7/26/08 – Smooth as an Old Shoe in NYC

Back in NYC and starting to feel like a native. Not that I’m really fooling anyone, I’m just not that smooth. But Jackie found us a really smooth Soho hotel so I can fake it for a while. That’s until you take in the view from our first-floor suite and realize that there’s not much of to overlook – some moldy concrete that the staffers tried to spruce up with potted plants. I call it the “grotto.” That’s smooth-ish

Yesterday was a crazy day. Our publicist, Jen, had us working like well-oiled machines. To White Plains to meet with JimmyV, then to CW11 to interview with
Lolita Lopez, then to the offices of Madison Square Garden to interview with Tina Cervasio. I decide that if I were a smooth native New Yorker, I would also have a name like Lolita Lopez. I’d also look like both of our female hosts (sorry, JonnyV, I just can’t rock the suit and tie like you do). Added bonus goes to Tina for the only other University of Maryland grad I know who doesn’t tend bar. Not that I’m against bartenders. As a lot, they’ve been very good to me. Not so good to my liver.

In the middle of yesterday’s insanity we get a call from the WNBA offices with an invitation to take in last night’s game at the Garden. Hey, it was totally random but … why not? I operate quite naturally in a random fashion. Afterwards, Jackie, her husband, John, and I headed to the Russian Vodka Room on 52nd and acted, well… pretty random. Today there’s not much wiggle room to be random, however. After I disconnect from here, I’m off to meet my friend Alan Schwarz, who is a reporter for the New York Times and then hooking up with Dr. Steve (from our Philadelphia trip in June) and then off to Shea Stadium! All in four hours!

At the 6PM event at Shea Stadium, I am moderating a panel discussion about women in baseball. It should be really enjoyable. About 200 fans will be in attendance. I will grill our panelists about their connection to the game. I like to see my subjects sweat, especially when one of them is Jackie. I promised some softball questions but I’ll throw her a changeup. I suppose I’ll need to be kinder to Renette Manuel (wife of Jerry) and Jill Knee, the team’s Director of Community Outreach. Players wives will be on hand, too, to give attendees an inside glimpse of the game. I’ll try to be smooth. But it ain’t easy.