Saturday, September 21, 2013

The Great 2013 Baseball Card Draft - Part 1

The latest craze in the JMR household is Baseball Cards.

Now, one of the hobbies that I enjoyed when I was a kid was collecting baseball cards.  Starting in 1978, I used all of my allowance money to buy those glossy Topps brand cardboard pieces.  I used to beg my Father to buy me baseball cards from the local store that was near his shop.  I used to bug my brother to give me his baseball cards that he never looked at.  I used to sort my baseball cards by team.  It was an obsession for me.  I went to baseball card stores.  I attended the local baseball card conventions and I tried my luck at baseball card auctions.  When I was a little older, I even tried my hand at this baseball card pyramid scheme to make some money (that went great!...!).  Steve Yeager should be proud that he suckered someone.

Over the years, I had collected some interesting baseball cards.  Nothing that special, but I had some old baseball cards from the 1950's that were worth hundreds of dollars.  It represented a time in my life that I wanted to remember.  And I was not going to part with them easily, or so I thought

Fast forward to a year ago when the boys started bugging me about baseball cards themselves.  Now my boys had gotten interested in other things previously (coins, cars, etc.) and every time they lost interest just as quickly.  My house is littered with their failed hobbies.  One day I saw them going through my baseball cards (not taking any, they insisted) and in a fit of paternal love, I told them that if they were still interested in baseball cards a year from now, I would split up my cards between the two of them.

"Dad, can we have your baseball cards, now?"  G asked me almost one year to the day that I promised them that I would do so.

"Yes, let me figure out how to do it in as fair of a way as I can"  I remarked, without a tone of stalling at all.

Who will get this card??
"I really want your Jackie Robinson card, Dad."  referring to the 1953 Jackie Robinson card that I've had forever.  Oh, G.

"Me too, Dad.  And I'm the oldest!"  C explains thinking that being the oldest means anything more than a free babysitter when he turns 12 years old.

Finally, on a random weekend afternoon when the girls went out to do their nails, I gave the boys their chance to share in my childhood memories.  But first, we had to figure out who was going to go first.  I had the day before decided on doing this in a draft format.  Whoever got the first pick got Jackie Robinson.  Then the other one got the next two picks, and so on.  So I figured out that we would pick numbers 1-9 to see who goes first.  Best out of 5.

It was nerve wracking to say the least.  Even LC was interested in this as the boys were hopping around as the number would fall in each series.  To make it as fair as possible, I chose the number and had LC keep them in a hermetically sealed envelope (well not that far, but she was the gatekeeper of the numbers).  Finally after 20 long minutes of angst, G won the first pick 3-2.

After C was finished pummeling his little brother, we retired up to the little couch room to begin the draft.  I promised 2 hours of entertainment and story telling of how I got the cards.  They promised not to beat the crap out of each other.

Come back for Part 2.  The storytelling.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Scicoh Football Week 1 - Hingham and Duxbury

SCICOH 4TH GRADE FOOTBALL SWEEPS WEEKEND; COACHES REJOICE

September 7, 2013.  Hingham, MA.  After 4 weeks of intensive practices in the New England Summer heat, the SciCoh Sharks opened the 2013 season with an impressive away game win against the always-mighty Hingham Raiders, 32-8. 

After losing to the Raiders two times in 2012, the White Sharks were ready for a measure of revenge in the 2013 series.  "We were ready for them this year.  I felt good about our chances," remarked Coach Dunn.  

But that confidence was shaken early - despite protests from the SciCoh coaching staff on a missed holding penalty - as the Raiders opened the scoring with a 60 yard touchdown on the second play of the game.  But that would be the last play of the day for the Raiders as SciCoh's stellar defense recovered four fumbles, led by standouts Q. Gannon, F. Agostino, C. Coyne, H. Dionisio and N. Tierney.  L. Fernando led the team in passes defensed with 1.  Truly a team effort on defense.  It appeared that the hot dogs and Gatorades provided prior to the game by Hingham native, Coach Dalicandro, had little effect on the defensive unit.

Not be outdone, the Sharks' highpowered offense, led by J. Cannon and S. Morley, rumbled for over 300 yards rushing and four touchdowns.  D. Stanley paced the outstanding blocking from the frontline, springing Cannon for two touchdowns (65 yards, 55 yards) and Morley for 1 touchdown (53 yards).  SciCoh QB, C. Pitten punched his own ticket with a 1 yard TD scamper.

September 8, 2013.  Duxbury, MA.  Looking for the weekend sweep, SciCoh Blue came into Duxbury looking to avenge their only regular season loss from 2012.

"I still remember that JV game here 2 years ago when the Dragons tore us apart," said happy-go-lucky Coach Harris as he walked onto the field before the opening coin toss. "The coaches and I still talk about that game like it happened yesterday."

Led by a stifling defense that allowed only 2 first downs the entire game, SciCoh Blue came away with a 20-0 win over the Dragons.  K. Sullivan (44 yard TD, 25 yard TD) paced the SciCoh attack with 76 yards rushing on 3 carries.  QB J. Kinsley added his own touchdown with a 1 yard QB sneak.  S. Morley also paced the offensive attack with 34 yards of his own.

"It was a good effort, but we have a lot of things that we need to work on."  Coach Kinsley remarked.  Coach Losordo nodded and added.  "I personally don't remember even playing Duxbury two years ago.  I think Coach Harris made that up to motivate himself."

Photographs courtesy of Michael Jones and Nolan Jones.