Nothing like a thousand-mile detour.
I’m playing the “what gate today” game at LAX last Sunday evening, and there was a twist.
I guessed incorrectly on the gate, but only had one long walk to where I was going, and the twist had something to do with that.
I had literally just gotten to the airport. Had plenty of time to play the gate-guess game and catch my flight to Dallas and then to Indy.
And then it all changed.
I got a text from American Airlines that the plane that I was supposed to ride from LA to Texas was 2.5 hours late arriving.
It sometimes works that when the airline messes up, they don’t tell you why your plane is 2.5 hours late, but when they can blame someone else, they are fine with that.
They blamed God!
Those of you who spent a part of Sunday hoping it would not rain at the 500 know that the weather was stormy at least in the middle part of the nation.
Well, it was even worse in Texas. There were storms everywhere, and just the Dallas airport had like 600 delays and a couple hundred canceled flights. (Everything is always bigger in Texas.)
So, I’m in LA with a tardy plane. American played the Mister Obvious role and said I was probably going to miss my Dallas connection to Indy (duh).
But, and this is where good fortune came into play (okay, maybe God looked in too) and the airline said I could rebook my flight.
Since it was Los Angeles and one of the biggest airports in the world, there were options. Not like stranded in Iowa City or Sioux Falls.
I was flying an overnight to Dallas and then connecting to Indy. Turns out there are lots of overnight flights out of LA to lots of cities on the eastern part of the USA.
I picked Philadelphia.
For two reasons.
One, I got to Philly around 6 a.m. and could catch a 7:30 flight to Indy that I have taken many times coming home from NFL duties.
Second, they upgraded me to first class on both flights!
I’m guessing there was lighter traffic because of the holiday, but I was not asking questions. I took Plan Philly.
Oh sure, there was a price to pay. It was raining like crazy in Philly, so I worried for a minute about the weather there. It was a bumpy landing into that airport.
And, I landed at the end of the B terminal and had to walk to the last gate on the F terminal. The airport app said it was a 28-minute walk, and they were really accurate. I have gotten my steps in at airports this spring!
But, I found the gate, found my comfy first-class seat, and I actually was in Indy only 15 minutes later than if I had flown through Dallas.
This weekend is the last trip to Los Angeles for spring football. The regular season ends Sunday night. We have a playoff game next week, but we will be on-site somewhere. It is looking like either Orlando or St. Louis, so of course, it won’t be either of them by Sunday night.
It saves us a story for two weeks from now.
I have another condolence to pass along as we close this week.
The funeral for Phil Nicolas was yesterday (Friday), and I want to pass along thoughts and prayers to his family. Phil was the brother of my landlord (Mike) and like most brothers, they spent some time together. Phil always stopped to see Mike at his shop, and since Mike’s passing, Phil regularly stopped to check in on his sister-in-law Rita.
I can’t count the number of times Phil parked right behind my car in the back yard, blocking me in. I did have an escape through the back yard.
Phil was one of the most caring guys I ever met. He was always looking to help someone or some group. He was very active at St. Bernard’s, and he talked about coaching Biddy Basketball or other teams. He was always up on his sports, and he spent a lot of time at the library reading more sports stories either online or from the archives. He shared many, many clippings of odd stories from over the years. If I caught him on the back porch, or he caught me, it was never a short meeting.
He was also incredibly proud of his family, and I know they will miss all his antics and stories. We all will.
Godspeed Phil.
Like I said, it off to LA for one last football trip.
I hope everyone had a fantastic Memorial Day, as we did all the fun stuff but still took time to remember those (like my uncle) who paid the highest price for our freedoms.
Safe travels.
Jeff Nelson is a frequent contributor to the Journal Review and works professionally for Fox Sports working with the Indiana Pacers, Indianapolis Colts and many more professional teams.
