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East or West? East - Backus Clan circa 2015 I grew up on the East Coast, Long Island, but I have spent most of my adult life on the West Coast. While my brother Pete did move out here for a few years everyone in my family still lives on the East Coast except me. It's just me out here and for me, the West Coast is home and I do have Kris's family. A fter having quit the East Coast “Backus Clan” and joined with the West Coast “Chambers-Roth” Clan, the holidays always come with a little bit of mixed feelings. I've experienced 71 holiday seasons in my life. This past year marked the 32nd time I have spent the holidays on the West Coast with my wife's family, and those 32 would be 32 of the last 34. I spent 25 or so holiday seasons with my East Coast family with 20 of them being the 1 st 20 years of my life. That leaves 12 to 14. Two of those I spent with only my first wife, 2 with my second wife and her family and that leaves maybe 10 mostly by myself.

Basketball O nce you've been playing a sport for awhile you learn that there is both a physical and mental side to it. Initially you are just trying to master the skills but once you start competing against others you discover that equally important mental component. I am not an especially good athlete but what I am good at is recognizing my limitations and playing within my abilities. This may not sound like much, but it's a valuable skill and it turns out that many do not have it. Over the years it has enabled me to be at least competitive with others who were more physically gifted than myself. M y favorite sport has always been baseball but the sport I was best at was always basketball. I didn't shoot my first basket until I was in 4 th grade. It was at my friend Kenny's house. They had a hoop in the backyard and we ended up shooting hoops with his big brother. The following year I played on the grade school team and led the team in sco