Sunday, August 31, 2008

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Cougs versus Cowboys





WSU 13
OSU 39
8-30-08 - Qwest Field - Seattle, WA

My free bowl bet tix from Ron ...

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

I have to wear pants this week ...

For the first time since before the 4th of July I am stuck wearing pants ...

Almost two months of spending my days mostly outdoors in Summer School and Sports Camps ...

Almost two months of cargo shorts every day ...

Almost two months of not needing sleeves or shirts with buttons ...

Almost two months of throwing on a baseball hat ...

Almost two months of sandals or tennis shoes ...

A week in an office with a shirt with buttons and long pants might not seem like a hardship to anyone else, but it makes it clear that my summer is over ...

Joe ???

All that hubbub and its Joe Biden?

Listen closely and you will hear me beating my head against whatever computer monitor it is that I am at right now ...

I could go on and on about this, but I just don't want to right now.

Friday, August 08, 2008

From Russia with Love


Becky Hammon is a member of the Russian Womens Basketball team in the Olympics starting today ... and it is amazing how many people suddenly notice the WNBA ...

A track athlete recently qualified for his third Olympics, but his first since becoming a US citizen ... so after competing for Kenya he now competes for the USA ... A girl from Marysville competes for an island nation she has never been to but her father was born on ...

In Kenya, the distance runners are amazing and the Olympic trials for those teams are actually deeper than the Olympic race itself ... One year, 9 of the top 10 runners in one distance event were Kenyans, meaning that 6 of the top 10 could not go to the Olympics ... sounds like a similar situation to Becky ... since he had a better chance by changing teams ...

Becky? Nope, she is considered a "traitor". All she has done is attain Russian Olympic eligibility ... and when faced with never being an Olympian or playing for the country she currently spends part of her year playing in she chose to play ... leave her alone ...

Olympic eligibility is a bizarre thing that gets abused, but it is hard to blame someone for taking the opportunity ... I'm not sure I would suit up for Russia, but that was not a choice I had to make.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Battlestar Galactica (Part 2)



So ... here it is now a few months after deciding to check out the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica from the Lynnwood Library and I find myself having watched all the way up through Razor ... including the webisodes and extras on all the DVD's ...

All I have to do is get the half season that was just aired and I will be current when the final half season airs this Winter ...

I never thought I would say this ... but it is better than anything Star Trek has ever done ... and I find myself doodling the Eye of Jupiter while doing art projects with my summer school students ...

Monday, August 04, 2008

Cape Flattery Road Trip 8-3-08 Photos










Snohomish County Vikings 8-2-08






Snohomish County Vikings 21
Renton Ravens 24
Edmonds Stadium - August 2, 2008
NWFL

Entertaining football game with lead changes, a few big plays, and a chance to come back late. Not bad for the second half of my Saturday Football Double Header with the Seahawks Scrimmage ... combined cost ... $20.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Seahawks Scrimmage 8-2-08
















Seahawks Scrimmage 8-2-08
Qwest Field ...

I sat in various places around the stadium ... the 50 Yard Line seats are $375 for a single game ...

It was cool to see Michael Bumpus (Go Cougs!) make the best play of the day, but I doubt we will see Charlie Frye throwing to him unless something really, really bad happens ... or they clinch with a couple games to go ...

Hard to believe given how many dozens of events I have been to at Qwest since it opened, but I still have not seen a Seahawks game live here. Last game I went to was in the Dome in 98 with Erickson coaching against the Chargers ... and yes Leaf played ...

Evergreen Playfield





When my third grade team played on Evergreen Playfield it seemed like the largest soccer field in the world. It was also heavily sloped and the dirt had huge amounts of shredded tire rubber to cut down the dust. In high school I scored my only Varsity goal on the South goal. So now, 33 years later, I get the opportunity to play a couple games on the field I grew up on; even taking a shot late in the game on the South goal ...

They have taken out some of the slope and stopped using the tire rubber ... so it is not as much of an advantage going in one direction, but the dust is horrible on a Summer evening ...

Friday, August 01, 2008

I will drink Starbucks again when ...


... and only when ... there is a team to go with the youth courts around town like this one in Mountlake Terrace ...

It's your fault Howard.