Quizbusters Round 4: Haslett

 

Click on the picture to get to the video:

I like the way I broke it down in the last post, so, let’s go round by round again.

Quick Ten:  “Capital of Delaware?” – Dover.   Up 50-40 after this round

Toss-Up 1: I knew that question on the abortion part of it; I don’t think Kevin gets it until they tell you the country west of England.   Up 130-40.

Pop Quiz 1:  The letters are t-h-e.  Kevin gets a math question(!) – theorem.  Knows the 8th letter of the greek alphabet – theta.  Knows a place where there are performances – theatre.  HOLY COW HE WENT 3 FOR 3!!!!  Good timing too since we didn’t do so well here; score is 190-90.

Toss-Up 2: It’s just not fair sometimes; the toss-up leads into Pacific Northwest geography!  That’s a clean sweep…Mayank just keeps turning to Kevin.  260-140 at halftime.

Toss-Up 3: The boy is on a roll!  A tennis question….Kevin gets “Wimbledon” to head into the bonus. Knows his hanging-chads too, “2000”.  I’m not sure how many more of the answers he knew in this round; I don’t think very much, but, that’s how cool this group is, there’s a broad range of knowledge up there.  Game is essentially over at this point, 420-140.

Pop Quiz 2: The letters are v-e-r.  Didn’t get ‘verify’.  Gave too much of an answer with ‘vertice’…should have been ‘vertex’.  Didn’t get ‘verb’.  Oh well…just when it seemed like he was on top of this!   470-190

Toss-Up 4:  Late on another Somalia question!  Glad he finally got one of these right later in the year….And here is the Harrison Ford question we in the audience couldn’t believe the kids didn’t get.  And shocked they missed the classical music question.  490-200.

Lightning Round: You can see Kevin trying to hit the buzzer a lot here, but, he only buzzed in once, he knew that Maracaibo was in Venezuela.  560-210 final against a good team; Haslett finished fourth in their division of that Honors College Quiz thingie a month ago.  Two episodes left; they are both on next week as the season concludes.

Spring Concerts – Part One

 

We had to move smartly after the lax game on Wednesday, Kevin’s spring concert was already in progress. We were going to be late regardless, the delay made us wonder if we would make it in time to not miss any of the Philharmonic’s performance. 

Get there just as the Concert Orchestra is finishing up….so, I guess the timing worked out as well as it could have.  This was Suzanne’s first time attending the spring concert at the high school so she got to see the senior ‘send-off’ activities.  They always play the same piece at the end and the parents stand with their children as they perform.  They also do a powerpoint presentation showing a baby picture and then the corresponding senior picture.  Especially with the journey into the old photos over the last week or two, some serious strategizing about what Kevin picture will appear in that montage has begun.

I taped….just to capture the audio to transfer into the music library. 

First piece was the 1st movement from Schubert’s Eight Symphony.  Click here to listen. 

Second piece was the Presto from the Octet in E-flat Major by Mendelssohn.  Click here to listen.

And, as always, the finish up with “Nimrod” from the Enigma Variations by Elgar.  Click here to listen.

From the Sports Desk – Grand Ledge Edition

 

Last game for this week; four games at the Waverly festival this weekend.  Tonight is the rematch with Grand Ledge; handled them pretty easily on Monday night while I was gone.

They don’t do this at all games, but, at most, they have the starting lineups line up and shake hands and do this pregame ceremony.  From left to right, you have the goalie, the 3 defensemen, the 3 middies, and the 3 attack.  Both Fric and Frac in the starting lineup tonight.  A pretty good example of the height differences between the 5th and 6th graders.  I think in this photo 30 and 21 are the only 5th graders.

Matthew got around in this game, played some middie, played some attack, played some defense(!).  Cpher was having a good time joking with Matthew after the game…”Now you’re playing on my side of the street!”

Played another good solid game.  Got called for ‘warding’; he’s actually doing it a little bit in this picture above.  You can’t use your non-stick arm to keep the opponent away from you….if you are blatant about it (and he was blatant about it later) they will blow the play dead and give the other team possession….

Hard to tell there is a Grand Ledge player in there….The defense is doing a good job of rubbing him right out of this play

Matthew clearing the ball forward later on during his time on defense…..

Cpher had a pretty good day back on defense.  Took this picture to start the day; there are some small small fifth graders on some of these teams.

One of Five: We are a man down, GL is essentially on a power play, six players in the attacking zone to five for us.  They have made a pass over to this guy, but, as happens a lot at this age, the ball is on the ground….

Two of Five: And Cpher, in very short order, has muscled the guy out of the way and is moving the ball out so that he can take possession.  Was impressed how quickly and smoothly he did this; whacked the ball to the left and then scooped it up neatly.

Three of Five: And he’s off to the races…..this is a good thing, the penalty is one minute, so, the longer we are in possession of the ball, the less time GL has with the advantage….

Four of Five: They have a lot of guys in pursuit!  (when you are a man up, you want to pressure the ball and get it back quickly).  And it’s pretty cool that….

Five of Five: He swerved through all of these guys and kept going….

For having a 9-1 win on Monday this game was very close (I’m not even sure we played the same GL team).  We were down 2-1 at the half but won 4-2.  They parked Cpher out on defense for most of the fourth quarter, subbed everyone but him and finally brought him off the field after we got that fourth goal and there was only a minute or two left.

From The Sports Desk – Delayed Edition

 

The home game against EL was supposed to start at 6 pm; we arrive at around 5:20 (as is the usual; we shoot for early, not late, of the 30 minutes before game time request) and we are ready to go.

EL starts walking in and, well, they seem a little big.  It is their 7th and 8th grade team….they did not get the game time straight and thought the 7/8 team played first.  We will have to wait for 6:45 pm for the first faceoff and the 5/6 team to show up.  Grrrrrr.

Turns out we should maybe have played the 7/8 team; won 9-1.  EL had one shot on goal and it went in…

So, yeah, a 9-1 win is pretty boring if you play defense….

But he did have one big run again…..

I think I enjoy these pictures more than I should….Cpher is not ‘graceful’, but, I really do like how well he does running with the ball and how much he ‘looks’ the part of a lacrosse player when he is making these dashes up the field….

And that, for someone who probably outweighs these kids in the photo by 60 pounds, easy, can control the ball well enough to get moving out in front of them and pull away….

Cpher, after the game, made it clear, he had his sights on “being the first one in the family to score a goal while playing defense!”.  Still doesn’t even have a shot on goal (that transition from running to shooting when you get near the goal and run into the three defenders has proven challenging).  Love that he has moved from “no way!” to actively trying to get a goal this year though!

Matthew played middie for 3 quarters and attack for the final quarter….

Again had his chance at a face-off; this one didn’t end up so well…he was called for something by the ref and EL gained possession.  Need to ask him what exactly he was called for….

I only noticed it in this game, and will have to ask Matthew later when he started doing it, but, like basketball, he was setting screens for his teammates.

The goalie made this save; Matthew’s best opportunity of the game when he was up on attack in the fourth quarter….

Had a few good runs with the ball, did a good job passing and participated in more than a few scrums for the ball with a bunch of kids.  Another good day out on the field…

“…you know I’m going to be like you, Dad. You know I’m going to be like you.”

 

Completely failed with the oldest son on the sports front; more actively roots against my teams than for them.  Still have to hear years later that the refs stole the Super Bowl from the Seahawks (standard reply from me is “score more points”.)

But, he does understand how some things are more important than others. That there is no better comedy than Bugs Bunny battling a bull in a Spanish arena after missing that right turn in Albuquerque.  That “Bork! Bork! Bork!” is also comic genius.  So are most songs by They Might Be Giants. 

And that the arrival of a new Star Trek movie in the theatres is an all-hands-on-deck type of event.

There are special screenings of the movie tonight; the family bought tickets long ago and then realized we have a lacrosse AND orchestra conflict.  After some discussion of blowing off orchestra (proud of the boy for this idea!) we reluctantly exchanged our seats for tonight at 8 pm for Friday at 7 pm.  Sadly realized we would miss the first showing or two.  That is not the proper way of things……

Then the theatre added a showing at 11 pm tonight.  Kevin and I will be there!

From The Sports Desk – Of Course I’m Gone Edition

 

Matthew takes the all-time family goal-scoring lead tonight after a 9-1 win against Grand Ledge.  I’m in Indianapolis, so, that’s two goals that I have not seen, even though I was clearly in attendance for one of them.  Not even sure I got a good description of the goal on the phone tonight; will have to ask for an audio replay tomorrow. 

Cpher didn’t have a lot to do on defense this game.  No pictures from the front.

Should be a lot more goals for the team Wednesday and Thursday; play GL again Thursday and we beat up on EL pretty good the first time we played them….they are the opponent Wednesday.

Wanted to include a picture with this post…and Matthew brought home this artwork (ART!) and actually bothered to explain it to me.  It is supposed to be a self-portrait; the right side of the picture is supposedly from the front, and the left side is from the side (you can see the eyes and nose are different I guess).  He used green and white for Michigan State and Blue and Maize for Michigan….he must have done this around Christmas because he said the background is supposed to represent that and the red neck and shirt are supposed to represent TNT.

We likes art; we especially like when the kids bother to explain it to us.

From The Sports Desk– It Has Been A Slow Week Edition

 

Lax:  Only one game this week; a lacrosse game on Wednesday that I missed most of because of work.  So, no pictures.  Didn’t miss much, we lost 4-1 and the whole team seemed pretty lethargic.

I did reach out to the coaches about Matthew’s playing time; they made some structural changes to how they ran things and he was not on the fourth line this game.  So, for the official record, here goes.

“Hello Coaches,

First, I appreciate all of your efforts with the boys, to date, and in the future.

But, after last week's games, and after some time to reflect on whether I even wanted to send this email this weekend, I want to bring to your attention something that you may or may not have noticed.  For having five players sit each game, the playing time seems to need some attention.  Matthew played on the fourth middie line all three games last week.  I know in any of those games he was lucky to play 2 minutes in any quarter, and sometimes had only half of that.

My observation is that your game plan is to rotate the lines onto the field from 1 to 4 in each quarter, starting at 1 at the beginning of each quarter. And this is all well and good if all goes well and you are able to sub when you want during each quarter.  But, of course, due to how the play on the field occurs, you can't, and I can tell you what happens to the 3rd line (sometimes) and 4th line (almost all the time).  They aren't out there very much. 

Against EL, at the end of the third quarter, I think you recognized the issue and finally did what I have seen in previous years; kept the middie line on the field that was on the field at the end of the quarter on the field for the start of the next.  I'd like to suggest another approach as well; if, because of play, there are issues, throw the middie line on as an attack or defensive line once each half.  Or, make sure you rotate the boys among the lines a bit more frequently.

Again, thanks for coaching.  I've coached soccer and basketball for the last 5 years, I know that playing time discussions are thankless tasks. But, I don't think I'd be doing Matthew, and other boys who are deeper on the middie roster, any favors by not saying anything.
Thanks!”

There are seven(!) lacrosse games starting Sunday and ending next Sunday.  Yoi!

Soccer:  No games; did have a pretty decent practice on Thursday; they ran 1v1 drills and I had to text Suzanne and tell her that Matthew put on a pretty dominant performance….nobody scored on him and he scored quite a bit on others…and often would take the ball from one of the boys while on defense and get off a pretty decent opportunity of his own. 

Soccer game on Saturday morning; Matthew will miss one of the seven lacrosse games for this.

A lot of soccer drama going on as the year comes to an end…..I have a pretty detailed post about all of this written but want to have all the information together before posting it.

From The Sports Desk – Futbol: Game Three Edition

 

For all of the cancellations, this weekend and next weekend are decidedly light on the soccer front; one game today and nothing at all next weekend.

Pre-game:  The weather looks to be great, so, let’s hope that Matthew can keep his streak of good play alive.  I don’t even care about the goals, but, I’d like to see the good form and effort continue.  I know that the other center-mid is back so Matthew’s time on the field is going to go down.

Post-game:  Ugh.

Lost 4-2.  Matthew had an assist on the first goal (to best buddy Henry).  Here is one of a bunch of photos from a big rush up the field that didn’t work out….

Matthew came right up the center of the field and there was literally nobody to challenge him; the defender stayed on the forward, who is up ahead.  Matthew, we learned later, was hoping the forward would swing out to either of the wings to make a pass easier…the forward just kind of stayed in the middle of the field.  Matthew finally passed it, but, in the end it was probably too late; Matthew thought with the forward just kind of standing there any pass was doomed to failure.

Still not a lot of positive in the swan song of coach Alex, either during or after the game.  But, the proof, I guess as far as Matthew is concerned, is on the field….he is not being subbed out as often as others and is ‘double-shifting’ a lot (If there are six ‘shifts’ of subs, each kid mostly comes out three times.  Matthew is one of the ones who is coming out only twice)

Suzanne has been trying to get a good picture of the boys running across the field at the beginning of the game and the half; I think this is one of the better ones yet; you can see everyone pretty clearly.

Down 3-1 at the half; gave up two goals within 3 minutes late in the half (when Matthew was on the bench, of course).  All-in-all pretty happy with how the boy did today; heard a phrase while watching soccer on TV today…”composure”.  Matthew definitely seemed ‘composed’ while on the ball again today

Had his best scoring chance in the second half, a nice centering pass from Henry.  Calmly took possession, took a touch (even though he was less than 5 feet from the goal and the defense was swarming him) and got the shot off.  Hit the post to the left.  A little too cute?  I don’t know…..I do like he doesn’t feel rushed or look rushed too often on the field.

1-2 for the Spring.  Haven’t looked that good so far…..

Spring Cleaning

 

A big day of cleaning today; but Cpher, in amongst the stuff we did today, stumbled across some old photos that provided some amusement.

Because Cpher thought that this was him, and was really confused by these pictures.  But, not so much.  This is Kevin.

And these pictures were taken a long time ago.  A Spirit and an Accord in the garage.  Trees and bushes on either side of the garage that have died and been ripped out.  Dad with glasses!

Cpher was very confused by this photo; where did those cars come from?  I’ve never seen them!  

Man things are a lot different.  I don’t miss any of those bushes out front, but, I do miss that tree that’s barely visible on the right every day.

Enough snow!  The tulips are out and are looking awesome!

More Technicolor Photos

 

I did get the ‘posed’ pictures.  Closing night, as always, was the best night of the run.

Ok, so there’s only one posed photo with the brothers. 

the head shot….

and not a posed photo, but one that Kevin posted tonight on Facebook after the play.. "Whiskers and me”

And a picture Mom posted, Kevin with his chocolate bouquet.  You really can’t see the bouquet here…but I grabbed a few photos before we left the house…

Mom is the best…who needs flowers when you can get Reeses and Hershey’s bars….

Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Pictures

 

Happily, the school is taping the production this year.  This will mean that video will come late to BNS, and most likely will just be a link to the school website where they will stream the video.  The downside is that it most likely won’t be HD…..

We went to tonight’s production (our 2nd viewing); tomorrow is closing night.

The first time we see Naphtali; sheep in hand.  Getting ready to sing “Jacob & Sons”

And at the end of the song….Jacob (Joseph’s father in the middle there) is Kevin’s best buddy Drew.  That’s Emily from quiz-post-fame as one of the narrators at the top of the stage.

The big thing I’ve noticed this year is that Kevin’s performance away from the main scenes have improved a lot; I guess I’d use the word ‘emote’; he seemed to be into the part and the reactions more than in the past.

Joseph and his coat….

and the jealous brothers; but man, that Joseph, he did act like a jerk!

So the brothers sing about “Joseph’s Dreams”….

and get ready to sell him off to the hairy Ishmaelites for a life of slavery…

Kevin’s big moment; the whistle solo at the the beginning of “One More Angel In Heaven Hoedown”.  He wanted this part since he saw it in the script, he whistled the part, perfectly, just by sight reading it early in auditions, and well, it’s his. 

Not sure where this kid learned to whistle like this…it certainly isn’t direct genetics; Suzanne and I whistle like rocks….

Hoedown is the first of the songs that I think I can hear Kevin’s voice in the chorus…

Act One ends on ”Go, Go, Go Joseph”; I’ll say this, Kevin’s not hard to find in this musical.  Often in the front row in this big numbers dancing his little heart out. 

Gotta love that outfit though! 

I liked how the songs in this musical that are sung by the brothers are all sung in different styles; from the hoedown to the french-jazzy “Those Canaan Days”…..

The second song where I think I can hear Kevin at some points; especially with the really high tenor part here.  To reiterate what I said last year, and I believe more than ever now, Kevin has no shot at a major singing role in next year’s musical.  Never mind that he will be a senior, the leads in front of him this year (who all return next year) are awesome and there were three brothers who had large parts in the brother songs who were just amazing.

Now, if there is a large speaking and dancing role, then he might have a chance. But Kevin is very happy with just being in the musical and participating. 

Groveling for Joshua’s food…and forgiveness.

And now dancing his way through the “Benjamin Calypso”

Every three or four years the high school likes to have a children’s choir in the musical; this is the year.  It’s cute, it certainly raises community awareness and ticket sales. 

The end.  Maybe another post of posed pictures later. Not sure I’m going to get those this time or not.