Friday: Verne disapproves

Friday, 5 am

Wake up after a good 4 hours of sleep - and head to the golf course with everyone.

The golf course was great; my golfing was horrendous. I have numerous excuses for my play, which included no "4"s on the card, plenty of 6's and 7's, and only one good highlight - a 50-foot bomb for birdie on 9 that was still gaining speed as it hit the hole and dropped. (I then did a Hale Irwin, 1990 US Open impression and ran around the green - but alas, there were no spectators to high five).

Anyway, the excuses:

- Kermit distracted me with his tales of women sending him graphic pictures on his cell phone;

- The double sausage & egg sandwich I had at the turn that sat in my stomach ( but boy,was it good)

Well, I will use the excuse that my body just was not responding to any of my requests - but still, it was bad. 94 bad.

The rest of the day is a blur. I remember watching the San Diego-UConn game in the room, then heading down for some gambling. I was walking around the casino when I found Derek and Wiz at one side of the craps table, and Kermit on the other side.

I quickly saw that Derek and Wiz were betting the don'ts, and Mer was on the pass line. Check that - Mer had, on the table:

- a pass line bet with double odds;

- FIVE separate come bets (so he covered the board) all with double odds.

Derek was rolling, and just hit number after number after number. He and Wiz are pissed, as they are rooting for that 7.

"Kermit? What the hell is going on here?"

"I don't know", he laughed. "At this point, I'm not asking any questions.......", as more money is slid toward Kermit.

Derek and Wiz were in no mood for conversation, so I left. Had lunch (at 4 pm - I guess that's lunch) with Micah, as we were in the food court straining to check the scores on a TV that was a good 50 feet away. Another trip to the 40/40 club borught us to the beginning of the Clemson/Villanova game. I was heavy on Clemson and the over (over 144.5; it went up a half point during the day). Seeing Clemson blow the lead made me wonder if anyone was going to check and see if Wiz was alive.......

The final seconds were terrible. Villanova hit 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch; they hit 2 to make ut 75-69 with 6 seconds left. Clemson comes down, jacks a 3 - he gets knocked down - NO CALL. 75-69, the final, as everyone starts screaming.

75 + 69 = 144, just under the 144.5. Argh.

A long 2 1/2 hour dinner later (where I almost fell asleep twice) and then I had to call it a night. My body could not go on anymore, and I'm sure I looked like Verne in the picture.