By Mark Carpenter-

It seems only appropriate that as 2018 fades into the rear view mirror that I use a line from a Frank Sinatra song as my column title. The Chairman of the Board became the music of choice for myself quite often in 2018, an idea that would have horrified me many years ago. When I was in my rock and roll teenage years and my parents were listening to Frank, there was no amount of money that would have gotten me to change over. I believe I may have grown older and wiser, but I haven’t give up my rock and roll roots. Just join me in the car on one of my late night trips home from a basketball game and you might wonder why Queen picked Freddie Mercury over me, or why Springsteen for New Jersey wasn’t Carpenter from Ohio rolling down Thunder Road with Wendy in that town full of losers.
The younger generation has yet to grasp the idea of how fast time goes by. 2018 seems to have just flown by, a fact that was driven home for me when I dated these sports pages as 2019. All in all, it was a good year for me, busier than I ever thought that I could ever be. I met a lot of new people and stayed close with a lot of old friends. I saw friends go through hard times and tough times and that always hurts. Just like everyone, my life had ups and downs in 2018, luckily way more ups. Double (which sometimes seems like triple) duty here at the paper keeps me quite occupied, but I was able to sneak in some free time, something I plan to do more often in the coming 12 months.
There are always great things going on in high school sports and not to slight anyone else, but the two biggest highlights for me both came from Peebles, beginning with the remarkable sage of one Jenny Seas. What an amazing athlete Jenny was, is, and will continue to be! Adams County’s first state champion has quite a nice ring to it and no one is more deserving that Jenny. I have been fortunate enough to see Jenny run numerous times in her high school career and honestly, I’m still waiting for her to break a sweat. With the horrible tragedy that struck her family this year, it was nothing short of brave and courageous what she and her sister did in leading the Peebles girls cross-country team to their first-ever state tournament appearance.
Back in March, the Peebles Indians boys basketball team took us all on another magical ride, one that saw them within one game of the State Final Four. Trips to the Convo are always a special treat for teams from the county and the Indians took us down Route 32 all the way to the Elite Eight, with some seriously nail-biting victories to survive and advance. I had to miss that Elite Eight game with Berlin Hiland, but I was following closely, watching a live Facebook broadcast while sitting in a really neat little Florida restaurant called “The Dune Dog.” That day didn’t go real well, but again the Indians did something that teams around her that advance that far do, brought together a whole county in support.
Personally, the two biggest sports highlights came away from my job and as most readers already know, they involved my boy and the New York Mets. First, we were able to make a trip to Spring Training in Florida in March and even drag his mother along (I believe her main reason for joining us was to make eyes at Jacob deGrom and to buy shoes). Then in late September he and I lost all common sense and made an expensive whirlwind weekend trip to the Big Apple to be in attendance at David Wright’s final major league game. I’m not big on glorifying professional athletes, but in this case I made an exception. “The Captain” had been Jordan’s favorite for his entire career and if athletes have to be role models, there’s not a better one. I said before the trip was expensive, bu tin reality it was priceless. Navigating our way through some sketchy NYC neighborhoods and Times Square and then a night at Citi Field. Memories made.
Of course, we Cincinnati sports fans had a pretty tough year. For the first time in 51 years, both the Reds and the Bengals finished in last place. Now, the Reds seem to have intentions of attempting to change that and the Bengals, well they still have Marvin and Hue and Mike, the tremendous trio. The Reds made the one big deal with the Dodgers and keep talking some big talk, but nothing has happened. The Bengals lost twice to the Browns, enough said.
So all in all, I’d say that 2018 was a good year for me. Of course, I stressed way too much over work and tried to balance that out with good times away from the office and don’t be shocked if I take a few more nights off here and there in 2019. One must protect their own sanity at times. To all of our loyal readers, thank you for 2018 and I promise that in the coming year, I will continue to give you the best sports coverage possible can while my neighbor here in the office, Pat Beech, will continue her outstanding work and we will continue to highlight the “good” things happening in Adams County. If you want to spend your advertising dollars wisely, call Terry, Amber, or Peggy-they are the best in the business.
From all of us to all of you, have a great 2019!