Mary Pickford was a pioneer in the American film industry and was one of the most recognizable women in the world at the height of her career. Beginning in 1909, she was one of the most popular actresses of the “silent film era,” becoming Hollywood’s first millionaire by 1916. Known as “America’s Sweetheart,” she was a legend in the profession, earning many accolades as not only an actress but also as a producer before passing away in 1979 at age 87.
Why the mention of Pickford in this week’s column, you may ask? I recently read one of her quotes that stated “Failure is not the falling down, but the staying down.” This made me think of this fall’s Greenville Green Wave football team which is now 3-4 after enduring a 22-game losing streak coming into this season. Where in the past few years the Green and White had a tendency to get down and focus on the negatives, this group, under the direction of veteran Head Coach Steve Channell in his first year at the helm, has shown resilience and turned the program around with steady improvement weekly. The next three games on the regular season schedule are daunting with powerful Tipp, Xenia, and Troy on tap, but Wave fans can rest assured that this is a team that won’t quit and better times lie ahead!
Troy and Tipp continue towards an epic showdown on the 17th at City Park Field in Tipp as both remain unbeaten in MVL play. Meanwhile, Xenia, coming off a two-point loss to Tipp, leads the Valley Division of the league and is in position to win a second consecutive title.
In the WOAC, Preble Shawnee and Tri-Village march in step towards another battle for conference honors on the 17th as both are 6-0 in league play and 7-0 overall. Shawnee has a somewhat easier schedule remaining, while the Patriots will also have to deal with a 6-1 Arcanum Trojan squad.
League cross-country meets take place this coming Saturday at various sites around the area, before starting district action in the four divisions on the 18th. There are some outstanding boys and girls runners and teams who should eventually represent West Central Ohio at the state meet in the Columbus area on November 1st.
Soccer, girls tennis, and golf all start to wind down the fall’s play with D-II boys and girls golf State meets being held Monday and Tuesday, the girls at Heatherwoode Golf Club in Springboro and the boys at the South Course of NCR in Dayton. The other two boys and one girls division tee off the following week.
Once again, any dreams of an all-Ohio World Series have been shattered as both the Reds and Guardians fell in the Wild Card round. The discrepancies between teams continue to be a result the majority of the time of wide spread payrolls—for example, the Dodgers with a $321M player expenditure this year as compared to the Reds at $115M. Of the ten teams that invested the most in personnel, six of them made the playoffs. Cleveland spent “only” $100M this season, while the anomaly among MLB teams is the NL Central Division champion Milwaukee Brewers, who, like the Reds, spent $115M. As my good friend Randy Reed has always said, “it’s tough to beat a roster of good players that includes several superstars with one that only has good players.”
It was a good Saturday for fans of THE—not only did the Buckeye Machine roll on, but Penn State was upset by winless UCLA, and Texas went down at the hands of an average Florida eleven. THE goes on the road the next two weeks, facing a strong 5-1 Illinois squad and then Wisconsin at an always rowdy Camp Randall Stadium before returning to take on a reeling Penn State Nittany Lions team. Upcoming game of the week in the Big Ten—Indiana at Oregon. Elsewhere, the Stony Brook Seawolves evened their season record at 3-3 with a 47-12 win over the Albany Great Danes and secured a second consecutive Golden Apple victory!
For you fans of Hamburger Helper comes the latest statistics—sales of the “bachelors’ best friend”, a food often associated with tough times and strained budgets, are up 14.5% this year through August. I know that I almost ruined my relationship with my future wife when I whipped up a batch of the, in my opinion, gastric delight “Beef Stroganoff” at my apartment one evening. Even worse, I tried to make up for it later on with the famous “Skillet Pizzaria” mix! Why she’s stayed with me the next fifty years is a testament to the improvement of my culinary skills!!
Finally, Hubert Humphrey, known as the “Happy Warrior,” was a longtime U.S. Senator from Minnesota, U.S. Vice President under Lyndon Johnson, and Democratic candidate for President in 1968, losing to Richard Nixon. I thought this quote of his was appropriate for today’s political environment—“To err is human. To blame someone else is politics.” Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, don’t you just wish that we could somehow agree on areas that would improve our country? Stay healthy and active!!
