As much as I love going on vacation, I hate the first day back on the job. I”m not quite sure why that is because unless you”re retiring, planning to quit, going to a new job or are fired the minute you walk back through the door after vacation, you know that day is coming and everything it will bring.
Perhaps that”s the answer, the “everything it will bring” part.
I spent two glorious weeks not answering the phone (unless I wanted to) and didn”t have to respond to a single nasty e-mail or letter about God knows what. I woke up early, went to bed early, didn”t have to meet a single deadline and didn”t miss a single deadline. I did what I wanted to when I wanted to do it (within reason and the law) and actually got to see my wife and two children other than on weekends because of our different schedules.
It was nice to be normal again, all two weeks of it.
But now I”m back to working swing shifts and meeting deadlines and all the other fun my job entails. The e-mails and regular mail must now be addressed. The planning starts all over again for a new sports season and a looming fall sports section. The Pepsi Celebrity Golf Shootout is just around the corner. My summer is pretty much over even though the calendar tells me it”s still July.
While I was gone, the messages piled up on the answering machine, most of them of the informational variety (upcoming events), a couple of complaints (I had no idea Westshore”s Little League team did so well since no one called the paper when it was happening), and a few others just too bizarre to get into.
I did enjoy reading that I was on vacation in the Record-Bee”s online version, though I”m not exactly sure why that”s news. More intriguing were the seven responses to “Sports Editor on Vacation.”
No, I didn”t interview at the Press Democrat and no, I didn”t quit to join the online Lake County News. Can”t say that won”t happen one day, but it didn”t happen when I was on vacation the last two weeks.
What did happen while I was on vacation was certainly less exciting. My daughter did attend her freshman orientation at U.C. Davis, my son finally came home after spending two months with my in-laws up in Shasta County, where he earned some money and a new set of golf clubs. He also lucked out and happened to be playing golf the same day Clint Eastwood showed up to play at Fall River Mills Golf Course. My son didn”t interrupt Clint”s round with an autograph request, but did watch him slice a shot into the thick rough.
I didn”t see a single celebrity in Cloverdale during my vacation. Now that I”m back in my familiar surroundings at the Bee, I did bump into 19 or so stars when I checked out the roster Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa General Manager Greg Bennett has assembled for the 12th annual Pepsi Celebrity Golf Shootout on Aug. 23 at Buckingham Golf and Country Club.
There are two members of the Hall of Fame in the field (Fred Biletnikoff and Fred Dean), another guy who should be in there shortly (Rod Woodson), and yet another guy who should have been in there long ago (Ray Guy, the best punter who ever lived). And if you”re a 49ers fan like me, it”s pretty hard not to be impressed with a group that includes Dwight Clark, Roger Craig, Merton Hanks, Russ Francis, Gene Washington and John Taylor, to say nothing of Dean, who spearheaded the defense on the 1984-85 squad that rolled to an 18-1 record and a blitz of the Dan Marino-Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX at Palo Alto. Unlike last season”s Patriots, the 49ers won the last — and most important — game of the season to cap off one of the more brilliant runs in NFL history.
Raiders fans will have the aforementioned Biletnikoff and Guy, Cliff Branch, Daryle Lamonica, Art Thoms, Ben Davidson and Marv Hubbard to look forward to.
Closer to the high school sports scene, where the start of practice for fall sports is less than three weeks away, I”m still getting e-mail and snail mail about the Athlete of the Year and Coach of the Year awards presented earlier this month. Most of it has been positive, but not all. That”s just the way it is nowadays.
It really serves no one”s interest to go into why this person won and why this person didn”t. I”m convinced I was right and nothing will change my mind. I”m also convinced I can”t possibly change the minds of those who disagree with me, nor do I intend to try.
The 10 Athlete of the Year finalists — five boys and five girls — are all winners in my book ? that”s why they were finalists. Picking just one Athlete of the Year and just one runner-up is difficult every year, but that”s the system in place. Every effort is made to honor the best of the best.
And that”s that.
Looking ahead to the fall sports season, the Record-Bee will again produce a special section featuring the county”s football, volleyball, cross country, boys” soccer and girls” soccer teams. It will be published in early September.
On the pro sports scene, the Giants continue their headlong plunge toward the NL West cellar, and the Athletics continue to trade away their “veterans” and stock up for ? I”m not sure what since by the time the youngins” are good, they”re gone. Maybe that will change when General Manager Billy Beane actually has a payroll to work with, which should happen about the same time the A”s relocate from the dump they now call home to a new ballpark.
At least the Giants swept the Washington Nationals when I was on vacation. Thank God the Nationals can”t hit either.
