Mancaves

Cutter's Log - Stardate 2102.72.70
Current Song - Couldn't Get It Right (Climax Blues Band)


I happened to wake up extra early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. So for the meantime I'm once again cleaning my room.


It's come to the point where my room has expanded to outside of my room, taking up almost all of the hallway space upstairs. Some things cannot be moved, such as my computer - which we all use and would be kind of dumb to put it in my own room.


Since I run a website, there are a lot of my things near the computer such as files, equipment, pens/papers, etc. Today I'm working on trying to get some of this stuff in my own room. Hopefully I can make my room something work walking in, for other reasons than just going to sleep.


It's too bad I can't move my computer inside my bedroom. Then I'd spend eternity there.


Eternity. I don't think my parents want that. Sooner or later I will be able to find a place to live in, whether it be moving in with a woman that I love (crosses fingers) or one of my own. Either way there's a place that I want to put all of my things in and do almost all of my work in.


I was introduced to the concept of a "Man Cave" by a couple of message board friends of mine on Turk's Place, and the thought has always been in mind until now. Right now my bedroom pretty much has to double as the man cave since I don't have any other personal space in the house. I've never had a theme for my bedroom, since I never really had a favorite anything. In recent years, I have put more Chicago White Sox things in my room, but it doesn't take up a whole lot of space.


My walls are white. When my brother Chris shared a room with my brother Dan, his walls were filled with many things. I look at mine and think about how bare it is.


Time to fill it up. But with what? In my last entry I wrote about my high school sports memorabilia collection. Bingo.

I want my Man Cave full of older high school sports memorabilia from area high schools. Museum pieces, framed stuff, pennants, letterjackets, and things like that. I want to hang my coat in an old gym locker. But I want them to be conversation pieces, and it would be better if there was a great story attached to it. Example: "This desk with my computer on it is Bob Reade's coaches desk from when he was at Geneseo. He drew up a lot of plays at this desk." and so on and so on ...


Yesterday, I took a trip to try to find these pieces of history.


Because of my profession as a high school sports journalist, I don't collect anything from my days as a journalist. I just sum that up as not collecting anything from the 21st century. This means the last year that I can collect stuff is from 1999.


1999 was a great year, especially for Rock Falls. I have a state champion basketball hoop that hangs on the top of my closet door. I have the box of cereal that has their team picture on it. At a store in Sterling, I added some framed newspaper clippings of the state title win (similar to what hung in the lobby at Bennigan's in RF - but I don't think these are the same ones).


I added to my collection of pins with a couple of Sterling athletic pins from the early 90s, as well as a RFHS pin from the 1970s. This all adds to my only other pin, which reads "I (heart) Lady Rocket Basketball".


Also added to the collection were a couple of bits from youth sports, which will still work for the collection. I bought a copy of the first edition of a small magazine called "Twin City Living," and in it is a written history of the junior tackle football program in Sterling and Rock Falls. Much more prizing than that is a true piece of memorabilia: a 1944 Merrill School "first team" basketball award ribbon (which belonged to an "L. Boehm").


This one had nothing to do with sports, but I figured every man cave needs a special set of playing cards. This antique store had a double-set of cards commemorating the opening of Guilford High School in Rockford. The box is dressed in navy blue velvet and the backs of the cards show the entrance to the school. The cards are at least 50 years old.


Leaving town, I headed down Route 30 to hit some of the Little 10 area. I wound up not finding anything there, and also drove to Sugar Grove and Yorkville with no luck. Finally, Sandwich had a couple of things. One store had a vintage Sandwich High "S" letter, which I bought. Another store had a couple of "A" letters. I asked the clerk for a closer look at them, thinking they may be from Amboy (they were red and black), but they were from East Aurora instead.


By that time, it was soon to be 5 p.m. and it was raining. So I'll have to continue the search on another weekday that I have off of work.


I'm also searching through ebay, and will figure out a way to make payments in a way that is safe.


For now, I have a room to clean up. So for an undetermined amount of time, the bedroom will double as the Man Cave until moving out.


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And if you have things to unload, I'll take them.