4 Hard Downs: NFL Draft, Airport Life, Cool Hand Luke & The Streak
The draft was a beast and your boy kept it going plus I always forget how much I love airports
Everyone who says LaGuardia is bad is a liar. Not just now that they’ve fixed a bunch of stuff, but even before. It is very nice and good. It is no Hartsfield-Jackson but I’d rather be there everyday instead of JFK or going to Newark, if I have to be in Manhattan.
People will hate this, that is fine. I’ve been to them enough to know that every time they ask me where I want to fly into the city that LGA is the answer.
Essex Burger is my main spot, now, because you know your boy flies Delta and that is where the Charlotte flight originates from consistently.
As I type this I’m sipping a double Knob Creek on the rocks and decompressing from a wild weekend that we are about to get into so lets SPOT THE BALL!!!!
1st Down: Airport Experience
First things first, I have “Cool Hand Luke” downloaded and that is my go to plane movie. Everyone likes it. It is such an easy watch. It can get a little convo going for the rare person who hasn’t seen it. For people who have seen it, talking about it as a Jesus allegory is also really fun, for me at least.
Now, on to the rest of the Michael Felder Airport Experience.
I think in general that I am the top 10% of airport fits on any given flight or trip.
I’m not at the top, my boy TFilip is at the top as a blazer wearer every time, even when he’s going to shoot video of high schoolers play 7v7 in Las Vegas. I’m not in that world, I couldn’t be, I never wear a jacket, blazer or coat to the airport or on the plane. They’re always too hot.
So anyone who dresses up is ahead of me.
But, that is less than 10%, which still keeps me in the 10%.
I don’t wear flip flops. I don’t wear slides (even with socks), I don’t wear sweats.
My sneaker game is fire, always, an elevation point.
The amount of toes out, and socks on the ground going through TSA at a major hub is wild to me. But that’s also how I feel about the open-toed craze in Midtown Manhattan just revving up their Street Feet Power.
I’m also a very nice airport man. I will watch your stuff so you can go to the bathroom. I will let you budge if you’re running late. I will, as I did on Sunday, help you as an old person understand how to use the QR code so you can order your club sandwich without asking the server a million times because that’s not what they do anymore.
I’m good at the airport.
I look good. I am patient. I am helpful. I look at the airport the way I look at my marriage; if I can take something off your plate or make a process easier then I will do it instead of being a giant asshole to force my way through.
2nd Down: What A Day Two
I didn’t do day one of the draft. I was actually in the air when it started and then I watched the rest as I had a late dinner.
Day Two was wild though.
You get Cooper DeJean. My favorite corner going at 40. Kool-Aid McKinstry at 41. Max Melton and my favorite player of this draft; Mike Sainristil.
On the other side of the ball Adonai Mitchell was a steal for the Colts to get Anthony Richardson some help.
After a very thin defensive day one, day two going 2-1 defense filled your boy’s heart up.
3rd Down: Day Three Doldrums
What a day. There ended up being almost 40 CBs drafted. A guy from the CFL who previously played in the Fan Controlled Football league is now an NFL player.
It was a slog.
This was a draft where the top was so team PR friendly because it was offense and specifically QB and WR, that the back end is just, “Who?”.
We made it through the final four rounds but there was a lot of, “this guy wasn’t on my watch list,” and “I know him because I was watching his teammate who hasn’t been picked yet, so I don’t get it.”
We are going to get into some UDFAs in another post because I do think we have figure out how to talk about guys who don’t get picked and why staying college isn’t always a good idea.
Just a rough 3rd day, maybe, definitely the roughest day three of my career.
4th Down: They Call Me The Streak
7pm to 12am. 12pm to 7pm.
That’s 12 hours of NFL Draft work this weekend.
Don’t cry for me Argentina
I actually enjoyed it, it was just rough, but we made it and I was tested in another way; could I keep the run streak going.
For new readers, and don’t worry I am going to talk a lot of draft this week in the podcast and the Tuesday post, I’ve got an everyday mile streak from July 14th 2023 to now.
292 days.
I am now hellbent on getting to 365. 75 days away and I can’t stop, won’t stop; including being in NYC with a 9:45 call-time and a 7 hour show. Got my happy meal ass up and put a mile in on 17th street down and back.
This is not a brag. I don’t go fast. It is more just the idea that making up your mind to do something, you do have to actually do it. I don’t like running. I wouldn’t call myself a runner, more of a lumberer. I’m not good at it. I just do it because it lets me think about things and feel active everyday.
Anyways, mostly I am trying to say that if you just want to do a thing, take the first step and stick to it and you’ll be able to. Not even a fitness thing. If you want to get better at cooking, just start cooking. If you want to get better at skipping rope, just start. If you want to get better at fishing, go fishing.
Hell, I do want to get better at fishing, and that is going to be a me and my daughter thing for the summer. Her maternal grandfather has passed but we have his tackle box and I think that is a good way to connect with him. I want to get better at sewing, so I am doing it. I have my wife’s maternal grandmother’s sewing kit and that’s how I hem and stitch and fix my family’s clothes but I want to get better.
It isn’t about exercise, it is just about doing. This feels like Nike propaganda, but Just Do It, is a real life motto in our household. The other one is from “Celtic Pride” and is, “If you see a problem, you solve the problem, that’s coaching.”
Peace!!
Cheers!!!