Skeet’s Beat – Tennis Clap Everyone

Well, another week has passed and it’s time for a blog. As I type this edition,
I’m in Phoenix after watching a friend’s tennis tournament.

But I’ll get to that in a minute.

The good news is that my mom is doing really well
after her open heart surgery. I was there last week when they performed the
operation that included her getting a new pig heart valve, and she is home doing
really well.

I got back from my meetings at TroKar / Wright & McGill
Co., and took Kim and the girls to see her in the hospital, and give my aunt
Judy a break from bedside duties. Now, I talk to her on the phone and she’s in
the kitchen making egg salad sandwiches.

She’s a tough old bird.

Kim and I came down to Arizona to watch our friend Gary Barbier
play in his tennis tournament. Gary is one of the guys you see at the Classic
when we have a booth there and we wanted to show him the love back.

This was a big deal too. Their team is made up of eight guys that resemble the Bad
News Bears of tennis. But, in this event that is the culmination of a year where
more than 400,000 players start, they were in the finals.

They are all pretty big boys running around out there, and one of them had his head
formed in a Mohawk that was the florescent yellow / green of a tennis ball, and they
finished third overall.

After the event, we laid out by the pool and got sunburned. Then we’ll head home in
time to go see my friend Chris Carpenter pitch against the Giants in the NLCS.

We’ll be sitting in the Cardinals family section, so I don’t know how to cheer for Carp,
and the hometown team at the same time. I guess I’ll play it safe and not cheer for
anyone out loud.

Good thing I was able to practice my tennis clap this past weekend.