OCTOBER 6 UPDATE

COMMITMENTS

Danielle Peterson, 3^rd,1^st, Strikkers, to UCLA

Jamie Becker, 3B/2B, Tremors 18A, to Western Baptist College

Chrissie Markham , AZ Outlaws Gold, to San Diego State University

Joanna Gail, SS, 3B San Diego Thunder (Fox) committed to Oregon U

GOOD NEWS FROM THE GREEKS

We may well remember 2004 as the Summer of Europe.  All across the continent, there are festivals of every description – and airlines and hotels are offering reduced fares and travel packages to virtually every destination.

Celebrations both solemn and festive will mark the 60^th anniversary of the Allied landings at Normandy . After the Olympics, go to Paris for the August 25 celebration of the liberation of the City of Lights – the last time the French appreciated us.  The history minded can travel to Warsaw for the August 1 remembrance of the Warsaw Uprising.  London , in my book, is still the world’s most sophisticated city. 

As written here before, we should be ashamed that we do not have a first class rail system.  Take the Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel – the London-Paris trip on this 185mph phenomenon is three hours – faster than any airline connection portal to portal – and the round-trip fare is only $90.  My daughter and friends who were studying in England last summer took the “chunnel” train and marveled.

The trendy nightspots in Europe are definitely oriented toward the young – those under 30 and some who wish they were.  One Athenian spot, +Soda, is considered the hottest club in town, followed by La joya, but there are any number of taverns in the old town, the Plaka, or in Piraeus , where you can sample traditional Greek night life.

For those who are really “with it,” flip up to Berlin and see sophisticated celebrities at Greenwich , or go to the Kit Kat Club, faintly reminiscent of the no-holds-barred cabaret life in Berlin before the War.

For those actually going to the Olympics, August 13-29, the Greeks report they have completed new Metro subway lines and 19 new stations, and a multi-lane beltway around the city should be complete next spring to alleviate Athens ’ traffic jams.  On that note, the Greeks claim they have reduced Athens ’ notorious smog by 35 percent; people from the City of the Angels will still feel right at home. 

The scaffolds have come off the Parthenon, and a new Acropolis Museum will be open next summer.  I am particularly pleased to read that renovations have been completed on the Byzantine Museum and especially the National Archeological Museum , and both will be open next summer.

One of my very favorite archeological treasures is in the National Museum – the jockey boy of Artemision.  The longer you gaze at the bronze boy, the more you sense he is in motion.  The statue was found deep in the Aegean , astride a bronze horse – and today he still sits that horse.  A movie was made with Alan Ladd and Sophia Loren, “The Boy on a Dolphin” which was ostensibly about the recovery of the jockey boy – but, for some reason, Hollywood substituted a dolphin for the horse.  Ever see a dolphin go the mile-plus at Belmont ?

THE OLYMPIC CYCLE

Speaking of the Olympics, do readers know why they are held every four years?

Ancient astronomers discovered that the planet Venus traces a perfect pentacle, or five-pointed star, across the elliptic sky every eight years.  Recall that, in the ancient world, there was worship of goddesses, none more so than Venus.  Venus and her pentacle became symbols of perfection, beauty and the cyclic qualities of sexual love.  As a tribute to the magic of Venus, the Greeks used her eight-year cycle to organize their Olympic games – and today’s four-year cycle follows the half-cycle of Venus.

I learned all this – and about the Divine Proportion – by reading The da Vinci Code.  Dan Brown takes his readers on quite an intellectual and educational journey.  Good read.

Some of the background information I knew.  For example, the origins of the words sinister and gauche, and all the symbolism attached to left-handed people.  I also knew the origins of sub rosa, used to describe secret discussions; in an earlier time, certain agent provocateurs met in a Medici palace, in a room where the chandelier was set into a rose pattern on the ceiling – hence, they met under the rose, or sub rosa.

THE PALM SPRINGS TOURNAMENT

Readers have asked for information on this 2004 tournament, which SPY has now obtained from Kirk Walker, head coach at Oregon State , the official school sponsor.

The Palm Springs Classic at Big League Field of Dreams will be held on Feb 20-22, 2004 .   It will be an annual event held on the 4th weekend of Feb.   There is a link from the Oregon State Softball web page which includes the prelminary schedule for the 18 teams attending. That direct site is www.osubeavers.com   Go to softball and then to Palm Springs Classic link.   The teams for the 2004 Classic include the following:

USA Olympic Team
UCLA
Arizona
Stanford
Oregon State
CSU Fullerton
Utah
Pacific
Georgia
Alabama
Tennessee
Baylor
Coastal Carolina
Bethune Cookman
Nothwestern
Notre Dame
Boston College
Penn State

Have receieved tremendous interest from across the country for future participation in 2005, 2006.   UCLA and Oregon State will be in this event yearly and the other two spots for the Pac 10 teams will rotate similar to the Fiesta Bowl Classic in Phoenix .  In future years this tournament will fall on the same weekend as the NFCA leadoff classic.  The plan is for this to be a major west coast event for those teams not attending the NFCA in Georgia .  

The NCAA will be using this event as a evaluation/training site for officials for NCAA post season involvement.   The Big League Field of Dreams complex is located in Cathedral City which is an adjacent community to Palm Springs , CA .  We are currently seeking title sponsorship from interested corporations or companies will to support the event on an annual basis.   Several sponsors are on board to help make this a positive event during the softball season. 

Future plans include combining a  6 to 8 team Junior College tournament and/or a 6 to 8 team High school tournament to be held simultaneously with in the complex.   The thoughts are to bring some of the best JC's and High School programs to the same complex for a preseason event celebrating softball.   Future plans also include the development of a clinic for youth to be run on the adjacent Cathedral City High school campus.   We are hopeful that the Palm Springs area and the softball community across the country will help make this a major annual event in the sport of softball.  Oregon State University is the school sponsor of this event although it will not be held on our campus or in our city.  

HOW TO START YOUR COLLEGE CAREER

Hit a home run in your first collegiate at bat.  That’s what Emily Turner, the LSU freshman from San Diego did.  Emily pitched a one-hit shutout, striking out 11, while going 3-5 at bat, with a triple and homer.  I want to be there next spring when Emily and her Tiger teammates lock up with Tennessee freshman Monica Abbott.

YVETTE GIROUARD

Our sympathies to LSU head coach Yvette Girouard, whose father Alton passed away last Saturday.  The funeral will be tomorrow (Oct 7) at the David Funeral Home in Youngsville , LA.  

SHOW AND TELL

Subject: the birthday story (This is too funny!)

How would you like to be this teacher?

A grammar school teacher from Miami , remembers this Oscar-worthy birth
tableau from one of her students...

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but
the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second-grade
classroom a few years back. When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I
always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness
and experience a little public speaking. And it gives me a break and some
guaranteed entertainment.

Usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model
airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever
place any boundaries or limitations on them. If they want to lug it to
school and talk about it, they're welcome. Well, one day this little girl,
Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to
the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater. She holds up
a snapshot of an infant. "This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to
tell you about his birthday. First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of
their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in
there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord."

She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to
laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me.

The kids are watching her in amazement. "Then, about two Saturdays ago, my
Mom starts saying and going, "Oh,oh, oh!'" Erica puts a hand behind her back
and groans. "She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!'"

Now the kid's doing this hysterical duck walk, holding her back and
groaning.

"My Dad called the middle wife. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a
sign on the car like the Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed
like this." Erica lies down with her back against the wall. "And then, pop!

My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and
it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!" This kid has
her legs spread and with her little hands are miming water flowing away. It
was too much!

"Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push, and breathe, breathe.'"
"They started counting, but never even got past ten."

"Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff
they all said was from Mom's play-center, so there must be a lot of stuff
inside there." Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned
to her seat. I'm sure I applauded the loudest. Ever since then, if it's
show-and-tell day, I bring my camcorder, just in case another Erica comes
along.

Life is meant to be lived . . . enjoy

(contributed by Tom and Patty Whipkey)

END

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