Asteroids Do Not Concern Me!: May 2012

My wife and I traveled up to UT this past Memorial Day Weekend with a truckload of our daughter Ari's STUFF. Ari is finishing her education in the Beehive State and 'needed' these things for her new apartment. But, that is another story. During our visit, my younger sister, Karen, had a little surprise for me. Six years ago our beloved Granny passed away. After her death many of her belongings and keepsakes scattered to various family members. Unknown to me, Karen had stored away some old photos and clippings of my younger days that she had received from Granny. Now these reminders of days gone by are in my possession, one of which is the pic below from the fall of 1970. This is the story for tonight's post........

The Rams. [Check out number 61]

I was in 9th grade in 1970, in my second season of Little League Football. Organized youth football was a new thing in Spanish Fork, having had it's inaugural season 2 years before. My parents would not allow me to play that first year, fearing injury. My best buddy, Steve B and I, convinced the folks to let us play the next year. So, my stint with the Rams was year two of my football experience. Another one of my best friends, Ronnie Hair (#66 with glasses) was on the squad. WE WERE AWFUL! Our QB stunk (sorry Leon), we couldn't tackle, we didn't block, we rarely even scored a point! WE WERE TERRIBLE. Worst of all, we weren't having any fun. I was starting to hate football. Our coach, Coach Creer, hated us, justifiably so. We goofed around at practice and really didn't give a crap. We were just playing out the string. After another shut-out defeat on the second to last game of the season, Coach Creer gathered us under the lights for a little team meeting. He told us how bad we stunk and he had had enough and couldn't take it anymore. He said that he would not be embarrassed by us anymore! He said, "I quit, you can coach yourselves." He strode off into the darkness, leaving us behind in shocked silence. He disappeared from our lives, forever. In that brief moment of solitude, I felt guilt, sadness and anger all at the same time. Sure, we couldn't beat the Indians from Mexican Hat, but hey, our coach quit on us. In that brief moment before panic set in, Glen Thorpe, our walk-on assistant coach, said, "Guys, I'll coach you. I won't give up on you." Wow, we were rescued! We were saved! We still would be able to play our last game! But, was that a good thing? Coach Glen was just a high school kid who didn't know much more about football than we did, but he led us through practice that next week. Finally, the season finale arrived. We blocked, we tackled, we ran, we had a blast, but we still didn't score a point! But, we gutted it out until the final gun......... and battled our opponent to a 0-0 scoreless tie!!! We couldn't score, but damn it, neither did the other team! We danced like football gods across the gridiron, rushing towards Coach Thorpe. It was exquisite jubilation! We carried our Coach-for-a-Week off the field upon or shoulders like we had just won the Super Bowl! I haven't seen Glen Thorpe in over 40 years, but I will always love and admire him for what he did. He stepped up and we followed him. He taught us to never give up, no matter the odds. What a great lesson for a group of 14 year-olds to learn. Thanks, Glen, wherever you are!

John Lennon once said, “Life is what happens when you are making plans for other things.” I guess that is often true, but this past weekend was an exception to Lennon’s edict. In fact, I think it is safe to say that sweet memories were etched into the minds of FOUR MEN AND THE FALCON. Yup, the M3 Man-Cavers took it all the way to San Jose, and then some! M1 (Mike Bayard), M2 (Yours Truly), M3 (Mike Hawkes), CC (Clyde Condie), and The Falcon (Ryan Hawkes) jetted up to the Bay Area for a Sports/Movie weekend. We flew on Horizon Air’s twin prop aircraft, piloted by Orville and Wilbur Wright. The brothers did manage to get the props spinning after a little hand cranking, but forgot to turn on the air conditioning. Nevertheless, we survived the flight. Once safely on the ground at San Jose International, we headed downtown to the much ballyhooed Original Joe’s, a famous San Jose eatery. M3 had given us many previews of their renowned 12 0z. burgers. O Joe’s did not disappoint. Our only regret was we couldn’t eat all the food! Shockingly, even The Falcon couldn’t eat everything placed in front of him! That’s as rare as an annular eclipse. When leaving the Original Joe's parking lot, near disaster almost occurred, but was averted due to the cat-like reflexes of our driver, M2. What exactly happened is in The Vault never ever to be revealed..Our next stop was the Century 16 multiplex to view the just released Battleship. This flick was all a man-caver could ever want; aliens, battleships, lots of explosions, just enough plot to keep you interested, and, of course, Brooklyn Decker. All 5 cavers gave this film an enthusiastic, Must See! If you see this movie, don’t leave before ALL of the closing credits roll…..It was back into our rented Ford Expedition (sweet!!) and we were off to Dave and Buster’s Sports Bar for our final activity of the day: The Laker vs. Thunder game with, surprise, more food. M1 and I snared a perfectly located table for us right in front their giant screen TV. While we ordered a cornucopia of appetizers and cokes, the Celtics lost to the 76ers. This was a sign that this was going to be a perfect evening! Sure enough, our Lakers won their only game of the series helped by our cheering and chewing. The only negative was a nearby young drunkard who was rooting for the Thunder. He was later escorted outside to the ‘Moron Area,’ much to our delight. We cruised back to the Comfort Inn in Palo Alto with smiles on our faces knowing that we had just experienced a PERFECT DAY! ……..M1 and I were roommates on this trip. I think we were both concerned about mutual snoring issues, but we must have cancelled each other out, because we slept fine. M3 dubbed our room the Honeymoon Suite, but we just think he was jealous he didn’t room with us. ….Day 2 started with donuts and got better from there. On our way up the peninsula, we took a little detour down Memory Lane. We initially cruised on over to the ancestral home of M3 in Saratoga. M3 was legendary back in the day and was known as a lovable rabble rouser in the Catholic school system there. There were many nuns who were scarred for life as a result. From Saratoga we pushed northward.Thirty plus years ago, M1 and I and our young wives lived in San Bruno, CA while attending professional school. We each lived in the same apartment complex, at different times. Strangely enough, our families later met in La Crescenta, CA and became friends for life. The old Evergreen Gardens had had a little face lift and a name change, but it still evoked tender memories of those far off student days and the early years of our marriages. Beat up cars, no money, endless homework, but what an adventure it was! From the past to the present we found our way to AT& T Park, home of the hated San Francisco Giants. The Giants beat the A’s 4-0, but we barely noticed. We may dislike the Giants, but we LOVED their new stadium. We were part of the 105^th consecutive sell-out, on a picture perfect 65 degree Spring day. What a beautiful park, constructed right next to San Francisco Bay, cooled by those eternal ocean breezes. Endless varieties of food with no lines, a tremendous scoreboard, a close intimate setting.! I know it’s hard to believe, but even the ‘Battery Chucks’ (Giants fans) were well behaved. M1 had secured awesome seats for us AND it was Fedora Day. We all went home with the ugliest hats I’ve ever seen. From the park we drove through SF winding our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. We took in that spectacular view from the Marin Headlands, a vista that never gets old. We decided to grab a bite in cozy Sausalito that jewel by the bay. We stumbled upon The Spinnaker, a fancy seafood joint nestled right on the ocean. We slipped into their bar area and grabbed little round tables that provided a panoramic view of the bay. Once again, we dined on various seafood appetizers and delicious sourdough bread. We were living the good life! Finally, after The Falcon consumed yet one more shrimp cocktail, we set sail again in our black Ford back to Palo Alto. Two perfect days in a row? Was that too much to ask? The Cave Gods finally frowned upon us as those dang LA Lakers gave another one away, losing to the Thunder in game 4. While the Lakers choked it away we belly-ached in M3’s motel room. The Falcon, literally belly-ached suffering severe gastrointestinal issues much to our olfactory sense’s discontent! Hopefully, The Falcon will be flying high again soon! So, there it was, another near-perfect day, the Lakers not withstanding!......Orville and Wilbur flew us home on day 3, putting the capper on an awesome Cave Road Trip! We are already planning our next adventure! A wise man once said in a talk at church the following, “The key to happiness is having someone to love, having something to look forward to, and having something to do.” I think I can say, without reservation, this trip achieved all three keys!