Return to Canton, Mo.

LIFE HAS BEEN getting in the way of this daily blogging thing, and for that, I apologize. My Tuesday guitar lessons starts early and end late. Yesterday I played for the vets at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy and I had so much fun. I have more Vets Home dates scheduled, including a big one on Memorial Day Weekend, so more info to follow.

Tomorrow I get to do something I haven't done in a long, long time. For many years after my time in sports at The Whig, I was the official scorekeeper for Quincy University basketball. It was mostly for the women's team, and I did some PA work, clock operation and other stuff at Memorial Gym. Then Emily started playing on Thursday nights for Quincy High School, and it just got too hard to juggle everything, so I had to step away.

Hanging out with Wildcats Saturday!

Yesterday my old buddy Pat Atwell called and asked if I could keep score for the Culver-Stockton College basketball games Saturday in Canton, Mo. Sheryl, as always, supports me with all my crazy endeavors, and tomorrow afternoon will be a good day to venture across the river and watch some hoops. It will also be great to see the best Sports Information Director of all time, Jumping Johnny Schild.

Keeping score isn't easy. You wear a ref shirt and you mostly concentrate on the officials and making sure you keep track of everything, and not getting caught up in the game itself. You sit right at center court and things move quickly, and you can't nap even for a half a second. It's a surreal zone sort of thing, a lot like covering a game as a sports writer, and I always enjoyed it.

The former baseball coach and athletic director at Quincy University, Pat left town for a few years but moved back to become the AD at Culver-Stockton. I keep running into him and we keep threatening to play golf and hang out. He was one of my favorite people at QU and always took good care of the scoring table guys when we worked games.

It's hard to believe, but we are coming up on my 20-year anniversary of starting at The Whig. I do believe my first game assignment was in Canton to cover Culver-Stockton volleyball.

It will be a blast to go back!