Well, when I saw that the Roger Federer - Rafael Nadal match made it to the cover of Sports Illustrated (the cover? Sports Illustrated? Tennis? My God!) I went berserk.
To preserve this moment in history I went looking for it everywhere.
Borders Books and Music, Barnes & Noble, airport gift shops, the old magazine bin at work, but I couldn't find it anywhere.
Anywhere!
Imagine, no one had a single issue of Sports Illustrated for me to buy, anywhere.
Eventually, I gave up (as I am wont to do), chalking up another one to the cruel hand of Fate which dealt me yet another, um, cruel, blow.
Then, today, The Better Half reminded me that we had to do laundry. Realizing that I tend to be more of a hindrance than a help, all she wanted me to do was drop her off at the local laundromat and pick her up.
No, I insisted, I want to help. I will come with you.
She relented.
Then I said that I didn't want to go to the usual spot down the street, but the slightly nicer one, slightly further away.
(At no time did I ever stop to consider that at my age I really shouldn't be hanging out a laundromat in a small beach town with a bunch for frat boys and sorority girls...I mean I should be in a house somewhere with a couple of kids, a pet, a couple of SUVs-that-are really-minivans, a massive grill, a few hi-def LCD TVs, expensive golf clubs, a yard... )
The Better Half relented again.
So we headed off to a slightly nicer, slightly pricier, slightly further away laundromat. It was very nice. They had murals of people playing beach volleyball and surfing. There were frat boys and sorority girls galore doing their laundry while talking on their iPhones (not a BlackBerry amongst the lot of them). There was a vending machine stocked with Mountain Dew and Skittles. There were magazines extolling the virtues of Los Angeles's nightlife. There were...
Holy sh*t!
Right in front of me, lost amongst the many magazines featuring Judd Apatow-ensemble actresses, was the Sports Illustrated issue.
The Sports Illustrated issue.
With Federer and Nadal.
Oh...my...God!
Sure, it was a little beat up. Sure, the label was torn of. Sure, I could never sell it on eBay as a collector's item (not that I ever would).
But there it was, lost amongst the sea of corporate youth, the one Sports Illustrated issue with Tennis on the cover that we'll ever see in our lifetimes.
And just like that the day got a bit sunnier, the sun got a bit brighter, the brightness got a bit...well, you know.
In the immortal words of Alabama Worley from True Romance:
"That's the way it goes but every once in a while...it goes the other way too."
Amen to that my sistah, amen to that!
LINKS
SI: Tennis Epic
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