Sunday Sports

 

All things being equal, I like to get up and get going.

That being said, an early start on Sunday morning wasn't desirable.

So the day began in the car and on the road to Hartsdale, NY for basketball.

For now, the simplicity of girl's hoops for Boomslang Basketball is my last call for 2022. However, I have six more games on the docket that I just have to get confirmed. So I'm not too nostalgic at the moment.

I've written about the ease that youth sports can be to broadcast. There's such innocent (to an extent of course). In my previous Boomslang broadcast, I settled into a set of bleachers at the Leffell School. Today, we were at the same school but we were in their second gymnasium.

No bleachers. In fact, little to no sideline.

As I told both Mike Hirn and Shawn Sailer, I don't want to ever hear another broadcaster complain, given my foot literally touched the sideline of the basketball game.

In the end, I had exactly one ball come to my makeshift broadcast table. Fortunately, there were no flying players to bust into me.

No souls were damaged in the making of the broadcast.

The beauty of the Sunday morning 10 a.m. start means that traffic from Greenwich to Hartsdale (and vice-versa) was light and I cruised without issue.

That meant I was home in time for the conclusion of the World Cup. I felt that Argentina, with legendary Lionel Messi, was the frontrunner before the tournament. Indeed that turned out to be the case and we do love ourselves an image of the hero riding off into the sunset. Messi had never claimed the World Cup and the fates seemed to be setting up for some kind of a "Raymond Borque" type of finish to his career.

Except, after the phenomenal victory for Argentina over France, Messi walked back his initial plans to retire from international competition.

Regardless, the match was one for the ages. I've watched a few but I've never watched one like that. It had everything that soccer is supposed to be. Admittedly, I'll never be in favor of things like penalty kicks resolving a championship but we can't have everything. Watching Messi and Mbappé of France was the very reason why soccer is "The Beautiful Game."

While I've seen people dumping on soccer this evening, the best advice is to simply ignore them. Those are the people who don't get it and never will.

I tuned in late but what I watched was absolutely thrilling.

To say otherwise means you're 1) a hater or 2) you didn't watch it.

Around the time I was preparing to switch from fútbol to football, I fulfilled a commitment to be a guest on a play-by-play podcast. Hosted by fellow veteran PBPer Ken Keller, "B 4 The Crowds Play by Play Podcast" is a loose, enjoyable conversation. Ken and I had never spoken before today save for exchanging messages and we hit it off like old friends and colleagues.

The podcast is largely about seeing top talent before they reach the big time. As someone who has called so many high school, college, and minor league sporting events, I've seen a few famous faces in their nascent stage.

But what makes this podcast so good is more than the stories of those I've seen. It's the stories -- many of which I've told here -- of what we do on a daily basis to bring games to our audience. It's hoping to help you understand that we simply don't just "show up and talk."

It's actually -- GASP! -- work.

Ken has broken our conversation into two parts and he told me that he'd have part one up not long after we hung up. Indeed, the first segment is online and ready for downloading.

Give it a listen and enjoy. Ken also has a podcast with our good friend Mike Hirn among others and is looking for more guests that fit the parameters.

The day finished with more football and Sean coming home from work as we begin the final week before Santa arrives. It's nice to know that the holiday plans are secure, with me set to go to my nephew's house for brunch on Christmas morning.

Still, while out yesterday, Sean and I were talking about the holidays and my usual belief that I'd like to simply disappear until roughly Jan 2nd.

The biggest reason, for me, is that the holidays just tend to be lonely. I'll leave my nephew's in the early afternoon of Christmas and will head back to my chair to probably watch football. 

It wouldn't surprise me if I take a lengthy detour first to visit my parent's grave.

I don't think he had ever considered the loneliness angle until we talked about it.

"Oh, I can definitely see that," he said.

From there, we Adams boys talked about our potential travel plans. We have a few ideas to try to step away and be good to ourselves. Yes, they almost all involve Waffle House.

But, if I may, this has not been the miserable holiday season that other years have been. Oh, it's hardly been a laugh-a-minute but it really hasn't been that bad. Wrapping things up in Mahopac really became a turning point in many ways for me to move forward.

Fortunately, the holiday season is also almost over and Mariah Carey -- somehow, now the "Queen of Christmas" (who comes up with this stuff?) -- can climb back under her rock.

I'll just continue to watch football in the meantime.