Author Archives: Jim Muller

Team Bummer – Mainly Mullers

Sunday Kathryn organized a team  to play in Dolgeville’s Team Bummer benefit volleyball tournament.  Eric stayed at Union College to compete in the playoffs of his Bbrawl AAU tournament.  They played the same two teams they played on Saturday; this time beating the Schoharie Nitros by 15 points and losing to the Comets by 30.

There were six teams in our intermediate pool and the “Mainly Mullers” team finished 2nd in our pool with a record of 8-2. It was fun.  Though there was a lot of waiting in between games.Everyone complained that the net was set to women’s height. We lost the first two games to an amazing team of 4.  They were all over the place.  I believe they didn’t lose a single game.  We also were just sort of getting the feel of one another. The four person team  managed to hit every time, and hit through our blockers.  It was amazing.  None of them looked like volleyball players – they were all sort of short and sort of scruffy looking.  The woman was quite short, didn’t look particularly young and was a bit dumpy in build – but she got every pass and made a GORGEOUS set every time.  And they hit everything.  Boy did they hit. We took all the rest of the games which came to 8 games won and came in 2nd place on our court.
Didn’t like the way they did playoffs.  Just the first placed team from each court for the playoffs and since we lost to the four person team, we didn’t make it.  Our court seemed to have all the decent teams and the other court seemed to have less competitive teams for some reason (though it was supposed to be random) so whoever had to play that 4 person team must have gotten crushed.  When we left, it didn’t look like there was anyone left from the second court.

Madness on The Mohawk Basketball Tournament

For the second weekend in a row, Eric played in an AAU basketball tournament as part of his Mohawk Valley Elite team.

  • vs Amsterdam Select at St. Gabriels Gym in Rotterdam
  • vs Goddard Riverside at the Duanesburg YMCA
  • vs Galway at Amsterdam High School

The score was tied 28-28 vs Amsterdam Select and then MVE team went on a huge shooting hot streak before winding down to win 66-52.  Eric did his usual good rebounding and made 3 of 4 foul shots at the end of the game.  We stopped off at Gibbys Diner for lunch and then went to the Duanesburg YMCA. Goddard Riverside pressed the entire game and ran MVE off the floor winning by a 50 point margin.  Galway was a similar situation with the final score 48-14.

Rising Stars Tournament

Eric’s Mohawk Valley Elite team entered the ‘B’ pool of the local Rising Stars Tournament sponsored by D Squad.   They lost overwhelmingly to Central Western (Green) (from Weedsport) and narrowly beat the Midstate Wolfpack (from Sherburne Earlville) on Saturday.  Sunday morning they beat Midstate Wolfpack 46-21 and then lost narrowly to Central Western.

2017 HP 8th Grade Basketball Season

Eric and his teammates had an undefeated season playing 9 games vs Remsen, Old Forge, ADK, West Canada Valley and Little Falls.  Eric was on the starting unit primarily playing as a 2 guard.  The team followed a A / B format meaning the starting unit usually played quarters 1 & 3 and the 2nd unit played quarters 2 & 4.

The team won most of their games by wide margins.  The opposing schools had very few players that were playing club or AAU basketball to improve their skills.

Sightings of Spring

Every year about this time my slightly southern relatives start announcing their sightings of spring.  This afternoon I saw the King of Spring.

I hear that you’ve seen Robins and black birds with red wings.
And I don’t deny that you have seen all those things.
To get a glimpse of spring from one of these sightings,
Makes your heart jump, feel joy, they are quite exciting.
So I don’t mean to diminish or throw shade
But I have a topper from the sighting I made.
I am sure you’ll agree this is the best and affirm
Because today I spotted a little fish worm.
 

Skiing at McCauley Mtn

Wednesday Kathryn had to work and I took the day off to take Eric and Trevor skiing at McCauley Mtn.  We left the house at 10:30 and arrived about an hour later.  We had to wait a few minutes before they would sell their half day ski pass;  12 noon – 4:15 for $20; so we staked a table in the lodge, Trevor rented a helmet and the boys geared up with boots, etc.

It was a perfect day.  McCauley wasn’t crowded so there was no waiting for the ski lift.  The boys met up with a friend, Jack, and were intrigued by all the new ski trails to explore.  They came into the lodge at 2pm for food and drinks and then returned to repeat runs over the rest of the ski center.   McCauley has a base elevation of 1567 ft and rises up 633 feet to a summit elevation of 2200.  There are 21 trails and 5 lifts (chair, t-bar, rope tow).  Other than one double black diamond run (Helmer) they did every trail 2 or 3 times.

You Picked A Fine Time To Leave Us Kincaid

With all the new snow Kathryn and I have been snowshoeing and XC skiing quite a bit.  Usually I snowshoe our trails and Kathryn does a combination of snowshoeing / XC skiing depending on how deep the snow is and the condition of the trails.  We have a nice ~3 mile loop that we have been using this year. This past weekend I snowshoed the loop alone, no dogs for company, just me and the quiet of the woods….. Too quiet.  I ended up with an earworm song playing in my head as I snowshoed.  Unfortunately I have no control over the earworm songs that play in my head and, unfortunately, this one was Kenny Rogers song “You Picked A Fine Time To Leave Me Lucille”.   What does one do with an earworm song repeatedly recycling through their brain?  Why they inflect more pain on it.  So with apologies to Kenny Rogers…..

In a condo down in Cancun
Rick and Danny are renting a room.
Far away from this winter’s embrace.

They each spend all of their days
On the beach in the warm rays
Drinking Mai-tais and napping ‘til noon.

They could have stayed home
But to the south they did roam
Leaving us to weather the storms.

It hasn’t been easy
As you soon will see
Left here in the dark and gloom.

You picked a fine time to leave us Kincaid.
There’s been some ice storms,
and there’s been the snow storms,
and look at the mess that they made.
You picked a fine time to leave us Kincaid.

Maintaining our trails

It has been hard to keep our XC ski trails in good condition as our weather has fluctuated among cold weather, rain, ice storms and lake effect snowfalls.  Lots of places are still wet and require some maneuvering around wet spots.  We had to move or cut some downed branches.  I built a small leaning rail at the junction of the loop where Kathryn sometimes changes from snowshoes to skies to glide back home.

HP 8th Grade Basketball vs Remsen

It has been a rough week for the HP Middle School. Eric’s 1st 8th grade basketball game, scheduled for last weekend, was canceled by Little Falls due to threat of snow or missing school bus or something. This Thursday he had a 2 hour delay, but managed to play their 1st game vs Remsen and won easily. Eric had 6 points, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 rebound in 14 minutes of play.

Friday there was a bomb threat and Adirondack Schools canceled all after school activities due to lake effect snow, so again, no basketball game.