Rescued!

AUG 17--SOMEPLACE, OVER THE PACIFIC . . .

Hi, Wilson.

Jean Baptiste isn't doing the dispatch today. They're in the dark in the duffebag with a lot of their cousins. And they're lucky to be there. The airline, whose name will be omitted here, almost didn't let them on the plane to Hanoi. Remember the flap last year about a scholar taking One World Futbols into China? The Chinese airline was afraid they would blow up because they couldn't be flattened. Same thing this time. Finally,  at the last minute, we were rescued in a very unexpected way.

Because of the issue that came up last summer, I came to the SeaTac Airport all prepared. I put a note in the duffel bag saying "These Balls Breathe!" The note explained that a change in air pressure had no affect on them. And just to make sure,when I checked in for my boarding pass, I wanted to make sure they balls wouldn't get stopped along the way, so I mentioned it at the check in counter. Bad idea.

Old notions die hard

Would you believe it if I told you that Italy was slow to trade Roman Numerals for Arabic numbers because they were afraid they might be tricky? For example, when you wrote "three" in Roman numerals, it looked like this: IIJ (sort of ). That little curl at the end of the third verticle line told you that the number had ended. You couldn't slip another line in, the story goes. But the Arabic "3" didn't provide for that, and the Italians were suspicious.. Something like that.

The fact is, a good idea sometimes has a lot of opposition from established ideas, and in this case the airline thought all balls should be flattened. You have to flatten the ball so it won't blow up, they said.

But it breathes, I responded.

But they couldn't understand that.

I squeezed it to show that it breathed.

But you won't be in the cargo hold to squeeze it, they said. At least I think that's what they said. None of it made much sense.

"But when pressure falls, air leaves the ball, and pressure increases, air goes into the ball. Just like me. I don't blow up!" I said.

Sorry, you have to flatten the ball, they said.

I opened my luggage, pulled out my utility tool, came up with a blade, and performed surgery on the round cap on one of the balls showing what the interior was like and that the ball was still functional. (Kind of making it useless as a gift to a Vietnamese school, even though it still bounced just fine).

They didn't get it. So I took my balls and went home -- sort of. I walked off to a corner to make some phone calls to see whether a friend could pick up the balls so that I didn't have to forfeit them.

While I was doing that, the counter supervisor approached me with a young man, Conner Adams, who looked to be wearing one of those flightline vests. He had been playing soccer since he was three years old.

Conner Adams saved the day when he explained to airline staff that a One World Futbol isn't going to blow up in flight. As a result, nine could board the flight to Hanoi on Wednesday, Aug 17.

Oh, yeah, he had heard about this football, he said. But I don't think he had ever actually seen one. I squeezed the ball and showed him that it breathed. After some rumination, he assurred the staff that it would be safe to ship. After some additional discussion among the staff, the duffle bag was back at the conveyor belt. And I got something out of the deal -- a window seat near the front of the aircraft, which gave me lots of leg room and a leg up on my connecting flight from Seoul to Hanoi.

The supervisor didn't have to do that, but she did. Nice PR on her part.

I don't blame airlines for being careful, But I'm amazed how something, that should be so obvious, isn't.

Oh some more about Conner: By the power vested in me, I bequeathed upon him a OneWorldFutbol -- the one I carved up a bit to demonstrate how they worked. I only cut part of the rim, so it's still fairly intact, and as I was geting ready to leave the check-in counter, Conner was playing with the ball. He dropped it to the floor and then caught it on the rebound between his knees.

I'm hoping I can tell you more about Conner. This is most of what I know so far: he is active in Seattle soccer and has done some traveling, including to Vietnam and other countries. Naturally I told him how to find out about the One World Futbol by visiting its Web site.

And by virtue of another power vested in me, I also hereby declare him to be the newest member of Team Wilson. I'll be sending him an e-mail explaining what all that means.

Oh, and Jean Baptiste? I didn't want a repeat of all this drama at the security screening, so I pulled them out of my backpack and placed them in the duffle bag with all their cousins. I had wanted to show them more of the airport, but this seemed the safer route. Now my question is, will I have a problem bringing Jean Baptiste home?

Well, that's all I'm going to say about that.

I'll be in Hanoi by the time you get this.


Love,

Robert