Carpetblogger

One of the great things about blogs is that you can get up-to-the-minute reports about events that happen tens of thousands of miles away. This is the case, however, only if your blogger herself receives timely updates about events that happen thousands of miles away so she can post and opine with full and timely information.

I apologize in advance for the delay.

The Producer, the 4th oldest player in last week's Ultimate Frisbee Championship tournament in St. Petersburg, broke his arm during the third game.

Apparently, there was a Soviet-style news blackout in the former Leningrad that prevented him from reporting his accident to the authority until five full days after it had happened. By that time, he had returned to Baku and I had left for Warsaw.

"Well," he reasoned, assuming incorrectly this would justify the delay, "you couldn't do anything about it anyway."

Astute readers might recall that the Producer has a piss-poor record of revealing the true cause of his injuries. The broken ankle [from rock climbing] comes immediately to mind, as do the facial contusions from slipping on ice in northern Canada [outside a bar].

Reportedly, the injury was a result of a collision with a wall. Forgive me if my initial reaction was something along the lines of, "was that what REALLY happened?"

"There's no way I could pay off all the witnesses," he claims.

His trip really did turn out to be a cultural experience. It included a surprise trip to a Russian hospital where his arm was set, according to the German Doctor in Baku, badly.

The German doctor sent him to a Turkish orthopedic surgeon who concluded that, while the fracture was in a weird place near his elbow, it was so small it would be best left to heal on its own. He got a new brace and sling, in which he must remain for about six more weeks.

His team, which finished 19th out of 20 teams, christened him Patches O'Hoolihan, after the coach in "Dodgeball" who met an untimely demise just before the big game (go get it if you haven't seen it).