One of the biggest mistakes (and there were many) of the Star Wars prequels was a complete disrespect for lightsabers. Yours got cut in half? No worries, here’s a spare. In A New Hope, Obi-Wan gives Anakin’s lightsaber to Luke with such reverence yet we saw no hint in the prequels that it was a special weapon to anyone. Which is why, whatever you think of The Force Awakens, I believe they nailed it on the lightsaber front. The lightsaber that was in Luke’s hand when it was cut off by Vader is central to the plot and is held sacred.
Relay batons are a dime a dozen (actually about $36.00 a dozen) and often left behind at track meets. They are kicked, dropped, stepped on, and ignored. But if you lose it, no worries, here’s a spare. We lucked in to a wonderful series of events resulting in the batons pictured above. Our state champion pole vaulter happens to be experienced with auto body work and painting. He made a couple batons with cardinal designs on them for the varsity relays to use throughout the season. The athletes loved them and kept good care of them. For state, I wanted something even more special. If you haven’t figured out the idea, it’s a dedicated baton for each relay painted to match our striped uniforms. After the state meet I added how we finished and included the initials of the girls who ran. I figure with the spacing, we’ll get about 20 years worth of qualifying out of each baton. I think that’s pretty special.
But it goes one level deeper.
The batons above were originally silver. I found them unused, wrapped individually in clear plastic, in a box in storage with the name Ferguson written on it. The name of my high school track coach who died in 1996 and first selected the striped jerseys for our team in 1972. You can bet that going forward, the batons we use at state will not be easily forgotten by the athletes who wielded them.