Why Do I Even Try to Hobby?

Mere days from Cold Wars, and I'm extremely grateful that I have absolutely nothing prepare.   As I wrote up my final basketball rant of the season this past week, I expected Maja to play two games in a local (yet remote) tournament, and with my wife going to see the US Women's Soccer National Team play in New Jersey, I might get a Sunday for some gaming.  

Last Sunday I got the call from the 3/4 Girls Division champs, the Sixers.  No, he wasn't rubbing in our loss, but rather an interesting proposition.  He had decided to play most of his players in a local tournament the next weekend, but had a few kids back out at the last second, would Millie like to play?

The other cancellations and replacements didn't turn it into an all-star team, rather it looked like my nightmare as a coach through the playoffs.  Three Sixers, two from the 3rd place Warriors, and Millie were going to play together, against unknown foes.  Sounded like an adventure to me!

Fast forward to Saturday, my wife took Millie to the one side of the county, I took Maja to her team's tournament on the other side.    Maja's team played flat-footed and lost both games, but we discovered they still had to play on Sunday.  Michelle, Millie, and two more of the "Comet Crushers" came back triumphant after a 28-1 trouncing, a victory so dominating that the referees called a phantom shooting foul, moved the foul line to halfway to the basket, and allow three before they made one.  

Sunday, my wife worked and then need to leave for her road trip, so I got Maja a ride to her game (alas another loss) and I took Millie back for the next rounds of her tournament.

It was simply the most sensational youth basketball I've ever witnessed. I've watched the New York State 3/4 Girls put up 50 in a half during an AAU tournament last year, but this was much more fluid, much more natural.  The defense didn't allow a girl past the half-court line for most of the 1st quarter, every girl was passing around, moving around, and taking shots.  I'm not saying that they were flawless, but for a team with only one true practice together, I have never seen a better operating team. 

Halftime, and our coach was resting the better players for extended periods.

A 24-3 win was enough to sweep the division and earn us a tidy trophy (although the kids got nothing... the coach is pondering sharing it for a week at a time for each girl, like the Stanley Cup.)

There's nothing on the docket tournament-wise for this team, but with AAU teams imploding all around, I calculated it would be $120-$150 a kid to get registered in AAU and play in three local tournaments.  Time may tell is the Crushers will rise again.

But with all that running around, my prospects to game turned bleak, especially after I discovered that Maja's Armies in a Box from Historicon were buried in her closet and nearly unretrievable.   We persevered, but there was no time to run the zombie game I wanted to try with her (that I've been trying since October to run. 

One thing I have managed to accomplish is my Project 350.   Project was a notion from long ago that I should keep draft ideas on my blog and scheduled posts down to a combined 350.  This hasn't worked for a while (I've actually been hovering just under 500 for weeks, just 360 are drafts)  I decided to take a different approach to the hoarded posts:  just work on those 60 extra drafts and work my way down to close to 300.  I've moved half of the projects I'll never get down this year into the next, and with an easy twenty being Actual Play projects, I say there's a chance at least part of it might succeed.