Hobbies and Interests
Baseball: I am a huge baseball fan. I am very interested in
the history of the game and the Negro Leagues. During the winter, I long to
hear the four most beautiful words in the English language: pitchers and
catchers report.
I am a fan of the New
York Yankees and shared season tickets to the St. Louis Cardinals when I
lived there. I make an annual pilgrimage to the Stadium. I survived the last
time that they changed Yankee Stadium. It remains to be seen whether I will
survive this time.
I did the rotisserie thing for many years and
enjoy a good game of Strat-O-Matic or APBA baseball.
This is, of course, not to say that I am not
the fan of other sports, college and professional, as
well. I am excited about Georgia
Southern football. The Eagles are a national power, having won six national
titles at the Division I-AA level.
Walk On: I try to hit the pavement everyday, listening to music. Thank goodness for CDs. They are much easier to
carry than records. But lately, I have joined the 21st century with an i-Pod. Of course, Neil Young,
Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, and the Jayhawks
dominate my “Most Frequently Played” category. I walk 5 miles a day
(35 miles a week, on average) mainly because I like to eat so much (see
below).
Eating: I love to eat, or did I mention that. When we were
in Italy and Paris, I managed to find
some good places to eat. I understand that there are not than many great
restaurants in Italy and France, so we
were lucky. My favorite restaurant is Pepe's
in New Haven. St. Louis has some great
restaurants and all the Italian food you could possibly want. Statesboro has
fine cuisine for a town of its size. If you need to find me at lunch time on Staurday, I am probably at Vandy's
enjoying a large plate. Vandy's has great barbecue
and it looks like it has great barbecue, if you know what I mean. They have a
fancier (and I use the word advisedly), sit down restaurant in the Mall (or the
SMall, as they call it down here), but for my money,
the original is the best. You cannot buy or create that kind of atmosphere. A large
plate consists of a pile of barbecue, some Brunswick Stew,
and four slices of Sunbeam white bread. The potato salad is optional. Blue Moon
Café is first rate with an excellent menu. Gnat’s Landing is a recent
addition to Statesboro and it is very good as well. Try the grouper or the
salad with tuna (not tuna salad). Leigh Ann's is also great. There never seems
to be anyone in there. Why? I do not know. The chef, Leigh Ann's husband, is a
master. The prices are reasonable. Of course, there is Savannah, not too far away. There is some
great food in Savannah.
I particularly like Bistro Savannah and the Sapphire Grille.
Traveling: I love to travel. In the past few years, I have been
to Italy three times and
spent time in Paris and Switzerland. Just
recently we went to London and Belgium. In
between trips to Europe, Fenton and I tour the U.S. We made a trip out to Arizona and New Mexico a
few years ago to see the Grand Canyon and
visit a number of reservations. I like to combine my hobbies, so we travel to
eat and travel to see the various major league ballparks across the country. Of
course, every baseball owner has to have a shiny new bauble, so just when we
pretty much get to every stadium, we pretty much have
to start all over again.
Renaissance Art: Raphael. As a part of the Raphael World Tour, I have been all over Europe
and the United States
in my effort to see the paintings of my favorite artist, Raphael. I have seen
paintings by Raphael in Rome, Florence,
Bergamo, Milan, Paris, Urbino, Brescia,
New York, Washington
D.C., Glen's Falls, London,
Montreal, and Raleigh. I have miles to go.
goin' home