Super Dooper Yoopers - The Daily News - Jacqueline Leiker, Raymond Crandall...Audrey LaFave??? Nah. ;)

This column was published back in 2009 in The Daily News, the local newspaper for Iron Mountain and Kingsford, Mich. I never noticed it until I was Googling myself for some job application stuff and I have decided to share it with my followers.

Burt Angeli, the Sports Editor for The IM-K Daily News, pays homage to U.P. sports legends Ray Crandall, my late grandfather, and Jacqueline Leiker, one of my former competitive cheerleading coaches in the below sports editorial column.

Check out the bold parts below if you want to see me bragging about myself and two of my mentors in my own blog! :)

Super Dooper Yoopers extend MSU streak - IronMountainDailyNews.com | news, sports, business, jobs - The Daily News

ScuttleBu(r)t ...

The Super Duper Yoopers, led by whistle-tooting Bob (1641 Parkview) Furno, extended their Michigan State basketball winning streak to 10 straight trips.

A local group watched the Spartans dismantle Indiana last Saturday including the scene where Indiana's Devan Dumes threw an elbow at the Spartans' Tom Herzog - third cousin of Iron Mountain's Betty (Crocker) Wahlstrom. Hope Dumes has learned you don't mess with a Wahlstrom.

Tommy and Lupe Izzo hosted a party for the gang, along with his parents Dorothy and Carl, on Friday night.

"Tom had his picture taken at his request with every couple at the party," Furno said.

Former Niagara golf coach Mark Zenko piloted the bus, arriving 45 minutes early in East Lansing.
"Several rookies on the trip this year, but they all behaved, and when I blew my whistle moved it out," Furno noted.

Wonder if any of the passengers suggested "1641" take that whistle and !!! ...

"Border Wars" high school wrestling tournament, moved from Norway to Iron River this year, wanted Renee "Queen of the Kitchen" Pollard to continue her hospitality room duties.

That didn't happen.

Although West Iron Coach Jeff Chernach did retain two other major components of the Norway tournament - Mary Pat and former Knights coach Bob Madigan.

The Madigans helped out with the West Iron tournament's direction ...

Kingsford grad Audrey LaFave is following in the footsteps of her late grandfather Ray Crandall and Flivver competitive cheerleading coach Jackie Leiker.

Audrey writes for The Daily Press of Escanaba where Ray began his illustrious journalism career. He hired yours truly to this Daily News sports position some 30 years ago.

She also coaches the Escanaba High School jayvee cheer squad, applying the stuff she learned from her Flivver days competing for Jackie.

Audrey, you can't go wrong emulating either Ray or Jackie ...

Here's a belated thank you Burt! Dec. 26 would have been the 90th birthday of Helen Crandall, my grandmother - Grandpa Ray's wife. They each passed within a week of one another in late January 2000. So I feel this was interesting timing for me to have found this column.

Perhaps I will have to go back to my roots and start emulating Ray and "Jackie" again (but OMG I would NEVER call Mrs. Leiker "Jackie" to her face! Or even in print with out quotes, lol. That'd be like calling Mrs. First-Lady Kennedy "Jackie," lol....MAYBE Jacqueline) :)

Although I've never stopped writing, I haven't had any ties to cheer or gymnastics in several years. Perhaps I will look into the possibility of coaching cheerleading or gymnastics here in Chicago. Comment if you have any thoughts! Thanks everyone for reading.

Our dog Kodi has passed away :(

Kodi LaFave, AKA "Millie's White Kodiak Bear," died peacefully in the family home in Iron Mountain at 8:30 a.m. Monday, with his Mom and brother by his side.

Born in October 1998, he lived to the ripe old age of 87 dog years, or 12 and a half regular years. He is survived by his human family, B.J., Joe, Audrey and Beau LaFave, along with his best friend, Sydney.

Kodi was lain to rest that evening in the front yard of the LaFave household on Millie Hill, and a beer was had by all in his memory.

He will be missed by family, friends and neighbors, as well as the many bikers, walkers and hot-tubbers he met on frequent trips to Lake Antoine, or the one-time visit to Bimbo's.

He now is sitting next to a big lake in the sky with ducks that fly over and a big rock between his feet.

- Beau LaFave, with contributions by Audrey LaFave

Turns out, I'm like, old

I recently traveled to Washington DC for a business trip to meet with a client. My mom's sister Chris and her family live nearby...technically, in a suburb of DC. Charles Town, WV is like 70 miles out of DC but is still considered a DC suburb, even though it's a two-hour drive away. In fact, my uncle Jim said probably 90 percent of the people they know in town commute to DC or the surrounding metro area for work. So, anyway I decided to catch an earlier flight out of Chicago to hang out with them - my aunt and uncle and their two boys, Nick and Josh. Nick is the oldest - he's a senior in high school. I'm not sure if he is 18 yet... I think he is, but he may still be 17. Anyway, you get the picture. And Josh is younger, he's like 13.
 

Tons of things happened on this trip, including me meeting the clients from hell, getting my picture taken by the White House, freezing my butt off in a cold snap of single-digit East Coast weather, and hanging out with my family - playing Pictionary Man with Josh and watching 'Glee.' However, one incident will be the basis of this post, and that is the fact that I learned just how old a twenty-something like me really seems to an 18-year-old male relative.

On my last night in West Virginia, before dropping me at my hotel in Washington, the Cogs took me out to eat at Outback. The six of us (cousin Nick brought a friend) were driving there, and Nick's friend got a text from his girlfriend wondering where he was. The fam decided we thought he should have little fun with it. He said he was "with Audrey." When the poor girl took the bait and asked, "well, who is that?", he said it was a girl he had just met today and we had gone out for dinner at a steakhouse (by this time we were ordering). So, technically, all this was true, but of course it sounded a little less innocent than it actually was. I told the friend, John, that when the jig was up and he told her that I was just Nick's cousin, that he better not add something like "and plus, she's like, old," to my description. He agreed to this.

At this point though, Nick said, "How old are you, anyway?" I told him my age, which is 25. And he replied, "25!?! Why don't you have a kid?" LOL! I didn't have a very good answer to that...it was a little out of nowhere, so I sputtered out a, "Wha-Why don't I have a kid??? Cuz I'm only 25!!!" Which is not really an appropriate answer - being 25, I guess technically, I could have a 10 or 11-year-old (I'm really glad I don't, though!), and more realistically, I suppose I could easily have a 4 or 5 year old...But, I digress. So then I said, "I'm not even married. And anyway, you're 18 - why don't you have a kid?"

By way of apology, Nick said, "I'm sorry! I work at IHOP, the 25-year-olds there all have like three kids." Still, Nick - not cool! ;) I did get a kick out of it though...yep, seemed pretty hilarious...*right* after I finished sobbing in grief for my lost youth and making appointments for Botox injections twice daily for the rest of my life - which apparently isn't too much longer considering how freakin' old I am! ;)