Somehow, the Pacific's high school and interservice basketball courts won't seem the same after next week.

For John Zivic, a refereeing icon who officiated in the Pacific rim dating back to his first Kubasaki High School game in 1971, departs the island Friday for retirement in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

A guy who first came to Okinawa in 1967 with the 909th Air Refueling Squadron and flew more than 200 Vietnam combat support missions, Zivic has officiated in one capacity or another in Hawaii, Okinawa and Korea ever since. He served as basketball commissioner for Korea for six years and Okinawa for five.

Musings, mutterings and the occasional bit of schmahts as Ornauer turns full attention to the interservice sports summer beat, softball and football:

-- Quite radically different outcomes on Saturday than the first time Yokosuka faced Yokota on May 16 and Torii played Foster on May 9. Yokosuka scored 34 unanswered points and forced eight turnovers and three sacks in overwhelming Yokota 41-12; the Seahawks had to rally to beat the Warriors 25-14 on the 16th. And after getting pummeled 45-14 by the Bulldogs, the Wolfpack held Foster's offense to just one touchdown in a 15-6 defeat; on the ninth, Foster's offense posted four TDs.

Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as another Pacificwide Open Interservice Softball Tournament begins and ends in the blink of an eye and the countdown toward May 28, 2009, and the 20th anniversary tournament begins:

-- At last! The huge, 400-pound gorilla is off the Lady Guzzlers' and American Legion's backs. The third time was the charm for the Guzzlers, who suffered back-to-back double-dip heartbreak defeats at Sang Ji University's hands. Legion, meanwhile, finally snapped the International Guzzlers' five-year men's title streak.

Musings and mutterings as Ornauer sadly takes his soccer stag straps off his belt until March 1:

-- What a marvelous, magical moment for Zama American girls soccer Friday at Mike Petty. A team that had relied on an offense that produced 135 goals and 90 assists this season, both school records, saw the player responsible for keeping the ball out of the net open the door to a Trojans title.

Musings and mutterings as Ornauer hopes there's some first-class seats on the KTX bound for Seoul in the morning:

-- It couldn't be done, people insisted. No way could Osan -- or any other loser's bracket team -- survive a 5:30 a.m. wakeup, 7 a.m. start to the first of four matches, then win all four of those matches to stanch Matthew C. Perry's bid for a school-first Far East Girls Class A Soccer Tournament title.

Musings and mutterings as Ornauer examines the day's doings with a mix of surprise and understanding:

-- OK, the Girls Class AA Final Four field is set, Faith vs. Zama and Kubasaki vs. ASI ... um ... what was that you said?

-- You can't be serious.

-- A Kadena team that starts five freshmen and was thoroughly forecast to be rebuilding ... knocked off defending champion American School In Japan 3-1, with freshman Kristie Karibian's 40-yard lob shot in the 71st minute breaking the 1-1 tie?

Musings and mutterings as Ornauer almost mistakes Tuesday's Girls Class A play for Thursday's championship round:

-- Hey, c'mon, guys, can we save the tension for Thursday? Seriously, that Daegu-Morrison PK shootout and that nailbiting Perry 3-2 victory over Osan certainly had all the trappings of championship play. And that was just the first day of the double-elimination round.

-- Guts and glory award: Tuesday's goes to Jasmine Pressley, the Osan American sophomore who despite a painful left ankle soldiered on and even racked up an assists in the defeat against Perry. Another who believes that pain is only weakness exiting the body.

Musings and mutterings as folks from Falcon Field to Mike Petty Stadium commence to doing the dry dance:

-- One might expect a high school soccer team to get pumped to the strains of Kanye West, Fall Out Boy, Finger Eleven, No Doubt (even if they are sooooooo 2002), anything upbeat and modern. So, what is Robert D. Edgren's girls soccer team doing listening to Journey's 1981 standard, "Don't Stop Believin'?" "It's great music. It gets us pumped," senior Jaelen Knolla said.