By Ed Piper, Jr.
La Jolla football coach Matt Morrison said regarding his first game at the helm for the Vikings Aug. 26, "It was a fun night." The visitors drubbed host Montgomery, 43-0.
"We were far from perfect in terms of our execution, but I thought we played hard and played together, which is what you love to see as a coach," said the likeable elementary school teacher at Blessed Sacrament Parish School.
He pointed out, "We were sloppy." La Jolla was called for almost 130 yards in penalties, 100 in the first half, with three turnovers, and another fumble that the Vikings retained.
This won't work in the long run, said the coach: "In order to compete against the better teams in our league and our division, we cannot afford to make those kinds of mistakes going forward."
Seeing contributions from the offense, defense, as well as special teams, Morrison confessed, "The most exciting thing about the game from my perspective was how all three phases of the game came together to help us win.
"We have put a huge emphasis throughout the spring, summer, and fall camp on our belief that it takes all three phases to consistently win games."
La Jolla made key stops and plays by special teams to set up the offense to capitalize on those opportunities.
"We take tremendous pride in the amount of time that we put into game-planning and practicing for special teams," said the head coach. "We blocked two kicks, averaged nearly 20 yards per punt return, and caused a turnover on our punt team.
"If we dominate the kicking game like that every week, we are going to be in great shape."
Overall, the first-year coach commented, "We've certainly got a lot of things to correct and a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we're excited to be 1-0."
In week two, Hilltop should be much more of a test for the Vikings.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
LJ FB: 'D' and O'Neal's blocked punts
By Ed Piper, Jr.
La Jolla defensive line coach Bilal Watkins was greeted in the parking lot at Montgomery High School a couple of hours prior to the Vikings' football game.
"You guys are picked to win the City League," he was reminded.
Watkins' response: "That's because of the defense."
The Vikings' defense does have several returners, which seniors Nick Hammel and Daniel McColl both pointed out before the game.
McColl racked up three solo tackles and eight assists in the contest, while Hammel was credited with one solo tackle and two assisted tackles.
Johnathan O'Neal, a junior playing on special teams, had two blocked punts in the 43-0 swamping of the Aztecs. With La Jolla leading 14-0 in the second quarter and just beginning to roll after a shaky start, O'Neal rushed in from the left side to block the attempt.
The Vikings took over on Montgomery's seven-yard line, first and goal, and Alex Dockery was able to amble over on the first play from scrimmage. That made it 21-0, 2:42 left in the half.
Said a smiling O'Neal, "The wing on my side was shifted over to the left, so I had a clear path." He made it sound easy, which he made it look.
Juiced by his success, O'Neal soon after returned a punt for 42 yards, adding to the Vikings' momentum.
In the third quarter, number 13 was at it again. With 3:40 on the clock, he sneaked in, again from the left, and kind of knelt as he came close to the Aztecs' punter. From that position, he continued his momentum, reached out and put his hands in the ball's path before it could propel into the air.
"It was a late snap, so I slid so I wouldn't rough the kicker," explained the hound of heaven. By this time, his smile was getting to be wider, as were all the Vikings', now leading 30-0.
Teammate Austin Rust, apparently inspired by O'Neal's antics, followed up less than a minute later by recovering a punt that Montgomery fumbled after La Jolla couldn't capitalize on O'Neal's second blocked punt.
La Jolla defensive line coach Bilal Watkins was greeted in the parking lot at Montgomery High School a couple of hours prior to the Vikings' football game.
"You guys are picked to win the City League," he was reminded.
Watkins' response: "That's because of the defense."
The Vikings' defense does have several returners, which seniors Nick Hammel and Daniel McColl both pointed out before the game.
McColl racked up three solo tackles and eight assists in the contest, while Hammel was credited with one solo tackle and two assisted tackles.
Johnathan O'Neal, a junior playing on special teams, had two blocked punts in the 43-0 swamping of the Aztecs. With La Jolla leading 14-0 in the second quarter and just beginning to roll after a shaky start, O'Neal rushed in from the left side to block the attempt.
The Vikings took over on Montgomery's seven-yard line, first and goal, and Alex Dockery was able to amble over on the first play from scrimmage. That made it 21-0, 2:42 left in the half.
Said a smiling O'Neal, "The wing on my side was shifted over to the left, so I had a clear path." He made it sound easy, which he made it look.
Juiced by his success, O'Neal soon after returned a punt for 42 yards, adding to the Vikings' momentum.
In the third quarter, number 13 was at it again. With 3:40 on the clock, he sneaked in, again from the left, and kind of knelt as he came close to the Aztecs' punter. From that position, he continued his momentum, reached out and put his hands in the ball's path before it could propel into the air.
"It was a late snap, so I slid so I wouldn't rough the kicker," explained the hound of heaven. By this time, his smile was getting to be wider, as were all the Vikings', now leading 30-0.
Teammate Austin Rust, apparently inspired by O'Neal's antics, followed up less than a minute later by recovering a punt that Montgomery fumbled after La Jolla couldn't capitalize on O'Neal's second blocked punt.
LJ g tennis: Opener
By Ed Piper
La Jolla's girls tennis team opens its 2016 season at home Wed., Aug. 31, under new coach Darice Carnaje, who is also the Vikings' girls basketball coach.
LJHS's courts have been newly resurfaced as part of the campus-wide renovation of sports facilities. Athletic Director Paula Conway said last week that a tennis pavilion will come "later".
The Vikings played Santa Fe Christian in a scrimmage Tues., Aug. 30. "We played very well," said Carnaje.
La Jolla Country Day is the opponent in the season opener. "They are very good, so it will be a tough battle for us," said the coach via text.
Carnaje coached for over a decade at OLP. She is an accomplished tennis player herself who plays in senior USTA tournaments around the country. Soon after she was hired to coach basketball at La Jolla a year ago, she was playing doubles in a USTA tournament in Houston when a reporter contacted her for an interview.
In her prep days, she was an All-CIF player in tennis and basketball at her alma mater, Mount Miguel.
La Jolla's girls tennis team opens its 2016 season at home Wed., Aug. 31, under new coach Darice Carnaje, who is also the Vikings' girls basketball coach.
LJHS's courts have been newly resurfaced as part of the campus-wide renovation of sports facilities. Athletic Director Paula Conway said last week that a tennis pavilion will come "later".
The Vikings played Santa Fe Christian in a scrimmage Tues., Aug. 30. "We played very well," said Carnaje.
La Jolla Country Day is the opponent in the season opener. "They are very good, so it will be a tough battle for us," said the coach via text.
Carnaje coached for over a decade at OLP. She is an accomplished tennis player herself who plays in senior USTA tournaments around the country. Soon after she was hired to coach basketball at La Jolla a year ago, she was playing doubles in a USTA tournament in Houston when a reporter contacted her for an interview.
In her prep days, she was an All-CIF player in tennis and basketball at her alma mater, Mount Miguel.
LJ g VB: Gates
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Madeleine Gates, La Jolla's All-CIF performer the past four years, played for UCLA's volleyball team and played well in an early-season contest that was televised, according to a Point Loma High source.
Gates, a 6'3" freshman, committed to UCLA on an athletic scholarship during her junior year at LJHS. She is a stellar student and held a high GPA.
Gates and the Bruins will play two games at Jenny Craig Pavilion on the USD campus, Sept. 9 against UC Irvine and Sept. 10 against host USD.
Gates, whose mother Amy played volleyball and whose father Michael played basketball, is a middle hitter-blocker.
Madeleine Gates, La Jolla's All-CIF performer the past four years, played for UCLA's volleyball team and played well in an early-season contest that was televised, according to a Point Loma High source.
Gates, a 6'3" freshman, committed to UCLA on an athletic scholarship during her junior year at LJHS. She is a stellar student and held a high GPA.
Gates and the Bruins will play two games at Jenny Craig Pavilion on the USD campus, Sept. 9 against UC Irvine and Sept. 10 against host USD.
Gates, whose mother Amy played volleyball and whose father Michael played basketball, is a middle hitter-blocker.
Saturday, August 27, 2016
LJ FB: Stats
By Ed Piper, Jr.
In addition to the plethora of contributors to the offensive attack, lots of Viking defenders got into the act to drive Montgomery down in the two teams' season opener Aug. 26.
Seniors Ross Martin and Andrew Mitchell were each credited with sacks in unofficial statistics. In addition, Daniel McColl was credited with four solo tackles and one assisted tackle in double duty on both defense and offense.
Defensive tackle Alex Scrivener had a trio of tackles. Other La Jolla defenders, in their new red and white away uniforms and newly repainted helmets, credited with two tackles included Nick Hammel, Yohann Ponsaty, and Austin Rust, in addition to Mitchell.
Joey Liss, Dane Hansen, Abdul Sinjab, and Daniel Souza were credited unofficially with one tackle each.
In addition to the plethora of contributors to the offensive attack, lots of Viking defenders got into the act to drive Montgomery down in the two teams' season opener Aug. 26.
Seniors Ross Martin and Andrew Mitchell were each credited with sacks in unofficial statistics. In addition, Daniel McColl was credited with four solo tackles and one assisted tackle in double duty on both defense and offense.
Defensive tackle Alex Scrivener had a trio of tackles. Other La Jolla defenders, in their new red and white away uniforms and newly repainted helmets, credited with two tackles included Nick Hammel, Yohann Ponsaty, and Austin Rust, in addition to Mitchell.
Joey Liss, Dane Hansen, Abdul Sinjab, and Daniel Souza were credited unofficially with one tackle each.
LJ FB: Special care
By Ed Piper, Jr.
La Jolla's football program is blessed with coaches and coordinators from varied backgrounds, but who from all signs share a dedication to working with young men.
The defensive line is the locus of assistant coaches Bilal Watkins and David Green, both among the few carryovers from last year's staff. Watkins played defensive line at Sacramento State, while Green, a local product, played baseball with former major league star David "Boomer" Wells as a Pointer at Point Loma and coaches with the semipro Nighthawks football program.
Green works a difficult but fulfilling gig at Riley School, a site for special needs students in the San Diego Unified School District. At Riley, students have been known to act out by striking staff and classmates in what understatedly can be described as a "challenging" environment.
But Green, who has worked with youth in group homes as well, apparently wouldn't have it any other way. In the end zone an hour before La Jolla's season-opening gane, Watkins and Green talked about the ways they attempt to meet student athletes where they are individually and how to bring out the best in them.
"There's nothing I can do that's worse than what they've had done to them before," said Green in a unique way of describing his compassionate, non-yelling way of motivating students and players. "They've already been yelled at and manipulated by other people in their life, so maybe I need to try something different in dealing with them."
Green talked about the different forms problems and acting-out behavior are played out in different neighborhoods. "With some kids, they steal to get the money to buy drugs," he said, turning his gaze to the field around him and indicating the nearby neighborhood. "In other places, they have the money, so they go and buy the drugs."
He said sometimes students get pressure from their parents to succeed in school and sports that can lead to medicating by drugs.
"I'm not one of the old school of coaches," he said, as the scoreboard clock ticked down the hour before kickoff. "Some coaches scream and yell. You look at them and go, 'You teach kids and you have a Master's degree, and that's how you treat them?"
"I think, maybe there's another way I can deal with a kid and try to reach him."
"Some teachers and coaches use sarcasm and criticism." It is clear he doesn't believe that works with young people.
The kinder-and-gentler approach seems to fit with La Jolla head coach Matt Morrison's philosophy. He doesn't seem to get too high or too low, though his team came out on the field whooping from their pregame meeting. Like Green, he seems to favor a thoughtful, nuanced approach--though not namby-pamby.
La Jolla's football program is blessed with coaches and coordinators from varied backgrounds, but who from all signs share a dedication to working with young men.
The defensive line is the locus of assistant coaches Bilal Watkins and David Green, both among the few carryovers from last year's staff. Watkins played defensive line at Sacramento State, while Green, a local product, played baseball with former major league star David "Boomer" Wells as a Pointer at Point Loma and coaches with the semipro Nighthawks football program.
Green works a difficult but fulfilling gig at Riley School, a site for special needs students in the San Diego Unified School District. At Riley, students have been known to act out by striking staff and classmates in what understatedly can be described as a "challenging" environment.
But Green, who has worked with youth in group homes as well, apparently wouldn't have it any other way. In the end zone an hour before La Jolla's season-opening gane, Watkins and Green talked about the ways they attempt to meet student athletes where they are individually and how to bring out the best in them.
"There's nothing I can do that's worse than what they've had done to them before," said Green in a unique way of describing his compassionate, non-yelling way of motivating students and players. "They've already been yelled at and manipulated by other people in their life, so maybe I need to try something different in dealing with them."
Green talked about the different forms problems and acting-out behavior are played out in different neighborhoods. "With some kids, they steal to get the money to buy drugs," he said, turning his gaze to the field around him and indicating the nearby neighborhood. "In other places, they have the money, so they go and buy the drugs."
He said sometimes students get pressure from their parents to succeed in school and sports that can lead to medicating by drugs.
"I'm not one of the old school of coaches," he said, as the scoreboard clock ticked down the hour before kickoff. "Some coaches scream and yell. You look at them and go, 'You teach kids and you have a Master's degree, and that's how you treat them?"
"I think, maybe there's another way I can deal with a kid and try to reach him."
"Some teachers and coaches use sarcasm and criticism." It is clear he doesn't believe that works with young people.
The kinder-and-gentler approach seems to fit with La Jolla head coach Matt Morrison's philosophy. He doesn't seem to get too high or too low, though his team came out on the field whooping from their pregame meeting. Like Green, he seems to favor a thoughtful, nuanced approach--though not namby-pamby.
LJ FB: Boom-boom brothers
Andrew Mitchell (47) sends Aztecs' Ardy Fieber (24)
sprawling on pass reception in second quarter.
(Photos by Ed Piper)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
The big story during La Jolla's first half in the Vikings' season opener was the boom-boom of behemoth bashers Daniel McColl and Andrew Mitchell.
The contact the two made--on offense and defense--drew multiple ooh's and aah's from their teammates on the sideline at the Montgomery football field Aug. 26.
McColl, who bulked up to 255 pounds between his sophomore and junior seasons through diligent work in the old Viking weight room, made a defensive stop on the second play from scrimmage of the 43-0 win.
Then, on La Jolla's second possession, the senior--who mostly starred at linebacker and on offensive line last year--carried the ball twice as things got rolling.
Daniel McColl (1) lambastes poor Anthony
Parra (10), Montgomery's quarterback,
from his inside linebacker position.
After one touchdown run of 26 yards, the nimble basketball forward battered a Montgomery defender near the goal line and trudged into the end zone unmolested for a second TD and a 14-0 La Jolla lead.
Meanwhile, Mitchell, who similarly worked with a personal coach during the offseason to increase muscle and speed, had the eyes of his teammates on the sidelines as he sacked Aztec quarterback Anthony Parra for a loss of five yards on second and eight on the hosts' second possession.
"I see you!", teammates nearby would call out on an impressive play. Their noise and acclaim for the star players were increased by the presence of several freshmen players--who won their earlier tilt 44-6--who, diminutive in size compared to the two bash brothers, were in awe of their elders.
On one pass attempt by quarterback Cole Dimich to Mitchell on the Vikings' second possession, defender Shan Ogir's leg got hit by Mitchell's powerful bulk and forced him to walk off the field after spending a couple of minutes on the ground in pain.
All of which served to heighten the aura around McColl and Mitchell after a long offseason of preparation and anticipation with the arrival of new coach Matt Morrison last spring.
It had been a long wait, with August 26 circled on people's calendars to start the new season against an unfamiliar opponent. The frustration showed, as the Vikings sputtered in the early going on offense and piled up yards of penalties.
After one physical encounter, Mitchell was confronted on the sideline by a defensive coach to check for a concussion. "Andrew, where are you?" Not sure how his coach wanted him to answer, the senior carried a quizzical look. "Where are you right now? What school are you at?"
Mitchell hesitated. "Maw--Mater Dei. No, Montgomery." Everybody around him laughed. He was okay, and it was a comical moment in what would become a wide margin of victory for the Vikings once they got the carbon out of the pipes.
"It feels good to hit someone," said McColl before the game. "It's hard to describe."
Mitchell's knee appears to strike Shan Ogir's leg
on failed pass from Cole Dimich. It put Ogir
on the ground for a few minutes before he
walked off.
LJ FB 43, Montgomery 0
Big Daniel McColl lumbers for a few
of his 42 yards rushing. He scored
La Jolla's first two TD's.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
In the first game of the Matt Morrison era, La Jolla overpowered host Montgomery 43-0, disappointing a home crowd energized by its own new head coach.
The visiting Vikings, who six months ago didn't even have a head coach, took a while to get going. But once they did, the season opener wasn't a contest as big Daniel McColl scored the first two touchdowns, then fellow senior Alex Dockery added two more.
La Jolla led at halftime, 24-0.
A preseason poll had named the Vikings number one in their league, largely because of a defense populated by returning seniors. The defensive unit didn't disappoint in this non-league game, smothering the poor Aztec attack led by a willing but stifled Anthony Parra at quarterback.
Johnathan O'Neal blocked two punts. The first, late in the first half, led immediately to "Dock"'s first touchdown, a run left from the seven to make the score 21-0 after the PAT by Kenny Hayden.
Said quarterback Cole Dimich of the offense's early troubles, "It's the start of the season. It always takes a while" to get things going.
The senior, stepping into a full-time starting role after acting as back-up last year, allowed as how digesting Morrison's new playbook--though simplified--has still been a lot to consume and then put into action.
In the offense's first possession, Dimich fumbled, then after La Jolla retained the ball a fumble on an ensuing handoff led to Montgomery's Leon King recovering the ball. Before either of those, a holding penalty annulled a long run by Dockery.
An interception ended the Vikings' second drive, cancelling out runs by McColl and Dockery as well as a strike of 13 yards Dimich threw to Sola Hope under pressure on third and 10 for a first down. Hope also had two catches on the earlier possession.
Dockery led ball carriers with 45 yards on 16 carries. His TD runs were of 7 and 8 yards, the latter to start the second half for a 30-0 score to ensure Montgomery, with a large opening night crowd, wasn't coming back, as if that was in doubt.
Hope, a junior, led in receiving with five receptions for 35 yards.
Dimich found McColl in the left flat on a nine-yard pass play that the big back, nicknamed "Diesel" by his teammates, carried over for his second touchdown in the initial quarter.
The quarterback was also able to run a TD over with two minutes left in the third quarter for a 36-0 advantage. That followed a pitch to Dockery in which the running back took to the air to try to break the plane of the end zone but missed by inches as he fell out of bounds.
Dimich finished 10 for 22 and 95 yards before giving way to Hayden in the fourth quarter. Dimich also handled punting duties and rotated in at linebacker on defense as one of several Vikings playing both ways in Morrison's system.
Morrison noted that his team had 100 yards in penalties in the first half to frustrate its attack.
Friday, August 26, 2016
LJ cross country: Preview
By Ed Piper, Jr.
La Jolla cross country coach Mandy Benham says summer training has been going "really well", but she wouldn't venture a guess as to how the girls and boys teams would do until they ran in their first event in the Vaquero Stampede Sat., Aug. 27, in Lakeside.
"On the girls side, we have Rylee Olson, Julia Walton, Ines Robo and Sahra Aalaei coming off a solid track season and they have been training well this summer," said Benham.
As far as the boys, the second-year coach said, "I think Mitchell Morrison, Casper Abbasi, and Cole Wolf, who are returning, should have a good season. Some of the younger guys, Ian Phipps and Alex Kalchev, are looking really strong.
"And we have some new to cross country this year, Raul Jackson and Mason Matalon, who look to be great additions to the team."
Elaborating on her girl runners, Benham said, We have lots of strong freshmen. Leading the group are Greta Fehlan and Riley Saham."
Benham says she gets a lot from coaching the runners. "I really enjoy seeing the kids improve," she said, "no matter what level they are."
After practice Tues., Aug. 23, "A group of three girls said today was great, they really enjoyed the run and they felt like they ran faster than ever. That made my day!"
La Jolla cross country coach Mandy Benham says summer training has been going "really well", but she wouldn't venture a guess as to how the girls and boys teams would do until they ran in their first event in the Vaquero Stampede Sat., Aug. 27, in Lakeside.
"On the girls side, we have Rylee Olson, Julia Walton, Ines Robo and Sahra Aalaei coming off a solid track season and they have been training well this summer," said Benham.
As far as the boys, the second-year coach said, "I think Mitchell Morrison, Casper Abbasi, and Cole Wolf, who are returning, should have a good season. Some of the younger guys, Ian Phipps and Alex Kalchev, are looking really strong.
"And we have some new to cross country this year, Raul Jackson and Mason Matalon, who look to be great additions to the team."
Elaborating on her girl runners, Benham said, We have lots of strong freshmen. Leading the group are Greta Fehlan and Riley Saham."
Benham says she gets a lot from coaching the runners. "I really enjoy seeing the kids improve," she said, "no matter what level they are."
After practice Tues., Aug. 23, "A group of three girls said today was great, they really enjoyed the run and they felt like they ran faster than ever. That made my day!"
LJ FB: Picked number one in a poll
By Ed Piper, Jr.
La Jolla head football coach Matt Morrison was excited when informed by a reporter that the Vikings had been picked to finish number one in the new City League in a preseason poll.
"That's exciting that they have high expectations for our season," said the first-year coach. "I think it speaks to the core group of players that we have coming back, the quality of the coaching staff that we have, and the work that all our players have put in this offseason."
And, Morrison pointed out, "It certainly beats the alternative of people thinking that we're going to struggle this year."
Morrison has shown himself to be thoughtful, and comfortable putting his thoughts to words. "Ultimately though," he continued, "all of the preseason predictions and rankings are meaningless. Our team's focus needs to be on getting better every single day.
"I don't think our team is anywhere close to reaching its potential. If we set our expectations high and consistently put forth 100 percent effort to achieve our goals, when the end of the season comes, everyone will be satisfied with the results."
The Vikings, with a new offense and new defense and most of the coaching staff a complete change from the last three years, start on the path to find out just how good they are Friday night, Aug. 26, in their season opener at Montgomery High in the South Bay.
La Jolla head football coach Matt Morrison was excited when informed by a reporter that the Vikings had been picked to finish number one in the new City League in a preseason poll.
"That's exciting that they have high expectations for our season," said the first-year coach. "I think it speaks to the core group of players that we have coming back, the quality of the coaching staff that we have, and the work that all our players have put in this offseason."
And, Morrison pointed out, "It certainly beats the alternative of people thinking that we're going to struggle this year."
Morrison has shown himself to be thoughtful, and comfortable putting his thoughts to words. "Ultimately though," he continued, "all of the preseason predictions and rankings are meaningless. Our team's focus needs to be on getting better every single day.
"I don't think our team is anywhere close to reaching its potential. If we set our expectations high and consistently put forth 100 percent effort to achieve our goals, when the end of the season comes, everyone will be satisfied with the results."
The Vikings, with a new offense and new defense and most of the coaching staff a complete change from the last three years, start on the path to find out just how good they are Friday night, Aug. 26, in their season opener at Montgomery High in the South Bay.
School year kickoff
By Ed Piper, Jr.
The school sports year officially started Wed., Aug. 24, with La Jolla's girls golf team vanquishing a Parker team that had to forfeit due to the lack of two additional golfers to make its required sextet. LJHS coach Aaron Quesnell's contingent, almost a complete makeover from last year's CIF third-place team, covered the nine holes in 256 strokes, despite the official forfeit.
But the big bang of the fall comes with the Viking football team traveling to the South Bay Fri. night, Aug. 26, for its season opener. New coach Matt Morrison's squad will meet a new opponent, Montgomery.
Then, next week the girls volleyball team under new coach Kelly Drobeck and other teams swing into official action after preseason practice and scrimmages.
But the bigger bang will come with La Jolla's home-opening football game in week two of the season, next Friday night, Sept. 2, under the lights, on a new surface.
"We have the first game at home," said Athletic Director Paula Conway of that date. The shiny new field, with bright red end zones, will go underfoot for the first time.
Bishop's football coach Joel Allen said at the preseason scrimmage at his school with the Vikings and two other teams a week ago that he deferred from playing a home game on the Edwards Stadium field in week one of the season before La Jolla High had even played a home game on its new field. That's just out of respect for the host campus.
Instead, Bishop's is on the road in its season opener.
The Viking cross country teams, girls and boys, run in the Vaquero Stampede, hosted by El Capitan, at Lindo Lake in Lakeside Saturday morning, Aug. 27, at 8 a.m. in their season openers. They are coached by second-year coach Mandy Benham.
The school sports year officially started Wed., Aug. 24, with La Jolla's girls golf team vanquishing a Parker team that had to forfeit due to the lack of two additional golfers to make its required sextet. LJHS coach Aaron Quesnell's contingent, almost a complete makeover from last year's CIF third-place team, covered the nine holes in 256 strokes, despite the official forfeit.
But the big bang of the fall comes with the Viking football team traveling to the South Bay Fri. night, Aug. 26, for its season opener. New coach Matt Morrison's squad will meet a new opponent, Montgomery.
Then, next week the girls volleyball team under new coach Kelly Drobeck and other teams swing into official action after preseason practice and scrimmages.
But the bigger bang will come with La Jolla's home-opening football game in week two of the season, next Friday night, Sept. 2, under the lights, on a new surface.
"We have the first game at home," said Athletic Director Paula Conway of that date. The shiny new field, with bright red end zones, will go underfoot for the first time.
Bishop's football coach Joel Allen said at the preseason scrimmage at his school with the Vikings and two other teams a week ago that he deferred from playing a home game on the Edwards Stadium field in week one of the season before La Jolla High had even played a home game on its new field. That's just out of respect for the host campus.
Instead, Bishop's is on the road in its season opener.
The Viking cross country teams, girls and boys, run in the Vaquero Stampede, hosted by El Capitan, at Lindo Lake in Lakeside Saturday morning, Aug. 27, at 8 a.m. in their season openers. They are coached by second-year coach Mandy Benham.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
LJ g VB: Reunion
LJHS coach Kelly Drobeck (R)
hobnobs with fellow
coaches after hugs.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
It was warming to see Kelly Drobeck, back coaching high school volleyball, share hugs with some of her coaching colleagues before Torrey Pines' squad rotated to play Drobeck's Vikings in a multi-team, round-robin scrimmage at La Jolla High Thurs., Aug. 25.
The sextet or so of teams moved among courts and between gyms on the Draper St. campus, playing each opponent one game before trading places. La Jolla faced Parker and the Falcons early in the afternoon.
One saw a lot of smiles on Drobeck's face also as she patrolled the sidelines during her 2016 unit's scrimmaging, keeping stats as a southpaw, chatting with her assistant coach, giving her players pointers.
This was the Hall-of-Fame-level coach's return to the high school bench after being forced out after nearly two decades at USDHS and Cathedral Catholic 18 months ago.
There, in an incredible string of years, the veteran coach won more CIF titles, 15, than league titles, 14.
"We're lucky to have her," said a beaming Paula Conway, athletic director at La Jolla overseeing the completion of a major overhaul of campus sports facilities. The main gym has a newly repaired roof, and access to parking next to the building is now opened up after being roped off most of the summer.
Drobeck commented last week that she has a talented group of athletes in her new program. La Jolla has a solid tradition of girls volleyball. The cabinet certainly isn't bare.
It will be fun to see what develops over the course of the fall season under the new coach's direction.
LJ FB: Strengths and weaknesses
By Ed Piper, Jr.
With La Jolla's football opener looming Fri., Aug. 26, at Montgomery against a mostly unknown Aztec squad, Viking head coach Matt Morrison sees his defense as one of his team's strengths.
"I think the biggest thing we have going for us is the way we pursue the ball, leverage the ball, and tackle on defense," he said.
Morrison, the first-year coach weaned on his legendary father's long-time coaching at Parker, where the younger Morrison also played as an All-CIF quarterback, also identifies his seniors' leadership as a key.
"We have a very dedicated, intelligent, and high-character group of seniors who have done a great job of setting the example of how we want to practice and prepare every week," said the former offensive coordinator at La Costa Canyon.
Seniors include Daniel McColl, Alex Dockery, Nick Hammel, Dane Hansen, Andrew Mitchell, Tanner Watson, and Ross Martin.
For those strengths and the diligence La Jolla has shown in implementing a brand new type of football over the late spring and summer, the Vikes have been rewarded with a number-one ranking in the new City League in a preseason poll, atop rivals including University City and Serra.
Morrison has pointed out this summer that he began coaching on the defensive side, so he prides himself in strength on that side of the ball.
Senior Cole Dimich, who served mostly as a backup quarterback last year, now steps into the starting role, with junior Kenny Hayden backing him up. Trevor Scully transferred out of school before the fall.
"Offensively, we are still a work in progress," Morrison says frankly. "We are improving in both the run and pass game as our kids continue to learn our system, and through continued repetitions in practices and games, I am confident that our consistency will improve.
"I expect us to be a team that demonstrates noticeable improvement every week of the season."
Not much is known about La Jolla's host opponent in Friday's season opener, except for the fact that new Montgomery coach Sanjevi Subbiah was hired in the middle of last school year to get him in place on campus. He taught calculus at Westview High for many years. A veteran coach who coached in Ohio for 15 years, Subbiah led a new program at Foothills High near Tucson to records of 4-6, 0-10, and finally 5-5 in his three years coaching there prior to teaching at Westview.
An area of concern for Morrison is numbers--the depth chart. He says his biggest concern is "our lack of depth, particularly on both the offensive and defensive line. We are working hard to improve our depth should we encounter a bad run of injuries, but with a small roster, those are always going to be tougher to overcome."
La Jolla is not the only school facing this challenge: Bishop's, whom the Vikings scrimmaged in a four-way workout Fri., Aug. 19, only had 22 students go out for its football team at the private school this summer.
With La Jolla's football opener looming Fri., Aug. 26, at Montgomery against a mostly unknown Aztec squad, Viking head coach Matt Morrison sees his defense as one of his team's strengths.
"I think the biggest thing we have going for us is the way we pursue the ball, leverage the ball, and tackle on defense," he said.
Morrison, the first-year coach weaned on his legendary father's long-time coaching at Parker, where the younger Morrison also played as an All-CIF quarterback, also identifies his seniors' leadership as a key.
"We have a very dedicated, intelligent, and high-character group of seniors who have done a great job of setting the example of how we want to practice and prepare every week," said the former offensive coordinator at La Costa Canyon.
Seniors include Daniel McColl, Alex Dockery, Nick Hammel, Dane Hansen, Andrew Mitchell, Tanner Watson, and Ross Martin.
For those strengths and the diligence La Jolla has shown in implementing a brand new type of football over the late spring and summer, the Vikes have been rewarded with a number-one ranking in the new City League in a preseason poll, atop rivals including University City and Serra.
Morrison has pointed out this summer that he began coaching on the defensive side, so he prides himself in strength on that side of the ball.
Senior Cole Dimich, who served mostly as a backup quarterback last year, now steps into the starting role, with junior Kenny Hayden backing him up. Trevor Scully transferred out of school before the fall.
"Offensively, we are still a work in progress," Morrison says frankly. "We are improving in both the run and pass game as our kids continue to learn our system, and through continued repetitions in practices and games, I am confident that our consistency will improve.
"I expect us to be a team that demonstrates noticeable improvement every week of the season."
Not much is known about La Jolla's host opponent in Friday's season opener, except for the fact that new Montgomery coach Sanjevi Subbiah was hired in the middle of last school year to get him in place on campus. He taught calculus at Westview High for many years. A veteran coach who coached in Ohio for 15 years, Subbiah led a new program at Foothills High near Tucson to records of 4-6, 0-10, and finally 5-5 in his three years coaching there prior to teaching at Westview.
An area of concern for Morrison is numbers--the depth chart. He says his biggest concern is "our lack of depth, particularly on both the offensive and defensive line. We are working hard to improve our depth should we encounter a bad run of injuries, but with a small roster, those are always going to be tougher to overcome."
La Jolla is not the only school facing this challenge: Bishop's, whom the Vikings scrimmaged in a four-way workout Fri., Aug. 19, only had 22 students go out for its football team at the private school this summer.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
LJ field sports: Home games
The new LJHS track surface, still wet from a fresh
coat of paint Thurs., Aug. 18. (Photos by Ed Piper)
By Ed Piper
It is hard to back it up with cold, hard facts right now, with only the football schedule available, but La Jolla High field sports should enjoy an amazing string of home games this school year with the football field newly resurfaced and the new layer on the track almost ready to go.
As reported before, Matt Morrison's football team begins a string of six straight home games on Fri., Sept. 2, broken up only by a bye week in week six. That's an unprecedented streak of contests at Edwards Field in this reporter's 13 years covering LJHS sports.
Occurring as the school year moves into the winter sports season starting in December, Kristin "Jonesy" Jones' girls soccer team will enjoy its first home games since the 2013-2014 season. Jonesy said last winter, "This makes two years we've travelled to all our games. Last season (2014-2015) I scheduled all our games away because I was told construction on the field was going to start then."
Instead, with La Jolla High officials submitting a second proposal for approval which added a new press box, construction that was initially expected to start about November 2014 was pushed back to the day after graduation in June 2015. That enabled seniors to walk in their graduation ceremony on their school campus.
Marco Gonzales' CIF champion boys soccer team and the girls and boys lacrosse teams will also witness a dramatic shift in their game sites this coming school year as their new home field opens up.
In this view from the southeast corner, the new
concession stand on the home side is visible in the
lower right, with Spanish tile roof. The new track
surface, the bright red south end zone, and buildings
on the western sideline are visible. Edwards Stadium
has new, permanent visitors bleachers (top right)
for the first time.
Coach Lisa Griffiths has also previously said that her field hockey team will play some games on the new Edwards Stadium surface, while playing the majority of its home games on the field at Muirlands Middle School.
A team that hasn't experienced any displacement of games due to the sports complex renovation is Anthony Sarain's softball team, which plays in the spring. However, the softball team did have to share some of its space on its new surface last season with other sports teams practicing on the ample field next to the gymnasiums.
Right now entrance to the gyms is only possible through the softball field side doors, with renovation of the gym building still not completed with a week remaining before the start of classes Mon., Aug. 29.
John McColl, assistant football coach in charge of operations, said at the Vikings' scrimmage at Bishop's Fri., Aug. 19, that the football team's first practice on the new football field has been pushed back a week to Aug. 29. The football field proper appears ready, but workers were still applying coats of paint to the newly-laid track surface by squeegee Fri., Aug. 19.
There are concession stands on both home and visitors sides. Trainer Matt Bridges said at Friday's football scrimmage that he hadn't been told yet where his training room will be. The new buildings along the western sideline of the football field still had construction workers setting brick on at least two of the structures' roofs Thurs., Aug. 18. Those buildings, housing locker rooms, coaches offices, and a new weight room, are in need of further construction before they can be inhabited and used by coaches and student athletes.
Saturday, August 20, 2016
LJ g VB: Farley
Clare Farley, now at MIT, receives serve
in LJHS's practice Thurs., Aug. 18.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
By Ed Piper
Clare Farley, former Vikings captain and star outside hitter, worked out with new La Jolla girls volleyball coach Kelly Drobeck's squad in the LJHS gym Thurs., Aug. 18.
Farley appeared totally focused on the task at hand, which included drills receiving serves and making serves to a core of players on the opposite side of the net.
Farley, as well as Drobeck's varsity players for fall 2016, seemed to be in good form and condition. She will be a junior on the varsity volleyball team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall. Farley, older sister of Viking basketball player Reed Farley, carried a stellar grade point average in her days at La Jolla High.
Drobeck said, "In the next month, we will work on getting better at each position and solidifying our strongest lineup. This is a very talented group of girls and I am excited to begin our season."
HS g BB: Littleton has fracture
Destiny Littleton (center), state girls basketball Player
of the Year, among Bishop's football team members
at scrimmage vs. La Jolla Fri., Aug. 19.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
By Ed Piper
In a major development, Destiny Littleton, the California state freshman, sophomore, and junior player of the year in girls basketball at Bishop's, has a fracture in her right foot.
Littleton, a dominant playmaker and guard at Bishop's the past three years, attended the four-way football scrimmage Fri., Aug. 19, among La Jolla High, Sweetwater, and Calvary Murrieta schools, held at The Bishop's School. She was wearing a Velcro boot on her right leg.
Coach Marlon Wells, alongside her at the scrimmage, said, "It happened in June. But she had a great summer of basketball." She played on the foot, which has a "chip", on Wells' travel team throughout summer competition, which often takes them to showcases across the country.
The impact of the injury could affect the Lady Knights' upcoming 2016-17 season, as well as Littleton's future as a highly desired prospect for women's college basketball.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
LJ g VB: Drobeck
New Viking volleyball coach Kelly Drobeck (far
left) evaluates younger talent in her new program
in tryouts Tues., Aug. 16, on the LJHS campus.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
By Ed Piper
Kelly Drobeck won an astounding 15 CIF titles in 17 years as girls volleyball coach at USDHS/Cathedral Catholic High.
She was busy Tues., Aug. 16, at her new work site--La Jolla High's gym--screening what looked like younger, more inexperienced players for her new Viking volleyball program.
And it hasn't been a pretty welcome, facilities-wise. At least, not so far. The gym complex on Westbourne is being refurbished, with reported repairs to the leaky roof and now patches and new paint to the exterior, which is still in a state of disrepair as we speak (read?).
Hot tar was steaming outside, with its accompanying rich aromas. But inside, Drobeck reportedly was in the second day of creating a sweet aroma in a second day of tryouts, after the gym was not ready to be occupied last Wed., Aug. 10, the scheduled start of tryouts.
The facilities will be enhanced once all the work closing the gym the entire summer has been completed. The new surface on the football field, another part of the LJHS sports complex's uplift, appears to be ready. Football coach Matt Morrison said his team gets to take that field for practice Mon., Aug. 22, for the first time.
The softball field received a fresh, new artificial surface in time for last season's play, though new dugouts--ample in space--were lacking end walls or gates facing home plate to protect players on the respective benches from balls flying off the bat only a short distance away. Hopefully, that will be corrected before the 2017 season.
Meanwhile, the rest of the improvements at Edwards Stadium are a work in progress: coaches offices, boys locker room, concession stand, and one other building along the west side of the football field. The visiting stands between new buildings have been in place since last school year.
At last writing, the layer to be added on top of the old track surface was yet to be applied. That should be a beautiful blanket to behold once it is in place.
Field hockey coach Lisa Griffiths said Muirlands will continue to be her team's home field, giving it stability and reliability. But the Vike hockeyers will play some games on the Edwards Stadium surface, which she said will be special.
A discussion ensued over the quality of facilities for girls at different schools. She said at her previous school that her teams were sidled off to a side field. A reporter recalled the disastrous surface that used to exist at San Dieguito Academy, before the new stadium was constructed at the west end of campus.
Viking hockey players were put in danger by sometimes swampy conditions on the old SDA field. The playing surface was uneven, and you could tell the field was kind of an afterthought which no football team would be subjected to. Now that is all better with the stadium SDA built a couple of years ago on the same site.
Hilltop High could be a wonder, with Kristin Jones' Viking girls soccer team forced to play a game last year on grass, which they weren't used to, but also on a severely uneven surface. There were holes spotted around the field, and as you got nearer to the home sideline, you got into more danger of spraining an ankle or tweaking a knee in any one of several unintended hazards.
Back home on Fay Ave., athletic director Paula Conway's program's facilities are looking better and better. Drobeck, though not distracted by peripheral issues to her program which are out of her control anyway, will enjoy her first season at LJHS with all these aesthetic and functional improvements.
Her team has its only scrimmage Thurs., Aug. 25, at 3:30 p.m. at home.
LJ Cheer: 'Two teams'
Viking cheerleaders work out Tues., Aug. 16,
under warm skies on the softball field.
(Photos by Ed Piper)
"We'll have two teams this year, including a performance team," said La Jolla High cheer advisor Cindee Russell, beginning her second full year and third year overall coaching the "porras" for the Vikings.
What's exciting this fall are the new facilities the cheerleaders will be able to step out on come football season. Russell said her spirit agents won't be making the trip to the South Bay for the season football opener at Montgomery High in week one, Aug. 26.
They will make their debut on the new track in week two at the football home opener Sept. 2, which presumably will be Blast Off.
The new mascot, whose identity won't be revealed at this point, was introduced at cheer practice Tues., Aug. 16. The softball field was a beehive of activity that afternoon, as Russell's cheerleaders went through their paces along the left field line, Lisa Griffiths was running field hockey tryouts and practice a short distance away in right field, and new girls volleyball coach Kelly Drobeck was holding her own tryouts inside the gym.
Meanwhile, up on the Muirlands Middle School field, baseball coach Gary Frank was hosting a pitching clinic by Tom House, and new coach Matt Morrison's football team was arriving for practice at 4 p.m.
Depending on what time practice for girls tennis was, new coach Darice Carnaje--who this fall adds tennis to her girls basketball coaching duties, which began last winter--was most likely holding tryouts and practice on the nearby tennis courts--either at the same time, or some other time during the day.
Russell's cheer squad is led by a core of returnees, including senior Sally Chen and others who were spotted in practice.
The new person filling the Viking
mascot role--identity?
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
LJ FH: Charlotte Betty Florence Griffiths
This one in the oven is almost ready. Can we
nickname her "Char FloGrifs"?
(Photo by Ed Piper)
By Ed Piper
Charlotte Betty Florence Griffiths--no relation to late U.S. sprinter Florence Joyner-Griffith, better known as "FloJo"--is expected to join Coach Lisa Griffiths' family come Oct. 18.
La Jolla High's second-year field hockey coach chuckled. "The day before we play Scripps Ranch," she said. Scripps Ranch is one of the area's superpowers. The Vikings are middle-tier, building strength and history under their coach.
The middle names come from grandmas in the family.
Meanwhile, Griffiths surveys a circle of roughly 35 girls warming up in right field on the softball field. "We'll have to cut some players," she said. "There are a lot."
That's a good problem other sports like football would like to have. While those sports try to attract more players, the school's field hockey program has enjoyed stability for the past several years under Paula Conway, now athletic director, and now Griffiths, who was hired by her successor.
"Paula will come out and do some coaching," the mom-to-be said.
Sadie Lee will return as a junior this fall. "She'll be strong," said her coach. Nikki Collins, like Lee, wasn't able to participate in Tuesday's workout. But Griffiths said things are being worked out so that Collins, a multi-year veteran, can continue to play field hockey while maintaining her status on her club soccer team.
Daisy Hathaway and her sister will also be among the returning core of Griffiths' second team at LJHS following a year at Clairemont High.
The Aussie coach greeted a reporter with dismay over the early exit of the U.S. women's field hockey team in the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, losing their quarterfinal game after placing second in their pool. It was a tough pool, with four of the top six teams in the world.
The U.S. men also "bombed out", as did Australia's women's team, ranked number one in the world prior to the Olympics.
But the impending arrival of Baby Griffiths seemed to soothe over the troubled waters in international competition. Griffiths plans to take four months off from her full-time job in the business world for maternity leave. Her presence at practice and games for the Vikings seems to remain less defined.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Rio Olympics: Halfway point
By Ed Piper
At the halfway point of the two-week Rio Olympics, I have already experienced much joy in viewing events over the past 10 days from the heat (last week was pretty warm in our place in Clairemont) and coolness of our living room couch, then yesterday from our newly placed leather chair in front of our smaller dining room boob tube.
Simone Biles created art in her better-than-promised gymnastics performances. (Aly Raisman, her teammate and silver medalist in the all-around, was sublime, too, in the floor exercise.) The Michael Phelps story, with his recovery seemingly moving him to new maturity and gold-medal swims at the age of 31, has warmed everybody's hearts.
Katie Ledecky has shown superhuman strokes in winning the 8,000-meter freestyle in world record time by 11 seconds or so over the silver medalist. Her modesty and honesty--so refreshing in this day of smug and swelled-headed athletes--have made her feats that much more pleasureable.
All of this, despite the media reports leading up to the 2016 Games of gloom-and-doom. Don't get me wrong--gloom-and-doom stories have their place. If I had been a journalist assigned to go to Rio de Janeiro and gather information for news articles prior to the sports events, I, too, would have been obligated by journalistic integrity to report on the floating couches in Guanabara Bay, the unprocessed sewage, the body parts washing ashore, as well as President Dilma Rousseff's suspension from duties, favelas being bulldozed to make room for Maracana Stadium's renovation, and other social/political stories.
But when I was assigned to cover the Pan American Games in Mexico City, where I had just moved, in fall 1976, my editor only asked me to cover the sports events--not the social issues. And I did so, limited by my English and one month of Spanish I had had time to pick up when I wasn't teaching English Language Arts at my private secondary school in the posh Lomas area of the Federal District. I covered the torch relay at the Opening Ceremonies, basketball, and other sports, whatever filled up 51 hours of reporting over that two-week period.
Still, the floating bacteria and body parts don't block out the sheer fun of watching golf (which I'm not even into), in the Olympics for the first time in 112 years, the fabulous 10,000-meter run by Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia yesterday, only her second time ever running the event, breaking the world record by an unheard-of 14 seconds, even capybaras roaming on the links course (though I've only seen photos of the massive rodents on news sites, not on NBC Olympic coverage).
It took me a week to figure out why these Olympics were so different for me, piling up untold hours of viewing on 10 different television channels: I've never watched an Olympics when I was retired before. The open time I have has caused me to find other things to do some days, just to break the many hours of couch-potatoing I have been doing.
As mentioned previously, I have visited Rio and have seen the favelas, the towering Christ the Redeemer statue, gone shopping in the ritzy Barra da Tijuca neighborhood. The father of Frederico, our foreign exchange student my mother and I were visiting, was worried during our stay that someone would do what they reportedly still do today: if we rented a car (which we didn't do), blocking our vehicle in front and behind so that we couldn't race off, then robbing us at gunpoint.
Natercio and Frederico's mother, Maria Carmen, hosted us for the first week of the trip in their comfortable flat in Leblon, near Copacabana and Barra. In his real concern for our well-being, Natercio wished we wouldn't venture out.
But having traveled the length of the globe north to south, we didn't come to sit in someone's living room. We bought BrazilPasses, an incredibly cheap (this was 1988) $250 each, which entitled us to fly to Bahia/Salvador, Brasilia, the national capital, and Foc de Iguacu, site of the enormous Niagara-like falls at the junction of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. We have a memorable time. Frederico shepherded us around. It was a wonderful visit.
I lived a year in Mexico City prior to our Brazil vacation, so I was used to being the tall Gringo who stands out. Someone sprayed mustard on the back of my jacket in Bahia (Salvador), a city in the northeast of Brazil, while my mother and I were looking at a map at a corner newsstand. That didn't damage anyone, though--probably just a show of disgust at a foreign tourist being there. No big deal.
Also in Bahia, a young man tied a ribbon around my wrist, the ribbon reading "Lembranca do Salvador" (remembrance of Salvador--a souvenir), then demanding money. I think we gave him a small coin, then Frederico said let's go and we got back on the city bus.
When you travel, these things can happen. You either overlook these minor inconveniences and focus on the overall joy of seeing other cultures, or you get bogged down and probably should stay home.
At the halfway point of the two-week Rio Olympics, I have already experienced much joy in viewing events over the past 10 days from the heat (last week was pretty warm in our place in Clairemont) and coolness of our living room couch, then yesterday from our newly placed leather chair in front of our smaller dining room boob tube.
Simone Biles created art in her better-than-promised gymnastics performances. (Aly Raisman, her teammate and silver medalist in the all-around, was sublime, too, in the floor exercise.) The Michael Phelps story, with his recovery seemingly moving him to new maturity and gold-medal swims at the age of 31, has warmed everybody's hearts.
Katie Ledecky has shown superhuman strokes in winning the 8,000-meter freestyle in world record time by 11 seconds or so over the silver medalist. Her modesty and honesty--so refreshing in this day of smug and swelled-headed athletes--have made her feats that much more pleasureable.
All of this, despite the media reports leading up to the 2016 Games of gloom-and-doom. Don't get me wrong--gloom-and-doom stories have their place. If I had been a journalist assigned to go to Rio de Janeiro and gather information for news articles prior to the sports events, I, too, would have been obligated by journalistic integrity to report on the floating couches in Guanabara Bay, the unprocessed sewage, the body parts washing ashore, as well as President Dilma Rousseff's suspension from duties, favelas being bulldozed to make room for Maracana Stadium's renovation, and other social/political stories.
But when I was assigned to cover the Pan American Games in Mexico City, where I had just moved, in fall 1976, my editor only asked me to cover the sports events--not the social issues. And I did so, limited by my English and one month of Spanish I had had time to pick up when I wasn't teaching English Language Arts at my private secondary school in the posh Lomas area of the Federal District. I covered the torch relay at the Opening Ceremonies, basketball, and other sports, whatever filled up 51 hours of reporting over that two-week period.
Still, the floating bacteria and body parts don't block out the sheer fun of watching golf (which I'm not even into), in the Olympics for the first time in 112 years, the fabulous 10,000-meter run by Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia yesterday, only her second time ever running the event, breaking the world record by an unheard-of 14 seconds, even capybaras roaming on the links course (though I've only seen photos of the massive rodents on news sites, not on NBC Olympic coverage).
It took me a week to figure out why these Olympics were so different for me, piling up untold hours of viewing on 10 different television channels: I've never watched an Olympics when I was retired before. The open time I have has caused me to find other things to do some days, just to break the many hours of couch-potatoing I have been doing.
As mentioned previously, I have visited Rio and have seen the favelas, the towering Christ the Redeemer statue, gone shopping in the ritzy Barra da Tijuca neighborhood. The father of Frederico, our foreign exchange student my mother and I were visiting, was worried during our stay that someone would do what they reportedly still do today: if we rented a car (which we didn't do), blocking our vehicle in front and behind so that we couldn't race off, then robbing us at gunpoint.
Natercio and Frederico's mother, Maria Carmen, hosted us for the first week of the trip in their comfortable flat in Leblon, near Copacabana and Barra. In his real concern for our well-being, Natercio wished we wouldn't venture out.
But having traveled the length of the globe north to south, we didn't come to sit in someone's living room. We bought BrazilPasses, an incredibly cheap (this was 1988) $250 each, which entitled us to fly to Bahia/Salvador, Brasilia, the national capital, and Foc de Iguacu, site of the enormous Niagara-like falls at the junction of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. We have a memorable time. Frederico shepherded us around. It was a wonderful visit.
I lived a year in Mexico City prior to our Brazil vacation, so I was used to being the tall Gringo who stands out. Someone sprayed mustard on the back of my jacket in Bahia (Salvador), a city in the northeast of Brazil, while my mother and I were looking at a map at a corner newsstand. That didn't damage anyone, though--probably just a show of disgust at a foreign tourist being there. No big deal.
Also in Bahia, a young man tied a ribbon around my wrist, the ribbon reading "Lembranca do Salvador" (remembrance of Salvador--a souvenir), then demanding money. I think we gave him a small coin, then Frederico said let's go and we got back on the city bus.
When you travel, these things can happen. You either overlook these minor inconveniences and focus on the overall joy of seeing other cultures, or you get bogged down and probably should stay home.
Phone camera down
By Ed Piper
And so, the Grand Experiment ends.
Having a new smartphone--and being new to smartphones, in general--I decided in March to try to make my iPhone camera my secondary camera at sports events.
With the more-than-adequate eight megapixels, I began to use the camera for sideline and candid, non-action, shots.
I have an assortment of other cameras, besides my primary Nikon D5 body which I use for scintillating action shots of Viking sports.
But, I thought, the fact I would always have my iPhone with me, it would make sense to settle in with that device's digital camera as the "other" camera I could use to take the weight off my vulnerable back.
Well, lo and behold, four months later, I approached the point where, with 1,800 or so images on my phone, I was starting to get the periodic "Storage near full - check settings" message.
I sensed the iPhone's feature role as candid camera was nearing an end.
Finally, this week, I made the momentous move of deleting 1,700 of those images. What I discovered, which I didn't know before, was that my phone actually was weighed down by twice that number of images: 1,700 to 1,800 images on my "Camera Roll", and that many more in the albums I had created to group those photos.
Photos like those of La Jolla's softball team, which adopted my camera during part of a game last spring to take selfies and "Slo-mo" videos of themselves and teammates--that was raucous.
Others of LJHS football workouts, the L.A. Rams practice I attended last week in Orange County, and a whole host of other events, including my granddaughter's birthday party, a former Juvenile Court student I ran into at the fair with his baby, and many others.
For me, as a journalist and later also photo journalist who lives to record what has happened, the pain was always to get rid of information or pictures that could be used some day in a retrospective piece.
For an archivist, it is a cardinal sin to throw away what looks to others like accumulating junk. To a researcher, items from trips, reunions, and past Viking sports events make up an abundance of resources to remind, report, record, and inspire.
But, my wife and I having dropped the grandkids off at day care Tuesday morning, I parked my car in the shade--air conditioning running--and took the courageous plunge into deleting images one-by-one.
I had beloved photos of Spring Training in Arizona the first weekend in March, which I had taken on my first smartphone, a bulky Huawei Android monster that wasn't a convenient fit in my pocket. I'm lying: I deleted all those in having to reset the uncooperative phone the first week I had it, after it would send but not receive text messages.
As a fond reminder of my first Spring Training with a smartphone that could take photos, I emailed remaining photos from my trusty Canon point-and-shoot camera to myself. I placed those in an album on my iPhone, which succeeded the Huawei after four short weeks.
What I like about the iPhone camera is its resolution and convenience of always being on hand. What I don't like is the shape of the device, which doesn't ingratiate itself with this photographer with its non-contoured outer shape. Very hard to hold and fire shot-after-shot. You have to press a finger on the red circle to activate the shutter. This technological has-been, yours truly, is not graceful at doing that.
The point-and-shoot, though like other non-DSLR's does not have a fast shutter, is easy to grasp, takes marvelous if not high resolution zoom images (I took a photo of Aaron Rodgers from nosebleed seats at the NCAA basketball regionals at Staples Center last year--he was sitting near the sidelines quite a distance away), and is small and lightweight.
And so, the Grand Experiment ends.
Having a new smartphone--and being new to smartphones, in general--I decided in March to try to make my iPhone camera my secondary camera at sports events.
With the more-than-adequate eight megapixels, I began to use the camera for sideline and candid, non-action, shots.
I have an assortment of other cameras, besides my primary Nikon D5 body which I use for scintillating action shots of Viking sports.
But, I thought, the fact I would always have my iPhone with me, it would make sense to settle in with that device's digital camera as the "other" camera I could use to take the weight off my vulnerable back.
Well, lo and behold, four months later, I approached the point where, with 1,800 or so images on my phone, I was starting to get the periodic "Storage near full - check settings" message.
I sensed the iPhone's feature role as candid camera was nearing an end.
Finally, this week, I made the momentous move of deleting 1,700 of those images. What I discovered, which I didn't know before, was that my phone actually was weighed down by twice that number of images: 1,700 to 1,800 images on my "Camera Roll", and that many more in the albums I had created to group those photos.
Photos like those of La Jolla's softball team, which adopted my camera during part of a game last spring to take selfies and "Slo-mo" videos of themselves and teammates--that was raucous.
Others of LJHS football workouts, the L.A. Rams practice I attended last week in Orange County, and a whole host of other events, including my granddaughter's birthday party, a former Juvenile Court student I ran into at the fair with his baby, and many others.
For me, as a journalist and later also photo journalist who lives to record what has happened, the pain was always to get rid of information or pictures that could be used some day in a retrospective piece.
For an archivist, it is a cardinal sin to throw away what looks to others like accumulating junk. To a researcher, items from trips, reunions, and past Viking sports events make up an abundance of resources to remind, report, record, and inspire.
But, my wife and I having dropped the grandkids off at day care Tuesday morning, I parked my car in the shade--air conditioning running--and took the courageous plunge into deleting images one-by-one.
I had beloved photos of Spring Training in Arizona the first weekend in March, which I had taken on my first smartphone, a bulky Huawei Android monster that wasn't a convenient fit in my pocket. I'm lying: I deleted all those in having to reset the uncooperative phone the first week I had it, after it would send but not receive text messages.
As a fond reminder of my first Spring Training with a smartphone that could take photos, I emailed remaining photos from my trusty Canon point-and-shoot camera to myself. I placed those in an album on my iPhone, which succeeded the Huawei after four short weeks.
What I like about the iPhone camera is its resolution and convenience of always being on hand. What I don't like is the shape of the device, which doesn't ingratiate itself with this photographer with its non-contoured outer shape. Very hard to hold and fire shot-after-shot. You have to press a finger on the red circle to activate the shutter. This technological has-been, yours truly, is not graceful at doing that.
The point-and-shoot, though like other non-DSLR's does not have a fast shutter, is easy to grasp, takes marvelous if not high resolution zoom images (I took a photo of Aaron Rodgers from nosebleed seats at the NCAA basketball regionals at Staples Center last year--he was sitting near the sidelines quite a distance away), and is small and lightweight.
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