stripethree

College Park is not.

Parasailing is incredible. If you have the chance to, DO IT. It’s insane, in that holy crap what the hell am I doing this is awesome kind of way. And once you are five hundred or so feet up, I recommend letting your hands and feet dangle free while you sing R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” or whatever song you deem appropriate. Don’t ask, just do it, then get back to me.

And don’t sleep on that Olds Alero stereo, its got some bounce.

Thursday Night, Smitty McGee’s off Rt. 54 on Fenwick Island.

Second car bomb of the night. Ike orders for us and the young lady (and by young, I really mean she could have been my grandmother) sitting within earshot of us at the bar turns upon hearing the order. She gives us the once over and returns to her drink. Our drinks arrive, the lady looks over again, and comments on how she loves watching”them young boys do those car bombs”. Great, whatever. Bottom’s up.

Maybe, ten, fifteen semi-hazy minutes later, I decide to go for a third (and final) for the night. No one in our group wants to come along, so I’m prepared to just go solo. I get the bartenders attention and ask him for one more car bomb. The lady from before overhears, looks over, and says,

“You doin’ another?”
“Yep. I’m on my own for this one though.”
“Oh hell, I’ll do one.”
(Cheers from our group)

Here we go. So I get mine, and kindly wait for the bartender to get another, still not quite sure what the hell is going on. I walk over and take the spot between our group and this lady and her husband as the bartender leaves her Guinness. She asks me my name so I introduce myself, and she says oh, my son’s name is Jeff, and he’s probably about your age! Thankfully, the bartender has excellent timing and arrives with her shot. I remember asking her if she was ready to go, but I don’t think I gave her much of a chance to answer. Cheers, bottoms up. She finishes just a bit after I do, puts the empty glass down, and says something to the effect of not being able to keep up because she has trouble swallowing it all. I don’t remember exactly what she said and am probably better off that way, but I shook her hand, wished her a nice evening, and returned to my original spot at the bar.

Excellent.

Then there was the argument with the other bartender about ACC basketball.

Less than 48 hours until the beach, and even if it is only partly sunny and somewhere in the low 50’s, it’s out of College Park. It’s spending as much time at a bar as I usually spend at a computer. Florida is going to be golden, sunny and 80’s all week apparently (I’m not the one that’s been watching the weather religiously, but those who have will probably scold me and tell me I should).

Curse you Michael Holley (The Boston Globe) for picking UTEP as your most likely first round upset on Around the Horn today. The other Michael on PTI (Wilbon, The Washington Post) acknowledged the 4 seed as overrated, but picked the Terps to possibly go as far or further than St. Joe’s. I’m sure the Philly faithful love that. Oh wait, they are either too busy either drooling over Terrel Owens (overpaid) or bitching about Allen Iverson, who, by the way, should not be traded because he IS that franchise. Did they learn nothing when they traded a guy named Barkley and then cellar-dwelled until AI came along? And has anyone taken a look at the Georgetown basketball program since he and a guy named John Thompson left? AI does need to do more of his “talking” on the court, even in practice.

Cheers to the beach. I’ll catch you on the flip side.

This weekend had some of the best college basketball I have ever watched. Although Maryland’s games, and the ACC tournament as a whole are definitely at the top of that list, I cannot remember when I was this interested by the games in other conferences. It’s tourney time, and even though we got a higher seed that we probably should have (c’mon, let’s be honest here), this team’s got potential. It wouldn’t be March Madness though without some “wtf”s from the selection committee: Why put the last two national champions in the same bracket, potentially meeting in the second round? Why are Gonzaga and Oklahoma State not 1 seeds? Why, instead, do we have two 1 seeds that did not even win their respective conference tournaments? I’m sure there are more…

I love this year’s tourney though, just on the fact that I haven’t the slightest clue on who to pick to get to the Final Four. All ACC? Do you know how much that would rock? Anyway, time to sleep on it. Here’s to another kick ass weekend. Three days until the beach and seven until Florida. Rock on.