Americana Panorama

It wouldn’t be summer without the Great American Pastime.  So Burke.Word took not one, but two for the team last week and watched his beloved Cardinals drop 2 to the Nationals.  In the Saturday night game, seated directly behind homeplate, we watched as the Nats feasted on Cardinal pitcher, Kyle Lohse, who has yet to recover from arm surgery.  St. Louis lost 14-5.  Whatever. 

Sunday wasn’t any better for all the St. Louisans in the stands, as John Lannan out pitched Cy Young candidate Adam Wainwright.  What?!?  Since last weekend, Burke.Word hasn’t been able to look at the NL Central Standings to see how far back St. Louis has fallen behind Cincy.  Ouch.  Anyway – I’m glad to report that the hot dogs, fries and Coke were excellent!

Oh… and Teddy lost the Prez race again… Burke.Word knows how he feels.  More sad Cards pics at BurkePix.

A confluence of last minute summer coincidences brought our family to this year’s Henley.  Hours before leaving DC to drive to Jordan,  Ontario for the wedding of my nephew Ben to his lovely bride Yona, we learned that Ms. BurkeWord’s nephew Max was competing for the gold in Montreal’s men’s lightweight double over the same weekend.

On Saturday our family drove into St. Catherine to find a town alive with the celebration of competition and camaraderie; it was a mini-olympics without the silly mascot and everything that goes with it.  Racers filled the sidewalks and cafes.  Their smiles never left their faces, except for the 7 minutes (plus or minus) that they each spent in complete synchronized exertion cutting through the water to find the finish line.

Max and his partner, Thomas did Montreal proud, placing second.  See ya next year at the Henley, eh.

Max waves to adoring fans

You can check out more Max photos at BurkePix – and be sure to check out the Henley’s Facebook page for lots of great pics.

Ceviche sans its king fish

Though Ceviche didn’t make it through to the second course round of 16, the team did close out the Summer 2010 season with plenty of chiles.  The squad, which also goes by the Fish, Raw Fish, Pink and many other savory and unsavory names, includes various Burke friends and family.  Some Burkies grace the photo of the school of fish above.  The pic was taken after the Ceviche cooked their way in the 90 degree heat to a hard fought end-of-season victory.  They managed to swim their way to a tasty win, despite the absence of a key ingredient: their coach, their spiritual guide, their inspiration, their Maradona… Aaron P.

Bengal Club 2010

If you care about sports and education, read this ESPN article about an inspiring girls JV softball game this spring in Indianapolis – a game that ended after 1 and 1/2 innings when the winning team (!) offered to forfeit.  Roncalli High School, a well-to-do perennial softball powerhouse, was in the process of trouncing Marshall, an inner-city school which had just started its softball team and had nothing in the way of experience, coaching and equipment.  The Roncalli girls, who hadn’t lost in over 2 years, were willing to forfeit because they wanted “to spend the two hours teaching the Marshall girls how to get better, not how to get humiliated.”  Marshall desperately wanted to finish their first game, but ultimately decided that they would forfeit, deciding that “this one time — losing was actually winning.”  After that, the real magic started.  Players from both teams broke into groups, teaching/learning how to hit, throw and run.  Kids from very different places and very different situations, instantly came together over their love of learning how to play the game. Even the umps hung around.  Please read the whole thing.

The study of sport is at the very heart of Burke.  It extends far beyond the finish line, the final buzzer or the last out.  It’s a study of what lies within the heart of each of the players and the team.  Every year, every season and every game, players, coaches and fans explore what it really means to “try out,” to compete, to coach and be coached.  Players learn what to take away from a loss and from a win – on their own and and with their team.

Last night, the Burke community came together at the Sports Banquet to

"I Believe That We...!"

celebrate the year in sports.  Listening to the words of Coach McQ, the other coaches, and the athletes (Maya and Will, The Machine), watching their faces, the high-fives, the cheers and the hugs – you could see that over the year, on and off the field, the athletes studied and gradually had begun to fill in their own definitions of  “winning.” At the end of the event, photos of the past athletic year played on the huge screen in the atrium.  With each picture, the crowd erupted with a boom of tremendous whoops,  laughter and tears, which you could feel as much as hear.  With each slide you literally felt that the definition of ‘winning’ includes the caring, giving, excelling, supporting, celebrating and learning that is involved with insuring that everyone can play.

Click here to see more photos at Burkepix.

The current results and standings are posted below.  The Playoffs, featuring Brazil v Netherlands and Ivory Coast v Madagascar, will be held next week.  The Burke Athletic Regional Football Society Commissioner, Chris Richardson, will announce the day/time shortly.

El Mundialito Results

El Mundialito (Disputed) Standings

Close knit El Mundialito team

El Mundialito Commish

Brazil Played the Beautiful Game

JBug

Pink Attacks!

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Burke Softball 2010

Burke Softball’s 2010 season on the diamond came to a close with a tough loss this Sunday in the PVAC Championship.  Some things that the team hopefully will always remember:  They all played tough, hard, and with their heads held high the entire season… right up to the last out of the Championship game. 

The other picture that should stay in their minds is that a huge crowd of family and friends and teachers (and PETS!) turned out for the team on Sunday.  Pretty darn cool.

A Huge Dog

Full Stands

Huge Fans

It was a diamond season – one to remember.

H/T – to our stellar cub reporter, Judy B, for the great photos – all of which you can see at BurkePix!

Time stopped on the softball diamond

The players were led from the field to their respective buses, where they discussed softball strategy and epistemology.

Girls on the Bus

Turns out that Thor’s hammer did not go silent last night.  Time remains stuck until later today when the game is scheduled to resume.  Hopefully the contest will be completed after a full 7 can be played, so that  a just and right conclusion can be written into the Olympian record book – and Burke can move on to the Finals!!  Go Bengals!

The mouthguard that struck out a 1000 batters

Thor's Assistants Guarding the Gates to Zeus' Chariot

More photos at BurkePix.  (Ps – wanna play Where’s Adam in the pics above?)

Marcus & Agent

Ceviche (the DC soccer league team manned and womanned by various so-called adult Burke-ified players) had a rocky start to its Spring season – opening 0 and 2.  Things were headed in the wrong direction as the team went into yesterday’s game.  The team needed a major shake up.  We needed to call in the big guns.  And who better to administer the dose of gravitas and discipline that we needed than Marcus Isaiah.  A grizzled veteran leader after all these… days (around 385) (click here to see his ‘rookie card‘).

He’s a combination of Knute Rockne and Vince Lombardi, inspirational, but stern when he wants action.  And sure enough, the team responded, garnering a win.  In fact, the opposing team forfeited because they didn’t have the requisite number of women players on the field (they were all were off the field ogling Marcus).  The game was played anyway.  Needless to say, Ceviche played like a well-oiled machine on its way to victory under the stern eye and pinchable cheek of our leader.

The pink Ceviche jersey stained by grass and milk

Beet Eating Volleyballers '10

Burke’s regular season came to a resounding close with a 3-0 win.  It was a great match and a great way to celebrate Senior Night 2010… and a great way to send the team off for next week’s playoffs, peaking right on time.

Q!

The night was capped by Pam, team Coach and James Dean of Students, who spoke about each of her seniors, in words that “dug” out what they each brought to the team, and ‘served’ to demonstrate how they have grown as players and were ‘set’ to leave Burke as men.  Her stories and observations felt so spot on and true.

The victory was so powerful that one player (a senior, no less) proudly exclaimed on Facebook that they ‘beet’ the opposition.  Unfamiliar with this linguistic construction,

BorschtMan

Burke.Word looked it up.  Turns out that beets date back to the second millennium BC, when people started throwing rock-hard beet roots at their enemies – a documented precursor to volleyball.  The beet took on a life of its own in 19th Century Germany, when the sugar beet was discovered to be a source of sucrose or table sugar, which now fills the bottles of various ‘energy’ drinks favored by volleyballers.  The ‘root’ of the word comes from a family of old english words meaning to mend, improve, make good, as in to make good on the promise to beet the other team.  Apparently the word has now been added to the street volleyball vernacular, which includes other aggressive phrases like: “he roofed him,” “put him in the phone booth”, and he got a “kill.”  For example, a player “puts the beet down” on an opposing player, when he spikes the ball off his head, making his face beet red.

See if you can guess which senior coined the term from the Senior night photos above, I mean here.  Also there are lot’s more photos at BurkePix.  Congrats to the players, Pam and Philip (and Philip’s throw-back cap).

Bender!

Daniel

The Machine!

Lead Guitar

O.Z.!

Professionally Made Program

My friend, Sami