By Michael Elliott

Casey Connection- How wonderful it is to see Cal Poly’s baseball team gaining a little traction as the season winds down.  At press time the Mustangs had forged their Big West Conference record into a respectable 10-6 won-loss tally and were sitting just one game out of second place.  Cal Poly had languished out of the gate at the start of the season but the Mustangs are hopefully hitting their stride just at the right juncture of the season.  It ain’t how you start, but how you finish!
The ace hurler on their pitching staff, Casey Bloomquist, has reeled off six straight victories.  I personally have a keen interest in how Casey fares in his baseball career, as I was once introduced to the young man when he was but a wee lad playing ball in a youth league in Bakersfield.  My son Donovan and I were going from one field to another one day and we ran into Casey and his father Jim.  I had not seen Jim Bloomquist in, literally, years and years.  A prince of a gentleman, Jim and I met at a Chevron oilfield location just outside of Coalinga back in the ‘80s.  Jim was an electrical consultant for Chevron and I was a building contractor doing work in the same proximity as Jim.  We struck up a conversation one day and ended up palling around Coalinga together for a few weeks, as both of us were on “road trips” away from home.  We even squeezed in a couple of rounds of golf at the now defunct nine-hole Polvadero Country Club (about as “country” as you could imagine!) located between my hometown of Avenal and Coalinga.
To make a long story longer, I have not seen Casey or Jim since that meeting at the youth ballpark.  I followed Casey’s illustrious prep career at Bakersfield Christian High School via the Bakersfield Californian, but I suppose life got in the way for me to have moseyed on down to watch a game or two during Casey’s high school days and reconnect with the two of them.  Still hoping to catch one of Casey’s Friday night starts here at home before the season gets away…or before life gets in my way once again!  And, I would certainly love to meet up with “Gentleman Jim” for sure.  Hey Casey, if perhaps you catch wind of this little ditty, please say hello to your dad for me.  And tell him to keep his head still on those 3-foot putts.

Surf’s Up- Been frequenting our local beaches as of late for some running and iPod workouts and have been amazed at the plethora of surfboard activity.  Really cool, dude!  And I mean that in a flattering way.  Pismo Beach seems to be quite contagious to the board people as you will find men, women and children of all ages either waxing their surfboards, reeling out the lines for their kite surfing excursions or paddling into position for some, well, board paddling activity.  One of the coolest things upon observation of the surfers is that they all respect each other’s space.  The paddle boarders are usually the furthest out, going beyond the initial swells in order to enjoy the solace of the waveless water.  The surf boarders are positioned to catch those swells just prior to the breaks to insure an awesome, angled ride.  And the kite surfers are flat out jammin’ up along the coastline, getting air and thrilling the beached spectators with their gyrations and athletic ability.  The colors of the kites add to the kite surfing spectacle.  My hat’s certainly off to all of those brave souls who look like they are having a blast at whichever boardsport they have chosen.  Ride on.  Right on.