TERRE HAUTE — Having glanced up from my arduous work for just a few seconds Monday night — and seeing mostly commercials as a result — I have decided to make a comeback.
If I can only limber up my aging left arm enough to be able to throw a baseball 50 or 60 feet — I noticed the guys Monday weren’t on the mound either — surely I can be hired as a Home Run Derby pitcher. I know I wouldn’t walk as many as the guys would have Monday — you’re trying to let them hit it! — and from past experience I’m sure I could get lit up like a Christmas tree.
Maybe they’d even let me wear my glove on my belt.
I enter the All-Star break having a stress-free major league season, however, which may strike some as a surprise. The Cubs have managed to stumble past the midpoint of their schedule with a .500 record, meaning they’ve essentially wasted the first three months of the season.
(Wait for it.)
Yes, and the last 101 years too.
(Rim shot.)
But I’ve known all this was coming since about February; I just wasn’t aware of the details. As soon as all the baseball experts started talking about how the Cubs merely had to show up to win their division and could spend the entire year setting themselves up for the playoffs, I wrote them off.
Many of you can probably remember the disastrous 1985 season, when the Cubs were supposed to have been shoo-ins after blowing a two-game lead in a best-of-five series to San Diego the year before, but my parallel goes back farther than that.
This team reminds me of the Cubs in about 1971 or 1972, when they were still trying to recapture the magic of 1969 (or at least its first four months) and were getting older and older without getting better. What’s worse about this team is that most of its geezers are locked into long-term contracts that make them untradeable, which could indicate that in a couple of years we’ll be looking back at 2009 as the good old days.
Tickets at Wrigley might soon become easier to get. Maybe they’ll win it when I turn 100.
(Wait for it.)
Yes JoJo, I know that time is not that far off.
(Cymbals.)
Right now my baseball hopes are wrapped up in hoping Joe Thatcher gets recalled again by the Padres, so maybe I can finagle good seats for that upcoming Padres-Nationals series that’s sure to be a hot ticket.
Yes, you won’t be hearing from me next week, because Jenny and I will be visiting our nation’s capital. We plan to fix the government, stimulate the economy (her department) and bring about world peace.
Then after lunch, we’ll probably go sight-seeing.
• • •
Couple of other things:
• Phenoms — I’m still kicking myself for not getting to Rea Park soon enough to watch Hannah McGee actually play tennis (her matches didn’t seem to last very long) in the Mary Ann Stadler Memorial last weekend, but at least I had a nice chat with her and her father.
Hannah isn’t the only up-and-comer at her school, she pointed out to me. Another girl there who still isn’t in high school yet played in the U.S. Women’s Open that weekend.
• Honor — Cheryl Weatherman is one of the members of Inspiring Women, Class of 2009, who will be honored July 30 at an Indiana Fever game.
The former Terre Haute South volleyball coach and South Vermillion principal probably still remembers me as one of the idiots who used to yell at her when she was officiating Indiana State women’s basketball back in the old gym on Seventh Street; there’s no doubt she’s one of the pioneers of girls sports in Indiana.
Others in the class include Jan Conner, who needs no introduction; Judi Warren, the first Miss Basketball and later the coach at Carmel; Cinda Brown, longtime coach at Rushville; Donna Cheatham, ditto at Scottsburg; Linda Barnett, whose Clinton Central team beat Jennifer Turner and Terre Haute North for the North Montgomery Regional championship a few years ago; and Patty Broderick, another longtime official who would probably recognize my voice.
Great job, ladies.
• Medals — Joel Whittington, preparing for his junior year at Northview right now, is back from Australia where he competed in track and field on a trip sponsored by DownUnder Sports.
He won a gold medal in the 300 hurdles, a bronze in the 110 hurdles and was a finalist in both the 200 and 400. Great job to you too, Joel.
• A volunteer no more — Former South Vermillion linebacker/running back Keith Montecillo, currently a student at South Plains Junior College at Lubbock, Tex., has moved up from summer volunteer work in its weight room to being tight ends coach for the Escatado Matadors. The Lubbock high school is the preseason top-ranked team in its class.
Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items at (812) 231-4277 or 1-800-783-8742; by e-mail at andy.amey@tribstar.com; by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.
Amey Takes Aim
Amey Takes Aim: Making a comeback as Home Run Derby pitcher while Cubs fade
- Amey Takes Aim
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Getting ready for the dance
Terre Haute North got the good news Sunday night — or did it?
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Harrowing path for state hopefuls
The bad news is that the winner of Class 4A Sectional 13 in boys basketball heads northeast instead of southeast for regional play in March — to Hinkle Fieldhouse instead of Seymour as a result of Indiana High School Athletic Association’s changes.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: A superior all-star arrangement
I don’t work on Wednesdays, so I wasn’t able to attend the first Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association draft last week to set up the annual all-star game that will be June 23 this year.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: The biggest & baddest of a holiday classic
There are more things to love about the Pizza Hut Wabash Valley Classic than could fit in this newspaper, but one of this year’s best things was that for an hour or so on Wednesday, it was Justin Paddock’s world and we were just living in it.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Taking note of ISU’s latest football win
The biggest difference I’ve noticed, as I transition from the high school football beat to quasi-official status as the Indiana State football beat writer for a few weeks, is the length of the games.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: IHSAA playoff draw not as bad as it could have been
First reaction to the Indiana sectional football pairings drawn late Sunday by the Indiana High School Athletic Association? It could have been a lot worse.
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ANDY AMEY: Between the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & a hard place
Just in case any of you noticed — with some anticipation — the recent lack of my bylines, I can tell you that your wish (and mine) did come true. It was vacation week for the Amey family.
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Amey Takes Aim: UFC fighter’s bloodines traced back to ISU brothers
As a mild-mannered reporter from a great metropolitan newspaper — or thereabouts — I admit I haven’t paid much attention to the burgeoning mixed martial arts scene.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Predators’ win is music to new fan’s ears
For many, many years, the number of live games televised on WGN has been cited as perhaps the main reason for the popularity of the Chicago Cubs (it’s got to be something besides masochism, right?).
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AMEY TAKES AIM: You’ll be having a good ol’ time on vacation with the Ameys
When one of the first people you meet is Tammy Wynette’s stepdaughter, when you’ve stepped on the feet of people you haven’t met while trying to navigate Ernest Tubbs’ old Silver Eagle tour bus, and when the activities director of your resort is, well, Elvis, you might be vacationing in Nashville.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: The Annual All-Amey basketball teams close out the prep season
The most encouraging boys high school basketball event I’ve attended so far in 2011 has been the Lafayette Semistate a couple of weeks ago.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Family remembers Cheryl Weatherman as caring grandmother
As far as Riley and Keely Davis are concerned, Cheryl Weatherman was simply their grandmother, and a pretty darn good one at that.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Honor to see Turkey Run girls close out memorable career
I don’t know if anyone in this part of the state could actually say they enjoy going to Fort Wayne and back, but I was glad to see the Turkey Run Warriors play one last time during the girls basketball state finals Saturday.
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So many matches, so many favorites
Go ahead, ask me anything about the 224 wrestlers who competed last week at the Indiana state finals — or at least about the 112 wrestlers who survived Saturday’s first round.
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ANDY TAKES AIM: A sportwriters’s lament: Oh, the games we missed
I was already tired of winter by the time that first bitterly cold snap passed through in mid-December, so it’s safe to say the season hasn’t grown on me.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Time of the season for teams to tough it out
In the last month or so I figure I’ve seen at least four boys high school basketball teams with legitimate state-championship dreams as the season heads into its dog days.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: It's the fall 2010 Amey Awards
I won’t get to know the kids from Casey and North Putnam until they come to Terre Haute in droves next June for the Wabash Valley Football Coaches Association All-Star game, so I guess it’s not too early for the high school football awards from this space.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: An early look at Indiana prep football playoffs
I wasn’t at all surprised to watch Linton pick up a 20-point win over previously unbeaten North Knox in high school football last Friday, one week after the Miners had lost by 40 to North Daviess.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Baseball season rounding third for an exciting ending
Major League baseball is coming down to an interesting week for the National League, then a couple of interesting weeks for the American League.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Look for me in the yellow shirt
I won’t be wearing pink or blue tonight for the Terre Haute South-Terre Haute North volleyball match at North, but I’m anticipating that plenty of you will be.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Little QB had big moments in ISU blue
You won’t find his name easily in the Indiana State record book, but for my money the best quarterback the Sycamores have ever had was Verbie Walder.
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Amey Takes Aim: Biggest baseball pet peeve … Nibbling
Having seen some outstanding baseball — and some not-so-outstanding baseball — at literally every level of play this spring and summer, I have identified what without a doubt is my main pet peeve with the sport. Nibbling. I’m not referring to popcorn or pretzels or nachos or cheese sticks or corn dogs or snow cones or candy or ice cream. Those can also be a serious problem — particularly if the kids are with me — but one that can be solved by simply running out of money.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Head to the high seas: Ameys’ vacation cruise
It’s good to be king. Abdication? Not so good.
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World Cup replaces void opened when Stanley Cup ended
It’s niche sports day here at the Tribune-Star, so we’ll start with a test of how much you learned while watching the recent National Hockey League season.
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AMEY TAKES AIM: Win or lose, a softball season to remember
Well, this is awkward. I’m writing this late Monday night, with my Tuesday and Wednesday days off in the future, not knowing entirely how happy I am with state-finals softball.
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Amey Takes Aim: Wabash Valley is a softball powerhouse
Greetings from the high school softball capital of Indiana. Your Tribune-Star will be spending all day Saturday at Ben Davis, dominating the press box and elbowing those other newspapers to the back row where they belong. No other paper has as many teams to cover as we do (go Panthers, go Miners and go Patriots); The Times and Post-Tribune get off to a good start with Whiting (against Riverton Parke) and Wheeler (versus Linton), but couldn’t get anything going among the bigger schools (now that my cousin Keith Hauber no longer coaches at Lake Central).
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Amey Takes Aim: NHL playoffs > NBA playoffs
Eavesdropping, as I often do, at a couple of sporting events recently, I heard conversations that warmed my heart. At both the Rose-Hulman baseball game recently and the Terre Haute North-Terre Haute South girls tennis match a week ago, I heard spirited arguments involving — the NHL playoffs.
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Amey Takes Aim: Amey family travels to Astros land
I have an uneasy feeling that I know what I’m getting for Fathers Day. Not sure how your family celebrates that holiday, but mine uses it to get me things I wouldn’t otherwise buy for myself. It’s probably the only reason I ever got a cell phone, and a couple of years ago it was a good excuse for a flat-screen TV for the living room. Yes, I use both of them now.
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Amey Takes Aim: Favorite group for boys basketball Amey Awards ... Most Improved team
As much as I enjoyed the girls high school basketball season this past winter, I liked the boys season even better; something about a team winning its last game — or another team practically becoming the 2010 version of “Hoosiers” — will do that for you. Maybe that’s the excuse for having a record number of captains for some of the Andy Amey teams, as you are about to see.
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ANDY AMEY: Butter your popcorn! It’s time for the Amey Awards!
Yes, you’re right. The high school girls basketball season has been over for awhile, which can only mean the Andy Amey teams are getting out a little late this spring.
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