Wednesday the 28th of May involved me practicing with my FV team. I then headed over to Yorkville to hang out with Adam one last time before he starts his year of rotations, then 3 years of residency. The kid is well on his way to being the best Podiatrist around. He is also getting married next year, which is pretty exciting.
Thursday the 29th I worked and then headed over to Naperville Central to film them play Grayslake Central in the State Cup Semi-Finals. Benet was playing New Trier, but at New Trier and I did not want to have to drive all the way up north to film that game. Game footage from the Central game will be coming later this week. They ended up going on to win the State Cup finals, B division of Illinois. Not sure how they ever got dropped down to the B division, but a state title nonetheless.
Friday May 30th, I packed up the car and headed over to pick up Gio. We then set out to embark on our 5 hour car ride to Auburn Hills Michigan, where our hotel was. Tournament was set to be a few miles away in Clarkston, Michigan.
We left around 11am and got into, what I will refer to as Detroit for the rest of this blog, around 6pm local time. On our way we stopped at a McD's and I overindulged, picking up 2 McDoubles, 2 Buffalo McChickens, & a large fry. It was much more than I needed, but let's just say that I finished it all like a man. As we neared Detroit we threw on some gangsta rap radio station. Then I saw a sign that we were entering Pontiac, an area I know that is not the best place to be around. A great song came on the radio that was to epitomize the trip. Trophezz, which I later found out was by Drake. Give yourself a listen (explicit) and tell me he is not saying Trophez. That is what we came for, we came to get the trophez. Also, each station, regardless of genre, kept referring to Detroit as the D. Welcome to the D, Only in the D, stuff like that.
I had been in contact with some AC alum, unfortunately most of them were out of town, but luckily Dave, roommate from senior year, and teammate who broke all my records, was gonna make a drive to come hang. After about 25 minutes after we arrived, Dave arrived with his girlfriend Shannon. After introductions, we hopped in Shannon's car with Gio and headed out to find some food. Gio's team parents were at Toby Keith's restaurant, so that is where we ended up going.
It was good catching up with Dave and Shannon, considering I had not seen Dave in about 2 years. We talked about lax, life, and many other things. I ordered some wings for dinner, which eventually came out after everyone else was half way through their meals and I politely asked our waitress if my wings were coming out. Once I asked, her eyes went wide and she claimed, oh yes they will be right out. That was the moment I knew my wings were about to start cooking. There was also a live band playing at Toby Keith's. However, their only fans were 3 little girls (children of the parents we were with) who were dancing the night away. Despite playing country music, the band was actually pretty good. While waiting for our food to come out, some guy who was working with Bud Light came up to us and asked Dave if he wanted to "play" for a chance to win. Dave accepted and Gio took a pretty funny snap of it. Dave had to answer some question about what his spirit animal was, he said lion, I probably would have said penguin. Check out the "snap" gallery from the weekend below.
After Toby Keith's we had Shannon drive us to a local Meijer to pick up some beverages for the rest of the evening at the hotel with some parents. We picked up Shannon a complimentary wine for being such a nice lady and driving us around. We grabbed some suds and headed over to the hotel. Dave and Shannon hung out with us as we watched the rest of the Blackhawks game in the lobby with the rest of Gio's team parents. Hawks won in OT, and then Shannon dropped us off back at our hotel, just a few miles away. I said my goodbyes to Dave and Shannon and we went inside, expecting nothing less than finding some more Fox parents up and at it. Of course we did, so we finished off our beverages. Once the bar closed, a parent who had arrived late to the party and knew the area took me out to a local hot spot, unfortunately this was a hot spot at least 20 years ago and it was closed when arrived. So we headed back to the hotel to catch some beauty sleep.
When I woke up the next morning around we'll say 10 am, I headed down to the lobby and outside to find that one of the coaches who had arrived late that night, got the official, "Welcome to Detroit." His 2014 jeep had all 4 wheels stolen, and it was left sitting on cinder blocks. Pretty darn crazy if you ask me. Literally was not even there for 8 hours, and someone had managed to steal every single one of his wheels, tires, rims, and all. Important fact: Our hotel was on the edge of Auburn Hills and Pontiac...
I initially thought to myself when I heard about this car, before I left the hotel, oh my gosh, I hope my car is okay. Then I remembered that I had a 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe. All the wheels were there and in tact. I drove over to Jimmy Johns to pick up a sub before my games that day. My first game was not until 4p, so I had some time to kill. I got the club lulu #16 like always, ate it up, then headed over to the fields in Clarkston to watch Gio's team play. When it came time for my games, my team lost, so we had another game at 6. We lost again, not the best performance a team can have.
We got back to the hotel and I had a couple pieces of pizza with a couple of the 5th grade coaches. Then I went down to the lobby as my team was gearing up for a team dinner. Only 3 dads and 2 kids ended up going to the Mexican place I went to. We thought everyone was coming, but I guess that wasn't the case. I had a faijta quesadilla, then was requested by some of my players at the weight room in the hotel. I spent the next hour or so in the hotel weight room.
After being in there for about 10 minutes, a hotel employee came and told us we had to be 18 or accompanied by an adult to use the weightroom. I turned around and said, "I'm 25 years old, want to see my ID?" He then told me, "Sorry sir," turned around and left. We didn't see him again. I showed off to my 14 year old players by doing pullups, pushups, and curling that heavy weight. Pretty dope.
After the lifts, I headed outside to find a couple of my teams dads having some drinks out on the hotel patio. I floated around between there and another group inside for a bit. Then Gio was returning back to the hotel around midnight and gave me a call, my phone died right as I picked it up, so I went to look for him. There was a wedding going on at the hotel, and I passed a group of wedding ladies looking for Gio. After failing to find G, some of the Dad's were giving me crap about not talking to these chicks, so I headed over and had a nice conversation for probably 20 minutes with a couple of moms and a daughter. I also met a couple of other aunts and uncles during that time, basically a part of the family now.
After a little more of time with the lax parents, the mom and daughter from the wedding came over and sat with us and chatted for a bit. They headed back to their hotel across the street after a bit, and I went up to bed.
The next morning was the first day of June, and I was not feeling the best, as I had drank too many beverages, but got all packed and ready to go. Our game was at 11 and then we were on the way to head home. The team came together and pulled out a victory for everyone, so we went home happy. Better to win the final game and come in second to last, then lose the last game in the championship as I always say. End with a win!
Gio and I stopped at a pub right as we left, but I didn't feel well enough to eat, so I saved my chicken tenders and fries for later that night after the 5 hour drive home. I drove home and was pretty exhausted, napped, then had my tenders.
Monday June 2nd, was a pretty standard day at work. Recovering from the big weekend, and enjoying life.
I probably forgot some stuff from this weekend, but oh well.
Check out these awesome snaps. Mostly from the weekend, and then a pretty dope drawing I made. Enjoy
Ya Boy is out. Last week of coaching coming up. 2 more videos should be coming out this week.
Stay tuned.
Josh