I have a lot I want to talk about today, but there is only so much space to do it in.
So, that means you are going to get a little bit of everything.
First, congratulations to the Manchester Squires and the entire North Manchester community on Saturday’s big win and on bringing a state title home.
When you think about the fact that they’d won 18 games in each of the last two seasons but hadn’t made it out of the sectional, and that one of the key plays of the game was made by a young man who’s been playing with a torn ACL, you realize that it was just meant to be this season.
We’re all happy for you.
Can I also point out that the four games of the state finals Saturday were decided by a total of 19 points!
For all the years I went to Indy to broadcast the state finals games and saw more blowouts than white knucklers, it was fun to listen to the games and wonder right down to the last 30 seconds who was going to make the big play to win the state championship for his team.
The NCAA men’s tournament has given us one of the rarest occasions in the history of the tournament—all four members of the final four are number-1 seeds. It hadn’t happened since 2008 when Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina and UCLA combined to do it.
Ironically, those four went to the same place our current four are headed this weekend—San Antonio.
The 2025 Cubs look a lot like the 2024 version.
They are good at getting leads and not very good at keeping them.
I realize that the season is not even a week old, but Sunday’s mess left me in a mid-September-like foul mood.
Sunday at Arizona, the Cubs had a 6-2 lead with six outs to get, and the bullpen gave up 8 runs in the 8th inning.
This is on the front office.
This attitude of “go cheap and hope for the best” is just not good enough.
The first ever IHSAA-sanctioned boys volleyball season is underway, and the reviews so far are very positive.
The number of schools participating is encouraging, and the number of boys who are playing has been even more encouraging.
No one expects every school in Indiana to offer boys volleyball as a sport in the same way no one expects every school to offer girls wrestling. But what the IHSAA and its member schools are hoping for is that students who are not active in other sports or are playing in only one sport currently will consider joining one of these new sports.
Let’s not forget that when a student is an athlete, they are more likely to work harder in class and are more likely to be engaged in their education than kids who aren’t in athletics.
It’s not a guarantee and kids still will “flunk off” teams in all three sports seasons. And there are plenty of smart kids who aren’t athletes.
But having more kids involved in positive things is a fantastic thing.
I drove by what used to be South Shore Golf Course two weeks ago, and I got a little teary-eyed.
Back in 2020, the golf course was sold to a land developer who was shutting down the course and was going to build housing on it.
In 2021, it was announced that two guys had a plan to build a combination housing/youth activities/sports/shopping complex.
But when I drove past there the only thing that had sprung up were weeds.
That’s sad.
I am a big fan of Grace College athletics and the college collectively, and one of their best moves was to create a disc golf course on campus. The best part of it is that they built it so that you can’t drive through campus without seeing it and seeing people participating.
I went through there last week and there was a group of at least 10 people going off the first tee at the same time. There were young men and young women out there together, throwing, walking and talking.
It was a great sight.
One last thing: If you are headed south to a sandy beach for Spring Break, be safe and have a great time.
You could not pay me enough money to travel to Florida or Alabama for that week. Between the travel nightmares, the unsupervised young people making bad decisions and breaking laws and counting on the weather to cooperate as the conditions for having a good time…that’s just too many things that aren’t in my control for all of the money I am going to spend.
It’s not worth it for me.
I hope it goes well for you and your travel companions.
If you’re not leaving town Friday, try to avoid driving from 4-6pm on the major roadways in town. People here have a habit of getting in a big hurry to start their vacations and…well…it can look more like bumper cars.
You’ll thank me later.