Pulse Check

I don't know, don't you just feel like we need one?

When you're at the poker table, and deciding to fold, call or raise, you read the room. You read the table. You try to have the player across the way from you do something - make a snide comment, take a sip of the small cup in front of them, look away - anything that could serve as a tell.

Right now, I have no read. I don't know if I'm calling, raising, or going all in.

And the weekend weather, at least in the city, even compounded this up and down confusing situation we're all living through. A B-E-A-utiful Saturday, with citygoers out and about, basically straight through until the 10pm curfew. Junior tennis in the AM that I had to walk through to get to the court I was playing on was great to see. Some of the cutest kids in masks trying to hit forehands and just a lot of kid commotion. Some more gallivanting and seeing friends, concluding with a double date that actually positioned us in an outdoor 'shelter' with a built-in heater. The long underwear I was wearing was not needed and rather than a chilly toe shiver, I was greeted by a heating sensation to warm the muscles in my calves that went through some damage earlier that morning (played a guy who played at Georgetown who had me huffing and puffing).

But then Sunday came along. And whether it was the NFL that made me write this, it was something about the weather or the pace of the 1pm games that was so, idk, bleh. A lot of wind, a weather delay in Cleveland, a couple good bad games. I watched 80% of the snaps played at Lambeau via SundayTicket and 75% of them were uneventful. Not to mention every so often it just hits you that there isn't one fan in the stands at an iconic stadium with a 20 year waiting list.

The mid-afternoon was filled with a little shopping, a trip that was coupled with commotion while I was in the dressing room. One of the patrons was trying to steal something - it didn't get super heated - I stayed in the dressing room for an extra minute (whatever). And while New York general CVS / Walgreens / Duane Reade's are hit and miss, it was like we were back when this all began in mid March - no toilet paper on the significantly empty shelves. No brands you would recognize so I got stuck with skinny bamboo power towels and toilet paper that you know is not going to be as soft as you'd like.

Back to football - there was an amazing Hail Mary as part of a good game in Arizona - with fans spaced 20 feet apart almost like they are paving an aisle of empty seats for some new halftime show. Not quite.

And then, as the night wound down, the rain and wind in Foxboro that was just absolutely dumping. Like do fans even want to be sitting in that? Did the fans enjoy the People's Choice Awards tonight with thousands of mini pixels that connected them?

I guess I'm still pondering my initial question - if you had to give me a two sentence summary of where we stand right now, what would it be? It just feels like more ingredients continue to be added to the pot of 'what's in our control' and 'what's out of our control'. It's definitely a confusing recipe and hard to follow and honestly hard to know how to make it.

The Austrian Chancellor yesterday I'm pretty sure told his whole country 'meet nobody.' I mean, look, it probably sounded better with his accent, but god damn - pulse check.

I do think there is light at the end of the tunnel, but we all know it's a long tunnel and there's construction up ahead - it's honestly up to the drivers if we hit traffic or not. And nobody wants to hit traffic inside of a tunnel. But if it's anything like this weekend (sunny Saturday and odd rainy windy Sunday), it's probably going to be stop and go.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving - hopefully they'll be less rain in Pittsburgh for Lamar and his Ravens than there was tonight.