For Grandparents, Happiness Seems Relative

Richard and Afton Wood were going to be elated no matter what Friday night.

But they also were going to be saddened.

When Coeur d’Alene and Skyline met in the State A-1 boys basketball tournament semifinals, Grandpa and Grandma Wood found it difficult to root for either team. They had plenty of reasons to cheer - three grandsons started. But not on the same team.

Wing David Wood started for CdA. Off guard Devin Wood and point guard Kurtis Reed started for Skyline. All are seniors.

“We knew if we played, it’d make it hard for Grandpa and Grandma,” David said Monday as CdA prepared for state.

The boys had told their grandparents for three years that someday they would play against each other at state.

“They teased us about that all the time,” Afton Wood said before Coeur d’Alene smothered No. 1-ranked Skyline 55-35.

So, Grandpa and Grandma Wood, who have 27 grandchildren and three great grandchildren, sat in a neutral spot at the Idaho Center - several rows above the Skyline cheering section.

“We’ll root for the kids, but we won’t root for the teams,” Mrs. Wood said.

“They’re all very competitive. They’ll play hard,” her husband added.

The grandparents, who live in Idaho Falls, attended four of David’s games in CdA. They watched most of the other boys’ games.

They knew that one team had to win and one had to lose.

“All we hope is they play the best that they can,” she said.

David Wood finished on the winning side. His top contribution was seven rebounds.

“It was a great experience,” he said. “They (his cousins) played hard.

“Some of their shots didn’t fall. But we played great and shut them down.”

A-1 stars

Two players shared the spotlight Thursday in the opening round of the State A-1 tourney at the spacious new venue in Nampa, otherwise known as the Idaho Center.

One was a known product, the other relatively unknown outside North Idaho.

The known was Pocatello’s 6-foot-8 senior guard Spencer Nelson.

Guard? That’s no misprint, folks.

Nelson dribbles through traffic in transition with the audacity of a 5-9 point guard. The only thing that gets him into trouble is the fact that there’s more air between his dribbles than those of shorter guards.

Nelson has had college coaches drooling, but he’s already spoken for. He signed early to play for former University of Idaho coach Larry Eustachy at Utah State.

CdA’s Casey Hoorelbeke, a sizeable 6-6 post, hasn’t picked a school, though, because he’s not sure which sport he wants to play in college. He’s also a nice prospect in baseball as a pitcher.

Hoorelbeke said that if he had both baseball and basketball offers today from four-year schools, he’d lean toward basketball. But he says that knowing baseball may be a sport he can play beyond college.

Until Thursday, Hoorelbeke was a known quantity in just baseball. But a whole new world was opened to him in the course of CdA’s 75-60 drubbing of Capital.

Hoorelbeke showed what Border League teams already knew - that he can dominate games. He scored a game-high 26 points in just over 18 minutes, making 10 of 12 shots on a variety of moves inside the key and on short jumpers.

Did it or didn’t it help?

By rule this year, all Idaho high school boys and girls basketball players had to wear mouthguards in games.

By our unscientific count, coaches and especially players didn’t like them. Some players complained of breathing problems. Others said it was difficult to communicate with teammates and coaches.

And some coaches suspect that their players were susceptible to illness because of them. Some players tuck the mouthguards behind an ear during dead-ball situations or while sitting on the bench. Others put them in their socks. Girls have be seen putting them under their bra straps.

You get the picture. Mouthpieces can become germ-infested and be put back in a player’s mouth without being rinsed.

Further, it’s not known if Hoorelbeke’s mouthpiece protected his top three teeth or not. In the regional championship game against Lewiston, he took an inadvertent elbow to the mouth from Bengals post Carson Egland.

The blow knocked one of Hoorelbeke’s front teeth loose and may have cracked the smaller tooth to the left of it. Hoorelbeke went to a dentist, who determined he’d have to undergo a root canal after the season. The dentist temporarily bonded the two front teeth and the little tooth.

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