So disappointing

 On these blustery winter afternoons, it's fun to remember the glory days of last summer when the boys of Jackie Robinson West brought the Little League World Championship here to Chicago.

Or is was fun to remember. Until Little League International announced they'd stripped the kids of their title.

The adults in their lives screwed up. The adults in their lives let them down. The adults in their lives broke the rules by recruiting players from outside the city limits to play on the team.

This sucks big time.

The boys who practiced and drilled after school, who played their hearts out on the field and behaved like perfect gentlemen off of it, deserve better from the adults in their lives.

I hate this so much.

I may never eat again

Last night my dear old friend Barb took me to dinner. I hadn't seen her since fall. I think this is the longest we've gone without getting together in 20 years. It was good to catch up.

She chose the restaurant -- a steakhouse called Rosebud Prime. She told me I could have everything I wanted, and I settled on the cowboy steak. (After all, yesterday was the 100th anniversary Lorne Greene's birth. I had to honor Pa somehow.) It was thick and juicy and wonderful.

So were the sides. We ordered lots of sides. Spinach salad and sweet potato fries and mashed potatoes and asparagus spears. I had a pair of Moscow Mules, she had a margarita and a glass of wine. We even had dessert. It was positively decadent. We couldn't get through all the food so I woke up this morning and discovered all the delicious leftovers I'd stowed in my frig last night.

It was good to find out about her life. She's been overwhelmed by work -- even more so than she always is. But she's happy with her husband and happy with their vacation home in Hilton Head. She even did the Polar Bear Plunge into the Atlantic Ocean on New Year's Day!

It was a nice time, but I did feel kinda crappy this morning. I can't eat and drink anymore like I used to.