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Been at a Vball tournament in Ft. Wayne this weekend.  Some awesome basketball memorialbilia at this complex.  Including Oden's size 20s, some great jerseys and artifacts in here, old shoes HS jeresys of Big Dog, Kemp.  I like the IU warmups from last 70s and the Larry Bird baseball pictures the best

Been at a Vball tournament in Ft. Wayne this weekend.  Some awesome basketball memorialbilia at this complex.  Including Oden's size 20s, some great jerseys and artifacts in here, old shoes HS jeresys of Big Dog, Kemp.  I like the IU warmups from last 70s and the Larry Bird baseball pictures the best. 

Where was the tourny?  

Heh.

Speice Fieldhouse.    Two long days.  Nicely run facility,  though the ladies could use another bathroom. 

Uhhh.... Ft. Wayne?

DUH

Yeah, the older kids (13-18) were all at the Parkview SportOne Fieldhouse, it was a huge event. That looks spiffy on the outside.    The Speice facility definitely is older, but I like it in a very much no frills sort of way, the basketball standards and shot clocks looked worked over big time, and there's no doubt a lot of competition in the Midwest for these types of events.  I always think about what the 'books' look like at places like this.  It was comfortable as it really is going to get for a giant volleyball tournament with 8 courts going at once.

I thought of you as I was hauling at about 80 out of town to get home at a reasonable hour.

SportOne is the showcase arena for local sports.  Almost all of the youth events are ran by them (Parkview) or connected in some way.  Speice started it all off many many years ago, but like I said they milked the money and didn't care about growth.  Parkview is $2.5B money hog and they need a way to hide all that "non-profit" stuff.  Its good for the local athletes, but creates other issues as well, I am sure you understand since you are involved in Travel Sports and such.

Hit me up next time.  We need another gather of the minds, it would be fun!    

My oldest plays 11s. This was a 10-18 tourney two day affair.  16 teams per group.  As a coach of the fall rec league teams, it's nice just to be a parent.  

i like doing stuff like that... glad you liked. ..... by the way, that's Sapele, with purple heart wood- braced by white ash... somewhat symbolic. 

i did these two as well- one for a family into horses, kinda obviously, and the other who restores planes and flies them all over the great white north (which is what i call it, but it isn't always 'white'- it's the UP of Michigan where I have property/cabin, and they take care of it for me because i'm rarely there.. this was a 'thanks')... 





the pony is inset an inch and three quarters deep into a bowl... the plane was a PITA, but... i got close enough i think... the inset is an inch and three quarters and the tip of the tail is flush with the overall piece... i did it from this pic which is his actual bird (a restored military training bird, and i think they flew them as late as Vietnam as spotter/observation birds too) : 

thank you, Sir... just something i tinker with.