Catching up on sleep

Perrin's home for spring break, and it's nice to have a full house again. We finally got the futon frame so she had an actual bed to sleep in this time. I feel bad that I didn't get to the grocery store last weekend, so we've been subsisting on what we can forage from the fridge and pantry. Sometimes I wonder if the girl ever sleeps while she's at school, because when she's home, an awful lot of time is spent snoozing. No complaints, just an observation. She played the first page of the solo she's preparing for me. A beautiful piece, very Japanese. Mom and dad are going to go to Knoxville in April for the flute studio concert, and I'm mulling over in my mind if I can join them. I'd love to hear everyone play, and I always enjoy listening to Perrin. Tomorrow she heads back down (thank you Kegan and Jo) for the final stretch of her Freshman year. Won't be long now, and she'll have year-1 under her belt. One more thing, seems Perrin just may be a UT sports jinx. She joins the marching band and the football team goes down the toilet. She went to 2 men's basketball games - lost them both. What's a girl to do?

Gimme a J!

Last night Robin and I traveled to the Johnnies' D3 regional championship game on one of the school-sponsored charter buses. This bus, mostly full of ex-Johnnies, circa maybe mid-50s, was much louder than the bus half full of students on Wednesday. I never would have thought these old-timers would spend the 2+ hour drive with choruses of Gimme a J! Gimme an o! - you know the rest (though Johnnies did get misspelled once - don't laugh, it's harder than you think). Unfortunately, all our enthusiasm wasn't quite enough to push the Johnnies over the top. Second half foul shooting woes put the Archbold Blue Streaks in a position to win it with 3-point shot at the buzzer. Bummer. The loss is hard to take, but it's easy to be proud of a 25-1 record. The kids played the season with all their heart and soul. Can't wait until next year. It's time for Johnstown to settle back into its normal routine.

Johnnies' Big Barn Bash

The Johnnies did it! After all the hand-wringing, analysis and prognosticating in the papers and high school sports forums, we have the answer.

Yes, the Johnnies are real; their 11 point victory over the Africentric Nubians should leave little doubt of that fact in anyone's mind. No, the soft schedule didn't hamper their ability to play a tough game. Yes, the Johnnies have a deep bench. Yes, the Johnnies can dig deep and play with heart. The Johnnies started the second half up by a solitary point, ran up a double-digit lead, and then blew it. Gut check time! With just over 2 minutes to play, the Johnnies were hanging onto a 4 point lead when DiBlasio hit a 3 pointer that broke it open and Johnstown never looked back. This was an exciting game, and I had a thoroughly good time. The red-to-purple ratio in the coliseum last night was easily 4:1. The band showed up to play a pep rally outside before the game. The whole home-side stands, 1950s Johnstown graduate geezers and all, did the wave. The student section was loud. The adults were louder. The cheerleaders keep the place howling. I love this town. So, it's off to Bowling Green for the Regionals. Maybe someone will charter a bus...

Stupidity

Yesterday Madeline comes home from lacrosse practice with a screaming headache and big red bump on her forehead. Turns out some boy decided fling a lacrosse ball at a group of girls, and Madeline was the unfortunate soul that got beaned. What posseses people to act like that? Now, I'll be the first to admit that as a high school boy I did some pretty stupid, and yes, some hurtful things, but to throw a hard ball into a crowd? I don't care how much testosterone you've got courseing through your veins, that's just too stupid for words. The only think I may be more upset about is that the coach didn't send the boy home on the spot.