Ned Luce
Soccer, rugby, cricket, and so many other games I do not totally understand yet enjoy watching and would have enjoyed playing in my younger days. Well maybe not cricket. Upon reflection, I think soccer would also have trouble making the list of sports I would or could play because it involves running, lots of running.
Our second grandson is a senior in high school and will soon graduate. He is on the Ballard High soccer team that won their semi-final game against Lakeside Academy in the 3A playoffs but lost in the championship game to Lincoln High last weekend in Puyallup.
BJ and I drove down to beautiful Sparks Stadium to watch a great semi-final game on Friday and I did know enough to appreciate how great a game it was. The score was tied 0-0 at end of regulation so the game then had two overtime periods ending with the score still at 0-0.
Then it was “shoot-out” time, where each team had five shots at the goal. Ballard ended up winning the “shoot-out” 3-2 on the last shot.
As they say, “the fans went wild.” There seemed to be an unusually large number of students from Ballard in the stands cheering the team. Then we were advised that they would have an excused absence from school that day to go to the game. Voila, instant cheering section!
After Howard Strong and I put up the flags on our assigned route last Saturday morning, I picked up BJ and we went up to Dusty Green for a little fellowship with other “flag floggers” who either left before we got there or never showed.
No problem, the regular cadre of curmudgeons who gather at the café to solve, or create more, world problems was there providing entertainment and inspiration. Jim Watson, Dick Grieves, Don Clark, Bill Wright, Pat Cooper and others held court over breakfast. Mary Jordan was also there with her daughter and family enjoying the show.
We heard Don Clark is now without his red truck with whitewall tires on it. Turns out the lease is over and his new Silverado, (with/without whitewall tires), will not be delivered for four to 12 months. I did hear him lament that he doesn’t want to put miles on his Jaguar so he wants the truck as soon as possible! I feel his pain.
John and Christie Thomas recently took his 1954 Orange Mercury over to the Spokane Custom and Speed Car Show entering the “2 Door Hardtop Full Custom” class. They came away with the first-place trophy. Nice job.
Jefferson County Commissioner Heidi Eisenhour provided an informative program at the Rotary Club last week. She passed out a chart listing all of the committee and group assignments each of the three commissioners have. I was surprised that they each appear to have more than 20 assignments. She also discussed a couple of recent issues she and the county government have been involved with, specifically the closing schedule for the Hood Canal Bridge and potential roundabouts at the bridge and/or the intersection of Beaver Valley Road and Highway 104.
And more in sports news, Josef Newgarden won the Indianapolis 500 race on Sunday by less than 1/10 of a second, the fourth smallest margin of victory in 107 years of the race.
Personally, I was cheering for third place finisher Santino Ferrucci because he was racing on the team owned by one of the biggest curmudgeons of all time, A.J. Foyt.
And how about those Boston Celtics? At this writing they came back to 3-3 from being down 0-3 in the seven-game NBA Eastern Conference finals.
The final game for the conference was Monday night in Boston and they are tough to cheer against, particularly since their general manager went to DePauw, but you may already know that story!
Love a curmudgeon and have a sporty week.
(Ned Luce is a retired IBM executive and Port Ludlow resident. A true sports fan, Ned has few nice things to say about golf, until they bring back knickers, neckties and matching tweed caps. Contact Ned at [email protected].)