Day: June 17, 2024

Father’s Day came at the right moment. After three very busy days preceding it, Sunday was a nice day to relax and not have to be anywhere. S got us donuts for breakfast. We had my in-laws over for dinner, eating some carry-out barbecue. I received a Solo fire pit as a combo Father’s Day/birthday gift. Based on the forecast, I might get to use it sometime in 2025. L and I played two rounds of Cornhole; we started a summer-long competition last week and I currently lead 3–0. These are best of three matches and I’ve been lucky to win two of those, so really anyone’s ballgame at this point.

The only bummer was our pool has developed an issue – some kind of algae – that required me to pour 14 gallons of liquid chlorine into it Thursday evening. If you don’t own a pool, that’s a lot. So much that it made the water too toxic to swim in while it hopefully does its magic and kills off whatever had been eating the chlorine. Fingers crossed it will get back to normal this week, although now the water temp has creeped up and it’s not super refreshing.

Donuts With Dad

Friday morning I attended a Donuts With Dad breakfast for one of my nephews at his daycare. K is one of the two boys my sister-in-law A has adopted on her own. I did the same thing for his big brother M three years ago.

These events are fun because 1) a bunch of dads at a daycare is always a little awkward and 2) K and M are both Black, and they attend a Black-owned daycare that has only Black kids. A few things made me chuckle, and I hope everyone understands I offer these observations with respect for the folks running the facility, love for my nephews, and am mostly making fun of myself.

When I arrived the owner’s husband greeted me at the door. I’m not sure if he got the memo I would be coming because he paused for a moment before letting me in until I introduced myself. Then he was super friendly and thanked me for coming. A few minutes later his wife walked through the room and greeted me by saying, “I remember you,” as she passed by.

That made me laugh to myself. Guessing there aren’t a lot of other relatives like me who come in for special days.

The other dads, grandfathers, uncles rolled in and we sat in stilted silence. I would imagine any of them who pick up their kids/grandkids from the center know my sister-in-law, so weren’t surprised to see a white dude there. But I’m sure a few were curious about my presence.

Before they brought the children over, the owner’s five-year-old wandered in. It was his graduation day and he was dressed up for the occasion. His father asked him, “Have you said hello to the brothers?” The kid then made a circuit around the room, shaking everyone’s hand. He didn’t seem fazed by me and said “Good morning,” as he shook my hand. In my head I was again laughing at the prospect of him skipping me because I wasn’t a brother.

Again, more making fun of myself than my hosts.

K eventually came in and handed me a card he had colored. He looked super tired and not into the events. That’s standard for him. We jokingly say he’s an 80-year-old man trapped in a four-year-old’s body. He gave me a hug and stood next to me silently. I tried a number of questions that he answered sleepily without much enthusiasm. Until I asked him if he heard the storms overnight. That got him going and he told me all about how he heard the thunder, how he stayed in his bed (he did not), how he never goes into his mom’s room (he always goes in there), and on and one. He didn’t stop talking until I left.

The owner’s husband gave a nice little speech about the importance of father figures. He asked us all to say something about what parenthood means to us. The kid ate donuts and ate orange juice.

K and his family stopped by our house Sunday and he was still talking about the orange juice, so it must have been the good stuff. Or maybe my sister-in-law just never gets OJ.

Kid Hoops

L had six games in three days last week.

In the Thursday summer league, CHS played both Lawrence North, who should be a top five team this fall, and Lawrence Central, who went 30–1 last year, won state, and return just about everyone.[1]

There was a rising senior showcase elsewhere in town, so most of the teams were missing their best upperclassmen. LN did not have their stud point guard, but had a perfectly acceptable replacement and most of the rest of their team. We closed the first half on a little 4–0 run and went to halftime down seven. The dad I was sitting with and I felt pretty good about things. Then our girls gave up a 23–1 run in the third quarter. We ended up losing by 23, but fought hard to get it from 32 to 23 in the closing minutes. I thought our girls played hard but were just up against a much better team. L actually felt pretty good after this game.

LC was basically playing their JV. Their best player, who was the Indiana Gatorade player of the year as a junior, and her younger sister were both sitting and watching in street clothes. None of their other varsity starters were even in the building. We started up 11–4 but got sloppy and led by just two at half. The second half was back-and-forth. We trailed by six, got it to two, missed three chances to tie or take the lead in the last 19 seconds, and lost by two. A game we should have won. Even if it was a team full of sophomores and freshmen, it would have been cool to beat the defending state champs.

I don’t think L scored against LN; she had four against LC. She started both games, but two senior starters were gone for either the senior showcase or soccer.

Friday and Saturday we played in a team showcase that college coaches could attend. We saw one coach from Purdue but most were from smaller D1 or lower level schools.

Friday we played a tough 4A team from Fort Wayne. They had two long, athletic wings, a tall shooter, and a 5’11”-ish center who was a joy to watch because of her footwork. They worked us over pretty good and won by 18. L scored four.

Game two was against Jennings County, who just sent a girl to Michigan State but return a very good junior who scored 20+ on us last year. I bet she scored close to 30 Friday. It was actually a really good game. We trailed by nine multiple times but tied it with about three minutes left. L got a rebound, went full court, juked a defender, and then put her floater off the back of the rim. We never had another chance to take the lead and lost by nine, L scoring five.

Saturday the matchups were a little better. We played a semi-rural 3A team to start. Neither team scored for the first four minutes of the game. From there we went on a 33–5 run. We were super sloppy in the second half and only scored like 10 points, but only gave up eight or nine so it was a super comfortable win. L had five.

Our final game was against Norwell, who lost by three in the 3A state title game last spring. They lost seven seniors but were still stacked. They trapped everything, every player was lanky and athletic and aggressive, and they gave us fits for the first two, two-and-a-half quarters of the game. We trailed by eight in the fourth quarter before we finally figured out their pressure and used a 17–2 run to take the lead. We ended up winning by three. Really good way to end a long week. L didn’t play as much in this game because the pressure really bothered her, hitting one long 2 in the first half.

I think the team got better. The coach is figuring some things out about the lineup. I could probably guess our starting lineup and rotation if the real season started this week. I think L would be the first or second person off the bench, depending on what we needed and who the opponent is. She’s also seen what she needs to work on to make sure she gets those minutes after playing against older, bigger, stronger girls for three consecutive days.

US Open

Ugh. I’m glad our dinner with the in-laws coincided with the final 7–8 holes Sunday. Although I did walk in to see Rory McIlroy miss his short putt on 18 that cost him a chance at a playoff. I didn’t realize at the time he had missed a shorter put two holes earlier. Gutting.

I don’t like Bryson, I don’t buy that he’s changed, and some of the clearly PR flack cleared nonsense he was spouting after his win directly contradicts things he’s said before. And it’s patently ridiculous for a grown-ass man to wear the idiotic LIV team logo he has plastered on all his gear. Even with Rory’s meltdown and his disappointing avoidance of the media after, I will perpetually be Team Roars over anyone who has taken the Saudi blood money and claims, with a straight face, to have done so to “grow the game.” Especially when it’s a meathead like Bryson, who has a genuine, amazing gift for golf, but is equally off-putting in his personality and comments. Glad I only watch golf four times a year anymore.