Category: Sports

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 19, 202610:20 pm

World Cup Sunday

This morning, my wife drove me to Pop Pie in South Park, where a Too Good to Go order waited. The haul? Two pies, one traditional chicken, the other Hog (e.g. pulled pork). I walked most of the way the home, proceeding to North Park and to University Heights—30th all the way to Meade.

Wow, were the streets packed with people. I have never seen Sunday like this. The majority of folks was destination bound, with local bars and eateries the primary destinations—basically anywhere with big screen TVs. Argentina and Spain squared off for the FIFA World Cup final match, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJun 15, 202610:57 pm

Not His House, Your House

Say what you will about Donald Trump but the man knows how to throw a birthday party. His 80th brought the UFC Freedom 250 to the South Lawn of the White House. What a spectacle it was, last night.

For all the pomp, all the celebrity, and the testosterone, the White House itself emerged as a symbol of the Trump Presidency and secondary star of the fighting event. Americans don’t get to see inside the White House. It’s locked down so tight. But through the UFC event, Trump opened the building for everyone to see–unlike any president before him. His house is your house.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJun 7, 202610:37 pm

What’s Up with Robb Field?

My daughter needed a ride to meet someone in Ocean Beach today. Planned sixty minutes turned into three-and-a-half hours, and after visiting friends I had a whole lot of time to kill off. I started wandering around Robb Field, which was jam-packed with sporting events and outdoor recreating of every imaginable variety.

I scratched my head in dismay, because the 77-acre recreational complex is on the mayor’s list of potential closures. Reason: Budget cuts. I counted thousands upon thousands of reasons to keep the facility open and operating at full funding.

Photo by Joe WilcoxApr 25, 20268:22 pm

Bike Brigade

While walking to a friend’s house to feed her cats, I came upon a bunch of bikers that appeared to be mounting up after a food/beverage break at Mystic Mocha, which is located in the San Diego neighborhood of University Heights.

The coffee and food shop sits at Alabama and Mission. But bike lanes are located on the adjacent left and right streets—Madison and Meade—that go East or West.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 23, 20269:22 pm

Susan Says Stop

A basketball hoop hung in a San Diego alley isn’t that an uncommon sight. I have seen several in my neighborhood of University Heights. But this one stands out for adornment: Black-eyed Susan vine. That raises question: Who would want to shoot baskets and ruin the lovely flowers?

The answer could be nobody. I haven’t seen any signs of activity around this hoop recently, which could mean something else: No aspiring basketball players live nearby, and that would easily explain how the vine climbed so high.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 20, 20268:50 pm

Near Miss?

Minutes earlier, the kid on the left had been doing wheelies down Monroe in my neighborhood of University Heights. Not being a thru street (right turn only on Texas), traffic tends to be light compared to Madison or Mission on either side. I sometimes see roller skaters on Mississippi either at Monroe or Mission. So, these daredevils weren’t out of place, but the electric bike meant increased speed and risk.

I set up the shot, for their approach. You can see them coming upon Louisiana but turned towards one another rather than looking ahead. Meanwhile, the driver is somewhat blinded by the late-day sun as she turns Westwardly. There is no indication that she sees the distracted bikers.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 1, 20258:50 pm

Winning Time

I do believe one of my neighbors successfully completed some level of marathon race in good time. During Winter (really late Summer in San Diego), we would occasionally see him training running in our neighborhood of University Heights.

B.A.A. refers to Boston Athletic Association. Boston Marathon took place on the 250th Patriots’ Day (a fine New England Holiday that I fondly recall)—April 21, 2025. I shot the Featured Image, using Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, nine days later. Vitals: f1/7, ISO 50, 1/8000 sec, 23mm (film equivalent); 11:10 a.m. PDT. Composed as captured.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 1, 20256:16 pm

State Champs!

An unusual and exciting circumstance came to pass today. Both my hometown (Caribou) high school basketball teams—girls and boys—played in the Maine State finals; Class B. They last advanced together in 1983, when the Lady Vikings won and the men lost.

The boys’ game was a blowout, as Caribou beat York 65-44. But the girls gave a show that people in Aroostook County will talk about for decades. Playing the Biddeford Tigers, the Vikings dominated until the last seconds of the fourth quarter, when their rivals tied the score at 40 and put the game into 4-minute overtime.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 28, 20246:42 pm

I Boycott the Paris Olympics

I am more than a little surprised to be writing this post. But here we unexpectedly are. I stand with those people criticizing the 2024 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony’s mock Last Supper as mocking Christianity—and the almighty God, for that matter. In what appeared to be a live reenactment of the famous painting by Leonardo DaVinci, the actors were either drag queens or some simply dressed as such.

The Summer games officially began in Paris on July 26. Today, spokesperson Anne Descamp apologized to anyone offended by the, ah, banquet scene. If BBC reporting is accurate, explanation is as offensive, if not more. From the story: “The ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, said there was no intention to ‘mock or denigrate anyone’ and explained the scene in question was designed to reference pagan gods”.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMar 20, 202410:41 pm

Wheelin’

The Featured Image is more brooding than it needs to be, but the mood remembers what was—and thankfully—what is gone. From before our October 2007 relocation to San Diego until September 2015, The Crypt—a goth, fetish, sadomasochist, sex shop—occupied the corner retail space at Park Blvd and University Avenue. The place closed for failure to pay rent.

The storefront stayed vacant—cursed, if you ask me—for another almost six years. MJ’s Cyclery is the current tenant; refreshing change, too. As the city removes motorized vehicle parking spaces to make more bike lanes, lifestyle and sales opportunities open up for cycle shops.

Photo by Joe WilcoxDec 13, 20239:54 pm

Finally, Somebody Uses the Bike Lanes

Dec. 9, 2023, as I stopped to photograph someone’s life belongings heaped onto four shopping carts, suddenly, and rapidly, riders roared by along University Ave. in Hillcrest. San Diego’s panache for tearing up parking spaces and replacing them with kilometers-upon-kilometers of bike lanes is controversial among businesses and many residents but unapologetic policy public.

On any normal day, bikers are few, and their numbers are next to meaningless compared to the volume of buses, cars, SUVs, and trucks, among other vehicles. So I was rather surprised seeing such mass of riders, who vastly spilled out of the bike lane into traffic.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 31, 20239:05 pm

Tennis This Time

San Diego’s three-season summer weather creates all kinds of outdoor activities that would be uncommon elsewhere. Consider public schools: Many are indoor/outdoor, meaning classrooms are enclosed but kids go out to move among them. Costco eateries are on the outside of the warehouses rather than within. The examples abound.

As such, I shouldn’t be so amused, but am, about the older gent watching sports programs out of doors. On Aug. 9, I passed him riveted to a baseball game—all by his lonesome. Tonight, it’s tennis—and he has a friend. “Say, could you pass a can of Modelo Especial?” (Because Bud Light is boycotted, the Mexican beer is now top-seller.)