A Blow Out and a couple of Bummers....

Garry and I headed to Antwerp, some 50 miles to the north about 3:15 yesterday....the sun was shining, and temperatures were in the mid 60s...a strong northeast wind was blowing however, keeping things rather cool.  I took my place behind the plate, and umpired as a very young Antwerp ball club was defeated by the strong veteran Fairview team from Sherwood...20-nothing in 5 innings.  At various times the home team had 7 freshman players on the field, a very, very, young group for a Varsity baseball team.  Our football officiating buddy Bob, is the head coach for the Archers, and will get the kinks out before all is said and done. 

The game ended in less than 2 hours and Garry and I headed off to the Oasis in "downtown" Antwerp to meet my Uncle Jack, and grab a bite to eat.   I had forgotten to turn my cell phone back on and no Uncle Jack when we arrived...so we order the Mexican Special....and quite the meal it was.  The Oasis is a small pub, but they fix pretty good specials...for me, the wet burrito dinner was a bit much, but I overdid myself anyway and ate the whole thing...still no Uncle Jack.  I figured at 81 he might have been down in the weather, health wise, so we paid our bill, climbed in the car and headed south out of town, when I decided to turn the cell phone back on..."Ding...Ding...Ding"  Damn!  A couple of voice mails...

The first was from cousin Linda, Jack's daughter...she had called me just before 5pm telling me, that he was not going to make it, because of a leg problem, but wanted me and Garry to stop by his place, he had snacks and beers for us...~  Damn!  We were already a third of the way home, so that would have to wait.  If it doesn't rain us out I will stop in and see him tomorrow, my second and final game at Archer Field this spring season.

The second call was from Patricia, telling me that Hal and Lisa were heading to Chicago for the weekend on Saturday morning, and might need someone to watch their dogs... I figure why not?  I think those two Schnauzer mixed dogs will keep Reagan, our old Airedale, and the cat hopping...so it looks like we may be dog sitting for a couple of days.

Stardom Delayed____

I mentioned yesterday that Sam would make his play-by-play debut on The Big Ten Network yesterday afternoon working the Student U production of the Ohio State vs Akron baseball game...so I set up the tape machine for the 2pm start.  When 2 o'clock arrived, the only thing on was the National Championship game between Ohio State and Miami from the January 1, 2003 Fiesta Bowl....???  I check my phone and Sam sent me a text saying that on their end the B10 had "technical problems", and the game was pre-emptied...Damn again!  So it seems, stardom will have to wait.  He will get a copy of the tape if available, and the old man will critique the thing, if he wants me to.  Being the long time broadcaster I was....I'm sure I can give him some unwanted advice, not sure how much help that might be.

This afternoon, if the rains hold off long enough, I have my forth and final JV game of the year(the rest being varsity) here in Celina...tomorrow, back at Antwerp, but that is in serious doubt for sure...

Enjoy the weekend...
back later>>>>