A n t i c i p a t i o n

I retired from a thirty-nine year coaching career thirteen years ago and each year since, I have coordinated the Decatur School District's  boys' Thanksgiving basketball tournament. This 44th Annual 'Turkey Tourney' will show case the talents of the following schools: Decatur MacArthur, Decatur Eisenhower, Springfield Lanphier, Springfield Southeast, Peoria Central, Harvey-Thornton, Bolingbrook and East St. Louis Senior. More than one-hundred Division I basketball players have competed in previous tournaments and the 2013 tourney sports an additional eight D I players. Two notables coming out of this tournament are Shawn Livingston and USA Olympian Andre Iguodala. On the Saturday night after Thanksgiving, the champion team will be crowned and over 8,400 basketball fans will have attended the four-day extravaganza.

Shortly after the close of the tournament, the dust will still be settling when my wife and I will head out for a ten-day R & R, which will begin at The Chateau On The Lake at Branson, Missouri and end in Chicago watching our granddaughter, Kaitlyn perform in a theater production of the Nutcracker.

The Branson trip is AARP's response to the college kids' Florida 'spring break.' However, whereas the Florida 'babes' engage in those infamous 'wet T-shirt' contests sporting perky 'upward' points of interests, the Branson senior 'dollies' cover their 'southbound boobs' with gaudy sweatshirts bragging about their grandkids! The Branson tourists go to bed about the time the Florida 'breakers' are headed out for the night. The two different generational assortments do have a shared moment-in-time; that is when the oldsters are 'staggering' out of bed looking for feel-good drugs and the younger folks are 'staggering' into bed from too much feel good drugs & booze.

We usually go to the Ozark Country twice a year. Next summer when we go, I will perhaps do some fishing with two friends who live in the Ozarks.  I just have to be sure that BOTH can go fishing. You see, they are both staunch Baptists and if I take just ONE, he'll drink all my beer; if I take both Baptists they won't drink any beer...it is what it is!