Old Habit Was Kicked on New Year’s Day
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.
I’d never taken a long walk on New Year’s Day, never been bargain hunting on New Year’s Day, never been to a beach on New Year’s Day.
I’ve never been to church, never been to a restaurant, never been to a friend’s house. Never, not once in 39 years of single life, did I ever have a date on New Year’s Day. Never, not once in 11 years of married life, have I ever taken my wife to dinner on New Year’s Day.
One thing and only one thing has mattered for every single New Year’s Day of my entire life: bowl games. Didn’t matter who was playing; I watched bowl games. Almost everybody I knew has watched bowl games. Started at noon, maybe 11 a.m., ended at midnight or thereabout. Either I watched on TV or covered them for this newspaper for a total of, oh, 42, 43 years, something like that.
Until Thursday.
washingtonpost.com
1/3/09
