Love ya, Gus

THIS WEEKEND IS the annual Gus Macker 3 on 3  basketball tournament in Quincy. It's one of my favorite weekends of the year.

Sadly, for the first time in my 15 plus years in Quincy, I will not be volunteering the entire Saturday and Sunday. I'll be down for a few hours Saturday and maybe a few Sunday, but Cheese and Life is getting in the way.

The Cheeseburgers are playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Combined with working in the store, I will not be able to devote the full two days.

I'm sad about it. I love working for Gus. I worked for the national staff for seven years and had a lot of adventures traveling across the Midwest for tournaments. I miss the crew and the fun we had, but I don't miss driving long hours or getting up at dawn 30 on a Saturday morning.

I will get into this a little more in my Saturday Whig column, but for now I'll just say Quincy has a great tournament because of the organizers (Exchange Club) and good Gus Busters, or court officials. And I'll get a bit of a Macker fix by hanging out Saturday afternoon the Dream Court, where the youngsters are taken off their regular court and get the full treatment - starting lineups, play by play, MVP awards and more.

Welcome back, Gus. Love ya lots and it will be a great weekend, as usual!