I thought the “company annual meeting” was someone else’s interpretation of Mike’s excuse.  I failed to read his comments.  “Annual meeting” is the actual word for word excuse offered by Mike.  Now this makes sense.  I can vouch for Mike, his firm always has their annual meetings this time of year (yes, I know very inconvenient).  To make it even more inconvenient for Mike, his company always has these meetings out of state.  Usually they are in California, but I think he had one in Florida, etc.  Yes, I know – no one feels sorry for Mike, (“oh, he’s got to go to California, poor baby!).  If memory serves correct, I think in 2001 he went from the airport directly to a world series game.  [Mike, is that right? Or do I have my years mixed up?]  But, to Mike, as a die hard Yankee fan, yes this is inconvenient and puts him in a totally bad spot.  In the past, I’ve gotten calls from Mike while he’s at these things: “what’s going on?”  But, sometimes, he can actually sneak away from whatever event they have planned and can get to a hotel bar to watch part of the game.  Not optimal, but sometimes you’ve gotta play the hand you’re dealt. 

If we’ve got a green light, I await directions to the location.  I will be in attendance and ready to offer up my hypercriticsm of Torre.