Wednesday, January 28, 2009

John Smoltz: What Not to Wear

Arrived at Kings Ridge last night between the middle school and girls game. I was headed down to sit with Kara’s dad Eric. He didn’t see me, and just before I got to him, he got up, went down, and crossed the court over to the empty table to keep score. Scores just about every game Kara plays.

Soon thereafter, John Smoltz appeared, and also crossed over to the table. He took the clock operators seat in the middle. Eric is a tall, quiet guy, but looked small next to Smoltz. They appeared to chat some, but naturally Smoltz spoke more to the Kings Ridge scorer seated to his left…waving his arms like on TV.

Smoltz’s daughter was introduced last, and she was their best player, though she didn’t have much help. She tallied 6 points and rebounds, and an assist…but Kara and Danielle both blocked several of her shots. Kara scored 20 in the 42 – 19 win. During the game Will went over and sat near the scorer’s table, just to be near Smoltz.

After the game I headed across the court to score the boys game. As I walked, Smoltz got up and moved away from the table, chatting with the boy’s coaches. Not long after he left with his two daughters.

Perhaps it’s harder for tall guys to look good in clothes, but Smoltz looked the same as always…dark slacks and loafers, and white sweater. His shoes never look good, and I think he’d look better in any other color than white. I’ve seen him in black, which looked ok.

Kings Ridge is just west of Alpharetta Highway, just north of Windward Parkway. Beautiful new buildings, separate elementary and high schools, Astroturf football field. A football supporter’s plaque listed “The Smoltz Family” but I forgot to look for Foxworthy’s name.

At the scorer’s table at night I recognized the brand name on the scoreboard unit…Daktronics, the name of the company profiled in the Sports Illustrated Jumbotron article. The clock operator loved the unit, and was showing off to the KR scorer. Kept up with timeouts, etc, and the bonus “B” game on automatically when six fouls were reached.

Connor scored 31 in perhaps his best all-around game, aggressiveness wise. DJ had 14, and Will hit a 3-pointer. Easy win for the boys: 72 – 50. After almost losing his jacket and wallet recently, Will was again pretty careless last night. His wallet fell out of his jeans pocket, and three times I had to remind him to get his jeans and jacket.

Several people I know on Facebook were writing these”25 Things About Me” Lists, so Tuesday I took too much time writing one. I was kinda stoked by my list…guess I’m old enough to have experienced a lot. Most of my comments were sports-related and celebrity related. To me, any spiritual comments would’ve been even more self-serving and not as “interesting.” Could’ve said I’ve been a Christian for over 33 years, but most people would pretty much know that about me.

My blog reader who just moved back from Saipan had just posted one as well. Missy’s list was interesting, more on the insightful side than mine. Embellishments? Like a couple of my comments - I was in the stadium when the Rookie was filmed.

Saw some of the Clemson game late Sunday, and it wasn’t pretty.

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