Me, my amazing/beautiful wife Kristin and her/our awesome Dad waiting in line for the Aretha Franklin concert on Monday. Kristin beat me in our card game by 2 points ... rough. Being refused tickets after 6 hours in the cold ... ROUGHER. Sneaking in anyway... sweeet.
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FOR RYAN OUT LOUD!
Chapter 3: Jan. 21, 2009

For all those who watched the Presidential Inauguration on television Tuesday, if you saw that tiny speck of tan and blue on the National Mall, that was me.

It was a long, tiring day, filled with miles of walking in the wrong direction, in the right direction and in any direction where I could move more than a couple inches.

But it was also an emotional day that I’ll treasure forever.

My day started at around 6 a.m., which, by a sports reporters’ measure, is insanely early. (When I cover a game at night I typically get to bed, after writing the story and posting the photos and videos, by about 3 a.m.) Anyway it was early, but I was pumped to see President Barack Obama.

List of things in my jacket pockets: 2 newspapers, 1 bottle of water, 3 sandwiches, 1 glasses case, 3 trash bags we hoped to sit on...yeah right, 1 deck of cards, chap stick, keys, wallet, cell phone, 2 cameras, tape recorder, extra batteries, gloves.

With my amazing/beautiful wife Kristin and her father (and my second dad) John were in our group. This was a day after the same three of us attended the free Aretha Franklin concert at the Kennedy Center, where we waited in line for six hours, were denied tickets, then snuck in anyway.

On Tuesday, we drove to the Silver Spring metro and got on without any problems. The ride was just fine, but as soon as we stepped off at Gallery Place Chinatown it was a mad house.

At that point, we thought there were a TON of people. That was nothing compared to what we found at the Mall.

Our goal was to get to the Mall so we could simply be amongst the excited people and watch the inaugural address on a big screen television. Yes, I could have done that at home (and part of me wished I had when my knees and feet were aching by the end of the day) but it’s just not the same.

We convinced ourselves that we had to do it after hearing Dad’s story about passing up a Louis Armstrong concert a year before the legend's death. He was living in Montana and, improbably, Louis Armstrong came to play nearby. Dad knew who Louis was but elected not to go, not because he had something else going on, but because he just didn’t feel like it. It still eats him up inside (sorry to bring it up again, Dad). So we couldn't let him or ourselves pass this chance up.

Back to the streets. After asking about five people for the best way to get around road blockages and to the Mall, and getting five different directions, we finally found the I believe 4th street tunnel under the parade route. After what I have to estimate (based on my soreness today) was a hmmmmmm 300-mile walk, we finally arrived at the Mall.

There were people as far as the eye could see, not a patch of grass showing. There were people in the trees and standing on top of porta potties. After probably an hour of jockeying for position (that means moving about 10 feet and taking some elbows, forearms and several Stone Cold stunners) we made it to a spot where we could watch the jumbo tron and hear the speakers.

The speeches and prayers (minus the poem) were amazing and inspiring, but the crowd’s reaction, with the cheers and tears was what I came for and what I will tell my children about.

Anybody, those in the sports world included, had to recognize the magnitude of what happened yesterday and it was an honor to be a bystander in history.


OKAY, ONTO SPORTS

I admit, hockey is one of the few sports I have never covered in my lifetime, which is strange because I truly appreciate and enjoy the sport.

I got an email from a Blake student, Jordan Klemko, last week asking if DigitalSports.com could start covering Montgomery County hockey. Since it’s not a sanctioned county varsity sport, I hadn’t really thought about hockey to be honest.

But it’s a fantastic idea and I immediately told him that I’d love to start. I look forward to covering the DeMatha vs Gonzaga game next Monday and a couple other DigitalSports.com writers have already been there. Click below to check out the coverage.

Wootton vs. Whitman
Magruder vs. Northwest


TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT!

A brief statement about how excited I am for tonight’s basketball game that I’m covering. It’s WCAC top-dog DeMatha vs. defending conference champion Gonzaga. There may not be any rivalry better in the entire Washington region.

Game is at Gonzaga at 7:30 tonight. It’s going to be rocking. I’m going to be VERY pumped.

Stags Notes: DeMatha’s backcourt is deep and filthy sick nasty – that’s about as good as my compliments get.

Gonzaga Notes: Tyler Thornton is edging his way into the BBMITWCAC Award. That’s right, the Best Big Man In The WCAC Award. Thornton, a Princeton recruit, outplayed Bishop McNamara’s Talib Zanna (Pittsburgh) last week and has a chance to dominate inside against DeMatha’s Mikael Hopkins and Chris Frank.

DeMatha is currently ranked No. 2 in the DigitalSports Beltway Ballers and Gonzaga is No. 3.


LASTLY, THE RAVENS

1.    Yes, my beloved Ravens lost in the AFC championship to the stinkin’ Steelers.
2.    Don’t bring it up.
3.    There’s always next year


CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS BLOGS!
Chapter 1
Chapter 2