It's been a while
Since I last posted.
Not much has happened. I spent the week on spring break and did a whole lot of nothing.
It felt great.
Perhaps it would have been better had we not received six inches of rain on monday and tuesday. I would have maybe been able to play golf but the rain washed out the chances of that, the chances of fishing as the rivers rose, and even the softball game on Tuesday.
So I lounged. There is nothing wrong with that at all. Wednesday, my pops and I dashed over to the NJCAA national tourney in Hutch and we watched some good basketball, plus ate at Red Lobster.
Thursday came and with it came a softball game much to my surprise. The result was even more of a surprise as we crushed the competition 19-3. I broke out of my slump with a 2 run double that missed being a three run dinger by about four inches. It's amazing what a difference some confidence in a bat can make. I finally said screw it when I saw the other team hitting with a DeMarini, so I broke mine out. It just seems like the ball comes off so much harder than it does my Easton.
Anyways, I'm off to bed. I've got to sleep off this cold I've seem to caught, again.
The Fish is a witch
My little sister has learned from the best. The best being me at creatively taunting someone.
She's accompanying a friend and her family to Houston for a Spring Break Trip. So tonight, she could no longer fight the urge to talk on the phone so she called me. The conversation went like this:
Me: "Hello?"
Her : Guess who?
Me: Okay. Who? Steve?
Her: You loser.
Me: What are you doing?
Her: I'm in Houston. Guess what we did today?
Me: What? (By now i'm suspicious of her motives)
Her: Went to the Gulf. Oh yeah, we also at seafood.
Me: (slow growling noise coming from the back of the throat)
Her: It was great. I had jumbo fried shrimp. Oh they were so good.
The little witch called me just to flaunt that she had eaten seafood without me. Everyone but Mindy happens to be seafood fanatics. I swear I could eat shrimp everyday. Grilled, fried, steamed peel-and-eat. Oh lordy I love shrimp.
I'm going to have to figure out a way to get her for that.
Oh she also bragged about the weather being 80.
The Fish is a witch
My little sister has learned from the best. The best being me at creatively taunting someone.
She's accompanying a friend and her family to Houston for a Spring Break Trip. So tonight, she could no longer fight the urge to talk on the phone so she called me. The conversation went like this:
Me: "Hello?"
Her : Guess who?
Me: Okay. Who? Steve?
Her: You loser.
Me: What are you doing?
Her: I'm in Houston. Guess what we did today?
Me: What? (By now i'm suspicious of her motives)
Her: Went to the Gulf. Oh yeah, we also at seafood.
Me: (slow growling noise coming from the back of the throat)
Her: It was great. I had jumbo fried shrimp. Oh they were so good.
The little witch called me just to flaunt that she had eaten seafood without me. Everyone but Mindy happens to be seafood fanatics. I swear I could eat shrimp everyday. Grilled, fried, steamed peel-and-eat. Oh lordy I love shrimp.
I'm going to have to figure out a way to get her for that.
Oh she also bragged about the weather being 80.
St. Patrick's Day
No lectures allowed. Yes I know better, but sometimes you just say "What the hell?"
Okay, I'm not Irish, I'm not even Catholic, but we decided to go celebrate St. Patrick's day because we could. So, I told the boys, Timmy and JP that I would join them for a cold one or two before our softball game at 9:30. They started calling me at 4 and asking if I was coming down to Wichita. I kept saying yes, and finally hit the road about 6 so I would go ahead and join them at the bar for a beer about 6:40 or so.
Timmy called me at 6, 6:15 and 6:30 wondering where I was. You'd think that these boys couldn't drink without me or something. I guess I underestimated my importance or something along those lines.
I finally walked into BG Bolton's at 6:45 and the boys were just getting a tower of green beer. It can't be St. Patty's day without the green beer can it? A tower is 100 oz of beer in a tower complete with a spicket. I sat down at the table and realized that my boys were already well into the evening. The cute little waitress brought me a glass so I poured a glass and we began to chat about the events unfolding in the NCAA tourney. We were laughing and poking fun at each other.
However, the bastards ruined my plan as they kept topping off my glass, over and over again.
Around 8, the waitress came back and asked if we wanted another. Sad to say, we did, even though we only had 40 minutes in which to consume tower number 3. Well we accomplished the task but by now...we were well past the fuzzy stage. It was time for us to depart to head to the house to change before our ball game. As I was walking out someone hollered out my name (kind of an unusually event in a bar in wichita when my friends are ahead of me.) So I turned and it was a girl I know, whom I actually interviewed for a story back a couple of months ago.
I made my way over and chatted with Mary a little bit. I remember saying something about softball at 9:30 and that's why we were leaving but I don't think she believed me until I brought it up again. One of her friends said "You guys really have a game tonight?" I said "Oh yeah. In 45 minutes or so. Mary, call me and we'll talk when I'm more soberer."
Yes I actually said soberer. I went to my vehicle got in, all the while laughing at nothing in particular. Somehow I actually made my way to Timmy's. Once over there, I changed into cold weather ball game clothes which consisted of shirt, shorts, sweat shirt, sweats. For some reason, I wasn't introduced to Ashley whom is Mark's controlling bitch, I mean girlfriend. JP, Timmy and I all changed. Johnny Ballgame came over as he was filling in for our team that night. JP piled in with John and Tim, Danny, Danny's girlfriend Jill, myself and the remaining Harps piled into to Tim's Cherokee. Danny was driving because we knew that we had no business behind the wheel.
However, that only gave Timmy and I more of an oppurtunity to drink one or two more before we ever got to the ball park. This was even after we pulled a vehicle change as we had forgotten the scorebook so Jill went back to save us that problem. All I know is that we switched vehicles with me carrying the beer in about 2.5 seconds because we just pulled over on a busy street.
I finished, one or two, before we got to the park. I kind of remember warming up with John. Much to my chagrin they stuck me out in right field. I was just hoping they weren't going to hit me anything that I would have to try to catch.
They did.
This is what I was told happened. The ball was hit, and I just stood there for a second before taking off full speed at a bad angle for the ball. While running full speed, I just jabbed my glove up in the air. Suddenly I stopped. After stopping, I checked my glove for the ball, with a lot of surprise on my face when I saw it nesting in the pocket of my glove.
I went in the dugout after that inning and said to Danny "Did I actually catch that?" He said "Yeah you did." I said "Sweet" and promptly went up to bat where I hit a rocket at the shortstop whom fielded the ball and got the force out.
We ended up getting run ruled bad 18-1. But when your pitcher, RF and LC are all drunk, what can you expect?
After the game, we piled back into the Cherokee. I guess this would be a good time to mention that Timmy took a line drive to the shoulder because his motor control skills were slightly diminished. Timmy pulled off his shirt and tried to ice his shoulder with the beer.
At this point I began to struggle with the cap to the last remaining Harp's. Through an amazing act of sheer brilliance, we managed to throw the bottle opener away that accompanied us. I thought that I may use the seat belt buckle to open it (like you can in my explorer) but that didn't work. Next thing I tried to used were the keys. I managed to somewhat pry up one of the crimps but I slipped and gashed my thumb. However, I had had enough to the point of where I felt no pain so I kept up my valiant efforts.
I failed.
We got back to Timmy's, so I jumped out of the Jeep with a purpose. My purpose was to show whomever was watching that I didn't need a bottle opener to open the beer, so I trotted over to my explorer and used the seat belt buckle to pop the top.
Next thing I know, Timmy's yelling at me to get changed so we can go to a different bar, the one where his girlfriend was working.
I honestly believe I'm a victim of peer pressure. Tim forced me to change, so we could go BACK out to the bar. We did, and away we went.
Old Chicago is a mile and a half away from Timmy's. We arrived and Tim told me to follow him. We waded through the crowd to the bar where Christy promptly poured us a pitcher of more green beer. Now this is where I encountered perhaps one of the creepiest guys i've ever encountered. The guy was about 35 and sitting at the bar ALONE on St. Patty's day. He looked to me (of course i may have been in no condition to judge appearance) as if he had been there all day and was slightly disturbed. Unfortunatley, he was too close to me and decided to try to make conversation with me.
I didn't pick up on it.
At all.
He started mumbling something about "them and how there's too many of them" and then something about "The Cardinal." Timmy saved me by moving us to another table with some guys he knew. We chatted for the remainder of our picture, which was probably too much. I went and paid for the pitcher, while chatting with Christy about the creepy guy whom she told me he had been blatantly staring at her boobs and ass all night long.
By now Timmy and I decided it was time to head back to the house. We pulled out of our parking spot, which doubled as the 15 minute food to go parking. Somehow we made it back to Timmy's. At this point it was only midnight so I decided it was time for me to go home.
I gathered up what I thought was all of my stuff and I took off. I got on the road and set my cruise at 56 mph to avoid any tickets or avoid having to work the gas pedal. Forty minutes later, I arrived at home with no problems whatsoever.
The next morning was touch and go for a while. I pride myself on not having hangover, but I've learned that Bud Light is Satanspawn. I got up with the intention of working on brackets, but after about 10 minutes, I began to get queasy. I laid on the couch for a while, then tried to read some email. Again I got queasy, so it was back to the couch for a while. Eventually I got up and took a shower, then went and ate to which I felt better. Later that afternoon I talked to tim and found out that he was just as touch and go as I was for a while.
All in all, we had a good time except for the part where the lectures will result from.
P.S. The drunk driving has only happened twice in the last four years. That's not nearly the ratio of what my boys have done, plus I haven't taken out any mailboxes like Mark, plowed into a parked car like Tim, or backed up into a truck like JP. I'm doing fairly well and it has only happened twice in the last four years.
Fifteen years ago today.
I was 13 years old.
I remember it rather well, because the day will always stick with me. It started out pretty much like any other Tuesday, only I remember how warm it was. For early March, it was really rather warm, around 75 or thereabouts. The wind was blowing pretty strong out of the south too, perhaps a promise of spring to come.
Unbeknownest to me, at 9 a.m., the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch. Now, the issuances of tornado watches is nothing new, especially during the spring months. However, this one was a little different in the fact that they issued it so early. Usually, they get issued around 1-2ish after the atmosphere has had time to destablize some as the sun cooks everything. So the atmosphere must have been boiling already.
I went about my business at school, hanging out with my friends, going to class, doing the normal things that any 7th grader does. Since it was Tuesday and my grandmother had the day off, she had offered to come pick me up from the middle school, after snagging my sister from the elementary school and we would go to a local hamburger joint for some ice cream.
Since it was so warm out, I asked grandma to swing by the house to grab a mini-basketball so I shoot some hoops at her house. My grandparents lived (and still live there today) in a split level house on the north side of town. I played some hoops for a while, (I'm sure I hit numerous game winning shots, or set some type of obscene scoring record, the kind of stuff kids dream about) then I went inside to catch some TV.
The TV is located in the family room in the half basement. I looked out the window and saw what just looked like a gray cloud above the tops of the trees. The TV had been spouting off warnings about a tornado in Reno County, or the county right next to our county. They were also saying that it was on the ground heading towards Burrton moving NE at anywhere between 40-50 m.p.h. (On the average tornados move on the ground around 30 mph. Burrton is southwest of my hometown about 15 miles as the crow flies.) At that point, I decided I would go get my basketball because I didn't want it to get wet. I was still counting on it being a thunderstorm.
As I went outside, I noticed that the sun was obscured by the gray cloud. It looked more like your average cloudbank that was heavy with rain. (Of course I didn't know that it was over 70,000 feet tall because the cloudbank was obscuring my view of the tower) I picked up my basketball and as I did that, the tornado siren began to go off.
There is probably nothing more chilling than hearing that sound when you have been hearing weather reports about storms coming. I didn't really freeze, I just looked to the southwest, then decided to get my ass inside. Mom was out at her horse to the north of town about 2 miles, while Dad was at work. I went inside and grandma and Mindy were watching the TV intently. At one point the cable got all snowy-fuzzy and a voice came over the fuzz and said "There is a tornado warning issued for western Harvey County. Take cover now. I repeat. A tornado warning has been issued for western Harvey County." (Funny thing, they don't often issue tornado warning for halves of counties, especially when the county they did, is the smallest county in Kansas.)
About that time, Dad showed up and said they had sounded the tornado buzzer at work, so he knew it was serious. He had gone home, saw that no one was home and assumed we were at grandma and grandpa's. Soon after that, my aunt and uncle showed up, mainly because their house didn't have a basement, mom following close behind.
Not too much longer after that the cable went out for good and next the power followed. By now it was black dark outside. We all went down into the deep basement and piled up under the pool table. My uncle and my dad, were on the back stairs (the ones leading up to the garage) trying to see what they could see.
We could actually hear the freight train like roar. Just the powerful roar of the wind.
Dad and Jim said that they thought that it had passed, so we went outside. The sky was just boiling, black, sea-green, navy blue. Over the houses to the NE, we could actually see the funnel itself, a churning black mass. We could only see it for a while as soon it seemed to have disappeared over the treetops. There were quarter-size pieces of hail in the yard. Many people were outside gazing at the sky. Not too many minutes later, the sun crept back out. We could hear the sounds of sirens blaring across town.
Neighbors began to compare notes as we thirsted for information since the power was still off. Someone said that tornado had gotten the Pizza Hut located out by the intersate on the edge of town. I was relieved because I thought, well that means it got the Pizza Hut and it can be rebuilt.
Dad, Mindy and I decided we would go home, so we headed that way and tried to go down a different way, to avoid main street because we thought we had heard sirens coming from that way. As we went by the lumber yard we came upon the feed mill located in the heart of town.
It was one of the first times I had ever sworn infront of my father, when I saw one of the silos that they kept feed in.
"Holyyyyy shit."
The silo looked as if it had been crumpled like a pop can. We then realized that the tornado infact had cut a swath through town. Our route home was blocked by damage. We turned around to try a different way, but that way was blocked too. We just went back to my grandparents. By then I had realized that my longtime friend's house had probably been hit by this tornado. I was a little bit panicked until some neighbors stopped by and told us that they were okay, but their house had been hit. It was starting to get dark when the police came down the street blaring out on the loudspeaker that another tornado was coming and we should take cover.
Fortunately about 20 minutes later, they came back by giving an all clear. We ended up having a meal, because my aunt had been cooking before the power went out, in fact, I think we heated it on a camp stove. I know we spent the night at my grandparents. By the morning they had the power restored to our little town. The next morning was drastically different from the previous day as we woke up to it being cold and gray. In fact it was almost frigid. I went with my parents to help clean up where my mom worked. Eventually, I strayed away, going to check up on a couple of friends whose homes were destroyed.
The tornado itself was (and I believe is still) one of the most powerful on record today. It was spawned from a supercell thunderstorm that formed well ahead of the incoming cold front, so it had all kinds of energy to feast on. The tornado touched down somewhere between Haven and Castleton, nearly wiping out the community of Yoder while bearing down on us.
It was on the ground for over 100 miles. Coming into town, the tornado was somewhere between one-half to three-quarters of a mile wide. Originally bearing down on the college and the business district of Hesston, a microburst (a sudden downdraft of winds that reach over 100 m.p.h.) pushed the monster directly north, changing the path enough not to demolish the downtown area. In the process, the thing may have elongated to more of an oval shape as the damage path was around 200 yards wide. After ravaging our town, it began to "rope-out" until the same storm produced another tornado just almost on the same path. In the book "Year of the Storms," there is a great picture of the two tornadoes, taken from directly east of Hesston. The monster is in its most violent stage, while the other one is beginning to head towards the ground. The two funnels joined together and raced northeast before finally dissapating up by Marion Lake. Fortunately, it didn't strike any other areas.
The F5 tornado only killed two people, a 6 year-old boy down by Burrton and an 80-something woman up by Goessel.
That's what happened on March 13, 1990.
What a game, what a gig.
So our high school girls lost on Wednesday, 47-45. It was a hell of a battle as we came back from nine down in the last 2:51 to tie the score on a three with about 8 seconds to go.
But, we committed a questionable foul with 5.2 seconds to go. The girl made both her free throws and our desperation attempt fell short.
However, our guys won a thriller, which should be an instant classic for state basketball for years to come. The opposition hit a three to give them a 54-51 lead with 1:29 to play. However, the point guard calmly drained a three to tie it with a minute left. That put the ball in the hands of the star of the other team, the kid who had roasted us for 33 points on 14 of 29 shooting. He had been unstoppable. They were working the clock trying to get the last shot, when he made a mental mistake.
He took his eyes off the defender.
The defender snaked both hands in and tied up the ball. Whistle, stop play, jump ball belonging to us with 8.7 seconds to go. We called timeout to set up our play. Point guard took the ball down the left side and passed off to another guard. He drove and pulled up from 14 feet or so. The shot looked good when it left his hands, but it drifted left just a bit.
The rebound came off long to the right, into the hands of our leading scorer. Grady had been quite quiet all game long, but fired up a putback shot. The ball hit the rim, bounced to the back and then began to roll. It rolled around not once, not twice, but three times and finally dropped through as the buzzer sounded.
Game over.
The crowd erupted from across the court, while the opposition's crowd was stunned. Now the boys are guaranteed to play two more games.
As for the gig, yesterday I was back to playing reporter. So instead of being stuck way way way at the top of the Sports Arena, which is probably one of the best places to watch a state playoff game, I was seated at press row, courtside for the game. Great seat. I say that being in the media has some perks every now and then. One of them comes in the form of the hospitality room. Wednesday they catered in pizza to eat. Yesterday it was BBQ brisket. I only wonder what today will bring. It's kind of nice to not have to pay for any admission, food or drink. It's even nicer to be able to sit on press row and yap with the other sportswriters.
I kind of like it.
That time of year
It's a wonderful time of year if you're a basketball junkie like me. Gosh, but I love hoops. We're lumping high school state basketball, NCAA conference tourneys, the Big Dance selection show on Sunday, then the Big Dance starts a week from tomorrow.
Today is state basketball, both of my former high school teams have made it. Kansas does it differently as we have 6 different sites, one for each class. The current class for us is 3A, which is hosted by Hutchinson in the Sports Arena.
The Sports Arena is a big old barn, but it's a great atmosphere for high school (and college) hoops. (It also hosts the NJCAA National Tournamnent) There is something magical about even going to state. Watching the kids come in to support their teams, living and dying with each basket or turnover is something else. To see the nervousness of the fans before the game is undescribeable. Seeing the joy of a team that advances on one end of the court to seeing the disappoinment on the other end. As the teams shake hands you see tears from the seniors who have had the dream to win it all since they were little kids, but you also see a little gleam in the eyes of the juniors and underclassmen as they think "wait til next year."
As it goes for our school, the boys made it through a brutal substate, and hold the five seed. They will most likely be one and done, but just to get there was quite an accomplisment.
The girls, well, this is their fourth consecutive trip to state I think. Last year they finished third. I really thought they had a good chance to win it all but the lightning-quick point guard tore her ACL in the substate final. At this level, one player can make or break a team. Anyways, I'm getting ready for the radio for two games today, possibly two tomorrow and then we'll see what happens with everything else.
Toe to Toe
"Ladies and Gentlemen, to the millions watching around the world, we now present you with the MAIN EVENT. In the red corner, we have the current contender. Standing six feet tall he is man of many hats, a broadcaster, a reporter, a student, one of the many voices of high school basketball across the area, Rusty JAYYYY. And from the blue corner, we have the current champion. From the darkest depths of the viral caverns, the illness that has waylaid many people before it, the king of the crappy feeling, the restlessness of night, it is in fact the CRUD."
That's what it feels like. I feel as if I'm standing toe to toe in the center of the ring with this crap. The Crud towers above me, around me and is taking potshots at me. All I can do is cover up, while trying to deflect the blows. Every once in a while, one of the Crud's punches gets through my guard causing me to wobble. But I won't fall, I may wobble, but my knees will never touch the canvas.
Once in a while, the Crud over extends itself, allowing me to slip in a couple of orange juice fueled jabs. Bap, Bap go my jabs. The Crud doesn't see them as doing damage, but it's just set up for the key knock out punches. Bap, bap. It will be a combination, a heavy left which will stun the Crud causing the Crud's guard to drop followed by a thundering right that will cause the Crud to stagger. Two more swishing lefts will wobble the Crud, causing it to drift to its left opening it up for my finishing right hook, the one where I reach all the way down into Oklahoma for the wind up. BOOM, and the Crud goes down. The Crud is down for the count, not moving, not even trying to beat the bell. It's over and I win.
It's just a matter of time before it happens.
Now if you will excuse me, I have to go cover up.
The beginning phases?
I hate this.
I hate this because I can feel myself getting sick. I wondered how long it would take for me to get this crap that's going around. Usually, I'm pretty immune to it, unless the Fish gets it.
She's had it for four days now.
I'm toast.
I loathe being sick. I don't like to feel like shit, but then again who does? I don't like to be bothered when I'm sick. I just take what I believe is an agressive attack at this crud, with lots of orange juice, ibuprofen, throat medicine and lots and lots of sleep.
What really sucks is that I have to go call two ball games tomorrow night. Ugh. Anyways, I need to get some sleep because that's part of the plan.
Round two?
Dammit.
Casey called me last night with the potential of softball tourney number two. I would love to play, because I am a softball whore. The problem is that I am not sure where/what I will be doing this weekend. I could either be a sports reporter or a sports broadcaster. I won't know more until later this week.
I was labeled as a softball whore because of the summer league I played in two years ago. From about the second night of the season, I just started showing up at the park at 6:30 whether I was playing or not, just because the chance for me to fill in was usually very good. So for the majority of the season, I played two to even three games a night.
And I loved every second of it.
