Pastry Encrustsed Lamb @ Papadakis

 

Spreading Swine Fl All Over Disneyland

 


It was bad enought that this feature existed at Disneyland and that kids would be attracted to it and would put their hands all over the wet, rolling stone. I couldn't help but take this picture of the "cool dad" who had to be right in there w/them. I was really freaked out I guess because I didn't have my ever-present supply of anti-bacterial Purel and I was aghast at all the germ-spreading ops.

I Love Scoreboards!

Snuggie Buggie

Tell me this is not the cutest little snuggie you have ever seen!

John Papadakis and the Wingos

Coast to Coast

We had the BEST time going Coast to Coast w/the basketball Bulldogs! We boarded a charter flight in Starkville on Wednesday and flew to Tampa for a game the next night at the Tampa-St. Pete Times Forum. We were to play DePaul as part of the SEC-Big East Basketball Tournament. We had no idea we would "coast" to victory over DePaul. As soon as the game was over, we flew out to Los Angeles and got to Anaheim in the middle of the night! The next day we spent a wonderful cloudy day at Disneyworld and had no crowds to stand in our way. Disneyworld was decorated for Christmas and it was quite a sight to behold.

Friday night was the highlight of the trip as Greg took us to his favorite LA restaurant, Papadakis Taverna. We were treated to a short version of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" w/the owner explaining Greek words, etc. and dancing and singing and breaking glasses. There was a belly dancer and a tap dancer who was frozen in the 40's! Food was Greek great but there was another caverat: John Papadakis, the owner, was a linebacker for Southern Cal when they played Alabama in the 70's. This game was an eye opener for Bear Bryant and he started recruiting black athletes to Alabama and got a jump on the rest of the SEC. John helped write the book, Turning the Tide, and we got one of our books and had a picture made w/him. The real highlight of the night was when he sang the USC Fight song and challenged us to sing ours. Scott Stricklin proudly led us in a rousing version of "Hail, State!: Too much fun.

Saturday we packed up and got ready to leave on our charter as soon as the game was over and who knew we would beat UCLA in a laugher in front of the tournament's namesake, John Wooden. Ravern had a career day and made 29 points. This earned him SEC Player of the Week honors and that is sooooo well deserved. He seems like such a nice person--as all the dogs are. This trip was well worth the time and trouble to be around fellow Bulldogs and our team.

Better Bulldog Basketball

Saturday's game vs. St. Bonaventure was more like I had expected all the games to be this season.  They hit 16 three's and beat the visitors by 52--a record for Rick Stansbury-coached teams.  Jarvis hurt his dislocated pinkie again and I hope it doesn't continue to plague him.  Dean and I had our pictures made w/the Golden Egg Trophy while in Starkville and it was a great idea to let the fans have that opportunity!  Lots of people want to send Christmas cards w/the Egg Bowl trophy in their hands! 

Speaking of the Egg Bowl, I have had numerous congratulatory calls from people about our win and then random people will come up to me in restaurants and say nice things about out team and its win over the delusionals.  This has actually happened three times in restaurants last week--Little Tea Shop, Swankys and Lennys.  It pays to be in the maroon.

The Perfect Present

Leave it to Jordan and Saunders to come up with the most thrilling Christmas present I have EVER had! Dean could say the same for his gigantic remote control speedboat in "Pickwick yeller" that he is waiting for the weather to clear and he can try out but mine, the autographed, Rick Stansbury Edition of a basketball from my favorite team in the world is over the top--not enough adjectives to describe how I felt when I opened it. Saunders had told me it was fragile and I fell for that and joked it much be a crystal crown or something. I didn't shake it or anything. I just knew it was breakable. You cannot believe how I treasure this ingenious gift and the children who gave it.