There are plenty of educational concerns when putting ninth-grade back in to the junior high. I just looking at this from an athletics standpoint.

First of all, does he really think Manchester schools will be able to compete with the rest of the state after following through with the above? There are no sports in Manchester junior high schools. Where will these players learn how to play sports without the feeder programs. Freshmen come in very green, and are developed separately from the upper classmen in most big schools. If his ideas go through, sophomores will become the equivalent of freshmen in experience on teams. They will not be able to come with the other much larger schools in Division 1. What was he thinking?

-Bob Hammerstrom

On Saturday, my wife and son convinced me to go see The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock. They didn’t have to twist my arm far. I watched the previews on a commercial, of Bullock walking across the football field with a mammoth player. That football player is the Baltimore Ravens‘ Michael Ohre, a six-foot, four-inch, 309-pound rookie tackle. The movie conveys him as a powerhouse, knocking down defensive linemen like traffic cones.

What amazed me about this movie, is that it’s true. The screen writers didn’t have to make up a bunch of far-fetched, gobbly-gook to make the character stand out. Michael Ohre’s life story is so interesting, that extra drama isn’t needed. I recommend all parents of athletes to go see this one.

Here’s my Top Ten List of Football Movies

1) The Blind Side

2) Brian’s Song

3) Remember the Titans

4) We are Marshall

5) Friday Night Lights

6) The Longest Yard

7) Jerry Maguire

Varsity Blues

9) 4th and Long

10) Invinceable

-Bob Hammerstrom

Yes, tomorrow, November 21, is the opening of firearms deer hunting season in Wisconsin, and oh boy, do I miss it. So, if any of my readers have some spare venison summer sausage to spare, I can give you an address to mail it. Hint, hint! It was always either warm, or really cold the first day, with feet of snow on the ground. Snow is nice for tracking, but makes it a bit difficult for walking up and down the hills of Trempealeau County, my old stomping grounds.

Yes, I have the racks from a few bucks I shot there and in Minnesota, but many of my deer hunting days only produced frostbite and “big buck” stories to share with friends and family afterwords. I remember getting up in the wee hours of the morning, driving up to the Laursen’s and hunting across from the big round barn. There were plenty of jokes to share while eating breakfast, and suiting up for the hunt. Marty was full of them!

I would find a stump and sit while waiting for the deer to move around after dawn. It was a great time to reflect and think, while keeping an eye out for movement in the woods. There were the loud squirrels jumping through the leaves, only to have the barrel of my rifle pointed between their eyes and my heart beating rapidly. An occasional partridge would drum in the distance, and the crows converged on the cut cornfield nearby. Sometimes a hunter would walk through, who I could hear from hundreds of yards away.

When a deer would finally appear, it was either silently sneaking up on me, or running like a bolt of lightning. If I heard a gunshot nearby, I would stand up still and prepare for something to come running by.

It was a good mile or so of a walk up and down the hills to get there, so layers of clothing came in handy. That was the easy part. Dragging the deer out was the back breaker. At noon it was time to drive in to Pigeon Falls for a pancake breakfast, and register our deer if we were lucky. Deer hunting is so much a part of most everyone’s tradition there that churches and clubs hold big breakfasts for hunters, and blaze orange dots the woods and fields. There was no school for the days leading to Thanksgiving while hunters were busy during the nine-day-hunt.

It’s been many years since I’ve gone back to hunt with Peter, Paul, Penny, Larry, and Marty, who passed away a few years ago. But those memories have my blood pressure rising as I sit writing this entry.

-Bob Hammerstrom

Check out The Telegraph on the web for hundreds of galleries full of pictures taken at high school games, over the past few years. There are also plenty of items like mugs and tshirts to have the pictures printed on. We use the company MyCapture on our web site to print the images for customers. You can browse galleries, search a topic, or search for a specific event. Check it out!

-Bob Hammerstrom

Do you ever “feel the pain” of a player laying on the field during a game? Trainers and coaches gather around the squirming kid, clutching his knee or ankle. Moms and dads will say “yes,” but, how about from a player you don’t even know?

The pain could be coming from the endorphins released by the body, according to a gentleman I spoke with this morning at one of my photo assignments. So, I looked it up. Actually, what I found by Googling pain and endorphins was the term Anandamide. According to Wikipedia, “anandamide is thought to be an endogenous ligand for vanilloid receptors (which are involved in the transduction of acute and inflammatory pain signals), activating the receptor in a PKC-dependent (protein kinase C-dependent) manner.”

The stuff is reportedly found in sea urchins and chocolate. Oh my gosh! No sea urchins for me. Does that mean all those pains I feel watching football players get flattened on the field, are just coming from the hot chocolate I drink during the game?

The gentleman this morning insisted the pains we feel in the stands are from endorphins. I just figured it was my cold muscles and bones. Sorry guys, no more bragging about the old football injuries. Just kick the chocolate habit.

-Bob Hammerstrom

First of all, why isn’t Bishop Guertin moving up to division I? School size shouldn’t make a diddly bit of difference here, since they are able to recruit top players from throughout southern New Hampshire and Massachusetts. What difference does it make it they have 500 or so less students when they can hand pick (or maybe like invite) the best from the area to come play sports?

Give Manchester West a break and move them down to division II. Bedford H.S. has stolen the bulk of their student athletes, and the west side of Manchester isn’t growing in population.

Here’s another random thought. There are already six football divisions set up by the NHIAA. Why in the world do they need three for the small schools? Is there really that much difference in the quality of the teams?

I say realign all the schools, taking away one of the divisions for the small schools, and creating a new one at the top. That way the “supersized schools” can be separated from the “smaller” big schools that have 500 to 1,000 less students like Manchester West and Concord.

Here’s the way I’d line up the top three football divisons:

Division 1 (Nashua South, Nashua North, Pinkerton, Salem, Londonderry, Manchester Central, Merrimack, Bishop Guertin, and Exeter)

Division 2 (Concord, Manchester West, Manchester Memorial, Alvirne, Timberlane, Keene, Souhegan, Plymouth, and Spaulding)

Division 3 (Dover, Winnacunnet, Milford, Bedford, Trinity, Campbell, John Stark, pembroke, and Portsmouth)

Some of those overachievers in the bottom divisions should accept the challenge of moving up. And on the flip side, teams with losing records for two or more years should drop down. Some of the schools listed here are growing in the southern part of our state. And others like Pinkerton, Londonderry and Salem are just behemoths to start with.

We’ll see soon how the petitioning from the athletic directors goes.

-Bob Hammerstrom

Ken Stellpflug

I knew Ken as a phys. ed teacher and a basketball coach. His children (my friends) Kurt, Cindy and Kim went to school with me at Whitehall Memorial High School. My uncle, Ken Thoreson, also played basketball for him.

If you had the pleasure of know Ken, or his family, go onto Facebook and check out the “In Memory of Ken Stellpflug” group. I’m just one of many, many people who knew Ken, appreciated his coaching abilities and respect him as the dad of my friends.

-Bob Hammerstrom

My employer would like to drop our current HRA plan with Anthem, for a costlier HRA plan. Since our family has already met the $4,000 bridge amount ($2,000 from our company and $2,000 out of my pocket) this year, our health care will be covered by insurance through the end of the year - as long as we stay in the network of doctors, hospitals, etc…

That’s a sigh of relief, considering my son injured his knee in a Manchester Memorial varsity football game a few weeks back against West. One MRI, x-rays, orthopedic doctors fees, two-a-week physical therapy sessions, and an $800 knee brace later, I would have had to sell my car to cover the fees if I had the new HRA plan this year, with a $10,000 bridge amount for families. Who has that kind of cash laying around?

So, the questions will be: If our employer eventually gets their way, how will I afford to cover thousands of dollars in medical co-pays with a new high-deductable HRA insurance plan? Can we afford to take a chance letting him play sports? If we do, and he gets hurt, can we afford to take him to the doctor?

Sports isn’t the only expense for my family to worry about. Since I drive for my job (20,000 - 30,000 miles each year just for work) my chances of getting in to an accident are higher than the average driver, or co-worker. I’ve been very fortunate for the past 20+ years of working for newspapers, and 30 years driving, with no serious accidents. If something serious did happen, how would my family be able to afford the medical bills in the new plan.

I never really gave much thought in the past to sports injury costs. You don’t have to be a high school athlete to rack up the bills. Heck, a youngster can dislocate a shoulder, break an ankle or blow out a knee in Pop Warner football, or a youth soccer game.

-Bob Hammerstrom

If ya ain’t heard yet, dat old gray-haired quarterback from over-da-river in Minny Sota is commin to Lambeau Field Sunday. Uff-da, what a sight it will be to see him sportin’ purple and wearin’ da horns. I tink he better should wear hunter orange, or da Packer linebackers might mistake his for a deer with them horns on the helmet, and take a shot at him ya know. Brett Favre venison. I guess that would be like eatin rottin lutefisk.

If yer a lucky one and got a ticket ta watch this fiasco, makes sure ta bring your raincoat. It’s lookin’ like rain Sunday. Packer fans bring yer Bible, cause ya probably missed church ta tailgate, and ya might need it if things get otta hand on da field. Brings yer appetite cause doze brats are awesome! And of course you’ll need a big mug for da beer.  And, if ya need some attire for da game, check out dees Favre tshirts.

To sum it all up, here’s a little story I found floating around the web.

Quarterback

Brett Farve, after living a full life, died. When he got to
heaven, God started showing him around. They came to a modest little
house with a faded Packers

flag in the window. “This house is yours for
eternity, Brett,” said God. “This is very special; not everyone gets a
house up here.” Brett felt special indeed and walked up to his house.

On his way up to the porch, he noticed another house just around the
corner. It was a three-story mansion with a yellow and green sidewalk,
50-foot tall flagpole with an enormous Packers logo flag, and in every
window, a yellow helmet with a “G”on it.

Brett looked at God and said, “God, I’m not trying to be ungrateful, but
I have a question. I was an All-Pro Quarterback, I won a Super Bowl, and
I even went to the Hall of Fame.” God said, “So what do you want to
know, Brett?” “Well, why does Bart Starr get a better house than me?”

God chuckled and said, “Brett, that’s not Bart Starr’s house, it’s
mine!!!

- Bob Hammerstrom

-Guest blogger, Marcia Griffith