For the Love of the Game v2.0

As the old saying goes, "Lightning never strikes twice", an adage reflecting on the the rarity of one singular location being afflicted with nature's electrical fury, so when I returned to GBDSS the other day for more refereeing duty, I was reminded of the post I published last fall (see below) about an equally rare event ... the scoreboard bagel!

As many of you already know, I am actively pursuing a retirement side hustle in refereeing. I fell in love with basketball at an early age ... thank you Jimmy Stevenson ... and after 50+ years playing, coaching, and now officiating. I felt like I had pretty much seen it all.

That changed the other day when I witnessed an example of the true love of the game with my front row seat!

I travelled to the quaint city of Midland the other day for an assignment to officiate at Georgian Bay Secondary, a shining, beautiful newer high school that I had not previously been privileged to experience. The game featured a regular season clash between Barrie's Nouvelle Alliance Tournades and the host GB Bears. I had little to no previous knowledge of either's 2023 standings but I was astutely aware of historical trends siding with Nouvelle's proficiency on the hardcourt.

Watching the teams warm up, I immediately recognized that while enthusiasm was plentiful, the skill level was a work in progress, and I surmised that the teams would prove to be fairly equal, making for a potentially exciting game. As the first quarter played out, the visitor's side of the scoreboard built steadily, turning over with regularity thanks to some decent defensive pressure that produced a number of transition layups. The home team wasn't specifically outmatched, but try as they may, they couldn't turn quality scoring opportunities into points.

As the first quarter horn sounded, the game was already a lopsided affair, yet I found myself internally cheering for the hosts. I had been a part of games in my coaching career where despite superlative efforts, the success was a long time in coming, but I had rarely seen or been a part of a game with a goose egg. 

As the second quarter commenced, I had every confidence that GB would finally find the mark.

After all, their coach wore a huge grin as they employed his offensive systems, often resulting in point blank range shots with time to execute the skill without pressure, but despite his cheers and use of time outs to praise their efforts, the rim's aperture seemed to be shrinking with each passing minute.

As the GB players took to the court to start the second half, I fully expected to see some long faces and chins on chests, but to my delightful astonishment, their faces were adorned with wide grins and mouths chattering with excited energy, so I was hopeful that the bagel would be dealt with. Sadly, the proof was in the pudding, and the second half proved to be a continuance of the first, the Tornades steadily building their total while the Bears' shots careened off the rim. I will admit that my sense of internal professionalism was in serious jeopardy as I willed the ball with all of my might to find it's target, and even with the cheers of the partisan crowd to bolster their efforts, that cursed orange sphere would simply not cooperate for the home side. 

In the end, the final horn signalled the completion of my duties, and with it, any opportunity for redemption, the zero shining as bright as a dying star. I realized that I had witnessed something previously unseen. As the equipment was dismantled and I changed my gear for the trek back to the beach, I anticipated a few downtrodden souls to pass on the way out of the gym. 

The parental praise, the big smiles, and the laughter of self-critical replays of the game's action told a much different story.

Despite the lack of scoring success, the game proved to be an enjoyable, positive affair for the home side, and I came away with a new found appreciation for the saying, "For the love of the game". The easy thing to do would have been to complain about fairness, or coaching, or officiating, but these families were anything but sad.

Kudos to NA for their execution and effort, but also for the way they addressed the situation. It would have been easy to slip into making a mockery of the game, but they play with all possible integrity and sportsmanship. 

Kudos to GB for giving it everything they had.

I learned a valuable lesson that day. While I'll still admit that winning is waaaaaay better than losing, it begs the confession that if one plays as well as one can, the outcome truly doesn't matter.

I give the host players and coaches my personal standing ovation!

This year's assignment involved host GBD Bears and the visiting NPSS Timberwolves, and based on history, I was fearful that GBD might suffer a similar fate since NP has enjoyed their fair share of success since opening a decade ago. What struck me straight away as both Sr teams warmed up was the reduced numbers of players for both sides, perhaps still the remnants of Covid, and watching for a while as both struggled for success on shot attempts, I wasn't at all sure who I would pick as the stronger.

Once the game began, however, it quickly became apparent that the tables had turned for GBD as their side of the scoreboard ticked over with regularity, the NP side registering the bagel for the entire first quarter. Like last year's game, the effort was high, the execution not so much, as NP offensive possessions came away 'shotless' thanks to GBD pressure resulting in errant passes and multiple held ball situations.

The threat of the bagel disappeared in the third quarter when a long range heave on a dying shot clock bounced its way around the ring before going through, much to the delight of the Timberwolves players and fans. In the end, there would be no repeat of last year's rarity, at least not on the scoreboard. 

What was repeated were the smiles and laughter coming despite the loss ... a credit to the positivism of the young man who was the NP coach. Kudos as well to the GBD coaching staff for staying the course and turning what was a challenging season a year ago into a promising one for this one.

Life is GOOD folks ... and Life in retirement is GREAT!

Big Box woes!

 After almost 61 years roaming this planet, I have learned that there are some things I have no control over, regardless of how much they burn my hind end, and the prudent advice from so many is to shrug and let it slide. I admit that I find that easy to do ... sometimes ... but encounter times (FAR too regularly!) where my consternation rises to levels that make shrugging a challenge. One weekend in the recent past, Life presented as one of those times.

It all started out well enough.

I ventured northward to Midland to assist my referee board (BDABO) with the new official training that was being run at the North Simcoe Recreation Centre. This is an annual Jr Girls' basketball tournament organized by our executive, and since I'm the newly named Secretary, I felt it important to lend a hand. The plan is to bring our brand new and inexperienced officials into a common location and pair them up with an experienced official for a morning of one on one advice and input. I was a little more excited than normal to offer some input since two of the 'newbies' were former players, one from SCDSB days, Curtis Shakespeare, and one from GC State days, Ben Dance.

I don't mind sharing that the morning was a glorious affair, highly entertaining, thoroughly satisfying, and an incredibly useful investment of time. The schools that participated featured a host of young ladies who were most eager and enthusiastic, presenting more than enough challenge and ripe with learning opportunities. 

Life felt awfully good on the drive home, but the roller coaster was simply cresting the hill.

Sitting down at my laptop to complete the evaluations that I had to complete, I checked my email and found a reply for the service request I had made to Best Buy about my Shokz ear buds. 

The back story is that I purchased a pair of Shokz Open Fit Ear buds last March to use while cycling because they were bone conduction types, allowing for music while still allowing me to hear the traffic around me. They were 'just what the Dr ordered' until a service request became necessary because the right bud had lost its ability to charge fully, meaning that it had less that half of the battery life of the left one. I had bought the extended protection plan to the tune of $79.99 for 3 years, so I figured that I was well covered by the Shokz warranty combined with the extended plan.

How silly was I?

The email I received from Best Buy included a gift card for the purchase amount plus taxes, and it struck me that even though I could use the value to purchased new ear buds, how would that affect the plan I purchased? I used the Best Buy customer portal to find the contact info and reached a young female who, upon hearing of my query, informed me that the plan was now defunct because they only applied to the old ear buds. Okay, I agreed, I understand what you're saying, so replace them instead of giving me a gift card, so that the plan I paid for would still apply. Barring that, refund some of the plan cost since it was only 4 months into a 36 month plan.

NOPE! Not the way they do things.

I was pissed, but tried to sound calm as I politely asked to be passed along up the 'food chain' to lodge a complaint with someone who had the power to change my frustration. NOPE again! She 'wasn't authorized' to do that, which only stoked the flames, and left the only choice of calling back and going through the whole auto-answer hoops. 

In the end, I'm out $79.99, and I politely but sternly informed the young gentleman I was now communicating with that I was very displeased and wanted a record of the conversation sent to customer service. He reacted exactly the way corporate had trained him and with a sugary-sweet voice, "I completely understand your frustration Stephen, and will ensure that your concerns are directed through the appropriate channels." 

Huh? Does that mean yes?

So, the weekend started out brilliantly, then crashed and burned like the loser of an aerial dog fight, complete with the whining sound effects of a falling jet fighter. All I could do was wait patiently to see if someone decides to follow up. To add insult to injury, the salt in the wound came with another email asking that a customer satisfaction survey be filled out. They got what they deserved, albeit minus the crass language, but I bet they don't keep that one on file!

As a parting shot, be forewarned when dealing with Best Buy, and don't purchase the extended protection plan ... unless you enjoy padding their pockets with a donation!

I know, BIG breath in, hold it, and slowly exhale.

PEI or Bust!

In an emotional response to some unsettling things of late, my bestie and I decided that there's no time like the present and booked an spur-of-the-moment vacation to Prince Edward Island to check off one of the items on our Bucket List. We decided that the drive was not intimidating (Uhh, foreshadowing), so it provided us with an opportunity to see some areas of Canada and the US that were previously unknown to us, and we came away with an complete sense of satisfaction! We'd highly encourage anyone who has not yet ventured that direction to embrace the challenge and Git 'R Dun!

What follows is a list of thoughts and impressions that stuck in my grey matter:

Quebec City, QB

We decided that the trip out east would be done inside Canada so we booked accommodations in both Quebec City and St John, partially because neither of us had been before but had heard about how wonderful they were, but also since they offered geographical features that generated some giddy excitement. We're beach lovers after all.

We enjoyed pretty fair driving weather until we neared Ontario's most eastern city of Cornwall, encountering rain for most of the drive to QC. We bypassed Montreal in a teeming downpour, but were pleased with some sunshine as we neared the day's destination, and after checking into our hotel (complete with bike storage containers!), we did a walking tour of the old city, starting at the Citadel. If you've never been, the ambiance and architecture of the old city is a "must see it to believe it" place! I could write paragraphs on the beauty of the old buildings and the 'buzz' of the energy, but none of it would create the feelings we experienced as we looked the part of tourists, craning our necks this way and that. 

After a 2 hour stroll, and with the light waning, we decided to grab something to eat on the way back to the hotel, somehow stumbling upon Pizza MAG just off Rue Saint Louis, and were treated to one of the best pizza dinners we've ever experienced! Our young waitress was very patient with our lack of Francais as we scanned the menu, and after filling our bellies, she explained that the kitchen had made an error with one of the pies so they were giving us a two-fer! 

What? Nice!

St John, NB

Our trip to St John the next day was much less wet, although we still had to deal with roving rainclouds, and like yesterday, the skies cleared as we arrived, allowing us to enjoy a beautiful, picturesque walk from the hotel to the harbour where we grabbed a most delicious fish and chip meal on a patio overlooking the ships. We were both astounded by the level that the tide rose and fell, the barnacles and seaweed evidence of at least a 6 m change (20'ish feet for the non-Metric types). Again, our server was most patient and pleasant, and we walked off our full bellies with a stroll around the harbour in the twilight.

Like QC, I don't have the words to do the sights justice, so I'll simply invite you to put it on your list.

Prince Edward Island

Since we were driving from the New Brunswick side, we opted to use the Confederation Bridge to access the island with it's 13 km expanse having the stereotypical sense of astonishment on our faces as we marvelled at the feats of engineering to build such a structure. Our rented cottage was not too far from the bridge exit, and arriving at Augustine Cove, we were greeted by an equally jaw-dropping vista of the beautiful seaside at our cottage. We were staying on the south side of the island, the portion that featured red sandstone cliffs and shallow waters that were profoundly impacted by the tidal pulses that exposed 2 or 3 football field long low tide beaches allowing us to walk the width of the cove with only occasional shallow water crossings. For two bumpkins from Ontario, despite living on a beach, the sights left us gobsmacked!

If you know me, you'll not be at all surprised to hear that we brought the bikes! 

I have to admit that I was not at all prepared for the hilliness of the island, my rides accumulating close to 1000 m of climbing over a 100 km. The highlight of the week was the day that I set out for Charlottetown, some 40 km away, with the intention of picking up PEI's famous Confederation Trail to come back, a retired rail line much like the Simcoe County Rail Trail here at home. I was treated to a twisty, winding path of crushed limestone for nearly 75 km, passing through a host of little hamlets, and I even found a wee frozen yoghurt stand kind enough to refill my water bottles. The CT traverses almost all of the island for those that were of the mindset to do some bike-packing.

Another sight that needs to make the list is Cavendish Beach, but you'll have to grab a day pass since it's a part of the park system down there. We walked along the beach for an hour and a half before deciding we couldn't reach the end, the 5 m sand dunes, deserted beach, and assortment of sea life highlights for our efforts.

If you're in the east coast, ya gotta have some lobster, eh?

We decided to splurge on an authentic church supper in New Glasgow, a curious little hamlet in the north west of the island, and despite its hefty price tag, came away with a positive experience. for $50 a person, you get unlimited chowder, mussels, and deserts plus a lobster + potato/coleslaw salad side dishes for an entree. Although pricey, the whole experience made it a worth while adventure.

Of course, any trip to PEI would be incomplete without some lighthouses, so a few mini-roadies allowed us to explore the outer regions of the island, but it was a weird feeling to drive for literally hours to reach somewhere on an island. I guess we're just not used to that living in Onterrible. Another sight-seeing oddity if you're interested surrounds PEI's plethora of little white churches, and on one trip out to the most eastern portion of the island, we passed by 15 of them! No, we didn't count them twice! 

Maine, Vermont, and New York!

Since we chose to arrive in PEI via the Canadian route, we decided to return via the USA, and learning a few things along the way made it a great choice. Our first overnight was in Portland, Maine, and thanks to some appreciated advice from the hotel staff, we took in the beauty of the Portland harbour with its sights, smells, and lighthouses. The Spring Point lighthouse was at the end of a man-made pier comprised of massive chunks of concrete, whose size made for a wonky walk since there was a considerable space between the boulders. After surviving that experience, a little more detective work revealed that Spring Point was actually an old fortress, the hill (or so we thought) was actually buttresses, barracks, and armourments that must have been a part of the harbours defences at one time. 

Being inherently frugal (I'm a former teacher, after all), I convinced Joyce that we should take the "senile" route across Main, Vermont, and New Hampshire on route to New York so that we could avoid the ridiculous number of tolls using the turnpikes. As much as that decision treated us to some incredible vistas, especially through the incredible mountains of Vermont, it did make for some 'white-knuckled' twisty-turny descents as we raced the foreboding rainclouds rolling in from the west ... yep, more rain! We even found a cute little Swiss chalet style store, high up in the hills, to purchase some Vermont old cheddar, a fav of our daughter and hubby. 

Keeping with the trip's theme, we drove through some incredible rain storms in NY state on route to our hotel in Farmington for the night, but the fringe benefit was the Presbyterian car wash that got rid of all the red dust from PEI. 

Back home in Da Beach

In the end, a host of memories were made, items checked off the Bucket List, and new plans for future travel hatched. 

Ahhh, retirement is quite okay, if I'm honest.

Happiness secrets

I often sit down at the laptop with no particular goal in mind and tour around the Internet in search of little gems that move me on an emotional level. Although those of you that spend some time cruising social media and the like may have potentially seen some of the posts that I've shared of late, I consciously choose to put them out there again in the off chance that they passed by your notice. I use an Apple app called Notes to store the ones that I really enjoy, and while I do make an effort to find the source of the inspiration, sometimes it just isn't possible. Like the case below, I share and give full credit to the author, whomever he/she may be.

As I said, this stirred my soul, and I feel strongly that moments like this should be shared.

Can I let you in on a little secret?

Not everyone likes you.
I mean, maybe not right now, but at some point in your life, there will be people that don’t like you.

People that don’t get you.
People that roll their eyes when you start speaking.
People that ignore you when you walk into a room.
People that won’t make room for you at their table.

Want to know another little secret?
It doesn’t matter. 

Not even a little.

You see, you aren’t here in this life to make everyone happy. 

You aren’t here to be everyone’s favourite. 

You aren’t here to be perfect. 

Everyone can’t be your focus.

And once you realize that truth and stop trying to understand why some people ice you out or talk behind your back or don’t like the sound of your voice, well that’s when you can really start living!

Next time you enter a room and start to panic about someone there not liking you, remember this secret ... 

It doesn’t matter.

The people that love you, they matter.
The things that bring you joy, they matter.
The values around which you build your life, they matter.

Even if you don’t matter to everyone, you matter to the important ones.
So, get out there and live your life. 

Let the haters fade into the background where they belong.

And let your true self shine bright.

It matters!

I can't count the number of conversations I have had about the folly of trying to please everyone and lending weight to the opinions of others. While I do feel there is a small part of me that values the opinions of those that hold value in my life, I can confidently state that the opinion of others is of little consequence to me because I am very comfortable in my own skin, have successfully developed a keen sense of who I am, and like the person born out of all of that. I know that makes me a bit of an outlier, and I dearly love some people that find ignoring the thoughts of the naysayers difficult, but IMHO there's a fine line drawn in the sand when it boils down to how much of the weight from other's opinions I'll choose to carry as I walk through this life.

I'm comfortable with me, and I feel strongly that I am happier because of it.