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The final three days of last week were pretty crazy on several levels.
Thursday was an extremely long one due to the all-state baseball meeting and covering Tyler Consolidated's first game at the state tournament.
On Friday, I had the honor of taking in another Battle Against Cystic Fibrosis Football Classic game at St. Marys.
At one point prior to kickoff, I was having a conversation with someone and they told me how they always enjoyed my columns when I would write about summer vacation.
I don't have any exploits for vacation yet, but I was able to take this past Saturday off to make a day trip to north central Ohio because the better half was having a family reunion.
I'll get back to the Saturday post reunion ordeal in a few, but I wanted to touch on something I didn't realize was a thing until Tuesday evening when fellow scribe Kerry Patrick brought it up.
For those not in the know, the 1-and-1 in high school basketball is a thing of the past for the free-throw line.
Teams never will have to worry again about the pressure of converting the first charity stripe toss in order to be awarded a second shot.
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) came up with the idea and now prep hoops will be just like women's college basketball. The fifth foul of every quarter results in two shots and the team fouls are reset after each stanza.
Wondering about the reason?
According to Lindsey Atkinson, the NFHS director of sports and liaison to the basketball rules committee, the science said the data "showed higher injury rates on rebounding situations and saw this as an opportunity to reduce opportunities for rough play during rebounds."
Sorry, but that makes about as much sense as expanding all sports to four classes in the Mountain State.
Ravenswood head coach Mick Price noted he's brought the 4-foot restricted area up for review the past two years.
"I bet if they counted the number of crashes at the state tournament from block-charge they might look at a 4-foot restricted arc," Price noted. "It will challenge coaching strategy at the end of quarters. It is what it is.
"I always felt the pressure of shooting a 1-and-1, especially at winning time, was a great ingredient for the excitement of basketball. We're playing in Williamstown's summer league and they are implementing it. I was stunned when it came out."
Price and Yellowjacket head coach Scott Sauro are both reserving judgment for the time being.
"I have an open mind about it," Sauro expressed. "It's tough to determine if it's going to be a good thing or a bad thing until we see it in live action.
"We are preparing for it by using the same rules in our summer league. Hopefully we will get a good gauge on how we like it by the end of summer."
All-in-all, it turned out to be a very long three days. However, there's nothing quite like spending time with family, even if it's extended family, and some good memories were made.
Two of those I wouldn't necessarily classify as good took place around midnight Saturday after we left Upper Sandusky.
The first instance I never will forget was somehow managing to swerve into the other lane on Ohio 250 to avoid what would've been a nasty crash with a deer.
I've hit way more than my fair share of deer and I've had just as many attempt to suicide themselves into me, but for not hitting one this was as close as it's ever been.
Later in the drive while heading back down I-77, the life of what turned out to a be an opossum was laid to rest when there was no chance of a lane switch and it was a straight thud in the middle of the bumper.
Good thing we only have two weeks before the official start of summer.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com