BEVERLY HILLS (MI) — I first travelled to Puerto Rico when I was 15 and a sophomore in high school. For years, my parents had taken a sanity break from the harsh New England winters (and four kids) by vacationing at the Dorado Beach Resort with another doctor and his wife. The trip to Puerto Rico was basically a make-good for my Mom who had to endure our summer vacation — a week spent smallmouth bass fishing out in the middle of freakin’ nowhere in northern Maine at the end of August. Don’t get me wrong, my mother liked to fish, but Princeton, ME is hardly what you would call an idyllic vacation destination. Mom would return from Dorado Beach absolutely black, owing to the fact that she was one-half Native American; Dad would come back with the world’s greatest case of farmer’s sunburn, as he gave new meaning to the acronym WASP. Dad never was much for the beach or the pool — he and the other doctor spent all of their time on Dorado’s golf courses and in the casino.

After listening to us whine about never going anywhere exciting, Dad finally agreed that they would take the four of us kids to PR, but it would be during the summer before my brother set off for his freshman year at UD and my older sister transferred to Arizona State. I guess Dad figured it was the last hurrah, vacation-wise for us as a family. Turns out he was right.

The thing that those of you headed to the San Juan Shootout must keep in mind is that Puerto Rico is in the tropics, much closer to the Equator than Dayton or Boston by a long shot. Do not forget your sunscreen! My younger sister found this out first-hand when she got a nasty sunburn on the very first day. It required her to stay inside or at least in the shade for the better part of our remaining time there. My Dad still likes to tell the story of me playing golf against “Leslie” the son of some CEO with a serious case of “Connecticut lockjaw.” Leslie was older than me and was supposed to be a really good golfer; I played out of my skull and beat him by something like 15 strokes. Needless to say, it made the old man proud.

The next time I visited Puerto Rico was on our honeymoon. By that time, Dorado Beach had become the Gringo senior citizen Mecca of the Carribean. Mrs. Swampy and I were the youngest guests at the resort by about 40 years, save another newlywed couple from Philly, who we ended up hanging out with a bit. I had bought a wide brim Panama hat for the trip and there is a picture of me in our photo album sitting on a jetty wearing the hat and my WVUD Burnouts softball jersey, somehow managing to look even younger than my 22 years. Mrs. Swampy and I saw golf pro and Dorado native son Chi Chi Rodriquez give a trick shot exhibition. We also discovered Pina Coladas and ended up taking a cab into the town of Dorado one day specifically to buy a case of Coco Lopez coconut milk, the key ingredient (next to the rum) in making a truly great Pina. We singlehandedly introduced all of our friends back in Dayton to the joys of an authentic Puerto Rican Pina Colada, long before stupid Rupert Holmes came out with that silly song of the same name.

Unfortunately, much as I would love to, I won’t be able to visit Puerto Rico again this week when the Flyers play in the Shootout starting Thursday morning. Heck, I’m not even sure if I’m going to be able to watch any of it! I just started a new job at a software company doing inside sales, so webstreaming the telecast (if it’s even available) or Larry and Bucky (if it is not) is gonna be problematical. Looks like it’s gonna have to be GameTracker for the Swampster this time around, kids.

I have a very good feeling about this tournament. I remember UD’s first trip to the Maui Invitational in 2000 and the opening game vs. a little team called UConn. And you thought Creighton at home this season was a tough opening act! The Flyers represented on that trip by not only beating the Huskies but the Maryland Terrapins, as well. They did even better when they won it all their 2nd time around 3 years later, albeit against a much weaker Maui field.

I really don’t know what the Shootout organizers were thinking when they drew up the pairings for this thing. It’s like they said to themselves “Let’s put the 3 best teams all on one side of the bracket and have 2 of them play in the 1st round. And while we’re at it, let’s have the ESPN Family of Networks televise all of the games except for that 1st one, the only tilt on that day between 2 ranked teams.” Nice touch, fellas.

An opening round game vs. Georgia Tech; if the Flyers win, that sets up a potential 2nd round matchup vs. highly regarded Villanova. That’s a tall order, but I would like to think that the combination of UD’s pressure defense, depth and experience will serve BG and the Boys well vs. the Yellow Jackets. The Flyers are gonna have to play like I did vs. Leslie should they end up facing the Wildcats on Friday, but we all know UD’s recent track record vs. teams from the Big Least.

Go Flyers! Bring home a winner, have a Pina Colada, wear your sunscreen and enjoy Puerto Rico…I’ll be sneaking a peek at GameTracker as often as I can!

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
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