Bumming around town with Bill Bumerton

Bumerton is a retired Navy fighter pilot who had been missing in action for several years while he traversed the globe looking for greener grass. He discovered the grass is only greener here (it’s blue in Kentucky), so he returned to again take charge of his 1954 green Hudson Hornet that had been in storage, refilled his pipe, and is continuing his smokin’ ways. Here is what he recently told us at the Sports Paper.

 

 

Bumming around town with Bill Bumerton

Bumerton is a retired Navy fighter pilot who had been missing in action for several years while he traversed the globe looking for greener grass. He discovered the grass is only greener here (it’s blue in Kentucky), so he returned to again take charge of his 1954 green Hudson Hornet that had been in storage, refilled his pipe, and is continuing his smokin’ ways. Here is what he recently told us at the Sports Paper.

 

 

Big Dawg, I don’t understand the controversy over the use or redskins as a nickname for sports teams like Port Townsend or the NFL Washington franchise. English dictionaries categorize the term as disparaging or insulting, but is it?  I’m not sure. We have gone in this country from using black in referring to people of color to now using African-American, so is using the word black disparaging or insulting? I don’t think so. If a person of color says to you, Big Dawg, “Hi, white” would that bother you? I don’t think so. You know, Big Dawg, the cultural shift in this country has been dramatic over the past 10 years. You can’t say a lot of the things we use to take for granted in our speech. But I don’t think that is necessarily

good. I had polish friends who we constantly called Polock or whop, and they didn’t take offense. In fact, I think they rather liked it. And the word redskin as it refers to native Americans really has nothing to do with the color of skin. Apparently some tribes used to paint their bodies a red color. I think we go too far to make sure we are politically correct, and this might be on instance when that is true. I also don’t think you go down the street, run into a Native American and say, “Hi, Redskin.” Redskin just doesn’t reflect the nature of who a Native American is. If I’m wrong on this, I’ll apologize, but I don’t think I am. Having said all of that, I don’t think Port Townsend or the Washington Redskins should change their name. Now, if they called themselves the Port Townsend Moshers I might object.  However, there is the flip side of the argument, and it is presented by Morrie (Miller) Black-Eagle, interim executive director of the Suquamish Tribe. He says, “I never been a fan of the use of the term. If you look at the historical perspective,  people really, in my opinion, used it to dehumanize Indian people and the genocide killing of human beings. Rather than call them human beings, they called them redskins. I really find it offensive. Some Indians covered themselves in red mud someplace in Kansas to protect themselves from the sun and they called them red Indians. I don’t know how accurate that is. I just know I have never seen a red Indian. There are lots of Indians with brown skin, but I never seen any that had red skin. I know when I was a kid, people would say you are a redskin … you are just a redskin. When it is used in those terms they weren’t given me accolades. It was mostly you are not at the same level as I am; you are just a redskin.” So there, you have it Big Dawg, and maybe now I should apologize before this goes any further. When you get the real truth from a Native American, it’s time to retreat and say I’m wrong. …  … How many gold medals is too many gold medals? That’s the question, Big Dawg, you must ask Kim Atwater. His Total Package team didn’t win gold at the 2013 Huntsman World Senior Games, but he again won gold in the free throw/3-point shooting and another in the hot shot competition at the games held in St. George, Utah.  It’s getting old hat for Atwater to win these competitions, no matter where they are held. He must have a storage unit someplace where he stores his vast stockpile of gold medals. Total Package came in second in the team 3-on-3 competition in the 55-year-old age bracket. The team was comprised of Atwater, Bob Carlson, Danny Miller, Dan Vahalla and Rick Walker. … Nick Bachteler won his first Kitsap Scratch Bowlers Organization title when he won all four of his matches in the TV Finale to win the Les Schwab Open held at Laurel Lanes in Port Angeles. Bachteler qualified fourth and then beat Tim Clemens 185-181, Jim Monahan 225-216, Mike VanWinkle, 268-165, and Lonnie Sharkey 224-183 in the championship game. Top qualifier Danny O’Toole won the Certified Hearing 205-and-Under Division by beating back the challenge of Jeremy Pyles 172-154 in the title match. .. George Edgar, who has written for the Kitsap Sun and for this rag for years and years, notes that Crosspoint Academy’s boys soccer team is scoring goals at an unprecedented pace. Edgar writes CA has beaten Shorewood Christian and Rainier Christian by identical 15-0 scores, Shoreline Christian 9-0 and Mount Rainier Lutheran 13-1. Apparently, Big Dawg, CA is not kind to the Christian boys. Edgar reports that CA forward Kyle Huber leads the Warriors with 25 goals and 13 assists even though he sometimes starts in goal. … The Seachickens play at Arizona Thursday night and most people expect them to win their sixth game. I’m not sure, Big Dawg. This is the No Fun League where anything is possible, and the Seachickens have not been exactly exploding on offense, despite coach Petey believing the offense is more than fine. We’ll see soon enough, but I have to see more out of their receivers. And I’m still scared that the midget, Russell, may get whacked pretty bad one of these games if he keeps on running. … Just for the record, Big Dawg, Bainbridge High School, coached by Dean Scherer, beat North Kitsap one week after it won the 1988 state baseball championship. Dean wanted you to know that. In face, Big Dawg, he says his team beat NK twice that season. … Not sure, Big Dawg, that the Washington Huskies are as good as we once thought. They almost beat Stanford, which at the time was ranked No. 5 in the country. But as Utah State proved, Stanford isn’t as good as we thought, either. And when Oregon just really demolished the Huskies, it proved two things to me: Oregon is really, really good, and should be ranked No. 1 in the country, and the Dawgs are not as good as their at the time 16^th ranking. The Husky secondary had problems all game against the Ducks. And the Husky receivers could not get open against the Duck secondary. And the Duck offensive line stymied the Husky defensive front. Bishop Sankey is as good as any running back in the country, and maybe the best running back in the country, but you can’t win with him alone. It will be interesting this Saturday in Tempe to see whether the Dawgs can stay with the Sun Devils. I’m guessing it will be a huge shoot-out with the Sun Devils eking out a victory. … I see, Big Dawg, you are climbing up the rankings in the weekly Fearless Football Forecast in the Kitsap Sun. Tied for third now. You could be in trouble this week, however, because it looks like one of those weeks that happens every year when the underdog comes out on top. You believe – and I think yo are right – that during a 20-game high school basketball season there is going to be two weeks when the favorites get upended. It’s like life itself – some days just don’t go right. You said it best when you wrote that when you were a kid you would hit stones from the dike into the Allegheny River and some days you couldn’t miss batting the stones into and over the river. Then there would come along a day when you couldn’t hit a stone to save you life. That’s life. There are ups and downs and some of the ups are way up and some of the downs are way down. You believe this week is one of those down weeks. So let’s look at some of the local games and see which ones could go the wrong way. Lincoln comes into Port Orchard unbeaten, but could be upset by the South Kitsap Wolves; Sequim has yet to win a game, and yet may have a good chance against Klahowya, and Port Townsend is 4-2 and should be favored, but plays at Life Christian and may be upended there.  And Washington is at Arizona State, and that may not go the way many around here believe. Of course, Oregon will take care of business in Eugene against Washington State. The Ducks will, won’t they? Or will it be one of those weeks? It’s all too much for me, Big Dawg, go put some gas in the Green Hornet and let’s get out of here.