Showing posts with label frank workman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label frank workman. Show all posts

Frank Workman on Sports - my last game behind the plate

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

By Frank Workman

When a couple of good friends asked me this week if I would umpire their 8 yr old sons’ season opener, I jumped at the chance, even though I knew my crouch behind home plate for the peewees was going to be so low that lingering pain in some seldom-used muscles would ensue.

Little did I know that it would be my last game behind the plate.

It turned out the problem was not in my thighs……it was my eyes.

After years and years of advice from the bleachers, I finally got my eyes examined a while ago, and sure enough---I DID need new glasses.

The acquisition of trifocals has made life easier when it comes to reading a computer screen, but the addition of that second line on my lenses had an unexpected detrimental effect when I put my mask on and got ready to call the first pitch last week.

As the ball left the pitcher’s hand, it was in perfect focus, in the top third of the lens.

But as gravity took its inevitable hold and the ball began to drop as it approached the plate, it shifted from one lens setting to another, causing the ball to seem to explode into so many tiny bits as it approached the catcher, like a dandelion going poof in the wind.

That’s a problem.

I started calling games in 1964 or ’65, when my brother’s team had a no-show-umpire stand them up.

Since then I’ve worked hundreds of games, some under blazing blue skies, others when it was so cold and wet out that we did, in fact, care, if we never got back.

I’ve gotten to meet many boys and their parents, nearly all of whom seemed supportive and appreciative of my efforts. Lots of them remain friends to this day.

I managed to avoid any significant injuries, getting struck in the ‘midsection’ just once when an inept and evil catcher ducked under a perfectly thrown strike three. (Thank goodness that was the FINAL out of a doubleheader, and not the first one.)

I had just one occasion to eject a player from a game. When I explained my reasoning to his dad, the coach, he was in complete agreement with me.

I’ve been a Little League umpire, in every sense of the term. And damn proud of it.

One thing I learned right from the start, games were hard enough to call when there was just one baseball on the field.

This week, for the first time, there were too many baseballs to count.

Time for somebody else to get behind the plate, go into that squat, and feel the burn.


See previous Frank Workman columns by clicking the link under the Features list in the first column on our webpage.




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Frank Workman on Sports - Shorecrest girls finish on a win

Sunday, March 4, 2012

By Frank Workman

The Shorecrest team didn’t just make history by bringing home the school’s first trophy (4th place) in girls basketball.

The Scots also managed to accomplish one of the hardest things to do in High School team sports --- winning their last game of the season, Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.

Their loss in Thursday’s quarter-finals knocked them out of contention for winning the championship, but consolation-bracket wins Friday and Saturday resulted in a feeling foreign for the players, parents, and coaches.

For seniors to go out on a win is almost unheard of, and must feel deliciously satisfying.

Unless you’re the last team standing and win the State Championship (or if you’re on a team that is so bad it misses the playoffs but somehow manages to win the regular-season finale), every season invariably ends in sad defeat – a defeat made all the more sad by the realization that that year’s team will never play another game together.

Season-ending defeats come in all shapes and sizes, from the devastating one-point buzzer-beater to the thorough thrashing.

All result in tears.

While sad tears were absent in the post-game locker room, sweet joyful ones were unashamedly shed by most, as players (especially the five seniors) and their coach reflected on their years together.

Allison Jones was the team’s sixth-man (I steadfastly refuse to make any gender adaptations when it comes to basketball. Girls teams play man-to-man defense, and the first player off the bench is the sixth man). A defensive specialist, she could also be counted on to drill a three if left alone by opposing defenses.

India Matheson was the team’s rough-and-tumble post player. She was the essence of ‘agile, mobile, and hostile’. Teams drove the lane and challenged her for rebounds at their peril.

Janie Uppinghouse filled the role of long-range-bomber. When her outside shots fell, the team was darn near unbeatable.

Bri Lasconia’s lightning fast speed allowed her to drive for layups at will and to take over games unlike any player in memory to wear the green-and-gold. Her 45-point performance in one come-from-behind win this season was more a testament to the power of her will as it was to her ability.

Mickey Greenburg was simply the epitome of unselfishness, the glue, the unsung hero that no team that aspires to greatness can do without. She drew more charges than all her other teammates combined. She preferred to throw the pretty pass that resulted in two points to actually making the basket herself.

Dori Monson has coached these seniors since they were in rompers, and the players (and their moms and dads) have become like an extended family. The bond created over the years with the entire basketball family has been unique.

At an informal, celebratory gathering of some players, parents, coaches, and fans Saturday night at a local malt shoppe, several of the players were asked if they would trade in their fourth place finish for a shot at the State Championship.

Every girl replied that they wouldn’t trade in a win in the final game for anything.

They all knew how hard it was to win the last game of the season.

And they knew how good it felt to make school history.


See previous Frank Workman columns by clicking the link under the Features list in the first column on our webpage.



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Frank Workman on Sports - ESPN doesn't make the grade

Sunday, February 19, 2012

By Frank Workman

Like you, perhaps, most of my email survey-requests go straight to my spam folder. (Oh, if we could just do the same for the countless political ads on TV we’re going to be exposed to between now and the first Tuesday in November – can’t somebody please make an app for that?)

But this survey was from ESPN, so I took a few minutes to respond (besides, I was going to be entered into a drawing --- I might WIN something!).

ESPN wanted me to give them an overall grade, and to explain how I arrived at it.

They merit an A based solely on the sheer volume of ballgames they televise and the fact that they cover sports 24/7. They’re not the (self-proclaimed) Worldwide Leader In Sports for nothing.

But I gave them an F on the basis of their numerous contributions to the deterioration of sportsmanship in our society.

Whether I’m watching a game or one of their highlights shows, the plays that get the most attention and are replayed most often tend to be those showing an athlete in a team sport acting selfishly ---- celebrating themselves and not their team.

Too many times the cameras focus on the end-zone dance, and not on the downfield block that helped the ball-carrier score the touchdown.

They show us the dunk, but not the screen that enabled the player to get open.

Or we see the slugger who has just clouted the ball out of the park, but we don’t see the previous hitter’s hard-earned base on balls with two outs that kept the inning alive.

Worse yet, too many times the touchdown dance results in a celebration penalty that costs the scorer’s team 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff.

Or the dunker poses following his two-pointer, only to see the opponent take advantage of his absence on defense and hit their own basket (or even 3-pointer) that negates the dunk.

And often we’ll see long fly balls not leave the yard while the hitter watches admiringly from the batters box, his failure to adhere to the first lesson every school child learns early on (hit the ball and run as fast as you can) costing his team an extra base or two.

All the while, ESPN has the chance to call out the selfishness and me-first attitude, but with rare exception the players are not only not criticized for their actions, but they are frequently commended for their “stylish” play.

At the end of each SportsCenter, they show the day’s Top Ten plays.

I’d like them to make two additions to their programming.

One, I want to see each day’s most unsung plays, highlighting the pretty pass, the hard slide into second that breaks up the double play, or the good open-field tackle that prevents a big gain.

And I’d love to see a daily citing of those boneheaded selfish plays that wind up hurting the offending players’ teams, with ample verbal criticism coming from the announcers.

Until ESPN cleans up its act and remembers what it means to be a good sport, the best grade I can give them is a C.



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Frank Workman on Sports: Bucket List

Thursday, January 12, 2012

By Frank Workman

We’re all familiar with the concept of a Bucket List ….. things to do before we die.

Big things.

Things like climbing Mt. Rainier, or parachuting out of an airplane, or running a marathon.

Yeah, like that’ll ever happen.

Here’s something to put on your small-b bucket list.

If you can’t remember the last time you got out to watch a High School basketball game, the week ahead affords numerous opportunities to give even the casual fan in Shoreline and LFP a chance to fall back in love with a sport that may have been, at one time, a passion.

And what better way to rekindle an old flame than by being part of a packed gym, sitting among neighbors, friends, and acquaintances, while agile and athletic young people take your breath away with their high-flying acrobatic skills and displays of teamwork.

Friday night, the 13th, the undefeated Mountlake Terrace Hawks boys travel to Shorecrest to play the Scots, whose lone league defeat was to the Hawks. Tipoff is 7:15. While the Hawks have been mopping the floor with the opposition so far this year, the Scots figure to have something up their sleeve as they prepare for what could be a signature game for their seniors. The chance to watch SC senior Junior Chibuogwu is worth the $5 price of admission alone.

This Tuesday the SC girls renew their heated rivalry with defending District Champion Glacier Peak. The Scots escaped with a 2-point win in the Grizzlies’ gym last Friday on Janie Uppinghouse’s clutch free-throws with just over one second to play. Senior India Matheson will be conspicuously absent for several week from the Scots’ lineup as she has been knocked for a loop by an illness. Of these two teams’ last four games against each other, two have gone into Overtime, while the other two were decided in the final seconds.

If one was to go to only ONE girls basketball game this year, this could be the one to make.

On Saturday the 21st, local fans can attend Hoopapalooza III, the annual all-day affair between Shorecrest and Shorewood, hosted again this year by the T-Birds.

Both Shorewood teams are off to good starts this season. Alumna Nina Lowe’s girls have a winning record in league play, and they played the Scots tough all three times they met last season, while venerable coach Marv Morris’ boys have but a single loss to Terrace blemishing their league record.

Hoopapalooza, the brainchild of District Athletic Director Don Dalziel, is a full afternoon of girls and boys JV ball that gives way to the Varsity squads, as the girls face off at 5, followed by the boys at 7.

While both games will be televised locally on Comcast Ch. 26 (in Shoreline and LFP) by the Live Video Production Club, nothing compares to the sensation of being there, in a gym full of people yelling and screaming (and those are just the parents!), temperatures and emotions rising from the opening tip, amid a panoply of facial expressions on display as the drama heightens.

While getting out to watch a game may not compare with any of the aforementioned Bucket List items, it is a night out of the house for many (and a darn cheap one at that!) --- and it may just give you the impetus to make (or tackle) your list after all.



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Wishes for the local high school sports scene for 2012

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Veteran sports observer Frank Workman shares his thoughts for the local sports scene for the coming year.

By Frank Workman

While Mariner fans can wish for Prince Fielder (wish for him in one hand and spit in the other --- see which hand fills up first), and Husky fans can hope for an improvement in Defensive Coordinators (Baylor just scored again), I choose to keep my sports wishes for the new year of a more local variety.

This ardent observer of the local high school sports scene hopes for the following:

  • For Shorewood Football Coach Rob Petschl, continued participation and commitment from even more boys, and the sort of steady and sustainable improvement that will find the T-Birds challenging for the top spot in Wesco year after year.
  • For Shorecrest Football Coach Brandon Christensen, the chance to develop another quarterback as gifted as Ted Hammond has been for the Scots. And for both coaches, it is hoped that their families’ fast friendship thrives and survives the fractious festivities that occur one Friday night each fall.
  • For venerable Shorewood Boys Basketball Coach Marv Morris, good health that will enable him to stay on the sidelines as long as he wishes, and the kind of receptive and respectful boys that make coaching his own personal Fountain of Youth.
  • For Basketball Coach Brian Fischer, a chance to take his Scots to State for the first time, with the elegant and graceful Junior Chibuogwu leading the way.
  • For Shorewood Soccer Coach Nathan Davis, a season (soon!) of injury-free play for his boys and girls.
  • For Mindy Dalziel, an extra goal here and there for her Shorecrest girls, so they don’t have to suffer through the shoot-outs that have bedeviled her team the last few years.
  • For Nina Lowe, T-Birds Girls Basketball Coach, the opportunity, just one time, to coach a player as talented and driven as she was when she was winning State Championships for Shorewood.
  • For Shorecrest Girls Coach Dori Monson, as brilliant an ending to the Basketball season as the beginning has been for his talented veteran team.
  • For Shorewood Baseball Coach Wyatt Tonkin, another 2-run lead in the bottom of the last inning of the State Championship Game. And a sense of welcome to the T-Birds’ new home at Meridian Park – the new ballpark there, with lights, should prove to be a valuable community asset.
  • For Shorewood Track Coach Lance Neubauer, a way to manufacture and bottle his infectious enthusiasm that has attracted more and more kids to participate in the spring for the T-Birds.
In a non-sports-related vein, I have two other wishes.

  • That our elected officials, local and national, from Dogcatcher to President, wake up every day and remember who is the Master and who is the Servant.
  • And I hope the people in charge of the Shoreline Area News exercise better judgment in 2012 than to again depict the essence of our unique American holiday, Thanksgiving, with a picture of a ‘tofurky’.  (See offending article here)



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Op-Ed: Shorewood's football finale - a "meaningless" win? Not if you were there

Monday, November 7, 2011

By Frank Workman

Shorewood’s football finale Friday night may not have seemed to matter much in the Grand Scheme of Things, but their 36-30 overtime win over an evenly-matched and equally-gritty Squalicum team served as yet another reminder of the pure and entertaining nature of High School sports.

On a weekend that saw the sport’s best teams playing ‘meaningful’ playoff games, don’t believe for one second that this game held no meaning to the two teams involved.

It had to have meant something to the Storm’s sophomore tailback Luke Weber, who carried the ball for over 200 yards in his 40 + carries. Weber was so gassed from his efforts that he wasn’t able to answer the bell at the start of the overtime period. His absence, coupled with SW’s inspired defense, contributed to the T-Birds’ goal line stand.

The game had to have meant a lot to Squalicum’s massive senor receiver Lucas Potes. This 6’ 3”, 210-pound senior trudged off the field as slowly as a human being possibly can walk, crying all the way. When he collapsed, sobbing, into his father’s arms, it was impossible to tell if he had lost a ‘meaningless’ football game or the state championship.

It was obvious that winning the game meant a lot to Eugene Holley, SW’s mainstay running back. His winning TD set off a grand celebration for his teammates, the likes of which have been few and far between for the T-Birds of late. The post-game hug he shared with a coach lasted so long, it could have been timed with a calendar instead of a stopwatch. One can only imagine how many moms, dads, grandmas, and grandpas in attendance were warmed on the frosty night with similar hugs, and left with a memory that will last them a lifetime.

Time will only tell if the outcome of this game will hold any lasting meaning for Head Coach Rob Petschl, the outstanding coaching staff he has assembled, and the T-Bird football program.

You would think ending the season on a high note like this would give encouragement to the returning players to spend more off-season time in the weight room, and would inspire those boys who haven’t participated in the past to turn out for the team next year.

If so, then there would seem to have been a lot of significance to Friday’s ‘meaningless’ win.


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