And the continuing saga of "Will our intrepid blogger ever reach the present time or will we constantly be behind the times" rolls on. When last I wrote (earlier today, as a matter of fact), we had just finished the Waste Management Phoenix Open (in which Scottsdale native Phil Mickelson won handily). One thing I didn't mention was the fact that a record 190,000 people were at the course on the Saturday of the tournament. When we started the egress (pushing the people out) I was positioned by the 18th green and a bottleneck was created under the bridge leading out. My boss asked if I wanted to lend a hand and being the boisterous individual that I am, I waded right into the crowd, took up a position in the middle and proceeded to direct people out. After two hours my voice was shot, but we got everyone out without incident.
Next on the agenda was the Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson. Again I was chief cook and bottle washer, getting people signed in and posted, handling payroll, and dealing with the client. Once all the guards were posted, I pretty much had the grounds to myself...I went wherever I felt the need. I had a good conversation with the head of the Special Event Division that was running the tournament. My company has two Special Event Divisions. One handles Barrett Jackson and the US Open Tennis and the other deals with Major League Baseball and the PGA (among other events like rodeo, concerts, NCAA, to name a few). This particular boss and I worked several events in Tucson, the Schwab Cup Championship (Senior Tour) and the MLB Fanfest when the All-Star game was in Phoenix. He told me that if it wasn't busy in Phoenix that he would like my help with Fanfest at the All Star game this year. The All Star game is in New York at Citifield (the home of my beloved Mets) and the fanfest activities would be at the Javits Center in Manhattan. The game is the third week of July. Then he mentioned the PGA Championship (the fourth major tournament in golf) in August up in Rochester, New York followed by the Barclays (golf also) in Jersey City, New Jersey the next week. And then 3 weeks in Queens, New York for the US Open Tennis tournament at the end of August into September. My boss in Phoenix had no objections (it is our slow time) so if it happens then Security Man will be the road warrior this summer. Needless to say (does that ever apply to me?) I am very psyched that this may be the case.
The month of March went by in a blur...we were inundated with events at the Convention Center and I did an off site event at the Scottsdale Princess hotel (just a quick 90 hour week for a financial event). I was there every day and the client emailed our owner to sing the praises of the Phoenix branch...always nice to get some recognition. I got to meet Wayne Newton and the Dog Whisperer (not at the same time) at concert events and got to see the worst play ever in the history of plays. It was a parody of the book Fifty Shades of Gray and was painful to listen to...(at least I didn't have to WATCH it). People were walking out of the theater in the middle of it. It was as funny as Saturday Night Live after the original cast left...I've had more laughs at a funeral. Thank the Lord that Easter week was a slow one and I actually got to play some golf... The swing is intact, the putter is still a work in progress and play will pick when the prices come down in June. April would bring forth Country Thunder (the music festival) and several large conventions at the center... More to come.
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