The game flew by in under an hour.  Aleen did well again too.  Our girls so far have been much better than any of the other teams, which is helping out greatly.  They can hit and field quite well.  So now we are in first again with a 3-1 record.

So I was called up to play for the one C team at Unionville (UTC) last night.  We played at home against Mayfair who are known to be a strong team.  I ended up playing Mens 3 doubles, which was good seeing it was my first Inter-County match ever, let alone my first competitive tennis match.

It was a freezing night and we ended up getting on last from the 6 matches, but my partner and I started quick taking the first set 6-2.  The second set we started well too, but then we started making some mistakes and we let the other team back into it and we were trailing 5-3.  My partner was serving and we went through like 2 or 4 deuces before we held serve to make it 5-3.  Now their best server was up, crazy server but didn’t always get it in.  We ended up breaking and then rallying out another 3 games and we ended up winning the set 7-5, and with that the match.

It was a good feeling coming from behind in the second set although we should have never had to.  Anyway, for my first Inter-County match I was very happy.  Hope I’ll be able to play a few more this season.

After two forfeits, one for and one against, we finally played our first game of the baseball season.  We took our 1-1 record to the field and managed to pull off a 6-2 win.  Playing baseball for the first time since like grade school, it was actually kind of fun.  I played right field and caught a couple for outs.  I also went 3 for 3 at the place and drove in a run, so it went pretty well.  Still think I can hit better though.

Even more surprising was Aleen.  She did really well in the outfield managing to field a few balls without any trouble.  She did well at the plate too making good contact with all the balls and getting on base every time except once.  I was impressed.  We look forward to next week.

So a couple of weeks ago I wrote about how I got a free meal at The Keg.  This weekend, we went to Swiss Chalet with Aleen’s parents and grand parents for Mother’s Day.  I’m not a huge fan of Swiss Chalet because I have a small phobia about eating chicken from the bone due to a childhood experience.  Anyhow, they have chicken quesadillas which I always order and that avoids the bone.

Of course with it being Mother’s Day, the restaurant was packed and you could tell our server was a little stressed.  Normally, food at Swiss Chalet comes fast but we waited nearly 50 minutes for our orders.  The food finally came and my dinner comes with 4 quesadillas.  I was working on my last one when all of a sudden I bit down on something hard and thin.  I froze for a quick second and made sure I didn’t swallow and I quickly spit out whatever was in my mouth into a napkin.  Sure enough there was about 2.5 inch bone in the quesadilla!!  I nearly freaked right there, so sure enough I was done with my meal.

When the server came to check in on us, we told her about the bone and she immediately said show me it and when I did so she even said “ewww” and said let me show the kitchen.  After a couple of minutes she came back and apologized and said that my meal would be removed from the bill!

I think I am cursed every time I go out with Aleen’s family for dinner.  Thank goodness there are no more “events” to celebrate…at least not until next month when it’s Father’s Day.  Guess what will happen during that meal…

From my last post I was detailing how busy we were going to be this week.  Well most of our plans fell apart.  We were suppose to have baseball games Monday and Thursday but both games ended up being forfeit.  Monday’s game because we couldn’t get enough players together and Thursday’s game because the other team couldn’t get enough people together.  Good way to start the season.

Wednesday we were suppose to have our first round robin for tennis but because it rained most of the afternoon that got cancelled.  Instead, we spent the night at our friends’ place for dinner and seeing their house.

Oh well, guess we’ll have to look forward to next week then.

With the weather getting warmer, it also means more things to do.  The weekend that just passed and the upcoming week are signs.  Saturday was suppose to be opening day at UTC (Unionville Tennis Club) but with the rain it was postponed until Sunday.  We ended up going anyways after our eye appointments and hit a bit with some friends.

We switched what we had planned for Sunday to Saturday so we went down to Scarborough to look for a dining room set.  We’ve been looking for the past 6 months but have never been able to find something we liked.  Our luck changed and we actually found a table with 6 chairs and a server!  We’re pretty excited and it gets delivered this Saturday.

We went back home and cleaned up the house as we had a bunch of friends come over to see the place and just chill.  Aleen made a great veggie platter again and the drinks were flowing as we all had a great time.

Sunday we were at UTC from 11am to like 4pm playing tennis and socializing.  We were so sore afterwards, still today too.  Aleen and I joined this baseball league through her work, so we then went out for a bit to practice some hitting and catching.  Surprisingly, Aleen was better than I thought, but don’t tell her that I said that .  Afterwards, we still had to clean the place some more and go grocery shopping so we had food for the week.

This week’s schedule has us doing something (nearly) every day. 

• Monday we were suppose to have our first baseball game but that got cancelled as we didn’t have enough players.
• Tuesday I am at home as we are getting our air conditioner installed and my parents are coming over to help do some other work around the house.  Then at night we have tennis practice as we made the C team this year.
• Wednesday night we are invited over to our friends’ place for dinner and then we are all going to tennis as we have a round robin event.
• Thursday Aleen is going out for dinner and a show, while I have baseball (hopefully).
• Friday we are having some friends over and then may be going out.
• Saturday we have the dining room set delivered and my sister is coming over for coffe/cake and then dinner….

Anyhow, I think you get the point.

So Aleen had her laser eye surgery Friday at TLC.  The whole procedure went well and she’s at home resting now.  I have to help her around as she has to wear sunglasses all the time and she isn’t suppose to open her eyes for the first day or so, so I am leading a blind person around the house.

She has like 3 different types of eye drops that have to be administered, some every hour for the next 2 days.  Saturday morning she has an eye doctor’s appointment so he can make sure things are going well.

The joy of the day was being able to watch them slice off her eye flap on a tv screen and then see the laser do it’s magic.  It felt like I was right there doing the procedure!  Anyways, all is well and hopefully soon she will start to notice the improvement and her glasses wearing days are over.

So Aleen and I went to the Keg with her family for her Mom’s birthday, sort of a yearly tradition.  I’m actually not a huge fan of the Keg although Aleen loves the place.  I find that they never seem to get my steak right or they add too much sauce to the Caesar salad.  Normally, I don’t bother saying anything, I just suck it up because I have this fear of returning food in a restaurant.

Anyhow, on this occasion, I asked for my 10 ounce filet classic to be cooked medium, like always.  Again, it came out off, actually quite well done.  I was explaining it to everyone at the table when at the exact moment the waitress came and asked how our steaks were.  I hesitated, but Aleen’s Dad said that actually mine wasn’t cooked right.  The waitress apologized and offered to bring me a new steak, but I was 70% done, so there was no point bringing a new one.  She said she would see what she could do.

A couple of minutes later the manager came to our table and offered me the same thing, but I had the same reply.  She then offered to cover my meal, which nearly floored me, because that has NEVER happened to me.  Anyhow, at the end when the bill came, sure enough my steak was indeed not listed, a $35 steak free!  Guess it does pay to mention to your server meals that don’t meet your expectations.

It’s been two weeks now since our beloved TFC trip, but I knew I had to still make mention of it at some point on my site.  2500 fans from Toronto, driving 7 hours through the Ohio heartland.  We left early Saturday (March 29).  I woke up at 3:30am and by the time all 4 of us were rounded up, it was 5:30am.  A little Red Bull and we were ready to go.

We made it to the Peace Bridge in good time.  We stopped off at duty free first to grab some beers and as we pulled in we were welcomed by an electronic sign saying “Welcome TFC Fans!”.  They even gave us a free tall boy with our ticket.  We grabbed 2 cases and were on our way again, crossing the border with ease.

The drive down was quite uneventful other than the usual washroom/food breaks.  Outskirt Buffalo still had more snow on the ground then we did and I never knew Ohio was so barren and big, it seemed never ending.  Also, I never knew that there was such a market for guns, knives, swords, firecrackers, pepper spray and tasers…and karate supplies?  Seriously, every 50 miles there was some store off the Interstate selling some or all of these, crazy!

We made Columbus around lunch time; kick-off was 4pm, so we decided to head to our hotel just on the outskirts first to dump off our things.  Decided to stay at a Holiday Inn Express — so you knew something had to happen by the end of the trip.  We started our pre-game ritual in the hotel parking lot while we waited for our cab.  We stuffed as many beers as we could into plastic bags to bring with us to the stadium for our tailgate party.  Luckily, we came prepared and had coolers with ice, keeping the beer chilled the whole ride down — perfect.

Columbus Crew stadium is on the Ohio State Fairgrounds, like the furthest part of it, in a remote open field with not much around it it seemed.  Some of our 20 or so buses had already arrived and the festivities were already starting.  We quickly jumped in as the parking lots became a sea of red TFC fans.  We ran into some of our other friends from the supporter clubs and had a great time.  I wish they openly allowed tailgating in Canada; it set the mood perfectly for the game.

Game time was fast approaching, and we were mentally and physically prepared for the game .  We smuggled some beers, Red Bull and water into the stadium without much trouble, I wasn’t even searched, they were so focused on bags.  Pretty much the whole section behind the one net was reserved completely for TFC, plus some small parts on the side.  Sadly, the season/home opener for the Crew was only half attended by fans, with by far our area the most predominantly gathered, while most spots were quite sparse.  We drowned out the choir that was singing O Canada and most of the time the PA announcer.

The game itself unfortunately didn’t have much to talk about.  No team really played well, but some sloppy play by TFC and we lost 2-0.  It seemed the atmosphere of having the largest away crowd in MLS history didn’t motivate the team enough to get a result.  Oh well, as quoted from a soccer buddy of mine, “win or lose, we always booze” seemed to fit this trip well.

After the game, of course with all the drinking, there made for some interesting activities.  After being sobered up by a medicore performance, me and the guys were watching from a few yards away, while a single drunk Columbus guy started mocking about 100 TFC fans with police right there.  

Needless to say that didn’t last long until someone tossed a smoke bomb at the guy and the cops and that caused the cop to spray pepper spray in the air.  With the wind it blew into our area and pretty much everyone started choking and tearing up, I didn’t even know what hit me as I never “experienced” pepper spray before.  A few guys got hit pretty bad, but that was a sign for us to get out of there before anything else stupid happened.

Anyhow, we jumped into a cab and headed back to the hotel, where we tried to chill by the pool, literally, it was the coldest pool I have ever been at, we didn’t even bother and we went back to the room.  After some re-fueling, we headed out on the town. 

Everyone told us to check out the Arena District for some decent nightlife.  Surprisingly Columbus did have a decent scene, with quite a few bars in the area.  We spent the night bar hopping and drinking running into the various other TFC fans doing the same thing. 

We ended up at Park Street Patio and Sugar, which had a live band on one side and a club playing top 40 on the other.  By midnight the place was rammed – the drinks were strong and the crowd ready to have some fun. 

By this point we were all pretty ripped and were just enjoying ourself on the dance floor when Martin spotted Welsh international Carl Robinson from TFC at the club with a beer in both hands!  I went over to him in the middle of the dance floor and asked him in a drunken stupor what went wrong today…and in his Welsh accent he explained to me that they just couldn’t finish, in which I replied that I expected better next week, jokes.  I patted him on the back and went back into dance mode.  I couldn’t believe that after a game like that that TFC guys would be at the club, no wonder we lost!  Even funnier, a little later on I ran into Andrea Lombardo and said hi, and Martin saw Andrew Boyens hanging out with 3 girls surrounding him.  Too funny!

We took off from the club around 1:30am and headed back to the hotel.  Just when we thought the excitement was over…the cabbie dropped the 4 of us off at the lobby and we went in to use the washroom quickly.  We then crossed the street to go to the Waffle House for some food.  At 2am this place in suburban Columbus was packed!  We waited a bit as Martin decided to play some random song on the old jukebox in the corner. 

We weren’t getting served so we deiced to try down the street.  Not even a minute outside 2 cop cruisers come pulling into the parking lot and yell at us to stop and come over to them.  They started interrogating us saying that they received a phone call saying that we were acting “mysteriously”. 

After showing them our room key and explaining ourself they let us “off”.  After being freaked out by that we just went back to the hotel.  The front desk lady ends up telling us that she was the one who called the cops on us, go figure – Holiday Inn Express.  4am and I finally went to bed, over 24 hours since we started the trip.

The drive back was just as long as the drive there as most of the guys passed out in the back.  I dropped off Martin last and shortly after I left he calls me and says that he made a picture in the Toronto Sun.  He says he still gets random shout outs on the street downtown:

All and all, a fun and eventful trip, not so much because of the product on the field, but like always the fans and friends at the game made it an experience..and the beer always helps too .  Columbus away — until next year.

With the Leafs officially being kicked out of playoff contention last night, you would think that would bring gloom to the local sports fan.  But, with temperatures slowly rising that only means that it will be soccer season here in Toronto very soon, as part II of MLS’ Toronto FC kicks off it’s season this weekend in Columbus.

As some of you may have heard, about 2500 TFC diehards will be making the 7 hour trek down to Columbus, and yours truly will be one those idiots..I mean fans.

I don’t really have high hopes for the team this year, but I just hope they put on a good display and not make the trip down a waste of time.  Either way, me and the others will be in full voice cheering on the team.  Look for us at 4pm ET on Sportsnet.

The first road trip of the year and we’re pretty pumped. GO TFC!

• Crew braces for crowd