Holy Crap

It has been a very long time since I last posted. What have I been up to lately? For one, basketball season has ended. First round loss to Eldora-New Providence in OT. It stings to come that close to moving on, but it also means my free time is pretty large right now. I do have one problem with that though: I'm not as focused as I was. I knew I needed to get stuff done during basketball season, now I'm like "I have time, no big deal." Number one priority right now in the teaching world is getting this portfolio done!

So what have I been doing with my free time? Actually watching more basketball! I've gone to a coupel of high school tourney games and went and watched an East Marshall AAU tournament this weekend (the other assistant with me coaches a team and I thought I would go check it out). This weekend I hope to watch a lot of basketball. The Iowa Hawkeyes have had a great season thus far and me and some friends from Lineville-Clio have decided to venture to Indianapolis to hopefully watch the Hawkeyes win the Big Ten Tournament this weekend. Should be fun, and a well deserved break after working hard the last few months.

Now on to the main reason I'm blogging tonight. Yesterday I was shocked, and today saddened by the death of former Minnesota Twin Kirby Puckett. I think sign number one that you are getting old (at least for boys) is when your favorite childhood ball player dies. Problem is Kirby died well before his time. 44 years old. My first baseball game was a Twins game. I remember describing it to my family that it was like a "dream" to see a Major League field. We sat in left/center field, Kirby played center. The Twins announcer (who I believe has passed away himself) would always really belt out Kirby's name when it was his turn to bat. KIIIIIIRRRRRRRBBYYYY PUUUCKKKKKKEEETTTTTT! Sent chills up my spine. I saw Kirby play multiple times after that, I just wish I could remember better if he hit a homerun or made an awesome catch. Even though I wasn't there, my best memories of Kirby came in the 1991 World Series. I stayed up well past my bedtime for all of those games, including talking the babysitter into letting me stay up for Game 7, which the Twins of course won! Game 6 though is where Kirby hit the home run to win the game...the television announcer belted out "We'll see you tomorrow night!" and Kirby pumped his fists coming around first, and all was good for a 10 year old who had made it his goal to get as many Kirby Puckett baseball cards as he could. Kirby ran into some problems toward the end of his life. He had to retire prematurely, his wife made some accusations against him and later got a divorce, and he was accused of groping a woman at a restaurant (which he was cleared of). All that aside, Kirby played the game the way it was meant to be played. When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, I was overjoyed because of one person deserved it, he did. So here's to you Kirby, my boyhood baseball hero.