In my usual browsing this morning, i came across the word “scripturient.” From the Google dictionary it means “a strong, often compulsive, or even violent urge to write.” i am not sure i would ever have a violent urge to write, but i certainly feel a compulsive urge to write.

i wonder what wiring in my head produced this urge, but it has been drive i’ve had since somewhere around the third grade. i’m glad it’s there.

So, it is now the evening of the morning where i had these rambling thoughts. i’ve spent the day clearing items from administration to-do list, many bringing about frustration with the new fangled, technological maze in search of solutions without finding them, like following the instructions to locate an item, which is not on the menu list the web gave me.

But i actually got quite a bit off my to-do list.

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When not being frustrated with webology, i was confronted with choosing what to watch in sports: Olympic Men’s ice hockey championship, Padre pre-season baseball, Vanderbilt women’s basketball, or the PGA golf tournament.

Note: Maureen is a very understanding wife and she likes or puts up with watching a lot of sports. She’s even become a knowlegeable baseball sports fan and enjoys me watching Vanderbilt sports.

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i did not watch the replay of the hockey game. i knew the USA had beaten Canada, 2-1 in overtime. i will watch when i sit in front of the television the next time. But it took me back to 1980. On this date, February 1986, the US men would play the USSR in the championship game.

Two Navy SEALS and this surface warfare guy decided to watch the game together. Al Schaufelberger invited us and Peter Toennies’ wife Nancy to his house for dinner and the game. Since the game would not be televised until the evening, we also agreed not to listen to any reports of the game before we watched.

Pete, Nancy, and i drove to El Cajon and knocked on Al’s front door. Greeting us at the door, Al asked Nancy if she would like to bet him on the game. He volunteered to take the Russians. Pete and I immediately knew Al had listened to the earlier broadcast or heard the score. We beseeched Nancy not to bet.

We watched the entire game with Pete and i sure the Russians would win even with the US ahead in the last minute. It was only when Al Michaels made his famous call, “Do you believe in miracles” we realized the US really did win. Al had played a great joke on us.

Al was a great guy. Three years later, Al was the SEAL advisor to El Salvador’s military fighting drug gangs. He was assassinated while sitting in his vehicle awaiting his finance to return from a college class.

i don’t think i will ever watch a hockey game without thinking of Al.

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Saturday, i watched the Vanderbilt men’s basketball team lose to Tennessee, 69-59. Today, i watched the Vanderbilt women beat Kentucky, 89-61. Both games were extremely well played. i enjoyed them both although i did cuss a lot watching the men’s game. It was more like a wrestling match than a basketball game.

If the rules when i played and watched in the 1950/60s were evoked, the Commodores or the Vols would have had every player on the roster fouled out before half way through the first half, and the ball would have been handed to the other team on almost every possession for carrying the ball or traveling.

In the women’s game today, the amount of fouling was a bit less, but in my opinion, every tie ball call was preceded by a bunch of fouls in the old days.

If there have been rule changes like the “Euro step” in the game, they neverless had given officiating a subjective impact on the game. i think that is sad. The old style of the game was artful. Now, a great part of it is how much a player can get away with without getting caught.

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That’s enough. It is this old man’s bedtime. i suspect you are worn out reading this…if you actually got through all of it. More later.

And sleep well.