Weekend Sport Center

These are the weekends that I will miss when the boys grow up.  

Saturday about noon, I drove over to MBA to watch JP compete in the Doug Hall Relays.  Jude and her parents were there, too.  JP ran the 800 in the DMR (distance medley relay) and the third leg of the 4 x 800.  Alice arrived in time to watch the 4 x 800 and took a great video of JP taking the lead and pulling away from a Nolensville runner on the second lap.  It was an impressive run for JP and team, who won the 4 x 800.

Earlier, JP ran the 800 in the DMR at 1:58:20 a PR for him.  MBA already had a big lead, as Jack Wallace blew the field away in the first leg, the 1200.  As a result, it was hard to tell how fast JP was running because he was running alone.  The answer, of course, was pretty darn fast.  Gabe ran a strong 1600 to finish the race and clinch another MBA win.

MBA won the Doug Hall Relays, again, so it was a good day all around for the Big Red on their home track.  

From there, Jude and I drove to Murfreesboro to watch Joe play his second basketball game of the day.  His Stars team lost their first game while Jude and I were at the Doug Hall Relays watching JP run.  Joe's team lost the second game, too, to a better team.  However, they played tough against a bigger and more experienced squad and only lost by 10 points. 

I was particularly proud of how Joe played.  In the second half, he took it upon himself to box out the other team's big man, who scored 23 points for the game, all but two of them on put backs after rebounds, and try to keep him off the boards.  Joe succeeded to a point, as the big man scored in single digits in the second half.  The big man was at least a foot and a half taller than Joe and still, Joe played him physically and boxed him out when shot went up.  Joe played with real courage and resolve.

Joe scored seven points, a high for him in a Stars' game this spring.  After having a layup swatted by the big man on a breakaway after a steal, Joe crossed him up after another steal in the second half with a jump stop - courtesy of Russ Allen (!) - and hit the bucket.  

When Joe was in the game and the other team was pressing, he typically caught the inbounds pass, looked up court, and passed the ball to an open teammate to break the press.  No panic.  Steady play.  When Joe wasn't in the game, the press speeded his team up and his players turned the ball over several times for easy buckets by the other team.  Quintessential Joe.  Heady play.  Smart.  Tough.  As I so often say about him on the basketball court, a glue guy.

Sunday, Jude and I drove to Murfreesboro and I watched the first of two Armada soccer games in which Joe played goalie (a half in each game, sharing time with Liam).  The first game was incredibly exciting, as Baker scored the game winning goal with less than 30 seconds left.  Joe and his Armada teammates were over the moon with the late win.  I came home to do some work and missed the second game, a 0-0 tie.

Late afternoon, we all watched Rory McElroy win the Master's from Augusta, in what can only be described as an excruciatingly painful viewing experience.  It was a roller coaster.  I taped the end, though, and Jude and the boys watched it after Sunday evening church at Christ the King for Palm Sunday.  I got a run in while they were at church, semi-recovered from the back pain I'd strangely experienced in my mid-back earlier in the week.

A weekend full of sports.  Just the way I like it.