Reflections on Melody Ross

It's not characteristic of me to talk about a school who I despise out of envy, at least in terms of their athletic programs. Lakewood had finished second to Wilson in girls' golf, volleyball and tennis, and I wondered; just how many more times are we going to finish runner-up to them?


But as an alumnus of a school whose district is shared by the other, as well as four other major Long Beach high school, I write this in solidarity.


As you all know, Melody Ross was a 16-year old pole vaulter/honors student at Wilson when she was shot, donning the garment of Kara Zor-El, known as Supergirl. This tragedy spread like wildfire, and people are still talking about the magnitude of the crime.


The gunman is still at large, but it looks to me that fate may be closing in on him soon. I'll curse the day the fates buy him time to atone for his crimes.


Anyway, here's how I got the news. I was at my school's homecoming game with Millikan. We trashed the Rams 60-7. It was a mess. So I head to the bus, but I end up missing it. I thought that was the 101 or 103 bus heading to the Westside. Turns out, that was just the bus heading towards Seventh Street. After I get off the 103 and head home, I trade shots with some of the people at the Long Beach Post web site, and then I get this news: "Friday Night Shootings: One At Wilson High, One Officer-Involved."


Uh oh. I read more news, and then I see the comments come out left and right on this event. I thought, man, I gotta take a look at this. I wasn't there to take a glimpse at what happened last night, but I could have if I made it time to get on board that 93 heading downtown.


So when I passed by on Saturday, everything was quiet. I was singing "I Believe" by the Blessid Union of Souls on my iPod. I saw a few posters celebrating Homecoming, and then I walk by a throng of students surrounding a set of flowers, candles and incense.


Then I pass by the stadium. Above the stands I could see arcs of ballons in Wilson's colors, a sad reminder of what was a day to celebrate the return of Bruins past and the great deeds of superheroes turn into a unforgettable, unforgivable Nightmare on Ximeno Avenue. I had to hold back tears after coming to terms with this.


Even some Lakewood Lancers fans went to send their condolences. The Lancers are scheduled to face the Bruins on November 13. I screamed to the heavens, "Justice Will Be Served! Rest In Peace!"


And the healing process continues. I start to question if the season finale is going to be held at Wilson, especially after seeing this unfold. I would rather see this at Vets Stadium, if only for the safety of the players, fans, students, etc.

Rest in peace, noble Bruin. As your mother said to you before you went, "You can fly now."

The Lancers even the score

“One, two, three…GARY D!”

So says the Long Beach Wilson High School baseball team as they took to the field at Blair Field in Long Beach, California against the rival Lakewood Lancers. They were battle-tested, winning a 7-6 nailbiter. Gary D, was, in this case, Gary DeVercelly. DeVercelly was a standout Wilson alumnus who died due to an alcohol-related binge haze gone wrong at Rider University.

For those of you who don’t know, Rider University is a school in the northeast of the country, and plays in the Metro Atlantic Ahtlwetic Conference. In other words, it’s a small school. But when news reached the players that Gary used to play with when he was with the Bruins, it hurt real hard.

For Long Beach Wilson, the most prep-looking of the schools in the Moore League, and the area for all that mattered, losing someone like Gary DeVercelly was like losing a member of their family. The Wilson banner flew at half-mast for a while. From that point on, the players wore black armbands, honoring their fallen comrade.

As a Lakewood alumnus, I felt some sort of sympathy for those folks. I never like to see people go like that. When they have so much to live for, and a lethal overdose of aqua vitae took all their hopes and dreams-and their life away, living can be a cruel thing.

I tried getting a bid to a couple off frats at Long Beach State. Neither gave me a bid. And while I rued the day they did that to me, I look back at it, and it was probably one of the best things that happened to me. If I was intoxicated, and died while pledging, my family would have been shaken to the foundation and some, I can tell you that much.

With all that out of the way, I am hopeful that Lakewood will have the breaks that will even the score with the high-flying Bruins. Lakewood is ranked 9th in the nation by Baseball America, while Wilson is ranked 4th. It’s very possible these two could meet in the CIF-SS Division I championship at Angel Stadium.

I love Dire Straits. My favorite songs include “Walk Of Life”, “Tunnel Of Love,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Money For Nothing,” and, of course, “Sultans of Swing.”

I am a connoisseur of good musical hooks. When a good riff is made, combined with a suitable melody that drives the song, it can make a song memorable. In my view, a Billboard-charting song has its foundation on the hooks, from the rhythm, to the melody, to the lyrics themselves. And when it’s done right, it tops the charts.

Some hooks are done so well, that they can be remembered for many years. Take, for example Republica’s “Ready To Go.” This song combined good rhythm sampling, with guitars, and some simple, but proper lyrics. The hooks that drive the verses, refrain, chorus and bridge make a song that was composed in the mid-90’s relevant to today. This song became a jock jam. In otherwords, it was a song made for sports, and is played during important matched for teams. I can imagine that a collage of clips featuring the team in question can be easily choreographed to this music, and played before the pre-match introductions.

But let’s get back to the match between the Lancers and the Bruins. I knew that this was going to be a preview for the playoffs that would follow later in the season.

The Bruins start off with a few base hits, and jump off to an early 1-0 lead. The Lakewood supporters, who are on the third base side of the field and up to that point were frustrated with the hits given up, finally have something to cheer about with an out caught stealing, followed by a ground out. This game was going to be a long one.

A high school game goes seven innings in regulations, but there are times that the innings get longer, and leaner. Walks, combined with inept pitching, equal some utter futility.

I’m not going to place any future mobile I have in my jacket pockets. They tend to slide out when the pockets are not restrained by closed zippers. I’ll have to leave my next one at home. Hopefully, when my mom calls, she found out that someone has my phone. This has to be the worst feeling, having to lose it on the bus thanks to poor jacket design.

At the end of the night, to keep a long story short, Lakewood held off a rally by Wilson, and won thanks to some key baserunning in the bottom of the fourth to even the score, and possibly have a share of the Moore crown, defeating Wilson 5-4.