Saturday, September 12, 2026
There would be two main events today, we'll start with the latter one that was simply all-around positive and fun.
Thousand Oaks H.S.'s Class of 1976
was holding their 50 Year Reunion
The organizers of this reunion, led by former Lancers football and track star, Steve Swindle, opted to also include the classes of 1975 and 1977 to join them for another night of revelry and tall tale telling.
Steve Swindle and Laurie
Long before I ever arrived on the EuroBall scene, Steve, while serving as part of the U.S. Army, had played two seasons of American football while stationed in Germany.
Another "Small World" bonding moment.
Laurie and I both wish to thank him again for inviting us to this fun shindig.
A few of our former TOHS students . . .
. . . seemed to have somehow
aged over the years
There was a good turnout at Cisco's
Mexican Restaurant for the festivities
Group Photo Time
With the one and only Tom Halub
Seeing Jim Nocero after all
of these years was a treat
A humbling statement from one
of America's early, great coaches
Between the TOHS football reunion on Thursday and tonight's gathering, I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of former athletes a half century after the fact.
I was overwhelmed by how many of these old Lancers, of their own volition, took the time to tell me what an impact our coaching staff had had in shaping and guiding their adult lives in a positive direction.
Their comments, which I will share with all of the Lancers coaches from back in the day, certainly made me feel like a successful coach under Amos Alonzo Stagg's stated parameters for excellence.
Before tonight's reunion, Michael and Jacob came over to our home to watch the PAC-12's Utah State Aggies (0-1) take on the BIG-10's Washington Huskies (1-0) at Husky Stadium.
In their opening game, the Aggies lost to the FCS, Big Sky Conference's Idaho State Bengals, 29-17, at home.
The Huskies won their Apple Cup opener at home last week over the PAC-12's Washington State Cougars, 24-10.
The Huskies game into the game as 28.5 point favorites.
For the second straight game, the Huskies looked salty on Defense, solid in their Special Teams play and somewhat suspect on Offense.
Winning the game WAS the goal but . . .
Two points. We only beat them by TWO POINTS?
This win was anything but satisfying unless you took Utah State and the points at your local Indian Casino sports book.
Our friend Michael D'Antuono, was at the game and related this story afterwards, "I was standing at a urinal at end of game and 6 or 7 year old with his Dad says to him 'We are not very good are we, Dad?' I think that says it all."
I have to agree at this juncture of the season with this youthful savant purveyor of collegiate football talent.
The 2-0 Huskies dropped about four
spots in the CFP poll after the
lackluster victory
Up next for the Huskies is a third consecutive home game, this time vs. an FCS, Big Sky Conference team, the Eastern Washington University Eagles (1-2).
The Eagles have, in order, lost to Northern Arizona, 34-27, beat Northern Iowa, 34-24, and lost to South Dakota, 41-23.
I liked Eastern Washington a lot more before they changed their mascot to the Eagles from their old, longstanding moniker, the Eastern Washington State College Savages.
P.C. strikes again!
"Savages" sounded GREAT,
but the actual logo, not so much!
No comments:
Post a Comment