Dillon

#41 is former H.S. teamate Richard Dillon. Besides being a distant cousin, Dillon (still a good friend), was the greatest football player I personally ever met up with ... and I personally met up with some great ones, believe me. I went to see him play at many OU games during the mid-1980s. But of particular significance to me (and I assume him) was the game in which his collegiate career was, as a Senior, abruptly ended by injury. Dillon will, I assume, confirm this. The only picture I have to confirm this is a local newspaper article -- The Healdon Herald -- Sports section. Wherein Dillon and I, on the sidelines of the Oklahoma bench, are discussing his (career-ending) injury.

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And on a lighter note

It's gettin' real close to playoff time here in Oklahoma. I've been to several H.S. football games this season, most of which were losses for the team I was supporting.

Tomorrow night is the final game of the regular season, and the final game for many teams in the state, including the local team I've been going to watch. However, on a more positive note, my hometown boys just beat the no. 1 ranked team in the State last Friday night in a defensive battle I wish I'da been there to watch, 13-7. My hometown squad is now ranked no. 2 in the State (up from the previous several weeks' ranking of no. 6) in their class. And they also enjoy an undefeated record to this point. Some of us has-beens take a lot of pride in the fact that our senior year at said H.S. was the first year our squad ever held a no. 1 ranking in the State, though by no means was it the last. Indeed, since that wonderful time, the team has won several State championships as well as several State runners-up distinctions. And it looks like the tradition lives on.

One never knows what's going to happen in the playoffs. I mean, my senior year we were district champions enjoying home field advantage in the first round of playoffs where we were handed our hats by a team which on paper certainly looked to be our inferior. But I'll certainly be paying close attention to progress of the hometown boys this post season. And I'll keep you updated. Go Blue!

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Back to the old Grindstone

We finally made it back home "a day late and a dollar short," as they say. I don't have a whole lot to say about our trip, except that it did not go fully as planned despite my best efforts...

Specifically, since it was a work related trip, and since the building we were working on had to be ready to open Monday morning, we were forced to work through the night Sunday, finishing around 5:30 am, Monday morning. Only to find out a few hours later that we were not actually finished with our work, but that we had another room to work on which I'd understood as not originally being on the agenda. What it all boiled down to in the end was poor communication between myself and the agency overseeing the work.

But the worst part of all was that due to this lack of communication, I was unable to attend the event at the State Capitol. In fact, I don't even know whether the event ever even happened as it was scheduled to. I did a quick search on the internet, but didn't find a story.

Other than that, I did manage to make it to the local H.S. football game Friday night where I watched probably the most unimpressive rout of a lesser visiting team in the memorable history of my hometown squad, which has quite the impressive resume and tradition in Class A Oklahoma football. I saw, among other unpleasantries, passes completed for touchdowns that more resembled severly wounded ducks (which hung in the air forever it seemed) than tight spirals. As well as sixty and seventy yard running plays that should have been stopped for little if any gain, so poorly executed were the blocking schemes of the much larger home team. And I'm not being overly critical here, believe me. This team is in for a big surprise as soon as it meets up with a decent football team, which it has yet to do though it boasts a perfect record, and a top ten ranking.

But anyway...

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Friday Night Football, It's Back!

I'm going to be watching the "Diggers" play the Wampas Cats tonight. I'm rooting for the Diggers as I have a couple of nephews who play for them. Last year the Diggers defeated the Cats soundly. I'm hoping for similar results this evening.

-DW

Diggers Win! 32-8

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