Bangin' At Brooks

Junior's arm has been bothering him, so he didn't take a match last night at Brooks Park. Mike and Sadiq weighed in, but neither were successful in getting a match. Sadiq had one lined up for a minute, then it disappeared. That left teenagers Montrell and Lavar to represent Loyola Park.

Lavar showboated quite a bit during his match, but he got the split decision. I believe he was fighting one of Brooks' fighters, and it looked as if the other boy had tired Lavar out, especially during the last round. The crowd was not happy as they booed him afterwards.

Montrell's match ended quickly. His opponent was knocked to the canvas by what appeared to be a series of punches. The other kid was out of it for a second, and had to see the paramedics on duty. After several minutes, he was okay. "I wanted it to go to full three rounds," Montrell said afterwards.

Kitchens was there, but he didn't have the pictures he took of me with the Secretary of State several weeks ago. As usual, I had just enough money in my pocket to pay him, but I'll have to wait until I see him again. Steve teased me by saying, "There's your boyfriend." He really would have been teasing me if he had heard the photographer greet me earlier by saying, "Hi, pretty!"

Steve dropped Sadiq off at his job after the boxing show ended. He's a night clerk at a motel that sits in an area of town where many motels line the street. Sadiq explained that a lot of hookers, johns and drug dealers come in to rent rooms. Management doesn't like to rent to them, but when business is slow, they have no choice.

Steve's son, Eli, was in the car earlier when Steve picked me up from work. He looks more and more like his dad every day. The baby has the most adorable puffy cheeks, too. Eli was smiling for a long time, then he was crying on and off. I noticed he was furiously rubbing his eyes, and guessed correctly that he was attempting to fight off sleep.