Category: OLD SPORT SHORTS (Page 56 of 68)

An old guy’s perspective on all sports

Retirement is not without Hassles: By The Numbers #457

March 11, 2018 / mikeljohnston1 / 0 Comments

I just got done posting both my longest and shortest blog posts these past few days. Over the next few weeks, with our travel schedule, it will be tough to keep up the daily pace. After doing this for a year, I’m due for another blog-cation. The last one I took was while I was running the Hood to Coast relay (Post #230) and was stuck in a van for a few days. In this occasion, I’ll be on a Mediterranean cruise ship, with unlimited access to alcohol. I’ll see the sites of Amsterdam, Venus, Croatia, and Greece along the way, and try to take the time to report on my journey. We were in wine country today, enjoying the sunshine, and I’ll be back on the ski slopes tomorrow, as my wife anticipates her first two-week vacation from work ever.

As I continue to reflect on my past, I thought it might be interesting to look at my life from a numbers standpoint:

0. Number of calories in a Diet Coke.

1. loving wife of 17 years; sister; junior high attended; 43 year-old son; 97 year-old mother-in-law.

2. grade schools attended; marriages; high school buildings attended; step-daughters; houses lived-in as a child

3. college campuses enrolled; grand kids; cats lived with.

4. World Series attended (Cubs win!); strings on a ukulele.

5. I.U. NCAA basketball championships

6. pet dogs loved;

7. homes owned.

8. days until our Mediterranean cruise; Tally and Maddie’s current age.

9. ladies dancing (Limoges 12 days of Christmas collection); current Trail Blazer’s win streak.

10. Sherm Lollar’s uniform number (my lucky number)

11. cities lived-in. Gavyn’s age.

12. day of the current month.

13. cars owned.

14. apartments rented; Tinker’s current age.

16. dollars currently in my wallet.

17, days until baseball opening day; Frankie’s current age.

18. Payton Manning’s uniform number with the Colts.

20. employers who hired me; days left this month.

23. hours in a day (with time change).

24. each of our pup’s weight on the vet’s scale.

26. different jobs worked.

26.2. miles in the 1979 Detroit Marathon completed.

31. Reggie Miller’s uniform number with the Pacers.

32. games won in 1976 I.U. undefeated season (32-0).

34. Walter Payton’s uniform number with the Bears.

61. My younger wife’s current age.

66. years lived.

68. teams in this year’s NCAA basketball tournament.

72. My height in inches before Senior shrinkage.

88. sit-ups and push-ups done each day.

93. Age that both my parent’s lived.

100. days until my wife’s birthday.

146. Broadway shows attended with my wife (Post #454).

197. my weight today.

229. months together with my wife.

287. shopping days until Christmas.

294. days left this year.

436. days retired.

1273. different restaurants dined with my wife (date nights).

3361. consecutive days of running.

7,022. Days together with my wife.

Old Sport Shorts: March MAD #447

March 2, 2018 / mikeljohnston1 / 0 Comments

It’s March and I want to be excited and feel the Madness. However, I wrote about February Sadness (Post #421) but now I’m just March MAD. I love this time of year associated with basketball tournaments. This dates back to childhood and playing the Indiana High School basketball tournament in my basement with a bottomless Quaker Oats canister for a basket and a tin-foil ball. I would set a timer for each quarter and run plays for each team, keeping score and moving the winners through the bracket. If the driveway was clear of snow, I would use a real ball and 10-foot-high basket to play the tournament game-by-game until I had a champion. It was hours of fantasizing about being in a team uniform after watching the Sectionals in the school gym, since basketball was rarely on TV at that time. I would listen to the games on our local radio station, where I eventually went to work. It was like a holiday when all the area teams would come to town and they would close the school as if it was a treasured “snow day.” That was long before “March Madness, when “Hoosier Hysteria” was king, and my very first tourney brackets were sponsored by the Peter Eckrich Company of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. They closed in 1972, just as I began to attend basketball games at Indiana University.

When I was back in Indiana last week, the Sectionals were underway, except they do it in classes now by enrollment size, as opposed to the single-class tournament of my childhood where “David” often met “Goliath” on the hardwood. I couldn’t help but order the book, History of Our Hysteria: Indiana High School Basketball, as presented by the Indianapolis Star newspaper I was reading. It will be here soon and will hopefully pick up my spirits in what will likely be a disappointing round-ball March. It will be MAD rather than Madness for me this March, as my basketball is badly deflated.

I watched last night as my Indiana Hoosiers blew a 16-point lead and lost to Rutgers in the BIG tournament. Rutgers finished last in the BIG conference regular season, but got the benefit of the home crowd in the misplaced MADison Square Gardens game. Just before I ordered the “Hoosier Hysteria”book, I was reading an article about the “greedy, money-motivated,” expansion of the Big Ten Conference into Maryland and New York City, with most of the fan interest back in the Midwest, so attendance was suffering. I guess I’m bitter that Indiana drew the home town favorite, after a season of let-down after let-down. If the Hoosiers had won, they would have faced Purdue and have been eliminated anyways, but a victory might have earned them a consolation NIT invitation. Instead, I feel confident that the season is over. and it’s only the first day of March. This makes me MAD. I’ll probably be MAD next year too, until Coach Archie Miller puts a competitive team on the court and resumes our streak of NCAA tournament appearances that once stood at 18 under Bob Knight and Mike Davis.

The Wisconsin Badgers consecutive NCAA appearance streak ended last night at 19 with their loss to Michigan State, who will undoubtedly extend theirs to 21, even if they don’t win the BIG tournament. Outside of the BIG, Gonzaga will probably extend theirs to 20, Duke to 23, and Kansas to a record 29, while North Carolina (27) and Arizona (25) will make the field, but have missed a few years recently. Kentucky had a 17-year streak that ended in 2008 and UCLA’s 15-game run from 1967-1981, round out the top-10 tourney teams of all time.

Yes, I will rebound from the disappointment of Indiana’s absence from the “Big Dance,” and continue to follow the high school tournament and Purdue throughout the month. I will also dutifully fill out my traditional NCAA bracket, and undoubtedly lose a few bucks to friends in the process. To make matters worse, I will out of the country for most of the NCAA tournament, but that is by choice. I will return to the states for the Final Four and the opening of baseball season with lots of great memories of Amsterdam, Venice, and Athens. So, it will be a very memorable March, and I will get over being MAD.

Diary of an Adoptee: Library Search #444

February 28, 2018 / mikeljohnston1 / 0 Comments

I’m back in the homeland, wandering Indiana while dodging pot-holes the size of a child’s wading pool along the way.Yesterday’s trip to Shelbyville was disappointing, but I did get a couple of new clues on my likely birthmother’s family. They are all still total strangers, but precious“blood” relatives that should bear a resemblance, a physical connection that adopted children like myself never experience. It has captured my curiosity, as I continue to search for pictures, still hoping my information on this “second family” is accurate.

My web search of North Vernon revealed little. I will eventually go to the Jennings County library, but not on this trip. I apparently did miss spotting a picture of my birth mother’s oldest sister in the 1941 Shelbyville High School annual. So, at some point between then and 1949 the family must have moved to North Vernon where her one-year-older twin brothers went to high school. Their father was a farmer known as “Pete,” who only lived to be 61 years old. His wife, Ruby Mae, lived twenty-one years longer but died on her birthday. I was able to find photos of both of them in the Shelby County library file compiled by her great grand daughter Angie.

North Vernon and Shelbyville high schools are now both consolidations, with little history from my birth mother’s era on their respective websites. At least, Shelbyville maintains bragging rights to their 1947 state basketball championship that pales in accomplishment to only Milan’s title in 1954 preserved in the movie, “Hoosiers.” Milan was a school of only 161 students, while Shelbyville featured three black starters in a primarily white school. All-black and Catholic schools were barred from the single-class tournament in that era, that featured 781 high school teams in 1947. North Vernon, now Jennings County, has never had that kind of basketball success, an essential measure in Indiana schools. Supposedly, my birth father was a basketball player in high school, one of the few details I know about him.

I’m not sure where this incessant interest in sports comes from? It must be genetic, since my adopted father was a lefty and couldn’t really teach a right-handed son. He was never much of an athlete, but was at least competitive on ice, something I was never able to master. I seemed to be obsessed with basketball, a sport that remains a favorite, although my shooting and ball-handling skills are long forgotten. I never really played much baseball, but did learn to enjoy watching and arguing sports with my dad. As an adult, I played softball in primarily work-related leagues. I also ran some track in high school, but mostly short dashes and hurtles. Ironically, I always hated running long distances, although it’s the only sport I still do in retirement. I also wrestled in high school at the insistence of a friend. My adopted mom was never a sports fan and my grandparents were not at all sports-minded. Was the birth-father I never knew somehow still an influence, even though my athletic skills were only slightly above average?

I would like to know more about this man known as “The Marine.” However, the only one who knows his identity is my birth mother. It’s just another reason why the clock is ticking. She is presumably still alive, since no record of her death is on file. I’ve seen a recent picture, but don’t know her state of health. She’ll be 85 in a few months, living in Seymour, just 15 miles from North Vernon and 42 miles from Shelbyville, as the basketball bounces. I did see an address from her past in Thorndale, Texas, but otherwise she’s stayed close to home. I’ll be back in four months to do some more research.

Old Sport Shorts: Surprise #436

February 20, 2018 / mikeljohnston1 / 0 Comments

This is post #56 of the new year, maintaining my one-a-day writing pace despite all the travel. I got to see my first baseball game of the year, as Oregon State predictably pummeled Cal Poly at the Texas Rangers/Kansas City Royals spring training facility in Surprise, Arizona. For me, it was a Surprise visit, but as Beaver’s fans might say, “it was no surprise in Surprise!” A new winning streak of 4 is underway, hopefully keeping pace with last year’s season where we saw them win 28 of their first 29 games and go into the NCAA tournament with another 20 game streak. (See Post #132). “Chester the Molester” is back in uniform, as the controversy over pitcher Luke Heimlich continues, after posting his first win of the season against New Mexico. The Beavers are back in action against Nebraska later this week, as the administration and coaching staff continue to support the kid, who failed to register as a sex offender after moving to the Corvallis campus. The reputation of the school being questioned by the media, but I saw no evidence of parental protest around the Surprise diamonds.

It’s a tough call, considering his age and the fact that he’s served his sentence. Does banning him from baseball make as much sense as allowing his potential star-power to help others avoid the same mistakes? After all, the whole purpose of a university is to provide education. It has to be tough on President Ray and his leadership staff, in lieu of other recent sex-abuse related incidents at major universities. There must be circumstances involved that we are not fully aware of, in judging the character of this young man. I suppose Luke could quietly hide in shame from the public, but he has chosen to face this awkward controversy every time he takes the mound. Also, there apparently has been little objection from his teammates.

The Cubs and White Sox start spring training this week, and college basketball is soon headed to tournament play. I’ve been pretty hard on my Hoosiers this year, but I can see the outstanding coaching influence of Archie Miller on their defensive play, something that’s been missing since the Bob Knight era. They finally could get a win against an upper tier BIG opponent with a road victory over Nebraska, extend their conference winning streak to 5 and perhaps pass Penn State in the standings. The Huskers already have 20 wins, are on the verge of earning a potential double-bye in the BIG tournament, and will probably receive an NCAA tournament bid. The Hoosiers have already lost twice to both Michigan State and Purdue, and hope to even the score against Ohio State on Robert Johnson’s Senior night, although that would be a huge surprise. They can’t score with any consistency, fail to convert under the basket, are terrible from the free throw line, and still turn the ball over too many times to be competitive. It’s been a tough season, but they still have a chance for a NIT consolation finish – not in tournament but much more than expected earlier in the season. It may not be total “Sadness” in March, but certainly no “Madness.”

Purdue has had a disappointing finish to the conference season, just as I took my first step on the band wagon. The Boilers have the potential for a magic March, but the league leading Spartans have stolen the BIG spotlight. Michigan seems to be peaking at the right time again, and Ohio State is just a slot above them in the national picture. That’s four BIG teams in this year’s top 20, already accounting for 6 Indiana losses this season between them. The biggest disappointment in the league is probably Wisconsin, who will need a BIG tournament championship to extend their NCAA tournament streak to 20. Despite their worst season this century, they still managed to beat the Hoosiers again in Madison this year. (See Post #383). It will be no surprise when Michigan State plays in its 21st consecutive NCAA tourney next month.

Diary of an Adoptee: Banister World #422

February 5, 2018 / mikeljohnston1 / 1 Comment

Every now and then these past few weeks I’ve drifted off into what my wife calls “Banister World,” wondering the impact of my certified letter on total stranger? What has happened since the letter arrived? (See Post #404). Was it then hidden somewhere in a drawer? Was there ever a discussion about its shocking contents? Was a response slowly making its way to me through the mail? I don’t know why I suddenly expect instant answers to a 66 year-old unsolved mystery?

Would I next need to employ a different tactic? Or, should I just be patient and step back? I’m reading the book Getting Open, the story of Bill Garrett and the integration of college basketball. It presented itself as the closest resource to uncovering what life was like in my presumed birth mother’s home town, during the time just before I was born. It also seemed prophetic that my good friend just happened to have a copy of this book, when I mentioned a long-shot Bill Garrett connection with the Banisters. After all, it’s not exactly on the best seller list.

Shelbyville High School won the state basketball championship in March of 1947. My birth mother, Edna Faye, would have been 13 years old, soon to be 14 on April 9. Her twin brothers were only a year older, but sister Eva would have been 16 and in high school, perhaps along with 18 year old Elmer. Her older siblings included 20 year-old Elvin, Wilma 22, and Helen 23. Did they attend basketball games like most of the community who packed the bleachers? Cross Gym, where they played, held 3,500 spectators, one-third of the Shelbyville population at that time. Football was a minor sport in Indiana in that era, as farmers were confined to the fields until basketball season started in August. Did they know Bill Garrett or any of his teammates or coaches? Did they cheer for the “Golden Bears?”

Four years after Shelbyville brought home the hardware, I was born from an affair that took place around the Thanksgiving holiday of 1950. She would have finished her Junior year at Shelbville High with a noticeable baby bump and then secretly whisked-away to Indianapolis to give birth. Did she then return to Shelbyville or was she sent somewhere else to avoid any ridicule from fellow townspeople? Did my untimely appearance ruin her life plans? What happened to the father? Did the disapproving community brand her with a “Scarlet A?”

What happened next for her remains unknown? I’m appreciative that my life went on only slightly interrupted, with no recollection on my part. It wasn’t until years later that I began to even wonder about this woman that gave birth to me. Would she have loved me as much as my adopted parents? Would I have gotten to enjoy the same benefits and opportunities that only affluence could afford? Or, would I have just finished high school and stayed in rural Shelbyville my entire life? At that time, the Ku Klux Klan controlled Indiana’s laws, so it was rare for a predominately white school to have three regular black starters. As a result, they were mocked by the competition as,”The Black Bears.” Coach Frank Barnes was an integration pioneer, with a need to win games to preserve his job.

By the time, I was born in August of 1951, Bill Garrett had become the first black athlete in the Big Ten Conference, as the first to play at IU. Coach Branch McCracken made him an All-American his senior year. Garrett’s All-Star team then played the Harlem Globetrotters at the Indiana Fairgrounds in Indianapolis just after my birth mother’s 18th birthday, attracting over 14,000 basketball fans. Did she go to that game with classmates her Junior year to celebrate her city, with me still a hidden secret? Shelbyville’s most famous citizen was about to become a Boston Celtic, one of the first three black athletes to be drafted into the NBA. Or is this just another of my sports fantasies?

I feel a need to know more about the city of Shelbyville, so a trip to the city’s library later this month might be in order. I can look through some high school annuals and search for any Banister connections. The most important thing is to try to find a photo of my 5’2″ brown-eyed, mother. Will the unknown Marine father have also gone to Shelbyville High School? At twenty years old, he would have been the same age as my birth mother’s sister, Eva, and also could have gone to school with or played against Bill Garrett? According to the adoption agency, he was 6’2 1/2,” slightly taller than Garrett, and played basketball, football, and baseball. Also, my birth mother’s brothers, Elmer and Elvin, would have been about the same age as Garrett. Can I find them in a year book? If so, I can expand the “Banister World” fantasy.

Old Sport Shorts: February Sadness #421

February 4, 2018 / mikeljohnston1 / 0 Comments

In another short month,

it will be March Madness.

While I suffer through,

More February Sadness.

March is usually a month I look forward to, as college basketball teams vie for those 68 precious slots on the NCAA Tournament bracket. It used to be only 64, but the “Big Dance” is always expanding to accommodate less disappointment. For those teams that don’t make the field there is also that NIT (Not in Tournament) option. Unless, you’re an Indiana University fan, in which case your only option may be to sit home and watch.

I’ve tried very hard to remain loyal to the program, after all those years of success, but I’m now beyond just disappointed. I cannot believe that a college team can shoot a dismal 18% in the first half of a BIG Ten game. Granted, it was a great defensive team, Michigan State, who may very well go on to win it all. However, grade school kids shoot better, even I could shoot better than 18%. These are scholarship players, receiving a free education, who practice every day, and have been doing this all their lives. How is this possible?

The team can play outstanding defense, and it was this reason only that they stayed in the game through the first half. I will give Coach Archie Miller credit for bringing that basic fundamental back to I.U. Basketball. It’s been missing for years, and the one thing in basketball that you can control on the floor. We all know that teams can have a bad shooting night, but you can still be competitive if you don’t allow your opponent to score either. Ultimately, they only lost this game by 3 points to a Top Five team, while finishing at 28.8% from the floor and 21.1% from three point range (4-19). Michigan State was 48.9% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. Somehow, the Hoosiers managed to hit 72% from the free throw line, despite being one of the worst teams in the country at this basketball fundamental. Unfortunately, they couldn’t hit their free throws when the game was on the line, as has been all too common this season.

To make matters worse, Indiana’s biggest rival, Purdue, is now 12-0 and ranked third in the nation. This is like salt in the wound to any devout Hoosier fan. Also, Michigan State‘s success this year is the result of recruiting in Indiana’s own back yard. Jaren Jackson Jr. is from Carmel, Indiana and went to school at La Lumiere in LaPorte, Indiana. I’m convinced that most any kid from Indiana, where hoops is king, can shoot better than 18%. Zach McRoberts is the only native Hoosier in the I.U. starting line-up, and up until this year he’s been sitting on the bench. He is also a walk-on, known primarily for his hustling defense and rebounding ability. I.U. Basketball has definitely lost its way!

The Hoosier record stands at 12-12 and 5-7 in the BIG after 4 consecutive losses, giving up the only victory for Illinois in the conference to date. Two of those losses were to #3 Purdue and #5 Michigan State, where the same disturbing patterns emerged in both close games. The shooting was abysmal, the turnovers untimely, and poor defense against the three-point shot costly. The threes and free throws wouldn’t fall, sloppy shots went in for the opponent, and their three pointers with the shot clock about to expire were all too frequent. The I.U. offense missed open layups, clutch free throws, and threw the ball away with consistency.

In 2008-09, after the dismissal of Coach Kelvin Sampson and the resulting NCAA probation, I.U. experienced some bad years under the direction of Tom Crean. They went 6-25, 10-21, and 12-20 respectively. With one more win, Archie Miller will have won more games than each of those “Crean & Crimson” teams, so we haven’t taken as big of a step back with this coaching change. Crean favored a run-and-gun approach that put little emphasis on defense. I like the fundamentals he’s brought to Bloomington, but Miller needs some shooters to give his team balance. Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou? (See Post #369).

There’s little hope for the remainder of this year, as I expect nothing but February Sadness from the Hoosiers. Only Purdue gives the state of Indiana some potential madness. They have the longest winning streak in Division 1 basketball, but I do not expect them to go undefeated in the BIG Conference. I’m just glad that I have some association with the university, so that I have someone to cheer for in March and early April. In the meantime, I’m throwing in the white flag, with expectations of more bad basketball these next two months. Please, don’t let it extend into next year – put some Madness back in my life.!

Retirement is not without Hassles: Friendship #420

February 4, 2018 / mikeljohnston1 / 0 Comments

The month of February is all about friendship and love. It started with two concerts and dinner with good friends. We saw 72 year-old Bruce Cockburn and 65 year-old John Hiatt, two performers that I would not have normally gone to see, but thoroughly enjoyed. It was good to see two fellow Senior Class members still active on the circuit. I was envious of their continued passion for their work, extending their careers into the twilight of their lives. Both of my retired buddies play and collect guitars, so I often follow their lead on must-be-seen-before-they-die performers. I’m rarely disappointed, and get to experience some of the unique music venues around Portland, like the Aladdin Theater and Revolution Hall. Also, older audiences tend to be better behaved and prefer to remain seated, rather than interfere with your view of the stage in favor of their awkward dance moves.

My best friend & wife next went to see the movie, Lady Bird, as a popcorn dinner and holding hands is our weekly tradition. We certainly hold hands more often, but restrict our popcorn eating to theaters and sometimes ballparks. I will leave her for a few days this week to ski with old friends in Steamboat. She doesn’t ski and prefers warmer climates to use her precious vacation time, so she’ll spend just her weekend with us, as we celebrate the 65th birthday of our hostess. She and her husband just bought a retirement home near the slopes, so they invited several of us to join them for the week. I will approach the mountain with caution, as all retirees should, hoping to return without a cast. I haven’t skied in at least two years, as evident by the cob webs on the padded travel bag that holds my equipment. The only other item in our garage with more dust on it is my golf bag.

When we aren’t traveling, my wife likes to spend her weekends with her two best friends, our schnauzer pups. When she gets home at night after a hard day at the office, she’s too exhausted to spend much time with them, so she tries to make up for it with long weekend walks. I will run ahead with Tally until she quickly loses interest and then loop back to the slower moving Tinker, who no longer runs and stays at my wife’s side. Tinker is like me in her hesitation to spend too much time outdoors. She has so many allergies and hates the feel of some grasses on her paws, so the outdoors is nothing to her but a giant toilet. In her opinion, there’s no other reason to go out there, unless it’s to go for a ride in the car. On the other hand, Tally loves to romp, and it’s critical to keep her on a leash. The weekend walk/runs give both Tinker and Tally the opportunity to sniff the butts of their furry friends.

My wife enjoys music, but our tastes slightly differ. She prefers uplifting popular music, while I lean more to the blues and classic rock. She has already bought tickets to see Pink, Steely Dan with The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor & Bonnie Raitt, Hall & Oates with Train, Sam Smith, Def Leppard/Journey, and Elton John. I will enjoy all of these shows, for in most cases, the second or third time around. At least, Pink, Sam Smith, and Train are not yet of retirement age and will be fresh new experiences for me. Also, we have reserved seats for each of these shows. The two shows I just attended this past week were in much smaller venues than these Moda Center dates, so it was strictly General Admission. That meant we also had to be there an hour early and wait in line for a decent seat. It makes for a long evening. I much prefer the assigned seats that we have for these upcoming shows, and appreciate that even movie theaters now allow you to select seats in advance. It avoids hassle and saves time, but it still doesn’t resolve the problems associated with those sitting in neighboring seats. (See Post #121).

Our February tour continues from Steamboat to Phoenix, for my wife’s budget meetings. We will have to spend Valentine’s Day apart, but I will fly in the next day once the business sessions conclude. Friends from Tucson will drive us to their home for the weekend. We hooked up with them last year after several years apart, so we’ll get a chance to experience more of the desert. I will then connect with a Fraternity Brother, who I reunited with last year after nearly 40 years. We plan to go to Surprise, Arizona and watch the Oregon State Beavers play Cal Poly in a college baseball tournament. Unfortunately, The timing of the budget meetings is just about a week early for Spring Training, otherwise we would have had some other choices for games. I’ll fly out early the next morning.

The February “friendship and love tour” ends with a trip back to Indiana. My wife’s niece is expecting their first child, and she is being honored with a shower. We also have to take my wife’s 96 year-old mother to the doctor, as is the case several times a year for us. Hopefully, she’ll stay out of the hospital on this trip. In the back of my mind, I still have hopes that I will hear back from my birth mother’s family, but I would also like to go Shelbyville, her home town, and look through the high school yearbooks for some photos of her and her siblings. It’s been about 12 days now since they received my certified letter (See Post #404). It took 9 days for the letter to get to them, so I will approach the mailbox tomorrow like a kid waiting for Christmas.

When the short month of February comes to an end, after spending half of it on the road, I will promise to spend as much time as possible with my wife. I haven’t been very attentive, leaving her alone in favor of other friends. We’ll spend half the month of March on a cruise ship with little time apart, after spending Valentine’s Day in two separate cities. Last year, her meeting didn’t start until the day after, so I’m sure there are other employees disappointed about not spending the “biggest day of love each year” with their significant other. I’ll at least have the two puppies and the cat to keep me company. She’ll have just The Company!

Old Sport Shorts: Boiler Up! #414

January 28, 2018 / mikeljohnston1 / 0 Comments

It’s a new school record! 17 straight victories for the Purdue Men’s Basketball team and the eighth longest winning streak in Big Ten history. Unfortunately, it came against my underdog Indiana Hoosiers. I think the most people were expecting a lopsided Boiler win, but IU hung in there until the end. It was a great national TV showcase for the state of Indiana, but another frustrating loss for a once proud Cream and Crimson program with five National Championships. Now, it’s Purdue’s turn. In actuality, Purdue leads the 117 year rivalry 118-89, having dominated in the early years, earning 51 or the first 62 games through 1939. They’ve won the BIG 10 Conference Championship 23 times to Indiana’s 22. Overall, Indiana is the 11th all time winning Division 1 program, while Purdue is 19th, but Indiana has had better success in the NCAA tournament. In my lifetime, the joke has always been that Spring was officially here when IU was still playing basketball and Purdue wasn’t. That likely won’t be the case this year. Boiler Up!

Purdue has captured a NIT (Not in Tournament) Championship back in 1974, but so did Indiana in 1979, over Purdue on a last second shot. Ejections, technical fouls, a sucker punch, tirades, double overtime, a thrown chair, and a jackass have all played a role in the storied basketball wars between the two schools. Legendary coaches Bob Knight and Gene Keady added to the madness. IU has been ranked #1 in the country many times throughout the years, while Purdue has never been there or finished there. The closest the Boilers have come was #2 in 1987, defeating the soon to become National Champion Hoosiers that year in West Lafayette. Purdue has advanced to the Elite Eight four times, the Final Four twice (1969 and 1980), and to the National Championship in game in 1969 losing to UCLA and Purdue alumni, John Wooden, along with his super-star center Lew Alcindor, a.k.a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Rick “The Rocket” Mount led the Boilermakers. Purdue lost its only other Final Four match-up in 1980, again to UCLA, this time coached by Larry Brown. Purdue’s Joe Barry Carroll was the tourney top scorer that year.

Could this finally be Purdue’s year? They have already secured the #2 National ranking, after wearing down unranked Indiana. Could 7’2″ Boiler big man Issac Haas be the next Joe Barry Carroll? He has the advantage of 7″3″ twin tower teammate Matt Haarms. They only have to get by Virginia to achieve the elusive rankings pinnacle. It’s reminiscent of the 1980’s, the last time these two universities were basketball dominant. Virginia also has not won a National Championship, but has appeared in both the 1981 and 1984 Final Four. They lost to North Carolina in 1981, while North Carolina than fell to National Champion Indiana. It was IU’s fourth title, with Isiah Thomas leading them to the Promised Land, if I could just sneak in another plug for the Hoosiers in this PU year (they won the Oaken Bucket, too). The 1981 Virginia Cavaliers were led by 7’4″ Ralph Sampson, who left the program in 1983 for the NBA. Somehow, the #7 seeded 1984 Cavaliers, without him, advanced to Seattle’s Final Four, but lost to Houston and Akeem Olajuwon.

More than thirty years have gone by since Purdue and Virginia have been national basketball powers, but they’re both back in the spotlight this year. Will we see them both in San Antonio, host of this year’s Final Four? Will Indiana even make the NIT? If not, I will be on the Purdue bandwagon. I think that I deserve to ride their coattails. After all, I was a 2000-2002 John Purdue Club loyal member, I have a Gene Keady signed jersey in my office (it’s not in a frame as big as the one that holds my 1976 IU jersey), I was the landlord for Black & Gold Magazine for three years; I provided the television studios for the weekly Coaches Show with Gene Keady; I formed a television partnership with Purdue University through a T-1 connection, allowing coverage for all Purdue athletics; I was a Purdue season basketball ticket holder and attended the banquets each year I was running the TV station in Lafayette, Indiana.

I can’t help it if both my parents went to Indiana University, and that they made me wear the IU logo as a child. They made me a Purdue hater! I only spent two years at Indiana University, but do hold a B.S. degree from there. All I did at Indiana was spend my dad’s money. I was never a Indiana basketball season ticket holder, only football (they were less expensive and easier to get). I think I actually have more ties to Purdue. Plus, a couple of Purdue grads have agreed to let me on the Boilermaker Express for the rest of this season, as a trial only. Boiler Up!

Retirement is not without Hassles: Ten Bani #413

January 28, 2018 / mikeljohnston1 / 0 Comments

When I run in the darkness, I often don’t see the treasures that might be sitting at my feet. When the sun is out, however, I often stumble across lost coins and trinkets on the streets and sidewalks along my route. I have always known the value of a penny ever since I was a young boy searching for the elusive 1909 S VDB Lincoln cent. Coin collecting was one of my first passions, and it’s impossible for me to walk (or run) around an abandoned coin. I always think of them as “Pennies from Heaven,” (See Post #183) and I collect them in a jar for good luck. I knew it was going to be a good day when I found one, and often finding pennies meant more than shiny quarters. Dimes, nickels, and quarters stand out more on the asphalt and often catch a glimmer of the sun’s rays.

This morning I found a 10 Bani coin from Romania, the equivalent of a penny. I’ve found Canadian and Mexican coins on the ground, and maybe even a French Franc, but never a Bani. The State Mint issued Romanian Leu coins starting in 2005 in 4 different denominations, including the coin I just found. The date on mine is 2010, the year Bulgaria finished third in Eurovision with the song “Playing with Fire” by Paula Seling and Ovi, while 21 people died in floods. As I put it in my pocket, I wondered about the message, thinking of the song “Pennies from Heaven” and good fortune from angels above. “Make sure your umbrella is upside down.” Should I be thinking about travel plans to Romania, as I recall my Romanian buddies Agata and Beata from Toastmasters? They were using the program to improve on their second language, while I was still struggling with my first. Is Transylvania and Dracula’s Castle in my future? “I vant to suck your blood” I just gave blood to the Red Cross vampires last week, so “Count” me out for a few more months. Are there Banis from Mecca?

I’ve neglected my coin collecting in favor of sports memorabilia, and should probably fill those few remaining slots in my coin books. I also have a stamp collection, a lapel pin collection, a cuff-link collection,and a ticket collection. In fact, I have a collection of collections! I’m surprised that I don’t still have my bottle cap collection from childhood. In 1962 when I was 11 years old, there was a Coca-Cola “Tour the World” contest. If you collected 100 bottle caps from different countries and glued them the matching spot on the giant game card folder you could win cases of Coke or up to $150,000 in cash. I remember it being sticky work, removing the cork liners from the caps to reveal the destination. There was a gas station down the block from us that had a vending machine with a built-in bottle opener, and the attendant would let us go through the collection box each week. We also had a magnet on a string that we would use to fish bottle caps out of these vending machines around town. If memory serves me correctly, there was another Coca-Cola contest to collect bottle caps from all the states, as well as one for sports figures like Jim Brown. Come to think of it, I also have a collection of quarters from the 50 states, when those were made by the U.S. Mint back in 1999 and 2000. I’m still missing a few of those that I’m sure I could fill on Ebay.

Ebay has made it so easy for collectors to buy, sell, and exchange collectibles. You no longer have to fish treasures out of vending machines or visit garage sales and antique shows. I lost a bidding war yesterday for a signed letter by my White Sox catcher hero Sherm Lollar on official Chicago White Sox stationary. I was willing to go up to $25 and I think it ended up selling for $57. It’s good to know that there are other nutty people out there willing to pay big bucks for memories. I guess I’m not the only one who cares about Sherm Lollar, who’s been dead now for 40 years, so it’s difficult to get signatures from him anymore. It’s a supply and demand world, so if you’re willing to pay the price you can get just about anything. I’m just glad I got my penny’s worth this morning.

Retirement is not without Hassles: Fantasize #406

January 25, 2018 / mikeljohnston1 / 0 Comments

I was soaked to the bone by a cold, wet rain this morning, despite some waterproof outerwear. It was day 3,315 of my running streak, according to www.runeveryday.com. I was relieved to get it over with and into a hot shower and warm clothes. Despite all the rain in the Northwest, in most cases I’m facing just a mist or somehow able to dodge the raindrops, but this morning there was a lot of puddling. If it were easy, anyone could do it. Instead, somehow I manage to get through another day, fortunate to avoid injury, sickness, and laziness. As they say, “one day at a time.”

The cleaners have now arrived, so I’m prepared for a day of annoying background sounds, as they distribute water and cleaning agents through hoses to their truck parked in front of our house. The dogs are cowering, and the cat is locked in the bedroom. The neighbors have to be covering their ears from the obnoxious humming noises, as well. In its wake, at least it leaves behind a pleasant clean smell. Like a new car smell, I wonder how long it will last?

It will probably take some time for my “second family” to absorb the impact of my recent certified letter, documenting my undoubtedly secretive existence all these years. I’m sure that the son of my birth mother will need to evaluate my intentions, and discuss what to do with close friends and/or family. I can almost hear the conversations in my imagination. I will be relieved once the shock wears off and reality sets in. At that point, perhaps further communication can take place. I remain apologetic in dropping the initial bombshell, but I want to know the truth about my existence.

Yesterday’s trip to the mailbox yielded a 1957 The Saturday Evening Post magazine that I bought on EBay, with an article comparing the Yankee’s Yogi Berra with White Sox catcher Sherman Lollar, a favorite of mine. (See Post #5). It was probably more fascinating for me to look at all the ads from that era that included a lot of automobile and appliance lay-outs. It was not a Norman Rockwell illustration on the coverThe original cost was fifteen cents, originally delivered to a subscriber in nearby Cresswell, Oregon. Slightly off the subject, I happen to know a woman who was also named after John Cresswell, the 23rd United States Postmaster General. He was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant, and mentioned in his biography that I’m currently reading by Ron Chernow. The focus of the magazine was on integration – The Deep South Says Never! I paid a little more that fifteen cents for this little piece of history; in fact shipping was $5.00 alone. I think it’s interesting that Grant fought for integration and a hundred years later the South was still fighting against it, not to mention for the next sixty years up until today. An article on baseball seemed unusual for a publication of this nature, but The Post continues to exist even today, although as a not-for-profit.

I’m not sure why I’m so fascinated with history and collecting memorabilia. At first, I thought it was a safe, round-about way of finding my roots. I still find it odd that a grown man like me has such a strong fascination with athletes, and collects pictures, autographs, articles, and clothing relating to them. It’s not as if I expect them to be worth something to anyone but me. It’s like I’ve adopted Sherm Lollar into my family, and his album of photographs and cards sit right next to the pictures of my parents. I didn’t even know him or have met him, yet I feel like he had some kind of influence on my life. His #10 became my #10, and all the result of simply watching him play in the 1959 World Series. It was only 8 years old and somehow he made an impression on me. I guess that’s why they say that young children are extremely impressionable. It’s still not a sane justification for paying big bucks for a dirty, sweaty jersey worn by him 63 years ago. Would it make it better if he was in the Hall of Fame, and I had paid even more? At the very least, it’s exactly my size! I must must still fantasize that my birth father was an athlete, yet I was perfectly happy with being the adopted son of an accountant. What would Freud say?