West and pre-logo days

By Ed Piper

A seventh-grade boy, obviously into basketball and the NBA, asked me what team I liked. I said the Lakers, kind of. I haven't adjusted to the Luka Doncic era yet.

He asked me who my favorite player was. This type of exchange goes on not infrequently. Middle-schoolers are shorter; my height raises the immediate question of whether I played basketball. I did.

So, I thought for a second--Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain... I said "Jerry West". He, obviously an avid NBA follower, said immediately, "The Logo."

I don't think this way. Jerry West being the figure used for the NBA logo came in much later.

I don't condemn the kid, but generations are on different wavelengths about these things. For him, Jerry West is someone he reads about in books about the history of basketball. For me, I actually turned on KTLA Channel 5, or KTTV Channel 11, and actually saw the guy dribbling down the court. (I didn't see my first NBA game in person until my teen years. My dad wasn't into sports. My mom, either. We lived an hour from L.A. by the time I was 10 years old, so driving there--and I didn't really know they existed and played in an arena somewhat near my house, I was into major league baseball--was out of the question, especially since my dad already commuted one hour each way from Camarillo to El Segundo Monday through  Friday.)

I asked him he was into. "The Knicks," he said. "Bandwagon," I said. I wasn't very gentle. "You just like them because they won the NBA title this past season."

"No," protested the boy. "I've been into them since 2014"--which would be the day he was born, which is impossible.

Then class started and I had to get things going. I didn't really give him a chance. Looking back, I realize how much he knew and how much he was into the NBA. The next time I meet him, I should give him more chance to explain.

He's kind of the way I was at that age about major league baseball. (I'm not capitalizing it, because I'm not talking about a product, but the professional game of baseball. Back then, it was called Organized Baseball. I've seen read that that term was rejected because it hearkens back to the days of Kennesaw Mountain Landis, before Blacks were allowed to play in the majors. Plus Black owners in the Negro Leagues were denied a chance to move their franchises into baseball, basically killing their businesses off. Walter O'Malley and his cronies weren't actually for free enterprise; just enterprise they could carry on.

We talked about the incredible giftedness of players nowadays. He asked, "Why were centers so tall back then?" I said I hadn't heard that question before, but that centers were trained to only play center, with their back to the basket. Wilt Chamberlain was nimble in his younger years, but he and Bill Russell and Walt Bellamy and the others were only expected to play under the basket, block shots, rebound, and slam dunk the ball from close in.

I told him, Giannis Antetokounmpo is from another world. He is 6'9", yet can play like a forward or guard did in the old days.

He brought up Victor Wembanyama, and we agreed he was a creature from another world, so agile and nimble, yet 7'4" and able to defend guards as well as big men. Incredible.

He said "Wemby" didn't do as well in the playoffs as he had during the regular season last year. I said he's still young, he needs time to mature even more, and that with all the focus on him he will learn how to deal with the pressure and double-teaming as he develops. He's still a young man at 21, I believe!

I confided to him that he and my basketball buddies back in the day didn't watch the NBA, because we considered it a sloppy version of the game. (We preferred college, with its more-disciplined game. But that was before the shot clock came in.) He didn't really seem to understand that. I don't know if he actually plays basketball. It's different being a fan from being a player who is a fan.

LJ g golf vs. OLP @ Balboa - 10/1

Photos by Ed Piper

Senior Turi O'Brien looks for where

her shot landed off the women's

tee on the first hole.

O'Brien shows her power on her initial

shot.

Junior Milena Malik tees off in the fourth

group vs. OLP.

Liesl Kijora hits her third shot on the second

hole, way down below the clubhouse at Balboa.

Her tee shot on the hole went a little awry,

so she had to make up distance.

The Vikings wait on the path down to the first

tee just before the first group at 3:27 p.m.

LJ assistant coach Noah Marquez

tees off from the men's tees

way up top above the first hole.

LJ b water polo: Game story 9/30

Viking Quinn Daniels (3), at the point ("3" position

in water polo terminology) fires a shot attempt

just before halftime, but Knight goalie

Adam Revenco (not in view) blocked it.

La Jolla went on to a 14-13 win.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Quinn Daniels, a senior whose All-CIF First Team selection last year has only stoked more confidence, drilled a goal from the perimeter with 1.16 seconds left to break a 13-13 tie at Bishop's and give La Jolla its first Western League win this season, and its first win over its crosstown rival in the initial match of two during league play.

Daniels, setting up at the point as the clock ticked down from 10.7 seconds (a timeout) in the match Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 30, became the man of the hour.

Teammate Dexter Black had been bulloxed all game as Knight coach Ian Davidson directed his defense to focus on the 6'6" 4/5-position scorer on the right side of the cage.

Another of the Vikings' big four, Henry Glenister, had to battle inside at the center spot. That's a physical position. He was frustrated as multiple backhand shot attempts either were blocked or went off-target.

Opposing them, Aden Shin, on the home squad, led much of the Bishop's scoring. But midway through the final quarter, beginning at 4:13, La Jolla built two-goal leads twice after trailing 4-2 in the first quarter.

Aden Shin (10) of Bishop's scores

in the upper left of the cage

with 1:23 left in the first half

for a 6-6 score.

With Knight girls getting vocal from the stands, and Viking supporters being no less vociferous, Barney Pearce scored from the 1-2 side (left side of the goal) for a 12-10 LJ lead.

Then a minute later, Glenister bounced a shot in transition, ahead of the sprinting pack, against Bishop's goalie Adam Revenco, making it 13-11.

But Shin scored in close, then hit a penalty shot to the far right of Vike goalie Addie Calhoun's outstretched arm to knot the score at 13-all. That set the stage for Daniels' dramatic shot.

The Vikings have now split their matches with their fellow Western League and CIF contenders, Cathedral Catholic (a 16-15 loss) and Bishop's. They want to make up ground in the second round of conference play before the postseason.

LJ sports: Hallelujah!

LJ cornerbacks assistant Damarious Whitten

coaches up freshman Ian Jameson (10)

during a timeout Fri., Oct. 2. Teammate

Jager Kideys (3) looks on.

(Photo by Ed Piper

By Ed Piper

The "hallelujah" is for the fact I could access my blog at the particular location I am at at this time. It is unexpected, but welcome.

I know the headline for this entry is "LJ sports", but I digress in view of the MLB playoffs (they avoid that word in promotion--it's "Postseason" in all marketing--to say I just encountered a gentleman in a Phillies jersey who I also saw last week in the same gear. I thought, I should have worn my true colors (blue).

He said something to the man standing next to him in the restroom, "We play again." I said upon entering, "How are your Phillies going to do?"

Then I said, "Our Dodgers are waiting for you," and he left. On to another day.

*  *  *

This Friday night, Oct. 2, is Homecoming at La Jolla High versus Scripps Ranch. I hope they truly do a Homecoming. Last year, there was no on-field announcement of the Homecoming king and queen. Later, someone told me, "They wanted to save it for the dance."

Back three years ago, quarterback Jackson Diehl was the Homecoming king, and sprinter Payton Smith was the Homecoming Queen. Jackson, playing in the football game, was allowed time to come back out onto the field and be introduced for his honor. Payton, who was serving as ASB president, merely stepped from her post in front of the stands leading her fellow students (probably went and changed--I don't remember that part) onto the football field.

I'm sure the Viking cheer team will do a special routine for Homecoming. But maybe there also will be a parade of some sort of vehicles carrying the honorees--none of that happened last year.

LJ b water polo 14, Bishop's 13 - 1st round, Western League - 9/30

Photos by Ed Piper

Lev Kevorkian (2, left) applies defense against

Liam Zarcu (7) of Bishop's in the first half.

LJ's Quinn Daniels (right) fires a shot from the

perimeter against Cutter Leach late in the game.

Note Leach's facial expression. Daniels, an All-CIFer,

scored the decider with 1.16 seconds left

for the 14-13 win.

Henry Glenister listens during a timeout

in the fourth quarter.

Nathan Shin (10) was pretty productive

for Bishop's throughout the game.

The Knights (including Seamus Murley, 9,

black cap) concentrated a lot on denying

LJ's Dexter Black (4, white cap) the ball

in the second quarter. Bishop's coach Ian

Davidson called out, "Don't throw the ball

over Dex" after he made a steal.

Knights starters gather near poolside during

the break at the end of the first period. Ian

Davidson (black hat) imparts wisdom, while

co-coach Doug Peabody (gray hat) listens.

Viking Henry Glenister (bottom, 13) handles the ball

while La Jolla spreads the offense to set it up

in the first quarter. Henry scored back-to-back

goals to knot the score at 4-4 with 21.2 seconds

left.

Padres 8, Cubs 0 - Wild Card game 1 - 9/29

Pete Crow-Armstrong, the favorite to win

NL MVP, strikes out to begin the game.

Padres starter Michael King pitched 7 innings

of no-hit ball.

Padres fans take the Blue Line of the trolley

home shortly after 10 p.m.

LJ sports: Full week ahead 9/28-10/2

Senior Milena Malik, a tall

drink of water at 5'8",

tees up a shot Sept. 24

against Cathedral Catholic.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

It's going to be a good week (Sept. 28-Oct. 2). How do I know that? One, I woke up (actually I had been awake a lot during the night, but enough sleep to recharge) and the humidity wasn't back up to where it was two weeks ago.

And two, after a million pathways to confirm my identity and jump through every hoop Google (thanks for providing this blog space for the past 13 years or so) put in my way, I am now writing on my blog to start a Monday morning.

First, the girls golf team led by sophomore Liesl Kijora and senior Bella Itkin plays tomorrow, Tues., Sept. 29, at Coronado. I know this course because my sister and brother-in-law, who are golfers (I'm not of that breed), enjoy playing at the scenic course, which takes you right next to the water in the bay right there near the Coronado Bridge.

Secondly, on Wednesday, Sept. 30, the Viking boys water polo team has an enormous match at Bishop's against their crosstown rivals, the Knights. Both squads are elite year-in and year-out, and this year's Bishop's team was rated higher than La Jolla (at least at my latest time checking).

The physical effort in training for water polo, and the effort required during matches, are supreme. Just ask the football team members, who a week ago tried to float, and meanwhile get off any kind of meaningful shots in the pool against the varsity water polo team. The Tangle in the Tank was a lot of fun, and a good fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, but the dunkings and frustration the football players experienced brought to the surface how hard playing the sport really is.

Flipping the calendar to October, which we never thought would come (with predicted El Nino storms the most powerful since 1950), the girl golfers under Coach Christie Quinn and new assistant and former Viking Noah Marquez, Class of 2019 (he didn't golf as a high school student, he says) come "home" to Balboa Golf Course to face Christian High on Thursday, Oct. 1.

We're hoping for the best with the Viking footballers, who play host to Scripps Ranch in a second Eastern League game Friday night, Oct. 2, in Edwards Stadium.

We've left off other activities, though not out of disrespect. Remember, self-care means taking good care of your mind, body, and emotions in an unselfish way, as the adage "Love your neighbor as yourself" says. Also, as we teachers and others who went into the so-called "helping professions" for our working lives tried to do, think and do those things that help make the world a better place.