TOE TAPPING: EOU’s Kirk Miller reels in a touchdown pass against Carroll Saturday. The Observer/PAUL HARDER

Sure the Eastern Oregon University football team didn’t come home with a win, falling 37-17. But that shouldn’t be the focal point.

A lot of teams have traveled to face Carroll College and left with a loss.

So I’ll try not to make this the Lou Gehrig luckiest man on earth speech, but for the past year I have been truly blessed.

While working here at The Observer I have seen some amazing athletic feats and some of the most beautiful country this state has to offer.

Last week I was offered the sports information director position at Eastern Oregon University, my alma mater. It was an opportunity I could not pass up.

CHOMPING AT THE BIT: Isaac Chamberlain prepares to hit an offering from a Pendleton pitcher Wednesday. - Observer photos/PAUL HARDER

The La Grande 9- 10-year-old Little League baseball All-Star team is headed to the Parkrose Little League baseball complex after defeating Pendleton Wednesday in the District 3 Championships, 13-8.

“It feels pretty sweet right now,” La Grande manager Kraig Jacobs said. “I’ve said it before but tournament experience is everything. We were in this position a lot last year and the kids showed a lot of heart and perseverance today.”

I have been holding back for a while now, but it’s time I say something.

Budget cuts are engulfing the area faster than anyone could have predicted and it’s becoming a little scary.

Maybe it was when Utah State and Virginia Commonwealth had their shoe-in upsets taken away in the first round.

In my opinion Cinderella was never invited to this year’s big dance.

Please feel free to contact the police because the Eastern Oregon University men’s basketball team was robbed.

I’ll begin by saying these are my observations and opinions and not The Observer’s, but EOU had a berth into the national final four ripped away from them.

I’ve never been a guy who blames referees or whines about calls, but as the cliché goes, there’s a first for everything.

Recently my carrier was bought out. The new company overnighted my new phone two months before I could use it — I’m still wondering why.

So, I thought a group thank you letter was in order to all the Union and Wallowa County coaches, team and faculty that made for an amazing season.

I’m once again almost at a loss of words.

Almost.

I have been to two NAIA national tournaments, the NBA playoffs, different levels of the NCAA tournament and played in some small college and high school basketball tournaments, but the experience last week in Baker City was in a league of its own.

It’s all come down to this.

Ninety-seven days after the season began, there are only four teams left playing out of the state’s 149 Class 1A teams.

Out of the four teams there is a team attempting to win its third title in a row, a team trying to win its second title in a row, another that hasn’t won in 15 years, and one that has never claimed a Class 1A title.

When driving to games all I ask for is a good game. A lot of times it doesn’t happen. But lightning struck this weekend — three times.

It was the sportswriters’ equivalent of hitting the jackpot.