Band Man

Dylan got out of Cotillion tonight for his band concert. Sam was not so lucky. He's going to miss basketball practice tomorrow for his concert. Dylan got a better deal.

Another 5

Five or six more inches today. We are having a good year for snow around here. Rain and 50 degrees tomorrow. Goodbye snow.

Tip Off

The boys did well tonight against Lee District but came up short. This team is an example of good kids and low class parents so it's irritating to lose but it as all ok.

Ski Time

Back on the slopes

My first runs in over two years, 16 months since the new knee and without the knee brace I used for 15 years. It all went pretty well. Taking a break then out in the cold again.

Sportsmanship

The basketball game against McLean was tense with many lead changes, 3 points shots, questionable calls (on both teams) and coach technical foul (on them).  Unlike a number of teams in the league, the parents from both sides were very well behaved.  We and the McLean parents cheered heartily for our kids but did not go negative on the other team.  You could hear a pin drop in the gym when their coach got a technical. No one from our side cheered it and no one from their side screamed about the injustice. One of the refs was a little off yesterday and the McLean coach should have taken that into account before going off on a call, that in all likelihood was incorrect by the ref. Anyway, we were up by one point at that point, Scott hit one of the two free throws and then we got the ball back and Jonathan hit a three pointer.  A 4 point swing with a minute left in the game.  We ended up winning by 9.  

During all this hubbub, with the frenzy of the game on the line, one of the McLean players went hard at the hoop and for whatever reason lost the ball and went down hard behind the basket, hitting his head.  We recovered the loose ball and started down toward our basket as fast as possible, except Sam.   Now, in a close game, it would be preferable from a competitive standpoint that Sam head down to the basket as fast as possible and take advantage of a 5 on 4 situation but he was right their where the kid went down and stayed to offer a hand to him.  The kid was not thrilled at that point because he lost the ball and didn't score but accepted the help and ended up saying thanks anyway.  This happened right in front of the McLean parents bleachers and someone yelled at that point "great sportsmanship son" or something like that.  As the game came to a close the father of the son Sam helped up came on the court and shook Sam's hand and told him "he liked how he played".  It was a classy move in a league where the parents are often yelling at the opposing players or taunting them.  It was good to have a win and a classy crowd.  

Both boys are often the first kids to offer a hand when someone goes down on the floor.  Our team or the opponents.  Sometimes the opponents take the hand, other times they refuse it but Dylan and Sam are growing up to be good sports.  They want to win as much as the next guy but aren't willing to use their size and strength to bully or intimidate the other team too much.  They want to have fun out there and don't want to see anyone get hurt no matter what the score.  I was happy that they won another game last night but as I've thought about it today, I think I'm happier they gained the respect of the McLean parents more.  

A Winner

Beat McLean 61-52 but it was close all the way to the end. I think the lead changed hands 8 or 9'times over the course of the game. The Patriots fought back every time and finally put some distance on this team at the end.

Shoot Around

I've gotten the boys to do stairs as part of the Saturday shoot arounds. Better shooters and jumpers.

Ireton

Checking out a high school basketball game where the boys do camp in the summer. It's camper night.

Big Snow

The snow from last week is almost gone now. Hard to believe we were pretty much stuck in the house a week ago. Back in the day, Minnesota would get big snows, then it wouldn't go above freezing for a couple months and snow more. I could pretty much build a snow fort in December and have it grow until March. Not in these parts.

The basketball game we were supposed to play yesterday was cancelled due to no school staff available to open the gym. Kinda frustrating but it was rescheduled for next Sunday.

Good Win

It was a little closer than it should have been but the Patriots pulled out a 59-56 win against Mt. Vernon. They had a pretty comfortable lead with 3 minutes left but the Eagles hit three 3 pointers to tighten it up. Sam played well, getting a double double. (14 points, 10 rebounds). Dylan was shut out in the points area but had 5 rebounds and a steal. Dylan always sets the tone with energy on defense and is the first guy back down the court. He hasn't gotten in the groove in the shooting department but continues to start each game. We have McLean tomorrow.

Winter Holiday II

School has been cancelled the rest of the week.  They are getting a 7 day break from school right after a two week holiday break.  They have not been to school since a week ago Wednesday.  They may be going to school into August at this rate.  

Snow Lights

I like keeping the lights up until some snow falls to make them look prettier. That happened, now I can't take them down until the snow goes away.

Payoff

After 36 hours of snow, the sun is back and the whiteness is blinding.

Gaming by the Fire

The boys are playing Mine Craft with a half dozen friends online. They should probably be building snow forts with them.

Happy Shovellers.

Lots of snow to clear this morning. A foot on top of the 5 inches we cleared last night. The storm total is about 20 with a few more on the way. The boys complained a bit but did a good job. We are going to help a neighbor who's husband is deployed tomorrow.

Snowed In

Sam seems to be coughing less today, which makes it more likely that he will be out to shovel later today or tomorrow. Nicole is out there again this morning and her and I completely cleared the deck and driveway three times last night. It's easier to do it a few inches at a time.

We've had nearly a foot of snow with another foot coming. The wind isn't as brutal as they predicted yet but the low pressure system is still off the coast of Virginia and heading north.

First Pass

It started coming down at 1pm and Nicole made her first pass at 4. I helped out at about 4:30 and while it's coming down hard, at last we have a few inches off to the side. We will be back out at 7.

Calm

Looking southeast on the approach to Dulles this morning at about 7am. Got out of Columbus without a problem and home to prepare for a few days of being snowed in. 20-30 inches is the prediction.

Moon Over the Olentangy

I choose a hotel on the Ohio State Campus for my week long visit to CAS, our subsidiary here in Columbus. The CAS campus is about a mile from the hotel and I decided to walk there and back each day. It was a pretty chilly and snowy walk each day, except for the afternoon but refreshing after long days of training. The Olentangy river runs beside our building and right through campus. It has a cute little suspension bridge for style I would imagine. The length doesn't really require it.

I'm heading home in the morning and cancelling the Dallas part of my trip. It just seemed to painful to possibly be stuck in Texas until the middle of next week. I choose snow and possible power outages instead.

Lots of Games

The boys played the unbeaten (for three years) SYA team on Sunday. They played alright but it was never really that close. That team just runs at a different speed than the rest of the league. They did win their first two games of an MLK tournament today. I missed them because I'm on my way to Columbus but they have one more this evening. Go Patriots.

All Dressed Up

Adult Cotillion

The Lorenger's, Brody's and us had dinner while the kids suffered a Winter Ball tonight. We had fun anyway.

Steps

I've added step work to or weekend shooting drills. The boys didn't mind that much and think they may have actually enjoyed it. The have a cotillion dance tonight, which they are not looking forward to.

Tree Down

The holidays are officially over with the tree at the curb. It as a good tree but bone dry and a complete fire hazard.

Free Throws

The boys have been a little weak in the free throw department the last couple weeks so they lined up and shot a bunch before the game tonight. We played Burke for the scond time in a week and the 7th time in the last year. We won 40-32 with some tough play down stretch after being tied at 32 with 2 minutes left. We are 6-1 against that team and the they don't like us much but the feeling is pretty mutual. I actually scored the game with a really nice guy from their teams parents so that was a break thru. Sam and Dylan both started again and played well. Dylan was a beast on defense and had some great passes while Sam played well on both ends and had 8 points.

12th Night

It may be the 12th night but I'm not taking my holiday decorations down until Sunday. Probably leave the outside lights up another week or so after that.

Back to Work

Dylan and I went out and shot basketballs again today. I like his work ethic. Sam is recovering from the ankle sprain with lots of ice and some strengthening. It's back to work and school for everyone tomorrow. It was a nice and relaxing, long new year weekend.

Work on that shot

Dylan and I spent about an hour each of the past two days shooting at the playground. Sam s laid up with a black and blue swollen ankle from game three this week. Her played all five games but was a little limited in his running. Dylan was putting up some nice shots in the tournament, but he was just a little off with many of them. We grabbed a couple basketballs and I kept feeding him at various points on the court and he shot away yesterday and today. He started getting a nice rhythm down which I hope helps him as we move into the next couple months. He's a great defensive player, expert passer and a solid rebounder, just need to get that shot down. I'm proud of the way he wants to work at it.

Sent from my iPad

Year End

Just got back from our usual early new years party and in our PJ's waiting for midnight.

Four and a Half

The boys played four and a half good games the last couple of days. The first half of the championship game was horrendous and a second half resurrection was't enough to erase a 17 point deficit. They came to within 1 but ended up losing by 7. They played and lost as a team. They are looking forward to doing a lot f nothing tomorrow.

Jr. Scorers

Nicole gave scoring sheets and a tutorial to the little brothers of the 7th grade D1 Patriots. They seem to be having fun with it and they are good little troupers, watching their big brothers play 5 games in two days.

Ran the Table

We beat the Spartans 57-45 in our final regular tournament game and now need to beat Hanover again to win the championship. The team has really been on a roll and I hope they can keep it going.

3-0

We beat a very good Vienna team this morning to go 3-0 for the tournament. The kids played as a team again in a 58-52 victory. We are officially in the championship game but have one more team to play before that.

Good Basketball Day

The LMVSC Patriots rolled over Hanover in our second game tonight 68-52. This was really a great team effort with everyone contributing. Probably the best game I've seen them play all year. Sam had 10 points ,10 plus rebounds and 6 blocked shots while Dylan had 2 points 6 rebounds and 3 steals. Hanover was pretty big and the #1 guy in the picture had 28 points but we out passed, out shot and out team worked them for the win.

I do want to mention that they were nice people too. Not like Burke.

Holiday Tournament

We played and won the first game in the BRYC Holiday Tournament this afternoon against our least favorite team, Burke. That team really does have awful coaches and some classless parents. The Burke coach got a bench technical for the second time in the last 6 times we've played them and kids take after their parents with cheap shots up and down the court. They constantly target Sam with all manner of jersey grabs, elbows and trips. Stay classy Burke.

We did have our issues, particularly at the foul line and Sam was having a hard time getting his shots to fall. Dylan was great on defense, making a beautiful block late in the game. We won 41-38 but that was due to missing 75% of our free throws and Burke hitting a worthless 3 point buzzer beater at the end of the game. The games are being played a couple miles away at Edison High School so we get to head home and relax between games. Next up, Hanover at 6:15.

New Years Week

We are not going to see anything like this around here but it is supposed to get cooler tonight. 70 degrees today was not welcome to this winter lover.

Snow After All

It was a late visit snow but it sure was pretty this morning when we left. That beautiful snow turned into a near disaster at the airport. Nothing to do with snow or traffic but the MSP security lines were horrendous. They stretched from one end of the terminal to the other. Fortunately, so I thought, we all had Pre Check on our boarding passes, well, everyone but me. We stood in the Pre line for about 15 minutes only to find out that Nicole and the boys could go forward but I could not. I had to go to the 600 yard regular line. The three of them went through, figuring it would be easier for one person to find a seat on a later flight than four, while I went back to the long line. It took me around 45 minutes to pass the check point and another 15 minutes to get to the gate. I got on the plane with less than 10 minutes to spare. I was not a great start to the trip home but at least I'm not still at MSP.

Happy Festivus

It's a lazy Christmas Day here in Minnesota but we did get out for a little bit to shot some hoops and throw the football around. Snow arrives tonight, just in time for our trip home.

Ho Ho Ho

Miss Mae

Nice dinner and interesting play last night.

Sad Angel

We got a dusting of snow last night and Nicole created a pathetic little snow angel on the driveway before her run. A couple of inches of the white stuff may be on its way tomorrow.

Boys Home

The boys and I had a weekend without Nicole and survived. Nicole went back west for Linda's Bat Mitzvah on Friday so the boys and I hung out here and had some fun. We didn't actually do much but they did attend a bowling birthday party on Saturday and we had a basketball game today. It's good to get those kids all to myself every once and a while.

Sent from my iPad

Bowling

I bowled for the first time since my knee replacement and rolled a 156. Not bad for not having bowled for over 10 years due to the instability of the old knee. This was an office party and I beat everyone in all four lanes we had going with that score, which was nice.

No Basketball Practice

Our gym was being used for winter concert. The boys blew off some steam with their light sabers.

ASAE Tech

A technology conference just across the river at the Gaylord at National Harbor, shaving 6 miles off my commute.

Warm Sunday

It as 72 degrees here today and does not feel like December. We had a disappointing loss to Gainesville #1. It was tied at half but we ran out of energy at the end, losing 41-32.

Warm Up

The winter band concert was last night and Dylan did his saxophone thing with the band. They sounded great, much improved over elementary school.

4th Night

3rd Night

Hanukkah kind of crept up on us a bit. We got home late from a basketball game on Sunday but we managed to light the candles on Monday and tonight. The holidays are here.

A Good Win

We traveled up to Haymarket for a game against Gainsville's number two team this afternoon. Gainsville #1 is tough to beat but #2 won all of its games in division 2 last year so moved up with the big boys. Sam had them worried and had to deal with being triple teamed most of the night. He still scored 9 and had 10 rebounds and a steal. Dylan started again and had 2 points, 4 rebounds and 4 steals. Both had solid games and Sam went 4 for 6 at the line which is a huge improvement over last year at this time. The Patriots are 2-1 in league play now. Good start.

Big Deer

Ran into some holiday cheer on the way to the Verizon Center.

Cuse

Syracuse couldn't beat Georgetown today but we had fun watching anyway.

Lights Up

I finished the outdoor lights today. Nothing is more festive than a ton of holiday lights. I think I will keep them up until mid February.

Lee

We played and lost to our nearest rival tonight. We have a couple kids on our team that used to play for Lee District and our point guard and there point guard are best friends. Everyone kinda knows each other. It was a close game 51-45 but we were having trouble from the field and free throws were not falling. Sam had to play against a kid who was actually taller than him. That does not happen often but Sam showed him who the better big man was scoring 10 points and nabbing 12 rebounds. He had some really nice moves underneath. Dylan started for the second game in a row and played great defense. He was tentative to shot at first but worked his way out of it. He also had 4 rebounds. I was happy with the way they played and I think the team learned a thing or two as they prepare for Sunday's game.