We were the champions! + An offer you can't refuse + Poking good-natured fun at?

Whimsy on Wednesday 

A Fond Reminiscence

Kudo's to Mike Flandermeyer, SPCH '71 classmate & former teammate, for sending an email to refresh our memories of the 45th anniversary of our St. Paul Saints stunning Regional Basketball Championship on 2/25/71. I say stunning, because we entered the regional with a 10-14 record. You might say that expectations were underwhelming. *
      As I remember it, our opening game was postponed 1 day due to bad weather. I do not remember our opponent, but I imagine they must have been favored over us, due to our losing record. I definitely remember our 2nd opponent, St. Mary's Catholic out of Kansas City. They were not only seeded #1, they were ranked #1 in state, & we had to play them the very next night.
      And we beat them by ten points. **
      Next up was Slater, who probably would have been seeded #4, & we knocked them off. The following night we knocked off #2-seeded Stet(?) to win the championship.
      Later that evening I remember riding around the quad in David Ingwerson's jalopy with a car full of players . . . & Mr. Gove. We were driving around the quad backwards . . . honking the horn . . . probably driving a little faster than the speed limit . . . and over by the dining hall we got stopped by Mr. Borgelt, who gave us a good talking to. We did our best to screen him from seeing our beloved basketball coach, who was riding in the back seat.
      The regional championship also felt like somewhat of a vindication for me. Not just because we won four games during the course of that week, & not just because we knocked off 4 seeded teams, including the #1 ranked team in state. At our last regular season game played in the Concordia Public High School Gym (the site of the regional tournament), I fouled out, & get whistled for a T, in front of my dad & mom, & many members of St. Paul's Lutheran, my home congregation . . . not one of my finer moments. ***
*If any former teammates are reading this--or any other eyewitnesses for that matter--& have reason to correct my faulty memories, by all means jump right in!
** I think we won all four of our games in the regional by 10 or more points.
*** Post-script:  I wish I could tell you that the happy story continued, but it did not. We lost our next post-season game by 2 points. We were very distraught. I woke up the next morning w/a splitting headache, & my parents actually let me sleep in . . . a luxury that my dorm buddies undoubtedly did not share. ****
**** No hard feelings, right? Right?!

Migrations

About a year ago in March I ventured west to observe the annual sandhill crane migration. March is the time when Sandhill Cranes make their annual stopover in the Platte River "valley" in Central Nebraska. It's part of their migration route north into Canada. This is a big deal in Nebraska. We're talking thousands of sandhill cranes, & a year ago in March I made a day trip to the Grand island-Kearney area to do some sight-seeing. It is a remarkable sight . . . corn fields filled with hundreds of sandhill cranes, who have quite a raucous call, plus the sight of cranes swooping to & from their flocks.
     This time of year, besides our usual migration of geese heading north, we also get flocks of snow geese . . . also very impressive, especially when the sun hits them, turning their V-formations into brilliantly gleaming white & silver flights. They, too, have quite a raucous call. Sometimes, if they fly overhead while I'm walking Sammy, they make enough noise to cause him to look skyward when I stop to take in the sight. *
* I realize our sandhill cranes & snow geese probably aren't quite the thrill for you whale migration snobs. **
** And I mean that affectionately. ***
*** I was at San Juan Capistrano one spring, making a side trip while attending either an ALSS Conference or ALSS Heartland Conference, but I had just missed the swallows returning. At least that's what the waitress told me at the restaurant where I enjoyed a delicious seafood omelette. ****
**** But I can't always remember the password for my blog!

More Whimsy

From Omaha World Herald (2/26/16):  "How much would you pay for a few strands of celebrity hair? The haircut was like any other. John Lennon was preparing for his role as Gripweed in the film 'How I Won the War.' The performance was memorable. So, too, was the coif. But on SAT, nearly 50 yrs after it was chopped from head, Lennon's lock of hair sold for $35,000. The clipping garnered triple the amount Dallas auctioneers expected it to sell for. The hair was in high demand by professional hair collectors . . . " [Here's a thought . . . I will send you a lock of my hair--while it's still available--for only $35. True, I'm nowhere close to the celebrity status of John Lennon, but just think . . . one day I might, just might, achieve celebrity status, & you would have in your possession a lock of my hair! If the clipping appreciates in value X 3, you will earn a nifty profit of $70, right? * I would be satisfied to sell a mere 100 clippings of my hair & gain a modest yet gratifying sum of $3,500. **
* Always keep in mind that I am a math major.
** That's assuming that 100 clippings are possible, so act fast while supplies last!

From Readers' Digest (Sep 2015) "36 Favorite Facts That Are False:"

• "Don't Eat & Swim. This doesn't increase the risk of cramps; alcohol is the biggest risk increaser. But a full stomach will make you short of breath. [How many precious minutes of time in the pool did we lose because of this "old wives' tale?]
• "Left & Right Brain. There's no solid division between the talents of each hemisphere; the left brain can learn 'right-brain skills' & vice versa. [I have consistently tested as more right-brained than left-brained since I started taking those tests in the late 80s or early 90s. I suspect that this so-called "Fact That Is False" is being proposed by a jealous left-brainer.]

Political TUE . . . Special WED Edition

From Cal Thomas' column in OWH (2/26): "Biggest reality show of all has a dose of unreality . . . Writing in the Harvard Business Review in 2012, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, the CEO of Hogan Assessment Systems, a professor of business psychology at University College London & a faculty member @ Columbia University, warns about 'The Dark Side of Charisma.''
      "Noting that 'the short-term benefits of charisma are often neutralized by its long-term consequences,' he lists 4 reasons for resisting it:

1. "'Charisma often dilutes judgment,'
2. "It is 'addictive,'
3. "It 'disguises psychopaths' & and it
4. "Fosters collective narcissism.'"

"Despite the dangers, he says, 'the dark side of charm is often over-looked.'
      "Before the rise of [he-who-shall-not-be-named], one could point to President Barack Obama as a recent example of the phenomenon . . . A characteristic of [he-who-shall-not-be-named]'s followers appears to be their determination to ignore any evidence that would challenge their faith. When I've questioned [Ditto]'s reality-show style, I've received messages on social media calling me a 'sack of (excrement),' a member of the 'establishment,' & 'old,' which is the unkindest cut of all." [As I always do, I maintain a strict policy of non-partisanship in most * of my political pandering.]
* Little **
** Virtually none

Mental Health MON . . . Special WED Edition

Reasons for Anxiety?

• Taglines from Drudge Report (2/26/16): 
• "CARSON:  After I Spoke Out Against Obamacare, I Was Audited . . . [Uh-oh]
• "SHARPTON WILL FLEE IF TRUMP WINS . . . [Be careful what you pray for.]
• "130,000 MIGRANTS VANISH IN GERMANY . . . " [According to my crack team of political advisors, most of these migrants have been voting in Democrat primaries for "she-who-shall-not-be-named."]

There Is No Place Like . . . 

Colorado?

Also from OWH (2/25):  "Tourists troubled by the Rocky Mountain high. Colorado's tourists aren't just buying weed now that it's legal--they're ending up in emergency rooms at rates far higher than residents, according to a new report . . . The rate went from 85 per 10,000 visits in 2013 to 168 per 10,000 visits in 2014 . . . Among CO resident emergency-room patients, 106 per 10,000 visits complained of marijuana-related ailments in 2013, & 112 per 10,000 visits complained of marijuana-related ailments in 2014." [How many visited the ER & did NOT complain? I'm just sayin'.]

Hawaii? South Dakota!

From Norfolk Daily News (2/24)/16:  "Need sleep? Cross Hawaii off travel list. Tired of hearing that more than a third of U.S. adults don't get enough sleep? Here's something new: a government report about which states get the most sack time. 
      "South Dakota has the largest proportion of residents who get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. Hawaii--often thought of as a peaceful vacation spot--has the lowest."  [I don't remember ever having much trouble sleeping when we lived in Hawaii, but maybe sleep deprivation resulted in memory loss.] *
* And those of you who, like me, are familiar with driving along I-90 for that long stretch between Sioux Falls & a little east of the Black Hills will agree that it's pretty easy to doze along those miles. **
** Except for the country around Chamberlain. That's pretty scenic, even if it only lasts for 5 minutes.

Iowa?

Also from OWH (2/27):  "Students accused of using '[he-who-shall-not-be-named]!' chant to insult rival hoops team. A group of high schoolers was admonished this week for seemingly using GOP presidential candidate [he-who-shall not-be-named]'s name as a racial insult during a boys' BB game on MON. The incident occurred during a playoff game between Dallas Center-Grimes in W. De Moines, a largely white school, & Perry, a more diverse school north of Des Moines . . . roughly a dozen students chanted [he-who-shall-not-be-named]'s name after their team lost to Perry 57-50 . . . 'One of our administrators knew right away that it would be offensive because Perry has a high minority population,' White [AD at Dallas Center-Grimes] said." [Again, I am bending over backwards to be non-partisan with these excerpts, & I studiously avoided, AVOIDED, I tell you, any excerpts from today's newspapers re:  the results of the Super TUE primaries.]

Nebraska!

Also from OWH (2/28):  "Spring things to ponder." What followed was a full page about Husker football in the Sunday sports section, which include summaries of:

• "Five players to watch (Cethan Carter, David Knevel, Tommy Armstrong, Marcus Newby, Freedom Akinmoladun);
• "Five position battles (Offensive line, including 10 players; Defensive line, including 13 players; Back-up quarterback, including 4 players; Linebacker, including 8 players; & Safety, including 6 players; and last but not least . . . 
• Five Questions, including (a) Will the defense defend the pass better? (b) Who emerges at running back? (c) Does Mike Riley have the ears--all of them--of the current roster? (d) Which walk-ons emerge? (e) Is Tommy Armstrong ready to take the final step?

[And did I mention that this full-page feature was in the Feb. 28 edition of the Omaha World Herald?]