Baseball

Baseball is one of my favorite sports, other than soccer that I really enjoy. I have played varsity all four years of high school. I play outfield and sometimes end up being a designated hitter. I look forward to baseball every year because it's the one team that I have been a part of that has really connected. All the teammates have played together since we even started baseball. We all played together in tee ball, farm league, little league, middle school, and now high school. Also most of us played summer baseball together every year since tee ball.

Ever since my freshman year, we have been competing for an Eastern Maine Champoinship and a state title. If you really look at the big picture, every team is trying to do that right? Freshman year, we played in an Eastern Maine game and got ten ruled in the fourth inning in the rain. It was awful watching all the seniors cry. They worked so hard to be at the game and too lose was like a nightmare. Sophomore year, we made it to the quarter finals and lost to Dexter in the eleventh inning 6-5. It was such a hard loss for us because we fought so hard that game and couldn’t come out with the win when it mattered. Last year, we had a perfect season in Class C. We only lost two games to our one B school that we play every year so technically we had a perfect season in our divison. We battled all the way through the playoffs and made it to the Eastern Maine game again. Our team was predicted to win it all, Eastern Maine and States. We lost 1-0 to Stearns; I say we, but it was just the team because I had surgery on that day. I was so mad I missed that game.

This year is going to be the year the Bucksport Golden Bucks prevail. We will work hard every practice, play like we practice, and show every team we face that the Bucks don’t go down without a fight. We attempt to be the first team in Bucksport’s history to win a state championship.

“Play one out baseball. This is how we play.”

-         Rob Wadleigh 

One Tree Hill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noDPlG88grk

One Tree Hill is probably one of the best shows to ever air on television. If you haven't seen it, you are really missing out. The show first aired on September 23, 2003; it's about these two half brothers that start out as rivals in high school. Lucas, the older brother, has a different mother then Nathan. Nathan is the star of the Tree Hill Ravens basketball team and thinks he's the best thing to ever walk the planet. Lucas plays at "The Rivercourt" with Skills and some of his other friends. He ends up facing Nathan down there to prove whether or not he's good enough to be on the team. The first four seasons go back and fourth between their relationship and how they go through high school. How they deal with relationships, hardships, certain situations, and other problems that any teenager would deal with. Seasons 5-9 are about their lives after high school and each episode is a surprise.

It’s a great show to watch because you can really relate on it or at least I could. Each episode you could get a moral out of it. You could see one episode where one of the brothers would have a girlfriend, but then cheat on her with another girl he thought he loved. You could understand that he didn’t really know what he wanted so he wanted to see if grass was greener on the other side. In reality though, the grass isn’t normally greener unless you really know what’s going to happen. I loved watching the show because I connected with some friends more. We would watch it every day and just relate it to our everyday lives. I would watch this show with Matt Stewart and we would go to a basketball court at least 5-8 times a week that we called “The Rivercourt” and talk about our lives. We would have bro talks and discuss our opinions about certain situations. Matt and I also got Alexx Bishop to watch it, but she was mainly interested in little Jamie Scott because she thought he was cute.

Enjoy the Little Things

Does anybody else remember when we were kids that we were so excited to grow up? We couldn't wait to brag to our friends that we were a teenager, we got our license, or we were legal adults so we could do whatever we want. Well now for the seniors, most of us if not all have realized that time flies by and we went from being in preschool to graduating in less than three months.

I can't believe that I'm graduating in less than three months to be completely honest. It feels weird that I've gone through 12 years of school with all of my friends and to think that we are all going our separate ways in six months. Now that we are creeping towards graduation, I think about all of the great times I have had with everyone. Taking naps in preschool with Ellie Carr, Kayla Gray, Mikaela Gaslin, Bri Bires, and Owen Krause. Moving up through grade school with Mitchell Small and riding four-wheelers on the weekends and in the summer. I'll never forget the one time we were riding together; Mitchell was riding his little 50 and I was riding his three-wheeler. We were flying down a dirt road behind his house and suddenly I see Mitchell fly off the four-wheeler and almost hit a tree. The little 50 started doing cartwheels down the hill; I came back to see if he was alright and then I tipped the three-wheeler. We were so scared to talk to his parents about it, but we survived. These are the little things you remember.

Playing soccer all the way through school with Sam Stearns, Chris Chaffee, and Brady MacLeod were probably some of the best memories I have. We would always walk the trails before a middle school practice, go to Sam's house to eat food, or my house to play Rockband. I always got stuck singing unfortunately Then we moved up to high school and we would always go out to subway before a game or have a team breakfast on the weekend to bond. Play some FIFA on the Xbox and fight over the controller which would eventually lead to some wrestling. We would mess with each others cars; leave some shaving cream on the windshield, "borrow" their car without telling them and then call them, and hide their phone on them. I'll never forget getting Third-Team PVC Striker my sophomore year and getting Second-Team PVC Offense my senior year. I'll never forget getting a hat-trick my sophomore year and getting thrown up into the air by my teammates. I was crying tears of joy and hugging Mr. Morrison (probably one of the cutest moments of our lives). These are the little things you remember.

Movie nights during the summer with Alexx Bishop, Ellie Carr, Mikaela Gaslin, Casey Ginn, and Mitchell Small were another highlight of high school. We would spend every night or every other night watching scary movies or enjoying each other's company. I'll never forget about how bad Alexx was at picking a movie. I'll never forget the time Casey and I were playing with an exercise ball; Casey ran at me while I had the ball and he flew back into the wall. I honestly thought I had knocked him out. We always would throw M&M's at Alexx just because it bothered her. We would also have fires; we would just talk about life and enjoy the time we had together. These are the little things you remember.

Bonfires with Keith Nutter, Taylor Ziegler-Miller, Logan Cote, Ryan Grindle, Casey Ginn, and Matt Stewart are one of my top memories. We would build up this huge fire; it would stand just as tall as me sometimes! We would listen to Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, and countless other country artists till one or two in the morning. Sometimes Keith would ride the four-wheeler around the house or occasionally get it stuck in his pond. It was pretty funny when he would do this. We would even make late night trips to Denny's and eat some pancakes, hash browns, and drink milkshakes at midnight. It would really hit the spot. These are the little things you remember.

One thing that I remember and I wish I didn't was having surgery. Surgery is one of the worst things anyone would have to go through. I had my knee operated on this past summer and it ruined part of my summer. I'll never forget how nervous I was before my surgery; thinking that something could go horribly wrong and I would never be able to walk again. Apparently I was pretty loopy before I went in and when I came out. I kept asking the nurse to get my mother some ice cream because it was her birthday. This is a little thing I wish I could remember.

My senior year has been one memory that I don't ever want to forget; I met a very amazing girl named Breanna Coombs who happens to be my girlfriend. We have been dating for four, almost five months and I can honestly say it's been the best time of my life. We always have fun when we are together. We watch movies together on the weekends, go to basketball games, hangout with my mother when we are bored. We always enjoy each others company. She's always making jokes and getting me to laugh even if they are kind of corny. She's always here for me when I'm having a bad day and I'm always there for her. It's going to be very hard when I go off to college and can't see her for the first two months.

These are just some of the many memories that I will miss. Hopefully from now until the end of the summer, I will make a few more amazing memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Graduation will be one I could never forget, maybe winning an Eastern Maine and State Championship in baseball, and many other great memories that I will have to wait and see.

Mr. Bucksport

Saturday Night I participated in the annual Mr. Bucksport competition; it was a once and a life time experience and I'm so happy I had the courage to do it. The competition consists of an entrance, dance routine, sports wear, talent, and interview questions. Once everyone goes through the first set of interview questions, five contestants are chosen for how well they performed and how well they answered the first question to go onto the final question. I competed against eight other talented contestants: Seniors: Josh Gray and Jake Chase, Juniors: Doug Gavelik and Dylan Soper, Sophomore: Spencer Phillips, Freshmen: Mike Goode and Aaron Kercheis. Everybody was very creative with every category. Josh Gray had a dance from Dirty Dancing, Jake acted like a newscaster and talked about everything going on in the world, Doug played the piano and rearranged the school song into his own little symphony, Dylan Soper dressed up like a lunch lady and danced around the stage, Spencer pretended to act like he was bad at basketball, Mike dressed up like PSY and danced with pistachios, and Aaron acted like a monster dancing to Radioactive.

I slow danced with the one and only Gerri Smith, plus danced to Jump on it with her. Lucas Ashmore and I danced to the Evolution of End-Zone Dances. Ryker Mason and I went hunting for a thirty point buck which happened to be acted out by Lucas. Lucas sounded like a small dog in the back of the gym. My talent involved dancing with black lights and it looks pretty cool if I do say so myself. The questions were probably my favorite part of the competition. They were really easy to me and I had no hesitation when I answered them.

My heart was racing when Mr. Jones announced the five finalist; I didn't think I was going to be chosen. He made it even worse when he announced the raffle before the winner of Mr. Bucksport. Spencer Phillips was the runner-up and I believe he deserved it. I thought Dylan Soper was going to win the whole thing; his acts were very creative and entertaining. As soon as Mr. Jones announced my name, I just started shaking people's hands and saying "thank you" to anyone who said "congratulations". My mother started crying as soon as I hugged her and that made me cry even harder. Getting a hug from Bree also meant a lot to me. Her and my mother have been supporting me for the past month about this and telling me that I'm going win. This was definitely a once and a life time opportunity that I'm glad I didn't miss and will never forget.

This is probably the cutest chocolate lab you will ever see. This is my 11 month old puppy named Bentley, yes it's spelled like the car. He looks like a girl in the first picture you see him in (I thought he was a girl until my mother told me). He has been the best dog anyone could ever ask for. I remember when my parents first brought him home, the first thing he did was jump out of the truck and take a huge dump. You could tell that when he got to our house, he felt like he was home.

His first three nights home with us was rough; my mother thought it would be a great idea to have him sleep in a cage big enough for a bear. I think that scared him so much because he kept pooping everywhere! Probably the worst thing that ever happened. He didn't like the stairs very much; he was able to walk up them, but then couldn't go back down. When he was younger he tended to hump everything. My sister would call it his "hoppie thing" and flip out. Well there was this one time where he was "hopping" on my sister and he wouldn't get off. My sister thought it would be a bright idea to pee herself so that he would get off. She is ten years old peeing herself and the dog was two and half months old and potty trained. I think that's pretty embarrassing. 

He's the definition of a lovable dog; he always wants to be around you, he wants you to pet him, rub his belly, shake his paw, etc. He even knows how to wink! My girlfriend doesn't think he is able to do this. If he knows you are upset, he will come lick your face or do anything to cheer you up. I couldn't have asked for a better dog and I'm hoping he get's to live a long healthy life

It's so hard to look at these pictures and think to myself that my high school soccer career is over. I remember each day these photo's were taken and I can still feel the atmosphere before each game. Not only has soccer showed me how to have good sportsmanship, it's showed me that building bonds with your teammates and enjoying every single moment of the game is important. 

I will never forget the memories I had playing soccer. Becoming one of two freshmen varsity players, scoring a hat-trick sophomore year, going to the playoffs for the first time in over fifteen years, and going out my senior year crying because it was so hard to let go of the one sport I love the most. I felt like such a loser when I was crying. I was really the only one who cried. I'll miss my teammates; we were all like brothers. We grew up together through school and sports. I'll miss my co-captains; always fighting over who get's to win the coin toss before a game starts or attempting to run practice when "couch" wasn't there. I loved having competitions with my teammates to see who could juggle the longest, run the fastest in a short and long distance, and see who was a better penalty shooter. These memories don't even begin to show how much fun I had the past four years. Soccer gave me an opportunity to show everyone my true emotions and skills I had on the field. 

Now that it's all over, I feel as though a part of me has gone with it. My life feels very empty without soccer in it. I'll never be able to show my gratitude towards my coach and the parents that came and watched every game. Their support at the games not only meant a lot to me, but my teammates as well. I will always remember the good times I've had playing for Bucksport, but now the next chapter of my life will start when I tryout for the Maine Maritime Academy team.