Patrick Newell

One has to envision continued success for Norwich basketball – the boys and girls – for at least the next two to three years if not well beyond that. While Norwich’s varsity team was sewing up its third straight Pennysaver girls title this past Saturday night, the junior varsity improved to 4-0 on the season. All four wins have come by double digits, and the JV club does not have a sophomore on its roster. In fact, two eighth-graders start, and two seventh-graders see plenty of minutes as well. As for the varsity team, it starts one sophomore, and has two other sophomores in the playing rotation. Over on the boys’ side, head coach Tom Collier kept three sophomores on his varsity club, and all three are in the prime playing rotation. Meanwhile, the boys’ JV team, coached by Phil Curley, counts two freshmen among its top three scorers. Just like the girls, the Tornado’s junior club is unbeaten and has four straight victories by double-digit points.

Unless you have missed your lunch or dinner, making a visit to the concession stand before the game or halftime is an impulse purchase. It’s akin to that must-have item while waiting in the grocery store line. Ever had a sudden need for Carmex? Hey, It’s winter, the season of dry lips. Anyway, my point is that we all have succumbed to that urgent need to purchase something we really don’t need. Now that we’re in my busiest season of games, I consequently attend more games than the fall and spring seasons. I also make far more trips to the concession line to feed my face with Skittles and Tootsie Pops. My itinerary has me in every corner of Chenango County, but my most frequent stop is at Norwich High School. Of the 15 to 20 varsity basketball games played at Norwich each year, I may miss one or two games, and most of the time, I make my concession purchases before the start of the varsity game. After dispensing with some loose change and a couple of dollar bills this season, I have decided I prefer the girls’ stand. Why would I prefer one over the other when each concession stand offers nearly the exact same items? Lower prices. Yes, the profits of the concession stand benefit the basketball program. And yes, I understand there must be some sort of mark-up on the actual price. Still, I am a consumer, and who wouldn’t want the same item for less money? Too, I am bit perplexed by the three-for-a-dollar Tootsie Pop price at the boys’ concession station. I don’t know about you, but I do not purchase my lollipops in bulk – unless my kids are in tow. One or two will suffice, so when I bought “just” one the other night, I chuckled to myself when the volunteer accepting my money said, “33 cents.” I dug through my pockets searching for extra pennies to get the right change. Fortunately, I was the only one in line, and expediency in completing the transaction was not a problem. I plopped my quarter, nickel, and three pennies down on the counter, and headed to my seat. In this case, the transaction time was fairly quick. I do consider it my rite of passage at a store to make the correct change for any type of purchase. I almost always have multiple pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters in my pocket. Still, not everyone carries a weighty jingle in their jeans due to excessive change hording. Most people head to the concession stand – especially kids – with their dollar bills and perhaps a quarter or two. Get in, get out, that is the objective in any concession stand purchase. I do get satisfaction making the right change, but I take umbrage when finding the correct change cuts into my Skittles consumption time.

Follow Patrick Newell on Twitter @evesunpat

Jeff Genung

• Must be that time of year … no, not Christmas (that’s been going on since October). It’s Progress time! We here at The Evening Sun are getting ready for our annual ‘yearbook’ business review that comes out over five days during the last week in January. It’s a gargantuan undertaking (80 pages!) for the editorial and advertising staffs, so I just gave my trusty reporters their story assignments this afternoon. Given that two out of my four reporters have never done this before (and both sales people are brand new, too!), it should be an interesting year. Prediction: My hair will be entirely white by Jan. 27. Great Caesar’s Ghost, indeed.

• Got your letters to Santa in? No? Well it’s too late; the deadline was Friday. Santa has made his list, and checked it twice. Replies from the North Pole will go out to everyone who wrote in later this week; the letters themselves will be published in our ‘Holiday Big Book’ special section this Friday.

• Saw a spectacular Christmas show at the Arts Council Saturday … the violin madness that is Barrage. I know, I know … if you think string instruments, you think stuffy, tuxedoed snoozefest. Anything but that with Barrage – never seen so much energy on that stage! And the Christmas selections they played would get even the Grinchiest of Grinches into the spirit of the holidays. Bravo!

Brian Golden

Less than two weeks until Christmas and (no surprise here) I still have a ton of shopping to do. Then again, I’ve always been a wait-until-the-last-minute kind of holiday shopper so I’m sure everything will be just fine. And when you get right down to it, my lady Renee and I actually have a bit of a head start, so maybe it won’t be so bad this year after all.

Who am I kidding? I can practically guarantee I’ll be spending a ridiculous amount of time putting the finishing touches on my Christmas shopping right up until December 24th. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, right?

As for the here and now, the Norwich middle and high schools will hold their respective Winter Concerts this week – NHS on Tuesday … NMS on Wednesday – and I’m looking forward to checking out at least one performance, if not both. It’s always exciting checking out the new talent and – as I’ve come to expect – it’s sure to be a great pair of shows. These are some truly talented and hard-working kids, to say the least, and I hope both shows are well attended (in other words, get out there and support what continues to be an extremely successful music program here in Norwich).

On a personal note, I’m not sure why this cold refuses to go away, but I sincerely wish it would. What can I say? I’m getting pretty tired of all the coughing, hacking, headache-that-is-never-truly-gone and blowing of the nose. Typically, I’ll get sick maybe once a year and – even then – said sickness only lasts a day or two (or three … tops). Which is probably why this week-long-plus dose of punishment and suffering feels like it’s lasted for about a month already. Needless to say, a good night’s sleep would be great right about now.

Of course, staying up to watch the finale of the Giants game last night did little to help in the sleep department, but I can honestly say it was well worth it. Actually, now that I think about it, anytime I get to watch my beloved Big Blue put a beat-down on the Cowboys is worth it, no matter how sick I might be. As for you Dallas fans … well … I’d speak my mind if I could without getting myself in trouble. And don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same if the game had turned out the other way around, because we all know better than that, don’t we?

As for the rest of the evening, it’s this month’s Norwich City School District Board of Education offering, which means my plans are – for the most part – set in stone. After that, however (depending on the length of tonight’s meeting), it’s Two and a Half Men (CBS), Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (Food Network) and, of course, the new Fear Factor (?), a show which I would gladly try out for if it weren’t for the whole eating-of-disgusting-stuff challenges. Jump out of an airplane? Sure. Surf the Interstate on the back of a tractor trailer? No problem. Eat a handful of live dung beetles? Nope … no way … no how.

Sorry, but a guy’s got to draw the line somewhere.

The New York State Department of Transportation is going to invest in the restoration of local rail lines in several counties, including Chenango. It’s not enough to do much (less than 20 percent of what was being asked) but it’s still exciting news to me.

It seems economical and more environmentally friendly (Are 50 trucks, each pulling one trailer, better than one train pulling 50 cars?) and, of course… well… I just like trains. I love the way they sound (the engine, the whistle, the clatter of the rails, the warnings bells of the railroad crossing). I love the sight of them, leaving pennies on the tracks to flatten and counting the cars – even reading the graffiti on the sides (I can get a lot of good writing material from that). So I’m pretty excited to see when and if they move through the city, since I didn’t live in Norwich when the railways were functional.

I’ve heard some other options regarding the fate of the tracks, particularly some that suggest the ties be removed and replaced by a bike trail… A bike trail? Really? Come on, no one would use that. (A straight trail from the north to the south end of town? Weee! What a trip! I can’t wait to turn around and go back the other direction!) Not to mention, a bike trail that goes through the middle of the city might not be the best idea. What’s proposed to be done where this bike trail crosses (11?) busy streets throughout the city? Besides, most people that ride a bike in the city aren’t riding for recreation; they ride to get from point A to point B so unless their point A is Prentice St. and their B is someplace between Aim Fitness and Country Max, there’s not much use in it. A bike trail isn’t going to keep one of the local youth from pulling a kamikaze type move in front of a moving car on Broad Street. And for city based “bicycle recreationists,” there are other trails around town already open for everyone to not use.

I’m not expecting trains to roll through the city over night – again, that’s if they ever run again at all. I’m open to other possibilities for the rail lines (so long as their logical) but to phase out the railroad system completely would be (almost literally) burning bridges.

Between writing in the Evening Sun office and spending every other waking minute writing final reports for my graduate courses at home, I’m really getting used to the glow of a computer screen. So use to it, in fact, that everything else just seems to have a dull tint without a glowing white background. I can’t wait until my eyes are able to focus again.

Today is December 7th, “a date that will live in infamy” …. you know, for most. It’s astonishing how many people don’t realize what took place 70 years ago. Talk to people and study their reaction when you mention that today is December 7th. How many blank stares do you think you’ll get in return? How many won’t know what I’m talking about now? I understand the need to live through such a traumatic event such as the attack on Pearl Harbor to get the full emotional impact of its significance but shouldn’t people at least hear the date and think it sounds familiar? I know we aren’t at a similar point when I say “September, 11” but in time…

I’ve said that I’m Christmased-out (with the 24 hour Christmas radio stations and holiday sales) but I’m starting to feel a little jollier – I’m giving credit to the Christmas decorations for this “Christmas miracle.” After seeing East and West Parks lit up and houses dressed for the season, I think we have entered my favorite part of the year (and I know I’ll be singing a different tune when Christmas is over).

But with decorations going up, what’s the cut off limit? How much is too much? I know some community members don’t know when to call it quits, like a goldfish that doesn’t know when to stop eating. One of my neighbors has enough lights on his house to land an airplane; another house nearby has enough inflatable decorations to pass for a Macy’s parade. I’m not complaining too much, as long as it’s seasonal (I know that’s asking an awful lot for some people) but when a house reaches a level of decorations that even Clark Griswold would envy, it might be time to let off the gas a little.

Julian Kappel

I’ve talked about action movies, horror movies, and favorite T.V. shows … but I have not gone into one of my favorites: the love story.

I’m sure a few of my friends will demand my “Man-Card” upon reading this blog but I would refer them to my action-movie column.

Either way, I’m really not ashamed of the fact that I love a good romantic comedy and/or love story. I’ve watched three lately and each take a very different approach to the typical love story.

Beastly: This movie had such great potential. Very interesting concepts, very poor execution. In particular, dialogue and plausibility were lacking from start to finish. I mean, if Neil Patrick Harris is suffering from the dialogue, you should know something’s gone wrong.

However, the twists on the traditional Beauty and the Beast story are interesting and there are even a few special moments of chemistry between the leads.

Stylistically I suppose it’s worth checking out although I warn you it does run a little long.

Final summation: Watch it for NPH and, here’s a twist, Mary-Kate Olson who is creepy and convincing as the witch. (Fantastic final shot.)

The Adjustment Bureau: Although all of the commercials touted this movie as an action flick, and it does have plenty, the underlying love story is what drives the movie.

Although the “adjustment plot” is largely predictable, the twists and turns in the relationship between Damon and Cotillard are fairly elaborate and they have undeniable chemistry. Although, honestly, I’d watch those two actors play chess for an hour and a half.

Final summation: Great cinematography, good dialogue, decent but unoriginal plot, and a few amazing performances.

Crazy Stupid Love: Alright, Adjustment Bureau was an action flick/love story, Beastly some sort of fairy tale that lived up to its name, but Crazy Stupid Love is 100 percent rom-com.

However, do not misunderstand me and believe it’s in any way a chick-flick.

Ryan Gosling is hilarious as a ladies man who is somewhere between Mystery and Tucker Max. Steve Carell is his usual awkward-but-with-a-strong-heart character although his transformation throughout the movie is slightly out of the norm for him. And Emma Stone is, not unsurprisingly, both hilarious and beautiful at once.

The rest of the cast is also excellent with some great performances by Julianne Moore, Jonah Bobo, and Marissa Tomei. Oh yeah, and Kevin Bacon. (Is it just me or is he in every darn movie lately? It’s like somebody said: “We’ve run out of original 7 Degrees games! Quick, start putting Bacon in everything!**”)

Final summation: This movie is one of my favorite of the year. It’s funny, sweet, sexy and there’s even a bit of wisdom in there for anyone who thinks there’s only one kind of happy ending.

So there’s my take on a few recently viewed lovey-dovey type flicks. Although, as much as I do enjoy a good love story, I don’t usually actively seek them out. So, if anyone has any suggestions for true winners, let me know.

For now, though, and most likely for all time, there will be one truly perfect T.V./movie romance. Pam and Jim, you guys get me everytime.

** Epic Meal Time agrees …

Patrick Newell

From time to time this season, we’ll have the opportunity to preview some basketball games. Norwich first-year head coach, Tom Collier, is well known among the local coaching brethren for his detailed scouting reports. He shared some of his thoughts on Wednesday’s opponent, Susquehanna Valley. “You can call this ‘David versus Goliath,” Collier said. The Sabers have four players at least 6-foot-6, and that includes three-year starting center, Trenton Benton at 6-foot-6, and 6-foot-7 skywalker Brendan Normile. Also on the SV roster are Nick Coddington, who is 6-foot-8, and Aaron Cornish, a 6-foot-7 center. Norwich, meanwhile, lists its tallest starter, Dennis Oralls, at 6-foot-3. “They have Colin Manchester, who is one of the top three-point shooting guards in the league,” Collier said. “Benton is deadly around the basket, and Normile is one of most agile big man around who can leap out of the gym. All three are college-bound recruits. The combination of outside shooting and size makes Susquehanna Valley the odds-on favorite to win the Central Division (our division) in STAC.” One advantage the Tornado may have is the two games it played last weekend, while Wednesday’s game at Norwich will be the Sabers’ season-opener.

The 49th Clyde Cole team title was easily won by Pennsylvania prep school, Wyoming Seminary last weekend in Oxford. The Blue Raiders brought 10 wrestlers last year, and claimed the team title racking up 280.5 point to outdistance runner-up Queensbury by 75 1/2 points. This year, with a full lineup in tow, WS piled up eight individual titles and 366 team points. Check out this statistic: If you added together the point totals of second-place Queensbury and third-place Greene, “Sem” would still maintain a 13-point advantage. Sem is off to the prestigious Ironman tournament this weekend, and later on, the Beast of the East.

I am not a fan of the Schwan basketball tournament schedule, hosted by Norwich. This coming weekend is the annual Norwich Pennysaver girls’ basketball tournament, and the girls’ schedule mimics that of the boys. Until the last three years or so, Norwich’s annual boys tip-off basketball tournament had varsity games scheduled at 6 and 7:45 p.m. Running concurrently were the JV games at the Norwich Middle School gym. Games were scheduled so that the JV time was opposite the respective boys’ varsity team. It allowed fans of their school to move from one gym to the next upon completion of the first game. The new and “not improved” version of the tournament invokes the quadruple-header-at-one-gym schedule. Four straight games are played with the capper beginning in the 9 p.m. range (and last year it was closer to 9:15 p.m.). Back-track about one hour and 45 minutes for each game to the opener – around 4 p.m. Remember, this schedule follows a school day in which kids are up early in the morning and taking classes all day. I ask, how many JV games on school days start at 4 p.m.? None. How many varsity games start at 9 p.m. or later? None, unless the JV prelim has a wild four- or five-overtime finish. Those aren’t even my strongest arguments against the schedule. Visiting schools in the JV games are needlessly delayed an hour and a half to two hours while they wait for their varsity team to play. Also, based on my observations the past two years – at the boys’ and girls’ tournaments – basketball games that start at 9 p.m. or later do not draw as many fans as games that start in the 7:45 p.m. range. For some people, a basketball game starting after 9 p.m. is just too late! A Friday night basketball game at Norwich High School used to be a can’t-miss event for sports fans. Not only was this the season opener for a solid Norwich team, but the Tornado were playing longtime local rival, Oxford, who brought a fan base of its own. With the stage set for a capacity crowd ready the rock the building’s pillars, seats were readily available in every section aside from the Norwich student section. Something seems amiss to me. Before the Norwich gymnasium was remodeled to bring it up to date with building safety codes, the Norwich gym’s seating capacity was in the neighborhood of 1,000. Now, a full house at Norwich is about one-third less the previous maximum occupancy, and Norwich still cannot fill the stands. For Saturday’s consolation and championship games, I would make just one adjustment: Flip the order so that the JV championship game precedes the varsity consolation game. Saturday, Greene’s varsity team played Oxford in the varsity consolation game. That contest served as a warmup for the Greene JV team’s title game against Norwich. It just doesn’t sit right with me when a JV team is higher on the marquee than its varsity squad. Isn’t it the aspiration of a junior varsity player to ascend to varsity? I ask that the Norwich school consider a schedule change for next year. Friday’s original schedule allowed for a seamless, time-efficient transition from a respective school’s junior varsity to varsity game. For Saturdays, I consider it a lack of respect for a varsity program – and the varsity players and coaches – by having it play second fiddle to the junior varsity. A varsity sports team, regardless of the sport, is that sport’s preeminent team. It is the best combination of players to represent a school in interscholastic sports at the highest level of competitive varsity sports. I think some people have lost sight of that.

Follow Patrick Newell on Twitter @evesunpat

Brian Golden

Blues guitarist, singer and songwriter Jimmie Vaughan said it best, I think, when he penned the song “Six Strings Down,” which can be found on his 1994 album Strange Pleasure.

“Heaven done called … another blues stringer back home.”

Needless to say, I was saddened yesterday by the news of legendary blues guitar-slinger Hubert Sumlin’s death at the age of 80. Sumlin, guitarist for the equally legendary Howlin’ Wolf, was a huge influence on modern blues (and that’s putting it mildly), influencing the likes of Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Keith Richards and many others (including myself).

And that’s not to say the man didn’t lead a prolific life … he did (although the lack of a Grammy Award after four nominations says something about that particular awards committee). No, what’s sad is that there are so few of the “original” bluesmen left these days. Actually, when you get right down to it, Sumlin was more of a second generation bluesman. Any yet, that’s one of the reasons I’ve always loved the blues … there’s always another generation of musicians on hand to take the form in another direction, all the while preserving both its history and integrity.

With that said, rest in peace Mr. Sumlin. The musical legacy you leave behind will not soon be forgotten and I’m sure you’re in good company up there in blues heaven. And if you think of it, tell Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Albert Collins, Freddie King, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, SRV and all the other guys I said hi.

Julian Kappel

Here we are at the beginning of winter … kind of. You know, I always thought of the seasons as being divvied up into perfect three month packages that defined what the season would look like.  First of March, bring on the rain. First of June, nice and warm with plenty of sun. First of September, the first leaf drops. And on the first of December it gets cold and the snow comes a-fallin’.

Then I moved to upstate New York.

This really isn’t me complaining (I know I do that a lot when it comes to cold weather) I’m merely commenting on the oddity of it all. Oh well, at the very least here’s hoping for a white Christmas. But not just snow on the ground, snow fall on Christmas Eve so it covers up all of the disgusting mud-snow that will follow any snow fall a few days later.

Yes, that is far too many uses of the word snow in one sentence. Snow.

Any fellow YouTube fans out there? I just found out about Epic Meal Time and I don’t know if I’m more disgusted…or hungry. Either way, it’s truly an epic cooking show. Who knew there were so many uses for bacon? Check it out if you want to know what I’m cooking this weekend.

I finally bought myself a USB case for my old laptop’s hard drive which means I once again have access to all of my music, movies and, most importantly, every single thing I wrote during college. Since I fancy myself something of a writer, having access to my “portfolio” is fairly important.

Does anyone have any fun plans for this weekend? I know I do. Tonight, I’m finally going to get together with my “band-mates” (we haven’t played a show in over a year but we still write and record songs as often as possible) and get some tracks down. In particular, we’re working on a song that was written by  another friend who recently went into the military (see column here) and passed on to us before leaving.

Tomorrow night, however, is reserved for the event of the season a.k.a. the Christmas party to end all Christmas parties. I’ll make sure to blog on Monday so everyone knows I survived.

Sunday is reserved for decorating, since this will most likely be the last snow-free weekend of the year, and I will most likely spend at least an hour rustling up a pair of gloves and hat from the closet. Wish me luck!

I hope everyone has as much fun as I plan on having. Be safe and get those lights up while it’s still in the 40’s!

Happy Friday everybody!

My favorite national headline in a long time: “Cain to Meet with Wife.” Really, if I were scheduling time to “meet” with my wife, I’m in deep. It’s not a meeting to look forward to.

I would like to think that anyone who purchased a smart phone in the last few years had a general understanding of some of the negative drawbacks. A phone with a built in GPS – someone can find where you are at all times. A phone with internet – online activity can be tracked. So it didn’t come as a surprise this week when public awareness spread that millions of smart phones contain built in software that records the actions of every user, from internet usage to the key strokes in text messaging.

But better than the backlash of consumer concern are the conspiracy theories sure to follow. I love conspiracy theories. I love theory conspiracy theorists. No one brightens my day more than someone who speaks with a stubborn and irrational, misinformed sense of what’s happening (AKA someone that talks out their butt). They speak their “truths” about something incredible (like the staging of the 1969 moon landing) or the government’s involvement in something inexplicably unfortunate (the government had control over the 9/11 attacks) and things that just really don’t make sense in the eyes of a sane human being (Obama is trying to take away my garden?). So with growing attention drawn to memory software in cell phones, I can’t wait to see some of the new conspiracies that develop, similar to what Orwell prophesied. Who knows? For the first time, new conspiracy theories might not be that much of a stretch.

On another note, the park looks terrific after Thursday’s tree lighting ceremony. I really hope to see a snow storm (sorry) before the decorations are taken down. When the streets are empty and everything around is white, lit by the soft glow of street lamps, that’s the best time to check holiday decorations. Congratulations to the BID for its organization of another spectacular event.