August 28, 2020

 

The players decided to restart the games tomorrow with significant demands that included providing a platform to promote social justice, as well as creating an NBA foundation focused on economic empowerment in the Black community.  The new NBA social justice coalition will have representation from players, coaches and governors and cover increased voting access, promote civic engagement, and advocate for “meaningful police and criminal justice reform.”

In every NBA city where the league’s franchise owns and controls its arena property, team owners will work with local officials to turn those arenas into voting locations for the 2020 general election. The NBA has also agreed to create advertising that will appear during each NBA playoff game to promote greater civic engagement in national and local elections, and to raise awareness about voting access. Whether you agree or not, the NBA had become political in the sense that the players feel they have the proper platform to try to help right a wrong that has persisted for centuries in our country.

So with yet another day off we decided to have a couple of whiffle ball games, one at 12:30pm and the other at 6:00pm.  Playing any outdoor sport in Orlando in the middle of the day is not a good idea.  The heat is unbearable, the humidity compounds the heat, and your body is always trying to cool itself even when you aren’t moving.  We completed a seven inning affair in under an hour and had several newcomers join us.  When we started we only had six players, but people kept walking or riding by on bikes and we would get them to join us. Paul George rode his bicycle past us six or seven times but we could not convince him to enlist.  I could just read the headlines, Paul George out for the season after he turned an ankle playing whiffle ball with television crew. 

Unfortunately, the second game of the day resulted in my first loss playing whiffle.  We started the game under stormy skies and there was a lot of thunder and lightning happening, and after one inning we sought shelter as the rain began to dump on us.  During the interim, several of my teammates took the opportunity to down several summer shandy beverages.  Not that I blame my loss on drunken teammates, but I think it was a pretty huge contributor.  We resumed after the rain ceased then Kawhi Leonard and Patrick Beverley raced by in a golf cart going who knows where but they stopped a bit to observe our athleticism and, like George, declined to participate.  My team couldn’t muster enough runs to declare a victory then the opposing team was quick to point out after the final out that I had finally lost a game.  I found it quite odd that they were aware of my win percentage.  The positive I can take away from this is that one needs to lose once in a while to fully appreciate the joy of winning.

All of us had a rather late dinner then we discussed the upcoming Delta Heavy rocket launch that was scheduled for 2:00am.  I knew that I wanted to observe it but no way was I going to stay up that late.  I opted to go to bed at ten and wake at 1:45am then meet the group out by the lagoon and watch the launch.  That is exactly what I did and I am glad I made that choice.

I woke to my alarm and headed towards our spot near the lagoon to witness the rocket launch.  It was a perfect night.  The sky was clear, the air warm, and about eight or nine people met me anxious to see the early morning event.  Ten minutes prior to the scheduled departure, a hold was placed on the launch.  Apparently, there was a temperature issue with the fuel tanks and analysis needed to be performed in order to continue. We had logged on to the Kennedy Space Center website and were able to listen to mission control.  We could also see live feeds from the launch pad so it allowed us to have a good idea what was going on.

Being as I had worked in aerospace for over three decades I had a good idea how these things went. The launch window went until 6:30 am but I could not afford to stay up all night.  I decided that I would give it until 3:00pm and then I would abandon my quest to view my fourth rocket launch since arriving in Orlando.  I went back to my room and monitored the chatter emitting from the website.

Right before 3:00 am they restarted the countdown for a 3:28 am launch.  What the hell, I could handle another thirty minutes so I committed to going back to the lagoon and 3:25 pm and watch the Delta shoot skyward. I went back out and the original group that was there initially had thinned a bit.  All systems were “go” then the ten second countdown began.

The commentator counted down from ten and continued to launch.  We saw flames emitting from the tail of the Delta as it sat on the pad, but it never rose from its location.  Our web feed shouted abort as one of the computers had aborted the mission at T minus three seconds.  No launch of a Delta Heavy rocket this morning.  Once I found out they were discharging the fuel from the fuel tanks I knew this puppy was going skyward tonight.  We all walked away disappointed knowing currently this would have been the optimal time to witness a launch from the Kennedy Space Center.  Before my head hit my pillow, I discovered the relaunch effort wouldn’t take place for at least seven days.