Wrapping up the Weekend

Yesterday had to be one of the most miserable days, weather wise, that I have seen of late. I could hear the rain with accompanying wind hitting the roof and windows about 4am...the rain was still coming down as I hit the sack shortly after Midnight this morning. The temperatures stayed in the 40s yesterday, this all followed a pretty nice Saturday, which was sunny and the 50 something temperatures were about normal for late March.

I spent most of the weekend staying near the radio or TV and watching the final days of Basketball unfold...some done outside with a cigar, some in the garage working on doing the Spring Cleaning for the annual Junk Pickup that the City of Celina has....and part of Saturday sitting in the leather recliner watching the NCAA and High School games.

LCC gets the Monkey off it's back______

Saturday Morning in the first of 4 State Finals in Boys Basketball....Veteran Coach Bob Seggerson, making his 6th trip to Columbus, took his Thunderbirds onto the court for a date with destiny, against Orrville in Division 3. The T-Birds built a 14 point lead in the middle of the 4th quarter, only to watch Orrville make a rousing comeback and cut the lead to 1 with a minute left, Lima Central Catholic hung on, surviving a last second 3 point attempt for a 60-57 win. Coach Seggerson got his first State Crown, after 5 heart breaking losses in previous years, by a total of 8 points. I had the job of broadcasting 3 of those losses....and now even though being an official, I don't openly root for teams that I see these days...it was good to see "Segg" come away with the Championship. After the game and 36 years at the helm, Bob Seggerson announced his retirement as coach of LCC....going out the way he coached, a winner.

The one thing I can say is that I officiated LCC's first scrimmage way back in late November, and nobody had a clue that this team, which started 4 wins and 4 loses, would win 18 in a row and become State Champs.

Duke Makes the Show______

After a March Madness of upsets, the Duke Blue Devils make their 11th appearance in the Final Four thanks to a 78-71 win over Baylor before a packed house of 53, 000 partisan Bear fans in Texas. The Finals will have two #5 seeds, Butler and Michigan State, in one game, and a 2 seed, West Virginia against a one seed Duke in the other Semi-Final.

Duke is probably the most hated team in college basketball...why you ask? I could never figure that out...a bunch of kids, mostly smart, who for the most part actually go to school and graduate, a great coach, and a line-up as diversified as you will find these days in college hoops. A team that actually produces Student Athletes, what a concept. I guess the hate comes from those that can't walk and chew gum, let along play basketball and attend classes in the same day.

I have been a hard core Duke Basketball fan for 25 or so years...so much so, I can hardly stand to watch the games that are big time important(yep, I know that is stupd but). Yesterday that was the case. I was cleaning out the garage for the annual junk pickup and listening to the game on radio, staying away from the tube...as the Blue Devils struggled with Baylor. I finally went inside to my small TV in the basement to watch the last 4 or 5 minutes, which saw Duke hit a couple of big treys and pull away for the 7 point win. West Virginia is next on Saturday....I think the Devils will pull that one out.

Taking out the Trash_____

Each year the City of Celina sponsors a trash pickup that gives the residents a chance to unload most of the unwanted junk around the house and yard....problem usually is that my section of town is the first on the list for pickup....and the weather usually looks good for the week, so I'm in the process of "Cleaning House/Garage".

I began yesterday in the garage....with the empty nest upon us...it's time to toss out the unwanted things from the past. Oh sure I've got tehe boys trophies, 5 thousand baseball cards, and a slew of collectibles and antiques, that will stay in the 25 by 22 foot detached garage....plenty of room there for the extra keepables. But a truck load of stuff is going to go....I'm not into garage sales, so the scavengers can pick and choose from the discarded stuff after I set it out on Friday. Funny it is as they say..."One man's junk, is another's treasure"...and so it is every year, we toss a few or a lot of items, and anything that remotely might have value, is picked up by the scavengers, and ends up in somebody else's garage or basement...and the world moves on.

Baseball Opening Day_____(maybe not)!

The High School Baseball Season is scheduled to kick off today....I'm slated to be at Wayne Trace for a game with Continental....the chance of that getting played is just about ZERO. The rain from yesterday has ended, but the leaded skies remain, and the fields will not be drying off anytime soon. The sun is supposed to be out...but it's not yet, and even if it does appear, it's not going to do much drying, especially with the temps in the mid 40s....Maybe tomorrow, if things improve...such is the way of early season baseball in Ohio, a game here, a game there, and 2 or 3 rain/snow./cold outs in between.

Not that it will bother me much...cold and wet games are not enjoyable at my age, and I'v got work to do in the garage....the Junk Man Commeth!

back later>>>>

Photos-Coach Bob Seggerson and his Lima Central Catholic T-Birds get their first State Championship after 6 trips to Columbus in the finals(photo from Varsity.com Sports) Kyle Singler, Coach K and the Duke Blue Devils make the Final 4. What to toss and what to keep...junk or collectibles...I've got 5 days to figure it out!