Before I went out to Chaparral the day after Christmas, I caught this sunrise in my neighborhood. I loved the colors.
There was a great turnout, two courts were going for a while. And, several faces from the past reappeared. Larry, Rudy and Steve dropped by. Larry, a.k.a. Smokey, because several years ago my daughter felt he looked like Smokey Robinson. I don't quite see it, but you don't argue with pre-teens over such matters. That particular daughter is now much older and married to a guy from Japan with a 17 month old daughter.
As I drove to the courts, the temperature at the bank on the corner showed 36 degrees. However, when I got to the Chaparral, it felt more like 42 to 46 degrees. Of course as the morning progressed, the weather warmed up. I think this kind of weather is ideal for athletics.
The week before, Shane, James' son brought a football and we started the day by throwing the pigskin around. I had a great time with that. Shane, Zach, Mike Fox and I then played a little two-on-two football in between games. I for one had a good time, so thanks guys. Lets do that again before the season is over.
Thankfully, there were no injuries on this day. Thank God for that. Hopefully we get a good turn out for the last week of the year. I think from what I could discern from everyone, someone will be out there everyday including Saturday. So that means Thurday, December 31st; Friday, January 1st; and, of course Saturday, January 2nd. So, everyone can eat until there hearts content and come out a minimum of two days to burn it off.
I hope to see everyone out there this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I say go for the "TRIFECTA"! Hope you are all having a blessed and joyous holiday season!!
Joey's son with his new Christmas scooter.
Joey and Jaime fight for a rebound.
Paul gets up from a tumbling out of bounds going after the ball.
Moving pick or holding ground?
Photographs from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day:
Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the courts on neither Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. But, several others made it and apparently had a great time. Looking through these photographs there are several faces that I haven't seen in a few months. Like the Delafu Family and Rich's brothers; Kyle and Hunter; also Eric with his son Nicolas.
Many thanks to Robert Lee for the pictures from Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after.
What better way to end the old year than to play some three-on-three basketball? Well, Danny promised to bring Starbucks java for the multitudes in his email message but arrived at the courts with one cup of coffee, and he was sipping and slurping all over that one. So, the rest of us had to bear through seeing him gulp down the java, at times while throwing up bricks. Maybe he did hit a few three's and a few running jumpers (you know Danny). He also served up a few fouls, but all-in-all the crew that came; myself, Eric, Steve, Shane, Scott and Danny; had big fun while draining out the end of the year. Sorry no coffee left, Danny went back for more after the hoopfest.
Once again our good buddy, Robert, came through. In route to work he dropped in and snapped a few action pictures. Eventually, I'll get his pics posted, but meanwhile, here are my pics. Unfortnately, these pictures were taken before the games got underway. As a result, you'll have to wait for Robert's photos to see the 360 slam dunks, alley-oop passes and three-point shots from half court. Thats right, we were spelling all-stars all morning long - you guys shoulda been there!
Have a Happy New Year!!! 
