Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

Nolan McBride, a Grand Haven senior, is a young man on a mission. The mission is one of his own design – it seems that as far back as his parents can remember Nolan wanted to excel in a sport and to be a top student. There is every indication that he has been able to meet his goals while maintaining a humble personality and being the type of young man who watches out for the underdog. Golf coach Randy White reports that McBride was All Conference last year and had an unusual story to share about the beginning of Nolan’s 2009 season. It seems that Nolan broke his foot playing dodge ball in January and his foot was still healing by the start of golf season. Most of us would have remained on the bench, but Nolan figured out a way to take some of the pressure off his foot while still participating in his favorite sport: He practiced and played the first two matches on crutches! Coach White has been around golf his whole life and has been a PGA professional for 25 years and Nolan’s actions ...

Three words one might use to describe Brooke Hanson, a Forest Hills Central senior, are “focused”, “determined”, and “consistent”. Brooke is the shortstop for the Rangers varsity softball team and during the winter she plays guard for the basketball team. Her determination really came to the fore as the Rangers were closing out the basketball season with a good run that got them into the playoffs. During the last couple weeks of the regular basketball season Brooke’s parents, Andy and Laura, noticed that their daughter seemed a little tired, but she didn’t complain of anything and she refused to go to the doctor until after the team was eliminated in post season play. Andy thought his daughter had the flu and talked with her about sitting out a couple games. Brooke would have none of it. “If it wasn’t her senior year I would not have let her continue to play,” Andy Hanson related. “She said to us, ‘I have got to play’ and we didn’t want to disappoint her during her last high school se...

One of the most important criteria for student athletes who appear in this column is sportsmanship. In a day when temper tantrums from athletes is hardly a surprise, we like to reward student athletes who exhibit good sportsmanship. In addition to being a great tennis player, Jenison’s Sydney Bennett is the personification of good sportsmanship. Bennett is playing first singles for the Wildcats, which is quite an achievement for a sophomore. What makes her achievement even more remarkable is the fact that none of her family are tennis players. Sydney started playing the game when she was nine and some friends asked if she wanted to learn. When we asked Bennett what she like the most about the sport, her answer was short and to the point: Everything. The word “everything” came into the conversation about Sydney with 35 year veteran Wildcat coach Tom Leyrer. According to Leyrer, one of the best parts of Bennett’s game is that she hits “everything” back. If she makes a mistake, she doesn’...

How about that wacky Larry Summer. He is currently serving his country as the Director of the National Economic Council. Mr Summer is also an assistant to the Prez for Economic Policy. You might remember Mr Summer from his days as the President of Harvard when he honked off women by some remarks about them having "innate" differences from men which might prevent them from being successful in math and sciences. (Read about them here: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/01/17/summers_remarks_on_women_draw_fire/ ) Those remarks came in 2005. Recent history has even more golden nuggets about this guy. I recently learned that Mr Summers was warned about the danger of the dirivitive stocks that the Harvard Endowment was investing in. Seems that one Iris Mack, a quantatative analyst with a PHD from Harvard, was working for the Harvard Management Company which oversees the billions Harvard has in it's endowment fund. When she applied her knowledge to looking at where t...

I heard that NBC didn't let this skit run. They hit all the right nerves with this one IMHO: http://www.msunderestimated.com/SNLBailoutSkit.wmv

We get a lot of packages at the store and at home with items that are packed in styrofoam "peanuts". What to do with the peanuts? I looked on our County's website information page and found out that PakMail stores will re-use the peanuts. I had a big garbage bag full and took them in to the PakMail on Cascade Road. He was happy to take them off my hands. He also took some styrofoam pieces that were shrink-wrapped in gray plastic. (Julie ordered some Fiesta Ware dishes earlier this year and they came packed in the plastic covered foam.) A great win-win-win. The styroafoam we collected in our garage did NOT end up in the waste stream. PakMail can re-use the peanuts thus saving them a little money. We made a small step in the right direction. Kudos to PakMail.

After learning about Grand Haven senior Sylvia Meyer it was easy to imagine a scenario in which someone passing by her bedroom late in the evening might see her diligently poring over a textbook. No doubt the visitor would detect a hint of chlorine in the air. Meyer is involved in three pool based sports for the Buccaneers and to say she is a focused, hard-working student is to put it lightly. Sylvia began competing in the pool as a seventh grader. In her freshman year some of the older girls on the swim team recruited her for the water polo team – Meyer liked it so much she is back for her fourth season. She is also a regular on the Bucs synchronized swimming team. Varsity water polo coach Adam Briggs holds Meyer in high regard, so much so that he made her one of two captains this season. Briggs looks for leadership in and out of the pool when he considers making someone a captain. He related that Sylvia is a hard worker who always sets a good example for her teammates during practice...