I returned to my hotel last night after that painful game...starved, disappointed, and tired. I needed to commiserate with fellow disappointed Cowboy fans, eat some food, maybe have a few drinks. So I went down to the hotel bar, Pitchers. I've been to Pitchers during last year's trip. Their food is average, their service is usually pretty good, and their drinks...well, let's just say they have a premium bar and I don't like doing anything half way.
Kirk ordered our first couple of drinks...Grey Goose and Orange, of course. There was a hell of a lot more Grey Goose than Orange, but we figured, heck, we're gonna be eating soon anyway. So the waitress comes to our table twice...both times missing our order...which is why Kirk went to the bar to pay for his drinks in the first place. It turned out to be a smart move. After he got our second drinks, he managed to finally snag the waitress. We were sitting with several regulars from this trip, and Ronni, the lady who owns Maximum Sports...the company we book our trip through. We ordered Nachos, a grilled chicken avocado sandwich, and a grilled burger and cheese. Simple enough, right? Wrong. Kirk went back down to the bar to order another couple of drinks. Still no food, but this time he instructed them to take it a little easier on the Grey Goose. After we finished those...all the while trying to contain himself from killing this very fat Pats fan sitting at the table across from us...he asked me to get us another couple. I made the mistake of going around to the other side of the bar to order drinks because I didn't want to get in the way of the waitresses...hoping it would mean we'd get our food soon...we'd now been waiting for nearly an hour.
As I stood there by the bar, I noticed the older gentleman sitting at the bar next to me. He was looking a little frustrated...and holding a $50 in his hand...and being ignored by the female bartender. She was serving people walking up to the side of the bar who had just walked in and completely ignoring the front of the bar. Finally, the lady next to me got her attention for the poor gentleman who told me he'd been waiting for a over a half hour. I thought that the $50 would've grabbed her attention. Wrong. So he placed his drink order, then I placed mine. She came back to tell me they were out of Grey Goose and she could substitute with Belvedere or some other vodka. She came back with vodka on the rocks...and an orange slice on the rim. I had to tell her that the drink required OJ. And she charged me Grey Goose prices...which was about $2 more than Belvedere prices. And I waited about 10-15 minutes for that kind of ineptitude.
I got back to our tables...and still no food. One couple with us were on to their third pitcher of beer. The manager had been called, as had the assistant manager. They re-took our order...and placed it. Although they never said it, we figured out that THIS is the step that our server forgot...and the cause that we waited for our food for over an hour...to the point where Kirk had gotten us another couple of drinks, drank it, got sick of waiting...and afraid he'd start fighting the fat Patriots guy and went to our room.
The manager finally agreed to comp all of our meals...the only thing we needed to pay for was the alcohol...which, fortunately, we'd been doing anyway. Not exactly how I pictured the night ending.
On the upside...I had a dream about Tony Romo...and he knew me by name...:-) I'm one sick Kitty.
I flirted with a Cowboy. I didn't even think about it as I was doing it. And I amused and entertained him!
I told Aiken Ayodele, one of the Dallas Cowboy's badass linebackers that for all that Tony Romo get's all those comments about his dimples, HE's got a pretty nice one, himself! He smiled, then he laughed. He was charming. DeMarcus Ware and Brady James looked on and got a good chuckle out of it. I've got a feeling they're gonna tease him about it. But that's okay...because when I pointed out that we both have one dimple only, he looked up at me and said that I had another, smaller one, on the other cheek. It was pure entertainment.
My annual visit to my personal Mecca has been very pleasing, indeed. On Friday morning, when we arrived, we rented a car and drove out to meet a real estate agent and look at a few houses. We even found one we liked. It had 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage, a formal dining room as well as a casual one, and an entertainment room along with a formal living room. We will be starting work on our house to prepare it for the market when we get back.
After looking at houses, we checked in, I crashed out in my hotel room...I was a tired Kitty Kat. I'd been up since about 4:30 am. This hotel is pretty sweet because it's the same hotel that the Cowboys players stay in the night before the home games. So the next morning I went to breakfast, then checked in with our tour. After that, as I was standing in line waiting for the shuttle for my stadium tour, I heard someone call my name. I turned around, and it was Darcy from work! It turns out that her husband had surprised her with tickets to the Cowboys/Pats game for their anniversary. He's die hard Cowboys, she's Pats. And he booked his package with the same people.
We toured the stadium. This time the stadium tour included the locker room. I got to get my picture taken sitting at Tony Romo's locker as well as Jason Witten's. I followed that up with a driving tour of the new stadium as it's being built...and got some cool pictures of that as well. I trekked to the Cowboys Outlet store, bought more stuff...then headed back to the hotel. Yesterday afternoon I met Nate Newton, Ed "Too Tall" Jones, and Everson Walls and got their autographs. Nate was cranky when he first got there because he was hungry...LOL! The minute he saw Mickey Spagnola he turned into his normal, charming, funny self. Everson Walls was so classy and sweet. I've always been impressed with the man...since I heard about him giving up his kidney to save the life of his teammate. He didn't even think twice about it.
Later that evening I got to be a part of the Radio Road Show where Mickey interviewed DeMarcus Ware, Nate Newton, and Aiken Ayodele. We also got autographs from DeMarcus, Aiken, and Brady James. I've even got a picture of me with these three guys.
Today, of course, is gonna be the best part. The Cowboys Game!!! I can't wait to go! I have pictures of everything...and look forward to this afternoon. I'll be the girl screaming like crazy...seats around the 10 yard line. This should be an amazing game.
When my trip is over, I'll be posting pictures.
I've just got to get this off my chest. Patriot fans drive me nuts. At least the ones I've seen online. They don't appear to know much about the game of football, they think they're always right, they believe their players can do no wrong, and they are always talking smack. I don't deny that they have a strong team. I'd be as obtuse as I'm accusing them of being if I denied that. I'm a diehard Cowboy fan and I'm not blind to our weaknesses. I am also aware that tensions are running high because we play each other in a week, but COME ON!
Why have they raised my ire? Because they can never just give another team credit for the things they're doing right. Their coach has been less than innocent this year with the charges of cheating through recording hand signals of their opposing team's defenses. And yet somehow he's come out pure as the driven snow. According to several Patriot fans, he got caught cheating on purpose in order to draw attention to the interpretation of the "no recording opposing teams from the sidelines during the game" rule so that it could be readdressed by committee and possibly be thrown out. Right. Lame excuse. I highly doubt he EVER meant to get caught. And how did the NFL commissioner penalize him? Oh, that's right, a small monetary fine to him and his team and the loss of 1 of 2 first round draft pics...and the one that they're taking away is the lesser one. Oh, yeah. Way to be firm. @@.
Then there's the whole "Nanny, Nanny, boo, boo!" game they play with how much better their team is than everyone else. Apparently New England has NO Kryptonite. One person claimed that they will beat the world because not only do they have Tom Brady, who, admittedly, is excellent at what he does, but their defense can stop any team in the NFL and that they've scored over 30 points every game. When it was pointed out that the Cowboys have actually scored over 30 points a game as well...and against better ranked defenses, the response given was..."Well, that's probably because we annihilated them when Tom Brady kicked their butts all over the place." At that point, someone came along and explained things. Defense rankings go by how many points average you allow. Has nothing to do with just 1 team. And the teams the Cowboys play have actually given up less points. His comeback? "Cowboys suck." So mature.
Next was the statement "Romo is a choke artist. Brady is GOD!" Wow! Really? At that point an impartial party came in and stated..."I'm not a Cowboy fan, but you really can't call Romo a choke artist." He then sited last week's game against the Rams. Romo had a ball snapped over his head and back 15 yards. He managed to get the ball and ran it himself, converting the 15 yard loss into a new first down. He pointed out that if Romo were a choke artist he would have simply fallen on the ball or slid. Romo is a very good football player. His response to this was to site the fact that Brady has scored over 30 points per game. Someone else pointed out that Romo had, too. His next response was "Well, Brady would have more points except that he's been spending the last 5 minutes of every 4th quarter kneeling on the ball because they've been beating everyone so badly." I don't know what games HE's been watching, but the exact opposite is true. Last week they were killing Cinci and yet he had to throw a TD to Moss to pad their stats. This week is no different.
Did you guys know that Randy Moss is the second coming? And that only New England has the ability to take players with "trouble maker" tags and turn them productive? Apparently Randy Moss has seen the light and become a new man! The press has even bought into this new image. And yet everyone is still waiting for T.O. to implode the Cowboys because apparently, that's what he does. Let's really compare stats, shall we? T.O.-reportedly destroyed the Eagles with the feud between him and McNabb (incidentally, it's McNabb who's all over the press starting trouble these days while T.O. has been unusually silent). He was also blamed for locker room issues in the 49ers. He never stopped producing. During his tenure with the 49ers, he still helped them get to the play offs. While in Philly, he helped them get to the Superbowl.
Moss-Caused problems in Minnesota's locker room by demanding a trade because he wasn't happy with the QB, etc. He also started dogging it...not giving it his all, trying to force the trade. And when he was picked up by the Raiders, he did the same thing. So when he's not happy with his team, he demands a trade AND stops performing...kinda like a petulant child.
T.O.-Loudmouthed, Trash talker, but with no history of trouble with the law.
Moss-Loudmouthed, Trash talker. Has been charged with marijuana use, drunk driving...and my personal favorite...dragging the poor officer who was trying to arrest him half a block with his car. Yeah, that's classy.
Thanks, I'll keep T.O. He may be a loud mouth and a trash talker, but at least I know he'll perform as long as he's on my team...and his disruptive behavior does not include brushes with the law. But Moss is the new darling. Oh, brother.
Finally, New England will go undefeated. There is NO TEAM in the NFL that can beat them. Isn't it a bit early to be saying this? Any team can have an off week. And so far, they've been playing easy teams. They ARE playing the Colts, the Steelers, the Cowboys, and the Ravens. With a schedule like that, there are NO GUARANTEES. Once they start playing the tougher teams, THEN they will have the right to discuss going undefeated.
Yeah, they're a great team. I don't deny that. I just can't stand their fans. I've heard of "Homers", Michael Irvin was one for the Cowboys. But I think these guys have taken a few too many hits from the peace pipe! My favorite memory of the Patriots happened back in January of '86...at the superbowl game against the Chicago Bears. :-)