Softball Etiquette

Callie finished up her season this past weekend in Alpena and although I've mentioned in my last post that it's been fun watching them get better and more competitive, this weekend provided something for the girl's to hold onto and know that they are improving.

They were winning 1-0 going into the bottom of the fifth inning of a seven-inning elimination game on Sunday morning against the Traverse City Thunder White team. We have never beaten a Traverse City for as long as Callie has been in this program, so everyone was feeling pretty happy at this point. The Thunder get a couple girls on base, but with two outs, their batter hits a ground ball and is called out at first base. The Traverse fans go crazy as they believe their player to be safe. Both teams are off the field at this point and the base ump who made the call, all of a sudden feels the need to converse with the home plate ump. After three minutes of conversation, the girl is called safe and our girls are ordered back onto the field. Traverse ends up scoring three runs after the call and we trail 3-1 going into the sixth.

I didn't get a good look at the play, so I won't say whether the call was right or not. I asked people about it and got mixed results. My wife was in the dugout at the time and saw it and thought the runner was in fact, safe, so I'm inclined to believe her. My problem with the whole situation is that if you're going to ask for help as an umpire, you need to do it immediately. You can't wait until the reaction of the fans forces you to start questioning your call and then seek help. If you aren't sure of your call, get help prior to both teams leaving the field, or tell them to stay there until it gets sorted out.

Needless to say, momentum was down at this point as our girls finally get the third out and get off the field. Fortunately, we have the heart of our lineup coming up to bat and our first two hitters reach base, including my daughter, who was hit by a pitch. Logan Solomon came up to bat and hit a ball over the left fielder's head and scored two runs to tie the game. Callie ran through a stop sign at third base and ended up scoring without a throw to the plate. (She has her dad's speed unfortunately). Logan ended up scoring right after that, giving us a 4-3 lead with six Traverse outs to go.

Callie pitched the game and shut down the Thunder in the final two innings with the help of a very solid defensive performance from everyone. The Legacies played the entire game without an error and for the first time, the team showed the willingness to look a loss in the face and turn it into a win. I was so proud of Callie and the way she held it together (with a little help from coach Stacey) and went out and did her job when the team needed her.

This led to a 1 pm game against the Richmond Blues.

There are two things that need to be mentioned before I go any further with this. The first is that weather was an issue on Sunday. Everyone knew that the rain was coming and it was just a matter of time before it got to the ball field. The second is that I believe in the unwritten rules of baseball/softball (most of them anyway). If you don't know what they are, ask me.

The game with the Blues started on time and the lineup was the same as it was for the prior one. I'm supersticious so I had no problem with that. In fact, I was telling some people who were planning on leaving that they needed to stay because the mojo wouldn't be there without them there.

When the game got underway, it was clear that we had spent our last energy in the game before, and it was also clear that the Blues were a better team than we were. I don't mind losing to a better team, but they way that the Richmond coaching staff conducted themselves, the loss was a bitter pill.

As I said, the weather was on the way. You could feel the temperature dropping and see the wind picking up. In the bottom of the second inning, the Blues were beating us 16-0. They are a good hitting team and they have a lot of speed. They bunted on us a lot and we were just emotionally drained from the prior game. The mercy rule states that if a team is down by 15 runs after three innings, the game is over. So the Blues are doing everything they can to get to that 15-run mark. They stole every time they got on and bunted, knowing that their speed was enough for a base hit. It was a pretty classless display since, like I said, we were obviously not as good as they were. But the worst was yet to come. We were having a hard time getting the Blues out in the bottom of the second and they needed to get out and get our last three outs for the game to be official. So their coach told a runner on third base to lead off and get called out. It's an automatic out to leave the bag early, so the ump made the call and now there were two outs. The batter got on and was ordered to leave early by the coach and did so. The base ump missed the call and did not call her out. So as our pitcher begins her windup, the girl takes off and is standing on third close to the time the ball reached the plate and is called out.

One thing that I really appreciate about our coaching staff is the fact that our team never would have pulled a stunt like that. They believe in playing “the right way,” and not embarrasing a team when they are down. We would have never ran like that on a team with such a big lead and we would have never been bunting for hits in that situation. And I can guarantee you that our coaching staff would never, ever have told a girl to leave early like that just to get out of an inning. The whole thing just stunk.

When we got up to bat, the rain started. Anyone who had been looking at the weather could see that once it started, it wasn't going to stop. So, even if Richmond had gotten those last three outs, they weren't going any further anyway, so why act like a bunch of jackwagons?

I am childishly happy to report that just over an hour after the rain began to fall, and the tournament was called off, denying the Blues the opportunity to win the tournament, and not even allowing them to count an official victory against us. Serves them right.

And while I'm at it, I cannot believe how far some of the parents and coaches go at these tournaments. For the second time in as many years, I or my wife has been forced out of a spot while our game was still going on by fans from the next game setting up their portable gazebo and not caring who's way they are in or who's view they might be obstructing. Once the game's over, by all means, set up just the way you want to, but please at least have the courtesy to wait until the game going on is over before you start claiming territory.

And if you're coaching a team of teenage girls, why do you need cleats on? Do you need better traction while waiving a runner on to the next base? Or is it maybe that you think you'll be needed to dress up like a young girl and pinch run at some point? Stop being dumb.

Ok, I'm taking a deep breath now and calming down. This was the last game of the season, so my blood pressure should be fine by spring.

Hang in there Richard

Note: This was written a few days ago and unfortunately, this is the first chance I've had to post it. I will be following this up shortly with another post. Sorry for the wait.

It's been awhile since I've written anything here. It's been kind of nice not to have anything to complain about in terms of treatments and side effects. My legs are still pretty weak, but I have noticed slight improvement over the past few days and I'm hoping that it continues.

I was terribly disappointed to learn that one of our family friends has been diagnosed with cancer. Richard Wood, who, along with his wife Connie, have been good friends of my mom for as long as I can remember. Graham and I grew up with their daughters Ann and Ellen. I am a year older than Ann and Graham and Ellen are the same age. My mom and Connie worked together at a daycare center for a few years and that meant that us kids spent a lot of time together. It's been a long time since I have talked to either one of the girls, but despite that, my heart goes out to them. One thing that I have discovered about having had cancer is that as hard as it is on the person who has it, it may be even harder on those close to the person who has it. At least when you are the one who has it, you know that you'll either recover or you won't. If you do, your suffering ends, if you don't, your suffering ends. For the family and friends of the cancer patient though, it only goes well if there is a full recovery.

I have been lucky enough to have Kelly in my life and to have her shared strength, courage and optimism. It's not easy for someone to wear that face all the time, especially when they don't always feel that way. It's important though. It's way easier to deal with cancer if the people around you are positive. As a patient, it's so much easier to deal with cancer when you know in your head that you're going to beat it. And an important part of knowing that you're going to beat it is to have the people in your life show nothing but confidence in that outcome. No tears, no doubt, and no giving up.

Ok, enough about that. Richard, I know that you're going to come through this with flying colors.

Our summer so far has been busy, but fun. Callie played really well in Midland and pitched really well in a complete-game win on Saturday night. She had four doubles and a handful of singles in the games.

I'm going to take this opportunity to complain about the way that tournament was run though. Our girls pay $50 per year to play travel softball and the rest of the funding for the program comes from a burger bash fundraiser and our home tournament. The rest is provided by the director of the program, Linda Bouvet out of her own pocket.

Midland has some other ideas regarding fundraising. I have no idea how many weekends per summer their travel team plays, but it must be an extremely high number . They must need an awful lot of money based on their demands on spectators. I must confess that I have no idea what they charged teams to play in the tournament, but unless it was free, the good folks in charge in Midland are taking advantage of parents wanting to watch their kids play. When we pulled into Emerson Park prior to the Friday night game, we were stopped and informed that it would be $10 per person for the weekend. I thought that they must have misspoke and meant $10 per car, but I was wrong. They charged us $30 and gave us an inconvenient wrist bracelet to wear for the rest of the weekend. I didn't want to put the bracelet on so we carried them around in our bags and every time we went to a field, we were asked to produce them. Heaven forbid that someone might show up for a Saturday night game not having paid their $10 entry fee. Add to that the price of the concessions and I'm pretty sure that they grossed more in three days than I make in a year.

Another thing that was ridiculous about that tourney is that Emerson Park is probably the premier softball complex in the state. It has a stadium as one of its fields that the girls got to play on with actual grandstands that run from first base to third base with a press box at the top of the grandstand behind the plate. There are very nice indoor bathrooms underneath the grandstand along with umpire rooms. However, $10 per person apparently isn't enough money to allow access to those indoor bathrooms. The doors were all locked and port-a-johns were placed throughout the complex. Just one more dropped ball by the tournament organizers.

I don't usually rant like that in public, but if that's the kind of money you need to raise to keep your program afloat, then maybe you need to rethink your program just a tad.

We have had a really good time following the girls this summer, watching them improve and be more competitive.

We go to Alpena this weekend for the final tournament of the season. So if you happen to be looking for something to do, make the drive and watch some softball. Abbie is done with her softball and may be rethinking her desire to be a catcher as a ball got through the gear the other day and hit her in the side. She was a trooper though and got back out on the field the next inning, just not behind the plate.

Andrew is still doing really well at his job, and is enjoying the paycheck that comes along with it. He recently asked me about a second job so that he could get even more. I'm proud of him and the work ethic that he is starting to show. His mom wanted to take the kids down to her mom's house and Andrew didn't go because he didn't want to miss work. There was a time when he would have quit the job in order to go.

I will update this again after my pre-surgery on August 13 to let you know what I found out.

Dear Cancer

Dear Cancer,

I am happy to announce to you that our time together is coming to an end. I took my last chemo treatment yesterday and by tomorrow around noon, the pump will come off for the last time. That will mark the end of our nearly year-long relationship and with all due respect, good riddance.

I still remember the day that I found out for sure that you had taken up residence with me. I wasn't overly surprised when I found out, as I had noticed some clues that I might have a house guest. I never doubted that your stay would be relatively short though, and we took quick action to begin the eviction process.

You were not a very accommodating guest. You cost me more than you can ever repay. Nearly a year of my life has been spent with you in the forefront of every decision made in this household. Trips have been canceled or put on hold, a new vehicle is currently on hold due to the uncertainty of my upcoming surgery and financial uncertainty because of that. Even more unforgivable, you have made my wife take on the role of caregiver. She had given up a year of her life to take care of me. She has never complained about it, but she has not made a choice for herself for a long time and I look forward to the upcoming day that she can make a decision based on something that she wants and not something that I need. I have never wanted to get out and mow the grass so bad in my life and part of it is because it kills me to be sitting here on the couch watching her work her ass off pushing the mower around the yard. The most I've been able to manage is to go out and water the flowers as far as yard work goes. I tried to push the mower once while she was gone and it felt like I was pushing a front end loader around. The mowing attempt was short-lived.

You have also taken away from my kids. I love coaching my daughter Callie and that was taken away from me this year. When this first started, I had a pipe dream that I might still be able to coach. I was quickly disabused of this notion when the chemo started and my body started to suffer a little bit. My legs began to get weak and everything else had to get pushed aside to make sure that I still had the energy to keep working. This also affected my ability to do things with my youngest daughter Abbie. She loves to play catch and have me pitch to her and to play basketball with me. I have been able to play catch a couple times with her, but the physical toll it takes is incredible to me. I have played catch with her just twice since this started and both times, it took me more than a day to completely shake off the effects of chasing down a bad throw or bend down to get the ball. She threw one to me that was wide right and when I lunged for it, my legs told me that I was going to fall. The strength simply wasn't there to regain my balance and stop myself. I managed to throw a hand down to keep myself from completely going down, but it was not a good feeling. We haven't played catch since then. She felt bad about it, and I was surprised and embarrassed at my lack of strength. I knew the legs were weak, but it hit me then just how weak I was. Cancer, this is simply unforgivable.

My son Andrew has some exciting stuff going on right now as well. He is doing a great job battling his anxiety regarding driver's training, and he has started his first real job and is thriving. He is learning to expand his horizons and is finding it easier to interact with people. I have been forced to watch this from the sidelines as well. I have taken picked him up from work a few times and we have even gone driving a couple times so that he could practice. As fun as this has been, I still feel like I'm not as available to him as I would be had you not shown up. So there's one more reason that you must go.

Lastly, my brother Graham and my buddy Erick came up and sat with Kelly and I during my last treatment yesterday and I cannot even begin to express my gratitude to them for taking time out of their lives to come and celebrate with us. We went to lunch after at the Keyhole in Mackinaw City, which is one of my favorite places. Graham asked about possibly canoeing on Sunday and while I was initially excited about it, I have to call him today and see if there's something else we can do because quite honestly, I'm afraid of the chance that the canoe might capsize and with my legs being what they are at the moment, the thought of being in moving water is not very appealing to me. Yet another decision made by my unwelcome guest.

Once you are gone, I will begin to rehab my legs. It will take time because the chemo will still be in my body for up to a month after Thursday. I will then be looking at surgery to reverse the osteomy and that will take a toll as well. But make no mistake about it, I will return to what I was and then I will be better than I was.

I can't say that this war is completely over, for to do so would go against everything I believe regarding tempting fate, karma and whatever other forces moniter declarations like that. I know that there is a chance that you could come back and we'd have to play this little game all over again. But should you make this choice Cancer, know you this. The result will be the same. You will be discovered, beaten, and evicted again.

But as of today, right now, this battle is over.

Suck it Cancer.

I Win

One more time

One more to go. The only announcement that will make me happier than that right now will come in two weeks when I can say that I'm done. We had a little snag today as Kelly and I forgot to bring the pump to St. Ignace. Not a huge deal, we just had to drive back up to the Sault and have it hooked up at War Memorial Hospital.

I have mentioned a lot of people in my posts, all of whom are important to me. There are a ton of people that are important to me that I didn't mention and I apologize for that. At some point, I hope to be able to talk more about the people who are important in my life and give them credit (or blame) as the case may be for their influence on my life.

Three people that I wanted to mention briefly and certainly merit a post dedicated entirely to them because of the things that I've learned from them are Pat, Todd, and Brian. Pat taught me that there was more to life than the little box that I had created for myself. He broadened my horizons and showed me a world that I knew existed, but had no interest in. You have my sincere thanks for that Pat, as a lot of my interests today have roots in the things that you introduced me to. Todd is a lot of things to me, but I think that his biggest role in my life has been that of a moral compass. He has helped me through several tough times in my life and has always been there with solid advice and friendship that is constant and steadfast. Brian gets credit for teaching me that sometimes rules need to be broken and getting into trouble is not always a bad thing. Every time I see the movie History of the World Part 1, I think of Brian. Like I said, these words are just a brief sample of my experiences with these guys and there is a lot more to all of them than I'm saying here.

I have talked a lot about my past in this blog, and I think a lot of that had to do with the fear I was feeling about how this whole deal was going to turn out. I'm certainly not trying to tempt fate or anything, but I think maybe it's time I started talking about the future.

Having cancer has changed me in a lot of ways. It has made me appreciate the things that I have and the people in my life and it has also made me wonder if I've gotten everything that I can out of life so far. When I was first diagnosed, I asked myself if I had done everything I wanted to do and I found out that the answer was a resounding no. There are big-ticket things on the list to be sure, but also plenty of things that most people would consider “everyday” stuff.

For example, one of the big ticket things is to take a trip to Scotland. I don't know if it will ever happen or not, but I hope so. A more attainable goal that I have is to try egg-nog this holiday season. I have never had the guts to try it before, but this is going to be the year. My courage only goes so far though. My wife ordered a veggie-burger for lunch today and tried to get me to take a bite. It will be awhile before I can make myself try that. I mean, if you want me to eat vegetables, put a vegetable in front of me. If I want you to try a bratwurst, I'm not going to try and dress it up like a stalk of broccoli.

Some of the things I have coming up are my last treatment of course, which happens on June 24^th. I also have to go back to Detroit and have a pre-op appointment so that I can have my osteomy reversed. During that pre-op visit, they are going to do another flexible sigmoid-oscopy. (I have no idea if that's spelled right, but that's how I say it.) I suspect that that will be the most uncomfortable part of the whole process. There is a part of the movie History of the World Part 1, which I mentioned earlier The part I'm referring to happens in Rome during the reign of Caesar. A head honcho in the Roman Army is placing Gregory Hines and Mel Brooks under arrest and is asking the citizens if anyone knows what the punishment for their crime is. (I can't remember what exactly the crime was) A member of the mob says that the punishment is to shove a living snake up their ass. It's not the correct answer, but I think that single phrase might be what inspired the the flexible sigmoid-oscopy. I'll get through it though as that will be the last step prior to the surgery which will mark the end of my bodily “accessories.”

If this battle were a basketball game, we are in the fourth quarter with about two minutes left. I have a 15-point lead and the ball. Warm up the bus cancer, cuz this game is almost over.

I Will Win

Getting Closer

I know that it's been a little while since my last post. I have been putting stuff right after I get my treatments and I'm a little late. The reason for this is that, quite simply, I'm tired of writing about cancer. I'm tired of my life and my blog revolving around it. And I'm sure that anyone who reads my blog on a regular basis is probably tired of reading about it.

A good example of the reason that I'm tired of writing about it is happening right now as I type. It's a sunny Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting on the couch resting my legs while my wife is outside mowing the grass and hauling wheelbarrow loads of mowed grass back into the woods behind our house. She would never say anything, but I know that she's got to be getting tired of doing the work of two people around the house and yard.

So, just a couple quick things in the way of an update. I had my sixth treatment on Tuesday, which means only two more to go. My legs have been giving me a lot of trouble lately, just from being so weak, so they changed my treatment a little bit. They eliminated one of the chemo drugs that I get and fortunately for me it's also the one that causes the cold sensitivity in my hands and mouth. The doctor thought that that particular part of the treatment might be messing with the nerves in my legs so he stopped it at least for the next two weeks so we can see of there's any improvement.

So enough about that. On to some stuff that's more fun to talk about it. We recently celebrated Shane's graduation and open house last Sunday. It went very well. There were lots of people at the open house and everyone seemed to have a good time. Despite mine and Kelly's skepticism regarding the jerky bar that Shane wanted, it went over extremely well. Lots of people were up there sampling all the different kinds that we had and everyone seemed to like it. We also had an ice cream bar that didn't go over quite as well. We probably have 50 small containers of vanilla and chocolate ice cream in our freezer. So if you'd like a bite of ice cream or two, come see us. We might even throw in some chocolate or caramel topping. Shane also did well at the graduation. One of the benefits of a small school ceremony like that is that you get to hear some more about an individual graduate than simply his or her name as they walk across the stage. One of the things that Brimley does is announce all the scholarships won by the seniors. Shane did pretty well here, laying claim to five of them. They came all at once, so it seemed like he was just walking off the stage with one in his hand and walking right back around to the entry stairs to head up and claim another one.

Callie finished her softball season off with quite a bang. In their final game of the season, she came up to bat with runners on first and second while trailing 7-5. She hit a double, driving in both runners to tie the game. After going to third on a pass ball, she scored by stealing home on another pass ball. For those of you who know Callie, you understand what a big deal it was for her to take off for home and slide to score the winning run.

Andrew has got himself a job at a new restaurant in town and will start on June 10 or 11^th. He is pretty excited about it and I am too. It will be a big challenge for him because it's a lot of stuff that he's never had to do before. It will be his first real step towards real responsibility and I hope he rises to the occasion.

Sydney has officially moved in with her grandparents in Clare and is working at the Doherty Hotel. She is planning on taking a statistics class that will allow her to attend Saginaw Valley in the fall and continue to pursue her nursing career.

This leaves us with Abbie Church. She is very disappointed that all her brothers and sisters are now done with school and she still has to go for another week. It is a very unfair and unjust world that we live in in her point of view. She got to go to an indoor water park in Mackinaw City the other day and had a great time. We went to the VFW Hall for a fish fry and Kelly, Abbie and I had a great time eating and laughing together.

These are the life events that I'd like to keep people up to date on and not stupid cancer or chemotherapy. In another month, I'll be able to do that. I have maintained all along that I'm going to beat this thing and continue to live my life. I am close to accomplishing that goal and being able to truly enjoy the things that are important to me. Twenty-four more days, two more treatments, and one victory.

I Will Win

Five down, three to go

On Tuesday, I had the fifth of my eight treatments and this one has been the hardest so far. Of course, I guess that should be expected as I was warned early on that the effects of this would be cumulative. I went to bed last night (Wednesday) at about 11:30 pm and slept until roughly 1:30 pm on Thursday afternoon. I made my way upstairs and sat down on the couch and promptly fell back asleep until 3 pm. The cold thing is also getting a little harder to manage. Kelly and I went to Shane's baseball game in Alanson on Wednesday afternoon and although I was ok at first, by the beginning of the second game, I was headed to the car for another sweatshirt and some gloves. I ended up watching the last couple innings from the car with the heater on. So of course, our weather forecast for the next couple days is low 40s with the possibility of some snow mixed in with the rain.

Even though I'm a little bummed about the effects worsening, I'm also a little excited that the number of treatments left is down to three. I can't explain why, but that number seems so much closer to the finish line than four did.

I got the pump off just about an hour ago, and that makes me feel better too. It's always a relief to get that thing off me. It doesn't really limit what I can do, but it makes it a lot harder to do it. I can't even tell you how many times that the tubing has gotten caught on stuff and jerks on that needle in my chest.

It's been a little bit since I've posted anything as I've been sticking to putting stuff up shortly after treatment days. Since my last post, my step-daughter Sydney has graduated from Ancilla College and has settled in at her grandparents house in Clare. She has a job and is going to be taking a statistics class so that she can enroll at Saginaw Valley State to finish her nursing education. Very proud of her. When Kelly went down to graduation, I had to stay home because I couldn't get the time off work. I had something funny happen while Kelly was gone, although I promise you, I didn't think it was funny at the time.

I always let the dogs out before I go to bed or get ready for work. When I let them in, I'm usually in my underwear because Bear (St. Bernard) likes to get hair all over my work clothes when he comes in. This night was no exception. I went to the door to let them in and I was wearing a t-shirt, underwear and a pair of slippers. Joey came right in and I waited a second for the big boy to make his way to the door. I knew there was going to be trouble when I heard him barking up by the back deck. He had gotten himself wrapped around the base of a small shrub. We put him out on a cord connected to a stake in the back yard because he thinks that he should be able to do whatever he wants while he's out there, including visiting all the neighbors while suddenly becoming deaf to all calls of “get back here.”

So he has the cord wrapped around the shrub and it's cold and rainy outside. I stomp up to the back deck which means I have to go up a muddy hill to get there. I see that he's not just wrapped up once or twice, but about six times. I get him to go around it backwards twice to get a little slack in the cord, but then he's done. My legs are not at full strength right now and that makes dealing with Bear that much more difficult. So, I'm thinking I'm just going to unhook him and keep ahold of his collar and we'll just go right up the steps of the back deck and in that door. Not ideal because of the mud that's going to get in the kitchen and dining room, but better than trying to bully him back down to the basement door where we both came out of.

While I'm reaching to unhook him, our neighbor's dog barks. This is bad news for me because Rex is a Golden Retriever who Bear goes over to play with now and then. Bear loves to go over there and whenever the dogs are outside at the same time, there is a huge barkfest that goes on as the dogs try to get a look at each other. Bear barks once and then bolts in Rex's direction. I look down and realize that my foot is in a loop in the cord. I know that I'm going to get jerked off my feet and that I'll never be able to get my foot out of that loop in time. Sure enough, I feel the cord bite into my leg and the next thing I know, I'm laying in the mud in my t-shirt and underwear. Meanwhile, Bear is pulling on the cord which is causing my foot to try and separate from my leg. I created new swear words that night and I'm glad that my mom and grandma weren't around because I called that dog every curse word I've ever heard in my life. I finally got him under control enough to get my foot out of the cord and then I realized I was going to have to unhook him in order to unwrap the cord from the shrub. I let him off the cord and he bolts for the neighbor's house. I finally convinced him to come back about 5 minutes later. I had to change my under clothes and get in the shower again. The worst part of the whole thing was that I got pretty cold rolling around in the mud and my hands were so cold that night that I couldn't button my shirt or tie my shoes so I drove out to work with my hands in front of the heater. By the time I got out to the prison, I was able to get things buttoned and tied.

Of the many things that I don't like about having cancer, is hearing about everyone else that has it. I know how that sounds, but that's not how I mean it. It's bad enough that anyone has it, but then you start hearing about so many other people that have it or have had it and the numbers can quickly get staggering. I have heard countless tales from people or about people since I was diagnosed and it makes me wonder if everyone is destined to get it at some point? I mean, just in the last two weeks, I know someone who has died from cancer, someone who was diagnosed and had emergency surgery to remove it on the same day, someone who's family thought their father was clear of it and instead found out it had spread, and someone who is worrying like hell waiting on the results of a biopsy. I have been thinking about all of them over the past few days and hoping for the best for each of them and their families.

But where does it end? Will we ever discover a cure? We've been to the moon, we have vaccinations for diseases that killed hundreds of thousands of people in the middle ages. Why is this particular one so elusive in terms of a cure or a preventative measure? I'm tired of dealing with cancer and its effects, and I'm tired of hearing about cancer touching the lives of people I know.

I Will Win

Halfway Home

Tuesday was sort of a milestone day in terms of the chemotherapy treatments I’ve been getting. It was treatment number 4 which means I’m halfway done. Four more to go, one more surgery after that, and then it’s done. All done.

Things are still going ok as far as the side effects go. My hands are definitely more sensitive to the cold than they were when I started and grabbing something cold is about the same as getting a low level electrical shock. That’s definitely the worst part of it right now. The nausea comes and goes, but I’ve got medication I can take for that and for the most part, it hasn’t given me any trouble. The effects last for 2-4 days after I get the pump unhooked and then it’s been fine after that. That could change as the treatments progress, but I hope not. I can’t even tell you the number of times already that I’ve forgotten that I’m not supposed to touch cold stuff and end up throwing down whatever thing I’ve just picked up. Some good examples include a boot full of snow, a can of frozen apple juice, a ball for our trailer hitch, and a cold can of pop.

I did something a couple days ago that I hadn’t done since before the surgery. The snow has been receding in the driveway and that cleared off the basketball court enough for me to get a ball and shoot a few times. Nothing outside the range of about five feet, but enough to remind me that it’s fun and I’d like to get back to the point where I can do it on a regular basis. When I was in my early 20s, and maybe even in my late teens, that’s all I did was play basketball. Softball too, but basketball was my favorite. Bob Gulick and I played together when we started. Neither of my brothers was old enough to play in a league at the time, so it was just Bob and I. I had previously played for my uncle’s team and was ready for a change just because there were a lot of guys on that team and Bob and I wanted to be somewhere where we could play together.

This meant signing on to play with the Hen House out of St. Helen at first. They were a good group of guys, but we weren’t a very good basketball team. Bob and I were of the mind that since we were probably the two best players on the team, that we should be on the floor the majority of the time. The other guys didn’t see it that way. Hell, I’m not even sure that they agreed with our assessment that we were the two best players on the team. Actually, I’m sure that most of them did not share that view. Our time there did not last long.

One thing that I need to mention at this point in my story is that there is no person that I enjoyed playing with more than Bob. The reason is simple. I like to shoot the ball. I make no secret about it and I do not apologize for it. Bob knew this about me and still enjoyed playing with me. I have played with a lot of other guards over my years, and I have never had a backcourt mate more in tune with where and when I wanted the ball. We played together enough that he was just able see the play unfold the same way I did and he just knew where I was going to go and when to make the pass. Of course, every shooter needs a conscience, and while I didn’t have one of my own, I had Bob. He would pull me aside from time to time and tell me to get so and so the ball, or tell me that someone needs a touch down low. I knew that if Bob was telling me this, I had better listen just because he had a better sense of that stuff than I did.

And please don’t think that I’m saying that I’m some kind of all-star. I loved playing and I was pretty good, but I have played with and against a ton of guys way better than me.

One thing that I had going for me as a player was the fact that I was overweight and people took one look at me and decided that I wasn’t going to be any good, so I always got the worst defender that the other team had to offer until they figured out that fat didn’t necessarily mean slow and terrible.

A really good story about this happened when I was in my mid-30s. I was playing in a charity game at the high school in Sault Ste. Marie and I had invited my youngest brother Clay up to play with us. He came and we had a great time playing together. After the game, we were sitting on the bottom row of the bleachers changing our shoes and putting on sweats and such and getting ready to go. An older man and his wife were making their way down the bleachers and stopped in front of Clay and I and started talking to us.

“You are proof positive that you can’t judge a book by its cover,” the woman said. “You sure don’t look fast, but there you were, dribbling the ball all over the place and you looked pretty fast doing that.” I said thank-you and they went on their way. A few minutes later, when Clay could draw breath again, he managed to sputter “the fat guy can play. That’s what they just said, the fat guy can play.” Someday, I may forgive Clay for laughing as hard as he did over that, but not just yet.

Truth be told, it was pretty funny.

But my glory days as a basketball player definitely came in the Houghton Lake Men’s League. When Graham was old enough to play, we (me, Graham, and Bob) started putting our own team in the league with guys that we picked ourselves. And I have to be honest, I can’t even remember who was on that team, so if you read this and were on that team, please let me know. If you were on it, you should have a horrific looking purple t-shirt with a gold number on it. From there, Glen’s sponsored us for a few years and we began to pick up some of our core players. I’m going to rattle off some names that I remember playing with us, and I know that I’m going to forget some of them. If you played with us and I didn’t mention you, please message me so that I can edit this post and add you.

I know that Josh Arleth and Erick Haight played with us pretty much from the very beginning and I’m pretty sure Matt Brunt did too. Matt was a lot of fun to play with and he fit our style really well. We were the mouthiest team in the league for a period of about 8 years. Matt was very talkative on the court, but I don’t ever remember him getting teed up. A little later, we added Scott Szotko, who was an extremely good basketball player. He also fit our “talkative” style very well, especially in getting under the other team’s skin. When Clay was old enough to play, that added a whole new pool of players to our fold. The bruise brothers, Dave Jones and Jeff Mallets were lots of fun to have around and were just a brawl waiting to happen, and Craig Lavigne was another guy who came with Clay. He was a good player, but was quiet. I think he and Josh Arleth were the two quietest guys to ever play on our team.

We also had a guy named Doug Ryckman for a year, and what a year it was. We beat the perennial league champion that year with him and in that game was one of my favorite moments ever in that league. Matt Brunt gets the ball and takes a turn-around jump shot from the right elbow. Even before the ball is halfway there, he turns to the guy guarding him and says in this sing-song voice, “Eat it.” We laughed so hard over that after the game that our stomachs all hurt. That quote will live on for as long as I do.

We were the second-worst behaved team in that league for all our years in it, second to the Limberlost. The reason I say that is because we limited our behavior to verbal outbursts, and it was usually directed at the officials, not other players, although this was not always the case. The Limberlost group was maybe the dirtiest team I’ve ever played against in any league I’ve ever been in. The usual rule is that you respect the fact that guys have to get up the next day and go to their job and you don’t do anything that would jeopardize that. Not so with these guys. It wasn’t all of them, but there were definitely two or three of them that were more than a little crazy. If you were driving in for a layup, you wanted to have a good idea as to where they were in relation to your path to the basket. And if you knew you were playing the Limberlost on a given day, you made sure that your insurance premiums were paid up.

We were a way different team than that. We were cocky, arrogant, and to be honest, pretty damned good. Other teams didn’t necessarily like us, but it wasn’t because they were scared of us. We just had a good time playing together and had fun out there.

I still keep in contact with a good number of guys who played on our basketball team and would like to hear from you if I didn’t mention you in this blog.

I could go on for pages and pages about our team and our exploits in that league, but I will leave out the Graham Church abuse of the garbage cans in the hallway and some of my own tantrums that would be embarrassing to mention.

I Will Win