As much as we all enjoy drama with our Niner athletics, I plead guilty to actually donating to and attending Long BeachState tennis matches. The drama—well there is  a documented intra-sport war with the well funded basketball programs, the historic women volleyball team, the cult-ish men’s volleyball, and the passionate folks who swear on water polo, golf, track etc.

We haven’t had a “Notes on My Napkin” session since last year so let’s play our Crimson Tide hurry-up offense and clean out the inbox. Baseball of course ranks pretty high on my interest list and thus another shameless plug for the Dirtbag Leadoff weekend. As you have read earlier, there is golf and actual games and the wildly popular Leadoff Dinner.

On a blustery, frigid day in late December, a group of individuals came to Marina Vista for one purpose in mind: kickball. But these weren’t a group of intrepid grade schoolers, braving the frozen tundra, these were grown adults. Using the same rubber balls from the playground, these kickball players were tossing wicked spins and cranking homerun kicks a kid could only dream about.

I first met Ella Clark before she laced up her new LBSU sneakers in 2010. How could you not want to meet a tall gal with curly blond hair, an intriguing English accent and with this answer to the question, “In two words, what do you like best about basketball?”: “Blocking shots.”

It’s a living history Long Beach journalist Mike Guardabascio has documented in his new book Football in Long Beach. The Jackrabbits and their 104-year-old football history are the centerpiece of the book, but Guardabascio, co-editor of the Gazette Newspapers’ sports section, also sheds light on the football achievements of the other Moore League schools.