Baseball and Football

It's always fun to watch our kids and grand kids play sports. It's especially fun to watch them when they are excellent athletes and the best players on their respective teams. That was the case yesterday when we first watched Jason (George and Cheryl's grandson and Brian and Amy's son) play in a baseball tournament in Peoria, AZ. The tournament started yesterday with "pool" play, and Jason's team won both of their first games. The first game was won 15-2 and was called early as a result of the "mercy" rule when one team is so much better than another and it saves embarrassment for the inferior team. The second game was won 8-6 and really wasn't that close except the pitcher on Jason's team was a little wild in the early innings which allowed more base runners than normal. Jason was very impressive in both games and these shots show him in different stages of the game. Starting with the on-deck circle where he was waiting to go to the plate:

and then at the plate where he is the team''s leading hitter:

In the field, where he played third base in the first game and the outfield in the second game:

Their first real tournament match-up is today at 4 PM and we're sure they will go far, if not win the whole thing.

Since our visit with Josie's brother hasn't come together yet, we discovered that there was an RV show at the Peoria Sports complex that was running for an entire week. We are always game for RV shows , not to look to buy one, but to see the changes that are being made:

This was a show sponsored by a single, local RV dealer - McMahon's - and it was essentially a waste of time. We no sooner got in the gate when we were attacked by sales people and we could not walk anywhere within the lot without having a sales person attack us as soon as we got close. It seemed like there was one sales person for each rig in the show. We couldn't stand it, so we left after about a half hour. That's exactly the reason that Josie refuses to go to any car dealership. So, unless or until we are ready to buy either an RV or a car, I will probably be going to the dealers alone.

The second game of the day was, of course, Austin's big game against Neuqua Valley in Naperville. The bubble has burst on his teams' season as they lost, 23-20, on a field goal made by Neuqua with 6 seconds left in the game. They started out out in the first period as though they were going to mop the field with Neuqua and led 14-0 after the first quarter. Neuqua settled down and played a terrific game the rest of the way. Austin did well even though Neuqua keyed on him the whole game. He finished with 141 yards on 30 carries and 1 TD. His counterpart on Neuqua, and good friend, Joey Rhattigan, had a career game for his team and Waubonsie just could not figure out how to stop him.

Austin and his team had a memorable season. Austin has set records for the school that will take years to be broken, if ever. We are so proud of him and know that he is very disappointed and sad that his season has ended. Austin will be getting some nice offers from colleges and he will have some tough decisions ahead. No matter what he decides, we will all be supporting him and rooting for him...