My transition from winter to spring has been especially crazy this year. It must have something to do with the early spring weather we have had. It is either the good weather, or I have been too busy to notice that it is already time for baseball and softball games!
As usual, basketball ended in March and I instantly got sick with my annual sinus infection followed by a nice case of bronchitis. It never fails, every year at the same time; both hit me in backto back weeks. It must have something to do with starting practice in early August on the football field and finishing in mid-March on the basketball court. My body must not be able to react to not going to practice after school?
After fending off my bronchitis with my home remedy of ground turmeric mixed with milk (three times a day), I made my annual trip to the state basketball tournament. This was the first time bringing my three boys with me, so we ended up spending more time at the Science Museum and the Como Park Zoo, but we managed to fit in a few state tournament games as well. In addition we had lots of great food choices like pizza, ice cream, burgers, chicken wings, etc. that mom would have been especially proud of. What? French fries are a vegetable!
We got back home late on March 28 and then it was back to school. I forgot about an after-school meeting and I missed the Polar League All-Star Basketball series for the first time in my career. I was bummed because I wanted to see Cook County standouts James Groth, Mike Austin, Brea Boomer, Ashley Deschampe, and Christina Nelson compete with the best the Polar League Conference has to offer. I was told our athletes represented Cook County well.
I heard Boomer had a pretty dominating performance in the girls’ game and that Mike Austin was in the three-point contest. It is always fun to see athletes from your program get rewarded in the off-season. All of their hard work gets rewarded.
March Madness didn’t disappoint this year as Butler played the underdog role well almost winning the championship before falling to mighty Duke. In our staff bracket at school, Courtney Blake once again won. For those of you who don’t know Courtney, don’t let her fool you, she can fill out an NCAA basketball bracket with the best of the experts!
The Masters golf tournament just finished with the fan favorite Phil Mickelson winning his third green jacket. While Tiger Woods has dominated headlines and is on the way back to forgiveness by his fans, Mickelson was the real feel-good story, winning the Masters and then celebrating with his wife Amy, who is battling breast cancer. My wife couldn’t understand how I could watch five hours of golf on Sunday. Thatis when I realized…it really is spring already!
Now it’s time to watch the Twins and enjoy their new outdoor ballpark. It’s time to show up after school at 4:00 p.m. for Cook County baseball games in 60-degree weather. After a few innings of baseball, head down to the Rec. park for the Vikings’ softball game in 40-degree weather.
There’s nothing like a Cook County spring! Or is this our summer?
Mitch Dorr, a Cook County
High School Class of 1993
graduate, is now a social
studies teacher and coach at
his former alma mater. Mitch
coaches Vikings football and
boys’ basketball.
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