Hello, Earl.
With the pending "onslaught" of hurricane Earl, I did an Internet search of famous athletes named "Earl" and the best I could come up with was Earl Campbell, a powerful running back of the 1970s Houston Oilers, who later became the Tennessee Titans.
Earl "Curly" Lambeau founded the Green Bay Packers, and that famous football stadium in Wisconsin is named after him, but even back in an era when "Earl" could have been passably fashionable, everyone called him "Curly".
So really, this search for famous sporting Earls was a washout, and it appears some time has been wasted, perhaps like all the hand-wringing over the storm that's been marching up the eastern seaboard. However, it pays to prepare just in case: hurricanes can run 'ya over, like Earl Campbell himself. There used to be a large, sturdy-looking tree overhanging what was then the 16th green at Glen Lovat (now the seventh, a par five perfect for mountain goats), until Juan roared up the hill back in '03 and uprooted her.
Get some flashlights and batteries. More beer. Extra packages of burger and bacon for the grill if the power goes out for a couple of days, which really wouldn't be the end of the world now that I think about it. Knocking out the telephone lines and satellites that power cell phones (I have no idea what I'm talking about) wouldn't be awful either, if it shut up the clanging racket for a week or more.
Batten down the hatches, take things off the deck and balcony lest they become hurling projectiles (not the kind you might see at 4 a.m. on a Saturday morning along Provost Street, either). And should Earl start pounding away with "Juan-ian" intensity, DON'T go outside to get a closer look at the trees swaying side to side.
* * *
Non-Sports Thought of the Week: We'd be all better off if they would ban those contraptions that allow a motorist to check to make sure their car doors are locked, by pressing a button and sounding off the car horn. Major league annoyance.
Are people incapable of locking their cars the old-fashioned way, by pressing down on that lock thing, and then shutting the door, a ritual that worked for about 90 years and was never much of a problem? Seriously, we are getting soft. A hundred years from now, if the planet is still turning – which I sometimes wonder about – the world will be full of lazy slobs who can't get out of their own way.
* * *
The puck-starved who on Thursday night set foot in JBM Stadium for some pre-season Junior 'A' hockey saw the local Pictou County Weeks Crushers beat the Truro Bearcats, 3-1. Now that Tier 2 junior is officially entering the "branding" age, it's no longer called the Maritime Junior 'A' Hockey League - as if it really makes a difference what you call it. It is the Maritime Hockey League, for the record). Our bird dog at JBM informed us that about 350 fans were there to cool off on Thursday. The Crushers will likely play a lot of 3-1, 3-2 hockey games this coming season.
* * *
The Pictou County Albions are taking part in provincials next weekend. (The games were supposed to be played this weekend, but alas, Earl nixed those plans). It may be the last hoorah for the core group of players who have delivered provincial titles and some solid baseball for the past decade in Pictou County. The expectation was that I'd get to the old ballpark in Stellarton for the last homestand of the season, but there was some kind of scheduling mixup – a couple of long-time Albions got hitched this summer (note to budding ballplayers: never follow a late-night wedding bash with a doubleheader the next day, it hardly ever goes well. Not everyone is Babe Ruth).
Player/coach Chris Hatchard is vowing to retire if the Albions win a title next weekend – I'll believe it when I see it, coach – but if so, they might be breaking up that old gang by the time the 2011 Nova Scotia Intermediate Baseball League season gets here.
There is a saying that's been around almost since the first time Abner Doubleday supposedly laid out the first base lines well over a century ago: pitching and defence wins championships. The Albions have always had good pitching. Always. And that's why they have championships.
