Having Fun In Atlantic City, New Jersey.

So, as I said in an earlier post, Matt & I were in Atlantic City, New Jersey this past weekend for the Jermain Taylor / Kelly Pavlik boxing fight.

I was there for fun, while Matt was there for work.

Matt & our sports reporter, Aaron, flew out Thursday morning & I was "supposed" to fly out Thursday at 5pm.

I get on the plane, we back up from the gate & start down the runway. Just before take-off, the Captain gets on the PA system & says there's an issue with his on-board computer.

He said maintenance was going to try to restart it, but if it couldn't be fixed, we'd have to go back to gate.

Guess what?

It wouldn't restart.

So, we taxi back to the gate & deplane.

By this time, I know there's NO WAY I'm going to make my connection in Detroit, even if the computer problem was an easy fix.

I called Matt & he told me to try to get another flight on another airline.

I think I have a flight on Delta, but when I tried to transfer my ticket from Northwest to Delta, the lady at the ticket counter realizes Delta booked me for a flight FOR THE NEXT DAY!

Even though the Delta person told me the plane was leaving at 6:50pm TONIGHT (well, this was last Thursday).

My only option at this point is to fly out on Delta at 6am the next morning.

Since Maisy was at my mom-in-law's house, I picked my suitcase up at the NWA counter & drove to her house to spend the night.

Let's keep in mind here that I had to get up at 5am Thursday morning to take Matt & Aaron to the airport. And, now I have to get up at 3:30am Friday morning to make my 6am flight.

That means by the time I actually got in the air on Friday, I had had about 7 hours of sleep in a 36 hour period.

I get to Atlanta for my connection & I am on the plane & we're taxy-ing on the runway, when the Captain gets on the PA system & says something's wrong with the left engine.

We have to go back to the gate.

We don't deplane, but we sit.

And, sit.

And, sit some more.

Finally, an hour later, the problem's fixed & we're headed to Philadelphia, PA.

We land, I got off the plane & find Matt, who's at the airport waiting on me.

(I had to fly into Philly because it was cheaper. It's only an hour drive to Atlantic City from there).

We get to the baggage carousel & we wait.

And, wait.

And, wait some more.

FINALLY, my bag is THE LAST BAG OFF THE PLANE.

We waited for 30 minutes for this bag.

Ugh.

Then, on our way to Atlantic City, we run out of gas.

Well, not really.

But, the line on the gas gauge was WAY BELOW the empty line.

We make it to the gas station just in time, thank goodness.

Once we got to the hotel, though, everything else that happened during our weekend was great...except for the outcome of the fight.

We all had a WONDERFUL time & got home Sunday without any problems.

Take a look at all the pictures below.

The Atlantic City sign over the last toll booth on the Expressway

Matt & Aaron acting tough at the weigh-in

159 lbs

159.5 lbs

108.5 lbs

Matt & Aaron shooting what we call "standups" out on the famous Boardwalk

The Atlantic Ocean

On Saturday, Matt & I walked to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch

Me on the beach...no swimming though...the water was TOO COLD

I swear, these birds are following us

Saturday afternoon, Matt & I went shopping & we saw an "Arkansas" street sign

The Boxing After Dark crew...Lennox Lewis, Jim Lampley & Larry Merchant

Me with 10th row ringside media pass

Aaron & his friend, who also got a media pass to the fight

Me & Matt at the fight

"Are you ready to RUMBLLLLLEEEEE?"

Kelly Pavlik & Jermain Taylor (and the ref)

Another shot of the fight

After was all said & done, Jermain knocked Kelly down in the 2nd round...we thought the fight was over, but Kelly got up. In the 7th round, Kelly hit Jermain in the chin...knocking him backwards into the ropes. Jermain fell & Kelly hit him with punch after punch, knocking Jermain out. The ref stopped the fight & Kelly won. Jermain had to give up his World Middleweight Championship belts. But, as you can see from this scorecard, Jermain HAD THIS FIGHT. He was winning. If he hadn't of gotten knocked out, he would have won.

The post-fight press conference...Jermain is now 27-1-1

Jody, Aaron, Me & Matt

Me & Matt on the boardwalk after the fight