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Youth Football 2010 Weeks 2 and 3

I missed the games last Saturday because Lisa and I were in NC for my 20th high school reunion.  It seems like it was a bad day to miss. 

Unlike weeks 1 and 3 when Finn only carried the ball once each, he apparently had 4 or 5 nice carries.  They tied a tough team 3 scores a piece.  This week they won one TD to zero.  Finn played center and defensive line.

In weeks 1 and 3 Elliot carried the ball a hand full of times each, picking up positive yardage but not breaking anything big.  In week 2 I missed seeing him make a very long run that almost went for a TD.  They lost 13 to 6.  Like they did the first week, they shot themselves in the foot with several fumbles.  This week they got killed 35 (or 42?) to 0.  Fumbles were a big problem again.  We had to focus on small victories today...like the 3 first downs that they managed to pick up...more than the total number that their opponents had given up during the first two games.

Rumor has it that Elliot is going to play QB during the second half of the season...

Youth Football 2010 Week 1

The football seasons for both boys started on Saturday: the second year of tackle football for Elliot and the first year of flag football for Finn.

Elliot had an 8:30 game.  He’s playing running back this year and is #22.  His team (The Hurricanes) played well.  There was only one play that the defense consistently had trouble stopping (an end-around by a big, fast kid), and that’s how they gave up their only score.  The offense moved the ball well but had a bad case of fumble-itis.  That led to 3 turnovers and a bunch of wasted plays.  Elliot’s first run was stuffed in the backfield.  His second run was a poor pitch that he fumbled.  After that he had 4 or 5 decent runs for positive yardage.  Towards the end of the game someone’s helmet hit his thumb after he was tackled and sprained it.  He sat out the rest of the game and was sore for several days afterward.  The final was a 6 to 0 loss.

Finn’s game was at noon.  He had several nice tackles on defense.  He was quarterback and running back for one play each.  He made a nice cut on his run and nearly broke it for a TD.  It ended up being just a nice gain because he stopped and let the other defenders catch up when it felt like someone had pulled his flag (but it actually didn’t get pulled until he stopped).  I told him that in the future he should keep running toward the goal line until he hears the whistle (and not worry about the flag).

Here are some photos and videos from both games.

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Video of Elliot's 1st half
Video of Elliot's 2nd half

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Video of Finn's game

First Day of School 2010

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15 Albums That Stick With You

The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. 15 albums you've heard that will always stick with you. Tag some friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing what albums my friends choose. To do this, go to your Profile page, then to your Notes tab and paste these rules in a new note, list your 15 picks below, and tag people in the note).

  • Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
  • Nirvana - Nevermind
  • The Palace Brothers - Days in the Wake
  • U2 - The Joshua Tree
  • Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
  • The Connells - Fun & Games
  • The Cavedogs - Joyrides for Shut-Ins
  • Toad the Wet Sprocket - Pale
  • Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever
  • Jawbreaker - 24 Hour Revenge Therapy
  • The Spinanes - Manos
  • R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant
  • The Pixies - Doolittle
  • Songs:Ohia - The Lioness
  • The Lemonheads - Lovey

Basketball Hall of Fame

On the drive home from CT we stopped off at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.  I’d been before during a previous trip to CT (~25 years ago?), but it seemed to have changed a lot from what I vaguely remembered.

As we were about to leave, there was an announcement that the basketball courts were being closed to set up for a “Legends of the Game” presentation by Felipe López.  I’d never heard of him, so we decided not to wait for the presentation.  However, as we were leaving, Lopez and his kid were just being dropped off by their driver, and we said “hi” as he walked into the building.  Our curiosity was piqued…so we ended up deciding to go back inside for the presentation.

Felipe was interviewed by one the Hall’s staff for ~ 20 minutes and then was slated to do some instruction for the kids.  The staff suggested some dribbling tips, but Felipe quickly turned it into a game of Knockout.  Finn was struggling to get the ball up to the rim on his turn, so Felipe picked him up to dunk (see the 0:25 mark in the video below).  Elliot had a decent shot of actually winning Knockout, but we convinced him to drop out and get in the autograph line when it started to form.  As the boys were posing with Felipe for a photo after the autographs, Felipe joked: “Do you know the difference between these two [pointing to Finn and Elliot]? This one can dunk [pointing to Finn]!”  We all got a chuckle out of that one.  Elliot had caught the attention of the Hall staff member too who complimented him on his shooting skills and asked if he played much.  Lisa thanked Felipe for giving a shout-out to his school teachers during the presentation.

Felipe (originally from the Dominican Republic) was a big high school and college star (see a summary of honors and accomplishments on the autograph paper below) but not so much in the NBA.  He played in NYC and the Big East (instead of one of the college conferences that get more of my attention: ACC and SEC), so maybe that explains why I’d never heard of him (or maybe those mid- to late-90’s years were ones where I paid less attention to basketball).  Anywho, he ended up being a charming guy and quite interesting to hear speak…so we were very glad to have stayed around to see/hear him.  Here are photos of the boys with Felipe and of the autograph, some video of Knockout, and a few more photos:

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Video of Finn and Elliot playing “Knockout” at the Basketball Hall of Fame

 

A few more pictures:

 

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The boys know who Larry Bird and Magic Johnson because we’ve watched part of a documentary about them on HBO.

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