The Spoils of Christmas

 I'll be honest, December has been a large pile of suck. A handful of job interviews, a larger pile of rejections for mostly "filler" positions, and a LOT of driving to see the kids up in Albany.  There's a moment in those drives where the Spotify playlist just soothes my black heart and fractured soul.  

Additional bummers?  

No children around this year helping me make my Kjottbollar (Swedish Meathballs) and Limpa and other breads.   

Nobody coming over Christmas Eve for dinner (Christmas Eve is always the superior holiday to Christmas Day), then me transporting them back to their Mother after pancakes Christmas.

Christmas Eve:  With my sister visiting her in-laws in the Great White North this year, I packed up the food  and drove down to Easton to visit my mother.  I took care of stuff around the house, ran her errands, including a trip to Wal-Mart I never thought I'd return from, and we ate.  Basic. Simple.   She enjoyed the food but did NOT have a good day.  Sixty years of smoking have caught up like gangbusters.  

We didn't exchange gifts, but one arrived when I got home on the perfect day to count it as one. 

Palladium had a Kickstarter for a new, expanded edition of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness.    Two years later, eight months late, and a $25 flat shipping charge for the core book, my copy of the rules arrived two days earlier than projected.   Trust me, I'm well aware of Palladium as a whole, and their Kickstarter history, so I'm not surprised, just miffed enough. But it's in my hands, and if that's not a Christmas miracle, nothing is.  

Early Christmas morning, I recovered from a night of full-strength egg nog, and trekked the three and a half hour drive to see the kids, with a cooler full of bread and meatballs, two stockings, and a single wrapped gift. 

I almost miss those early days of K-Mart/Wal-Mart Layaway, paying off the balance, and figuring out the logistics of it all.  Most of it nowadays is Ulta, Sephora, and Barnes & Noble, so most of it fits in the stocking.  

The lone gift too big for a stocking was A Place For All My Books for Maja.  

Most of the gifts for dear old Dad were gag or food related, but I did get a few gaming-centric or -adjacent gifts.

The Hermit in the Garden by Gordon Campbell.  A light romp through the history of hermits from Imperial Rome to Ornamental Gnome.  It was referenced in Episode #675 of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff back in November and seemed like a perfect purchase.  

Paints.  I had specifically requested Citadel Seraphim Sepia wash, since I recently had an accident with one of the older, big bottles, and could not find it in stock at the last four stores I frequented.  They actually have a Warhammer store within twenty minutes, and every was on stock (and allegedly on sale... although thirty-five years of history might bias be on believing that claim from the girls. 

Not one for just getting an $8 jar of paint, they also got me 

Zandri Dust - A Desert-y Tomb Kings color.  I'm half-tempted to use it on my American Teddy Bears.

Mournfang Brown (Air-brush sized pot) - Brown is my favorite painting color, in all its shades, so I'll try it out.  A little miffed the GW guys didn't question them (a simple "Do you have an airbrush machine?") but perhaps that is gatekeeping... from the hobby or the profit margin.

Nihilakh Oxide - A Necron corrosion color.   All of the paints I can certainly use.   (Michael's has been rubbish this past year, and they are strongly anti-Hobby Lobby, so I can't expect other sources.)

Christmas Playing Cards -   When we played our Christmas Game this year, I mentioned my displeasure with the Gilded/Pulp style playing cards we were using for Fistful of Lead.  Millie took that to heart and got me "Home for the Holidays" Bicycle deck.  Very clean, gently themed... and guaranteed to be used for the Christmas games in the future, and hopefully more.

Glitter Ducks - We certainly had a bit of a duck theme this year (with one more discovered and added t other painting queue, see one of next year's posts for that one.  Apparently I missed the Glitter Quacks at Five Below, but Millie did not.   They're cute, plentiful, and after discovering Fishing28, I'm certain we can make a Duckin' 28 game.  Worst case I'll collaborate with the young lady running a larger scale duck game at HMGS/Historicon. 

Oh, and despite me packing a tote-full of games, we kept ourselves busy (and bruised) playing Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizaa repeatedly.  

Outside of grabbing another copy of A Place for All My Books for my sister and husband after their return to Canada, I'm satisfied with my haul.... 

Scratch that, despite the distance and irregularity of my visits, my Dad Christmas List has never changed.  

• Underwear
• Gold Toe Socks
• Undershirts 

My undershirts have held up, I just got replacement socks last year (and not moment too soon, as the older pairs are disintegrating. 

I did not get my underwear (and I wanted a smaller size to boot after all these years!  Huzzah!). Time to venture forth into the retail wasteland after our ice storm is finally cleared up for a pack of two. 

(They did through a gift card in my stocking for said underwear... I just felt like ranting).

My Scholastic Basketball Rant for 2025

 Good Lord, there was a time that I'd almost weekly give an update on Rec ball/AAU/School ball for my girls.    When you're travelling all over creation for different levels of ball for two girls, it's a bit of a lifestyle, good or bad. 

My rants dried up after Maja broke her wrist in the first game of a school trip summer league back after her Freshman year.   Mind you, she played 30+ minutes of the next five games as a tiny 5'9" center on a short-handed team, without a thank you, without a follow-up by staff.  So when one of the other players wrecked her knee playing AAU, and the hordes came in to comfort her, she had enough.    And when the varsity coach realized what went wrong and wanted her back, AND OFFERING CONCESSIONS for non-basketball activities... Maja said hell no.  

And with Maja focusing on volleyball and theatre,  Millie was now one of the chosen ones, her and a 6'3" center who would crack the varsity line-up while a dozen girls wallowed in JV time with a volunteer coach we wouldn't want in the community rec league for grade school kids. 

Except our 6'3" player got a full ride to a private school out side of Philly and is playing in some tournament in Arizona.   

And Millie (and Maja) moved with their mother to Upstate New York. 

I always told all the girls to keep plugging along with the system, be it sports or activities, unless (a) you're not having fun or (b) the folks tell you to stop showing up.    I realized early on that the school they've moved to is the paragon of "participation trophy" when the volleyball team had EIGHT SENIORS on Varsity, and half of those wouldn't make the JV team back at Maja's old school, which stuck new girl Maja as the team manager.  

Basketball added another level that confused me.  Varsity and Junior Varsity are two distinct teams.  There's never any chance of promotion during the season, even if three or the entire Varsity team came down with the flu, it would be a cancellation/reschedule.  

In the new school, two of Millie's freshmen classmates tried out, and made Varsity.  They're playing as 5'8" centers... because they're the tallest girls on the team. 

I didn't like that Maja didn't try out for basketball with a new team and new experience, but she would've been stuck in the same exact spot she was before.  

So the good news? 

It's all good news, even if they're not winning everything. 

Millie's starting point guard, still has teammates that can't make lay-ups or move to get position on a pass (and to be honest Varsity can't either).   She's got 11 other teammates, and the coach has tried to situational substitute them in the second half.  

She should not be the second shortest on the team, and third in the team in rebounds.    I'm still amazed that I've caught four out of her first five games (plus a host of others locally with her ex-teammates) and everyone loves to shoots threes, but it hits less than 20% and the defensive team snags the rebounds 3/4 of the time. 

(Painting) Kitty Christmas Objective Markers

I bemoan the general decline at Michael's.  Everything I normally go there for is out of stock, no longer carried, or expensive as hell.  I begrudgingly go down another block to Hobby Lobby (six days a week).  In one of my forays this fall, I fell upon this lovable guys as Christmas ornaments  (and 50% off).  The kids approve and now I just need to make rules for them... just enough energy and apathy at the same time. 

Mandatory AAU Basketball Spring 2024 Rant - Weekend #1

We're back at this crap again.  

In this day and age where we're not supposed to criticize kids, I'll start off by saying I didn't expect two kids in AAU this spring.  

Millie (13U) I expected.  Despite participating in junior high track and field, her first love is basketball, and all but one of her teammates are returning for the 7th grade team.  They're definitely short on height, but they should remain competitive with 2/3 of the teams.  

Maja (15U) I expected to take some time off.  Varsity time didn't end well, I expected a month off of rest, focus on running and rehab through track and field and possibly a good enough time to qualify for the regional meet.  Off-season varsity stuff would start up again May, with possibly three games a week over the summer.  

One weekend, I checked on her location via the phone, just to see if spending the afternoon with both girls was a possibility.  Lo' and behold, Maja was at the local CYC... at tryouts.  It appeared that Maja and five other girls from the Varsity roster were trying out, and their was a good chance her coach from Freshmen ball (and last spring's AAU season) was returning.  Despite my protests, the rest of the family was running with it... not realizing just how complicated things were going to be.

Biggest problem?  Completely different schedules.  Millie had five tournaments from April through May.  Maja had eight tournaments from April through July.  Only two times were both teams at the same site on the same weekend, and three times there were conflicts (one in Lancaster, one in Scranton).  Let's also add a ninth tournament for Maja this past weekend in Scranton, while Millie's crew is in South Jersey!   Divide and conquer seems to be the way to go, although Maja is already realizing her planned social life is plummeting due to weeknight practices and late night weekend games.  She was invited to two musicals with friends, and could attend neither.  Considering her position on the AAU team is about the same on Varsity (8th-10th on a a 10-girl roster). I simply hope she doesn't get hurt....

.... and that's what I get for typing this part up on Friday before the first tournament. 

Millie was supposed to kick off her season with a tournament in Jersey, but it was dropped on everyone that the Varsity and JV teams would play a local showcase in Scranton.  Divide and conquer started early, with me handling Maja's transportation, and my ex taking Millie duties since they already had a hotael and plans.  

Saturday, Scranton:  Maja's team lost two at-grade players, one of our trusted point guards, and a power forward who just went crazy good during her Freshman year of school.  Also remove two girls who were playing up a grade, and there was some room.  

Their replacements were... adequate, to say the least.  

• Ella, a 6'2" center to compliment our existing 6'1" classmate of Maja's  She's spent the last three years on a depleted school team, forced to do everything.  
• Sophia and Julianna, two girls from the "hated" Hazleton freshmen.  The team already welcomed their Hazleton teammate Mariah last season, and she was a blessing to have.  Hopefully lightning strikes thrice.
• Norah, Maja's school teammate with super-energy decided to improve her game, and earned a spot of JV "A", much to the chagrin of some of the parents of the "B" team players. 

For the random weird person playing at home, the JV team consists of five girls (including Maja) come from the same school, add the three Hazleton girls, the tall prep school player, and one extra lady from a competitive school, and it's a pretty damn good team.  In fact, our 6th freshmen player at the school is tearing it up for the elite Scranton AAU program, so it should be a fun year... and the next three.

We've also turned a corner where the 8am Saturday games seem to have disappeared, replaced with sleeping in and dinnertime and evening games.  

The first team was from Central/South Jersey, and actually had two girls who contributed to their school's state title run.  For a first game, Maja's team broke themselves, in slowly, creating a 23-20 halftime lead, despite missing every single 3-pt attempt.  

For the second half, they only took (and missed) two more threes, focused on play calling and annihilated the other team 48-29.   Maja was used sparingly, still pulled down five rebounds.  There was definitely a disparity between the 5+1 starters and four of the girls with playing time (3 of the 4 are Maja's teammates), but their old Freshmen coach is the AAU coach, so we trust the system.  

We closed out the building with a late-night game, against a team we had trouble with (and won) during one of our national tournament trips to Atlantic City.  

Spoilers:  After talking with the parents, they sent the 15U "C" team three hours.   32-11 halftime lead, and with Maja and the other three bench players with significant 2nd halftime, they extended the lead further for 20+ point win.   Maja with 6 points, 5 more rebounds, a block, and NO TURNOVERS.

The reward for a late-night win?  A trip to Waffle House, and a chance to sleep in for a 2:30pm game Sunday.

Saturday, New Jersey: In a pattern over the last three years, we lost ANOTHER center, and added a handful of girls who will take the entire season to acclimate and develop.  However, their play style is fast and aggressive, with a 72-21 rout that wasn't even that close for their first game.  

And that's when Millie went down the first time.  

Her left ankle buckled on some play and she went down.  Already up by thirty, she got it iced and wrapped and went out to the second game of the day, where she was used sparingly in another 30-point rout.   

Somehow Maja survived the first day, but Millie was packed in ice like trans-pacific seafood delivery that evening.  

Sunday, Scranton:  Some evening research confirmed that the 15U team had already played their best teams for the weekend.  There were good teams on site at 15U, but they had already qualified for, and were playing against, the teams in the tournament organizers showcase circuit.  Maja's team was on a "qualifier" tier against other programs who wanted to be part of the showcase.  However, none of these programs seemed to bring their "A" teams to qualify the program.  

Maja's first team for Sunday afternoon where the "Runnin' Rebs" a team that gave them problems over the years.  Everyone expected a hearty battle, until parents started admitting that it was the first year most of the girls had played AAU, and the first year in the program for as well.  Again, after some research, another "C" team was confirmed, with their A and B teams playing in different tournaments around Philadelphia.    58-31 and it wasn't that close.  Maja with another 5 points, 3 rebounds, and now adding two assists and a steal... and NO TURNOVERS.

The final game was against the weakest team in the pool, program out of Baltimore with some talented girls, but certainly not the experience together to withstand the assault they were NOT expecting.  

When Maja's coach finally called off the dogs, it was 29-1... with all the subs in.  With no mercy rules to put into effect, the 62-17 final was being gentle.  Only two girls (two of the new ones) made it into double figures, and everyone else scored multiple times.   Maja:  Another 5 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists to make her teammates look good, and another block.  

Most importantly, she's not only having fun, the entire team is having fun, cheering, hooting and hollering, supporting each other.   It was a fun tournament to watch.... and one of the parents was smart enough to not only set up a Facebook group for parents, but also post livestreams of all the games, so Maja's mom didn't miss anything in Jersey.

Sunday, New Jersey:  Four years of AAU and Millie's team finally found a good team in their age group out of Staten Island... twice.  For 4th-6th grade, the Staten Island teams couldn't even be considered road bumps.  In the three or four games these programs have played them, Millie's team may have given up 10 points COMBINED, including a 40-0 shutout in 4th grade where Millie made the winning shot off the opening jumping ball, while on her knees.

The Staten Island Liberty are not one of those teams.  With the championship game guaranteed by tie-breaker, Millie's team fought a war against the Liberty in the last pool game.  Mille and her bum ankle held up most of the game, keeping with two or four points, while she focused on a girl who was trying her best Caitlyn Clark impression... and thankfully failing.    Unfortunately, another tweak, and Millie staggered over to the bench in tears with two minutes left in the second, half.  The girl got some space and got hot, and they lost by 6.

The championship was against the same Liberty, and after a few more hours of ice, some motrin, and a new wrap, Millie toughed her way through a 49-41 loss.  

The events in Jersey have always been considered sub-par in the way of competition and officiating, so it was nice to see two good programs go at it.    I couldn't gauge the Jersey officials, since I was there, but the Scranton official got a solid B-/C+.  However, if you complained about the Iowa/UConn officials "deciding the game,"  you would have had an education on how that really happens with some of the other tournament games.  Collecting $150-200 for a long afternoon seemed to be their number one priority, rather than caring about the action on the court.  I know Maja's team is heading to Spooky Nook in two weeks, so I'll have to gird my loins to deal with those refs and scorekeepers, who are far worse.  

I dropped off Maja at home and checked on Millie, forcing her to ice and elevate and give things time.    It looked like a good 2nd degree sprain (I've had a 3rd degree sprain once and this is bad but not this bad.  IF she listens, she might be ready off the bench in a few weeks, and full action for the last three tourneys.  

A Millie POV of a tired Dad reading her the riot act about resting.

Mandatory AAU Basketball Spring 2023 Rant - Weekend #8

 As the AAU season winds down, I must admit, the separate cars/separate lodging situation we've established has a lot more pros than cons.  Dividing and conquering the kids when needed has been a great help, although the Lancaster or Philly to home drive solo repeatedly has forced me to stop and take breaks.  

With Millie's team done for the season (Her coach had travelled to Italy with her younger brother to watch him play in an international U17 tournament.  His US won gold!), this tournament was just Maja's crew.  They have been suffering recently with the spate of Showcases and high powered tournaments, most noticeably shooting around 20% in games and letting the highly competent teams run rampant over them.  The poor shooting wasn't largely forced by their opponents.  Perhaps 1/3 were forced shots, a 1/3 were poor form, and a 1/3 were botched uncontested shots.  With a final showcase in July, it was time to work out the kinks in a smaller tournament.

This weekend was crazy, with six girls basketball tournaments spanning southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.  By count, those tournaments had 15 pools of eighth grade girls teams, with over 60 teams teams total.  No tournament had more than two quality teams, with a lot of underperforming teams from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and even New England filling the spots.  

Maja's tournament in King of Prussia was the victim of this large and diluted pool.  As schedules were posted, the division was re-categorized as 7/8 girls and it looked like all of the teams were 7th grade!

Regardless, I made great time on Saturday morning and got an elusive parking spot near the door to the facility.   After a quick scrum, the girls quickly settled down and did what was expected, shooting over 50% as a team, with only a pair of girls still shooting poorly.  They even managed to hit multiple threes on half the attempts from the last few games.  There were still a number of unforced turnovers and poor decision making, but it was nice to see balls go into the basket. 

The second game in the afternoon was a far feistier, if smaller bunch.  The girls were able to score, but it required multiple attempts for routine shots, dropping down to 43% shooting, including 4 of 10 from the 3-point line.   It was as close as 15-11, but there was no true threat as they won 50-27.

Millie had gotten a job pet sitting a dog, two rabbits, and feeding live crickets to a gilla monster back home, so volunteered to drive back.    Of course, we had true requirements before the drive home.  Millie wanted Buffalo Wild Wings... I wanted to drive a half mile in the opposite direction for The Complete Strategist.  

Despite them not being on the search results for #FreeRPGDay, they were participating and had the swag laid on on the table.  Millie just wanted to chill in the car, so I couldn't double-up my take.  I grab Operation: Seaside Park for Starfinder (very convertible in many ways for our Star Wars game. No Skittermanders, but I'll make it work), and well as a Mutant Crawl Classic scenario which may or many not end up in the Gamma World game.  

Many chickens died to satiate Millie's appetite, and after twenty minutes of Taylor Swift, she passed out for the rest of the drive, plus an hour after we got home.  Once revived from her coma, she did her animal duties, we grabbed ice cream, and ventured down to Sword in the Stone's mall location.  

Sword in the Stone must have either ordered multiple kits, or folks were coming in for CCGs only, because I've never seen dice and accessories make it to lunch, much less a half hour before close.   Gina from Sword in the Stone was super excited we were there.  I grabbed the GI Joe/Transformers item, Millie got the motherload of anything involving cute animals and a set of dice.    We then proceeded to spend an hour going through a long box of Magic: the Gathering art cards for her to decorate her binders for school next year.  At 10 for $1, I really couldn't argue, and after all the free swag, this little project sent her over the moon.  

It was, dare I say, a nearly perfect day.  

Sunday we woke up early so Millie could deal with her animals, and we got back to KoP with plenty of time, and a primo parking spot.  

After a positive Saturday and an automatic entry into the championship, Maja's team fell back into old habits in the final pool game.    They dropped to 22% field goal percentage, Maja not helping going 0-for-2, but playing a younger team meant more rebounds and second chances for the centers.  

At noon, the team played their first opponent in the championship, jumped to a 14-2 lead, got up to 48-8 at half-time, then coasted in the second half, winning 45-19 and never looked back.  A couple girls started strong and had a lackluster second half, but the bench was on fire, and ball movement was vastly improved.  

After getting all the medals and customary photos, we found ourselves dashing to a back court with only a very cryptic.... "Millie is playing!"  Lo, and behold, she was wearing someone else's shoes, wearing a different jersey, and playing in a 4th grade game against a girl who was easily 8 inches taller than her!    I'm not a fan of putting ringers on teams, simply because "Everybody else does it," but between the impotent rules for questioning players ages, and the fact that this girl was taller than most of the 6th graders she played against, I wasn't going to protest. 

Millie had two jobs.  Act as a pure point guard on offense, and guard against the big girl on defense.   The big girl only had 4 points in the game, and Millie dominated the boards against her.  

Offensively, it was magical.  Millie showed the girls how to be a proper point guard by example.  Every pass was smart, crisp, in the right position, and to my initial surprise and glee, the girls were catching them and doing something, keeping the game close.  I think she took six shots total, scoring six points, but girls kept it close until the last minute.  For a team, that only won one game before this tournament, it was amazing what they did with Millie as a catalyst.   The coach lavished praise to her for her leadership skills, as we realized, another one of her 6th grade teammates had filled her role in the same match-up on Saturday, but dominated everything offensively and defensively, making it more of a highlight real for herself, than the actual girls on the team. 

An even higher point.  Two of the girls are part of our school district, so they probably won't play with Millie again until she's a Junior and their Freshmen, but it was fun to see some chemistry between them.  The future is bright. 

So, this is the last AAU update for the season.  Maja has officially decided not to attend the four-day Showcase in Atlantic City in July, so she can attend Historicon with me!  Looks like I'll be picking her up from her Sunday-Wednesday basketball camp in Kutztown and heading down.  

School Summer Ball:  I didn't cover much last year, so I'll keep it simple.  With all the changes and drama with coaching changes, the kids are like ducks.  Maja's right in the mix for both JV and Varsity playing time, and while Millie's arrival into Junior High ball isn't the second coming, comments from other parents make it feel that way, both JV and JH are undefeated, with Junior High playing the elite Dallas team this week.  My Monday and Tuesday nights are full until August.

Mandatory AAU Basketball Spring 2023 Rant - Weekend #1

 While I thought there would be a reprieve from the utter craziness of AAU this Spring, the world done turned itself upside down.  Instead six weeks of travel and stress, Millie's team is doing a hybrid tournament schedule, so we have NINE weekends blocked off between March and July, with only three where both Maja and Millie's teams play the same weekend.  Fun o' fun!

This weekend was a trip down to King of Prussia outside Philly for the Mid-Atlantic Showdown.  

PRO: It's the shortest drive, actually closer to the facility than the Valley Forge was for Cold Wars.  

CON: The schedule is so vague, you think your child's Saturday games are at the King of Prussia site, but in fact it's a far off site that's thirty minutes further away, without the Philly traffic.  I was none too pleased, and thanks to an early start, missed the first half of the first game.  

Thankfully, I didn't miss anything remarkable.  Despite being a much smaller team, and missing a ton of easy shots, they were up 15-6 at halftime.  And cruised to a 34-22 victory.  

Height has always plagued the team, and with the departure of Millie's school teammate, Jordan, to an elite sponsored team out of NYC, everyone anticipated some problems.  With the second game, those troubles were reborn with a six-foot 12 year old girl, that could easily pass for a few years old.  No one complained, so Millie's team went forward and routed them. 39-21.  

Sunday was a bit of a gauntlet with a 9am pool play game, an 11am play-in game  (they were already guaranteed in). followed hopefully by a 12:30pm championship.    Pool play was the smallest team they played all weekend so a 41-7 drubbing was expected.  Everyone prepped to play the 5th grade team of the super-tall player's organization and play a very rough around the edges local team that might give them trouble in the championship game.  As luck would have it, the team easily beat the 5th graders, and the thuggish local team got beat by the 6-foot girl's team.    

In the championship game, they jumped out to a 13-2 lead, and didn't know whether to go for the jugular and get the running clock going early, or mix it up with the bench players.    They won 36-22, nevering reached mercy (although the scoreboard let a whole lot of extra time come off during the second half.)  

I will say this: After years of top-notch guards cluttering things up, we have 5-star player who dominates the score sheet, a 4-star talent, and the rest of the girls are ready to rip peoples' heads off, dive for balls, and do whatever is necessary to win.  The best part is the team passing has never been ready, and generated as many points as the individual stars. 

Meanwhile Maja spent a relaxing weekend recording the games for the program and babysitting some of the younger kids so the parents could watch the games in peace and quiet.  

I did get to visit the Complete Strategist on Saturday, snagging up new race tracks for Formula D, and a Mutant Crawl Classics module.  I am disappointed that their decent Rifts collection didn't have the book I needed.  Guess I need to venture onto eBay...

Speaking of eBay, these guys appeared on my doorstep early this weekend (of course on the cheap).

Giant P.S. The big news that rippled through the organization was Maja and Millie's school district posting the Girl's Basketball Varsity Coach position.  It's not surprising, but also wasn't inevitable this season.  Either the coach decided he had enough with obnoxious parents, or those parents got to the Athletic Director/School Board.  While I am certain my kids will eventually get playing time under any coach, the lack of familiarity a new regime is a concern.  While it could be like every school board and already have a candidate in their back pocket, we discovered a number of uber-qualified folks that have already applied, and a short stack of others who were submitting paperwork.  Guess the regular basketball rant never truly ends. 

Mandatory Basketball Rant - Winter 2022-23 - Week 14

 We have finally made it: the last tournament of the winter season, and these freaking adults just cause to much drama.  

So first, the other topics, for posterity.

Local Rec League: Chalk another one up to "Eric was right, but we're going to do it anyway," for the other Board of Directors, we finished our High School division at the same time as the younger kids, but certain members demanded we keep one extra weekend on the books because "some kids like to play."  We're not sure which kids were still wishing to play because almost 80% of the league has Sunday afternoon spring sport practice, which interferes with the schedule.  Luckily, we just obligated for an extra three hours at the local community college's rate and not for two refs a game as well.   And after all the bro-haha, One of the coaches still came over on Sunday to coach their team, a team where six of their eight kids and practicing lacrosse, including their own kid!

Maja: Maja is enjoying her masochism season, with track, dance, and AAU, and all three on Thursdays..  I'm reinforcing conditioning and more conditioning for track, she's killing AAU practices, and dance remains her "passion hobby" as she preps for two competitions and one solo recital.  As long as she's healthy and happy, I'm fine, we're down to eight weeks of this chaos.

Millie:  Millie's 6th grade school team was always planning on playing a tournament out near Williamsport.    The AAU girls played there last year and rolled over everyone except an 8th grade team they were paired up against instead of the championship game.  I shouldn't be surprised the same parents of the AAU 5th grade kids who live close to the tournament recruited the 6th grade team to play AGAIN.  Needless to say, the same parent from before reached out to me, I advised him Millie was already committed to the school team, and he didn't pursue the issue.   Now no one seems to have a straight story, there's finger pointing, etc.  

Funny thing is the school team only lost to the 90% intact AAU team (only Millie is missing) by 10, and the AAU squad, somehow added Millie to their roster (a big tournament no-no) and still managed to lose big to the minor 6th grade travel team with some big girls who know how to rebound and put back shots, but not much else.  

Watching the school team work a press break against the AAU, I'm apparently the only parent that's happy with their performance, because there isn't a future 7th grade school within a two hour drive that will press that well  over the next year.  The girls will do just fine.  

The AAU girls, on the other hand, may have re-tooled at skill positions, but are missing any sense of a big, so they're going to do well against 50% of the AAU teams, and get slaughtered on the other half.  The AAU rants might start in late-April, and I might be a wee bit afraid of my rants.  Again, it's not the kids... it's the adults making a mess of things. 

Mandatory AAU Basketball Rant Fall 2022 Part #3

 I thought we were officially in that lull for AAU, as local rec and school ball take over for the winter, but still they drag me back in.  

Millie's team of a million point guards and undersized out-of-position centers did well this fall, well enough, in fact, to garner them an extra tournament at a showcase event this past week.  Only girls, only grades 5-8, but with teams stretching from New England to North Carolina.  

I had mentioned in previous installments that that mechanism for challenging a player's eligibility was significantly compromised or removed from these fall tournaments.  While athletic events will bring out those well beyond the 100% for their age, I still feel like some of these 12-under teams had girls drive to the site after a full shift at their jobs.   Millie (and Millie's team) is woefully undersized against urban programs pulling from much larger populations, but I still question whether or not some of the girls were held back two or three years to stay in 6th grade. 

Further complicating this late tournament was the opening week of games for the local rec league I'm still a part of, and even worse, it was Maja's school tryouts for 7th/8th grade basketball.  

As has been the pattern this fall, my wife took Millie down to the tournament, and I ubered Maja to Friday night and Saturday morning, and to make sure the games went off without a hitch.  

To get the home front stuff taken care of, Maja's 8th grade team has one girl with a long-term injury, and one new player to fill in that slot.  The 7th graders brought a deluge of 16 players to tryouts, including four that played with Millie long ago.

As I checked up on rec league games while Maja was at her Saturday tryouts, the text messages started coming in.  Millie's first opponent was a top level team who completely switched programs in Upper Manhattan.  Their same girls grew since the spring, ours did not, so it was a legit 42-30 loss.    Their second opponent was even tougher, the Drexel Hill Comets "National" team (the usual competitive travel team also played and played well.)  Not only did they beat Millie's team 47-34, but beat the NYC team.  

It was that sort of weekend for #4

Regardless of the outcomes, Millie played hard, had lots of ball handling, a few points, and few more assists, and lock-down defense on the big girls.

Sunday, I left Maja to here own devices to get to practice (more on that later) to make it down to Lancaster for he day.  Another nationally recognized program, and at least two girls that were either much older than the rest, or I feel sad for their very early onset puberty.    No shots went in, they could only stop the big girls about 80% of the time, and the officiating was abysmal (equally abysmal for both sides but it impacted our play style more.)  By the time they were halfway through the 2nd half, down by 13, Millie's coach sat as many starters as she could and let Millie and the bench play.   In those last eight minutes, the other team only widened the lead by four more, winning 47-30.  

The final consolation game for the weekend was against an even more undersized team from the eastside of Manhattan.   They too brought their two big girls, who skill-wise seemed just fantastically oversized, but they also brought tiny girls who would easily be the smaller girls in our local 3rd grade league.    The first half was closer than it should have been, but they pulled away with their only win of the weekend 54-20.  Millie had perfect three, a few rebounds, and a no-look pass that made everyone stand up... and the ref curse out in disbelief.   It was a good experience, the program organizers know exactly who they need to be recruiting for to add to the team (or hang all the girls upside down to make them grow), and Millie is in mid-season form for the winter.  God help those other teams.  

And Maja?  We always run through all the options when it comes to tryouts, and with a glut of Freshman girls, it didn't look like the Big 6 7th graders who played Freshman last year could be maintained.  

To my surprise, only nine out of the thirteen Freshman girls came out.  Five of them made at least JV, and in a strange twist, not only did Maja make just Freshman (no 8th grade team), but the Big 6 added two more 8th graders PLUS three 7th graders.  It's a huge team, but after Maja's report after the first practice, I think the balance of power remains the Big 6's to lose.  

Mandatory Fall AAU Rant 2022 - Part 2

 When there's not two kids playing basketball at rwo different locations, there's a lot less drama.

But not all the drama.

With Fall-In! on the same weekend as the end of Millie's season, I took a day or two to recover, than scanned social media and the tournament apps to better recollect the last three tournaments of the fall.

Except that I could only find two...

It seems like everyone wiped the Fall Mayhem Classic at Spooky Nook from their collective memories.  

Part of it was that it was an ill-run tournament, with poor time management, and lackluster communication.   Part of it was horrendous officiating at all age levels.  I was at Maja's volleyball game, trying to get video, and repeating texts from my wife about how uttlerly clueless the refs were, and the veritable pile of technical fouls being handed out, not only to our team, but the other coach, who had been far less animated!    With that knowledge it wasn't a surprise that Millie's team was down at halftime... but not by 19!    They ended up rallying in the 2nd half, coming up short by one, 45-44.  

Maja and I missed the second game while driving down to Spooky Nook, and we arrived to chaos.  The team had been soundly beaten a second time that morning.  Accusations and murmurs abounded. Coaching was questioned, playing time debated, and the most common excuse, 7th and sometimes 8th graders playing in the 6th grade division.  Millie's team does not handle true adversity well, but the only folks who handle it worse are the parents.  

Given the fact that she was playing against veritable giants, I wasn't surprised that Millie saw limited action, but others felt it a slight against her.  Needless to say more unnecessary drama was made and the evening was otherwise a mess.

Sunday pool play evolved into play-in games, and a rematch against the second team they lost to.  This time, the team beared down and ground out a 7-point win, resulting in a championship game rematch against the first loss.   Having not seen any play Saturday, I realized the championship game was against a team they hadn't played in a year.  Their girls had grown A LOT, and recruited some new friends and proved to be more worthy adversary than rule-breakers.  Millie's team kept with four until the final minutes, losing 39-32.  

The next tournament was a shorter drive out to the Mecca of basketball in Central Pennsylvania:  The Lewisburg YMCA.  With player conflicts, they filled one of the tournaments with a special request from some of the 5th grade AAU players.  It seems at least three of the 5th graders drive over an hour (full interstate) to make practice twice a week, because the local programs cut them, and with the help of only four of the sixth graders, they were going to prove their prowess.

Against the 5th/6th grade teams from Danville and Lewisburg on Saturday, there was little challenge, 44-4 wins and 34-13 wins with the 5th graders taking most of the playing time.  I'm sure a little revenge was sweet, plus they don't get to practice with the 6th graders, and they took both games to get up to the base speed level of the older kids.  

After a quick commute Sunday, they faced a Nittany Valley team that was bigger and stronger, but could not keep up with the girls, another 50-19 blowout.   

Instead of a rematch in the championship game, the tournament organizers distributed medals and organized a fourth game against the 7th/8th championship, plus a few other girls to fill in for the girls who couldn't stay.    These girls were at least a proper travel team, and the age and size difference could not be overcome.   Compared to the prior tournament, no one whined and complained about a 30-point loss to the older girls, especially when they still put up 29,   (59-29).

The final scheduled tournament of the year was the post-Halloween, Zero Gravity Spookfest at the Nook.  Of course, this interfered with our trip to Fall-In!, and, as I mentioned in my Fall-In AAR, filled my Saturday with great basketball against a lackluster (26-9), and a rough team (41-9).  The two games on Sunday sealed the championship (41-17, 52-28).  

Of course on Wednesday I discovered that the girls had been invited to two special tournaments, a showcase tournament in March (which conflicts with the big local tournament for Millie's school team), and another next week in Spooky Nook.  

The travel never stops.  Can't wait for the 6th grade local league at Kingston Rec to start in a month.

Millie versus a "Normal" tall girl.

An Abridged Weekend at Fall-In! 2022

Even with a different "Host" of problems in the world, there is some sense of normalcy returning with Fall-In!  2022 actually taking place in November, in Lancaster, masks optional.  What's even better was pulling in fully completed, beacon on the hill which is the Wyndham Resort and Convention Center (formerly THE HOST).  

Or maybe whose phone camera needs to be wiped off...

I've always tried to make Cold Wars a "boys weekend", Historicon is wide open, but Fall-In! is some time with my eldest daughter, Maja.

And off we went...

Oops, that was a picture from five years ago.   Fast forward a bit....

Hey, I like my purple shirt.  It's a quality shirt.

We arrived late Thursday to drop stuff off in the room for HMGS Next Gen and socialize, but I was a bit awestruck by the approached, the fresh asphalt, and what might be the finished remodeling!  

Everything was brighter, cleaner, and either I lost a bunch of weight on the drive down or physical structures felt wider.

After decades of the mold, the parking, the plumbing, the electrical, portable boilers, etc, the Host, errrr. the Wyndham is a quality establishment. 

The Lampeter room, with the classic tournament tables on the right, Wally's Basement (flea market) on the right, but no leaky windows or blue tarp on the roof.

Heck, even the theatre seem a little brighter (okay I'm pushing things a bit..)

We ran in to the Gnome crew, made a quick run to Wal-Mart for contact solution a half hour before they closed, stopped at the bar for $8 beer, and checked into the room.

Pegasus Bridge looks so unassuming from this angle. 

Friday morning, we rolled out of bed and run my event.  Ended up with three players plus myself and Maja (she snuck out for a Hobby U class midway through), but an excellent use for a large fleet of vehicles we have and a perfect excuse for a "bier run", even if the Germans transportation contacts to escape got "permanently delayed."

Even if there were some delays with delivery...

We cleaned up, helped our teammate Mike set up his afternoon game and explored the facility then enjoyed the absolute privilege of staying on site, going back to the room for a snack and a nap, to recharge for the rest of the day. 

I did make one exciting discovery,  the Friday night slot of Wally's Basement was still open, so I snatched up a table and tried to prep the items.  

I did the flea market waaay back in '96 (it was in the actual Tennis Barn), and I've done the free Sunday ones from time to time, but to be honest, I had an actual blast sitting on behind the table, rather than trudging through the collections of folks aimlessly walking through with giant back-ups, blocking the whole aisle while regaling the various preferences of undergarments of Napoleon's mistresses, all at the top of their lungs. 

Honestly, even during that "release the hounds" moment at 7pm, all the shoppers were great, the guys beside and behind me were awesome, I liquidated two of the three totes of stuff I packed up on a whim Thursday afternoon. and we could enjoy the weekend a little bit more. 

As someone who avoids the initial bedlam of a flea market session, I can confirm the best way to get some of the best items is to buy a table, and roam the other sellers after you've finished setting up.  No transactions can be completed prior to the opening of the session (and I didn't see anyone breaking the rules), but there were a few holds hiding in a bin that covered the table, dinner, and a bit more.)  

If you need to liquidated, I heartily recommend getting a table, even if it's not the main Saturday session.  The three hours flew by, Maja got me a snack, sat with me a bit, played in the Joust, and came back to help me clean up.  

We prepped the table for the Gnome games on Saturday, made a Wawa run (no mashed potatoes, meatballs, or Italian hoagies... a quick run to the Wawa off of 72 fixed 1 out of 3) before closing the bar.  

Saturday was a bust gaming wise, but I knew that coming in.  Both my daughters play basketball, school, rec, and travel, and while Maja took the fall off to focus on school volleyball, my youngest, Millie, is fully engaged in fall AAU, and this weekend just happened to be the Zero Gravity Spookfest at the Spooky Nook facility on the other side of town.   Of course, her games were at 10:20 and 1:30, to throw off any chance of grabbing a game until I was helping out the Gnome game at 7pm that night. 

I'll do the usual personal write-up of the seasons in a future post, but even missing a few girls, they're still a regionally recognized team in the Northeast, and rolled 26-9 and 41-9 in two games.  

Dr Frankenstein's Laboratory is jumping!

Wars of Ozz

I missed our 10am Saturday Gnome Wars game, which had ten players, and all new ones at that.  

The evening session had a 50/50 mixture of new players and the Old Guard, who bring their own painted units to play.  

It was complete chaos (the good way), with the game ending on rolls for an elephant versus a biplane.

Maja even got a game of chess in with John Speiss

We packed up, closed the bar and prepped for an early leave Sunday morning, because Millie had a 9:05 am game.  Between Daylight Savings and empty parking spaces to avoid lugging the minis and luggage, I managed a quick perusal at the Sunday Wally's before departing for Spooky Nook.  

So, how does the former Host and Fall-In! stack up after the renovation?  

Wyndham Resort and Convention Center:  Yes it's still on a dated design, but I couldn't find anyone with a significant horror story or serious issue.  It's honestly a beautiful facility, even if coffee and liquor were horribly overpriced.  I mean, I don't know about the other room across from Distelfink, but New Holland was COLD!  Only silly complaint I could think of were the bathrooms off the ballroom.  I wasn't there for the Saturday rush, so I don't know how they kept them, but they retained the sink design from the HOST so there's more water splashed onto the countertop than going down the drain.  At least that meant that gamers were attempting to wash their hands.   Here's to less con crud continuing.

Hotel:  The last time I stayed at the "Host" was during the snowstorm with my family in 2012.  A decade he rooms are lightyear improvements, plus there was housekeeping service!   Minor gripe,  no microwave complicated Maja's plan for a teenage diet of microwavable food she packed, but the on-site alternatives were much better.  

Thankfully I had a short walk back from the bar to my room, cause the carpet was disconcerting while sober. 

I felt like I was in the net after falling off the trapeze.

Parking:   Again, not here for Saturday at its highest, but I managed a spot in the lot to the right of the hotel each time through multiple comings and goings all weekend.  I didn't venture to see if the overflow lot even still exists.

Vendor Hall:  Between time and funds, I admit that I avoided going down the former Tennis Barn.  I've got not major projects that I can't delay for Cold Wars.  Reports of no A/C tempered the positive news of less stringent badge enforcement to get within the perimeter.  

Wally's Basement:  The $25 for a table on Friday was worth it for the experience, and I did grab a few items in the afternoon when I got back from basketball.  Still confused by the few folks selling things at retail, and seeing the same stuff Friday, Saturday, and a few specific items again on Sunday.  3e

Toy for Tots:  I actually participated in the Saturday session of the raffle and auction.  I need to budget some funds (or do more flea markets) for next year.

Lego Pirates!

The SWAG: 

• A copy of the old Avalon Hill D-Day game.  Someone had donated a huge pile of chit-based wargames for Toys for Tots and they were set up on a table at Wally's with a "Free with donation" sign.   Don't know if it's complete, but that copy's condition hearkened back to summers in Vermont where the three games to keep me occupied were D-Day, Battle Cry, and Win, Place, and Show.  
• A few packs of Orglings from Demonblade (Think 40k Gretchin who went to the gym).  Something to expand my sci-fi game.
• A copy of Penny Heroes.  Just the few pages I read were worth the $2 I spent.  
• I was also bequeathed a special gift from Mike.  I'm happy I didn't think about putting my various scenario books into the flea market, because my Zulu Campaign book will be worn out with some super-special Gnome-related versions.   

Maja painted a few trucks, and caused some concern from the adults.  

I'm so thinking of a Pulp-era zombie game, just to use that truck.

Cold Wars 2023 is slated for one last hurrah at the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia, March 10-12, 2023.   Historicon 2023 is back at the Lancaster County Convention Center in Downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania, July 19-23, 2023.  Plan on it remaining through at least 2026.

Oh yeah, Sunday basketball.   Everyone drove all the way to Lancaster to play the AAU program that's  thirty minutes from us.  The 9am game was a 41-17 win.   After everyone realized that the two teams would meet up at the 2:30pm championship, we found the opposing team's coach spending almost three hours drilling press breaks and new plays into his team.  It worked well at the start, with Millie's teammate hitting a buzzer-beater- three at the end of the half to only put them up 23-15.  After the teams traded quick lay-ups to the start the second, Millie hit a three, stole the inbounds, passed it for another lay-up, and they never looked back, winning 52-28.

Size matters not.....