Grandpa Doug and Grandma Paulette gave Henry and Lydia some cabin time over recent weekends.
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The cabin is a Hi-Lite Destination for each of the kids!
Showing posts with label leesville lake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leesville lake. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Grandparents Week
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While we were away, Grandma Laura came up for a few days to stay with them, and then they went to Grandma Paulette & Grandpa Doug's house for a time.
Before we left, we all attended Henry's Celebration at school. It was a special time that ended with one of his class's committees giving him a "custom made" snow globe.
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The Monday of that particular week was Chinese New Year, so Grandma Paulette set up some fun for the kids to celebrate.
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The week ended with a trip to the cabin, and all the fun that such a trip includes!
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Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Leesville Lake, Zoo & Such
Well, I better do some catch-up, because there's a boy who's about to have a seventh birthday soon, and I'm gonna post a big thing about that. So...
The kids all got some one-on-one time at the cabin, Henry got a new bike, I took the kids to the zoo,
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Jenn's working on an amazing cake for this weekend. Stay tuned...
Friday, August 9, 2013
Diapers & Wipes for the Princesses
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The weather was beautiful, and during the lunch downtime, I got out on one of the trails and moseyed down by the lake.
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Also the other day, Jenn found Lydia packing up her Disney® PrincessTM suitcase with diapers and wet wipes. When Jenn asked her what she was doing, her reply was, "I'm packing for Disney World. The princesses are going to wipe my bum."
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Remembering the Adoption Travel Adventure
This has been an interesting week with regard to Henry and adoption in general. First of all, Henry is having his best week since he's been home with us. Very few screaming fits, more verbal expression and communication, more of an interest in reaching out and initiating positive communication with Jenn, Lincoln and Lydia, and less of a, "What have you done for me lately?" attitude. It's just really neat to see him mature and develop as a 2-year-old ought.
Don't get me wrong, he's still a 2-year-old, and we've got a good, double-dose of that going on right now at our house, but there have been a myriad of little things lately that show us that he's taking life very well, and better in some respects than he was even doing just a month or so ago. He takes correction much better now than he used to, and even when he gets upset and throws a fit, it doesn't last nearly as long as it used to. We've recently found that "time outs" are *very* effective for discipline. He doesn't like to be separated from us and a "time out" gets his attention very well. He's just come to the stage of development where he knows what a "time out" means; that understanding wasn't available to us just a few weeks ago based on his development.
If three weeks ago marked the first of his defiant, "NO!" then the last week-and-a-half marked the arrival of, "*I* do it!" He wants to turn the light off himself, brush his teeth himself, carry his dishes over to the sink himself, carry the dogs' dishes himself, wipe himself, climb in the car himself, etc., etc. It's good for him to show initiative and want to be independent. It's also funny when he says, "*I* do it," and then he tries really hard, say, to climb in the car, and then realizes he can't quite do it, and then stops, looks up at me, and says, "Daddy do it." Or like the other day, when I wanted to give him a job to do and said, "Henry, go downstairs and get the dogs' dishes." He didn't miss a beat showing a degree of laziness, saying, "Daddy do it."
We're also seeing that his personality is not unlike Lincoln's (God help us if we'd had had 2 Lydias!) in that he wants everything to be just so. For instance, both the closet door and the bathroom door have to be shut before he'll relax and take a nap. We'll see if this is a phase or if it's foreshadowing.
On a tangent, a little over a year ago, Jenn and I made friends with a couple in the area through our mutual connection, Chinese Children Adoption International. It was one of the "small world" things, because Megan, the wife/mother, had also done her student teaching with my aunt at Chapel Hill Christian School. At the time, we'd known about Henry but still not been able to bring him home, and they were waiting for a referral of a little girl, so they knew their process was going to take a bit longer than ours for Henry.
Well, their day came recently when they received their travel approval, and unlike with Jenn and I, where we had about 2 weeks to plan, they had about 6 days. Yikes! We're friends on Facebook, and see their updates. In the midst of daily living at our house over the past 10+ months, I'd forgotten just how much of an adventure our travel to China really was.
I've lived a pretty vanilla American life, with some spice sprinkled in from my DR trip in 1996 to some fun vacations here and there. But nothing prepares you for walking down a hutong in the middle of the night with a several thousands of dollars in cash, technology and clothes attached to you. Hiking on the Great Wall with almost no other travelers within miles... that doesn't happen for just any Westerner. And there's something really special about being in a room full of Americans waiting for vans from surrounding orphanages to arrive with little toddlers who don't yet know that their lives are going to change in unfathomable ways forever.
I'm quite blessed that I not only got to take in these and many other outrageous, unbelievable experiences in just a short period of time, but that I also got to experience all of them with Jenn, my best friend... it's just really cool. And it's neat that this flood of really, really cool memories comes back when friends set off on their own adventure.
Because this post has more of an adoption theme than many of my recent posts, I want to make special mention of my Adoption Packing List post, as well as draw your attention to a couple of the blogs that have been maintained to some extent since our return from China... you can find them linked in the right-hand column.
Henry doesn't have direct memory of Lucy or Ethan (Kansas) or Ethan (Indiana) or Nicholas or Laikyn, but recently, as he's been able to verbally express himself in better ways and been able to show an understanding of what he's seeing, he and I have been reviewing photos from our time in China. I point out the kids, and talk about how they were sad at first on their Gotcha! Day, but that their mommies and daddies love them and they're happy in their homes just like Henry is happy in his home. Henry smiles. He points at the kids and enthusiastically says, "Look!" I'm curious to see how these moments between us unfold over the months and years.
I started writing Henry's Life Book the other day. It's a big challenge. Seeing the world through his eyes is a tough exercise. Also, knowing just how much of his first 18 months are an unknown, and will never be known, is both sad and somewhat frustrating. I think about myself, and of course I don't remember the first 18+ months of my life, but somebody knows about them. I can hear stories from my parents, my extended family, family friends, clients who still come to the clinic, etc. I may not know, but somebody does. And this just isn't so for Henry. It makes me sad for him, and it helps to frame for me just how much security we need to provide in other areas of his life. Life Books for children born in other countries can involve photos and memories from birth-parents and other connections, but this is an impossiblity for Chinese orphans, where there is literally no history available to be had. I'm sure there's a spiritual lesson in here somewhere, and I'll spend some time working through that at some point in time.
Speaking of that, my buddies, Manny and Andy, are helping me formulate our 4th Annual Men's Retreat. This year's title is "FOUND" (following FOCUS [2010], FOOD [2011] & FREQUENCY [2012]), and the underlying message will be how the adoption story that we see play out in families around us is an illustration of how God has adopted us, and taken us into His family. There are so many illustrative angles that I can't spend the time here to cover them, but suffice it to say, we're looking forward to our event this August.
If you've stuck with the post this long, you're quite the trooper. And you're probably feeling cheated that there are no photos. Next time. The rest of today will be taken up with Jenn and I taking Lydia and Henry to Aurora Farms to do some warm-weather-clothes shopping. Lincoln is with Grandpa at Leesville Lake, so he'll come home tired.
Don't get me wrong, he's still a 2-year-old, and we've got a good, double-dose of that going on right now at our house, but there have been a myriad of little things lately that show us that he's taking life very well, and better in some respects than he was even doing just a month or so ago. He takes correction much better now than he used to, and even when he gets upset and throws a fit, it doesn't last nearly as long as it used to. We've recently found that "time outs" are *very* effective for discipline. He doesn't like to be separated from us and a "time out" gets his attention very well. He's just come to the stage of development where he knows what a "time out" means; that understanding wasn't available to us just a few weeks ago based on his development.
If three weeks ago marked the first of his defiant, "NO!" then the last week-and-a-half marked the arrival of, "*I* do it!" He wants to turn the light off himself, brush his teeth himself, carry his dishes over to the sink himself, carry the dogs' dishes himself, wipe himself, climb in the car himself, etc., etc. It's good for him to show initiative and want to be independent. It's also funny when he says, "*I* do it," and then he tries really hard, say, to climb in the car, and then realizes he can't quite do it, and then stops, looks up at me, and says, "Daddy do it." Or like the other day, when I wanted to give him a job to do and said, "Henry, go downstairs and get the dogs' dishes." He didn't miss a beat showing a degree of laziness, saying, "Daddy do it."
We're also seeing that his personality is not unlike Lincoln's (God help us if we'd had had 2 Lydias!) in that he wants everything to be just so. For instance, both the closet door and the bathroom door have to be shut before he'll relax and take a nap. We'll see if this is a phase or if it's foreshadowing.
On a tangent, a little over a year ago, Jenn and I made friends with a couple in the area through our mutual connection, Chinese Children Adoption International. It was one of the "small world" things, because Megan, the wife/mother, had also done her student teaching with my aunt at Chapel Hill Christian School. At the time, we'd known about Henry but still not been able to bring him home, and they were waiting for a referral of a little girl, so they knew their process was going to take a bit longer than ours for Henry.
Well, their day came recently when they received their travel approval, and unlike with Jenn and I, where we had about 2 weeks to plan, they had about 6 days. Yikes! We're friends on Facebook, and see their updates. In the midst of daily living at our house over the past 10+ months, I'd forgotten just how much of an adventure our travel to China really was.
I've lived a pretty vanilla American life, with some spice sprinkled in from my DR trip in 1996 to some fun vacations here and there. But nothing prepares you for walking down a hutong in the middle of the night with a several thousands of dollars in cash, technology and clothes attached to you. Hiking on the Great Wall with almost no other travelers within miles... that doesn't happen for just any Westerner. And there's something really special about being in a room full of Americans waiting for vans from surrounding orphanages to arrive with little toddlers who don't yet know that their lives are going to change in unfathomable ways forever.
I'm quite blessed that I not only got to take in these and many other outrageous, unbelievable experiences in just a short period of time, but that I also got to experience all of them with Jenn, my best friend... it's just really cool. And it's neat that this flood of really, really cool memories comes back when friends set off on their own adventure.
Because this post has more of an adoption theme than many of my recent posts, I want to make special mention of my Adoption Packing List post, as well as draw your attention to a couple of the blogs that have been maintained to some extent since our return from China... you can find them linked in the right-hand column.
Henry doesn't have direct memory of Lucy or Ethan (Kansas) or Ethan (Indiana) or Nicholas or Laikyn, but recently, as he's been able to verbally express himself in better ways and been able to show an understanding of what he's seeing, he and I have been reviewing photos from our time in China. I point out the kids, and talk about how they were sad at first on their Gotcha! Day, but that their mommies and daddies love them and they're happy in their homes just like Henry is happy in his home. Henry smiles. He points at the kids and enthusiastically says, "Look!" I'm curious to see how these moments between us unfold over the months and years.
I started writing Henry's Life Book the other day. It's a big challenge. Seeing the world through his eyes is a tough exercise. Also, knowing just how much of his first 18 months are an unknown, and will never be known, is both sad and somewhat frustrating. I think about myself, and of course I don't remember the first 18+ months of my life, but somebody knows about them. I can hear stories from my parents, my extended family, family friends, clients who still come to the clinic, etc. I may not know, but somebody does. And this just isn't so for Henry. It makes me sad for him, and it helps to frame for me just how much security we need to provide in other areas of his life. Life Books for children born in other countries can involve photos and memories from birth-parents and other connections, but this is an impossiblity for Chinese orphans, where there is literally no history available to be had. I'm sure there's a spiritual lesson in here somewhere, and I'll spend some time working through that at some point in time.
Speaking of that, my buddies, Manny and Andy, are helping me formulate our 4th Annual Men's Retreat. This year's title is "FOUND" (following FOCUS [2010], FOOD [2011] & FREQUENCY [2012]), and the underlying message will be how the adoption story that we see play out in families around us is an illustration of how God has adopted us, and taken us into His family. There are so many illustrative angles that I can't spend the time here to cover them, but suffice it to say, we're looking forward to our event this August.
If you've stuck with the post this long, you're quite the trooper. And you're probably feeling cheated that there are no photos. Next time. The rest of today will be taken up with Jenn and I taking Lydia and Henry to Aurora Farms to do some warm-weather-clothes shopping. Lincoln is with Grandpa at Leesville Lake, so he'll come home tired.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Early March
We are now eagerly anticipating our trip to the Outer Banks with Auntie Em & Uncle Jeremy and crew along with Grandma Paulette and Grandpa Doug. Jenn's been looking for swimsuits and SPF shirts for the kids, and I've been telling Lincoln about climbing up the Currituck Lighthouse and other fun beach stories.
Henry is starting to put sentences together, and watching his mind work is really, really neat. While he still does a fair bit of crying and some screaming for Jenn during the day, he is much more responsive to her telling him why, for instance, he needs his hands wiped after lunch. Just last night Jenn and I were talking about how his receptive language picked up very quickly last summer, but while he may have heard the words and known a bit what we were talking about, it's clear that he's know understanding concepts much better and emotionally responding better in many situations.
He continues to be a champ at Sunday School, and when Jenn takes the kids out. This past Wednesday she took the kids to the Stow Library for story time and to meet with a new friend from church. This new friend said, "Whenever I see Henry he's always happy!" And he usually is. She also said, after they'd been there about 30 minutes, "Is there something up with his hand?" Henry just does life.
Lydia is staying in her crib during the night and after naps. It helps that I give her an almond as her "special treat" as a reward. She's so darn cute about it, too. And her cuteness is saving her lately because she simply doesn't listen or obey. Lincoln and Henry are a lot alike in that they're obedient and responsive. Lydia is just different, and she's going to try our patience as we go along.
Just the other evening, in the midst of a crying fit, she ran to her playhouse and sat inside. I crawled in after her and sat beside her, not saying anything. Mid-cry, she belted out, "I want some money!" Yeah. That's my daughter.
On another occasion, she was crying very dramatically in the middle of the night, and when Jenn asked what she wanted, she said, as the sobs continued to flow, "Where's my....... where's my....... where's my crown?" Well, isn't that the truth?! Jenn thought.
Lincoln is tearing it up in preschool. One of their worksheets dealt with money and he had to write how many cents were represented by various combinations of coins. He got them all correct, and when he told Jenn about it, he said, "Lots of the kids had to try a couple of times, but I just got it right the first time." Similarly, they had a very simple graphing exercise, and he worked out the graph correctly the first time. He then described to me how he did it, in a very matter-of-fact way, as though he'd been doing those exercises for some time now. Preschool has been a very good thing.
He started up his swimming lessons again this Wednesday. No crying this time, even after being away from the routine for a while, and I'm sure we can chalk his comfort and confidence up to preschool and general maturing. It remains to be seen how good of a swimmer he'll be by the time we're at the pool on vacation, but he'll be comfortable playing with us, at least.
Lincoln went to Leesville Lake again last Wednesday, and Grandpa had pirate ships for him to paint, pancakes for him to mix and eat, and a sundae for him to cover with chocolate syrup. It was a good day!
Henry is starting to put sentences together, and watching his mind work is really, really neat. While he still does a fair bit of crying and some screaming for Jenn during the day, he is much more responsive to her telling him why, for instance, he needs his hands wiped after lunch. Just last night Jenn and I were talking about how his receptive language picked up very quickly last summer, but while he may have heard the words and known a bit what we were talking about, it's clear that he's know understanding concepts much better and emotionally responding better in many situations.
He continues to be a champ at Sunday School, and when Jenn takes the kids out. This past Wednesday she took the kids to the Stow Library for story time and to meet with a new friend from church. This new friend said, "Whenever I see Henry he's always happy!" And he usually is. She also said, after they'd been there about 30 minutes, "Is there something up with his hand?" Henry just does life.
Lydia is staying in her crib during the night and after naps. It helps that I give her an almond as her "special treat" as a reward. She's so darn cute about it, too. And her cuteness is saving her lately because she simply doesn't listen or obey. Lincoln and Henry are a lot alike in that they're obedient and responsive. Lydia is just different, and she's going to try our patience as we go along.
Just the other evening, in the midst of a crying fit, she ran to her playhouse and sat inside. I crawled in after her and sat beside her, not saying anything. Mid-cry, she belted out, "I want some money!" Yeah. That's my daughter.
On another occasion, she was crying very dramatically in the middle of the night, and when Jenn asked what she wanted, she said, as the sobs continued to flow, "Where's my....... where's my....... where's my crown?" Well, isn't that the truth?! Jenn thought.
Lincoln is tearing it up in preschool. One of their worksheets dealt with money and he had to write how many cents were represented by various combinations of coins. He got them all correct, and when he told Jenn about it, he said, "Lots of the kids had to try a couple of times, but I just got it right the first time." Similarly, they had a very simple graphing exercise, and he worked out the graph correctly the first time. He then described to me how he did it, in a very matter-of-fact way, as though he'd been doing those exercises for some time now. Preschool has been a very good thing.
He started up his swimming lessons again this Wednesday. No crying this time, even after being away from the routine for a while, and I'm sure we can chalk his comfort and confidence up to preschool and general maturing. It remains to be seen how good of a swimmer he'll be by the time we're at the pool on vacation, but he'll be comfortable playing with us, at least.
Lincoln went to Leesville Lake again last Wednesday, and Grandpa had pirate ships for him to paint, pancakes for him to mix and eat, and a sundae for him to cover with chocolate syrup. It was a good day!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Raiding the Pantry
Lydia and Henry are already teaming up. Henry loves to eat all the time. Lydia would love to eat all the time. Henry doesn't yet know how to get into the boxes of food. Lydia does. Need I say more?
Yesterday Jenn took Henry for his first doctor's visit and it went pretty well. He had to ride in his car seat (induced screaming/crying), to donate lots of blood (induced screaming/crying), and then he had to ride home in his car seat (induced screaming/crying), but this is how Henry will learn what it means to live in the Gates Family. We learned that after 6 months of age they pretty much stopped preventive medicine with him, but what was most valuable was Jenn's conversation with the doctor. Much of what we've been experiencing over the past couple of weeks is entirely normal, and that under the circumstances, Henry is making pretty good progress.
This was confirmed later in the day with our first visit with our social worker since the adoption. She, too, was very, very helpful in sharing information that she'd gathered from other adoptive families over the years. Last evening he began initiating some play and some tickling, which is welcome to see.
Lydia is now putting two words together: "more please," "my turn," "mommy's turn."
Lincoln missed the whole day because he was at Leesville Lake with Grandpa Doug. They left on Tuesday evening after 8:00pm, later than Lincoln's bedtime, and he didn't actually get to bed until after 10:00pm. Then he woke up with the sun on Wednesday morning and had a *full* day of fishing, splashing, working, shooting, blueberry pancake-eating fun. Guess who came home tired?
Friends have been bringing dinners over for the past two weeks and they've been fabulous. Not only have the dinners tasted wonderful, but the time that this frees up for Jenn is truly valuable. Thanks to the McGlones, Kiels, Ducharmes and Fetters!
Last evening also started the official Vacation 2013 Planning Season! That's right, we just keep bouncing from one thing to another, and 2013 will likely bring the Gates-Gates-Hopwood family back to the Outer Banks! We were last there in '09, and things have changed a bit in the meantime. Ella will be similar in age and life stage to where Lincoln was on that trip, and we'll have a pair of 2.5 year olds running around the sand, too.
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This was confirmed later in the day with our first visit with our social worker since the adoption. She, too, was very, very helpful in sharing information that she'd gathered from other adoptive families over the years. Last evening he began initiating some play and some tickling, which is welcome to see.
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Lincoln missed the whole day because he was at Leesville Lake with Grandpa Doug. They left on Tuesday evening after 8:00pm, later than Lincoln's bedtime, and he didn't actually get to bed until after 10:00pm. Then he woke up with the sun on Wednesday morning and had a *full* day of fishing, splashing, working, shooting, blueberry pancake-eating fun. Guess who came home tired?
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Thursday, April 26, 2012
It's been two weeks since I last posted. Wow. To the out-of-town folks, I'm really sorry. I don't know if I've ever gone two weeks between posts before now. Well, here goes...
Things have been moving quickly lately on the adoption front, but much of the movement hasn't yet resulted in concrete details. That's one of the reasons I've been reluctant to post in the past week or so. Also, between our computer being tied up as I prepare movies for the iPad for the trip over and the kids being all over the place, finding the time to compose posts and load photos has been a challenge.
We received our Travel Approval from China on Monday. This was two weeks to the day from when we last heard from them. I've got to give it to the Chinese government, they've always been on the short end of the time estimates. The U.S. government, on the other hand...
Ordinarily, receiving one's travel approval would allow them to request a consulate appointment and know just when they're going to travel. The wild card here is that the area of Henan where Henry is has a court/passport office that has been quite erratic lately. Passports should be issued within 5 days, but they've been taking as long as 8 days with some families. This can be a problem. For example, one family had to miss their consulate appointment and their flight home because the passport office was dragging their feet. Nobody wants this to be our story, so there are some behind the scenes conversations trying to normalize the process, and this is going on just as we're adopting from this region.
All told, it's looking very likely that we'll leave on May 13 and return on June 2. That's a long time to be away from family and from work. I can't say I'm real crazy about this aspect of it, but it comes with the territory. Lincoln and Lydia will be staying with Grandma Laura for part of the time, and then with Grandma Paulette & Grandpa Doug for the rest of the time. We're trying to keep things as normal as possible for them, and staying with Grandparents from time to time is a normal thing for them.
Jenn's been in the process of sorting through and organizing everything from the packing lists she's found from this source and that. Some families, we've come to learn, took everything including the kitchen sink. Others have packed amazingly light. I think we'll fall somewhere toward the "light" end of the spectrum.
More and more on my mind lately has been the thought of taking an 18-month old child away from everything he knows as normal. I've thought about what it would be like for Lydia to be plucked from our home and taken to another home. Even with it being another home that would love her and take good care of her, she'd still have a really rough time. So our prayers from Henry over the past number of weeks have been for the LORD to prepare his little mind and ease the transition from his normal to Jenn and me initially, and then to our home upon our return.
Lydia has been sick again lately. Snotty nose kind of stuff. On Tuesday evening she was up every hour on the bottom of the hour, and that made for tough sleeping for everyone... except Lincoln, who sleeps like a giant log in the woods.
Lincoln spent the day with Grandpa Doug at Leesville Lake yesterday. They left for breakfast at 8:00am and returned at 8:00pm with Grandpa carrying him up the stairs and setting him in his bed. Then Jenn changed his clothes without his help (this is very unusual), sent him off to go potty, and then he rolled over, said, "I love you, Mommy," and fell asleep. Without stories. That's a tired kid. So we'd like to make this a weekly thing.
We'll see how the next number of days unfold, and hopefully I can get some photos up.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Swimming with Noodle
We crammed a lot into our Wednesday yesterday. Lincoln had his second swimming lesson of this round, and he was awesome. In fact, he was the only one in his class that showed up, so he effectively had a private swimming lesson. This meant that he had to stay on task the whole time, and it meant the he was pretty darn tired by the end.
Then we went to the Akron Zoo! The kids took good naps during the afternoon.
Last weekend was a fun time. Grandpa Doug, Lincoln and I went down to Leesville Lake to do a few odds and ends, but it turns out it was just a way to get me out of the house so a bunch of friends could come over and give me a big surprise when I got home. It was a very neat time, and Jenn put a lot of thought and love into the event. BBQ Pulled Pork and two cheesecakes were on hand and we all had a great time.
On Sunday we hiked the Cross Country Trail at Kendall Lake. It's amazing how green everything is in mid-September. In the bottom right photo, Lincoln is standing in front of the Mossy Log. It's almost completely overgrown!
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Last weekend was a fun time. Grandpa Doug, Lincoln and I went down to Leesville Lake to do a few odds and ends, but it turns out it was just a way to get me out of the house so a bunch of friends could come over and give me a big surprise when I got home. It was a very neat time, and Jenn put a lot of thought and love into the event. BBQ Pulled Pork and two cheesecakes were on hand and we all had a great time.
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Memorial Day Weekend @ Leesville Lake
Memorial Day Weekend was a Gates Family Reunion. The Hopwoods joined us at Leesville Lake for a whole lot of nothing. Sure we shot, swam, bubbled, hiked, cooked, gamed and relaxed, but it was low-key and no pressure. Here's a photo-sampling of the weekend...
On a separate subject, I was sad to learn of Jim Tressel's resignation. Nobody is bigger than Ohio State football, and I expect the product on the field to remain good. Call me crazy, but I just don't have a problem with a college kid selling a trophy and making a buck. This is certainly not an offense that ought to lead to the firing of a coach. I'm not surprised, but I'm saddened. I'll remember Jim Tressel's tenure as one where he was competitive nearly every game, where he kicked the crap out of Michigan, where he ran a more conservative brand of football than I would have liked but where he won... a ton, and where he eventually was brought down by some kids who broke rules that the NCAA say are important. There are worse offenses he could have committed, and ESPN's holier-than-thou approach to reporting (notably Pat Forde) has been added to the list of reasons I'm not a big ESPN news fan. I'm officially a Luke Fickell fan now. Go Buckeyes!
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On a separate subject, I was sad to learn of Jim Tressel's resignation. Nobody is bigger than Ohio State football, and I expect the product on the field to remain good. Call me crazy, but I just don't have a problem with a college kid selling a trophy and making a buck. This is certainly not an offense that ought to lead to the firing of a coach. I'm not surprised, but I'm saddened. I'll remember Jim Tressel's tenure as one where he was competitive nearly every game, where he kicked the crap out of Michigan, where he ran a more conservative brand of football than I would have liked but where he won... a ton, and where he eventually was brought down by some kids who broke rules that the NCAA say are important. There are worse offenses he could have committed, and ESPN's holier-than-thou approach to reporting (notably Pat Forde) has been added to the list of reasons I'm not a big ESPN news fan. I'm officially a Luke Fickell fan now. Go Buckeyes!
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