Basketball Winds Down, Baseball Heats Up!

10 days out from my Carotid Artery Surgery, I head to the baseball diamond today....and will work the bases for a varsity game between visiting Lima Shawnee and host Paulding.  In addition to my first work on the baseball field today, it's my first work of any kind of sport since basketball ended for me late in February....am I ready?  Frankly, I'm not sure....needless to say I am not 100%, but I have to get up and out sometime....this first few games I will work just the bases, see how I feel, then with a triple header at Delphos on Saturday, I will probably don the new Hockey Mask plate helmet and see how that works out for a game.  The stitches are not slated to come off until April 4th....so I will be extra careful{paranoid?}.  All I can do is try my best to get over the early season "jitters", not so much from be leery of working a game, but being concerned about "screwing things up" while I am working a game.

The rest of the week looks like this.  JV game at LCC  {one of a handful of under varsity games I have scheduled, working as a mentor with a younger umpire} tomorrow, then Varsity games at Van Wert on Wednesday and Spencerville on Friday, with other veteran umps that can handle the plate....taking Friday off, unless someone is desperate for a fill in...then the triple header round robin at Delphos St. Johns on Saturday.  If all goes well, I should be back in the swing of things as league games begin, and I finally get the metal out of my neck.....also this week I have a post surgery check up, back in New Bremen on Thursday.

Hoops winds down_____

The boys basketball season in Ohio ended this past weekend...locally none of the teams brought home a crown...nor did the schools close by, which is a rarity, usually someone comes home with a state title from this area.  

Elida, in D2 out of the WBL, led top ranked and undefeated Dayton Dunbar by 7 at half, until the Dayton squad went on a 18-0 run midway through the 3rd period....the area Bulldogs battled back to tie it up, but lost 54-52 on a last second shot.  In Division 4 Jackson Center went into Saturday's championship game against defending champion Berlin Hiland top ranked and undefeated, but were crushed by 30 points in the final....schools from Cincinnati and Pickerington won the D3 and D1{big school} championships respectively in the other divisions.

And in the NCAA_____

Ohio State by defeating top seeded Syracuse, were joined by Louisville, top ranked Kentucky, and Kansas, in the Final Four at New Orleans next weekend.....despite my penchant to pick at least one underdog to make the finals, in this case Steve Alford's New Mexico Lobos, I got 3 of 4 correct, and have Ohio State vs Kentucky in the finals....putting me ahead of the national idiot, Barack Obama, in the pools.....

http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/en/entry?entryID=2054628

Too bad I'm not in any money brackets this year.....because it appears that I could have cashed in....70 thousand or so out of 6 million isn't shabby....

The Week Ahead_____

Looking forward, hopefully I will start to feel closer to 100%, get my voice back...although it appears to be getting better, it is nowhere close to "normal".  Basically I will strive to survive the week on the baseball diamond...that is, not screwing up to much, and not getting hit where I can least afford it...The Neck!  I also realize that I have to start, because the longer you stay idle, especially at my age(63), the harder it will be to get back into the active lifestyle I enjoy.

When done with this blog this morning, I will do something else I have not done in 10 days....get behind the wheel of the van.  My surgeon said at least a week....other sites say 2 or 3 weeks, I will follow my surgeon's advice plus 3 days.  So a test drive this morning around town, before making the 40 mile drive each way to Paulding and back this afternoon.

If I survive the drive and the game....I will be...back later>>>>