Shout outs to a couple of buddies

Just wanted to take the time to give some pub to two of my buddies who are both enjoying some terrific times right now for very different reasons.

First & foremost I want to say congratulations to our good friends Melissa & Doug on the birth of their first child, a baby boy, today just after midnight. They have been dying to have children ever since they got married last July and are going to make awesome parents. They are two of the nicest people we have ever met and my wife & I are both grateful for their friendship. Doug is a big (I mean the guy's huge-I need a stepladder just to man-hug him) sports fan, so of course we hit it right off. His team is the Bears, so he's loving life for that reason right now as well. And Melissa is a beautiful & talented artist who, like my wife, puts up with Doug's sports fanaticism-to an extent.

Congrats, guys, and welcome to the club. And Doug, better plan on spending more Sundays in the living room of you new house than at the local watering hole!

Next person I want to mention is my former co-worker Adam "Spice Boy" Spicer. Adam is someone I like to refer to as "the luckiest bastard on the face of the Earth." We worked together twice (at Hulk Hogan's restaurant & the video distributor I currently work for)-check that, I got him a job twice- and we found out that although we were born only 2 days apart we have little else in common, especially a passion for sports; I have it, he could care less about them.

So it struck me as a tad ironic when Adam called me earlier this year and told me he was going to work for the Detroit Tigers organization. A master at working a dining room who has patrons eating out of his hands, Spice Boy had just completed a couple years stint as F&B director for the American Queen paddle boat that travels up & down the Mississippi River. But after servicing old ladies and preventing his crew from getting kicked off the ship he was longing for a change of scenery. That's when he applied for & got the job as F& B director for the Tiger Club, the restaurant behind home plate in luxurious new Comerica Park in Detroit.

Well a funny thing would happen before he could begin that gig: he had to work a little event being held in Motown last February called THE SUPER BOWL! That's right, this non-sports fan was smack-dab in the middle of the biggest showcase event in all of sports, schmoozing with the rich & famous and catering to the whims of the likes of the Rolling Stones & Prince.

He was kind enough to send me a couple of snapshots of him and some celeb acquaintances:

"Ho hum, just me and Lara Flynn Boyle. No biggie."(trynottogetexcited, trynottogetexcited, trynottogetexcited...)

How'd you like to be my next partner on Dancing with the Stars, big boy?"

So now that the Tigers have completed one of the greatest turnarounds in league history, going from 119 losses to the World Series in just 3 years, Spice Boy is at the forefront of the second biggest sporting event in America, the Fall Classic. This time he is doing awful things like attending the swanky official MLB party and assisting guests like Tom Hanks, Ron Howard & Tom Selleck.

Good thing this guy doesn't like sports or he would be having a coronary by now. I know I would. Keep up the good work, Sharkey (another nickname the man has earned), and keep the pix coming. And tell Lara I said 'hi' if she makes it in for this one.

Oh and by the way, he wanted me to make sure I mentioned that he has lost 40lbs. since these pix were taken.