I’m mad!
I’m mad because every time I get comfortable something changes. Just about the time I get used to a routine…wham! Somebody changes something. Change has become routine. It doesn’t matter whether it’s politics, work, health or sports. Change is everywhere. I’m sick and tired of change.
Back in 1970, Alvin Toffler wrote a book entitled: “Future Shock”. It was required reading for all freshmen taking Sociology 101. I was a freshmen in 1970 and sociology was a required class for my degree. In this important piece of literature, a genre described as futurism, Toffler defined future shock as “too much change in too short a time”. He described it as social paralysis induced by rapid technological change. Remember, this was written 56 years ago.
That’s it…that’s me! The future is now. I’m paralyzed by change. 911, Anthrax, Beltway Snipers, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, Bin Laden, Ukraine, Jan. 6th. I’m exhausted and I haven’t even finished the list.
But now the coup de gras: Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena. I’m devasted. Imagine the headline: The Lady Cougars win a 1A Maryland State high school basketball in Catonsville at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena. That just sounds made up. Your grandchildren would laugh at you and say: “Where?”
No more basketball championships at the University of Maryland? Let that sink in. This year, we move to the University of Maryland’s Baltimore Campus’ basketball arena for the boys and girls high school basketball State championships. The UMBC Retrievers play in the American East Conference. No more legendary ACC or powerhouse Big Ten names on the walls of the basketball court. We’re in the big leagues now!
I loved M&T Bank’s Ravens stadium high school football championships. How cool. An NFL stadium where we all just stood in awe of the history and legends that walked the field. We had become a part of that history too. And then, CHANGE. Next thing we know, we’re in Annapolis. I’d heard of the Midshipmen. I remember Army–Navy games on TV. But compared to Ravens-Steelers it was not front page news.
And what Maryland basketball fan doesn’t remember the days of Lefty Driesell and Gary Williams? Or, Buck Williams, Len Elmore, Tom McMillen or Len Bias the greatest Maryland players of all time.
In eighth grade, I was playing on the Sherwood junior high school basketball team and two of my teammates and I met at the Sherwood gym one Saturday morning to shoot some baskets and work on our game. This big, tall, older kid walked in and challenged us to a game of 3 on 1. We were sure we could beat this guy. We didn’t recognize him as a Sherwood player, so we asked him where he went to school. He told us Good Counsel. He lived near the gym but went to a private school about 17 miles away in Wheaton. He was a junior. He made us look silly. He dribbled over us, around us, dunked on us, shot over us rebounded everything and within five minutes it was 10 to nothing, game over. He grinned and shook our hands and left. While he was walking out, Coach Doane arrived and we asked him, who is that guy? Coach smiled and said that’s Tom McMillen. Tom is #6 in the all time list of the greatest basketball players ever to play for Maryland. Tom went on to become a Rhode scholar, and served in the Maryland House of Delegates until 1993 after playing for Maryland and then in the NBA. Now that’s a legend!
Now, after a lifetime of high school basketball championships at the University of Maryland , from 1956 at Cole Field House and then to the newer Maryland arena on the same campus Xfinity (orginally the Comcast Center) in 2002. We move to Baltimore!
Don’t get me wrong. I love change when it’s progressive. But when it’s regressive. It makes me mad!
Football 2016: Ravens –> Naval Academy
Basketball 2026: Terps –> Retrievers
Baseball 2020: Orioles –>Blue Crabs
Baseball 2025: Blue Crabs –> Baysox
Baysox 2026 –> ???
I predict the 2026 high school baseball playoffs will be held at Thurmont’s Leisner Little League Field.
Do you see a pattern?