"It's Miller Time."

"Get your iced cold beer here!" is one of the most familiar cries of a vendor at any sports event. Me personally, I've never been much of a beer drinker, even decided to quit in the summer of 1991 in preparation to enter the military service, looking forward to life with a much healthier mind and body that I'd had up to that point.

Cheryl Miller is no "light beer." Most likely one of the best female athletes most of us have ever seen, hailing from the Southern California (Los Angeles area) like myself, a member of a family with a name as common as their athletic genes.

Cheryl's younger brother Reggie is a former NBA basketball player. A good one all around who, unfortunately, was never able to obtain a championship ring during his playing career with the Indiana Pacers. Lesser known older brother Darrell, was a professional baseball player, a catcher, who spent a portion of his short career in the (then) California Angels organization.

As for Cheryl, I first learned of her during her high school basketball playing days at Riverside-Polytechnic girls varsity basketball team. I mean, hey, what other good reasons would there be to be published in newspapaers and magazines than scoring 105 points in one game?

I would continue to watch Cheryl guide her University of Southern California women's basketball team, along side the "Twin Towers (Pam and Paula) Mcghee" to consecutive NCAA titles. Cheryl's icing on her own cake would come with the gold medal winning U.S. Women's Basketball Team at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angelas.

Cheryl would soon achieve a personal goal as a TV sports commentator, covering basketball games, mainly on the sidelines, at many levels, most recently on the TNT network. She had Jim Hill, a TV news sports reporter in Los Angeles as an idol and mentor along the way. She'd even go back to USC to serve as the head coach for her old collegiate team to place another good note on the personal resume.

Then came the Women's National Professional Basketball Association (WNBA) in 1997 with Cheryl becoming the first head coach and general manager of the Phoenix Mercury. The Murcury and the WNBA have been a subject of my sports photography coverage for the third year in a row and I'm still amazed at the success the concept of a professional sport for women has achieved.

There are times that have me wondering what kind of professional level player Cheryl could have been if--let's say the WNBA had been founded ten years earlier. No telling, but it was great to have the chance to see and meet one of the female genders most prominent sports figures on July 15, 2011 at the game in which the Phoenix Mercury gave a much deserved honor to their first head coach and general manager.

FIT going on FIFTY.

OK, how many of you out there have known me since childhood? Remember me, razorblade thin, not the one to stick up for himself, as a result often bullied? I'm still here, but changed by leaps and bounds since then.

Social media has been my thing for the last couple of years. Facebook? I was so reluctant to join at first, but now often wonder how I could have ever gotten along without it. I've located so many people from the distant past, often those I've have had no contact of any kind for more than 40 years.

A lot of things in life have paid dividends, to include a part time military career that went the distance, lasting twenty years, not quite as successful as I'd hoped but a start relatively late in life was better for the body and mind.

Until that summer of 1991, when I stepped off the bus there at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, I was not that serious about good diet and fitness, never really thinking I had what it takes to really get anything out of it.

The military fitness changed me in more than one way, both body and mind. I found strength in me that I never even knew existed. The decision to stop drinking beer and soft drinks were one of the many things that helped out alot.

Hey, look at me now, did anyone ever think I could possibly become a 200 pound hunk of muscle? No, I certainly did not, but I know one thing, it's not something I will let go of anytime soon, or ever again for that matter. The goal is to keep fit to live long and prosper.

Back in the Saddle!

Yes, it's been quite sometime since I posted here, about nine months if I'm counting correctly. Hey, life is what it is, a lot of ups and downs to deal with, a lot of wrong paths to get off of, and a lot of the wrong people to be gotten rid of. There's nothing in life that's too hard to get things back on the right track, no mater how much time it takes.

I'm still here in the Phoenix area, it's right in the middle of one of the hottest summers I've ever experienced. I don't know for sure, but my instincts tell me that the rapid growth of the population, more so on the side of property than people, is to blame for that.

The education at the University of Phoenix is going well. I'm continuing my studies to earn a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, with a concentration in Networking and Telecommunications, a key to a secure career that i can take well into my elderly years and never be dissatisfied.

It's time in life for a new milestone to be reached, coming up on the 50 year mark in a few months and it's great to have a good feeling to take into it as well. Those of us, I feel, who give it all we've got and take what we do seriously, as I have, are the ones who get the most out of life and have better things to come. It's never too late to start over.

As much as I think highly of living in these modern times, I often wonder what life would have been like if I'd been born one century earlier. The American Southwest is a great place to live and work and has an interesting side of history for me.

Oddly enough, the Pony Express was disbanded on October 27, 1861 and I was born 100 years to that day. I often wonder if I could have lived in the great American Southwest of that era and been one of the cowboys that we marvel on by way of old TV movies,pictures, books, etc. as I would see myself the same hard worker of adolecence that I remember myself actually being.

Those who know me well enough to know of my temporary relocation to the Boston area should know that it is also the story of my first taste of personal responsibility with what I call my first real job.

Even to this day I can't help but reflect on the enjoyment I had of getting up early every morning, yes, seven days a week, in all kinds of weather, to include the brutal winter, mounting up on my bicycle, or on foot to deliver, on average 50 newspapers to a customer base that I became well known in, earning about $25 per week, a little more than the average kis weekly allowance, I thought. I know one thing, $25 in 1876 would have gon a long way.

Oh what the heck, I like shooting pictures better than shooting guns. The images I record of sports, or any other event for that matter, will continue to be displayed in cyberspace like stars in outerspace. Life itself is not endless, but I only want to pick up and continue to make the most of it.

Longevity

Here we have a factor of everyday life. Simply put, seconds turn into minutes, minutes to hours, hours, to days, days to weeks, weeks to months and months to years. A never ending cycle to say the least.

Me personally, I just turned 49. NFL legendary quarterback, George Blanda, who departed this life recently, played football until he was 49. That was an unbelievable achievement for his timeframe, or even the timeframe of today for that matter.

The idea is clear, for such an achievement one must take care of themselves in more ways than most of us are even capable of naming. Good diet and excersise, which I live by myself, are only a small part of the equation.

When I think of George Blanda, I often wonder what he could have done with himself if he had, during his on playing days, the medicine, therapy, and technology that we have on the market today. Playing well into his fifties? Who knows.

As I start my own countdown to my milestone, the coveted half-century mark, I can only wait, do what I know I must do to keep my own well being in order, then leave it in the hands of God. Perhaps the best is yet to come.

"Triple Threat."

OK, let's add to my list of interesting stories about out national pastime. The 2010 season is winding down, so many interesting things about this season are still going on, to include tight races for the division titles and wild card spots in the AL East, NL East, and especially the NL West.

There are a lot of possible achievements on the side of the best players, especially the hitters, that go on the line as well, most of which are watched carefully in order to determine the winners of the league MVP awards in both leagues, like the batting titles and leading the league in other major offensive categories.

So, on that note, let's refer to the possibility of a "Triple Crown" winner, this one on the side of the hitters, who could potentially lead their leagues in all three of the major offensive categories, they being batting average, home runs and RBI's respectively.

Triple Crown winners in baseball's modern time have been very few and far between. The last one was Boston Red Sox hall of famer Carl Yazstremski in 1967. You'd have to go back to the late thirties to find another one.

The 2010 season has a showcase of possible triple crown winners in both leagues. The most likely one in the National League would have to be Colorado Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who is likely to take the batting title and is in the top five in home runs and RBI's.

St. Loius Cardinal first baseman Albert Pujols, a likely hall of famer, is leading the NL in home runs and RBI's at the time of this post and also stands in the top ten in batting average. Pujols already has a batting title to his credit and has lead the league in home runs before but as odd as it may be, no RBI title to his credit. Cincinnati Red first baseman Joey Votto is a close third in all three of the offensive catagories.

Over in the American League Texas Ranger leftfielder Josh Hamilton is, like Carlos Gonzalez, literally running away with the batting title. Hamilton is in the top five in home runs and the top ten in RBI's. Then there's Detroit Tiger's first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who's pretty much in the same position in the American League as Joey Votto is in the National League.

To see a triple crown winner in baseball would be quite interesting, but by today's standards just isn't as possible as some people think it is. There's always those big sluggers, like Pujols, for the category of home runs and RBI's in bunches, some of whom are likely to strike out quite often, keeping their batting averages down, then there's those players, like Ichiro Suzuki, who are "hitting machines,' literally running away with the batting title.

The game of baseball has a lot of achievements that seem out of reach by today's standards, one of which, we all know, is Joe Dimaggio's 56 game hitting streak. The game has changed in many ways during the course of the last 60 years, and no, I don't mean just player salaries. Who knows, maybe something interesting, even spectacular is in store for us fans in the course of our lifetimes. There may be a triple crown winner, a hitting streak of more than 56 games, perhaps even the Chicago Cubs will win a World Series, their first since 1908. We'll just have to do the right thing, that's wait and see.

"Chapmania."

Oh well, ho hum, another story about another phenomenal young professional baseball player. Is that as good as it gets? Yes, no, maybe so? Hey, who knows, only time will really tell.

So, Aroldis Chapman, the Cincinnati Reds left handed fireballer, a Cuban defector all set to go the route of one Fernando Valenzuela before him. Ah yes, "Fernandomania," what a time that was for the Los Angeles Dodgers and their fans,(yours truly included), what a time for the game of baseball in the City of Angels and the huge Mexican community it possesed then and now.

That was also a great time for me, having taken my first lesson in the Spanish language, enjoying the opportunity to test personal skills on the interpereted interviews of the (then) non english speaking young pitcher. As for Fernando, maybe not the hall of fame career that most were expecting, but a nice one indeed. He's back with the Dodger organization as a Spanish language broadcaster.

As is the case with most of the up and coming young ballplayers, I got to photograph Chapman in action, starting back in the 2008 Arizona Fall League, continuing through the 2010 Spring Training campaign. Chapman's ride through the minor leagues was a smooth and quick one. No surprise for a pitcher who was clocked on the radar gun with pitches in excess of 100 miles an hour, both in Triple-A (Louisville) as well as in his Major League start debut recently.

Young pitchers of the highly touted category are great to watch, but always in question in more ways than anyone inside or outside the game can even name. Stephen Strasburg, who got off to a great start at the Major League level, recently tore a ligament in his pitching elbow, will have to undergo Tommy John surgery and may be out of action up to 18 months.

Tommy John, the sensational pitcher for whom that surgery was named, I remember as an integral part of the Los Angeles Dodger pitching staff of the mid to late 1970's timeframe. When he tore his elbow ligament during the 1974 season, it was thought that his career may be over, but team physician, Doctor Frank Jobe, performed the first of what would be many successful Ulnar Collateral Ligament reconstruction procedures. With a 10-10 comeback in 1976 and a 20 game win season the next year John would go on to pitch twelve more seasons. Not a hall of fame caliber career but a superb one all the same.

Well, the rookie class in Major League Baseball in the 2010 season has been an impressive one. It will be a tight race for the National League Rookie of the Year award but Jayson Heyward and Ike Davis remain the top candidates, followed closely by Buster Posey. Again, the best is yet to come.

Reunion Central

The Palisades High Class of 1980, my class, my great friends whom I love like family, got together on September 15, 1990, August 26, 2000, and once again on July 10, 2010 to spend a nice evening reflecting on so many fond memories.

This years event was held at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica California. A lot more laid back and with a lower attendance than the ten and 20 year reunions did not damper anything this time. It's always good to see everyon up close and in person, which hopefully will happen more often in the future. I keep thinking and often saying out loud that we're certainly not getting any younger.

It's so great to have social media sites within the world of todays technology. Places like Facebook seem to give us the feeling of being reunited every day. Many blessings to my fellow classmates, not only to the ones from Palisades High but all my other schools as well, especially to those who are no longer with us, including my good friend Jimmy (The Weatherman) Alexander. My hope is now for all of us to stay well and look forward to getting together more often in the future.