Turkey Day Sports Desk

We planned our vacation with the full knowledge that we had to be back on Saturday so that both boys could participate in pre-season basketball tournaments:

Matthew:  Matthew’s team played here in Okemos; I missed the first two games since I was off with Christopher up the road in Perry.  Started off the day with a 35-15 loss to Westside.  Reports are that Matthew played well on defense but hardly saw the ball on offense.  And, as you may have guessed, that we were never really in the game.

Game 2 was against Holt….and the result was better, a 24-17 win.  Matthew had a basket in this one. 

Game 3 was against the other Okemos team.  I was able to watch this game, and I think we won 34-8 or something like that.  Unlike last year, where they tried to have two balanced teams, this year they, at first, only had one coach so they had to take the top 11 and then, when the second coach signed up, he got the next 11 kids.  So, this result wasn’t entirely unexpected.  Matthew had two baskets, one of them from 3-point range (but, the court isn’t marked with the 3-point arc, so, it only counts for two).  He’s a scrappy player, always diving for balls and he has a nice stutter-step move that he uses to get into the lane.

There’s six teams in the tourney, the top two move to the final game.  One other team was 2-1 after three games, and had a better point differential than us, so, that was it for the team. 

Cpher:  As mentioned, up in Perry for a 12-team tournament.  Started off against Haslett and lost 40-23……the team did not do anything that we practiced and we fell behind early and that was that.  Also, where I think we make an honest attempt to get our playing time spread out, I think Haslett kept their good kids out on the floor a lot (Haslett made the championship game; we watched most of it because of delays on our court.  They had four kids who never saw the floor in the first half, and one kid who never saw the floor in the entire game.  Pretty crappy if you ask me….).

Anyway, Cpher is Cpher; he scored four points from in close and contributed his usual rebounds and defense.  He certainly doesn’t play as much as last year, but, he gets his fair share…..he’s solid out there.

Game 2 was against Westside, the 5th grade version of the club that handled Matthew’s team.  It’s a see-saw affair that winds up going to overtime, where we pull out the win 30-28.  Cpher is as Cpher does; again, four points and the requisite rebounds and defense.

Game 3 is on Sunday; the sort the teams out into flights and we’re in the silver flight, playing the ‘B’ team of one of the local AAU clubs.  We win 40-25; we’re up by ten at the half and we’re on cruise control from there.  Lots of playing time for everyone…..only 2 points here, but he did have a nice inbounds play where he inbounded the ball and finally did what we’ve been practicing so far, get the ball into a player cutting towards the basket so that he could have the easy lay-up.

We like when other parents take pictures!  You’ll note that Cpher has switched numbers this year……..away from 15 and, well, to his favorite number right now…..

 

Game 4 is for the championship of the silver flight against Williamston….they have the tallest kid we’ll see this year, he’s a full 2-3 inches taller than Cpher and we deploy all three of our big guys a lot in this game to try and counteract his presence.  Their coach also whines more than any other coach I’ve seen (and I’ve run into him before in soccer, and had negative thoughts about him then).   I did get a kick out of him talking to his team, the constant message was “They are killing us on the boards!  Just killing us!”

The center of the 2-3 zone……

Cpher picks up the fouls, 2 in the first half, 2 in the second….he’s battling but making a few mistakes by reaching in at times.  No points, some rebounds, and does his share in keeping the other guy under wraps.  It’s 21-21 and we’re heading to OT again.   This time the result isn’t as great, we lost 25-23.

Matthew soccer:  To end the weekend Matthew’s indoor team has a big game, a game against the other team in our division who looks to be pretty good (a group of U11s from the other travel club).  Because Cpher’s final game is delayed, I miss all of this game as well.  It’s probably a good thing…..the text updates from Mom show it’s not going well, we’re down 2-0, we’re down 3-2, we are missing lots of chances in front of the goals.  Goals 3-6 against us are the ones that would have killed me…..Matthew is not on the field and as always our defense is much worse without him, and the other team takes advantage while he’s not there.  The final is 6-4, and we have a rematch against them in two weeks. 

Vegas – Day 2: Strip, Red Rocks, Elvis

Nothing fancy on the hotel front Friday night; we just pricelined a Hyatt Place near the Hard Rock Casino knowing that we’d be arriving late and wanting to do nothing but sleep (after stopping and having a late night Roberto’s run.  Roberto’s in Vegas is no longer Roberto’s….it’s Don Tortaco’s).

 

This picture serves as a good enough introduction to the biggest hesitation about taking the boys to Vegas; the semi-naked women…the little cards offered as you walk by. 

This is a nightclub outside of New York New York; Cpher told us to look up and check this out.  We had briefed the boys before the trip that, well, there would be a lot of scantily clad women on posters and while we all could see them we didn’t have to pay too much attention to them or make a big deal about them.  And for the most part, the boys were pretty good about this; I think once early on the eyes were lingering on the cards that laid on the crowd, but, a word or two of reminder and that was the end of that.

The boys actually got a pretty big kick out of the ‘flickers’; their name for the people passing out the cards.  And I’ll give full credit, they certainly never offered the cards to the boys or to us when we were with the boys.  For the rest of the trip, anytime we were walking or driving along the Strip, the boys were pointing out the ‘flickers’ to us. 

Matthew and Kevin did the roller coaster at NYNY…..it was ok, Matthew was happy enough with it; Kevin a little bored, but, it takes a big thrill to impress Kevin nowadays (this last sentence is defined as ‘foreshadowing’).

 

After NYNY we crossed the street and picked up some spur-of-the-moment half price tickets to Viva Elvis and then wandered into MGM to see the lions.  This is fric and frac waiting for the lions to come out.

 

This is the lioness eating a rawhide bone that’s bigger, but similar, to the ones we give Wiley and Holly on a regular basis.  I’m betting that she is as protective as Wiley is when these appear….

 

And when the other lion came a calling, it was pretty clear that this was not sharing time…..

 

Having a drink at the waterfall…..

 

In the afternoon we headed out to our stop for this evening; Red Rocks Casino out on western edge of town.  After checking in, we decided to head out to Red Rocks Canyon to see the sights.

 

 

One of the concerns about heading here, and to the Grand Canyon later, is that our boys don’t seem to have many moments where they consider that what they might be doing is dangerous.  And common sense, especially around rock climbing activities, is definitely turned to ‘off’.  And our trip here wasn’t their finest moment; a lot of three boys in three different directions, and not a lot of common sense about how to approach the area.  In the end it was a good thing that we had this experience before heading to the Grand Canyon; it gave Mom and Dad a chance to have a very serious conversation with the boys

 

We did get a few good pictures here though….

 

Kevin presented his own problems here; he wanted to go where he could go….and into areas that were more difficult for the smaller Fric and Frac to access.  A big argument about the unfairness of it all at the end of the stop, but, grudging agreement to limit his explorations in the future and be a good big brother…..

They had to climb up on to this rock to get this photo

I really liked this formation…..if you look at the top here you can see……

where Matthew stood while I took this picture from down below

We hiked down, and then up and around….this is looking east from about the farthest point we made it too on the trail

 

Panorama 1

Kevin had to help Fric and Frac get over there

Panorama 2

 

A rock formation from the other end of the 13-mile loop through the canyon…….

 

And this is the curtain before the beginning of Viva Elvis, the Cirque show playing at Aria.  Everyone enjoyed it BUT it’s not your typical Cirque show; the acrobatics are diminished (the boys thought the best part was where they were on the trampolines) and the dancing is emphasized.  Mom and Dad liked the Beatles show better, but, we had a lot of fun here as well…..

Vegas – Day 1: Flying Out

The usual try-and-get-work-done-and-try-and-get-everything-house-related-settled-rush before we head out occurs; we pick up the boys from school around noon and head east to Flint for the first of the flights at around 2.

Things are pretty uneventful until we get to Detroit

 

Matthew at Gate 28; waiting for the plane to Vegas.  He’s writing in his journal here…that journal is page after page on how-to-fish and where-he-wants-to-fish and types-of-fish-he-wants-to-catch.

I may be forced into taking up fishing as a serious hobby……

When he wasn’t writing; he was playing FIFA soccer on my Iphone….

Mom on the Iphone, Matthew on the Ipad.  You’ll notice Kevin isn’t here….

The flight is delayed; they make an announcement that it will be about an hour, so Kevin asks if he can go get some hot chocolate. 

Of course, they announce 20 minutes later that the problem is fixed and we can continue to board.  No Kevin.   Call Kevin; no answer.  Call him again, no answer.  Call him 13 times, no answer.

Turns out he didn’t take his phone with him.

I go down in the direction he went; no Kevin.  Reach the end of the terminal in that direction.  No Kevin.  Jog back……and get a text as I’m two gates away that he’s back….he decided to take the tram to another part of the airport and walk back from there.

We are the next to last people to board (they too, had part of their party leave upon hearing the one hour announcement and were hurrying to get back).  I’m out of breath, and Kevin is in the doghouse for not having his phone with him.

Flight was uneventful; I was in the back with Fric and Frac because…….

It looks like I’m about one flight (four segments) away from getting Gold status next year…..there is the chance that I’ll get one more work trip, but, I think Suzanne and I are in agreement that if there is not a work trip that we’ll be finding the cheapest four segment flight we can to make sure I have Gold status again next year….the benefits, especially these Suzanne-upgrades, are worth it.

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I’m got a post or two coming; just been busy and tired at night.   Tomorrow seems like a better day to do that than right now….

Day One – Vegas:  A few photos and words about the trip out here

Day Two – Red Rocks:  A trip to Red Rock Canyon

Day Three – A few words about the constant movement of this trip.  And, Viva Elvis!

Day Four – Hoover Dam…..and 885 feet of free fall.  

From the Sports Desk

An all-Matthew update:

Basketball:  A new thing this year; they assembled most of the fourth grade boys teams in Fowlerville for 2 scrimmages to try and get a handle on how to place the teams into divisions.  I was pretty sure we were an ‘A’ team, and we didn’t do anything to change that opinion, we beat Fowlerville and Williamston in the controlled scrimmages.  Matthew had a basket in the first game that he was chided for “the coaches said what I said, great shot Matthew, but, dribble closer next time if nobody is in front of you”.  No referees so the game was still kind of rough and tumble, but, light years ahead of what rec was like last year.  Matthew’s one of the taller ones on the team so he’s playing forward a lot. Probably took about 4-5 shots total; the scrimmage showed a) he wasn’t afraid to take shots, even bad ones and b) probably due to soccer, he’s pretty solid on defense.  Never seemed to lose his guy and you could find him cheating over to help out towards the ball when his guy was away from the basket.

Indoor Soccer Game 3:  Played some of the kids I used to coach, and for the most part, I thought those boys played pretty well.  We just overwhelmed them though….won 10-2.  No appearances on offense for Matthew in this game, BUT, he did bomb a goal in from almost midfield, again, one of those balls that comes out from our offensive pressure and he just swoops in and puts back on goal.  I thought he’s doing a much better job of anticipating where the ball is going to come out from as the other team takes over in their zone and moving in to take the ball away and keep the offensive pressure on.  Again, not present on the field for the two goals against.

Indoor Soccer Game 4:  We asked, and asked, and asked, soccerzone not to put us up against U9s….they said, ok, and switched us out from one U9 team to another U9 team.  The U9 parents did say afterwards that they had been winning 10-2, 11-1 in their previous games and the boys heads had gotten a little big….our 14-2 shellacking probably put an end to that. 

Matthew did get some offensive time…..I asked him before the game on the drive that if he wanted to score more goals by playing offense he should ask…he plays so much defense that he is certainly owed some offensive time.  Matthew responded that, hey Dad, if I want to score I’ll just dribble up and shoot, I’m happy to pass and play defense.

And even on offense, he was really unselfish….passed up shots that other kids would have taken to pass the ball to somebody that’s wide open for a better shot.  Got a goal here too where he was on defense and dribbled up after keeping the ball in the offensive zone and scored.

The games are a little frustrating; it’s painfully obvious to me some of the short-comings of the team when we were outdoors; they are magnified here.  Watched one kid miss five different shots from right in front of the goal because he couldn’t control the ball.  Time after time boys would not come back for the ball and just let the other team step in front and take possession from them.  Wonder what the real coach would think if he saw this; it’s great that we’re scoring some goals and restoring some confidence…..but I wish we would work on a few of our weaknesses as well….

Iphone photo dump

And away we go…

A few weeks back we had a weekend without sports; I drove Matthew and Kevin down to Cedar Point for the day.  The park is all ready for Halloween with haunted houses everywhere….given Matthew’s obsession with fishing, I snapped a picture of this skeleton

In line for Magnum. It was really really windy, and many of the best rides were shut down. 

 

Leaving the station.  Because the big rides were shut down, the lines for every other ride were crazy long (Kevin waited for 3(!) hours to ride Millennium Force).  We had a lot of fun going through the haunted portions of the park (still some very long lines..).  Matthew was in the middle holding Kevin and my hands; the ghouls would rush up and scare him at times.

I’ve never NEVER seen a buck in the backyard.  This is first ever, and he’s quite a guy…..many of my hunting friends looked at his rack and were very jealous.  Happily, for him, he lives in an area where he’s safe from hunters…..

 

Another group of deer crossing through the backyard.  There are more of these pictures on the Iphone for later posting….sitting in the backyard I see a lot of them at this time of the year.

The previously mentioned Burglar and Zombie

Four more weeks, one road test, and he’s street legal

 

Matthew and his buddy Henry enjoying the Michigan State hockey game; they were invited by another soccer player’s family to sit in the luxury box.

 

Went to game five of the American League Championship Series; saw Detroit beat Texas in a great game with two guys from work.  One of them left this hat in the back of my car; Matthew put it on and said, “Dad, where did you get this hat?”. 

Had to text my buddy with the picture and tell him “quit corrupting my kids” (the irony of this statement given the last week is not lost on me). 

Indoor Soccer – Game 2

A quick update…..a 13-4 dismantling of what might be the best U10B team playing CASL (the league I used to coach in, a step above rec).  But, we, supposedly, have the best boys from all of the communities around here, not just one like the CASL team, so, not too surprising.

Matthew got to play offense for 90 seconds at the end of the game.  The 13th goal was his.  Played defense when he was on for the rest of the game.  Am proud, but not surprised, that none of the goals were scored while he was back there (to me, it was pretty striking the difference in how the team looked when he was in the game and when he wasn’t……Matthew is very aggressive towards the ball and driving it to the offense, when he’s not there the defense sits back and waits for the ball and there’s more play in our end).

Game 3 Saturday against more than a few of the kids I coached last year; we play the Okemos U11’s.  It will be a slaughter……I know the coach is trying to get us switched to better competition (Sunday is supposed to be against some U9s….that will be like playing baby seals!).

Coming Soon:

Iphone Photo Dump

P/T conferences

Fall Football (!) Game 3 – More Photos

More photos from the photographer who is capturing the 4/5 games.  Paid a small fee this time, and will continue to add the link…so, visit Scott Rosenfeld Photography if you are looking for more pictures of the 4/5 teams or for any of your photographic needs!

The boys were pretty active in this game versus St. John’s, so, there are lots of good photos!

 

 

 

Matthew rushing in to make a tackle

Another Matthew tackle….

 

 

A Christopher tackle, in several parts…

Like these pictures of Christopher before the snap.

 

Love this picture!

 

The two pictures above are of the fumble…..you can see the running back never really has it, and looking at the picture just above, you have to wonder how Christopher didn’t end up with it either.  Mason (#17) ends up getting it after the ball stops bouncing around…..

 

There are no boys in these two photos….they are set-up for the next four photos.  This is the start of Matthew’s interception…..

 

Caught it.

 

Heading up field.

 

Still going.

 

Tackled.

 

Celebrating, part one.

 

Celebrating, part two.

 

on the sidelines after the turnover…..

Last picture, and you really can’t even see the boys, but, it is the only one I have of Christopher and Matthew together on the offensive line….they are on the right side of the line as you look at this photo…..