Print this post (the others are in a book!)

The now graduated Lions got together one last time as a team (less Ryan, already in TX for an LAX Tourney) Friday night to eat tacos, drink virgin Margaritas (one hopes), and toast themselves:

A team for all seasons (& one little brother)...

Stephen E, Nick, Joe

Ryley, Stevie P, Andrew

John C, L-I am, Morgan, John K

Their coaches:

Coach "E" & Coachie, flanked by Christine and Bill

And their drivers (er, parents):

A motley crew...

Les, Jill, Dan, Elaine, Marjorie

'lil sister Kelly, Henry, Christine

Lisa, Patsy, Joe, Margaretta, Doug

Team Parent Marjorie presented to the Coaches gifts from the parents - gift cards and a bound book of the season that included both this blog and a medley of Jack's pictures, and a laminated picture sheet produced by Adrienne.

The book's dedication read: 

"With heartfelt gratitude to Coach Glen Bowers and Coach Dennis Estrada 
It was our boys' dream to have you coach them this Final Season. By giving so much of yourselves in this effort, you allowed them to play the game they love, not just in front of you, but for you. They will never forget. Nor will their parents.
-Your Lions"

In honor of her tireless efforts keeping this bunch organized, as well as the season supply of sunflower seeds she and Bill provided for the team and parents, Marjorie was presented with a box of sunflower themed note cards and the everlasting thanks from grateful parents.

For the pics and blog, Jack and Dan were presented by Henry a book on classic baseball photos and classic sports writing:

Wow! Thanks so much!

The boys made incredible speeches, the parents made astute observations, and financing is being pursued in order to settle the bar bill. The party went late and a good time was had by all!

Look for future updates to this blog as these fine young men of ours make their way into high school, and even beyond.

Now and forever,
Go Lions!

 PS - our deepest sympathies to Jack, who was in Chicago for the funeral of his brother. And our thanks to Adrienne ("Jackette") who took all these great shots at La Barca.

Lions party wipes out blogger!

A great, great party last night that will need to be deservedly documented with pics (courtesy of "Jackette") and a well-put together post. In the meantime, Jack and I are incredibly grateful for the gifts (I've read the first New Yorker story already) and all are so grateful that we were able to be together as a team, with our Coaches, Ms. Yuen, and a rich full room of players and parents. Well done, Marjorie!

To be continued...

Lions declared ineligible, allowed to keep Championship

In a stunning turn of events yesterday, the 8.1 Lions, along with their 8th grade classmates, graduated from SHB and were immediately declared ineligible for future 8th grade competition.

With 8th grade behind them, the Lions will be taking their skills onward and upward:
Lick Wilhmerding
- John K, baseball (& basketball?)
- Stephen P, continuing his mastery of surf dogdom (and hopefully answering the siren call of baseball that brought him back these past two seasons)

St. Ignatius
- Ryan C, slotting back over to his first love, Lacrosse
- Andrew F, baseball
- Joe L, golfer/thespian extraordinaire (and one would hope, baseball)
- Nick S, another Lacrosse player who loves baseball, and will have a tough choice to make

The Hall
- Ryley A, basketball, baseball
- Liam C, basketball, baseball
- Stephen E, basketball, baseball
- Morgan L, another surf dog who will likely be logging water time with Stevie P.

Thatcher
- John C, baseball, riding horses, and working on his Eagle Scout.

The team has decided to console themselves over the ruling by heading to La Barca, tonight (Friday 10 June) at 6 in the back room.

Party on, Lions.

What a day for a Field Day!

PS - Check out "Jack's Pics" (left column) for link to Father/Son BBQ at Ocean Beach Mon night!
PPS - Check out "Jack's Pics" (left column) for link to Field Day Pics! 

The annual Stuart Hall for Boys Field Day took place today in The Presidio's Ft. Scott, by Golden Gate Bridge. What an amazing day of athletic competition by the K-8 boys, organized by their "families" into 4 colors. In a first ever for the event, Green and Blue tied for overall honors followed by Gray and Red. The all school relay race (two participants per grade per team) went to Gray with the Lions' own Stephen E. pulling away on the final length.

However, this was all prelude to the annual Faculty vs. 8th grade Softball Game, a game almost always won by the faculty (captained, naturally by the Lions own Coachie and Coach "E"). This year, the Faculty came in decidedly nervous, knowing full well the heart of the Lions order would be this year's League Champions, and hoping like crazy that this bunch of participatory classmates would field 30+ players, keeping the Lions to only one at-bat. The Lions, captained by the 8.1 team, were joined by 24 fired up eighth grade classmates, and took the field determined to make a go of it.

Being generous souls, the Lions limited their pitching to one inning each for Andrew and Stephen E, wanting to give classmates a chance to pitch as well. The result? No runs scored against Andrew or Stephen, naturally. In the end, the Faculty did manage two runs (1 "earnedish"). And were fortunate to do so, given their only meaningful hit was a double down the first base line (just fair) by Coachie.

As to batting, the Lions saw that the Faculty's prayers were answered in the big 8th grade turnout - they were only going to get one pass through the order. So, they stacked themselves in their usual batting order to start the bottom of the first. The result? Two runs in the first (Ryley- single and Nick- double) driven in by Stephen E.- RBI single and Andrew- deep RBI Sac Fly. Sound familiar?

And so it ended, a very rare 2-2 tie, with Middle Form Dean Dennis Phillips and Science Teacher Arnaz Raj remarking with obvious relief, "that's a result this faculty can happily live with!"

Now, if the Lions could have just found a last opportunity to scrimmage the undefeated 7th grade League Champs (the Lion cubs)! Alas, it is not likely to be.

Go Lions!