I was glad to see my poetic side emerge again yesterday (See Post #1806). Hopefully, it means that my aches and pains are starting to subside. Maybe I can even get off the Advil soon? Turning seventy and the associated arthritis has hit me hard. Although this morning’s run #4,648 was slow and out of balance, I still felt better than normal. Losing about five pounds would really help, but there are too many cookies and M&Ms in the house. The grandkids were over for dinner last night that concluded with Key Lime pie. The beer can chicken that I prepared was once again a tasty hit. I’m just such a messy cook, even on the grill.
Today will be filled with more frustrating football, although I think I’ll watch outside in the sunshine. My tan is starting to fade when compared to my wife who spends much more time outside. At least there was some sun on this morning’s run, but I’ve spent too much time in the cool darkness of my office. Sunshine is my fuel and I can feel it rekindling my spirits when I bathe in its warmth. Swimming with the kids yesterday was cancelled due to rain, just like about everything else we’ve tried to schedule in advance lately. Trips, concerts, meet-ups have been postponed or lost due to weather, Covid, or fires. This year’s travel miles will be comparable with 2020, less than half of what we’ve done in years prior. At least, 2021 has afforded more opportunities to get away, but each adventure much shorter in length. Hopefully, we can still get to Pittsburgh at the end of this month.
IU football and soccer suffered more losses this weekend. Both programs were looking at national prominence, but have instead faced disappointment. The Colts and Bears will look to rebound from last week, but I’m not seeing much promise out of either team. Only the Ducks have excelled, especially the big win over Ohio State last week. Purdue lost to Notre Dame, despite the big drum controversy. Maybe Fantasy Football will bring a little sunshine into my sports world today?
For most of my life as an IU Hoosier Football fan, I’ve been plagued with poor results. Yes, every once in a while, there was a glimmer of hope, an upset, or a surprise ending. By the end of every season, I was more than ready for basketball to finally start, with maybe a season saving win over Purdue in the Bucket Game. Most of the time, that was even a disappointment. Now that basketball has sunk to the very bottom of a dark, murky septic pool, only soccer was my annual savior, something to hang my IU hat on with a sense of pride. However, 2021 was beginning to look like the year that football, soccer, basketball, and baseball were all finally coming together. Soccer, in fact, started the season with the #1 ranking, until unheralded Creighton came to town last night. For the first time since 2015, the Hoosiers lost a game at Armstrong Stadium and the unbeaten streak came to a stunning end at 43 matches. In fact, they allowed only six goals during all of last season that ended in a National Championship loss. Last night, they gave up three! Reduced Expectations.
Basketball was also on a new high, with a new coach, Hoosier legend Mike Woodson, and promising exhibition wins over a highly touted Serbian team down in the Bahamas. Unprecedented recruiting is bringing some promising new faces to Bloomington and restoring respect for the recently sinking program. Excitement is building for the upcoming season, but no need to rush into it – there’s actually a football team worth watching. Coach Tom Allen took them to a #10 national ranking and a bowl game last season and has them in the Top 20 to start 2021. The home game against formidable Cincinnati is already an unheard of sell-out This could be the year! Or just further reduced expectations?
We’ll find out this afternoon when the up-trending Cream & Crimson travel to Iowa. A road game against another Top 20 BIG to start the season is beyond bold! The bubble of fan enthusiasm and team confidence could pop quickly or take on new levels. It would be devastating to watch both Football and Soccer fizzle in a matter of two days. All that hype for nothing when we’ve gotten sadly used to mediocrity on the gridiron. Soccer will easily rebound, using the sting of a shut-out loss at home to a non-conference foe as momentum for another drive to the College Cup. However, reduced expectations by the Football team will be a huge setback in a program just starting to show promise. Let’s show them all we’re for real -Go Hoosiers!
Elements of our overhead lighting will be installed this afternoon, including kitchen counter canisters and the dining room chandelier that we brought with us from Portland. It actually turned out to be our 20th wedding anniversary gift, as part of the move to Florida. Yesterday, we made good use of our new location with a trip to the beach about 20 minutes away. Tally had to stay home this time with the temperatures still in the nineties. The heat is a constant drain on my energy, but the Gulf breezes are revitalizing. As I sit in the sun, it’s as if my cells are recharging.
Tonight is the stadium concert, Majesty of Rock, taking us back to our 70s musical roots. They will perform the songs of Styx and Journey while we sing along. Hopefully, it won’t storm like it has most evenings this week. It’s part of the countdown to my 70th birthday in just six days, culminating with a night in Tampa with Santana and Earth, Wind, Fire. Thankfully, the funeral for my ex-step-mother-in-law has been cancelled. One of the family members has tested positive for Covid, so I’m glad that my son doesn’t have to make the long drive back to Indiana. He’ll be able to join me now for the Fantasy Football draft that he got me involved in doing. At least, it’s a visit to Buffalo Wild Wings, a place I used to call home. I will once again enjoy their wings and a beer.
Tomorrow morning, my son and I will make the drive to Tampa for the White Sox vs. Rays game. I’m also reuniting with a friend from my WMEE radio days back in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. We haven’t been to a Sox game together since May of 2007, fourteen years ago. We also were joint season ticket holders for IU football for many years, but that ended over 20 years ago. He moved to Tampa several years ago when the opportunity presented itself to do his radio production work from home. It will be good to see him again, reminiscing about radio, softball, and sports, while spending the day with my son. The Countdown to 70 continues…..
Oh My! The Cubs lost their 10th straight and the Damn Yankees got even with the White Sox. Da Bears and Justin Fields started what hopefully will become a winning tradition. IU Hoops showed some promise in the Bahamas. All in all, a big day in sports. I even watched a little Cornhole on TV where a woman historically took the title. The Little League World Series is underway and today is the Brickyard – now 200 miles instead of 400 and on a road course rather than oval, while some things in sports never change like the Yankee uniforms.
This morning’s run was ocean front with a stiff wind coming off the Atlantic. I’m sitting on my balcony watching the waves roll in as I write this. It looks like Florida dodged Fred but hurricane Grace is now tracking in our direction. There’s one more Sox-Yankees clash this afternoon and more of IU Basketball, though not televised. I’ll have to get the wrap-up on Inside The Hall because even Twitter updates were hard to find on Friday evening.
The Yankees are having their way with the supposedly unstoppable Sox closers, Kimbrel and Hendriks. This is not a favorable sign of things to come for the SOX despite their huge Division lead. They will certainly make the Playoffs but have struggled against the other top tier teams. They were decisively swept by the Yanks in NY so winning the Field of Dreams game in dramatic fashion was encouraging. Last night, the Pinstripes won in the 10th shutting down Tim Anderson with the bases loaded and avoiding déjà vu. I’ll be anxious to see how The Pale Hose fare against the defending AL Champ Rays next weekend – in person. IU on the other hand, may have rudely awakened the Serbians for today’s rematch. Go Hoosiers, Sox, and Bears… Oh My!
I’ll guess I’ll be taking a retirement vacation this weekend – the only real change being a break from writing for a few days. It’s about a three-hour drive over to Singer Island and Riviera Beach where we’ll be spending the weekend under the care of Mother Marriott in a luxury condominium overlooking the Atlantic beaches. It will certainly be a change in routine with no dog or home chores to deal with – just friends to meet and sunshine to absorb. I’m looking forward to the change of scenery, unless Tropical Depression Fred changes course and crashes the party. It’s the second storm we’ve had to contend with since moving to Florida.
I sunk the chairs in the pool and removed potential flying objects from the lanai. Hopefully, it will not turn into a hurricane and lose intensity or better yet change course. All the preparations are a hassle but at least we installed high impact glass, so putting up shutters and plywood will not be necessary. Heavy rain is still likely, as seems to be the case most afternoons. Right now it’s the calm before the storm and should stay pleasant for our cross-Florida drive. We’ll have dinner tonight with my wife’s long lost Butler sorority sister and have another of her old friends stay in the second bedroom tomorrow night. My wife has done a great job of rekindling friendships since we’ve moved here. She’s also been good at finding new acquaintances through all her resort activities.
As I pointed out in yesterday’s post, my wife views our new living arrangements as a camp. Some days she’s even the counselor, arranging field trips for me. I was forced to leave the air conditioned comfort of our home to go to Selby Gardens and Spanish Point yesterday afternoon. She’s recently initiated “Tourist Thursdays” that include lunch and a visit to a historical site. The homestead and gardens we went to dates back almost 4,500 years and was permanently settled in the 1800s along Little Sarasota Bay. It was beastly hot and humid as we wandered along dirt paths and through restored cottages. It reminded me of a camp and I couldn’t wait to get back in our air-conditioned car. We also had to wear masks for the first time in awhile. I could see why the South was so opposed to wearing them in this suffocating heat.
My wife has another “tourist” plan for next Thursday, but I prefer to remain in the dark. At least she gets me out of the house where I spend too many hours in front of the TV. We were home in time for me to watch the Field of Dreams game where my White Sox knocked off the evil Yankees in the bottom of the 9th, despite a ferocious comeback. It made my day! Today, IU basketball starts up again with an untelevised exhibition game in The Bahamas. It also marks the day my wife’s mother would have turned 100, having passed three years ago. In two weeks I’ll turn 70 at a Santana concert, so this steamy month of August is filled with many memories and celebrations.
A new Flaviar whisky shipment and the Home Run Derby kept me content last night. I also flipped over to watch the U.S. Men’s Olympic basketball team lose an unprecedented two straight exhibition games. We’re obviously no longer the world basketball power of years past. In fact, my whole perspective of the game has changed in the last twenty years with the demise of I.U. basketball and the rise of the rest of the globe. In some ways, the two are related with the failure to compete on the world stage of recruiting. For example, a team like Nigeria even a few short years ago was a non-factor on the court.
Pete Alonso of the Mets won his second straight Home Run Derby crown last night, after the cancellation of the 2020 All Star Game competition. The #1 seed, Shohei Ohtani, was defeated in the first round. The tournament play-by-play with all the buzzers and whistles is a far cry from my memories the original 1959 duals on television. Hank Aaron made seven appearances, while Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays each competed five times. Wrigley Field in Los Angeles was the site of the broadcast. $2000 was the prize back then compared to the one-million dollars that Alonso raked in last night. As a kid, we’d get out our whiffle balls and bats to belt our own moon shots.
Tonight’s All Star Game will feature Shohei Ohtani in the dual role of starting pitcher and lead-off hitter for the American League. It signals the half-way point of the season with my White Sox leading the AL Central by eight games over the Indians. Other division leaders include the Red Sox, Astros, Mets, Brewers, and Giants. The Cubs were 2-8 down the stretch to fall to third in the NL Central. The Giants also have 57 wins to lead the pack but only a two-game lead over the Dodgers. Games will resume after the four-day break.
The White Sox have prevailed despite a plethora of serious injuries, including Nick Madrigal out for the season. Sluggers Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert have yet to return. The early sparkplug of the season was Yermin Mercedes whose star has tarnished and was recently sent down to the minors. Andrew Vaughn and Adam Engel have recovered from injuries to recently pick up the slack. Billy Hamilton and Seby Zavala have also filled in admirably. I’m off to see the Sox at Tropicana in August and then to Pittsburgh to cheer on the Cubs. I’m expecting to see the Pale Hose in the post-season mix but have lost some hope for the Cubbies. Trades in the next few months will determine the fate of this year’s World Series Champion.
I had a discussion with a friend yesterday about organizing a reunion trip to Bloomington, Indiana and the hallowed halls of I.U. The last time I was there was five years ago to watch the Hoosiers lose to Nebraska on the court. We did not have time to see anything on campus other than Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, newly named and remodeled at the time. What we thought might be the beginning of great things turned into a nightmare of coaching changes and embarrassing losses. The last I.U. football game that I went to was 17-years ago, an upset win over Minnesota. Back then every gridiron win was an upset!
The last few years Indiana has put together a solid football program under Coach Tom Allen. There are great expectations these next few years, leading to this plan to visit Bloomington on September 3, 2022 for a game against Northwestern. I began to make a list for the Bloomington reunion, including a friend that lives in nearby Tampa. We shared season tickets for many years but have since failed to get together. I began to consider roommates and fellow students that I also haven’t seen since graduation.
I met my first wife in Bloomington, a marriage that lasted for 27-years. I should probably include my son on the ticket list. We could drive together and pick up my Tampa buddy for the excursion. It would be a convergence of friends from all over the country, including those that I left behind in Oregon and pals in California that I just visited. As the list expanded, I began to look up the whereabouts of those left behind in life. J. B. is still an Evansville attorney, while Buzz lives in the same city. Murph built a political career in Bloomington. My cousins are in that area and normally tailgate for football games, so we could all rendezvous before the kick-off. I’m excited for the opportunity to get together with everyone, see the campus, and maybe venture down to Brown County State Park.
I was hit with another wave of nostalgia yesterday with thoughts of a Bloomington get together, and began to reminisce about life on campus. It’s where great friendships were built, but also the sight of some of my worst memories. The scars still haunt me, despite taking the time to write the story of getting busted. With this in mind, there are those that I never want to see again – or maybe I do? Going back to Bloomington might help with the healing – so let the game begin. Go Hoosiers!
Last night I stayed up “late” to watch the Oregon State Beavers win their second straight elimination game in the ninth inning to continue their run for another College World Series (CWS) title. They did not have a great 2021 season with 23 losses but managed to eliminate #6 ranked TCU and forced a second game with Dallas Baptist last night in Fort Worth, a team that had put them in the loser’s bracket two days earlier. These two meet again this afternoon to determine who goes to the Super Regionals. Meanwhile, the #10 ranked Oregon Ducks dropped only 15 games this season and face LSU for a second straight day in hometown Eugene, hoping to punch their Super ticket. The Ducks were an unprecedented 5-1 against the Beavers this season and haven’t gone this far in the postseason since 2014, losing then to Vanderbilt. Two years prior they made it to the Super Regionals but no further. 1954 was their only trip to Omaha, while 1957 was their last conference crown.
Watching the CWS brings back great memories of traveling to Omaha in 2018. (See Post #573). My good friend and I were going regardless of the fact that Oregon State might not even be there. Instead, they not only made the field but won the whole enchilada. Since then, I’ve religiously followed the college baseball seasons of both the Beavers and Hoosiers. This year, the Ducks have really stood out, while Indiana baseball faded down the stretch and failed to make the first round of the tournament. The Beavers were fortunate to get the nod, going 6-8 in May to finish the regular season and finishing a disappointing 6th in the conference behind Arizona, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, and Arizona State. Indiana finished 4th in the BIG at 26-18, while Nebraska, Maryland, and Michigan got into the dance. Last year Covid canceled the event.
Nebraska, the BIG champion knocked off #1 Arkansas (Pig Sooie!) last night. They will play again tonight for the chance to move on. Michigan and Maryland both failed to advance to the Sweet 16. 8 teams will ultimately travel to Omaha and Ameritrade Field. It would be exciting to see both Oregon and Oregon State in the mix. Step one is tonight for both teams with the season on the line, along with the precious opportunity to continue playing in the CWS.
I was having another great sports evening, watching the Cubs, White Sox, and IU Soccer, but in the end it was spoiled. A goal with time running out in overtime gave Marshall University its first ever NCAA soccer title. It derailed what could have been a 9th championship for the soccer Hoosiers and sent me to bed shaking my head. IU was seemingly outmatched during the entire game and barely held on to get to overtime. Where did these guys come from? They took out #1 seed Clemson, perennial favorite Georgetown, the home town Tar Heels, and storied Indiana to sweep through the tournament. Another unforeseen ending to an already strange Covid disrupted season.
Marshall has survived one of the greatest tragedies in sports history. The movie “We Are Marshall” depicts the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 people: 37 football players on the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, along with five coaches, two athletic trainers, the athletic director, 25 boosters, and a crew of five. They’ve since achieved two NCAA Division 1-AA championships in football, but this is their first NCAA title outside of that sport – a long time in the making. It’s well deserved, even at the expense of my Alma Mater.
Just like Marshall – “We’ll Be Back,” and eventually get our 9th. The Herd may very well develop into a national powerhouse in the sport with few seniors on their squad. Despite the Hoosier loss, there were several positive recruiting stories in both basketball and football yesterday, as a legitimate 7-footer and several football studs entered the university athletic programs through the portal. Plus, both the White Sox and Cubs won last night, with Oregon State product Nick Madrigal, the Pale Hose second baseman, getting his first Major League homerun, while the Cubbies felt the temporary pain of former teammate Kyle Schwarber’s (IU/Cubs/Nats) dinger. These Chicago victories were worthy of sweet dreams in lieu of the “We Are Marshall” nightmare.
I continue to resort to the same headlines – in this case “Keep On Truckin'” – for the third time. I try to be clever, but there seems to be a reoccurring theme as the number of posts continue to add up. This will be the third time that I’ve used it, but in this case it actually refers to trucking rather than the music of the Grateful Dead or the Doo-Dah Man (Post #760 and Post#1603). The truck with our stuff should arrive within a week, the first sign that last night was going to be a good one. The good news phone call came when I was sipping on some Broken Barrel Whiskey as the red hot White Sox were losing the first game of a double header. They often say that good and bad news comes in threes, so after the dispatcher called with the report that our loaded truck would arrive in Tampa on Wednesday, it set off a wave of good fortune that continued through the rest of the night.
Whether or not it continues today I will soon find out. My run was painfully stiff, as soreness continues to rack my body. I’ve been doing exercises to offset the arthritis in my lower back, including the purchase of a body and back massage tool that resembles the hook of a shepherd’s staff at each end. It’s designed to reach those sore muscles and help them relax, recommended by my chiropractor. Today’s results were not encouraging. I go back again on Monday. However, with any sport or exercise there are always good and bad days. After 4,521 consecutive days of running, I should know as well as anyone. Regardless, last night was a great night of watching sports and the buzz was still there when I woke up this morning.
It started with a Cubs victory, as their relief pitching continues to be strong. They’ve needed it since 9 or their last 11 games have been decided by one or two runs. They’ve won six of those for a May record of 8-3, putting them four games behind the first place Cardinals. However, the offense continues to struggle with a run differential of minus 5, compared with the Cards at +26. They play next weekend in St. Louis, the first head-to-head of the young season.
I then turned over to IU soccer and watched the Hoosiers advance to the NCAA Championship in search of their 9th National Title. They edged out a tough Pittsburgh squad who dominated possession time but couldn’t score. The Panthers attempted twice as many shots but the Hoosier defenders prevailed. The Cream & Crimson, ranked #2, will face #10 Marshall in the Monday night finale.
At the same time the soccer game ended, the White Sox won the second game of the Kansas City doubleheader, going 8-2 in their last ten to keep pace with the Indians. The slugging Sox are +64 in run differential this season and just as exciting on the bases. Billy Hamilton has show some speed and promise, filling in for a number of serious injuries that have plagued stars like Jimenez, Robert, and now Abreu, So far, aging Tony La Russa has pushed the right buttons, although criticized for not knowing the newly established rules of doubleheader games. The Sox have so much depth that it doesn’t appear that there will be a La Russa-Pujols reunion in Chicago. I’m particularly impressed with rookie Yermin Mercedes and Oregon State product Nick Madrigal. The Sox are now referred to as the best team in baseball. Hopefully, that will continue.
To summarize the good news, our long delayed stuff is within reach and sports are going my way. The Indy 500 is on the horizon and my wife gets her second vaccine shot today. Both granddaughters celebrate birthdays this month. The future indeed looks sunny and bright here in our new Florida home. Go Sox, Cubs, and IU – and Keep On Truckin’.
