Weekend Recap: March Madness + T&F + Huntsville

I'll start out with this bit of foolishness:

That was me at the pump to fill up my truck a few days ago. Seriously considering a Prius or a Ford Fiesta. Yall think I'm playing. Look up one day and you might see my big ass on a skateboard. And they say prices are supposed to get worse this summer. SMH.

Anyways. On a weekend where the music world has descended upon my hometown of Austin, TX for SXSW I decided to play it a little bit different. That being said, I think I'm going to plan to attend the whole sha-bang next year.

March Madness is in full swing and I took some early hits to my bracket but my Horns managed to pull it out on Friday against Oakland so that's all that really matters. For the record, I picked UNC, Texas, Kansas and Pitt to make it to the Final Four with Texas taking it all in one bracket and UNC, Duke (with the news that Kyrie Irving was playing), Kansas and Pitt to make it to the Final Four with Kansas taking it all in another bracket.

Back to Texas. I wish we had one more solid big man to go along with Tristan. Gary Johnson is a junkyard dog but I'm talking about having a true power forward that can get down low and bang and help out more on the offensive and defensive end. I know Wangmene and Matt Hill try real hard but they just aren't enough IMO. I watched most of the game online while doing some paperwork in my office at work and decided to jet home at halftime so I could catch the rest of the game.

On the way home, I saw my local sno cone spot finally decided it was time to open up since our temperatures have crept back into the 80s now and I couldn't resist. My favorite concoction: Peach daiquiri, Strawberry daiquiri, Pineapple and Cream in the middle and on top (***pause***). Shout out to Lauren for picking up the tab on my next one of these in Austin in a few weeks.

Made it home in time to catch the 2nd half of the game and fortunately we pulled it out. Now I hear all these reports that Tristan and Jordan Hamilton have said they are coming back next year. Quick: name the last player that has ever been asked if they are coming back DURING the tourney, while they have yet to be eliminated and responded, "No. I'm taking my talents to the NBA." Don't worry. I'll wait. For the record, I think Tristan comes back and Jordan goes pro. If we get them both back along with Myck Kabongo (who's coming in next year) WATCH OUT!

I made the quick drive out to Fort Worth to check out some friends who were competing in the TCU Invitational. I watched Jeremy Wariner and Sanya Richards-Ross run the 200m. Both won their respective races as their season openers and most importantly for any athlete, came away healthy. It was good to see my boys A Ross (Aaron Ross of the New York Giants/Sanya's husband), Darold Williamson and even Big Bruce (Bruce Johnson - one of my strength coaches at Texas - now has his own private gym and does Sanya's strength training as well as a lot of the NFL guys from Texas during the off season) taking in the events as well. Doc and Pink (Crystal Patton, Doc's wife/my neighbor but we all call her Pink) were at the meet also so afterwards we went to Red Hot & Blue BBQ down the street from the track facilities. It was an ok meal but they had some really good sauces. One was called Hard Luck Vinegar Sauce so I bought a bottle to take back home with me.

By the time I finally got home it was already 6ish so I grabbed a quick shower, threw a bag together and decided to shoot down to Huntsville to hang out with my brother Matt for the weekend. He goes to school at Sam Houston State University so I thought it'd be cool to spend a little time with him in his element. My parents also came to visit him so it turned out to be a full on family weekend. I got in late so I just went by his crib for a little bit to watch some tv before crashing for the night.

Saturday morning we got up, ate a little breakfast and lounged around until about noon or so. I've been hearing Matt rant and rave about some place called the Potato Shack so he took us there and it didn't let me down. My brother, mom and I all got Spicy CCRs: baked potato with fried chicken, bacon, cheese and hot sauce. My brother's girlfriend Jasmine had a spud loaded with chicken fried steak. All in all, the place was a real cool college joint that I could see myself frequenting quite a bit if I had one near me.

The itis set in pretty strong so we went back to my brother's apartment and I crashed hard for like 3 hours. By the time I woke up, everyone was ready to eat again. LOL. This time, we decided we'd try the famous Church BBQ. If you're thinking that sounds like BBQ at a church, you're correct. Basically, they took what looked to be their fellowship hall and turned it into a full fledged BBQ spot.

We chowed down on some brisket, sausage, chicken, beans and potato salad. They had some sweet tea that was pretty amazing also. It's worth the trip but I'm still convinced my pops could open up a BBQ stand and do some serious damage. Ask anyone that's ever been blessed to have some of his food and see if I'm lying.

Our platter:

My plate:

Went back to Matt's crib to chill out some more and pretty much watched TV the rest of the night. I caught one of my all-time favorite movies, Tombstone, on TV and watched it with my pops. Favorite line: "I'm your Huckleberry." That boy Doc Holliday did NOT play.

Sunday morning I got up, ate some breakfast and lounged around a bit before making the drive back to Grand Prairie.

I went straight to Doc and Pink's house for dinner (Pink was making her famous smothered pork chops) and to watch the Texas/Arizona basketball game. By now you know the outcome - we lost in the final seconds. I said this on Twitter as soon as it happened but I really don't care that the 5 second call was really 4 seconds. I'm still pissed that we snagged a defensive rebound with under 15 seconds left, Arizona had no timeouts and we call a timeout instead of letting the clock run out. That being said, the refs really screwed up on this one. It's been a rough tourney for officials all around. Oh well. Between Texas and Pitt losing, all my brackets are shot to hell. After the game and me randomly screaming out a few expletives in my frustration, we watched some TV (I'm hooked all the sudden on this show Shark Tank) before finally heading home and calling it a night.

Another solid weekend in the books.

-M.G.M.

Weekend Recap: Austin

To Austin I went. I had no real plans set in stone...just wanted to see some family and friends I hadn't seen in a while.

Friday night I went to Pappadeaux with my mom and some friends. I polished off a couple Hurricanes along with some fried alligator (tastes like spicy chicken if you've never had it) and one of my favorite meals there, the Crawfish Trio. It's not on the menu but its basically fried crawfish, crawfish etoufee and sauteed crawfish. We sat up and drank and laughed about random stuff and it was just an overall good time.

After dinner, my boy Kevin and I went out. This was the first time I'd actually been to 6th Street in a LONG time so I was curious to see how it would go. It was good to catch up with Kevin and chop it up. Our schedules are so hectic that between our jobs and me living in Grand Prairie now (and most of my friends still living in Austin or Houston), I don't get to see everyone as often as I'd like to. That all being said, 6th Street is NOTHING like it was when we were in college. Sure there's plenty of bars to still hop to and from but they just aren't of the same quality. I remember going to Daiquiri Factory, Amazon, The Drink (ahhhhh The Drink) and Colorado Room (which became Zero Degrees which has now turned into God knows what). There just aren't any real go-to spots these days. I actually prefer the Warehouse District anyways as of late. All the same, we had a good time and bumped into a couple of my college teammates that were in town so that's always a plus.

I'd heard good reviews about VY's restaurant and my mom kept asking about it so we decided to check it out. A friend hooked us up with reservations in the Perfect 10 room (thanks Bita) so my folks, my Auntie Donna and my grandpa (we call him Paw Paw) were all able to enjoy a nice evening at Vince Young Steakhouse. I plan on bringing my brother back here during Texas Relays (he had to work and couldn't come with us this time around). It's really great to see my teammates step out into other endeavours so I always try to support them whenever I can.

We were seated right away and Paw Paw and I decided on having a few inVINCEables (Patron Silver, Patron Citrouge, agave nector,
fresh lime and citrus salt rim).

My mom and Auntie Donna settled on Burnt Orange-Tinis (Savvy vodka, pomegranate liqueur, fresh orange and candied orange garnish). My pops settled on some H20 on the rocks.

We all shared some lamb chops and calimari for an appetizer while trying to figure out what we'd eat as a meal. My mom went with the 12 oz Filet Mignon and Auntie Donna went with a Grilled Caesar Salad (she added chicken to it). Paw Paw went with the 16 oz Prime Rib Eye Steak and my pops and I went with the 22 oz Prime Bone In Rib Eye Steaks. I topped mine with blue cheese crumbles.

We ordered a bunch of sides so we could all have some: Bacon Mac and Cheese, Brocolli and Cheese and Spinach Two Ways (Sauteed and Creamed). We left just enough room to share some Chocolate Cake and Crème Brulee before we called it a night. All in all it was a great evening and we really enjoyed the meal. Real relaxed atmoshphere and great service.

Sunday I just lounged around a bit. For whatever reason losing that hour when we spring forward each year always seems to take a toll on me. Watched some TV and went to my Auntie Donna's house for a bit before heading back home to Grand Prairie. I got home just in time to watch the Fab 5 documentary on ESPN. I remembered watching them in the early 90s like it was yesterday. This was actually the first time I ever saw that Chris Webber was actually encouraged to call a timeout by people from his own bench. I became an even bigger fan of Jalen Rose too. I'm not going to go too in depth with my Jalen Rose commentary just yet because I want to do a blog about some comments he made (and some of the reaction received) tomorrow. It was a great documentary but at the end of the day I still think the 30 for 30 documentaries about The U and The Two Escobars were better.

Pretty good weekend if I do say so myself. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

-M.G.M.

Sunday NFL Ticket - The Myers Way

I go through this every single year with DirecTV.  Same song and dance.  They go up on their prices for Sunday NFL Ticket.  I threaten to cancel.  They give me all kinds of discounts.

This year was a tad different - initially.  I found out DirecTV was changing the Sunday NFL Ticket package to remove SuperFan and make it one package.  Really what they did was remove the online viewing part of SuperFan, renamed it “To Go” and put everything else (Red Zone Channel, Game Mix, Shortcuts and HD) into the base package.  What's all that mean?  A renewal price of $300.  Most people would feel like this is ridiculous to pay but the way I look at this is as follows: $300 divided by 17 NFL weeks equals a little more than $17 a week to be able to watch every single NFL game from the comfort of my home, on my computer and/or on my BlackBerry (which will be extra cool when I cop this new BlackBerry Torch when it comes out next week).

Now for a fantasy football geek and football addict like myself, $17 a week is pretty damn good if you ask me.  That being said, mama didn't raise a fool.  I used to be embarrassed when we'd go places and my mom would complain about poor service to get a discount at a restaurant or electronics store.  The apple didn't fall far from the tree though. Take too long to bring my food out at a restaurant if you want to. "May I see your manager please (after the food is delivered of course)?"  I did the same thing with DirecTV...again...this year.

A couple months ago I signed up for DirecTV's Whole Home DVR Service.  This was the final piece to what I needed to keep me from going to UVerse.  Well I've been having some problems with my service and I used that as an opportunity to haggle DirecTV some.  The key to this is when you call, ask to directly speak with Customer Retention.  Skip all the other stuff.

I explained how I've been a loyal customer for years, paid the premium to have the Whole Home DVR Service and that service isn't working properly and how I needed to be compensated in some fashion or - and this is the key - I'll cancel my subscription and go to UVerse since they already have my phone and internet business.

At that exact moment it was like the gates of heaven opened up, choirs started singing, birds started chirping, the stars got a little brighter...you get the point.  The rep immediately started typing away and said she would give me $20 off per month for 6 months (the duration of football season).  Let's do the math: 6 months times $20 per month equals $120 off.  $300 initial price minus $120 equals $180 for the Sunday NFL Ticket.  $180 divided by 17 weeks of the NFL season equals about $10.50 per week.  Pretty good huh?  Most people would stop there right?

Not Cheryl Myers' son.

I continued to explain how I had friends who were just now signing up for DirecTV that were being rewarded with package deals as new customers and yet each year my bill continued to increase as a loyal customer.  Again I hear her typing away and next thing I know she comes back saying I'll get an extra $10 off my overall bill (equates to negating the $10 per month HD service fee) for the next 24 months and after that, if I call again, they'll give it to me for another 24 months.  Well for the NFL season, that now takes me down to $120 for Sunday NFL Ticket.  $120 divided by 17 weeks in the NFL season equals me watching EVERY SINGLE NFL GAME for a whopping $7 a week.

So if any of you are looking for me during this NFL season on a Sunday I'll be in my Man Cave...well...pretty much all day.  I'll go to the 7am service at my church and from noon until about 10pm at night I'll be in the Cave with my remote in one hand, a drink in the other, laptop to follow my fantasy teams progress at my side and some food nearby.

Oh...and I forgot to mention...someone is coming out on Friday afternoon to fix my problems with my Whole Home DVR service.  A service call usually runs $44.99.  "But mam...do you realize how flawed it is that I have to pay to have one of your employees come out to fix something that I'm not responsible for its technical flaws?"  More typing.  Response: "As a valued customer Mr. Myers, we'd be happy to provide with this service free of charge."  Worst part about all this?  I'll probably call back in a few days and see if I can get them to knock another $5 or $10 off a month somehow.  Why settle right?  Worst they can say is no.

Yep.  Cheryl will be proud when I tell her about this one.

-M.G.M.