Hangin' At Hamlin

The best thing about being at Hamlin last night was not having to deal with Tony. He wasn't there. The bad thing was that none of the Loyola boxers got any matches. I figured there wouldn't be anyone for Keith. He's about 200 pounds and there seems to not be many guys in his category. However, Sadiq could have been easily matched up. There was someone available, but when Steve tried to get him in, the reply was, "Nope, he's too good." What was that supposed to mean? Junior already knew there were no matches for him, so he didn't come out yesterday. Emmanuel, who boxes out of Clarendon, showed up too late to get a fight. Kevin, who was also in attendance, didn't get a match, either, which is surprising. Usually the kids are easier to match up than the adults. Steve and Barry decided to stick around to help out Bill, so we all (except Keith and his girlfriend) stayed. Seems Bill didn't have enough people to work the glove table.

Spoke to the Secretary of State. . . .he was one of the special guests giving out trophies to the boxers. Kitching (I keep calling him Kitchen) took a picture of us. The Secretary of State does not know me well, but he was a good buddy of my late dad for about 40 years.

Barry told me that the other teen girl whom was supposed to train in the adult class probably hasn't been showing up because she feels discouraged. She wanted to get fights during the last boxing shows, but came up empty. I know the feeling. She shouldn't give up; I wish I could talk to her and give her encouragement. After all, being way younger than me, she still has a chance.

Jesse, one of the women who fights out of Hamlin, won her match. She's a slight built person, but very tough. I remember watching her at the Golden Gloves earlier this year. She took a beating from her opponent, and was very bloodied up. Jesse never backed down, though. She zapped her opponent last night with a jab immediately after the bell. The other woman fell to the canvas, then got an eight-count. It was downhill after that, and Jesse got the decision.

Kevin is about the funniest kid I know right now. On the ride home, he was telling us about a game involving a maze that he has played at a church. If you follow directions and go the right way inside the maze, you end up in "heaven" where candy awaits. If you decide to go your own way and not listen to advice, "hell" awaits. I understood immediately that the game was a tool to teach basic Christian concepts. Kevin said one of the kids ended up in "hell" several times before finally making it to "heaven". It was the way he said things that had Steve, Sadiq and I cracking up.