Monday, December 23, 2024
Rocky Top in Columbus, Ohio
Monday, December 16, 2024
More Basketball for Joe
Sunday, December 15, 2024
The Ultimate Glue Guy
Sunday, December 8, 2024
Running Lane 2024
Yesterday, JP and the rest of the MBA cross country team ran in the final race of the season, the Running Lane Cross Country Championships in Huntsville, AL. Jude drove down with JP and I stayed home with Joe, who had two basketball games and the ICEE preparation class. Honestly, I hated to miss the race but I had been to almost all of JP's other races and, as always, life is about balance. I wanted to see Joe's two basketball games, too.
Running Lanes always is an exciting end to the cross country season for high school boys and girls because this course is very fast. Many runners set PR's at Running Lanes. Yesterday was no different, as Jack Wallace ran a smoking 14:52:16 to grab 5th place overall. He set a new school record, besting the one he set earlier this fall in Louisville by 12 seconds. Gabe Guillamondegui set a PR, as well, finishing in 15:42:48 (86th overall).
JP finished 36th overall, running the course in 15:19:79. That's fast but, in truth, I think he was a little disappointed he didn't run faster than the PR of 15:14 he ran earlier in the season in Louisville, KY. As he mentioned to me, the fastest sophomore finished slightly ahead of him in 15:13. JP would have liked to have clipped him. In his mind, I think JP wanted to find five more seconds somewhere on the course, which would have given him a PR.
Still, finishing 36 out of 286 runners is impressive. As JP also said, had he been told at the end of last season that he would run under 15:20 twice this season, he would have taken that result in a heartbeat. Either way, I was proud of him for running as well as he did on a fast course against a very fast field with boys, literally, from all over the country. California, Florida, Texas, etc. It was a big day for him.
MBA finished 7th overall in the Gold Division, which was impressive, since they were seeded 11th or 12th. A strong finish to a memorable cross country season for the Big Red.
Next year, JP will go from being the hunter to being hunted. It will be interesting to see how he handles it. Every cross country season and every cross country team is distinct from the others.
Friday night, Joe and I had dinner at Samurai Sushi on Elliston Place. Great sushi. I introduced Joe to the term, "hole in the wall," and he used it to describe the restaurant to Jude when we spoke to her on the telephone Saturday morning. It had been years since I had been there but I knew it would be good, and it was. I have a distant memory of eating here with Hal and Kim 20 + years ago, maybe more. I think Jon Meade may have been with us, too.
Yesterday, Joe and I rushed from his ICEE prep class to West End Middle School to catch the second half of his basketball game with the Bucket Squad, the WNSL (recreational) league team he has played on for years. They won handily against an inferior opponent. Joe played fine but, I think, had difficulty getting into the flow of the game because he had no time to warm up.
Later Saturday afternoon, Joe played his first game with his Stars team. The Stars are a more competitive team for which Joe tried out a month or so ago. The team got boat raced by a more experience, more athletic Darius Garland League team. The game was never close. Playing time is merit-based on the Stars team, which is a new for Joe. Although there aren't any real athletes or basketball players on this team, I think it's going to be tough for Joe to earn playing time due to his lack of size and ball handling limitations. We'll see.
Although Joe didn't start yesterday, he played most of the first half. Upon entering the game, he promptly turned the ball over three times before settling down. He had a nice drive to the bucket, in traffic, for a lay up. He missed a three pointer that has nice rotation on it and looked like it was going in. He also had three assists, two off out of bounds plays and one on a nice entry pass to his Bucket Squad teammate, Cole.
Joe started the second half but didn't play near as much as in the first half. He hit a baseline eight foot jumper early and that was it. Defensively, he needs some work, as he was beat to the cup more than once.
What I really liked about Joe's game was how much he as moving away from the ball. His teammates weren't skilled enough to get the ball to him or, really, to notice that he was moving and getting open. I love the hustle and the way he was moving, though.
My sense is that it will be a long season for the Stars team. Time will tell.
Sunday, December 1, 2024
Gratitude
As the curtain falls on another Thanksgiving weekend, it occurs to me that it might be a use full exercise to spend some time thinking about all I have to be thankful for, in no particular order.
I'm thankful for good health. My family's and mine. I lost a longtime friend - David Easterling - to a glioblastoma earlier this year. Presently, four people in my orbit - three of them friends - are fighting some form of cancer. At my age, I guess, every healthy day is a blessing.
I'm thankful for my family. Full stop. I am so blessed to have Jude as my wife and JP and Joe as my sons.
I'm thankful for my work. After 30 + years as a practicing attorney, I'm blessed to have built a family law practice and reputation that allow me to earn a comfortable living. Clients place their trust in me to help them through, perhaps, the most difficult time in their lives. I don't take that responsibility lightly and I never will.
I'm thankful, at 58, to be able to run. Maybe not as fast as I once did or for as long, but to be able to go out several days a week and run, pain free, is a gift. A true gift.
I'm thankful for our church, St. Patrick. It has been hard, to be sure, losing Father Hammond to the Cathedral of the Incarnation. We miss him terribly. However, it was time for him to take on more responsibility at a larger church. I know that and I'm very proud of him. Every Sunday that I am at St. Patrick, I feel a sense of peace and a sense of belonging. That's no small thing.
I'm thankful for books and the writers that write them. Reading for pleasure is, well, everything to me. Fiction. Non-fiction. Biographies. Memoirs. I love it all. Last year, I discovered Walter Mosley and Easy Rawlins. This year, it's John D. MacDonald and Travis McGee. Give me a good book and a few minutes of solitude. That's contentment for me.
I'm thankful for music. Right now, as I write this, I'm listening to John Coltrane's "Coltrane For Lovers" (Deluxe Edition). It's been my go to album in 2024.
I'm thankful for podcasts. I pass so much time in my truck, commuting to and from work, listening to podcasts. Bill Simmons. Press Box (Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker), Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson (Plain English), Ryan Rusillo, the Run Up (Astead Herndon), and so many others.
I'm thankful for Fall. It's my favorite season of the year. Every August and September, as I fight the oppressive heat, what keeps me going is thinking about September 30, when my boys and I put up my Halloween decorations at work. All kinds of crazy stuff. My law partners tolerate - barely - my love of Halloween and all of my crazy zombie heads, etc. I love October 1 - January 2, every year. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
I'm thankful for our cats, Mini (18 + years old), and Angus. Stray cats that found us and enriched our lives immeasurably.
I'm thankful for a good bourbon, preferably Calumet Farms 15. Maybe a little too thankful!
Happy Thanksgiving.
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Magic on the Mountain
To me, there's always a little magic on the Mountain. Good, memorable things just seem to happen every time we're here.
Yesterday, while the four of us were at the Fowler Center, playing tennis, then pickle ball, we ran into Walter Kurrtz, one of my favorite people. Walter was a Circuit Court Judge in Davidson County (Nashville) for many years. I appeared in front of him on several occasions, most memorably in a trial of a small claims court appeal - Sonya Henderson v. Jerry Harlan - in which my close friend, Worrick Robinson and I went toe-to-toe.
This was in the mid-1990's. Worrick beat me in a bench trial (no jury), when Judge Kurtz refused to allow me to voluntarily dismiss my client's appeal from small claims court. My client, Jerry Henderson, was a character, to be sure. As I recall, he wanted me to play tapes of conversation he had with Ms. Henderson which I did, on a large jam box. It was a landlord-tenant case and the facts were unsavory. I was very uncomfortable and Jerry Henderson wasn't happy with the Judge's Kurtz'a decision, particularly since it included an award of monetary damages against him.
One of things I recall this most, though, is that after the trial, as I was licking my wounds outside the courtroom before I got own the elevator and walked back to my office at Manier, Herod, Judge Kurtz sent his longtime court officer, Joe, out to talk to me. Joe passed along to me that Judge Kurtz thought I had done a good job with the facts that I had. He also told me that Judge Kurtz knew, as a young associate, I didn't always get to pick my clients.
Those words from Judge Kurtz meant the world to me, as a young lawyer. He was a judge that I respected - a judge we all respected - and for him to have the thoughtfulness to send Joe out to talk with me and share an encouraging word or two was a kindness I will never forget. I've tried to do the same thing when I have a case against a young lawyer and I have the facts or the client is difficult.
I appealed Judge Kurtz's ruling on the issue of whether my client could voluntarily dismiss his appeal from small claims court. I wrote the brief and argued the case in the Tennessee Court of Appeals. Fittingly, I got the last laugh when the Court of Appeals agreed with me and reversed Judge Kurtz's decision. In the end, Jerry Harlan and I got the win. It's a reported case. June 11, 1997. You can look it up.
Everything Walter Kurtz said in Court, he said with a twinkle in his eye and an almost grin on his face. His judicial temperament was A +. Inquisitive. Highly intelligent. Interested in what the attorneys had to say. He always seemed happy to be a judge.
That's a long story, to be sure, but it was a treat to see Walter Kurtz at the Fowler Center yesterday. Later, walking Abbo's Alley on the way back to house, Jude stopped by and visited with Walter and his wife, Ellen Hobbs Lyle. Judge Lyle was a Chancellor in Davidson County for many years. Jude and I are big fans of her, too. She and Walter are a delightful couple, to say the least. Years ago, on a run across from MBA on a route I've not run since, I happened upon them in the front yard of their house on a secluded street off West End Avenue.
Today at 10 a.m., Jude is going to hike the Fiery Gizzard with her friend, Betty Teasley. Betty was displaced from her home in Asheville, NC, after the recent flooding. As I understand it, she is living temporarily in a home her family owns in Monteagle. Betty always has been one of my favorite's of Jude's friends and I'm happy that Jude is going to get to spend some time with her today.
After we played pickle ball yesterday, Joe and I flopped down in the high jump pit - or what passes for the high jump pit - and talked for a few minutes. He had left me a thoughtful, handwritten note when he and Jude left for the Mountain Tuesday night. Apparently, at school, one of his teachers had asked the students to write an note of gratitude to someone. He chose me. I'll save the note forever, of course. I wanted Joe to know how much I appreciate him and treasure our relationship. I also wanted him to know how proud I am of him.
Those kind of moments just seem to happen on the Mountain. Magic moments.
Friday, November 29, 2024
Thanksgiving Weekend on the Mountain
For what I believe is the fifth year in a row, we're spending Thanksgiving weekend on Monteagle Mountain, in a house on Tennessee Avenue in the middle of Sewanee's campus. It's the same house we've rented each year, as a result of which it's come to feel a little bit like our house, at least at Thanksgiving.
This year was a little bit different, because JP wanted to run in the Boulevard Bolt with some of his cross country teammates, past and present. As a result, Jude and Joe drove up to the Mountain on Tuesday evening, hung out on campus on Wednesday, then returned home Thanksgiving morning. I stayed in Nashville with JP, who got up early and ran in the Bolt, also on Thursday morning. We had Thanksgiving lunch with Jude's parents at noon, which was nice, as always. Jude, JP, and Joe drove back to the Mountain mid-afternoon. I followed later in the evening, after I got coffee at Pinewood Social from the Crema baristas inside the restaurant. Rest assured, I can always find good coffee, even on a holiday.
JP finished 6th overall in the Bolt, finishing in 27:01. His finish wasn't office because he didn't know he had to pick up his race number before the race. Live and learn, I guess. His time was impressive, though, particularly since he ran the first three miles at more of a practice pace, before racing the last two miles. JP's teammate from last year and close friend, Samuel Trumble, who is running at Kansas University, won the Bolt going away, clocking in right at 25:00. Impressive.
Earlier in the week, Jude made the point that this is quite likely our last Thanksgiving weekend on the Mountain because JP will want to spend the weekend out of school with his friends. Sadly - for me, anyway - I realized she was right. There is no way I would have wanted to go out of town every Thanksgiving weekend when I was in high school. I would have wanted to hang out with my friends. I guess all good things must come to an end, right?
I stayed up late last night reading and finished my third John D. MacDonald (Travis McGee) novel. It's been my favorite literary find of 2024, thanks to an afterword in one of George Pelecanos's novels. As much as I love James Lee Burke (Dave Robicheaux), Michael Connelly (Bosch), Robert Crais (Elvis Cole and Joe Pike), and Walter Mosley (Easy Rawlins), John D. MacDonald is quickly becoming one of my favorites.
I went for a run this morning - this first cold weather run for me of the season with temperatures in the low 30's when I started - three miles to the Sewanee baseball field and back. Later, JP ran five miles and we all met up at the Fowler Center for tennis. JP and Joe threw the baseball, inside, on the indoor tennis courts, and Joe and I played a spirit pickle ball match. Joe won the first game and I one the last two, as all of the games were very close. It was great fun.
Tonight, it's off to Shenanigan's for dinner and Hearts.
It's good to be back on the Mountain.