NARCh – Day 1

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The Devil Dogs played two round-robin games on Day 1 . . .

Game 1 – Mission Black Ice 93

Black Ice is from New York. They’re a great team. Best 16-and-under team I’ve ever seen. In fact, they’re better than any 18-and-under team I’ve ever seen. What a juggernaut!

The Devil Dog kids looked nervous. They looked tight. They didn’t handle the puck cleanly.

Black Ice was ahead 3-0 after the first period. The Dogs tightened things up and played a scoreless second period.

I wanted to say something encouraging to my boy after the game. “You played them even the second period,” I said.

“No we didn’t,” he replied.

“Well . . . on the scoreboard you did.”

Final Score: Black Ice 3, Devil Dogs 0

 

Game 2 – Colorado Kodiaks

The Dogs matched up better physically with the Kodiaks than with Black Ice although the Kodiaks also had some incredibly fast players.

The Kodiaks went ahead 2-1 with about three minutes left in the game when a player tipped in a shot in front of the net.

The shot was high. Sean, the Devil Dog goalie, thought it was too high — you’re not allowed to tip a shot that’s above the crossbar — but the referee disagreed.

Sean was mad. He took a swing at the puck like he wanted to fling it into outer space, whiffed it, and smacked the referee in the foot.

Normally when you smack a referee with your stick, you’re going to get a penalty. The ref stared at him for a long time, told him to calm down, but didn’t call the penalty.

Thanks, ref!

A couple of minutes later, with less than a minute left in the game, the Dogs scored a late goal to tie the game.

Final Score: Devil Dogs 2, Kodiaks 2

 

Day 1 Wrapup

Black Ice played their second game against The Gong Show, the best team in Northern California. Black Ice won 10-2.

The Kodiaks played their second game against another California team, Mission Axiom, winning 6-1.

The Devil Dogs are playing Platinum for the first time and didn’t get a lot of respect in the draw.

Based on Day 1 results, it looks like the best teams in the division are Black Ice, Kodiaks and Mississauga Mission Rattlers. The Dogs played two of those teams already and their next game is against the Rattlers.

I think the Dogs are pretty obviously better than The Gong Show and Mission Axiom, but they’re not going to play either of those teams.

They should make the playoff round if they win their final two round robin games but that is not going to be easy . . .

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A Bad Start

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The tournament is off to a bad start and the boys haven’t even taken the rink yet.

One boy showed up yesterday with a 103 fever. I’m hearing this morning that his parents took him to urgent care. Nobody knows right now if he’s going to be able to play.

Hang on, it gets worse.

I don’t know who knows it yet but another boy went home late last night. His mom, who wasn’t at the tournament, died in her sleep. She wasn’t the healthiest person but she was about the same age as I am and wasn’t expected to die.

I heard about it this morning from one of the other dads, who’s a friend of their family. He heard about it last night when the boy’s dad woke him up with a phone call.

My son doesn’t know about it yet. He’s still asleep.

I’m trying to think if any of his friends have lost a parent before. I can’t think of anyone.

I wish my wife was here. She’s 10 times better than me at dealing with people and situations. She’d do and say the right things without even having to think about it.

What a shock. Rest in peace.

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Hazing

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My son’s a high school senior. He’s been playing in a basketball summer league with the school team.

When we hear about the Dez Bryant hazing story on the car radio, he says, “We made Norman [a sophomore] put our dishes away at the San Diego tournament.”

“Why him?” I ask.

“He talks a lot. Pierce [a freshman] is quiet.”

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Leaving Tomorrow for NARCh

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We’re heading out tomorrow morning for NARCh in San Jose — the grand finale, end-of-the-season roller hockey tournament.

The tournament’s actually been going on for a week and a half but Casey’s division — Bantam Platinum — doesn’t start till Tuesday. Bantam is the 16-and-under division, with a DOB cutoff date of December 31, so this season’s Bantam players are kids born in 1993 or 1994.

The Platinum division is the AAA division. Most tournaments call the skill divisions A, AA and AAA, but NARCh calls them Silver, Gold and Platinum. So Bantam Platinum is 16-and-under AAA.

 

In order to play at the NARCh final, your team has to play in a regional qualifying tournament. Based on your results in the qualifier, the tournament committee either assigns you to the Silver, Gold or Platinum division, or — if it’s a close call — they assign you to two divisions and let you pick which one you want to play in.

That’s what happened with Casey’s team, Revision Devil Dogs. They seeded Platinum/Gold in the qualifier and elected to play Platinum. Three other Bantam teams at the Irvine regional also seeded Platinum/Gold and they all elected to play Gold.

Since the Bantam Gold division played last week, we already know how those three teams fared:

  • AKS 93 – Eliminated in the round-robin competition.
  • Reebok Jr. Ducks Eschelon – Seeded third after round-robin games. Lost in the quarterfinals.
  • Tour Raw Steel 94 OG – Seeded seventh. Won the tournament in a 1-0 final vs. Tour Outcasts 94, an Arizona team.
 

Should the Devil Dogs have elected to play Gold instead of Platinum?

I have to say I’ve never heard of a team seeding Platinum/Gold and deciding to play Platinum. The obvious line of thinking is “Let’s play Gold because we’ll have a better chance of winning.”

But that logic is being employed at regional qualifiers all over the U.S. and Canada. Most teams don’t want to play Platinum if they can play Gold instead.

So the Gold division is easier to win than Platinum but you’re still going to have to beat out a lot of good teams that could have played Platinum but didn’t. If you think you’re just going to show up and collect your medal, you’re wrong.

I think the Devil Dog kids are making the right decision.

They’ve come to a fork in the road. They can stay where they’re at and be AA players forever or they can challenge themselves to compete at the highest level of their sport, even if they don’t light the Platinum division on fire the first time they show up to play it.

 

It’s an honor to play Platinum.

“It’s not an honor if we get killed every game,” Casey says.

He already knows that Raw Steel won the Bantam Gold division and that Raw Steel and Devil Dogs are pretty equal teams. (The Devil Dogs lost the finals of the Irvine qualifier to Raw Steel in overtime, 2-1.)

“We could have won Bantam Gold,” he says.

“You could have won it,” I reply, “but that doesn’t mean you would have won it. Raw Steel seeded seventh so there were at least six other teams in there that had just as good a chance to win it.”

“We would have won it,” he says. Now he’s trying to be funny.

 

I’ve got my fingers crossed for these kids. I think (hope) they’re capable of being competitive and maybe stealing a game or two . . .

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Pat Haden

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Pat Haden

Patrick C. Haden, acclaimed civic and business leader and USC alumnus, will become new athletic director effective August 3, 2010.

— USCTrojans.com

Pat Haden — athlete, scholar, businessman. He’s a lot like me, except for the athlete part.

“You’re not a businessman,” my son says.

“I’m kind of a businessman.”

“No you’re not,” he says.

“Okay. So Pat Haden’s a lot like me, except for being an athlete and a businessman.”

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The Lord Moves in Mysterious Ways

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My eyes were severely burned by a toxic poison.Hospitalized Mon.Excruciating pain.Now home.Pray my sight loss is restored

— Rick Warren (via Twitter)
Rick Warren

The Lord moves in mysterious ways, e.g., blinding a mega-pastor.

Call me a skeptic, but if I were blind and in excruciating pain, I wouldn’t be sending Twitter updates. These guys like to exaggerate and call attention to themselves.

Update: Doctors have determined that Warren was unable to see because he had his eyes closed. I’m not kidding.

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So Long, Cheaters

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USC icon

The Trojan Family honors and respects the USC sporting careers of those persons whose actions did not compromise their athletic program or the opportunities of future USC student-athletes. Accordingly, I have instructed the senior vice president for administration to remove athletic jerseys and murals displayed in recognition of O.J. Mayo and Reggie Bush by mid-August — before the incoming class of students moves on campus –from Heritage Hall, the Galen Center, and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The university will also return Mr. Bush’s 2005 Heisman Trophy to the Heisman Trophy Trust in August.

— USC President-elect Max Nikias

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I’m Easily Annoyed

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I’m easily annoyed. My wife knows I’m easily annoyed and that one of the things that really annoys me is when people ask me to fix something that isn’t really broken.

So when she asks me to fix a problem with her browser and I close it, reopen it and it works fine, she exclaims, “It’s scared of you honey! The King of IT! It sees you coming and it’s afraid to not work!”

That’s good talking. I couldn’t even get mad after that.

P.S. I just thought of Mel Gibson for some reason.

To clarify, I’m not easily annoyed like Mel Gibson. He’s off the charts, like a fire-breathing dragon.

I’m more like “doesn’t suffer fools gladly, especially in his own house.”

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EppsNet at the Movies: Breakfast at Tiffany’s

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Breakfast at Tiffany's

My wife loved this movie. She says Audrey Hepburn is the most beautiful woman who ever lived. She loves “Moon River.” She wants to move to New York because it looks so wonderful. She gives the film five stars.

“What’s your rating?” she asks me.

I was going to deduct a star for George Peppard’s mediocre performance, but after hearing her rave review, I couldn’t do it.

“I give it five stars too, honey,” I said.

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