Caring Too Much

This post is NOT meant for acknowledgement in any way. It's just sort of to explain some things.  I realize that it doesn't come off the best. and it's still sort of vague.  

I care. 

Sometimes too much. 

And sometimes to a fault. 

This happens with work. 

I care about the students (especially student-athletes), coaches, parents and teams. 

Working it schools and in the role I am in, it's about the students (mostly) coaches and teams. 

I do things that are not part of my job. 

Because I care. 

With that, nobody knows what my actual role is. 

I guess those two are interchangeable and connected. 

I do things that are not my job because I am asked because people don't know my role and I care and want to get things done for people. 

While trying to be nice and I appreciate the respect, this isn't always the best thing in the grand scheme. 

This is how I care....too much. 

Of course, I have certain teams and athletes that I am closer with. 

This sometimes causes friction. 

Because it looks like I don't care about certain groups. 

But I care about them all. 

I do things on my own time with certain groups, but people don't know that's not part of my official job. 

Someone recently asked me when introducing me when my official title was. When I told them "Athletic secretary" they were surprised. 

Because they see me at games and other times doing many different things. 

Because I care. (And am passionate). 

Additionally, sometimes I am sure I am annoying. 

But I don't intend to be. I just try to be supportive. 

Because I care. 

With the care, comes respect and friendships. 

The downside of that is that I am sometimes (or often) too friendly and don't get looked at as an "authoritative figure" which is especially an issue in my role as advisor of The Nest. 

Even outside of work and work-related items, I care too much. 

I am annoying in terms of supporting people, but I support because I care. 

Then I say "Sorry" for being annoying (and often told I am not annoying and to stop saying sorry.) 

I care about people. Which is a great trait in a lot of ways. 

Sometimes I care too much. 

A #OneTown Football Friday

Warde on the left, McMahon for Ludlowe on the right (low quality SS photo)

It was a #OneTown football Friday, despites the teams not playing each other and the games being played in different towns. 

First, I was at Warde to due tickets for their home game against Darien. I left that game at halftime with Darien on top 35-0. The Blue Wave came away with a 49-7 victory. 

Some people might question when am mentioning the score. It's just stating information and it's still important to report. 

After leading Warde at halftime, I headed down to Brien McMahon in Norwalk for Ludlowe's game with Norwalk High School. 

Norwalk High is playing their home games at McMahon this season, and for the next couple seasons, likely, as the new Norwalk High School is being built on the grounds of the former Sam Testa Field on the current Norwalk HS campus. 

I got down there at the end of the first quarter with Ludlowe already on top 20-7 thanks to three Liam Bond touchdowns. Bond would finish with four touchdowns on the night as Ludlowe came out on top 52-21. 

Justin Toothaker had multiple touchdowns on the evening as well. 

Ludlowe vs Norwalk is also a matchup featuring a former/current Falcon as well as another former Falcon. 

Mike Forget, former Ludlowe football head coach and current FLHS PE teacher is the Bears head coach. Sydney Ciuffo (formerly Judkins) is the former Ludlowe Athletic Trainer, now at Norwalk. 

Ludlowe improves to 7-2, tying the record for most wins in school history. 

While I believe unofficial at this point, tonight's win all but clinches a playoff spot for Ludlowe. 

Next up Warde and Ludlowe will face off on Thanksgiving at 10am at Ludlowe. 

Ludlowe Football Inches Closer To Playoff Berth With Win Over Wilton

Another Friday night. 

Another football Friday. 

This wasn't just any football Friday, however. 

Ludlowe picked up a 21-14 victory over Wilton on senior night. Ludlowe improves to 6-2 with the win. The Falcons need to win at least one of their final two games to make the state tournament. 

Ludlowe in looking to make the state tournament for the first time in school history (post Fairfield High School edition.)

Next up, Ludlowe takes on Norwalk next Friday at Brien McMahon High School. The regular season concludes on Thanksgiving as they host Warde. 

Ludlowe got on the board first on a Ryan Tomkins two-yard run on a direct snap to the running back with 6:47 left in the first quarter. 

Tompkins pushed the Ludlowe lead to 14-0 with a 23-yard run with 5:25 to play in the first half. 

After Wilton scored to cut the Ludlowe lead in half, the Falcons answered. 

On the first play after the ensuing kickout, Grant Stupak connected with Ryan Menozzi for a 74-yard touchdown to increase the Ludlowe lead to 21-7 with 4:16 left in the half. 

The game would remain that way until late in the third quarter when Wilton would get a touchdown to cut the Ludlowe lead to 21-14. 

The Falcon defense was strong in the fourth quarter, including getting a fourth down stop as Wilton was driving with under a minute to play looking to tie (or win) the game. 

Ludlowe also converted two fourth downs late in the game, including a fourth-and-four from their own 19-yard line with four minutes left when Stupak connected with Menozzi for a long gain. 

Later in the quarter, Stupak found Justin Toothaker on fourth down to keep the clock moving. 

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So proud of these guys. A great group of kids and better athletes. 

This is a program that has been on the rise.

This is definitely a huge win in terms of the hype that was coming into the game as Ludlowe got the job done.  

I still think back to how many years Ludlowe football either didn't win a single game or won only one. 

On two occasions, 2011-2012 and 2016-2017, Ludlowe had 14 game losing streaks. 

Then, things changed, 2018, Ludlowe goes 7-3 and have not looked back with a .500 record or better every year since. 

We will see what happens in the coming weeks. 

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Congrats to all the seniors on the senior night victory. A terrific senior class for football and athletics.

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Not to be forgotten, prior to the football game, the Ludlowe field hockey team hosted Greenwich in the state Class L second round.  

Ludlowe came away with a 3-2 overtime victory. The Falcons game-winner came with six second left in the extra session on a goal by freshman Lily McClay. It was one of two goals on the day for McClay. 

Postseason Soccer Friday

It's another weekend of writing about local high school games I was at. 

Most of you will likely stop reading now. 

Friday was another busy sports afternoon and evening. 

Ludlowe hosted girls' and boys' soccer CIAC (State) Class LL first round games as the higher seeds. 

The girls hosted Warde, so it's always interesting when you get the cross-town matchup in a postseason game, especially a state tournament game. 

It's unfortunate that it was a first-round matchup and not later in the tournament. 

You know that one team's season is coming to an end. We always want to see all out teams make deep postseason runs. 

On the contrary, I know from a work perspective, we will have a team advancing.  

Warde came out on top with a 2-0 victory. Both goals came from senior Paige Shaughnessy. 

The Mustangs advance to the 2nd round where they will play at Manchester at 4pm on Monday. 

Next up was the Ludlowe boys hosting Wilbur Cross. 

It was a matchup of intense physicality and emotion. 

Both teams had opportunities, but neither would put a goal in net in regulation. 

That sent the game to overtime. Again, neither team would score in either of the 10-minute overtime sessions. 

The game would go into penalty kicks. 

There, Wilbur Cross would edge Ludlowe 5-4 in PK's. 

I try to support all our athletes, but as I've stated many times, this boys' soccer team is a special group for me. Led by Charlie Jones, Ian Moore, Kenny Luczaj and Luke Dilillo. But it's more than that, it's Chase McCormack, Chase Mehta, Brendan Walsh and others. I know I shouldn't list people, because then I am leaving people out. 

Additionally, the Ludlowe football team was playing at McMahon. This game was going on at the same time as boys' soccer, so I stayed at Ludlowe for soccer while following football via text and the live stream. 

The Falcons defeated McMahon 27-21 behind four Ryan Tompkins touchdowns. 

Ludlowe improves to 5-2 and will host Wilton on Friday. 

Looking ahead, the fall season is quickly winding down. Winter sports will be here soon. 

2024 World Series - 30 -

2024 World Series - 30 - 

The 2024 World Series came to a close on Wednesday night with the Dodgers defeating the Yankees in five games. 

As a Yankees fan, it was a disappointing ending. While some people might say getting to the World Series makes it a terrific season, winning it all is the ultimate goal and that did not happen. 

Congrats to the Dodgers. They were the better team. 

Happy for the local kid, Ben Casparius, 2017 Staples graduate, who gets a championship. 

Like every team, there were ups and downs for the Yankees, they started strong, struggled during the middle of the season, and they found it again late in the regular season. 

Even in their division series win over the Royals and championship series win over the Guardians, it felt like the Yankees were not playing great baseball. They found a way to win those games, but you knew if they played the Dodgers, they would have to play better than they had previously. 

And they did play the Dodgers. And they didn't play that much better. 

That's not to take away what LA did. As I said, they were the better team and deserved to win. Their lineup is relentless and their pitching, which was suspect coming in, did enough. 

If you think about the Dodgers lineup, with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman at the top and then guys like Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez to Tommy Edman and others. Just so relentless. 

Honestly, people will say the Yankees will be back. But every year is different, and it is so difficult to just make, yet alone win., the World Series. 

Now the questions begin. The biggest one being will Juan Soto be back, or was he just a one-year rental? Gleyber Torres is also a free agent. 

The Yankees have already announced that Aaron Boone will be back as manager. I'm sure that doesn't make a lot of fans happy. 

Sure, has Boone made some questionable decisions, yes. But fans will question decisions made no matter who is the manager, especially if it doesn't work. 

I hate when baseball season ends. Sure, we have football, basketball and hockey, but my number one sport will always be baseball. Plus, it gives us games basically ever night. I love that it's a marathon, not a sprint. 

It's been fun, but obviously could have been special. 

Only 103 days and counting until Pitchers and Catchers report for the 2025 season! 

Respect for Exit 55

Rob's Blog Profile Photo

Streaks of doing something in a row are super impressive. 

Whether that be in sports, like Lou Gehrig or Cal Ripken, or anything in life. 

Like writing. 

My friend, Rob Adams, announced earlier today on his blog, "Exit 55", that his consecutive days streak of blog posts will come to an end tomorrow. Today is the last day of the streak. 

Since December 30, 2018, Rob has written a blog post every day. 

2,129 consecutive posts. 

Just incredible. 

Another friend, John Nash, challenged Rob late in 2018 to "Project 365", which meant writing one post every day for a year. Rob did that and so much more. 

Some might say, it's just writing, how hard is it? Oh, it's a lot harder than it looks. Believe me. 

To have the time, energy, and creativeness to come up with topics just shows incredible dedication. 

It's also about having a device with you to do it and having internet access everywhere you go. 

Yes, it's possible to write on a phone, but much simpler to write on a laptop or computer. 

And so much more that goes into it. 

It's not about the number of readers, and sometimes people write for themselves, but you also want to write something interesting, in some way. 

It's not my story to tell, and Rob wrote a lot of it on his blog, but everything that has gone on since Rob started the streak, both personally for Rob, and in the world, just makes the streak even more impressive. 

He's written about so many important topics. Some posts are more serious, some more light-hearted. And many different topics. Sports, both local and professional, family, music, broadcasting, and so much more. 

That is what makes his blog even better, how diverse it can be. 

As Rob says, he will continue to blog, and I hope he does a lot. I always look forward to his posts. However, now there is no pressure, and he can write when he wants about what he wants. 

If I write more, I am just rambling. 

I just wanted to give the respect to Rob, "Exit 55", and the streak that it deserves. And I likely didn't give it the justice it deserves. 

He's not only a tremendous broadcaster, but a terrific writer as well. Most importantly, an amazing, loyal friend and person. 

I'll leave you with this. Make the Exit 55 Blog part of your reading. 

Well done, Rob. Well done, my friend. 

Enjoy the well-deserved break. 

Volleyball Friday, Football Saturday and Supporting Important Causes

Ludlowe/Warde girls' volleyball FCIAC quarterfinal action

It's pretty clear what games I was at this weekend, based on the title of this blog post. 

On Friday, Ludlowe and Warde faced off in the FCIAC girls' volleyball quarterfinals.

The two teams met in the regular season on October 5, with Warde coming out victorious in a five-set match at Fairfield University. 

Friday's match was held at Ludlowe as the Falcons were the No. 4 seed, hosting the fifth seeded Mustangs. 

For the second time this season, Warde came out with the victory. This time, it was a three-set sweep. 

All three sets were close, however. 

Warde came away with set victories of 26-24, 25-23, 25-22 to sweep the match. 

The Mustangs advance to the FCIAC semifinals on Monday where they will face the top seed Greenwich at 5pm at Stamford High School. 

Ludlowe will look towards the state tournament. 

It's always exciting and interesting when the two schools meet in the postseason, whether that be the league tournament or state tournament. 

*****

On Saturday, Ludlowe hosted Darien in football in a much-hyped matchup. 

Darien took a 7-0 lead and did not look back on way to a 48-15 victory. 

The Blue Waye improve to 5-1, while Ludlowe falls to 4-2. 

Ludlowe's two scores came on a Justin Toothaker touchdown reception from Grant Stupak late in the first half and a Ryan Menozzi touchdown reception with 10:47 left. Ramzee Atta also hauled in a two-point conversion. 

It was also a pink-out Breast Cancer Awareness Day at the football game. Fans were encouraged to wear pink and the FLHS Athletic Department and The Nest, the student fan club, co-sponsored sales of T-Shirts. The net proceeds will go to the Norma Pfreim Breast Center for Breast Cancer research. 

The shirts were pink with white writing and a white Falcon. The writing said "No One Fights Alone" with the "O" in one being the breast cancer awareness ribbon. 

Below the Falcon it read, "-The Nest." 

Thank you to everyone who purchased a shirt. Students, faculty and staff, parents and just other fans at the game. 

Breast Cancer Awareness is important, and I am happy we do events to support. However, I wish more was done, both locally and globally, around other cancers and other causes in general. 

Other Cancers and causes have "months" where they get recognition, but not to the same degree. 

Please don't take this as I want to take anything away from Breast Cancer Awareness. That is not what I am saying. I just wish there was more support for the others. 

Overall, I would just to see more support for so many important causes.