Los Angeles, California: We spent the day at the track on the USC campus. Probably ten colleges competing, and just over 2,000 fans were in the bleachers. 8,000 would have been at Hayward Field on the Oregon campus... not forgetting Eugene, Oregon has just a few less people than Los Angeles, California... give or take 17 million.
The facility at USC seems to be used to few fans, as they only have bleachers on one side of the track. The track itself is desperately in need of resurfacing and - you won't believe this - the infield has artificial turf.Step it up, Trojans.
However, this stadium has something Oregon cannot offer: an In-N-Out Burger truck parked behind the bleachers! Luckily they sold out before my willpower gave out.
The meet started out with the Oregon women being disqualified in the 4x100m relay! The official charged Oregon with a false start. The photo above shows anchor-leg English Gardner walking back to the starting line. But before Miss Gardner could console her teammate, Oregon coach Robert Johnson had filed a protest and the team was reinstated. Oh, the drama!
Don't you know the Ducks won that race - but the official results still have the team DQ'd. The Oregon women are favored to win the NCAA Championship this year!
And the men don't look so bad either.
Duck Lindsay Pearson, from Santa Barbara, powers over the hurdles.
We stayed until the very end of the meet to watch Michael Berry (World Champion Gold medal, 4x400 relay) run the 200m... and he did not run well. No matter, it was a beautiful sunny day and we were at the track. The Duck teams look ready to have a fabulous season. GO DUCKS!DT and I had important duties - babysitting Little Leo while his parents had (separate) work-related commitments.
We also did a little gardening - harvesting lemons from the tree in their garden.
Who could refuse minding this little munchkin for a few hours?
He practically takes care of himself anyway. (Just kidding, but he had quite a fun time with his little piggies feet this evening. Leo squealed with laughter every time I said: wee wee wee all the way home.)How is it, that after 30 years, a person can still remember words to lullabies and nursery rhymes? How much RAM does the human head hold and how deeply defragged is Sing a Song of Sixpence, that it can come out of my mouth after a thirty-year hiatus? Two verses!
Leo has a bedtime routine. At about 8 o'clock he starts to rub his eyes - signaling he is finished for the day. We put him in his PJ's, fed him a bottle and a little Janis Joplin later, he was sacked out (really - he sleeps in a sack). And he sleeps on his tummy now - rolls over hisownself.
We did such a good job, I bet Lenny & Lisa will call us again for this babysitting gig.Until my next update, I remain, your doting correspondent.