Tickets please

The Senior Class of 2010 at Enosburg Falls High School is conducting a raffle until the end of April with a grand prize of a pair of premium tickets to game at historic Fenway Park in Boston between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees.

The game is scheduled for May 8, 2010. The seats are in Loge Section 129, row LL. The face value of these seats is $95 these seats retail on the secondary market for 4 times as much per seat.

The senior class is selling up to 750 tickets for just $10 each.

If the class sells all 750 tickets, then $1,000 each will also be donated to the Vermont Food Bank and a Haitian Relief Fund.

If under 750 tickets are sold, proceeds from any tickets over 550 will be split between the two charities.

“These are great seats and an offer of $1,000 has already been made to purchase them outright,” said Enosburg athletic director Chris Brigham, an avid Red Sox fan. “Sports fans and non-sports fans alike can benefit as the resale value is very high.”

If you would like more information or would like to purchase tickets contact a senior at EFHS or call Brigham at 933-7777, ext. 146.



Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Even though I have an Irish name, I'm not - as far as I can tell - Irish.

But I do like St. Patrick's Day.

So in honor of this blessed ... OK debauched ... occassion, here's a little gift from me (OF ME) to you.

Thanks to the fine folks at JibJab.com for their efforts - you should
check out their website sometime - great stuff

I'd also like to share some of my favorite Irish quotes, many of which were emailed to me today from friends old and new.

May you live as long as you want, And never want as long as you live.

The Irish are very fair people, they never speak well for one another.

Every St. Patrick's Day every Irishman goes out to find another Irishman to make a speech to.

The Irish don't know what they want and are prepared to fight to the death to get it.

God is good to the Irish, but no one else is; not even the Irish

If one could only teach the English how to talk, and the Irish how to listen, society here would be quite civilized

Irish Alzheimer's: you forget everything except the grudges.

“If you're lucky enough to be Irish, then you're lucky enough.”

Man is incomplete until he marries. After that, he is finished.

Good luck beats early rising.

In the end, there are only two things to worry about:
either you are well or you are sick.
When you're well, there is nothing to worry about.
But if you're sick, then there are two things to worry about:
either you get well or you will die.
When you get well, there is nothing to worry about.
But when you die, then there are two things to worry about:
either you'll go to heaven or you'll go to hell.
When you go to heaven, there is nothing to worry about.
But when you go to hell, you'll be so damn busy shaking hands with friends,
you won't have time to worry!

Super Saturday

Don't have a ton of time to post today, but would be remiss if I didn't throw a few lines on the blog about my experience Saturday.

Marqus Blakely celebrates in the final minute of the Cats' 83-70 win over Boston University in the America East championship game. Had the good fortune to be part of a four-man crew - reporter John Fantino, blogmeister Alex Abrami, photog Ryan Mercer and myself - cover the UVM men's basketball team's America East championship game at Patrick Gym on Saturday.

Some folks have emailed to say the saw me during the ESPN2 coverage of the game - not too surprising - I was on the endline and nearly got bonked with a botched alley-oop by Nick Vier to Marqus Blakely in the first half.

It was a singular thrill to be a part of that environment. Short of an airport, Patrick Gym had to be the loudest place in Vermont on Saturday and with good reason - the Cats led from start to finish, although there were some tense moments in the second half.

I helped fill a photo gallery online from the game, had a shot on the cover of the sports section, another inside, a cover shot on the Vermont section and a full page of photos in the Vermont section. I also wrote a short sidebar story about Evan Fjeld, the junior who lost his mom to cancer earlier this week.

I make go into a greater detail after a Freeps desk shift tonight and post some photos.

For now, I want to give huge kudos to my mates at the Freeps - as a temporary part-timer I don't always feel a part of things, but they were nice enough to include me in the coverage and I as honored to be a part of the finished product. Also, heavy kudos for behind-the-scenes folks like Kevin Commo and Doreen Wright who handed the editing and designing of the printed product. People love to bash the Freeps now and then - and sometimes rightly so - but love em or hate em you have to respect the work they did covering the game yesterday - from the online stuff, to the paper to the blogs inbetween and during games.

Two final shout-outs - great to see ex-Channel 5 guy Chris Kelley manning the camera on the endline for the Deuce. Chris is a top-shelf newsie and an even better chap. I'm in his NCAA pool each year and he always lets me slide on the payment until the last minute - thanks pal!

Finally, Alex Abrami not only covered the men's tournament game with tons of blog updates, he raced to Hartford and covered the women's game. Not bad for a soft Rice guy. But seriously, great effort Double A.

If you are intersted in seeing the work these guys put together, here's a link to hoops coverage on the Freeps site.

If you want to see some of the photos I took, here's a link to a photo gallery - my shots are near the end, but Ryan's are well worth a look, too.

Finally, I took over 1,500 photos from the game, from Fan Fest at 10 a.m. to cutting down the nets and EVERYTHING in between. I will post them soon and let you know when I do.

Goodbye winter

I know, I know - I just jinxed us.

But I didn't mean the season was over, just the winter sports season - at least as far as me covering high school games.

Sure, technically I haven't covered a game in about two weeks - more or less - but it's taken me that long - for a number of really lame reasons - to finaly post my last five game galleries.

In no particular order, these games are now on the website.

Rutland-U-32 Division II girls hockey final

BFA-Spaulding Division I girls hockey final

Mill River at MVU boys basketball quarterfinal

MVU vs. Fair Haven boys basketball semifinal

Twinfield vs. Proctor boys basketball semifinal

I also posted a gallery of the Vergennes cheerleaders performing before the wrestling state championships.

The links to all of these galleries should be updated on the Winter Sports Photo list.

On an unrelated note ... No, I have not found my keys - but thanks to those who offered condolences and/or suggestions on where to look.

Finally, I will be shooting some photos this weekend, but not of the high school variety. I will be one of the many people working for the Free Press at the America East men's basketball game on Saturday at noon. I'm going to be on the endlines shooting and will file a sidebar story for print and online editions after the game.

If you are watching the game, look for me - I'll be the one in the black hat with the white lens.

Have you seen my keys?

The good news? I'm finally over my cold.

The bad news? Apparently, I've lost my mind.

And my keys.

The following is a true story.

I worked a desk shift at the Freeps tonight. So I parked my car downtown. I fumbled around for some change. I got out of my car and walked about five feet to the parking meter. I took my laptop bag and my lunch out of the car and then I locked the car.

OK, I tried to lock the car. But that's not a good idea if you don't have your keys.

So let me review. Somehow I lost a set of keys (about a half-dozen) on a large key ring in/around my car in the time it takes to walk five feet.

I looked for a solid 20 minutes in, out, on top of and even under my car. I emptied out both my lunch bag and my lap top bag. Twice. I checked my pockets 17 times. Nothing.

I even enlisted a co-worker to help me go back to the car and we both repeated the search. Nada.

My loving wife drove an hour to give me my spare key and she resumed the search. Zilch.

Soooooo ...

One of three things happened. Someone stole my keys. I put my keys some place inside my car, my bags or my body (Yikes!) that it either so obvious or so remote that it obscures them totally or my keys were sucked through a space/time vortex.

I vote for option three. I'm sure someone on some other planet suddenly had a set of keys on a Red Sox key chain turn up unexpectedly and they are writing a blog about the strangest thing to happen to them in a long, long time.

At any rate, if you find my keys ... or my mind, let me know.

On an unrelated note, tomorrow (today?) OK, Tuesday I will resume editing photos taken over last couple of weeks, including the BFA girls hockey championship photos and the MVU boys hockey and boys basketball semifinal photos.

If you want to be notified when they are posted, shoot me an email or leave a comment.