Summer Baseball: Malad, Soda Springs and other tournaments

At Dianna's I met someone from Malad Idaho over the fourth, and it has gotten me thinking about the role baseball played in our summers when I was growing up.  It was all consuming.  For many years the highlight was the Malad tournament, which came toward the end of summer.  It was usually the last of the baseball summer.

Baseball was not so organized in those days, and each community had their own team and would play other teams, but we weren't attached to a league, and so at the end of the year, Malad would invite teams to come and play.  It was always a 16-team tournament, and the person I met thought it was up o 32 teams now.  The competition was always very intense, and Hyrum being a small community, it was difficult to compete, but we would find a way. 

I played when I was 12, catching half the games.  I also helped Weldon coach many years, and then also coached myself a few years.  It was fun.  The town was exciting in those days, even though i was a small town.  It had a theater, bowling alley and swimming pool.  Some years we stayed at the American Legion Hall, and others at an old hospital.  Those were good times.  Usually a few parents would come and handle the cooking.  This included the DeBolt and McBride families. 

Malad teams

There were other tournaments, but Malad was always the best.  Soda Springs was usually 12 teams.  Later we participated in the Chubbock and Blackfoot tournaments.  These were fun tournaments.  But nothing like Malad.  There was also Preston and Richmond some years.  But Malad was the place of our dreams. 

Fox News

I wrote this letter-to-the-editor in response to a letter already published in the Cupertino Courier.  I think it was written in 2007, but the sentiment still applies today, and Fox News is still under threat of boycott, as they dare to present a different view than what is accepted in media circles.

As I read your contentions for boycotting Fox news, I was thinking you were making an argument for boycotting most of the major networks—ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, as well as some of the major newspaper organizations and universities.  Talk about organizations that claim to be one thing, and then give us something totally different.  The left-wing media is the only place where people spew out biased garbage and then pat themselves on the back for being “objective”.  How can organizations that are traditionally 80-90 percent on one side of a spectrum be objective?  (Those are the normal statistics for media staff in terms of being affiliated with the democrat party.  If you look at editors the percentage is greater.)  Yet that is their contention, which is the biggest lie of all. 

Fox news is more centrist than these organizations, and therefore is deemed to be “right-wing.”  However I find them to be more fair and balanced than the other media, and see no problem with their claims.  We don’t all have to march to the same liberal drummer to be “fair and balanced”. 

Native American Gatherings: Round Dance

There is a pow wow in town and I am determined not to miss it.  My dad took me to some pow wows at Utah State, and attending is part of who I am.  I have lived on a couple reservations, Duckwater Shoshone and Uinta Ouray Ute, and have worked with Native American people.  I have attended these functions before, and in fact help put one on a couple of years in Nevada.  We called it the Duckwater Spring Festival and it was held in May.  It was really too early in the year to have consistent good weather, and so they still hold the same event, but later in the year.

Indian Dance is beautiful, and significant.  The Bear Dance was a traditional Spring dance which commemorated the bear, but also was a mating dance.  Of course thee is war dance and fancy dance.  I particularly like round dance, which is a coming together dance.  We had the whole community participate in Duckwater one time.  It was very powerful.  I also did round dance with the youth.  It was just as powerful.

Round Dance

I took some of the kids to West Valley Pow Wow a year ago.  The beat of the drum is intoxicating.  And so I am going tomorrow, even If I have to go alone.  It is 11 to 11, so I suspect I can find a couple hours.  Hit the link for details.

Letter-to-the-Editor, writen but never sent

This letter I wrote in 2007.  A time when I was frustrated with the political process, and how the liberal media was controlling the questions at the debates, in an effort to make the Republicans look bad. 

Reaction to Republican Debate 2007.

It is time to say enough!

And so with that I begin to write my own words, so I can say "enough" in my own way.

AS I read of the CNN/You Tube catch a Republican with his pants down spectacle of last week, which they labeled a debate, and then see their justification. "It was the highest watched debate," my stomach boils.  But was it a  debate at all?  To allow the retired gay military officer to be anywhere near that stage was despicable.  Look at his question.  "Do you think our military is professional enough to work alongside gay soldiers?"  No the military is not professional, or the military is stupid and should change their policy.  They both make you say the military is stupid.  There is no middle ground.

And so it is not a question but a statement, from someone who is not running for office.  But we find the statement was representing the interest of Hillary Clinton, who of course had no knowledge of the individual's actions, hardy har har! 

Hillary Clinton has proven herself to be just as capable as Bill of embarassing our country.  She lies and distorts, and talks out of both sides of her mouth.  Can our country survive her in the White House, and a return to the politics of bribery, high crimes and misdemeanors?

Charlie Wardle: Mission to Sapporo

This is a story I wrote for school while my younger brother, Charlie was on his mission, so probably about 1980.  I wrote it for an English writing class.

My Brother

My brother, Charlie, has now been on a mission for about a year.  He left in June of last year, less than a month after he graduated from high school.  He is in the Japan, Sapporo Mission.  He has had some interesting experiences on his mission, including being able to go to Tokyo for the dedication of the temple where he was able to meet President Kimball.  He also has been able to enjoy missionary experiences, being able to baptize people into the church, live closer to God, and get to know a new people as if they were his own.  Also a great challenge that has come to him is being able to learn a new language.

My brother is three years younger than I am, but he is an Inch or two taller than me.  Not only is my brother taller than I am, but he is also much more muscular and has a much better build than I do.  He played football in high school (which I didn’t) and consequently lifted weights much of the time, resulting in his muscular physique.

I have long respected my brother, not for his physical size, but for his spiritual size.  One day I ran across his journal.  The things my brother wrote impressed me and gave me some insight in how close my brother is to the Lord and how hard he tries to follow his religion.  His journal indicated that he prayed every day.  It also gave some indication as to the strong beliefs my brother has as well as his strong desire to do good. 

This strong desire to do good was evidenced to me by his entire personality in the months before he went on his mission.  It seemed like religion became the focal point of his life.  He was always trying to act, or talk like a religious person. 

Even the friends Charlie went around with were an evidence of his religious conviction.  In his sophomore and junior years of high school he ran around with a slightly unruly crowd, but his last year of high school his best friends were Marty Smith and Jon Thomas—two of the most religious people (in the sense of going to church and trying to live good Christian lives) his age who lived close to him.

Whether Charlie’s change came truly form his heart, or just from his appearances, I’m not totally sure; but if I were question on the matter I would say it was truly a change of heart.

Jeremy and Mono

One of the most embarrassing moments in my time as a parent, was when Jeremy had undiagnosed mononucleosis.  It wasn't until after he had the illness, and was well on the road to recovery that it was diagnosed, based on his enlarged pancreas and white blood cells in his blood stream.  I had just thought he had turned out to be very lazy.  This was his Junior and Senior years of high school, which really affected his high school.  Here are some excerpts from a letter I wrote to him at the time, although well meaning, didn't help with the real problem.

"Your response to getting up this morning... have prompted me to write you this morning... I remember when I was young, when we sang "I am a Child of God" we would sing, "teach me all that I must know, to live with him someday."  [Now] we sing, "teach me all that I must do, to live with him someday."  It was President Kimball, while an apostle, who suggested this change.  ...It is no enough to know, but living the Gospel requires action--it requires doing, and in this manner we will return to God."

In the letter I then quoted President Kimball, from the priesthood manual we were studying that year, "You are sent to earth not merely to have a good time or to satisfy urges or passions or desires ...and have what the world calls 'fun'.  You are sent to this world with a very serious purpose...  Men came to earth consciously to obtain their schooling, their training and development, and to perfect themselves, but many have allowed themselves to be diverted and have become ...addicts to mental and spiritual indolence and to the pursuit of worldly pleasure. ...Pre-eminent, is our using this life to perfect ourselves, to subjugate the flesh, subject the body to the spirit, to overcome weaknesses..."

Those are important word.  However, at that time, with Jeremy's body overcoming illness, I was overly worried about his getting up and to school.  Perhaps I should have been worried about other things.  I pointed out to Jeremy how he had accomplished things in the past with perseverance.  I concluded the letter in this way, "Jeremy, I know that you can be successful.  You have tremendous amounts of talent.  You have demonstrated the energy and the drive to overcome diversity.  I wish you every success in life.  I love you very much."

Those last words are even more true now.  I love Jeremy very much.  Her has overcome even more diversity.  I wish him every success.

Historic Hyrum Elite Hall

http://newscafe.ansci.usu.edu/archive/oct99/1013_elite.html

Hyrum Elite Hall is an historic building, but it is still being used.  It was built in 1917 after the opera house on the same site burned down in 1915.  It was used for high school basketball games for South Cache High School, before they had their own gym (before my time.)  It also hosted other events such as wrestling.

The big draw was as the dance floor.  At one time the had weekly Saturday dances.  The floor bounce, because of the springs built under the floor.  My brother said one time he was able to get underneath the floor with someone and see the spring.

There was also a time when it was open Saturday morning for people to play basketball, or run around the balcony.  This was the main court for my Bantam Basketball playing days.  The Hall had large restrooms, men's and women's.  Above the restrooms, off of the balcony, was a classroom.  It was in this classroom that I took my hunter's safety.  I also attended an Emergency Preparedness seminar and learned how if the Russians missed nuking Hill Air Force Base by a little bit we were toast.

One year, for our May Day dance program from the elementary school, it was held there.  I think it was the back up place for bad weather.

While I was growing up, dancing wasn't as popular.  They stored the drum and equipment from a band in the display area as you entered the Hall.  Eventually the drum had a tear in it.  I understand dancing has come back, and saw an ad for dances two Saturdays a month with dance instruction who may need Swing Dancing instruction