10.  July 10; Everyone Gets (Bobble)Head

 

A fun afternoon and evening at Miller Park as the Brewers beat the Reds.  The memorable, or not so memorable moments included serveral people being overserved and showing the effects of it.  But possibly the most interesting development must be Tyler being given $10 to go get a couple bottles of water, and returning with a hot dog and a beer, neither of which he needed.

 

9.  October 25; Monday Night Football Broncos at Bengals

 

OK, it wasn't a great game, the wrong team won, and the chants of "who dey" were beyond annoying, but it was still fun.  It was reminicent of the commercial.  One day road trip; fuel $40, tickets $100, being at the first Monday Night Football game held in Cincinnati in about a decade, priceless.  Now, if only the Broncos could win on the road on Monday nights....

 

8.  April 16-18; Road trip to Twin Cities, Minnesota

 

Jerry, Perry, and I packed up the Alero and headed to the home of the Humpty Dome.  It was a weekend set between the Royals and the Twins.  It was also a showdown in the casino as Aaron battled the Jackpot Party machines....and lost.  Big.  There were jackpots, there were parties, but not on the machines I played.  Or the blackjack tables.  Good thing they don't have a craps table or I could have really lost some cash.

 

7.  October 16; Chris and Cathy's Wedding

 

Normally I am not a big fan of weddings.  But, seeing I was trusted to handle the role of best man, and I think I did a damn good job if you want to know the truth, this one was okay.  Other than the lowlight of Gonzo paying Chris to dance, repeatedly, in the dollar dance, there were some great moments.  I delivered a great toast, well, honestly it wasn't that good, and hit the dance floor, which is rare.  The only lowlight was I wasn't allowed to have the chicken fingers dinner, but the fish wasn't too bad.

 

6.  January 15/December 27; Meeting Ric Flair

 

Anyone that knows me at all knows how big a fan I am of the 17 time world champion.  The jet flying, limosine riding, kiss stealing, son of a gun, the Nature Boy.  In January Perry, Tyler and I made the voyage to Peoria for a fun night when I met him for the first time.  Then, at the end of the year, I had a beer with him at the bar at the Beau Rivage riverboat casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. 

 

5.  July 23-25; Summer Road Trip 3 to St. Louis, MO

 

The annual summer road trip tour moved on to the home of Nelly, St. Louis, Mo.  For the three day weekend, Gabe, Jerry, Perry and I took in the 3 game weekend set between the Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants.  We also visited the National Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum, where I won the second annual summer road trip bowling tournament.  And we saw various other attractions in the greater Nellyville community.

 

4.  December 29; Pete and Joe's Return to Wisconsin Party

 

As has been the case so many times over the past several years, I enjoyed a great evening at the Mad Boar in Whitewater.  Pete and Joe made their first Wisconsin appearance in over a year at the event, and I saw many people I hadn't seen in months, or in over a year.  And what night with the Rock would be complete without a trip to Topper's for some breadsticks?

 

3.  May 1; Coach's Cookout IV

 

It was cloudy, it was chili, it was a hell of a tailgate party.  We got the 2004 tailgating season off to a later start than usual, hoping the weather would be better than the normal early to mid-April date, but we were wrong.  But the main thing is that it was fun.  A new drinking record was set, thank you, I gave some youngsters in our section a vocabulary lesson, and Gonzo ensured that some people did shots of 151.  The evening ended at the Webb's in Cedarburg, or at least the event ended then, because it was well into Sunday morning by that point.

 

2.  June 3-8; Trip to San Luis Obispo, CA

 

I finally added the state of California to my list of states visited in 2005, and had a great time visiting Pete and Joe, as well as meeting some cool new people.  While in Cali, we golfed, we drank, partied, and we even sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game.  It was like a combination of Sinatra and Buffett, minus the talent, pitch, voice, in general, it was pretty bad.  But it was a great trip, plus I avoided earthquakes, which is always a plus.

 

1.  June 12-13;  AC's Birthday Bash Weekend

 

A great weekend of fun in Milwaukee, as I hosted my annual birthday celebration, expanded to two days in 2004.  Saturday consisted of the annual Max Power Invitational golf event, in which I held off Steve on the 9th hole to capture the second place trophy for the second straight year.  We then went to the Brewers game that evening, and capped off the night with a (successful) trip to the casino.  Then, the main event on Sunday was outstanding.  We tailgated, watch the Brew Crew, and finished off the evening at Buffalo Wild Wings.  A great weekend of fun, and the highlight of 2004.  Thanks go out to everyone involved in making it a successful weekend of events.

 

 

 

Best Album.... Powerballin by Chingy

 

The Midwest hip-hop dominance rules again in 2004.  Nelly comes out with a double CD release late in the year, but neither compare with this offering by Chingy.  It's not very often that a CD has 19 tracks and they are all good, and this one probably hits on 16 of the 19 (skits, the outro and intro don't count, so it's really 16 for 16).  The song most are familiar with off this release is Balla  Baby, which is one of the rare music videos I saw in 2004 and enjoyed.  Highly recommended as though you couldn't guess. 

 

Best DVD....  Boy Meets World (season 1)

 

Now, I know a lot of you are wondering in a year in which the first 3 seasons of Seinfeld come out, a couple seasons of The Simpson's are released, and dozens of other titles hit the market, how I can go with with this.  Well, the answer is simple.  BMW is a hilarious comedy, and I waited for it to be released for several months.  I watched all twenty-plus episodes in a 48 hour period, and enjoyed every one of them.  BMW is one of the truely underated shows of the 1990's, and season one is the one featuring Stuart Minkus, the nerdy kid that may be one of the best supporting characters of the past 20 years.  Now, I admit the final season or three weren't the best, but season one was a show I enjoyed as a youngster and I enjoy it equally as much today.

 

Best Video Game.... Madden 2005

 

This probably is a stupid category since I choose the same franchise of football game every year.  However, had ESPN 2K5 been a bit better in terms of gameplay we would have had a different winner.  But the bottom line is Madden is almost always a quality game, I don't play that many video games, and nearly every basketball game ever made sucks.  Therefore, it's either baseball (and MVP 2005 was good) or Madden is going to get the nod almost every year.  And this year it goes to Madden.  Boom.

 

Most Disapointing News Item....  Marcus accepts job in Fort Myers, FL

 

Don't get me wrong, I am happy for the guy, but I was sad to see him leave the big 58.  Plus, now I have to listen to how beautiful it is in Florida, while I am shoveling snow and freezing in Wisconsin.  At least he had to work his ass off when the hurricanes all hit Florida so he couldn't brag about the weather every day, just 98 percent of the time.

 

Most Painful Sports Anguish....