The Last Game . . .

Production of this document has been plagued by intermittent and ongoing technical difficulties with our social media devices . . .

March 11

. . . for the Alexandria senior boys basketball players on their home court.

[Unfortunately, Kristen Hoskins (8th from the right), the starting point guard, left the team for personal reasons before the end of the season. It’s a big loss for a team hoping to make a long run in the tournament . . . ]

[Is Hadley Thul (11) really palming that basketball?]

It’s going to be interesting to watch presidential elections in around 2040, when voters can dig up candidates’ teenage angst pics and posts from old social media and discussion forum archives. ~ Mikko Hypponen

Americans invented adolescence. It is not a natural phenomenon. Adolescence is a social construct, created by an urban-industrial society that keeps its young at home far past puberty.  ~ Sarah Beth Durst

If a society is to preserve stability and a degree of continuity, it must learn how to keep its adolescents from imposing their tastes, values, and fantasies on everyday life. ~ Eric Hoffer

Creativity is the catalyst to the future. ~ Marie Frohoff

[Sophomore Grayson Grove (33) wins another opening tip-off . . . ]

The most important thing we learn at school is the fact that the most important things can’t be learned at school. ~ Haruki Murakami

We all learn by experience but some of us have to go to summer school. ~ Peter De Vries

There are only two places in the world where time takes precedence over the job to be done: school and prison. ~ William Glasser

In 300 BC Euclid invented geometry, and the grade F. ~ Unknown

School is learning things you don’t want to know, surrounded by people you wish you didn’t know, while working toward a future you don’t know will ever come. ~ Dave Kellett

Show me the man who enjoyed his school days and I will show you a bully and a bore. ~ Robert Morley

[Snagged by senior Erik Hedstrom (22) . . . ]

[Senior guard Carter Steffensmeier (0) on offense . . . ]

[And then on defense . . . ]

[And being fed by Hedstrom after a rebound . . . ]

[And hydrating on the bench during a time out . . . ]

[The Cards had jumped to an early lead. Then joie de vivre sets in and they start firing up 3’s from all over the place. We are not a particularly good 3-point shooting team so then the offense always stalls . . . ]

[Carter bringing the ball up court as the 1st half ends . . . ]

[Warming up for the 2nd half . . . ]

[The crowd is getting restless . . . ]

[It was a totally unremarkable 1st half, high energy, no scoring . . . ]

[As the 2nd half was starting I was admonishing from my front row seat, “Get the ball inside.” We have a talented 6’8″ center who had 2 points in the 1st half . . . ]

[It worked, getting the ball inside to our big ‘uns, Grove and Hedstrom . . . ]

[But the Spartans, a better 3-point shooting team than we, began hitting from outside . . . ]

[Grayson gets fouled a lot – fortunately, he’s a good free throw shooter . . . ]

[Blasts from the past: The fellow in the Alaska cap and black shirt is Chuck Betterman (Alex class of ’63), who the Fat Boys see every morning at the Y. His granddaugher, Karly, was one of my all-timers, playing in the 2013 era. Sitting in front of Chuck is Ella Grove, a star player for Alex who graduated two years ago. Yup, the older sister of Grayson . . . ]

[I shot a ball into the air, it fell to earth I know not where . . . ]

[Senior Zach Gundberg (32) has helped pick up the slack from the loss of Kristen . . . ]

I really am a good person. ~ Denny Hecker

[A comfortable lead, but couldn’t quite bury the pesky Spartans . . . ]

[The Cards were great from the free throw line down the stretch . . . ]

[Here senior Peter Sansted (12) . . . ]

[Although Grayson missed his meaningless last two, the Cards finished 13 – 16 from the charity stripe . . . ]

[And now on to the section championship game against St. Cloud Tech. A win then will send the Cards to their 2nd consecutive state tournament . . . ]

[You’re absolutely right, Ella. After just two points in the first half, Grayson finished with 17 . . . ]

No school without spectacular eccentrics and crazy hearts is worth attending. ~ Saul Bellow

But if there’s a school bus, there needs to be a school! ~ Fred Rogers

Up Next: The next game?