1. Once I finished my morning routine, I hurled myself into the Sube and picked up Ed in Kingston and we launched ourselves over the 4th of July Pass into CdA for a visit to Breakfast Town. We met with Stu and Lars at Nosworthy's Hall of Fame where I enjoyed a couple of pancakes with a two stips of bacon and two fried eggs. We've all known each other since Moses parted the Red Sea and had a lot of fun yakkin' about boats, Kellogg in 2018, the YMCA building, a little bit about retirement, and other things. It had been a while since we'd haunted the confines of Nosworthy's and it made me think it would be a lot of fun to do this a little more often with even more of us guys.
2. Back home, I started to work figuring out my medical insurance situation for the near future and I remembered the Oakland A's and New York Yankees were on ESPN. I tuned into the game a little late so I missed the early burst of runs both teams scored, but I enjoyed watching the last six or seven innings as a small parade of Oakland pitchers rendered the Yankees impotent, sealing the A's 6-3 win.
I enjoy when I see the A's play at home. I have a lot of memories of the A's teams that won three consecutive World Series titles from 1972-74 when the quirky Oakland Coliseum was on television a lot and memories came rushing back today, especially when a couple or three players hit pop ups that were caught in the spacious area between the playing field and the stands, pop ups that anywhere else would have gone five rows into the seats. I can still see Ray Fosse, Sal Bando, Gene Tenace, and other vintage Oakland players gobbling up these pop ups near the stands after trotting about three miles to camp themselves in foul territory and rob yet another hitter of his time at bat.
I also had fun messaging back and forth with A's super fan Rich Brock during the game. He was communing with nature on this Labor Day and I kept him up to date on the A's success and he kept me up to date on what music was playing in the store when he and Amy ended their dive into nature with a shopping trip. We got a good laugh out of "Layla" being followed up by "I Write the Songs"!
3. The Deke and I finished eating the zucchini stuffed with German sausage and vegetables and topped with cheddar cheese she made and I retired back to the tv room and watched the unsung Australian John Millman defeat Roger Federer in four sets in the 4th round of the U. S. Open in muggy Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, NY. Even though the match lasted past midnight, the heat never really diminished with temperatures hovering around 84 degrees and the high humidity making it feel like the low 90s. The younger Millman seemed less bothered by the heat. Federer, however, was sluggish, out of sorts, uncomfortable and Millman played relentlessly brilliant tennis on his way to upsetting the usually impeccable Federer. It might have been the heat, but for the first time I thought the 37 year old Federer looked old at times, able at moments to hit some of the laser beam shots he's famous for, but more often than not his stroke seemed tired, even lackadaisical, and he struggled much of the match with his serve, double faulting ten times. Millman proved to be the superior player in this match. He ran the court tirelessly, hit brilliant winners, and kept Federer under constant pressure. It was a superb win for John Millman. I'm really glad I watched nearly every stroke of this match.
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