Tom's Bizarre Hockey World

"The Age Border"

2006-05-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

The last game of the year. As always, I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I'm sad that I won't have anymore hockey games to go to for the next 4 months. And not only that, but I'll be missing alot of my hockey buddies over that time, too. But on the flip side, I think to myself how nice it'll be not having to drive hours on end somewhere for a game, only to either drive all night or early the next morning so I can either get to the next one or get home in time so I can get some sleep so I can get up for work the next day.

Both of those thoughts were running through my head as I drove back up to Vancouver, BC one last time on Saturday. Although I was looking forward to this one a little more since I knew that Emily and Jacque were gonna be there. At least I wouldn't be 100% alone this time.

I left home at about 10:00am on Saturday morning. I was gonna leave a little earlier than that so I could go mess around downtown Vancouver for a few hours before the game started. But since rain was in the forcast, I decided to leave a little later than that since I didn't want to walk around in water all day.

The line at the truck crossing at the border wasn't all that bad. It was a little longer than it had been the last couple times I had been up there over the last month or so. But I got stuck in the line where someone apparently was a little suspicious to the woman in the booth. And you know that if you're getting held up at the border getting into Canada for whatever reason, you HAVE to be guilty of something (lol). Usually, they don't give a shit about you or your papers anymore. They just ask a few simple questions and turn you loose on their beautiful country. So either the people in that white Honda Civic were stumbling in their answers, or they were making a pass at the chick in the booth (who was actually kinda cute).

I got into Vancouver itself at about 2:00. So trying to think of something to kill time, I just went back to the mall where Kurt and I walked around in last December. It's not much of a mall. And I didn't buy anything. I just mosied around there for a bit staring at the girls and the such. While I was in a record store, I saw a guy who I swear looked exactly like Pete Townsend. I know it wasn't him, though. First off, Townsend is alot taller than this guy (who was shorter than me). And the other thing is that I seriously doubt that Pete Townsend would be shopping at some chain record store in a mall in Vancouver, BC.

But, then again, I guess you never know.

When I saw that it was 3:00, I decided to go check into my hotel. Along the way, Emily text me saying that she had some "big news" for me. When I finally got a red light, I wrote back asking what it was. She then told me that it was so good that she wanted to see the look on my face in person. When I got that reply, I had a pretty good idea as to what the "news" was since it had been mentioned before. And it turns out that my hunch was correct. But we'll get to that a little later on here.

After I checked into the hotel, I asked Emily where they were. They got off to a later start than I did for whatever reasons they had. I did know that they were just driving back home after the game ended. And Emily's reply was "almost at the age boarder (sic)". Normally, "LOL" just means that I get it and was amused somewhat. But that answer REALLY DID crack me up. She's sooooooo close to her 21st birthday that she can feel it now. And I knew that within a couple weeks that whole "legal" thing won't be an issue anymore. But it still actually did make me laugh out loud.

Flipping through the stations in my room, I came across the French language CBC channel. They were airing "Desperate Housewives" at the time. Now, I've never seen an episode of that show before...even in English. So I sat there watching it dubbed in French. It was kinda trippy, really. I had no idea as to what the plot was. I figure they were desperate about something, though. But that's just a guess on my part.

After watching that for about 15 minutes or so, I started flipping through channels again. I finally settled on watching "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial". I don't think I had watched that film all the way through since it was in the theaters back in 1983. In fact, one of my fondest memories as a kid was my dad taking us to a drive-in theater here in Tacoma to watch a double-feature of "E.T." and the first "Star Wars". That was back just before VCR's became really popular. So it wasn't all that unusual to see older movies in theaters or drive-in's a few years after their initial release.

I had also told the girls that I would meet them at the Burger King up by the PNE for a pre-game dinner. So just as "E.T." was building to it's climax (I left just after the feds invaded their home and E.T. was all sick and stuff), I turned off the tv and started the long walk from the Best Western up towards the PNE. Yes, I could have drove my car. And, in this instance (especially when the game was over), looking back I probably should have. But I've made that walk several times before. Besides, I need the exercise (haha).

When I got there, Jacque, Emily and this other woman named Shannon (who I've sorta known for a while, but hadn't talked to a whole lot) were already there eating. I had told them earlier that dinner would be on me (since I had like $80 Canadian to get rid of...lol). But they were already eating. So I got my burger and fries and went and sat down. I believe it was even at the same table we had when we were there back in February.

Probably not even a minute after I sat down at the table, Emily asked me if I was ready for the big news. I told her I was, and she laid it on me. "Kristi's gonna get married to Matt in a couple weeks and you're invited to the wedding". Which was pretty much what I had expected. So I don't think the look on my face was quite what Emily had in mind. I figure it was one of ambivilence or something similar. The only minor shocker was that it was happening so soon. But, as I think about it now, it really shouldn't have been all that suprising since when I was at Jacque's place a couple weeks before, they had been talking about how he was about to be shipped off to Iraq.

Obviously that dominated the conversation at the table while we ate. And when we were done, we headed out the door and over to the coliseum. Along the way, someone commented on how all of a sudden there were all sorts of people opening up their little area's to charge for parking. I said something out loud along the lines of "that's capitalism in it's purest form. And that's an American ideology...don't forget that". There was some nervous chuckling, and the subject was dropped.

Jacque and I went to the will-call window to get the tickets we had bought and then started walking towards the doors which were about to open. It was gonna be a huge crowd, for sure. There was literally about 4x's as many people waiting in line to get into the coliseum as there usually is most of the time. And it turned out that it was a big crowd...over 13,000 fans!

Just after we got in, Jacque and Shannon recognized some people that they knew. So we all migrated over to them and they hugged the people they knew. Emily and I just kinda laid back and watched all this unfold. Then, a few minutes later, they saw some more people that they recognized and started saying hello and hugging them, too. Again, Emily and I were sorta left out of the whole thing. So to try to make us feel a little more welcome, I turned to her and cried "Emily" and gave her a hug (just as we had seen Jacque and Shannon do with the others). She kinda laughed, but didn't return the hug. So I made a note to myself...Emily doesn't like it when I hug her (lol).

My seat wasn't too bad. It was in the last row of the lower bowl in one of the corners. Not my ideal seat since it was behind the net and all. But at least it was up high where I could actually watch the entire game. But the other three had seats about half-way up in the upper deck somewhere between the blue line and the goal line in one end. Personally, I would have been much happier sitting up there than where I actually wound up. But since there were three of them and only one of me, I couldn't really trade tickets with them.

The four of us walked around the concourse killing time some time before warmups. When warmups started, we walked down to the boards in the Moose Jaw end to watch them do their thing. Jacque kept trying to get the attention of the former Thunderbirds who were now with the Warriors (Cole Simpson, Kyle Fecho and Matthew Hansen...who was the lone reason I took Kristi up to Red Deer in the first place). I'm not sure if any of them ever aknowledged her cries. But maybe one of them did. I don't know. I was sitting in the 2nd row while the three of them stood there in front of me hollering through the glass at the players so I didn't see much.

After that was over, we bought some beer and walked around a little more. I finished mine well ahead of everyone else. For whatever reason, I was feeling it that night. I had three more as the game went along. But I never really got all drunk and stuff. I'm still a smart drinker. And I knew I still had to walk back to the hotel after the game was over. Well, that and I had to get up early so I could get back for the Mariners game the next afternoon. And I didn't want to be all hungover the next day.

There was acutally a fight that night. But it didn't take place on the ice. It happened during the first intermission. There was this one guy who I figured was probably in his mid to late 30's and some other guy who was probably in his early 20's going at it. By the time we realized what was going on, security had already stepped in to break it up. They were trying to corral the older guy for the most part. And while they were doing that, the other guy came over and started barking stuff at the crowd who had gathered to watch the spectacle. He was dressed in this blue sweatsuit outfit. And he was trying to act all "ghetto" and stuff. It's always sad when a white guy here in the States acts like that. But it's even more pathetic when a white guy in Canada acts like that. Although I did get a kick out of him using the words "yo" and "eh" in the same sentance a few times.

Only in Canada.

As security was trying to apprehend the older guy, a member of the Vancouver police came along and decided to help out. He did so by dropping several knees into the guys back. I counted something like 4 of them. And, just before they picked the guy up in cuffs, he even landed a pretty good kick to his back. Since Jacque and I were the only ones tall enough to see this happening (Shannon complained that there were "too many tall people here"), I commented to her that he must want to try out for the LAPD (lol).

And of course the dumb-ass who wouldn't leave the scene (as the best idea probably would have been since he had a good two or three minutes to decide to do that and not get caught) was shocked when the rest of the cops showed up and wanted to arrest him, too. All-in-all, it was a textbook case of what happens when idiots collide.

As the game went along, I actually came to enjoy where I was sitting. The guy sitting to my right was really cool. He was fascinated by the fact that I came all the way up there from Tacoma to watch that one game. As time went along, he quizzed me on all the other places I had been to in my journies. He followed the old New Westminster Bruins back in the day before they took off to the Tri-Cities. He was also excited about the Chilliwack Bruins starting up next season. I asked him if he knew what was gonna become of the Chilliwack Chiefs in the BCJHL. He told me that there were a few possibilies, but the most likely one was that they were gonna move to Abbotsford. Which is information that Tom W just ate up when he called later on that night.

He also pointed out to me that this guy they were talking to who was standing in the aisle to my right was some sort of famous radio personality in the Vancouver area. He told me his name, but I didn't bother remembering it. I had never heard of him before. But, then again, I couldn't tell you the name of ANYONE involved with Vancouver radio. He was a pudgy little guy, though. His looks reminded me alot of former World Series of Poker champion, Greg Raymer. Although he wasn't wearing those goofy glasses.

The game itself was a wild one. Vancouver wound up winning it 7-5. Giants superstar, Gilbert Brule had himself a pretty good night even by his standards. He registered a hat trick along with three more assists for 6 points. I practically predicted his first goal. He had this wide-open chance, but missed the empty net. I then told the guy sitting next to me that "if he gets a 2nd chance here on this shift, he'll score. Brule never misses twice like that". And sure enough, about five seconds after I was done telling him that, he scored Vancouver's first goal. I missed his second goal as I had to go to the bathroom (a common side effect of drinking beer, for those not in the know). When I told that to Emily during the intermission, she said "don't worry. If you've seen one Brule goal, you've seen them all". So I guess it was just a hair short of spectacular, as most of his goals are.

Moose Jaw really didn't play all that bad of a game, though. They held Vancouver to 33 shots (a number that may seem on the high-end of average for most fans not familiar with the Giants. But they've tended to pepper the other teams in the playoffs for about 40 each night). And they were pretty efficient with their shots, too (they scored their five goals on only 16 shots). And most nights, they probably could have beaten just about any other team in the league with those facts. But the one fact that they couldn't overcome was the one that involved Gilbert Brule in a Giants sweater.

Folks, Brule is probably the best offensive force I've seen in the WHL since Marian Hossa plied his trade with the Portland Winter Hawks. And Hossa has become a pretty damned good NHL player. And I'll make this prediction now; Brule will be even better with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The tandem of Brule and Rick Nash is almost beyond comprehension for me. Perhaps it won't be quite like Gretzky/Kurri. But, at worst, it's gonna be like Bossy/Trottier. I would imagine it'll be somewhere between those two, though. Probably along the lines of Sakic/Forsberg. Now, if only Columbus can put together a decent supporting cast for those two, they'll be a force in their division for years to come.

And, when the final horn blew to end the game at 9:32 pacific time, my season was officially over. Oh sure, there was a chance that there would be a game 6 there in Vancouver the following Saturday. But I knew it wasn't gonna happen. And it didn't. Vancouver went on to beat the Warriors twice in Moose Jaw on Monday and Tuesday to sweep the four games for the WHL title. Which didn't suprise me at all. Like I've been telling people the last couple weeks (especially after watching them dismantle the Everett Silvertips...a pretty good team themselves...piece by piece with scary efficiency), this Giants club is the best I've seen since, at least the 2000-2001 Red Deer Rebels (who had, among others, Jeff Woywitka, Justin Mapletoft, Doug Lynch, Martin Erat, Jim Vandermeer, Kyle Wanvig and Shane Bendera to name a few). And more than likely the 97-98 Portland Winter Hawks (Marian Hossa, Brendan Morrow, Mike Hurley, Andy Ference, Joey Teterenko, Todd Robinson). The Memorial Cup tournament doesn't even start until next Friday in Moncton, NB. And I haven't seen any of the other teams in the OHL or the QMJHL. But I have a hard time not seeing Vancouver walking away with the title. Sidney Crosby may have been shut down by the London Knights in last years championship game. But Sidney Crosby was a one-man show for Rimouski. Gilbert Brule has a pretty good team that probably would have made it this far without him surrounding him (Mitch Bartley, Spencer Machecek, Paul Albers, Mark Fistric, Dustin Slade).

So good luck, Giants. Bring the Cup back home to the WHL!

But still, the season was over. I walked the 15 minutes back to the hotel alone in the rain. It wasn't a hard rain. But it was still typical of what we're used to up here...nice and steady. Along the way, I though mostly about Kristi's getting married. I'm happy for her if that's what she wants. I still think it's pretty early in their relationship to be jumping into something as big as marriage. But it's her life and her choice. And she seems high enough on Matt to do this. So I'm behind it. The only real thing I wished for along the way was that she would invite me to her wedding in a more personal way than to do it through Emily and Jacque (which she did a couple days later due to the encouragement of Emily). And when she did call, it was nice to talk to her for the first time since I helped her buy that car. If I had thought that she might avoid me after I loaned her that money to get that car, I probably wouldn't have done it in the first place since I wouldn't want a strain on our friendship. But I don't really expect to see it back in my pocket anyway. If I needed the money that badly, that would have also been a reason that I wouldn't have given it to her, too.

The way I figured, there were two things that could happen. It could be like Lindsay and Joe in St. Louis. Since Joe's girlfriend lives with him now, he and Lindsay don't talk much anymore. And I know that Lindsay still wants to be friends with him (which is all they ever were in the first place...like Kristi and I). And I definitely don't want that to happen. Hopefully, it'll be more like Karin and I. Really, things haven't changed much since her and Rick got married about a year ago. We still walk around the arena's chatting and joking about the games and give each other rides to different places. You know...pretty much the same as it's always been. Hopefully the same thing will apply to Kristi and myself (although I think the roadies to places like Red Deer are pretty much out of the question now...lol). But I guess we'll see.

And I thought alot more when I got back to the hotel room. I never even turned the tv back on. I just kinda sat there in silence for about a half-hour before I decided to just crawl into bed at about 10:30pm. I wasn't sleepy tired. But I was kinda worn out from the long day I had. So I just laid there thinking. This time, it was about all the traveling and hockey/football season. And how I feel worn out like that so often during the season. In a way, the best part of the summer is not always feeling so burned out like that everyday.

I thought about next season and how it's gonna be a bittersweet one since it's gonna be the last one for Tom W up here before he retires and moves down to South Carolina. Is he gonna go to alot of games kind of as a "one last big-bang" thing? Or is he gonna lay-off alot and barely go to any games? I think the answer will lay somewhere in the middle. He'll probably put on his "I'm not interested" act early in the season like he normally does. But he'll be back in action sometime around late November or early December.

And after about an hour of just laying in bed, I really started to notice how beat I was when I had a hard time mustering up the energy just to get out of bed and go to the bathroom. I eventually did, of course (lol). But that made me think a little more about all of this. Can I keep up this pace? Or, maybe more specifically, do I WANT to keep doing all of this? Like I've said before, I love the game to death. Throughout my life, with it's up's and downs and all the people who have come and gone, it's the one thing that's never deserted me. And I don't think I'll ever let it go completely.

But do I love it enough to keep on doing all of this? Of course, as I've said here just in the last few paragraphs, I get tired of being tired all the time. I know I'm only 32. But I know my body...I'm an OLD 32. And I can definitely tell that my body doesn't recover quite like it used to. It gets harder and harder to do as the years click by. Although, I have been thinking of using this off-season to try to get into a little better shape to see if that works.

But still...do I want to keep doing all of this? Do I even want to try it all again next season? I laid there in the dark going over the pros and cons of it. And while I was doing that, I came to the conclusion that I will. I may even go back to how I used to do it even up to last year. You know...get to Portland and Everett every time there is a game on the weeknights (something I didn't really do as much this year until the playoffs started). I still got to plenty of games this season. I counted them up the other day and the final total was 92. But it was still short of last years 112 and the 107 the season before that. And maybe...just maybe...I might try to break those records next season. You know...one more whirl for old-time sake.

Although it probably won't really be the last time. I'll have the same debate at this time next year with myself. And I'll probably come to the same answer. I'll try to explain it to you by using the final passage in another influencial book I read, "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton. As much as I credit "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" as my inspiration, "Ball Four" is more of what I model my little stories after. And, although it's about baseball, I think the same thing applies to me and hockey:

"You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out it was the other way around all the time"

The End

WE WIN AGAIN!!!!!!

2006-05-09T23:29:00.000-07:00

See...exactly what I told you would happen!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/seahawks/2002981166_hawk09.html

GO SEAHAWKS!!!!!!

LONG LIVE OUR 12th MAN!!!!!!!!

The Tommy Awards

2006-04-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

"The whole world is a circus if you look at it the right way. Everytime you pick up a handful of dust and see not the dust, but a mystery; a marvel there in your hand. Everytime you stop and think 'I'm alive! And being alive is fantastic'! Everytime such a thing happens, you are in the circus of Dr. Lao".

-Tony Randall, Seven Faces of Dr. Lao

------------------------------

Announcer: "Live from the Temple Theater in beautiful downtown Tacoma, it's the 47th annual Tommy Awards. And now, here's your host and humble narrator...Tom George"!

(audience applauds as Tom walks out from behind the curtains)

Tom: "Thank you everyone. Thanks for coming here tonight. As you might have been able to gather by now, these are my awards for the best of this hockey and football season. And what a season it's been. I can safely say that, without any doubt, this has been the best season out of the 10 years that I've been doing all of this. Of course, I can't have that much fun on my own. The thing that makes all of this so worth-while is all of you...my friends. So I decided to make this as much of a fun tribute to you while still handing out the awards for the best and worst of this season.

Now, there is only one nominee in each catergory. Which, of course is the winner. Except for the biggest prize of the year...the "Roadtrip of the Year". As time goes along here, I'll announce each of the 5 nominees along with a small scene from each one. This year's roadies were all excellent. So excellent that, in just about any other year, any of the five probably would have won. So, of course, the decision as to which one won came that much harder. Although I will say that it was easy to come to the conclusion that all five (and just about every other roadie I've ever taken) pretty much blew the lid off the stress-filled headache of a trip that was last years summer roadie".

(audience laughs and applauds as everyone knows the nightmare story that was that trip)

Tom: "Okay. So let's get this thing rolling. I sit next to the first two presenters at Qwest Field for the Seahawks games. So let's all give a big round of applause to Portland's own Dan and Jon".

(Audience applauses as Dan and Jon walk onto the stage)

Jon: "Man...what a season it was for the Seahawks. They went 13-3 during the regular season. Undefeated at home. And they FINALLY made it to the Super Bowl".

Dan: "That's right, Jon. And who can forget the best moment from the season"?

Jon: "Yeah...you mean when A.J. Feely missed all those field goals for the Giants and the Hawks won in overtime"?

Dan: "Nope. Not that"

Jon: "Oh, well then obviously it was when Drew Bledsoe threw that last minute interception to Jordan Babineaux which set up Josh Brown's winning field goal as time ran out against the Cowboys".

Dan: "Nuh-uh. Not that either".

Jon: "Then what in the world are you talking about"?

Dan: "The best thing to happen at Qwest this season was watching a drunk Mrs. Claus give lap dances to spectators down below us. I mean, how can life get any better than that"?

(audience laughs)

Jon: "Okay. That was a pretty good thing to happen. But we're here to hand out an award which also comes with a bit of a tribute".

Jackass of the Year

Dan: "That's right, Jon. This year, the biggest jackass of them all is Texas A&M Athletic Director, Bill Byrne. I mean, after 22 years, how come all this "12th Man" stuff suddenly became important to him right after the Seahawks won the NFC Championship"?

Jon: "Exactly. But the part that made him a jackass is how he ran from all the media who wanted to ask him about all of this. Instead, he left his poor spokesman hung out to dry as reporter after radio host grilled him down into admitting that, in the end, the Seahawks had the "intellectual rights" to it since A&M didn't trademark it until 1990....8 years after the Seahawks retired the #12 and that the whole thing was just a pathetic cash-grab".

Dan: "I'll quote the great Jim Rome here and pass this message along; "come back to us when you have an actual case and your program means something again".

Jon: "Okay. Let's bring out the winner of the 'Jackass of the Year". All the way from College Station, Texas, Bill Byrne".

(The crowd erupts into boo's. Except for Tom W, who gives Mr. Byrne a standing ovation)

Dan: "Here's your trophy"

(Dan hands Byrne his award)

Jon: "And, since you're here, we decided to give you an up-close view of a special treat. I would like to bring out a fellow Seahawk season ticket holder, Jenna".

(Jenna walks out from behind the curtain)

Dan: "It's gonna be Jenna's honor to raise OUR 12th man flag here for tonights ceremony. Go ahead, Jenna"!

(Jenna starts raising the flag as "Bittersweet Symphony" by the Verve plays over the PA)

Jon: "We also have another gift for you. I'd like to bring out Jennifer from the Thunderbirds games. Jennifer..."

(Jennifer comes out from behind the curtain, walks up to Mr. Byrne, and knees him in the balls. The crowd roars with approval except for Tom W....who boo's the scene. Jon, Dan and Jenna all drag Mr. Byrne off the stage)

Tom: "Thanks guys. And now here's a scene from our first nominee for "Roadtrip of the Year". This is a clip from the trip Kristi and I took to Red Deer, Calgary and Kelowna to start off the season back in September":

--------------------

Oh Canada

(Driving through the western edge of Calgary)

Tom: "Hey...check that out. It's the ski junps from the 1988 Olympics"

Kristi: "That's pretty awesome. You can even see the Olympic Rings on the side of them".

Tom: "I can see Eddie the Eagle sliding down there and taking flight even now. That is pretty cool".

Kristi: "Who's Eddie the Eagle"?

Tom: "He was this English guy who wasn't very good at ski jumping. But somehow he qualified for the Olympics and he became the biggest star that year".

Kristi: "Oh...I think I may have heard of him. What's that next to it"?

Tom: "That looks like the bobsled track. Man...that's the first time I've ever seen one of those".

Kristi: "Hey...the Jamaican bobsled team ran there. You know...like in Cool Runnings".

Tom: Yup...that's where that happened".

Kristi: "Oh god. How did that go"?

Tom: "How did what go"?

Kristi: "You know...that little song they sang in the movie".

Tom: "I can't remember".

Kristi: (after muttering to herself for a few seconds) "Feel the rythem/feel the rhyme/come on boys/it's bobsled time"! (she laughs at herself for remembering)

Tom: "Ah yes...now I remember. Here, take some pictures while we can".

-------------------

(The crowd applauses. The camera zooms into Kristi who flashes a big smile and two thumbs up)

Tom: "A few weeks ago, one of our next guests won the award for "Line of the Year". And the other one just finished up her short-lived career in the United States Army. Please welcome from Portland, Earlene and Kara"!

(audience applauses as Earlene and Kara walk out from behind the curtain)

Earlene: "Hello Kara".

Kara: "Hello Kurt's mom".

Earlene: "You know why we're here, don't you"?

Kara: "Yeah...cause Tom wants to torture us"

(audience laughs)

Earlene: "Well, that's probably part of it. But it's also so we can give out the award for "Game of the Year".

Kara: "I think we can do that".

Game of the Year

Earlene and Kara: "And the winne...."

Earlene: "Go ahead. You say it".

Kara: "Oh no...that's okay. You say it".

Earlene: "No...you do it".

Kara: "Why"?

Earlene: "Because I'm not competing with a puckbunny".

(audience chuckles...except for Tom W)

Tom W. (from the audience): "Dammit! That's my award! Give it back to me...NOW! Play something white! Good thing you're not a plumber"!

(Kara goes down to Tom's seat and whacks him in the leg with her crutch)

Kara: "Shut-up, Tom"

(Kara goes back up to the stage where she high-5's Earlene)

Kara: "The winner is......the New Years Eve game between the Portland Winter Hawks and the Seattle Thunderbirds".

(the audience applauses while former T-Birds goalie, Gavin McHale, accepts the award on behalf of both teams while the cut over his eye continues to bleed).

Tom: "Thank you, ladies. Now here's a scene from the 2nd nominee for "Roadtrip of the Year" from back in early October.

--------------------

St. Louis Trip

(Outside of the weekly farmer's market near downtown St. Louis)

Lindsay: "Well, now what do you want to do"?

Tom: "I wanna go back in the first part of it again".

Lindsay: "Why"?

Tom: "That one chick was staring at me".

Lindsay: "So? She probably just wanted you to buy something".

Tom: "No way...she wanted me".

Lindsay: "Yeah, right".

Tom: "There's only one way to find out. Come on.....let's go".

Lindsay: "Okay. But nothing is gonna happen"

(Linsday and Tom walk back into the building and make a bee-line back to the one stand where that chick was. They slow down as they approach the stand. But the chick is talking to someone else as they get there. They stand around the display for a minute or so. But the chick behind the stand doesn't seem to notice them. So they walk away).

Lindsay: "See. I told you she didn't 'want' you".

Tom: "Yeah. It was worth a shot, though. I do like that picture of Christina Aguilera over there, though. Too bad it's too big to take on the airplane with me or I might have bought it".

----------------------

(Audience applauses)

Tom: "Please welcome from Everett, Jerry and Elizabeth"

(Audience applauds as Jerry and Elizabeth walk out from behind the curtain)

Jerry: "We're here to hand out the.....what are you doing"?

Elizabeth: "I'm sending a text message".

Jerry: "Can't it wait? We're supposed to be handing out the award for "Best Moment of the Year".

Elizabeth: "No. Besides, this text messaging thing is too damned addiciting".

Jerry: "Who are you text messaging"?

Elizabeth: "Tom".

Jerry: "He's standing 15 feet away over there! Why don't you just go tell him whatever you have to say"?

Elizabeth: "Because...I wanna text message".

Jerry: "Fine. I'll just give this award while you text message".

Moment of the Year

Jerry: "Wait a minute. I don't have an envelope with the winner here".

Elizabeth: "Hmmm...that's odd. They were supposed to give it to us back stage".

Jerry: "Hold on while I go back to get it".

Elizabeth: "Oh...I just got a text message from Tom".

Jerry: "Tom...don't encourage her".

Elizabeth: "But he tells us what the winner is"

Jerry: "Okay...what wins"?

Elizabeth: "It's when Paul Allen raised the #12 flag at the NFC Championship game".

(Audience applauses...except for Tom W who boo's again).

Tom: "Thanks guys. That was truely an awesome moment. The way all 67,000 people roared as that happened. I'll never forget that moment, for sure.

Tom W (from the audience): "You're show sucks".

Tom: "Shut up, you bastard"

Tom W: "No".

Tom: "Kara...do you mind"?

(Kara gets up from out of her seat and whacks Tom W in the knee again).

Tom: "Thanks Kara. And now for a scene from the 3rd of the nominees for 'Roadtrip of the Year'. The trip Kurt and I took to Vancouver back in December".

---------------------

Is It That Obvious?

(Tom, Kurt and their mystery guest are standing around outside the Pacific Coliseum)

Mystery Guest: "Guess what"?

Tom and Kurt: "What"?

Mystery Guest: (comment deleted in the name of good taste. But the audience can hear it)

Tom: "Oh man...why did you tell us that"?

Mystery Guest: "Because it's awesome"!

Kurt: "No it's not. That's disgusting".

Tom: "No shit".

Mystery Guest: "Guess what else"?

Kurt: "I don't want to".

Mystery Guest: (Comment deleted in the name of good taste. But the audience can hear it).

Tom: "Well that's something we didn't have to know".

Kurt: "Yeah. I'll never look at him the same way again".

Mystery Guest: "All I know is that (comment deleted in the name of good taste. But the audience can hear it).

(Winter Hawks owner and GM, Ken Hodge, walks by Kurt, Tom and the mystery guest and shakes his head in disbelief).

Kurt: "Okay. I think it's time to go back inside".

Tom: "Yeah...the game is about to start again, anyway".

(They pass a security guard who looks at the three of us while laughing)

Tom (to the security guard): "I apologize for our friends crude behavior. Our American customs differ quite a bit from your Canadian ones, though".

-------------------

(The camera pans the crowd...everyone of which is now, at least, feeling queezy and unsettled. Except for our Mystery Guest)

Tom: "Okay folks...calm down. If Kurt and I could live through that, so can you. Actaully, now might be a good time to lift our spirits up a bit. Our next guests have traveled here all the way from St. Louis, Missouri. Let's give a warm welcome to Lindsay and Joe"!

(Audience give them a standing ovation as they walk out from behind the curtain)

Lindsay: "Wow! Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! It sure does add to all the things we've seen since we arrived here in Tacoma".

Joe: "No kidding. Since we've been here, we've seen a drug deal gone bad on McKinley Avenue, a backyard meth lab get busted on Portland Avenue, gang activity on Hilltop and hookers turning tricks on South Tacoma Way".

Lindsay: "Yeah. It's almost like we never left St. Louis".

(audience laughs)

Joe: "Okay...we're here to give out a special achievment award. It's the "Keith Tkachuk Award" for the biggest loser of the year".

Lindsay: "The winner of this award won it running away...almost literally. He stole one of his teammates wallets...which had a reported $600 in it, and took it to a local casino. Well, what he apparently didn't comprehend is that he was too young to gamble in a casino in Washington".

Joe: "So while lacking that knowledge, he was promptly taken into custody where the authorities found the stolen wallet still on him. He fessed up to his crime and was promptly kicked off his team via a vote from the rest of the players".

Lindsay: "Let's welcome this year's biggest loser....former Seattle Thunderbird, Roman Tomanek"

(The audience laughs AND boo's at the same time as Mr. Tomanek takes the stage)

Joe: "Now, you don't win a trophy. But we do have a couple prizes for you in the spirit of Keith Tkachuk".

Lindsay: "The first of which is a broken wooden chair that you can blame on 'poor Japanese craftsmanship".

Joe: "And the other is a baker's dozen of freshly baked Krispy Kreme donuts"!

Roman Tomanek: "Thank you...I think. I'm outta here".

(audience doesn't really know what to do. Nervous applause fills the void)

Tom: "And now for a scene from the 4th nominee for "Roadtrip of the Year". This is from February when Kristi, Jacque, Emily and I all went up to Vancouver".

------------------

Seattle is Bad.....Want Some Popcorn?

(In the hotel room after hanging out at the Fogg & Sudds for a couple hours)

Emily: "Fuck you, Tom. You're not drunk enough"

Tom: "What do you mean? I'm plenty drunk"

Emily: "No you're not. You didn't have enough to drink".

Tom: "I had 6 beers tonight. I'm feeling it. I can just hold my alcohol better than you".

Emily: "Whatever".

(Tom wads up a small piece of paper, turns around and flings it at Emily. After it hits her, she gives a little scream and jumps into the air).

Emily: "What was that"?

Jacque (from the bathroom): "What happened out there"?

Tom (laughing): "I nailed Emily with a piece of paper".

Emily: "That scared the shit out of me".

Tom: "That was funny".

Emily: "Fuck you. You're still not drunk enough".

----------------------

(The camera pans past Jacque, who smiles and waves at the camera. Then Kristi, who smiles and gives a thumbs up. Then Emily, who flips the finger at the camera)

Tom: "Our next presenter has come up here from his digs in Gresham, Oregon. Please welcome, Kurt"!

(audience applauds as he walks out from behind the curtain)

Kurt: "First off, I'd like to publicly congratulate my mom for winning the "Line of the Year" award".

(audience applauds...except for Tom W)

Tom W: "Shut up, Kurt! That award shoulda been mine and you know it"!

Kurt: "Kara...do you mind"?

(Kara goes back over to Tom W and gives him another whack in the knee)

Kurt: "Thank you. I'm here to give out the award for "Best New Hangout". Let me tell you something...this place will become a tradition for alot of us before a Winter Hawks game".

Best New Hangout

Kurt: "And the winner is....."The Acropolis" in Milwaukie, Oregon"!

(audience applauds)

Kurt: "The owner of The Acropolis couldn't make it tonight. So, to accept this award are several employees of The Acropolis being escorted to the stage by Tom W, Dan, Jon, Jerry, Jerry, Jeff, Don, Kenny, Joe, Steve, Steve, Matt, Rick, Doug, Bill, old man Tom, our host and myself".

(the rest of the audience...the women in attendence...aren't applauding for some reason)

Tom: "Thanks everyone. I know I can't wait for our next visit to The Acropolis. And now we'll".....

Joe (interupting): "Hey Tom".

Tom: "Hey...it's Joe, everyone. What do you want? You've already done you're presentation for tonight".

Joe: "I know. But something has come up".

Tom: "And what would that be"?

Joe: "My wallet is missing".

(audience laughs...while checking for their wallets and purses)

Tom: "I think I know where you can find it".

Joe: "Where"?

Tom: "The Emerald Queen Casino is just off of I-5 over by the Tacoma Dome. I think you'll find the culprit there. But you better hurry up before he gets caught by the authorities".

Joe: "Thanks for the tip. I'm on my way over there right now".

(Joe leaves the stage...along with several other members of the audience following up on that hot tip)

Tom: "Alright. I apologize for that. Now it's time for a scene from the 5th and final nominee for "Roadtrip of the Year". This is from our trip to Salt Lake City and Boise back in late March.

We Be Representing Da' 253...Naw I Mean?

(Inside a McDonalds in Baker City, Oregon at around 9:30pm on a Thursday night)

Voice 1 in the kitchen area: "Stop screwing everything up. Customers are getting pissed off at us".

Voice 2 in the kitchen area: "Then stop sending me the wrong orders. I don't get paid to get chewed out for other people's fuck-ups".

Tom: "Wanna go somewhere else"?

Tom W: "Hell no...this is too entertaining to leave now"

(they both laugh)

Teenaged male who works there: "I'm going outside for a cigarette".

Manager: "You've already had your break for tonight"

Teenaged male: "I don't care. I need a smoke"

(teeneged male goes outside)

Manager: "Sorry about all of this. What can I get you boys"?

Tom: "I'll take a #3 with a Coke".

Tom W: "I'll have a chicken salad and a diet Coke".

(they pay for their meal and take their cups over to the soda machine. Tom puts his cup under the Hi-C dispenser and pushes it....only to be sprayed by water that's shooting out all over the place)

Tom: "What the hell is going on here"?

Tom W (laughing): "I have no idea. Doesn't suprise me, though.

Tom: "I got water all over my leather Seahawks jacket"

Tom W: "No real loss there".

Tom (to the manager): "Hey...I went to get some Hi-C and the stupid machine sprayed water all over the place and on me".

Manager: "Oh, that's right. I took the nipples off the machine. I gotta get it from the drive-thru dispenser".

Tom W: "Did you take a lighter to them"?

Manager: "Huh"?

Tom W: "Never mind"

(The teenaged male pokes his head in the door)

Teenaged employee: "I'm going across the street. There are these chicks who want me".

Manager: "But you're on the clock"!

(Teenaged male doesn't answer and just goes back outside)

Tom W: "We gotta eat here again".

----------------------------

Tom: "And now, to present the final award of the evening, please give a warm welcome to Karin".

(Audience applauds as Karin walks through the curtain)

Karin: "I'm here to give out the award for 'Roadtrip of the Year'. But the one question I have right now is why don't I have any corny jokes or bits to perform like everyone else tonight"?

Tom: "Well, frankly, it's because I'm drawing a blank right now".

(audience laughs)

Karin: "I see. Well can I do something if I think of something"?

Tom: "Sure...go ahead".

(Karin rubs her chin and stares off into the distance while she thinks)

Karin: "Okay...how about this"?

(Karin whispers the idea in Tom's ear)

Tom: "Sure...be my guest".

Karin: "Kara, can you do your thing one more time"?

(Kara walks back over to Tom W and whacks him in the knee with her crutch again)

Tom W: "Hey...what was that for"?

Karin: "I dunno. I just felt like it, I guess".

(audience applauses)

Karin: "Okay. Now it's time for the biggest award of them all".

Roadtrip of the Year

Karin: "And the winner of the 2005-06 Roadtrip of the Year is.......

The early October trip to St. Louis"!!!

(audience applauds while Lindsay and Joe walk to the stage to accept their award)

Tom: "Like I said earlier in this story and all through the season, all five of these trips probably would have walked away with the award most years. All five of them were much better than solid. I could make several arguments for each one. The one thing I tried to find was that one knockout moment from any of them (like our visit to the Vancouver Hooters in 2003 when that infamous line was uttered. Or Kristi and I staggering around in a drunken stupor in that Kelowna McDonalds last year). But none of them really had anything like that. So I started looking for a weakness in all of them. Which, outside of how the first one in September ended, I really couldn't find any.

But I started thinking about it from a different angle. And I remembered a couple years ago when 'Lord of the Rings; Return of the King' won all of those Academy Awards...including Best Picture. Now, most people think the 2nd movie of the trilogy was the best of the three. But the popular belief is that 'King' won more as a tribute to the combination of the three movies rather than just on it's own.

And since St. Louis finished a strong 2nd each of the last two years to the previously mentioned winners, I figured that it was just their time. I've been there 4 times now (ahem....AHEM), and Lindsay and Joe have been nothing more than two of the best hosts anyone could ever ask for.

So congratulations, you two. You guys pulled it off this year"!

(audience applauds)

Tom: "Well, that just about does it for tonight. I'd like to thank everyone out there who has made this year so GREAT! Keep on reading through the end of this. I'll identify all the people who mattered to me at least a little bit.

But what would an awards show be without a grand finale? Not much of one, I say. So get these songs stuck in your head and try to imagine the spectacle. Thank you and good night, everybody"

(The house lights go dark while a couple of spotlights shine down on the stage)

Voice (singing): "Take this pink ribbon off my eyes"

(Kristi walks onto the stage dressed like Gwen Stefani circa 1995)

Kristi (singing): "I'm exposed and it's no big suprise/Don't you think I know exactly where I stand/This world is forcing me to hold your hand/'cause I'm just a girl/little 'ol me/Don't let me out of your sight/I'm just a girl/all pretty and petite/so don't let me have any rights/ooooooooh...I've had it up to heeeeeeere"

(The spotlight goes out on Kristi. Another one focuses in on a white curtain where we can see a small figure standing behind it in shadow. There's an organ playing one note)

Voice (speaking): "Dearly beloved, we're gathered here today to get through this thing called life. Electric word "life" it means forever and that's a might long time but I'm here to tell you there's something else......the afterworld.

A world of neverending happiness. You can always see the sun, day or night. So when you call up that shrink in Beverly Hills, you know the one---Dr. Everything Will Be Alright. Instead of asking him how much of your time is left, ask him how much of your mind, baby. 'Cuz in this life, things are much harder in the afterworld. In this life, you're on your own".

(The shadow behind the curtain starts playing a guitar)

Voice: "And if the elevator tries to bring you down....go craaaaazy. Punch a higher floor...wooooo"!

(The music really kicks in as the curtain drops to the ground. It's Emily...playing a guitar...dressed up like Prince circa 1984)

Emily (singing): "If you don't like/the world you're livin' in/take a look around/at least you got friends/I called my old lady/for a friendly word/picked up the phone/dropped it on the floor/(heavy breathing) is all I heard/are we gonna let the elevator bring us down/oh no/let's go/let's go crazy/let's get nuts/let's look for the purple banana/'till they put us in the truck...LET'S GO!

(The spotlight goes out on Emily and focuses in on a hole in the floor)

Voice (singing): "At first I was afraid/I was petrified/kept thinking I could never live without you by my side"

(Jacque rises from the floor...dressed in her finest disco-era sequined polyseter gown...singing into a Coke bottle)

Jacque (singing): "But then I spent so many nights/thinking how you did me wrong/and I grew strong/and I learned how to get along/and so you're back/from outer space/I just walked in to find you here/with that sad look upon your face/I should have changed that stupid lock/I should have made you leave your key/if I had known for just one second/you'd be back to bother me

(Kristi and Emily join Jacque...also singing into Coke bottles)

Jacque, Emily and Kristi together: "Go on now/go walk out the door/just turn around now/'cause you're not welcome anymore/weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye/did you think I'd crumble/did you think I'd lay down and die/

Oh no/not I/I will survive/oh as long as I know how to love/I know I will stay alive/I've got all my life to live/I've got all my love to give/and I'll survive/I will survive

(The three of them continue on singing the song while balloons and confetti fall from the ceiling. Most everybody is up dancing around. Except for poor Tom W...who's limping his way towards the door)

THANKS EVERYONE!!!!!!

Here's a list of everyone who contributed positively to this season:

Tacoma area
Tom W
Karin
Rick
Sharon
John

Seattle
Kristi
Jacque
Jeff
Jennifer
Elspith
Bill
"Old Man" Tom
Andrea
Megan
Jenna

Everett
Elizabeth
Jerry
Don
Kenny

Portland
Kurt
Kara
Jerry
Earlene
Doug
Steve
Tracy
Dan
Jon

Tri-Cities
Samantha

St. Louis
Lindsay
Joe
Ryan

Dallas
Pam
Lindsay

Virginia
Deborah

Denver
Bridget

Red Deer
Steve
Matt

And yes............

even Emily

Fear and Loathing at Jacque's Birthday Party

2006-04-09T18:59:00.000-07:00

Okay...so all of this happened over a week ago (lol). My intention has been to write this for a week now. But I've had some more games to go to and when I've been home, I've been too tired. I was gonna pound it out on Thursday night after I wrote about game 7 of the Seattle/Portland series. But I fell asleep (lol). I think I spent most of my time at home last week sleeping off all the effects of last weekend. Hell, Emily called me from Calgary on Monday when she was at the Flames/Red Wings game (which I was watching on tv at the time) and she woke me up. I was so out of it, it took me a few seconds to be able to gather my wits so I could comprehend what she was asking me...what kind of shirt do you want? (lol)

So anyway, as I sit here and start typing this, I'm not sure how detailed things will be. I'll probably miss a bunch of key stuff. But the meat and potatoes will be there.

Friday, March 31

Game 4 of the Seattle/Portland series down in the Rose City. Seattle won the game, 6-3. The entire match was a minor-penalty fest. Referee Chris Savage was calling players for just sneezing. It was just insane. There were some obvious calls. Some that were borderline (in that maybe you call them in the regular season, but not in the playoffs). And others were just plain head-scratchers. My theory on it is that it was the last day of the month and Savage still had a way to go in order to meet his penalty quota for the month.

Tom went with me down there that night. Originally, he was supposed to do the driving. But when I walked outside to get into his Explorer, he was standing there alone waiting for me. It turns out that he wanted ME to drive. That scurvy bastard. He took the day off and he told me that since I had done the driving last weekend, he would take the wheel down to Portland. But I guess not. My plan was to try to catch a few z's in the passenger seat since I was really tired from not only going down there earlier in the week, but also from doing all the driving the previous weekend.

My best plans were foiled again (lol).

So being that we were already late, I still had to get some cash from the bank AND fuel my car up (since the "Low Fuel" light had just popped up on my dashboard). So now we were even later in getting down there. We still got there in plenty of time, though. But it was about 6:45 instead of the usual 5:45 I usually get there after work.

Tom is also going with me down there next Thursday for game 5 of the Portland/Vancouver series. This time, I told him he's driving or he's not going (lol).

The funniest part of the night came during the 1st intermission. Kurt, Tom and I were walking around the club level concourse to meet up with Kurt's parents. Kara called while me while we were walking and kept telling us to stop where we were so she wouldn't have to catch up with us. But we just kept on walking (lol). When we got to Mr. and Mrs. Williams, we chatted with them for a couple minutes before Kara finally came hobbling up to us. When she got there, she whacked the three of us in the knee with one of her crutches (lol).

So as we were walking away from Kurt's parents, Tom decided to get some revenge on her. So when she turned to walk away with us, he held back for a second and then gave her a light kick in the ass. "What did you do that for" she asked him. "That's what you get for hitting us in the knees like that" Tom replied. So she whacked him again. And then he kicked her in the ass again. "Tom...you're in so much trouble" she said. "How much" Tom asked her back before landing another foot on her butt. Kara started giggling and said "ALOT"!. So Tom gave her another boot. By that time, we were laughing pretty hard and all that senseless violence came to a merciful end.

And for the record, Tom was gracious in defeat towards Earlene Williams. "Tom told me about you winning line of the year" he told her. "It was a good one. I'll give it to you this time". See.....he's a good loser (haha).

Saturday, April 1

Thankfully, I had the day off at work. So I was able to sleep in a little bit. I had been invited to Jacque's birthday party earlier in the week. And the first phase of it started at 1:00pm. I was a little late getting there due to some unforseen problems, but I still got there alot earlier than I thought I would.

On my way up there, Kurt called me and told me that he had decided to head up to the game in Seattle that night. This came as a bit of a shock for me since he had just told be the night before that he swore he would never go to another game in the Key Arena again. Especially since they had taken out the old club seats which were wider than the usual seats in the arena. That and he's had some trouble's with a couple Seattle fans in the past.

And I don't think I had told him that I had Jacque's party to go to the night before. He had already bought his ticket down in Portland and he was already heading up here early. So since he was gonna be in Seattle really early, I told him that I would stick around for the early part of Jacgue's party until about 3:00 or so, then go meet him at the Lake Union Hooters.

When I got to Jacque's apartment, Emily, Kristi and Jacque's mom were already there. And from what I could tell and from what they were saying, Jacque's mom was already drunk (lol). She was just sitting in the chair watching the remake of "The Amityville Horror". I was kinda watching it, too. Just another horror movie.

As time went along, more and more people showed up. Her brother showed up with his little dog. It was kinda funny watching the dog and Jacque's cat kinda eye each other, wondering what to make of the other.

She got one funny gift from someone. It was this little mechanical dog that you attatched to things and watch it dry-hump whatever it's hooked up to. I wouldn't mind walking down the street with that clinging to my leg just to see people's reactions.

So after a couple hours of the "How-Do-You-Do" chit-chat, 3:00 rolled around and I excused myself so I could go meet Kurt in Seattle. Now, I don't know my way around Bothell all that well. But near the main road just a few blocks from Jacque's place, there was a sign pointing west that says "Seattle". Feeling adventurous, I decided to follow that sign back to I-5. It probably got me there alot sooner that I would have if I had gone back onto I-405 like I had originally planned.

We sat there at Hooters, watching the basketball games on tv. And it occured to me that this was only the 3rd time I had been there all season long. Hooters used to be part of my pre-game ritual. But it hasn't been this season. The only other times I was there this season was the one time back early in the season when Tom craftily landed us free beer for our stay that day. And one other time back in January when Sharon went to a game with me. I don't know. Perhaps the luster of the place has just worn off. I mean, the weekend before when we were in Boise, I spent a good chunk of the time texting with Emily rather than engage in our usual behavior.

Don't get me wrong...I'm still gonna visit Hooters (especially while I'm on the road...lol). But it just doesn't seem as unique as it used to. And it still beats going to Applebees or Ruby Tuesday's (haha).

When we were done with that, we headed over to the Seattle Center. We hit the arcade over by the Space Needle and played some air hockey. I won the first game, like, 7-4. But Kurt took me in the second game, 7-5. That second game was HORRIBLE! Out of Kurt's 7 goals, I knocked about 5 or 6 of them in myself. And I think 4 of my goals were knocked in by Kurt's actions (lol). But hey...we never claimed we were pro's at that game.

As we were walking over to the Key, we noticed that the Winterhawks were out in the grass field by Fisher Pavillion playing soccer. Although it seemed as if they weren't playing all that hard, the competition was still spirited (how does that sound for a soccer term?). The entire time we were watching them, we were wondering what would happen if one of them got injured during their little match. When they were done and as we made our way to the front door, I told Kurt "at least they've replaced their pillow fights".

We walked around inside the Key for a while after we got there. Kurt didn't feel like sitting down in the cramped seats. Along the way, we ran into Jacque and so I got to introduce the two of them for the first time. A little later as Kurt and I were standing over by the puck-shoot area, Jacque came around with Emily. "Guess what" she asked me. I shrugged my shoulders as I'm not that good with guessing games. "You missed me downing 4 shots of Jagermeister at Jacque's". I leaned over to take a whiff of her breath to see if she was telling the truth...and she was (lol). And you could also tell she was drunk by the way she jumped in the air, again. "Oh man" she said, "I thought you were trying to kiss me". I told her I wasn't and that I was just smelling the liquor. We all laughed and they walked away. I turned to Kurt after that and said "oh yeah...that was Emily". "Why didn't you inroduce me" he asked. I told him that I didn't have a chance to. I guess he accepted that (lol).

We decided to take one last lap around the place before the game started. On the west side of the Key, we saw Kristi walking in with her new boyfriend. She saw Kurt and ran up and jumped on him (lol). They talked for a couple seconds before she introduced Kurt to her bf, Matt. She didn't introduce him to me, though. But I didn't think much of it. I mean, she doesn't get to see Kurt alot anymore.

Kurt also got a sampling of who I hang out with during intermission...Jeff and Jennifer. They were their normal selves; Jeff making lewd comments, Jennifer giving him dirty looks (lol). Elspith's boyfriend, Bill, was also out there. At one point during the 2nd intermission, Jeff said something and Bill stepped between him and Jennifer to try to thwart any "violence". That was a bad choice as Jennifer wound up "accidently" kneeing him in the nuts. Bill doubled over in pain and Jennifer was asking what was wrong. "You kneed him in the nuts" I told her. "Did I really hit him" she asked. Bill looked up all red-faced and muttered out "yesssss". She apologized while Jeff laughed at him (lol).

As for the game, Portland won 3-2 on a late power play goal. For some odd reason, T-Birds defenseman Benn Olson shot the puck up and over the glass for a delay of game penalty and the Hawks Brandon Dubinsky scored the game-winner on a slap shot from the point. Dubinsky also scored all three of Portland's goals in the game. But all through the 3rd period, I kept thinking that the game was gonna go into overtime. It just had that look and feel to it. But after Olson took that penalty, I told the guy sitting in front of me that, at that point, I knew the Winter Hawks were gonna score. And, of course, they did (lol). I may not know alot about different things. But I've seen enough hockey games in my lifetime to see what could possibly turn the tide of a game.

After the game, Kurt and I stood around our cars and shot the shit for about 15 minutes or so. After he left, I shot off a text message to Jacque asking her if it was okay that I could sleep on her floor if I got too drunk to drive home. She said it wasn't a problem. So back off to Bothell it was for me.

I got there alot later than just about everyone else due to my last visit with Kurt. And when I did, all the "visitor" parking spaces in the lot were taken. So I wound up having to park up on the street. And when I got up to her apartment, the place was already damn-near packed! This wasn't just the small get-together like the afternoon (lol). Which kinda made me nervous. I'm not always that comfortable in large social gatherings like that. Although I recognized alot of the people there from the games (and some others who were their earlier). I just didn't know them.

So I sat there in this chair drinking a Rock Star I had bought at a gas station on my way there, contemplating exactly how long I would stick around. When I was done with that, I tossed the empty can into a garbage bag and went outside to the small cooler on the deck and snagged a Corona out of there. I popped it open with my keychain/can opener and started drinking. Already out there were these two chicks I see all the time in the Key (I think one of them is named Angela. And I have no idea as to what the other ones name is. Even though we exchanged our names. There might be alot of that as this story goes along...lol) and Kristi's boyfriend, Matt. So I stuck around out there for a while talking to them. At one point, Matt told me "you seem like a good guy. You might want to stick around out here for a little bit". I asked him why. "Cause I gotta give Jacque a lap-dance in my thong".

I trusted his judgement in that case even if I had only talked to him for about 5 minutes (lol).

A little bit later, Emily joined us outside. After a couple minutes, Jacque and Kristi came out and ordered her inside so she could watch the lap dance. Emily didn't want to watch it (or so she said...hahaha) and the two of them wound up picking her up by her ankles and wrist's and carried her inside.

I just kept plucking beer after beer out of the cooler. At one point, I cursed because all the regular Corona was gone...only that light shit was left. One of the girls told me to take a Hefe Weizen. So I started in on those (lol).

Talking to those two specifically proved to be interesting. The one of them (who I THINK was named Angela) seemed to already know that I don't have any rooting interest in any of the teams around here. Which I found kinda strange that she would know something like that. She was also telling me I should get back into playing the game "just becuase you love it so much". A point that I told her Kurt presses me about all the time (lol). There were also other things about each of our pasts we had in common that we talked about a little bit. And slowly, as time went along, I realized that I was actaully enjoying myself alot more than I thought I would. Not that I thought I would have a shitty time or anything like that. But maybe...just maybe...I'm a little better in those situations than I gave myself credit for.

I spent most of my time out there on that porch...outside of the occasional run to the loo. But there was just this steady stream of people walking out there for a smoke. So that's just how I met people (lol). There was one guy who moved here from Kansas City. So we talked about that area for a bit. When I told him about all the places I go for various games, he told me that I should get to a Chiefs game one of these days. I told him that, maybe outside of seeing a game at Lambeau Field, Arrowhead Stadium was near the top of my list.

As time went along, Kristi and Matt made their way back out there. Kristi introduced him to the four or five other people out there. But, again, she skipped over me. And I'll admit...that kinda hurt. When you're drunk, things come to mind. And I was standing there wondering to myself why she wouldn't introduce me. Is she embarrassed of me? Maybe Jacque or Emily told him something about us? I really had no clue. But I still felt like a heel there.

But I still stood around out there. Eventually, as people were slowly leaving, it wound up that just Matt and I were out there. We just kinda bs'd about different stuff. He was telling me about his job and that he's into muscle cars and the such. He also told me that he was a sergeant in the Army Reserves. We were out there for a good 15 minutes or so...just the two of us. Talking about whatever came up. He seemed like a good guy.

Moslty, though, I was happy for Kristi in that she has a boyfriend. Since we started to really get to know each other over the last year (in fact, as I write this, it's our one year anniversery of our drunk-fest in Kelowna...lol), I've just really grown to care for her. Not so much as in a "I love her" or "I wanna marry her" kind of way. But more just because I think she's one of the best people I've ever met. But, at the same time, someone who I think could be so much more than maybe she thinks of herself sometimes. And my greatest hope is that with this piece of stabililty that she has found, perhaps she can start reaching some of that potential that I know she has.

Our conversation was eventually interupted when Emily came outside. She said that she had already thrown up once, and she felt like she was gonna do it again. She just leaned over the rail and stood there like that for a few seconds. She never tossed chunks. But she spit alot (lol).

When we made our way back inside, most of the people had left. And those that were still there were getting ready to leave. I sat down in one of the wooden chairs along the wall and noticed this one chick who was holding a plastic container up to her mouth. The container already had some "liquid" in it. And she kept saying that she was about to "do it again". Eventually, the guy from Kansas City and myself helped her up and we led her to the bathroom. Once there, she almost immediately stared vomiting into the toilet. She wasn't the only one, though. In the other bathroom (in Kristi's room) there was another chick with an upset stomach. So we were pulling double-duty on the "too much to drink" front.

I stayed there with the one I helped into the bathroom for a little bit. Basically, I would help her move from leaning up against the wall over to the toilet so she could do her deed in there. And once she would get there, I would hold her hair back so it didn't get any puke in it. She kept telling me that she didn't care about her hair, "but thanks anyway". And she kept thanking me and apologizing to me. "Don't worry" I told her. "I think everyone here has been in your place before". She would tell me "I've never been this drunk before". To which I would answer "well, now you have" (lol).

I mean, she was GONE! And, even though I was feeling alot better, I knew I was still in no shape for the hour drive home. I knew I was staying there that night, so I asked Jacque if she could keep an eye on her while I went and moved my car into the parking lot. I figured since everyone else had left by that point, I could probably find a "visitor" spot to park my car in instead of leaving it on the street.

On my way out there, I kept asking myself "why am I gonna do this"? Not so much attempt to drive my car. I mean, I was still technically drunk. And drunks don't think that clearly (lol). I guess I was sober enough to know that hitting the streets wasn't on the docket. But I was asking that since I didn't even know that girl until about 10 minutes ago. And here I was, with nowhere else to go, still sloshed and about to play nurse to someone who was completely bombed out of her skull.

Then I remembered my mom telling me the story about my step-sister's husband up in Alaska. He had gotten laid-off work one day and he went home and got shit-faced. Enough so that he eventually choked to death on his own vomit (the term of which I know. I just don't know how to spell it). But he probably only died because there was nobody there to help him. And I also thought to myself that I know what it's like to be all alone and wishing someone was there to help you out with whatever...even a little. Living alone, I get that way every once in a while. Not often...maybe three or four times over the last 10 years or so. But enough to know what it feels like.

So as I parked my car and walked back to the apartment, I decided that I would be in this with her for however long it would take. Which, turned out to be most of the night (lol).

When I did get back in there, I just went back to my post. "Thanks so much for this" the girl slurred out. "That's okay. It's not like I have anything else to do tonight" I joked with her. She kinda laughed about as much as she could then asked "what's your name"? "Tom" I said. "Thanks Tom. I'm Megan. I've never been this drunk before". I just reassured her again that this is something most everyone has been through and that there's nothing to be embarrassed about.

I knew she was really out of it because she kept asking me over and over what my name was. I would tell her, then she would tell me hers again. Then she would throw up a little, and tell me again she had never been this drunk and then ask me what my name was. It was a cycle that just kind of went around and around like that most of the night.

After a little bit, I really had to take a piss. Since Kristi was already in bed (she had to work the next day), I told Megan at one point that I couldn't hold it anymore. She told me that it was okay and she leaned herself against the wall so I could get in there. There wasn't much room, so I just kinda straddled the toilet and started going. Right in the middle, she informed me that she had to throw up again. So I pinched it off and let her get back over to the crapper. She did it again, leaned back and asked "what was your name again"? I told her again and she said "okay, Tom, you can continue what you were doing". I kinda smiled at that and followed her orders. So I started going again. But, once again, she interupted me so I had to stop and let her do her thing again.

But this time, she just stayed there. I think she may have actually fell asleep. So there I was, for about another 10 minutes with a bladder that was still 75% full and screaming to be relieved (lol). Finally, Jacque and Emily came out of Jacque's room and said they had to go, too. "How do you think I feel" I told them. "I've been trying to go for the last 15 minutes off-and-on and still can't finish". Emily looked at me and said "dude, you're a guy. Just go outside and piss off the balcony". I looked at Jacque to get her approval, and she kinda nodded at me. So I made a bee-line outside, got to the railing, and let it go (lol). It took a while. At one point, I turned around and saw Emily looking at me from inside. I asked her "wanna come out and get a closer look"? She shook her head and I laughed.

And that was the last contact I had with anybody even half-way sober for the rest of the night. It was about 2:00am by that time. When I got back to the bathroom, Megan was slumped against the wall. It looked uncomfortable, so I went out to the living room and got a pillow and propped it up behind her. After that, I went back out into the hallway and sat down against the wall there. I just sat there staring at her lifeless body for about a minute or so before I passed out.

But I wasn't sleeping for long. I woke up to her pleas to get her back over to the toilet. At one point, I was suprised by how she always had something to come out (lol). But I kept making her sip some Sprite and some water each time after she did that. We all know how much dry-heaves suck. So I was trying to keep her away from doing that.

Finally, right around 3:00am, I decided that I would need a wake-up call. My plan was to leave Jacque's place around 8:00am or thereabouts so I could get on with my Sunday. But the only two people I knew who were up at that hour on a Sunday were Lindsay and my dad. And I wasn't about to call my dad for two reasons. The first being that I would have to call their home number and I didn't want to wake them up. And the other was that I didn't think he would like it none-too-much if I called him at 3:00am all drunk like that (lol). So I figured that I would just text Lindsay and she would read it in the morning. After I was done doing that, I stepped outside to my personal restroom and started peeing down to the ground. Right in the middle of doing that, I got an answer from Lindsay. Excited that there was someone else up that maybe I could talk to (who was sober...maybe. You never know with Lindsay these days, either...lol), I called her right in the middle of relieving myself. But, much to my chagrin, I got her voice mail. I left some strange message where I believe I mentioned that I was in the middle of pissing off a deck at Jacque's place. Perhaps not the best thing to say to one of my best friends, but I can't do anything about that anymore (lol).

I turned on the tv in the living room so I could watch something while waiting for Megan to call for my help again. But I couldn't find the remote control. So I sat there the old-fashioned way and just flipped through them on the set one at a time. I settled on Headline News and watched that over and over again. I must have seen the same stories at least 5 times. Not much changes overnight, that's for sure.

I also spent some time kinda cleaning up a little. Nothing too major. Just getting rid of some empty cans and bottles and stuff like that. Again, I had nothing else to do. So I figured I might as well be a little productive.

Megan finally told me that she thought she was done there and wanted to lay down somewhere else. So I led her out to the couch and covered her with a blanket. She kept telling me that she was cold. But I didn't know where the blankets might me (something Jacque had told me earlier, but I failed to register in my head). So I just went back into the bathroom and got a fresh towel from under the sink. I guess that worked since she never complained about the cold again.

I also got a used towel that was on the rack from the bathroom and laid it down on the floor next to the couch just in case she had to do it again and she couldn't make it in time. In the morning, when Jacque asked me what the towel was for and I told her, she seemed to appreciate that thought.

I curled up in the chair in the living room and we sat there talking about different stuff for a while. She asked me how I knew Jacque. I explained to her that Karin introduced me to Kristi and Emily, and I met Jacque through them. I asked her how she met Jacque and she told me that they met at church. Then she went on this strange rant about how she didn't want to go to church anymore because she was too drunk or something like that (lol). I really didn't know how to respond to that. So I let it go.

The last I remembered, it was about 5:45am. I guess that's about the time I finally passed out in that chair. But it wasn't for long as, just as she had promised, Lindsay called to wake me up (lol). After talking to her for a minute or so, we hung up and I silently cursed myself for asking her to do that. I tried to fall back asleep, but I couldn't. I just laid there in that chair, watching the story about how much invisible mold is in your kitchen on Headline News for the 5th, 6th and 7th time. It's kinda scary, really. Even the woman who seemingly had this nice, clean kitchen had alot of mold in it. But the part that cracked me up was how this one guy had his fly-swatter hanging up with is pans on the wall. When you're tired and recovering from drinking, such things amuse you.

I finally got up and went outside to get a Coke out of the cooler on the deck. As I looked down to the ground, I saw the damage we had done. There were two empty beer bottles, a crushed Red Bull can and all sorts of cigarette butts and bottle caps. Along with my urinating off there all night, I was hoping that whoever lives down there didn't take any barefooted morning strolls outside.

At some point in the morning, Jacque, Emily and a friend of theirs (I think her name is Mia or Mya or something like that), crawled out of their bedroom and made their way out to the living room. Megan woke up still feeling like shit. And I was just plain tired. Jacque announced that she was going to McDonalds to fetch breakfast and it was on her. When asked what I wanted, the only thing I could think of was an Egg McMuffin and some hash browns. I don't eat breakfast at McDonalds. So those were the only two things I could think of that they had.

While Jacque and Emily were gone, Megan decided to take a shower so she could get ready for work. But about 10 minutes in, I could hear her puking again. When she got out of there, she did the wise thing and called in sick for the day.

While we were eating, the girls decided that they wanted to watch a movie. Somehow, they made the decision as to which one mine (lol). So I looked through all of Jacque's dvd's and picked out "The Wedding Crashers" since I hadn't seen that one yet. It was pretty funny. I'll have to buy it for myself one of these days. However, there was one scene where one of the characters had too much to drink and was throwing up. I think Jacque, Emily and myself were all doing our best not to look at Megan. And I think Megan probably knew we were doing our best not to look at her (lol).

Once the movie was over, Emily and Mia (or Mya) had to go. After a couple minutes, I decided I should probably go, too. I'm not sure if it was the case, but at least I started to feel like maybe my stay was wearing out. Not so much that Jacque all of a sudden didn't like me. But I had been there all night. And it was just that time.

So I got my jersey and thanked Jacque for letting me stay there for the night and wished her a happy birthday. I then told Megan goodbye and she thanked me again (by that time, she had remembered my name...lol). And out the door I went.

And as I drove home, I just thought to myself what an amazing 24 hours that had been. I hadn't even thought about writing about it the entire time until Jacque brought it up in the morning. And I still hadn't made my decision when I got home. So I asked her once I did get back to my apartment whether or not she wanted me to write about all this. She said she didn't care. So I did (hahaha).

And I hope I'm invited back for the party next year :)

Seattle/Portland: Game 7

2006-04-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

This was definitely a game for the ages in this rivalry. Really, all game 7's are. But this one was one that will become a legend up here. Although, from start to finish, neither team was going all-out the entire time. They both had their ups and down for sure. But as I was watching it, I could feel that epic vibe going through the Key Arena in Seattle.

In the first period, both teams seemed pretty equal. The only real thing that set them apart was the play of T-Birds captain, Aaron Gagnon. He came out and played that desperate style of hockey that you would expect out of a player of his stature and caliber. And after one period of play, Seattle was up 3-0 thanks to the natural hat trick scored by Gagnon.

Things seemed to be going from bad to worse for the Winterhawks in the first minute of the 2nd period. First, Portland defenseman Lenny Thunderchild seemed to injure his shoulder when he was checked into the boards by Thunderbird Robert Klinkhammer. Really, Klinkhammer was lucky he didn't get a charging penalty on the play as he left his feet just before hitting Thunderchild. But referee Rob Matsuoka (who I believe has been tooling around the WHL since the beginning...lol) either didn't see the hit or saw it and decided to let it go. Regardless, the Winterhawks were now without one of their more solid, dependable defensemen.

Then things got really ugly. You know, it was such an ordinary play that I didn't even really notice how it all happened. All I know is that after a play along the end boards in Seattle's end, Portland center Kyle Bailey was laying on the ice screaming in pain. For me up where I sit, I was kind of wondering what he was hollering about. Then, as he seemed to start trying to get up with a push-up type of movement before collapsing back down to the ice, I noticed what was wrong. His entire foot was dangling from his ankle area in a way that it's not supposed to.

From what I read in the Winterhawks email when I got home, they said that he had somehow gotten his skate trapped in the boards and, to be frank, snapped his ankle. As the rest of the crowd in Seattle started realizing exactly how bad of shape Bailey was in, the place started going silent at first, followed by some screams of horror coming from the stands. Since long-time Portland trainer Innes Mackie was still in the locker room tending to Thunderchild, the Seattle trainer hopped over the boards and ran across the ice as quickly as he could to tend to Bailey.

Portland coach, Mike Williamson, also made his way out to be by Bailey's side. After a minute or so, the Portland trainer came back out onto the ice followed by the Thunderbirds team doctor. Aaron Gagnon even helped the cause by skating the medical supply bag out to the scene.

After a few minutes of getting Bailey situated and his leg stablized, they propped him up onto a gurney and started to wheel him off. You could clearly see by the expression on his face that he was still in horrible pain. And I was thinking to myself that I just hope that he can walk normally again, let alone ever play hockey.

But the reason I spent so much time on this part of the game was what happened next. The crowd in Seattle rose to their feet and gave a PORTLAND player a standing ovation! The Thunderbirds even banged their sticks against the boards and on the ice in support. And I thought that was TOTAL CLASS! I'm also sure that, if the same thing had happened to a T-Bird down in Portland, the same thing would have occured.

The Seattle/Portland hockey rivalry is pretty close to 100 years old. It's long and it's bitter. Sometimes, I don't think alot of the fans care where their team finishes in the standings as long as they beat the other guy. But we also realize (especially in times like this) that it's still just a GAME played by real living, breathing PEOPLE like you and me. Of course, what they really want to see is a guy leaving the ice with a cut over his eye or a split lip from a fight. But nobody wants to see someone go out like that.

Good luck, Kyle Bailey! Hopefully we'll see you back out and about sometime soon!

As the game started back up, both teams (understandabley) seemed kind of out of it. But then Portland scored their first goal of the game. And, all of a sudden, the Winter Hawks seemed to find some new life. Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds seemed to kind of go into this defensive hole. They just didn't seem to interested in regaining that 3 goal lead. It was almost as if they decided to just Cadillac it the rest of the way while Portland started playing their asses off.

Everything Seattle tried to do was headed off by Portland before it could develop. If a T-Bird had the puck, a Winter Hawk was right there to pressure him into getting rid of it. If there was an open passing lane, it would be cut-off just as the puck started to go through that hole. The Hawks style of play from that point on reminded me of the way the Spokane Chiefs played back in the late 90's and Everett did during their expansion year playoff run.....in your face, high pressure, aggressive defense.

Of course, with all the turnovers they were creating, the Winter Hawks also got alot of shots on goal. But Seattle goalie, Bryan Bridges, seemed to have an answer for just about every one of them. Except for one in the final minute of the 2nd period. The exact time you DON'T want to give up a goal to a desperate team. So after two periods, Seattle was still holding onto a slim 3-2 lead.

And things just kept going like that as the 3rd period started. Seattle was almost in a prevent defense type of game. While the Hawks were attacking left and right. Then, with exactly six minutes to go in the 3rd, Jannik Hansen scored on a quick little snap shot that went over Bridges shoulder to tie the game up at 3 apiece. And it was with that goal that, finally, Seattle seemed to pop to life. All of a sudden, they were matching Portland's intensity out there. And there were flurries of chances in both ends as regualtion came to an end.

Portland dominated most of what was played in overtime. Seattle was still playing hard. But you could just tell that the Hawks wanted it just a little more. Then, with just over nine minutes to play in the first overtime, Portland's Jon Bubnick turned and whipped a quick shot past Bridges to win the game for the Winter Hawks. Portland won the series, 4-3.

How strange was this series? Outside of Seattle's win in game one in the Key Arena, the visiting team won all the rest of the games. Which really shouldn't be much of a shock when you consider that it seems like the T-Birds can't win a game on home ice in the playoffs anymore. In their last two series (including their 2nd round loss to Kelowna last season), the Birds are 1-6 in their last seven home playoff games. On the flip side of that, they're 6-1 on the road in those same two series. Maybe they should just shoot for 4th place in the US Division. If they did that, the Thunderbirds might just be unstoppable in the playoffs (lol).

As for Portland...well...have fun getting steam-rolled by the Vancouver Giants in the next round. During the 2nd intermission as I was walking around the concourse, I ran into Steve...the guy who used to sit next to me down in the Rose Garden. We both agreed that whoever won the series between Seattle and Portland would get whupped up on by Vancouver. "It'll go 5 games....tops" Steve told me. And I agreed with him. At this point the Giants are a bonafide powerhouse. Especially ever since they got Gilbert Brule back from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Their defense is huge and their offense is potent. And really, neither Portland or Seattle has or had a snowballs chance in hell of beating them. And the same will be said about either Kelowna or Everett in the 3rd round.

I'll be heading back up to Vancouver on Saturday for game 2 of the Giants/Hawks series. It looks like I'll be alone for that one...at least for now. I'll also be at at least one of the games in Everett next week (likely Tuesday) and then back down in Portland for game 4 of that series on Thursday. After that...we'll just have to wait and see.

"We Be Representing da' 253....Naw I Mean"!!!!!!

2006-03-30T19:46:00.000-08:00

My official take on last weekend is that at both times it was so awesome, yet it could have been so much more. Tom and I both had an outstanding time and loved that we took that trip. Yet we still felt like we could have done a little bit more. But that was kind of stymied a little bit on the second day. But we'll get to that a little later. Here's kinda how it went.

We left Tacoma last Thursday afternoon. We just drove straight to Baker City, OR. for the night. Along the way, we pulled off in LaGrande for gas and wound up cruising around town a little bit just to see it. I had never really seen LaGrande outside of what little is by the freeway. And really, there's not a whole lot going on off the freeway, either (lol). Although we did see this one building with a really huge tractor in it. That got our attention for a second or two as we drove by it.

But the real fun started when we got to Baker City. For those who aren't familiar with the area, Baker City is a small town of, I would guess, around 5000 people or so in eastern Oregon. I think it's a nice little town. It's basically squeezed between some mountains on a plain. But there are two reasons why it's there. The first is that it's a decent place to stay for the night. There are alot of hotels there for it's size. And the other reason is for cattle ranching. In fact, the cattle industry is so huge in that area, they had these little pamphlets available just about everywhere you went. I took one from the front desk of the hotel. Here's part of what it says:

"Driving" cattle on the roadways from one pasture to another is an important and necessary part of the business now, just as it was years ago. When you travel in cow country, please be alert for these "beef factories" on hoofs. Baker County is "open range", which means that the cattle have the same right of way as the motorist. Unpredictable mama cows worry about their calves, especially while on the road. The cattle owners worry too and work hard to prevent accidents between cows and motorists. If you encounter a herd of cattle as you travel, reduce your speed. DO NOT honk your horn! Work your way very slowly through the herd. Often one of the riders will lead you through the cattle. Stay close and move slowly. If there is another auto in front of you, stay close to them so the cattle can't come between you. You can use eitehr lane, but move slowly and watch for oncoming traffic. Watch thosecows closely, they can dart in front of you or kick of you are too close. If a rider signals you to stop, please heed the warning.

And it just kind of goes on and on like that. They go on to tell you to be on the lookout for antelope and rattlesnakes and also invite you to eat some meat at one of the local restaurants. They even have a recipe for a stir-fry supper on the back of the pamphlet.

So we decided to accept their invitation to eat some beef and visited the McDonalds just a few blocks up the road. Whether or not the beef in their burgers was local or not, we never asked. The main thing between us was whether or not to go inside to eat or just hit the drive-thru. The line looked a little long for the drive-thru, so we decided to head inside to eat.

Which was both a good and bad idea. I can honestly say (and Tom will back me up on this 100%) that it was absolute chaos back in the working area there. The crew was arguing with each other about various things, they were screwing up order after order in the drive-thru (there were two other customers in the restaurant with us...both with complaints about screw-ups in the drive-thru) and just fucking off in general. The one girl was really nice to us when she kept telling us that she "would be right with" us. I think that was the only thing keeping us there. Well, that and all the entertainment going on behind the scenes there.

When she finally took our orders, she gave us our soda cups and went scurrying back into the fray behind her. I took my cup and went over to the soda machine and started pouring an orange drink for myself. But when I hit the "press" button, only a little trickle of the syrup came out...along with water spraying all over the place! It got the right sleeve of my leather Seahawks jacket soaking wet ("no big loss" according to Tom...lol). So I dumped out what little I had run into the cup and tried the Coke button. Same thing. Now Tom was laughing at me (lol). So I went up to the counter to try to flag down someone to tell them that their soda maching was haywire while Tom tried to get some Diet Coke with the same results I had.

After a couple more minutes, the one girl came back and I told her about the soda machine. Her face went pale as she said "oh my god! I forgot that I took the nipples off it earlier and we have to get it out of the drive-thru machine". I kinda drooped my head and shook in disbelief. Tom seized the moment and asked "did you take a lighter to them"? She answered with a confused "huh"? Tom then said "nevermind".

(Believe me......Kurt's laughing right now while everyone else has no clue as to what Tom meant....hahaha).

So after everything was squared away, we took a booth and sat down. Amazingly, our orders were correct. But we sat there eating in a stunned silence as we listened to all the bickering in the back. Stuff about screwed up orders, not putting more fries in the fryer, trying to find the nipples to put back on the soda machine, etc. Two of them were hollered at for flinging onions at each other. At one point, one of the guys got sick of it and went out for a smoke break despite the orders of his supervisor. After a couple minutes, he came back inside the door and announced "I'm going across the street. There are a couple chicks trying to pick me up". As the door slowly closed behind him, his supervisor yelled at him "but you're on the clock"!!!

And it went on and on like that. Even after we were done eating, we sat there listening to all of this unfold for another ten or fifteen minutes. In the half-hour or so that we were there, I counted seven people who came in from the drive-thru to complain about their messed up orders. But it was getting late. So we finally decided enough was enough and headed out of there. On the way to the car, Tom commented "I'm not sure I ever want to eat in there again. But I'd sure like to come back for another show some night".

The plan for the next day was to leave the hotel at 7:00am and get into Salt Lake City in mid-afternoon so we could get settled in there and maybe explore the area a little bit. But when I met Tom in the hotel lobby, he seemed kind of out of it. We checked out and got into the car. He then told me "we have to stay here for a little bit. I forgot something at home". I won't go into the details as to what it was since I've known him for 8 years and didn't even know he had this problem and I'm not sure how he would feel about it being revealed to everyone like this (although it's not embarrassing at all. Really, it's something alot of us may need at some point in our lives). But it's something he really needs for his basic survival. And, as luck would have it, there was a place in town that could help him out. But we had to wait until 8:00am for the place to open.

But due to his forgetting this thing, he didn't sleep a wink all night. He told me he just sat around in his room all night doing nothing but stay awake. So he was really tired at that point (being awake for over 24 hours straight can do that to you). But we were also getting hungry. So after a little looking, the only restaurant we found was this little place named "Linda's Cook Shack". It was just your basic local greasy spoon. But let me tell you something; that was the BEST breakfast I ever had! The eggs were eggs. But the sausage patty I ordered was thick and juicy, the bacon was, as Tom described, "as big as siding" and the hash browns were freshly made and buttered to perfection. And Tom said that the bowl of oatmeal he ate was "the best I've ever had". On our way out, we not only left a tip for our waitress, but Tom also walked up to the counter and tipped the cook some money, too. It really was just that good!

Damn good coffee, too!

So after we picked up the item Tom needed, we headed out of town. We both agreed with each other that we should visit Baker City again...just for kicks at the McDonalds and for more breakfast at "Linda's Cook Shack".

The only bad news was that we were now 2 hours behind schedule. Tom apologized a few times. But I kept telling him that it was okay and that his living was alot more important than getting to Salt Lake City early. All along the way, he kept dozing off for a few minutes at a time before waking up. I kept myself entertained by listening to the Jim Rome show and some of the various cd's I have.

We did pull off in Twin Falls, Idaho for gas. As you approach town there, you take a bridge over the Snake River Canyon. They say that you can still see the ramp that Evel Kneivel used in his failed attempt to jump across it in his little rocket ship back in the mid-70's. But we looked all over for it and couldn't find it.

We got to the hotel there in SLC at about 5:00pm. I went into my room and laid down for a few minutes to rest before taking a shower. After I was done and dressed, I gave Tom a call to his room and asked if he was ready. He sounded like I woke him up when I called (lol). So he scrambled to get ready and we headed off to the E Center for the game.

The hotel was just a few blocks from the arena. So we just walked up there. Along the way, we found a bar that we decided to go to after the game. It was called "The Puck: a bar". How could we turn down a place named after a piece of vulcanized rubber?

So we walked up to the arena and got our tickets at will call. Tom hung out there a little bit so he could wait for a friend of his who was gonna go to the game with us. I went inside, bought my popcorn and pop, and started taking pictures of some of the Alaska Aces. There are three former Seattle Thunderbirds on thier team: Justin Maiser, Barrett Heisten and Kimbi Daniels. There is also a former Winter Hawk on that squad.....Patrick Wellar. With pedigree like that, no wonder they're running away with 1st place in their division (hahaha).

Mostly, I took pictures of Maiser. Jacque asked for him specifically since her mom is a big fan of his. She also wanted me to get an autographed puck from him. But when I asked the guy at the infomation booth, he said that the bus bay was locked up and fans weren't allowed to go down there. I also asked him if there was any way I could get down to the visiting locker room door or something. He said "nope. Nobody's allowed down there. But you can get autographs of a Grizzlies player at that booth over there after the game". I really wasn't interested in that. In fact, I'm not much of an autograph hound as it is (okay....outside of the Sea Gals....lol). But after she asked, I told Jacque that I would try to get it. And I did try. I just wound up empty-handed.

Tom's friend was a 40-something woman named Michelle. She spent the last two years up here in the Tacoma area working for the county in some capacity. She was a nice woman. I also think she's the main reason Tom chose this trip over the rest of them (lol). But I don't blame him. I was teasing him the whole way down there about how he was gonna get some in Salt Lake City.

She seemed particularly interested in some of our old travels together. So we regaled her with our stories of fear and loathing. She just laughed and laughed at them. At some point, she asked us why we weren't acting like that now. Tom told her that he wasn't feeling all that good and that was the main reason. At one point, during a stop between plays, they played a rap song over the PA. Tom yelled out his famous "PLAY SOMETHING WHITE" line. She laughed at that. But the people around us seemed unusually shocked by that statement (lol).

Contrary to popular belief, it's not all that hard to buy beer and other types of alcohol in Utah. So we had our fair share of beer while watching the game. Although buying beer was alot like it is in Tri-City in that you have to go to this special booth to get a little paper bracelet confirming that you're 21.

Speaking of the Tri-Cities, former American Ryan Kinasewich scored a goal and added an assist in Utah's 4-1 victory over the Aces. The only goal for Alaska was scored by former T-Bird Kimbi Daniels. The Grizzlies goaltender was outstanding in net. He made several spectacular saves as the night went along. I really couldn't tell you much about how the teams played, though. Our tickets were down in the third row to the side of one of the face off circles. It was a good location to snap some pics of the game. But, frankly, those seats drive me nuts (lol). They're okay when the play is right in front of you. But I can't see shit when they're down in the other end. When I watch a game, I already know what happened after it happens. The thing I really want to know is WHY did that just happen. And you just can't tell when you're sitting that close.

But that's the screwed up thing about the Grizzlies ticketing website. Basically, you pick a price range where you want to sit. Then they just confirm that you bought the tickets. They don't even tell you where the tickets are so if you don't like them, you can go back and try to buy them somewhere else. We didn't even know where we were sitting until we got the tickets from will call. And since the game was a sellout, I just had to live with sitting down there.

Walking around the concourse during the second intermission, a guy noticed my Red Deer Rebels jersey and asked about it. When I told him I was from out of town, he informed me that he had moved there three years ago from Stockton, CA. "The thing I like most about this area is that you're not constantly worrying about getting shot at like you do in Stockton".

I've been to Stockton. And I agreed.

When the game was over, we went outside and Tom asked Michelle if she wanted to go to "The Puck" with us. She said that she was meeting some friends somewhere else. But the next time that Tom was in town to give her a call so she could "show you around town a little". After she said that, she winked at him. Then she shook my hand and left. I felt sooooooooo bad. Normally, it's old man Winter playing the role of cock-blocker to me. But it was the opposite this time. I apologized to him. But he said "forget about it. I'm too tired to do anything, anyway. Let's hit the bar".

And that we did.

Now in Utah, we learned that you just can't walk into a bar, belly up and start drinking. Bars there are actually clubs. And you have to be a member to get in. So when we walked inside the doors of "The Puck", the woman at the door asked us if we were members. My first reaction was "you have to be a member to get in here"? Then she said "you guys are from out of town, huh"? I said yes and that's when she explained that to me. But she offered me a temprorary 3 week membership for $4.00. That seemed reasonable enough. So I forked over the money to her. She said that since he was with me and I was now a member, Tom could come in with me under my membership. Hearing this, Tom immediately said "these guys are with us, too". At some point during my conversation with the woman at the door, he had struck up a dialogue with these three guys from Denver who were also at the game. The woman asked me "are they with you"? Luckily, my focus was sharp and I told her "yup". So I did my good deed of the weekend...I cheated a bar in SLC out of a few bucks so some guys from Denver didn't have to pay their way in the honest way (hahaha).

Now the slogan for "The Puck" is "We Love Hockey". Which they do considering all the hockey memorablia in the place. But on all but one of the screens in the bar was the NCAA tourney game between Washington and UConn. Which was fine with me. My Huskies were on and they were in a tight game. However, I quickly learned that I was the only one rooting for the good Huskies. Just about everyone else in the place (including...not too suprisingly...Tom) was rooting for the OTHER Huskies. But when Washington lost in overtime, I realized how tired Tom really was. Ordinarily, he would have made a big fuss over the fact that a team from Washington had lost and tried to embarass and humiliate me. But he didn't. He just sat there drinking his beer.

After he had a couple brews, he told me that he was really wiped out and that he was going back to his room and crawl into bed. I told him that I had the tab and off he went. Not too long after that, most everyone else at the bar left, too. So I called over the bartender (who was this smoking-hot chick) and ordered another Corona. When I was through with that one, I asked for the bill and paid it. When she came back with my change, she asked me what part of Washington I was from. "How could you tell I was from Washington" I asked her. "Becuase you were the only one rooting for them" she responded (lol).

So I told her that I was from Tacoma. She said that she had never been up there, but her brother lived here for a couple years and that he really liked it and he was thinking about moving back up there someday. Since there was nobody else there at the bar, she started telling me about her travels. She spent some time in Las Vegas a year or so ago. That's where she learned to bartend. She also tried Los Angeles, but left there after about two months. She decided to move back to SLC since "it's really not that bad".

But we just sat there for about a half-hour chatting about dumb stuff. Then I looked at the clock and realized that it was after midnight. I had to get back to the room and get to bed since we had another early wake-up call in the morning. She told me to "have a good trip" and also reminded me that I still had another 20 days left on my membership (lol). I told her I would see what I could do as I was leaving.

And that was that (lol).

We checked out of the hotel the next morning and went for breakfast at the Denny's next door. The waiter screwed up my order (lol). But I wasn't in much of a mood to argue about it. Basically, he just forgot my slice of ham in the Lumberjack Slam. But everything else was there. So I just ate what I had.

After that, we went to the mall a few blocks away so I could buy a Utah Utes football jersey and mini helmet. The store was called "Fanzz". When we arrived in there, the guy asked us if there was anything I was looking for. I told him about the jersey and mini helmet and he pointed me to the area where they were. He asked why I wanted those things and I said "I try to buy a jersey and mini helmet from the local college team wherever I go". He asked if we were from out of town and I gave him the same explaination that I had everyone else so far. Then he told me "since you're from out of town, you can buy any of the Utes hats on that rack for $15". That seemed like a decent deal, so I bought a fitted baseball hat that had a sticker price of $25. It turns out he was the owner of the store. So I thought that whole thing was pretty awesome.

Somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, Tom started shuffling through my cd bag. He found a Wu Tang Clan cd that I had forgotten I even had in there. Then a shocking thing happened; "let's put this in your player. I wanna see what it sounds like" he said. So we did. He was tripping on some of the things they were saying between songs. At the end of it, one of the Clan goes on this rant where he says "Naw I mean" alot. Tom laughed at that. Which I don't blame him for. It is kinda funny in a way.

We arrived in Boise to some rather foul weather. About 10 miles outside of town, it just started raining like mad. Then, as we got closer, the rain came down even harder. Eventually, it turned into hail. While I was trying to concentrate on the road, Tom kept trying to point various things out to me. I was wondering how he could see all of this when I could barely see out the windshield (lol).

But we sloshed our way into the hotel parking lot. After going to our respective rooms and refreshing ourselves, we headed out for dinner. We picked an old standard...the new Hooters in Boise. It was like any other Hooters out there. Frankly, I think I might be getting bored of the place. I spent most of my time in a text message debate with Emily over who would win a fight between Evel Kneivel and Chuck Norris. Tom kept asking me what we were talking about. I kept telling him it was none of his business. I sent one to Emily telling her that I couldn't believe that I spent my time at Hooters debating that with her. I finally told Tom what the two of us were talking about as we were leaving. He shook his head and asked "is Emily better than these Hooters girls here"? Just as he was asking that question, Emily sent back her reply to my last message. I looked at it, laughed and told Tom "she answered it for you". I showed him what she had written. It said "Hooters girls have nothing on me LOL".

He shook his head again and said that we were both nuts.

We went directly from Hooters to the newly named Qwest Arena. When the doors opened, we started walking in. When we got to the security guy, he opened my bag and told me that "they don't allow camera's like that inside". I told him that they let it in last year. But he whipped out this piece of paper with the Steelheads logo on it that said, in so many words, that my camera was considered "profesional quality". That got Tom all riled up. "That's a load of bullshit" he said. I just folded up the tent and started walking back to the car with my "professional" camera. All along the way, Tom just bitched and bitched about it. At first, I just shrugged my shoulders about the whole thing. But he started getting me all juiced up about the whole thing, too.

Oh yeah! For the first time on this trip and the first time since that Navigators game last summer, the "Tom & Tom Show" was about to kick into gear.

When we got back to the front door, Tom started yelling "don't bring your camera's. There's a Nazi standing there that's gonna throw you out if you even try"! As we walked past the security guy, Tom asked me "how are we gonna pay for this trip now that we can't sell those pictures of this game for hundreds of dollars on the internet"? I said "I don't know. Perhaps we can take my professional camera to a pawn shop and sell it. Maybe that'll get us a little way before we have to resort to hitchhiking". Then Tom said "maybe we can scalp our tickets. If this game is so god damned important that they won't let camera's in, we can at the very least get Super Bowl prices for them". The security guy gave us a dirty look as we walked past him.

Once inside, I turned to Tom and said "let's go to the bar for a beer". He thought that was a good idea so up we went. When our waitress approached us and asked how we were doing, Tom (inspired by that Wu Tang Clan cd from earlier in the day) answered "we be representing the 253.....Naw I mean"? She gave us a funny look and said "okay...what can I get you boys"?

For some odd reason, the Steelheads decided to hand out their end of season awards before the game. Before they announced the winner of each award, we were telling each other (loudly) that former Tacoma Rocket and Sabercat, Marty Flichel, should win that award. And each time, someone else won it. At the end of the whole thing, there were like 9 or 10 Steelheads out there with their awards. Everyone but Marty Flichel. Looking down there at all the guys who won these awards, Tom said "it's like pre-school out there. Everyone gets a little sticker star".

The Steelhead opponent that night was the Fresno Falcons. And Fresno wound up winning the game, 2-1. But much to our pleasure, the only goal that Idaho scored was from the stick of Marty Flichel. But as one last slap to the face, Marty didn't even get one of the three stars that night. "This place is bullshit" Tom commented on our way out. "No cameras, flat beer and no awards for Flichel". I guess he was right (lol).

I asked him if he wanted to hit a bar for a night cap. He told me he didn't feel like it and that he just wanted to get something to eat on the way back to the hotel. We tried stopping at a Taco Bell for a Southwest Steak Bowl (a favorite of both of us). But when we got to the drive-thru, the kid on the other end told us that they were shorthanded and it would take 15-20 minutes to process our order. That wasn't good for us. So we just hit a gas station instead and bought some chips there to munch on.

While laying on my bed watching some tv, I noticed through a little crack in the curtains that it was snowing outside. This was no more than about 10 minutes after the weather man said that it would be clear that night (lol). It didn't snow all that much, though. There was still a little bit on my car in the morning. When I pulled around to pick up Tom in the lobby, he was suprised at the snow. He didn't even know that it had snowed the night before.

We went to the Denny's next door to our hotel. And, just as the day before, the waitress screwed up my order. Once again, she didn't get me the piece of ham that came with the Lumberjack Slam. But this time, I protested a little. I also had Tom covering my back as he told her he clearly heard me order the Lumberjack slam. But she said that I didn't say that. I was pretty pissed at that point. But I decided to just let it slide. I told Tom that I was paying for the entire meal. And I simply got my revenge by not tipping her.

And that was about that. We just raced back home after that. Tom tried calling his cousin in Richland to see if they were home for a quick visit. But they weren't there at the time. So we just drove back home instead.

Like I said in the beginning...this was a great weekend. But it had that feel that it could have been so much more. Mostly it was because of his bad night on Thursday. But it was still a good time. Who knows....perhaps there will be more in a few weeks.

"I Am Not Going To Compete With a Puckbunny"

2006-03-21T21:16:00.000-08:00

There were so many lines I could have used for the title of this weekends story. I know that, at one point, I had told Kurt that his "It's an American tradition" was gonna be the one. But...well...the one you see came up later on that same night. More on that later.

I got off work early Friday afternoon so I could go help Kristi buy her new car. I drove up to Redmond to pick her up at Jacque's salon. While on our way, we stopped off at the Safeway she works at to cash her paycheck. Then it was backroad after backroad to get up to Everett. We did this since she said that it would be faster than taking the freeway. Which could have been true. But we were winding through so many of those roads, I think we could have made it up there in about the same amount of time.

She bought a blue convertable Volkswagon Cabrio. She seemed pretty excited about it. But I guess we are always pretty excited after we buy a new car. I just hope she takes good care of it. Although I didn't get to take a ride in it, it seems like it's a decent car.

So after we did all that, it was time to head down to the Key Arena. The game was between the Seattle Thunderbirds and the Portland Winter Hawks. The T-Birds came out looking strong and alot more focused than they were the previous week. Although, after all the crap that went on behind the scenes in Seattle with the whole Tomanek situation, I can understand their lack of focus for that weekend. So I think they were determined to put that whole debacle behind them once and for all.

Ryan Gibbons looked strong, scoring two goals in Seattle's 4-1 victory. Ladislav Skurko also scored an empty-netter that sailed all the way down ice and into the Portland net. After that goal, Garth Collins of the Winter Hawks used James McEwan as his personal punching bag off the draw. Then about a minute later, Seattle's Benn Olson dropped the mitts with Frazer McLaren. That one I'll call a draw...even with Olson throwing his elbow pad at McLaren just before they hooked up (which he drew two 10 minute misconducts for).

The big topic of conversation on Friday night was the Thunderbirds St. Patrick's Day jerseys. And the overall decision is that they were horrible. I guess the color would be best described as a light green. But I also heard "puke green", "sea sick green" and the one that damn-near started a brawl, "baby diaper brown". That actaully all happened while we were outside during the first intermission. The topic was the jerseys. But Jacque and I turned the subject between us to her and Kristi coloring their hair a few nights before. Just after I told her that I thought it looked good, Jeff piped up with "it looks like baby diaper brown to me". Jacque was kinda stunned and asked "what"? Jeff looked at her and said "the Thunderbirds jersey's look like they're baby diaper brown". Looking relieved, Jacque said "oh, okay". She thought he was talking about her new hair color (lol). Which looked more like a dark red to me.

Interesting people sitting around me on Friday. To my right was a dad with his very young son (I would guess around 2 or so). And to my left was a really bad first date. The girl sitting directly to my left was so put-off by her date that she just kept asking me questions about what was happening out there on the ice. The couple probably had three or four small conversations the whole time they were there.

And then the kid on my right. Well, once again our section was selected to go diving for Tim's potato chips for their "Crunch of the Night" promotion. I tried getting some for Emily (since she hates me whenever I catch some...lol). But I didn't get any. But the family to my right did. They got a pack of my favorite...Jalapeno. But I still learned a valuable lesson from them. Whatever you do, don't feed your two year old child Jalapeno chips. The dad gave him a small one, and the kid didn't stop crying for at least five minutes.

Kara also made the trip up there to Seattle for the game. I only saw her once, though. And I would have missed her had Karin not pointed her out to me (lol). She gave me a San Antonio Rampage puck that she got when she was at a game there while she was in the army. So that was really cool of her to do. Thanks, Kara :)

Saturday was a day for the books. Probably one of the best days...if not THE best day...of all the non-roadie days this or any other year. I don't count games between Everett and Portland as "roadies" since I go to those cities (with Seattle in between) any day of the week.

On the way down there, somewhere around Vader, I saw a small doe grazing just off the road. Actually, the doe was standing on the shoulder of the road while eating the grass just off it. I've seen alot of deer over the years on I-90. But this was probably the 2nd or 3rd time I've ever seen one on I-5. But the other two were dead (lol).

I met Kurt in the mall parking lot at Jantzen Beach. Without getting out of the car, I just tailed him to this place called "Acropolis" in Milwaukie for some killer steaks. He had been telling me all about it practically the entire season. And we finally found a day where he could take me to it. Without getting us into too much trouble, I'll say that the food was outstanding and the entertainment was even better (lol). I've been debating with myself over the last couple days as to how much I would tell about the place. The one thing I will say is that I'll never look at a Zippo lighter the same way again (haha).

And we'll leave it at that.

Then we weaved our way through Portland to the Rose Quarter. Just after we got there, Kurt and I noticed this strange girl sneaking around behind this little wall, taking a peek over it every once in a while. She would take her peek, then squat down and do something. This caught our curiosity and, upon taking a closer look, we found out what she was doing; she was smoking a cigarette. At first we estimated her age at around 14 or 15. But as we looked closer, it gradually dropped until we agreed that she couldn't have been more than 10. She was hiding from her mom while she puffed away at her smoke. And that's how easily entertained we can get when there's absolutely nothing else happening around at the time (lol).

While we were outstide the Rose Garden, Kurt and I talked alot about what all went down at the Acropolis while we were staring at the hot girls walking by on their way to the cheerleading competition being held in the Coliseum. After about 15 minutes of this, I told Kurt "okay, clean out your mind. Our conscience is here" as Karin walked up to us fresh from her stint at the scrapbooking show at the Convention Center.

We told her that we were having a good time so far that day. And, of course, the conversation turned to the Thunderbirds sweaters from the night before. Kurt wanted to know if they were as bad as the Portland announcers were saying they were. According to Kurt, Scooter Vrooman said during the broadcast that he was getting sea sick just watching the Thunderbirds skating around out there (lol). I thought that was a pretty accurate description of what most everyone felt Friday night.

After the doors opened, the three of us walked around the concourse a little bit. There was one cool new display that they had there. It was a board with little plaques with the name and number of every Winter Hawk who had ever skated in the NHL. And there were quite a few of them; Mark Messier, Wayne Babych, Dave Babych, Keith Brown, Perry Turnbull, Randy Turnbull, Byron Dafoe, Cam Neely, Ray Ferarro, Glen Wesley, Steve Konowalchuck, Cale Hulse, Richard Zednik, Adam Deadmarsh, Marian Hossa, Marcel Hossa, Brendan Morrow, Joey Tetarenko, Andy Ference, Paul Gaustad and quite a few more. It was an impressive display to say the least.

They also had an auction with all the proceeds going to the young son of the Spokane Chiefs trainer who has cancer. The Winter Hawks organization had called out to many of their alumni to donate whatever items they could spare for the auction. And they came through with flying colors. Marian Hossa donated an autographed jersey of his. Both the Boston Bruins and Anaheim Ducks supplied team autographed sweaters. And there were alot of sticks. Brendan Morrow sent one of his and had both Mike Modano and Marty Turco sign sticks of their own for the auction, too. Dustin Butler gave up his game mask for it. I didn't bid on any of the items (I had already spent enough the day before...lol). But I still thought the whole thing was one of the more awesome things I had seen in a long time.

Before the game upstairs, we ran into Kurt's parents. Of course, they were asking just how bad the Thunderbird jersey's from the night before were (lol). I told them I would point one of them out if I saw one. But I never did. Karin told me later that she saw two of them downstairs during intermission. But I never saw one with my own eyes (thankfully...haha).

Kara came up to us and said that she had $5000 worth of bids floating around in that auction. She went down the list, but I can't remember what all she had bid on and how much. I do remember that she had bid $2000 on something. I asked her how she could afford all of that. She never gave me a straight answer (lol).

Year End Award Time: Line of the Year

At the end of the season, I'm gonna give out a bunch of "awards" for the various things that have happened over this year. But I figured I might as well hand one out early as kind of a teaser (lol). I just thought this was tooooooo funny. Here's how it went...

During the 2nd intermission, Kurt and I were talking to his parents once again. At some point, the PA announcer told the crowd that there were only 5 more minutes to bid on items in the auction. Hearing this, Kurt urged his parents to go downstairs and bid on something. "Come on. You can choke-up $3000 to beat out Kara". At which point Kurt's mom, Erlene (I hope I'm spelling that right) answered......

(drum roll)

"I am not going to compete with a puckbunny".

That line hit me so hard, I damn-near choked on the slice of pizza I was eating I was laughing so hard. I mean, the line was FUNNY! But I think I was more taken back by WHO said it. I never would have expected that to come out of Mrs. Williams mouth (lol). And both the timing and delivery was pitch-perfect.

So congratulations Erlene Williams. You have successfully slayed the one-line dragon known as Tom Winter (who has had a death grip on this award the last few years) for this seasons "Line of the Year" award. And believe me...taking down Tom is no small task. Previous winners in this catergory consist of "Hey Saberkitty! I have $10" (that was good ol' Doug back in the Tacoma Sabercats days), "Good thing you're not a plumber" (Tom W. at the Beaverton Hooters last season) and, of course the all-timer, "could you play something white"?

Your prize is in the mail.

Kara did wind up taking home one of the prizes. I believe it was the leather World Junior Championship jacket. It was a nice jacket. Hopefully that wasn't the one that she bid $2000 on.

In-joke time. During the national anthem, Kurt and I stood there cracking each other up. People were looking at us funny. I think that made us laugh even harder. We know what it's all about. And maybe some of you, too. But it's an in-joke. So I'm not telling you what we were laughing about (lol).

The game was interesting, too. Portland was still playing for something...to lock up third place in the division. Tri-City could still pass them in the standings. But Seattle had their fate sewn up the night before when the beat the Hawks. The Thunderbirds came out and scored the first goal in the first period. The highlight of that period was this great hip-check by Portland's Lenny Thunderchild on Ryan Gibbons. It sent Gibbons cartwheeling through the air before landing on his back. It was classic.

Jon Bubnick and Kyle Bailey scored twice in the 2nd period to give Portland a 2-1 lead. Then 15 year old Thomas Frazee scored in the 3rd to give the Hawks a 3-1 lead. Then one of the more bizarre brawls I've seen broke out. The whole thing started as a small scrum next to the Portland bench. Then, for whatever reason, Seattle's Benn Olson went after Michael Funk. Olson kinda dragged Funk out of the pile and then started punching on him. The Winter Hawks on the ice not wanting to see one of their stars (and a softy, at that) fight Big Benn, all four went screaming after them in hopes of getting Olson off him. Other T-Birds headed them off before they got there and more fights broke out.

But don't worry about "GRAAAAND". He handled himself pretty good. He actually opened up a good-sized cut over Olson's right eye (which the pro-Portland crowd loved). As the various scraps were broken up, James McEwan broke away from the linesman and tried to dive into the Portland bench. But he was caught before he followed through on it. And then, to top it off, McEwan threw a water bottle at a fan on his way back to the locker room.

Seattle/Portland. Are there two more magical names in the hockey world???

Seattle did score one more late goal. But Portland held off a late rally to win the game, 3-2. And with that win, the Winter Hawks wrapped up third place in the US Division. Which also brings with it a first round series with the Thunderbirds. Of course I'll miss the first two games when Tom and I are in Salt Lake City and Boise (lol). But I doubt we'll see any of these types of things in the playoffs. However, it should make the first regular season meeting between the two next season a little more interesting (like they weren't interesting enough in the first place).

I had a headache all day Sunday (lol). Too much excitement the day before, I guess. I drove Rick up to Seattle for the game between the Thunderbirds and Everett. They had the Irish celebration in the Seattle Center House that weekend. So I listened to some traditional Irish music for a little bit. Last week, they had this bongo drummer from Senegal performing. But he spent most of the time on stage pimping his new cd. But I like it when they have stuff like that in the Center House. It reminds me how cool it is to live in such a cultured place like the Puget Sound area.

The game itself was a snoozer. Two teams with their playoff seedings all locked up. Everett didn't play Peter Mueller, and the rest of their top players didn't play much, either. Seattle won the game 4-2. I mean, both teams played like they wanted to win. But there weren't many big hits at all. There wasn't a whole lot of pushing and shoving after the whistle. And, believe it or not, Everett didn't take that many dives (lol). Although they did waste alot of time behind the net with the puck again. This is a tactic that is getting REALLY annoying. The Silvertips take the puck and hold it behind the net while they change lines. Nothing unusual there. Everyone does it. But the worst part is when the d-man comes off the bench, takes the puck from the one who was holding it there, and waits while the other guy skates over there to make his change. And this process usually takes a good 15 seconds to take place.

It's ridiculous. It's legal, but there are those famous "unwritten rules" that you just have to play by. And Everett doesn't. Of course I'll shout out my usual cry and say the league should make a rule about this. But they probably won't. I don't think there are enough teams in the league who have experienced this nonsense yet. So I think if it happens, it'll probably be in time for the start of the season after next.

Okay.....we're just a couple days away from our big trip to Salt Lake City and Boise. Of course, I'll be keeping lots of mental notes and will be more than thrilled to share them with you when I get back.

My WHL US Division Team

2006-03-19T22:30:00.000-08:00

Well, the regular season came to an end tonight. So I decided to name an all-star team consisting of players in the US Division. Mainly since those are the teams I see all the time and I'm pretty familiar with all the players. I'm sure I'll leave a few guys out who you could make a good argument for being on the team. And I'm also sure some of you will complain about some of my choices. But I'm looking to build a well-rounded team here with elements that can actually win games. So here are my picks:

Goaltenders

Carey Price (Tri-City)
Bryan Bridges (Seattle)

Defensemen

Shaun Heshka (Everett)
Logan Stephenson (Tri-City)
Michael Sauer (Portland)
Thomas Hickey (Seattle)
Even Haw (Spokane)
Clayton Barthel (Seattle)

Left Wing

Brian Woolger (Portland)
Jannik Hansen (Portland)
John Lammers (Everett)
Drayson Bowman (Spokane)

Right Wing

Michael Grabner (Spokane)
Jon Bubnick (Portland)
Jason Beeman (Tri-City)
Bud Holloway (Seattle)

Center

Brandon Dubinsky (Portland)
Peter Mueller (Everett)
Ian McDonald (Tri-City)
Zach Hamill (Everett)

Those are the 20 I would want out there on the ice for me on any given night. There were a few hard cuts. So I decided to give honorable mention to a few guys. You know...they'll be the sharp-dressed lads out there on the concourse during intermission that the puckbunnies are chasing around (hahaha)

Lenny Thunderchild (Portland)
Aaron Gagnon (Seattle)
Derek Ryan (Spokane)
Torrie Wheat (Everett)
Michael Funk (Portland)

So that's the list. But there's one more quick base to cover here...

Most Valuable Player

Carey Price (Tri-City)

It's pretty obvious to most of us that follow the division closely that, without Price in net, the Americans probably would have been the worst team in the league by far. He's smooth as silk playing between the pipes. Most of the time, it looks like he's not even trying. He just sees the entire game so well. Really, the only way you can beat him is by hoping that you can get to a rebound before he covers the puck up. He rarely gets beat on the first shot. I've seen alot of good goalies come through the WHL over the years. A few of them have had decent NHL careers (Chris Osgood, Trevor Kidd, Olaf Kolzig, Brian Boucher, Steve Passmore, Jamie McLennan, Corey Schwab, Rob Tallas) and others have flamed-out for various reasons (Dan Blackburn, Cody Rudkowsky, Corey Hirsch, Brent Belecki). But I can honestly tell you that Carey Price is the best I've seen.

Oh, he probably won't even win the WHL goalie of the year (that'll probably go to Pogge in Calgary since...well...he plays in and for Calgary). But look at where Price and Pogge are in 5 years and I think you'll see the Tri goalie doing alot better.

How good is he? Well, the Montreal Canadiens traded away Jose Theodore to Colorado. Sure, he's been injured lately. But come on...does anyone really think that Huet is the long-term solution for the Habs in net? If the Americans are eliminated before the end of the NHL season, you will all get to see the true future in net for the Canadiens before the season ends.

I'll get around to writing about what all happened this weekend on either Monday or Tuesday. This was one of the better weekends around here (not counting the roadies) that I've had in a long time. There were quite a few weird, funny stories. One of which I'm still trying to figure out if I'll even write about it (lol). But I still had a blast.

One more thing. For those of you who haven't been told yet, Tom and I are headed to Salt Lake City and Boise next weekend. We had originally picked Anchorage (which was the runaway winner in that little poll I took). But due to some incidents involving Alaska Airlines around here lately, Tom didn't want to fly with them. So since I couldn't find any other airlines with schedules that fit our traveling needs, we went with the SLC/Boise trip instead.

And before I hear the obvious argument from you (well, one person specifically who will go unnamed...lol), the reason I'm not going to Anchorage alone is that the two of us haven't been on a roadie together yet this year. And since in another year Tom will be retired and off to South Carolina to live out the rest of his days, we just wanted to get a trip in this year and at least one more next season. I'll get to Anchorage sooner or later (there isn't another place on my list...after this summer's roadtrip...that I want to visit more). But the two of us want to get in as much as we can while we can. I'll still have alot of friends who are already proven good times on the road (Kristi, Jacque, Emily, Kurt). And I'm sure I'll find more. But there's only one Tom Winter.

Besides...I wanna see what happens when he's turned loose on the Mormon community (lol).

The "Goal"

2006-03-11T23:52:00.000-08:00

This is rare for me. A posting about one thing. Although, knowing me, I may just wander off into a completely different subject at any time (lol). But in all likelyhood, this will be about one thing.

It's about Portland's 5th goal tonight against the Thunderbirds in Seattle. It was controversial in every sense of the word. Did the puck cross the goal line or did Bryan Bridges cover it up on the line? Who had the better view of the play; the goal judge who lit the red light or the referee who, initially, waved the goal off? I'll start my takes on the situation by telling you what my opinion on it was......

I don't know!!!

Let's recreate the scene as it played out. In the 3rd period, Portland's Jannik Hansen took a weak back-handed shot at the net. Bryan Bridges (out of position at the time) came diving back across to attempt to stop the puck. Just as the puck was closing in on the goal line, he reached it with his blocker. Then, at the same time, both the goal judge pressed the button to turn on the red light, while the referee started waving his hands like crazy to indicate no goal. And, when Bridges raised his blocker up from the ice, I could see from where I sit that the puck was stradling the back-end of the goal line and the white inside the net.

As the referee stood behind the net, Hansen, Brandon Dubinsky and another Winter Hawk (I can't remember who it was) raced over to the ref and started arguing hard about it. The ref then asked them to step back and called his linesmen over to discuss it. While the conference was going on, one of the linesmen started making this pawing motion with his hand. At first, I thought he was maybe describing the motion of the puck nearing the line.

But then they showed the first replay of the disputed goal. Now remember...the best shot they had of it was from just behind the goal line in the near corner to where the puck crossed the line. So just because it dissapeared behind the goalpost on camera doesn't exactly mean that the puck crossed the line. And Bridges had reached over to cover it up as we had seen. But the replay also showed something I hadn't seen at first (probably because I was watching both the ref and the goal judge at the time). If you look at it, you can clearly see Bridges take his hand off his stick and make a move with it like he was trying to fish something out of there. I told that to Kelly and, when they showed it again (and two or three more times after that), she agreed that it looked like he was grabbing at something.

That also explained what the linesman was doing with his hands while talking to the referee. So at that point, the question for us was what was Bridges doing with his blocker hand? Common sense says that he was fishing for the puck. Kinda like a catcher trying to frame a pitch in baseball. Some might say that he was grabbing for his stick which he had dropped. But again...common sense says that keeping a puck covered would be much more important than grabbing for your stick. Besides, the stick was outside the goal. So he wouldn't be grabbing at the stick like it was inside the net. I also think his car keys and spare change are out of the question (lol).

Eventually, the ref skated over to the penalty box to give the goal judge a call. Looking at the judge during the conversation, he seemed to have the body language of someone who was sure of himself. And while they were talking, he also made a pawing motion with his hand. Which complimented what the linesman had seen in real time and Kelly and I had seen on the replay board.

So after talking to each other for about a minute or so, the referee came out of the penalty box area and pointed at the center ice face-off circle, signaling a goal. The Seattle crowd didn't like the decision and started chanting "bullshit" while the group of Portland supporters sitting in section 111 cheered loudly.

The last observation I have is about the Thunderbirds reaction. In that they really didn't complain a whole lot after the goal was declared (unlike the Winter Hawk players who immediately started madly protesting the original call). A few plays later, I saw Bridges talking a little bit to the ref. But it wasn't anything all that animated.

So even though all the evidence I just supplied here says that it was a goal, I still say "I don't know" whether it did or not simply because both in real time and on the replay, I didn't see the puck anywhere except for being about half-on the goal line after the whistle. The ones who probably did see it were the three Portland players around the net at the time, Bryan Bridges who wound up with the puck and the goal judge. Of course the Hawks are gonna say that the puck was in and Bridges will say it wasn't. So they wash each other out. But the goal judge had a clear view of it.

And that's what the referee went with...the goal judge. Apparently he was convinced by what he told him. And that's what the goal judge is there for. Not only to point out the obvious goals (which 99% of them are), but to help out on the ones that are too close to call. And that's what he did in that instance.

As for the referee; he had a pretty shaky game tonight. There were calls and non-calls (ON BOTH SIDES) that were pretty questionable. But on that play, he did exactly the right thing. He admitted that he didn't know for 100% sure, so he used his resources that the rule book allows (the linesmen and goal judge) to make what he felt was the proper call.

But this whole situation asks one big question...why doens't the WHL (or the entire CHL) have a replay system? I remember a number of years ago when former T-Birds play-by-play guy, Chris Collins, asked the same question during a game. His take was that it wouldn't cost a whole lot to install a couple cameras hanging from the roofs of all the arena's that are aimed squarely down on the goal lines (like they have in the NHL and I also believe in the AHL) so you can better tell whether or not a "goal" like tonights was really in or not. I agreed with that take back then, and I agree with it now. If that camera was hanging in the Key Arena tonight, there would be no controversy.

Maybe next year.

Everett is a Funny Place

2006-03-07T22:08:00.000-08:00

Three games last weekend. Friday night, I was in Portland to watch the Winterhawks put the final nail in the Spokane Chiefs coffin by a score of 3-0. Saturday was in Seattle as the Thunderbirds beat the Silvertips 2-1. And on Sunday, the Silvertips beat the Kelowna Rockets by a score of 4-1 up in Everett. So I got to see alot of I-5 this weekend.

A funny story from Sunday. Just before the game started in Everett, I text messaged Emily with the news that there were 4 navy men sitting right in front of me. I did this since she has a thing for sailors (lol). But her reply kinda put me in a strange place. She asked me if they were "hot". Not really knowing what to say, I told her that was her department. But she persisted by telling me to ask them if they thought they were hot.

Of course I wasn't gonna ask them that. So I turned to the best source I could find at the time...the teenage girl sitting next to me. I showed her the text's Emily and I had exchanged and asked for her opinion. "Well", she said, "I haven't really got a good look at them yet". So right in the middle of play, she squeezed out of our row and went down a few steps to take a good look at them. While she was doing this, I glanced over at her mom...who gave me the "ok" gesture with her hand while winking her eye and nodding at me.

The girl posed on the steps with her fingers rubbing her chin before saying "tell your friend the third one from your left is definitely hot". The three sailors started laughing between themselves and turned around to look at me. "Hey", I said, "it's for this girl I know who has the hots for sailors". The one the teen identified as "hot" asked me "now is this girl you know hot"? I nodded my head and replied "yeah...she's pretty cute". They kinda laughed a little more and turned their attention back to the game.

At that point, my old seat next to Elizabeth (which was empty) looked mighty appealing to me (lol).

So I sat down there for the start of the next period. Sometime during a stoppage in play, I texted Emily back with the results of my little poll. While I was in the middle of doing that, Elizabeth asked me "are you sending a text message"? I told her I was and she said "you know, I've never figured out how to do that". So after I was done sending that message to Emily, I proceeded to try to teach Elizabeth how to text message. And that pretty much took up the rest of the period (lol).

She did get one off to me during the next intermission. But then she called me for some reason. I heard her talking to Jerry on the other end. But she wasn't answering me. So I broke-off my conversation with Don and Kenny (more on that in a little bit) and went back to the seat to see what was up. Elizabeth confirmed she had called me. But she never really gave an explaination as to why. Then, when the 3rd period started, she informed me that her phone wasn't ringing. So we sat there for just about the entire 3rd period trying to figure out how to make her phone ring again. I was successful in getting the damned thing to vibrate. But I couldn't get the phone to ring for her.

So don't ask me how the game in Everett went...especially from the 2nd period on. Because I was too busy horsing around with cell phones (lol).

Now for my little story about Don and Kenny. We were standing around near my section talking when this hot chick walked by. I commented on her and Don said "go ahead...go try to get her". Always out to entertain my friends (and to wash that ugly incident with the sailors, the teenager and Emily out of my head...lol) I went ahead and approached her. Not really thinking about what I was gonna say, I just used the line that Kara had told me worked on her before; "Hi. My name is Tom. I play hockey".

A bit of a stretch, I admit. But it was the best I could come up with on the spot. She looked at me all cross-eyed and said "good for you" and continued walking (lol). When I turned around Don was laughing his ass off. Kenny had his hand in his face. And I was chuckling myself. I knew I had no shot at her...especially with such a shitty line like that (lol). But like I said, it was more for entertainment purposes. So I wasn't feeling down about it at all.

That's about it for last weekend. Next Friday, I'm off to Portland and then Seattle on Saturday and Sunday. It's "Hockey Challenge" weekend in the Emerald City. I may get up there a little early on Sunday and watch some of the early games. But I'll miss the ones on Saturday since I'm working that morning.

And one more thing.......

WELCOME HOME, KARA!!!!!!!!!

Yes...the Army finally released her. It was great seeing her again on Friday night. Even though it wasn't for very long. Kurt and I got seperated from her before the game and we never saw her again. But now that she's back, I'm sure we'll be seeing alot more of her as the season winds down.

A Strange Sunday

2006-02-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

I went to two games this weekend. Both up in Seattle. Friday night, the Thunderbirds beat the Everett Silvertips 2-1. Bryan Bridges put in one of the best goaltending displays I've seen in recent memory as he stopped 39 of 40 shots on the night. But the highlight came with about 3 minutes to play in the 3rd period. Everett head coach, Kevin Constantine, threw a pretty good hissy-fit after one of his defensemen shot the puck over the glass, giving Seattle a late power play. Frankly, I have no clue as to what he was so upset about. I mean, it was pretty obvious as to what had happened. And that new delay of game rule is pretty cut and dry...you shoot the puck over the glass in your own end without anyone else touching it and you get a penalty.

Anyway, in his trademark red-faced rage, he ripped his jacket off and threw his lineup cards out onto the ice. And then, to cap off this unbelievable scene, he seemed shocked when the referee told him he was thrown out of the game. Again, how can you be so shocked when a ref tosses you out after throwing something onto the ice. Not just in hockey, but in every other sport, officials tend to frown on coaches (or players or anyone else for that matter) who throw things onto the playing surface like that in a fit of rage.

Listen, Kevin Constantine is the best coach not only in the WHL, but probably in all of junior hockey. He does more with less than coaches with more talented teams. But he eventually has to learn that, just because he's a former Jack Adams award winner in the NHL (coach of the year), he's not above the law. And the more he treats the refs like they're below him and he continues to bully them, things will only get worse for the Silvertips. Reputations eventually catch up with you. The Tips are already known...right or wrong...as a team that dives alot. I'm not gonna sit here and say they do. But, from my neutral eyes, they do tend to "fall down" quite easily alot of the time. So the last thing they need right now are more refs making calls against them that they maybe didn't deserve. And Kevin Constantine better curb his ways before that starts happening.

I was supposed to go to Everett on Saturday night. But after working on Saturday morning and coming home and drinking some rum, I fell asleep in my chair and didn't wake up until about 6:00pm. So I just scrapped that game. Instead, I stayed home and watched "The 40 Year Old Virgin" on dvd. It was an okay movie. It had some funny parts in it. But I just thought it was one of those films that you could have slashed off a good 30 minutes or so and still had a good movie.

Just as I was putting that disk back in it's case, Tom gave me a call around 9:00. He thought I was at the game up in Everett. So he was pretty suprised to learn that I was home. For some reason, he started asking me questions about "Caddyshack". The first was had I ever seen it. I had to tell him that in the summer of 1986 (our first with a vcr) I had watched that movie 45 times (lol). And I really did! Everytime my dad would take us up to the video store, he would always tell me "no Caddyshack tonight". So I'd pick out another movie. And, when we went back the next evening, I would simply get Caddyshack again. And this went on for the entire summer. I remember my other two favorite videos were "The Blues Brothers" and a pro wrestling video called "Great Steel Cage Matches of the 70's".

Ahhhh.....those were the days.

Anyway, after answering his questions about Caddyshack, I asked him why he was so curious. "Because they're having an 11:40 showing of it at the Grand Cinema and I was thinking of going". Of course, I invited myself to go and he accepted.

The Grand Cinema really isn't all that "grand". It's this tiny little theater that caters to the art-house film fanatics on the out-skirts of downtown Tacoma...not too far from Wright Park. Which isn't too far from the Hilltop neighborhood. Which is one of the two areas of Tacoma (along with the Portland Avenue area near I-5) which gives this otherwise great city it's poor reputation. I've seen several great movies there over the years; Run Lola Run, Fargo, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Limey, Ghost Dog; the way of the Samurai and even an old, grainy showings of 2001; a Space Odyssey and The Maltese Falcon. So I figured why not add Caddyshack to that list?

So I did. And I got home really late.

Sunday was a different beast all together. Perhaps there was a full moon out or something. I don't follow such things. But I would guess that might be the main culprit.

Things started out normally enough. I left home a little earlier than normal. For some reason, I had this urge to eat at Dick's Drive-In ever since I had woke up. So after parking my car in my normal lot, I walked over to Dick's in the rain. I ordered my food and took a seat. At some point while I was munching on my burger, I saw this car pull up in front of the window I was sitting at. There was a guy at the wheel who stayed in the car. And there was also this farily attractive young woman who got out of the car and walked into the restaurant. I didn't really think too much of this at the time. But after she walked into the joint, she didn't walk up to the counter to order any food. She just kinda walked around the dining area looking at people. Eventually, she spotted me in the corner and walked up to me and sat down. "Hey there" she said, "my name is Amy. Wanna go out on a date"?

I had a mouthful of burger and a few things running through my head. While I was chewing, I turned my head towards the window and saw the guy in the car smiling and nodding his head. Then I looked back at her sitting there twirling her blonde hair in her fingers. This wasn't the first time this type of thing had happened to me. In fact, the other two times were very similar. They even used the same line on me..."wanna go out on a date"? One time was about 6 or 7 years ago while I was on my lunch break at work in the parking lot of the 7-11 I go to. That woman was a burned-out hooker who was riding shotgun to the real life Huggy Bear. She first told me that I had a "really cool car". That "cool car" was my old 89 Camaro RS. After stiffling a laugh and saying "thanks", she asked me out for a "date". I turned her down.

The other time was about 4 years ago in Spokane. After a Chiefs game, I went back to my hotel. As I was walking up to my room I passed this car that had backed into a spot. The rear window rolled down and a girl asked me if I wanted to "go out on a date". I told her no and went into my room. About 15 minutes later, there was a commotion outside. The night manager was out there arguing with them and threatening to call the cops "again".

If there's one thing in life I've learned, it's that hookers can spot me from a mile away (lol). So I keep that little fact in my back pocket. The fact that, even though nobody else in the world wants to love me, the hookers always will...at least my wallet (lol).

So with Perry Farrell singing his great line in my head ("Love them whores they never judge you. But what can you say when you're a whore"?) I turned her down claiming that I was meeting my girlfriend here in a little bit. Of course I don't have a girlfriend. But it was my way of easing her dissapointment and maybe even curtailing a beating from her pimp out in the car.

After hanging around outside with Kristi, Jacque, Jeff and Jennifer during the first intermission of the hockey game, I went back inside to track Karin down. But before I could get too far inside, this guy wearing a red Kelowna Rockets jersey that I see all the time at the games walked up to me and said "hey buddy! I haven't seen you since the Memorial Cup! Remember that"? I had never spoken to this guy in my life. Oh yeah...needless to say, he was drunk off his ass.

"Nope. I wasn't at the Memorial Cup up in Kelowna" I told him. He looked at me puzzled and said "are you sure? I swear I talked and went out drinking with you". I acted like I was thinking a little bit and said "noooo. Can't say I was there". So he looked at me and said "well, okay. If you say so. Talk to ya later, buddy". And he turned and walked off in the opposite direction.

I was just starting to shake off that bizarre encounter when I saw Karin walking up to me. I stopped and started talking to her a little bit telling her about my strange meeting I just had. Then she started walking in the same direction she had already been going. Which, of course, was straight back towards that drunkard I had just escaped. I tried slowing our pace down a little bit so the guy could stumble ahead of us a little more. But my efforts were fruitless.

He noticed me again and said "are you sure you weren't in Kelowna for the cup"? "No. No I hate to say that I wasn't. I wish I was, though" I answered. Then he asked me "do you have a twin brother or something"? Karin jumped right into the fray and said "he wouldn't know if he did". And I was proud of her...jumping in on the act like that. Karin still may have a future running around with Tom and I (lol).

I simply agreed with her and said "perhaps I have an imposter...someone posing as me. I'll have to look into it". At that point, the drunk kinda threw his hands up at me and walked away. The two of us just kept on walking our beaten path, shaking our heads. "Why are all the weirdo's in life attracted to me" I asked Karin. She said something to the effect of "I hang around you. So I must be weird". I agreed (lol). I then said that's why I like hanging out around the likes of Kurt and Jacque since they're about the most normal people in my little world. "They're normal" Karin asked. "Well" I started "I grade normalcy on a huge curve". She laughed at me and gave me her trademark "I see".

Really, that's about it. Kelowna beat Seattle 4-2 in the game on Sunday night. It wasn't much of a game. Two teams out there on the ice who were each playing their 3rd game in three nights. And the results were about as expected...sluggish play on both sides. If I do have one take on the game, it's how the Rockets exposed how far the T-Birds have to go still. Seattle out-played Kelowna the entire night. But, in the end, the Rockets gutted out the victory. They won that game on sheer will-power. Those are the types of games that championship teams win. The Thunderbirds had their chances, but squandered them away. Yes...they still have a way to go.

I'm off to Portland after work tomorrow. Hang out with Kurt at the game between the Winter Hawks and Silvertips. I'm just hoping to avoid the weirdo's for a night...or am I???

Seattle Is Bad.....Want Some Popcorn?

2006-02-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

Interesting times this weekend. A roadtrip to the best city in the world with not one, but TWO new roadie partners. It didn't quite turn into the drunk-fest that I thought it might of been (well, at least for two of us. The third seemed pretty wasted by the time we got back to the hotel...haha). But I still had a fairly good time. Here's about how it went.....

Saturday morning started off on a shitty note for me. First, Tom came over just before I left. Now, I had told him the night before that I was leaving at 11:30am. So what does he do? He comes over at 11:25am and proceeds to talk and talk forever. The guy may be my best friend, but he has to learn when to take the phrase "I gotta go" to heart. Then, once he left and I got everything together, I went out to my car only to find it blocked by a truck and trailer by the people who were moving out of the apartment across the court from me. I stood there for about a minute until the old guy came out with a box of stuff. I asked him if he could move his truck so I could get out. He told me "we'll be done in about a half-hour". I couldn't believe that! "But I gotta go now" I answered. He shot me the skunk-eye and said "tough. You'll have to wait".

No way. I had people I had to meet and I was already running behind. So I marched down to the managers office and drug her outside. The two of them proceeded to get into a shouting match. You can learn alot in shouting matches. Like the fact that some people don't feel like paying for rent. Not that they couldn't afford it. They just flat didn't feel like forking over the dough. Well, after about 10 minutes of bickering, the manager finally whipped open her cell phone and called the cops. Not too suprisingly, that action convinced that old fart to finally get his ass in his truck and move it out of my way.

Okay...now instead of getting there a few minutes early, I was running a good 30 minutes behind. It didn't help out much that I was sorta misled by mapquest with their directions to Jacque's salon. According to the website, it was supposed to be on the right side of the road. Well, it wasn't. So I drove a good 10 blocks further than I had to trying to find it before I finally turned around and called Jacque for help.

We left my car in the parking lot there. Which, to be honest, worried the hell out of me. Every now and again as Saturday and Sunday morning rolled along, I would worry about it a little bit. So it was a huge relief when we got back there this morning to see that it was still intact (lol).

Riding along with Jacque is a great experience. I described her driving style to Karin as like riding with Tom W...only without the daredevil antics brought on by senseless acts of road rage (lol). But she's a pro. She even handles the downtown Vancouver traffic with ease. She's been there quite a few times. So she can handle that madness without much effort. And for those of you who haven't had the chance to drive around downtown Vancouver, take Kristi's quote here (that she told me later on at the game) to heart. She said "dude, you were right about the traffic downtown. There's no way I could ever drive in that shit".

Exactly.

The tunes were blaring out of the speakers non-stop. Our DJ was.....yes, Emily (lol). She brought her I-Pod along. And the thing was definitely full. She had all sorts of music on there; new rock, classic rock, hip-hop, pop. There was even a bunch of country music that I was forced to listen to (lol). But they were smart about it. Unlike Lindsay a couple years ago on my first trip to St. Louis, they never asked me my opinion of country music (lol). But it was okay. It's not like it was a never ending string of that. I just grinned and beared it.

Due to popular demand by the public (specifically the three girls in the car...lol), I was ordered to write about the "highlight" of the music portion. At one point, as we were closing in on Vancouver, Emily played the jilted female anthem "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor. All three of them sang/yelled and danced along to the song. The funniest part was watching Emily use her Coke bottle as a microphone. I think of all the things, that'll be the lasting image in my mind of this trip (lol).

Closing in on the border, there was this sign up on an overpass that said the wait at the border was 20 minutes at the Peace Arch. It also said that the wait was 5 minutes at the truck crossing. We all needed money, so at first we decided to cross at the Peace Arch. But when we got there, the line stretched all the way back to the freeway! Jacque and I both said, at the same time, "fuck that". So we turned around and doubled-back to the truck crossing. That one wasn't as bad...maybe about 20-30 minutes. But it still wasn't close to the 5 minutes that was posted on that sign.

As we approached the truck crossing, we noticed that there was a sign on the window of the Duty-Free store saying that you can exchange cash. So we pulled off there and headed inside. Of course, as it almost always happens, we got stuck behind the guy who had $1200 worth of cash to trade in. After waiting through 10 minutes of paper signings and ID checks, we got our chance. It took Kristi, Jacque and I a total of about two minutes to get our Canadian cash.

Things were uneasy for a little bit while we waited in line. Not because of what was lying ahead at the booth. Rather, there was a bit of tension in the car as we sat next to a small bus full of people in turbans. See, you have to remember that they're always telling us up here how the border crossings are terrorist targets. So even though it was never said, I think we were all thinking "please don't blow us up". But as we passed them, I started feeling ashamed of myself a little bit. I couldn't believe that I was falling victim to Dubya's Kingdom of Fear like that.

After getting through customs, it was now time to head to our hotel in downtown Vancouver. We stayed at The Listel on Robson street. It was a little more spendy than I usually get. But it was in a prime location. I think the only room I ever paid more for was the one I had in Chicago last summer. That one was on the top floor and had killer views of the Sears Tower and Lake Michigan. The best The Listel could offer was a view of the many condo's Vancouver has to offer. Oh, they're nice buildings. But it's not Chicago (lol).

Our fridge was stocked full of liquor. You name it, they had it. Beer, rum, scotch, whiskey...it was all there. But we figured we better not drink any of it since those little bottles would probably run about $10 apiece.

After ooing and awwing at our room, it was time for us to head out to the PNE. On our way out of the hotel parking lot, we pulled right up behind a Lamborghini Gallardo. Good Lord.....that thing looked like it was going 225mph just sitting there idle! Jacque stated the obvious when she said "I'm more worried about ramming him from behind than I am about anyone else on the road". Frankly, I didn't blame her. I was nervous for her at the same time (lol). But along the road, I sat there wondering to myself what would it be like if I was driving a car like that and everyone along the sidewalk was staring at me as I drove by. Which is what was happening. Then the thoughts turned to "what would it be like if I even had enough money to afford a beast like that"? That train of thought started depressing me. So I tried thinking about other things.

Ahhhh Hastings Street. Nothing quite like it. Although, as we drove along there, I was suprised that there weren't as many transients and junkies along there like there normally is. But I wound up finding where they were. There was this one alley that had three or four dumpsters that people were digging through, along with several "transactions" taking place between various people. And I'm sure that they were all legal (lol).

A small argument broke out along the way about who saw this billboard of Keifer Sutherland first. I now knew how Karin probably found my reaction to that Portland LumberJax billboard by the Rose Quarter so strange (lol).

As we were approaching the hotel we were dropping Kristi off in, the Holiday Inn across the street from the PNE, Jacque came up with an ingenius idea. We would have Kristi register Jacque's car under her name so we could park in the Holiday Inn garage for free. Perhaps not as devient as Tom and I skipping out on that parking bill downtown there a couple years ago. But I still enjoyed skirting the system like that.

We were all hungry. So we went to the finest dining establishment in all of Vancouver; the Burger King a block from the Holiday Inn. When we sat down, I looked at the packets of ketchup and told Jacque that I had to find some Canadian ketchup for Joe in St. Louis. Then, once again as has happened a couple times over the last few months, a debate broke out as to what was better...American or Canadian ketchup. If I remember the sides correctly, Kristi and I said there was no difference and Jacque and Emily said there was (I think. I may be wrong there as to which side Kristi and Emily were on). Eventually the debate petered out and we ate our dinner.

As we approached the Pacific Coliseum, we ran into a scalper out front. Jacque asked if he had any tickets in the front row. He said he didn't have front row, but he had second row in the corner behind the net the T-Birds goalie would be defending twice. That was perfect for them, so they bought the tickets from him. It's not exactly where I like to sit, but Jacque paid for my ticket. So I wasn't complaining (lol).

The people sitting next to us was a dad and his three sons. The youngest of which was probably around 3 or 4 years old. He had a Giants emblem painted on his face. He also cried alot. So that emblem was a mess by the time the game was over (lol). At one point, the dad told his youngest "we're rooting for the Giants. They're from here in Vancouver. Seattle is bad.....want some popcorn"? For some reason, that line struck me as funny. I told Kristi (who was sitting next to me) right then and there that that was gonna be the title for this story (lol). The dad was also drinking like a fish in a brewery. At first, I was kinda worried about that. But later on, his wife and the kids mom came along. She seemed sober, so I felt a little better.

As for the game; it was Vancouver all the way. For the second night in a row, the Giants beat and pounded the Thunderbirds up and down the ice. The final score was 4-1. Kristi was happy since she was rooting for Vancouver. Jacque and Emily took solice in the fact that the T-Birds at least "won the fights". Which I think was fairly accurate. Although I didn't think Thomas Hickey did all that well in his scrap. But hey.....winning 4 out of 5 fights isn't all that bad. Especially in a debacle like that (lol).

My drinking started at the game. I had three beers there. But they were spread out over each period. I bought Krisit a couple Smirnoff Ice's (since she apparently had no money). And I think Emily and Jacque had a beer apiece. So I was already off and running...even though I felt bad that I broke my promise to hold back and wait for Jacque so we could start at the same time (lol).

When the game was over, Kristi went along her way and Jacque and Emily went down to the locker room area to talk to some of the Thunderbirds. I wasn't too up to hanging around outside a locker room like that. So I went outside and just waited for them there. Out by the doors, they had this cool standing heater thing. It looked like a standing lamp. So I stood there under that to keep warm. But after about 15 minutes, some guy who worked at the arena came out and took it away from me (lol). But it still helped out in keeping me warm.

After a little bit, I saw Jacque and Emily walking out towards the door. But then, they peeled off and started walking towards the White Spot. I thought to myself "don't they know how cold it is out here"? But it turns out they had a good reason. Emily had lost her drivers license somewhere in the Coliseum that night. Which obviously sucks. But there were no worries about her getting back into the States since she had a passport. I made a note to myself that I still have to get one of those for me sometime soon here (lol).

After sneeking out of the Holiday Inn garage, we went back to our hotel to drop our stuff off. At first, we decided to hit the bar there in the hotel. But as we walked up to it, we noticed that it looked a little high-brow for us. So we decided to go across the street to the place Kurt and I haunted last December...Fogg & Suds.

The place was more busy on Saturday night than it had been when Kurt and I were there. We even had to wait to be seated. But that happened farily quickly. What wasn't quick was our waitress. You could tell she was being paid by the hour since that's about how long it took her to visit our table each time. We each ordered something to eat. I had a small pizza that was about the same quality as one of the frozen ones you can buy at the grocery store. Jacque ordered some nachos and calimarri (which wasn't all that good). And Emily ordered a shrimp cocktail. Which, ironically, was the same thing Kurt ordered when we were there.

Oh yes...the drinks (lol). I just ordered Molson. Jacque had what was called a Kermit's Third Leg. Which, according to her, was pretty much a blue tropical martini. She let me take a sip of it. And it was pretty fuckin' good. Emily drank rum and coke. So we sat there drinking away. When it was all done, I had a really good buzz going in my head. I wasn't all-out shitfaced like I thought I might get that night. I think there were two reasons for that. The first was that it was announced to me earlier that day that we had to get up early so we could get Kristi back to work by noon on Sunday. And, for some strange reason, I just didn't feel like drinking much more after my second beer there. I still had another one. But it just seemed like I had my fill of it that night.

Jacque didn't seem all that bad. And neither did Emily...until we got back to the hotel room (lol). It turns out that Jacque and Kristi were right...Emily does get kinda crazy when she's drunk (lol). She got all hyper and was laughing alot. At one point, I tossed a wadded up scrap of paper at her and, when it hit her, she just about jumped through the roof (lol). She also chided me about not getting drunk enough. I had about the same amount to drink that night as she did. I think she was drunker since she's this tiny little thing and I'm a little bigger than she is (lol).

Just a theory though.

I was the first one to wake up on Sunday morning. I had a small headache which I blamed on the night before. So I popped a couple of Tylenol that I had in my bag. But it turns out that it wasn't all that bad. I went outside for a few minutes after that and by the time I got back to the room, it was gone. So I just wasted two Tylenol capsules (lol). When I did get back to the room, Jacque and Emily were up and around. We all woke up well before we wanted to. So it was nice to kinda take our time getting ready.

While we were, I gave Lindsay a call. I had asked her the day before if she wanted me to buy her a Vancouver t-shirt at the little shop they had downstairs. She said that would be great. But while I was outside, I noticed that the shop was closed on Sunday's. So I called her to tell her that I couldn't buy her that shirt. Apparently Emily could hear Lindsay's voice on the other end. "How can you have friends who are so cheery in the morning like that" she asked me. I explained that I was talking to my friend in St. Louis. And that not only were they two hours ahead of us, Lindsay also fancies herself as a "morning person". To which Emily replied "ugh...St. Louis". From what I've gathered over the last couple weeks, Emily didn't enjoy her trip to St. Louis last summer. She apparently has the same feelings towards St. Louis as I have towards Des Moines, IA (lol).

We checked out of the hotel at about 8:00am and headed over to the Holiday Inn to pick Kristi up. After that, we went on a bit of a wild goose chase trying to find a store that was open so I could finally buy Joe his Canadian ketchup and his girlfriend her Dill Doritos. After we did that, it was off back to our own country.

While in line at the border, for some strange reason a truck driver couldn't read the signs and tried to take his 18-wheeler through the normal customs instead of the truck customs. We were wondering what was gonna happen to the trucker. After a little bit, a customs officer came walking up to the truck. We turned the music down and rolled the windows down so we could eaves-drop on the conversation. When the official got to the truck, he asked the driver "how ya doing"? After the trucker answered (we couldn't hear what he was saying), the officer then asked "what the hell are you doing"? After yet another silent answer, the officer instructed the driver of the truck as to where they were gonna have him turn around and gave him directions to the truck customs.

As far as the entertaining part of it goes, that was about that. Oh, we had some laughs and giggles on the way home. But the excitement part of it was over. We were all pretty tired at that point. We all had a long day and a short night to sleep it off. But all-in-all, I had a pretty good time. I can't speak for the other three. But they seemed to like it, too.

Although I did kinda get the impression that Jacque and Emily were a little let down by it. I think that maybe they were expecting a time similar to the ones I've had in the past with Tom, Kristi and Kurt. I blame myself for that, though. As most of you know, I'm not always 100% comfortable around groups of people I don't know all that well. A prime example of that might be the St. Louis trip in November of 2004 when Lindsay introduced me to her brother, Ryan, and Joe. Granted, I was still pretty wiped out from the trip up to Vancouver with Kurt the night before. But I kind of felt out of place with the other three there since I didn't know them too well. But then last summer, after I knew Joe better, he came away with a completely different impression of me (or at least he said as much at the time...lol).

Granted, I knew Jacque and Emily alot better than I knew Joe at the time. But there were alot of times I kinda felt out of their loop (along with Kristi). But as I thought about it for a time at the Fogg & Suds when they went outside for a little bit, I figured that each one of them would probably feel the same way if one of them were on a trip with Tom, Kurt and I. The three of us have our own little language we speak with our own catch-phrases and other stuff that goes over most people's heads (lol). So after coming to that conclusion in the bar, I felt alot better.

And I think it paid off. Really, I think the best time the three of us had was when we were still cracking jokes with each other after we went to bed for the night. I don't remember what we were joking about. But we were just laughing away at each other like a bunch of kids at a sleep-over (lol). So my final decision on them is...

Jacque and Emily KICK ASS!!!

I'm really hoping that the three or four of us can take another trip of some sort sometime soon. I'm pretty sure that, now that we know each other alot better, the next time will be even better!

See, the thing is that it took Tom and I several trips together before we ever hit our "stride". You know....doing our act in Vancouver, the Navigators game, etc. But the one thing that Jacque and Emily have over Tom is that we had a start 100x's better this weekend. Well, that and they're a helluva lot better looking than Tom (lol).

So trust me...the best is yet to come.

Something Is Fishy In Here

2006-02-15T16:12:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was a good one for us northwest hockey fans. Two Seattle/Portland games. One in the Rose City and the other in the Emerald City. Not to mention another game in Portland between the Winter Hawks and the Everett Silvertips.

Friday nights game down in Portland was a blow-out. The Thunderbirds thumped the Winter Hawks 9-1. Portland looked like they didn't even care out there. Well, there were two exceptions. The first being Kyle Bailey's big hit on Seattle's Scott Jackson and the resulting fight with Bretton Stamler. The bodycheck was clean and Stamler did what he had to do. After Bailey won the scrap, I told Kurt that perhaps that was what the Hawks needed to get things back on track and get back into the game. Famous last words...Seattle scored a short-handed goal about 20 seconds later to extend their lead. And they kept scoring...and scoring...and scoring. Then, with about a minute left in the game, there was yet another line brawl that have become a staple in the Seattle/Portland rivalry over the years. Other than that, it looked like the Hawks didn't even want to be in the old Coliseum that night.

Things started out a little better for Portland in the rematch on Saturday in the Key Arena. They came out the more aggressive team and held a 1-0 lead after the first period. But Seattle scored twice in pretty quick fashion, and it was all over for the Winterhawks. The Thunderbirds wound up winning that game 6-2. And we all went home with a coupon good for a free medium pizza. In fact, I walked out of the Key with five of those in my hands. But that rotten bastard Tom W took them away from me and gave them to someone else. Oh well...maybe Seattle will score 6 goals again sometime this season (lol).

But in that game in Seattle on Saturday, there was a happening for the ages near the end of the game. With about 6 seconds left in the 3rd period, someone finally got around to tossing the traditional fish out onto the ice. For those not familiar with that, for years and years, during Seattle/Portland games in Seattle, there's always some wahoo who sneaks a fish into the arena and tosses it out there onto the ice at some point. It's been happening for a good 80 or 90 years now. Anyway, the fish landed at the feet of Portland defenseman, Max Gordichuk. And good old Max took his glove off, picked up the fish and tossed it right back into the crowd! I had never seen that happen before (lol). I haven't heard one way or the other, but I'm pretty sure he'll get a suspension of some sort out of that. In face, I told Karin after the game that his doing that was so priceless, I'd be happy to pay his fine for him just because I hadn't had a good laugh like that in a long time.

The Portland Winter Hawks have been plain awful lately. After Saturday's loss to the Thunderbirds, they had lost 11 games in a row. So outside the Glass Palace on Sunday afternoon, there was a buzz of anticipation. Would this be a record-tying night for the Hawks? The franchise record is 12 losses in a row. But alas, they choked away their chance at history. The Hawks scored a late goal to tie it up and wound up winning the shootout against Everett to break their streak. Tom went with me to that game and was particularly proud of his favorite player, Michael "GRAAAAAND" Funk for not only scoring the first goal of the game, but also for scoring the only goal in the shootout.

One of the sponsers of the game on Sunday was the local Jesus station in Portland. They had signs all over the Coliseum. There was one inside the seating area that had a multi-colored Jesus fish on it. Tom claimed they got that fish straight out of the Willamatte River. I dubbed the seats above it the "Gordichuk" section.

Another highlight was the t-shirt toss. One of the shirts went flying over Tom and into the hands of one Brandon Dubinsky. Tom begged and pleaded with Dubinsky to give him the shirt. After giving him a "is this guy crazy" look, Dubinsky finally gave the shirt to Tom. The joke was on old man Winter, though. It was a kids shirt. So he swallowed his pride and gave it to a boy sitting a couple rows in front of us.

Here's one for the "Tom W Hates Everything About Seattle" file; with Kurt as my witness, he actually claimed that the Seahawks getting to the Super Bowl was "tainted" because...his quote here..."they played all their playoff games at home".

Huh?

I asked him if he would prefer it if the Seahawks had thrown a couple of those games so they had to go on the road in the playoffs. Afterall, isn't that why they play the regular season...to get homefield advantage? He answered "they should throw all 16 games down the toilet so they never win".

Not too suprising (lol).

That's about all for this week. But stay tuned for my next update. This Saturday, I'm heading up to Vancouver. But this trip will be a little different. No Tom, but Kristi is going. Along with Jacque, some chick named Stephanie and her boyfriend and....yes....even Emily (lol). So that should make for some interesting stories.

Super Bowl XL

2006-02-07T16:29:00.000-08:00

I'll start by saying, once again, I'm not all that bitter about the outcome of the Super Bowl between the Seahawks and Steelers. Yes the refs blew quite a few calls. Darrell Jackson's "pass interference" was chincy at best. But if you see it again, take a look at the Pittsburgh d-back. He slaps away at D-Jack, too. But if that turned out to be an incompletion, I wouldn't have been crying for a pass interference call on him, either. I mean, it's the Super Bowl...let the PLAYERS decide the outcome! As long as they aren't blatantly interfering with the play, let them go.

The touchdown by Ben Roethlisberger was bogus. The thing that got to me on that play was how the linesman first started signaling like he didn't get in and was gonna spot the ball. Then, all of a sudden, he signaled "touchdown". He seemed like a blind umpire behind homeplate that's easily fooled by a catcher framing an obvious ball for a called strike. But would that have mattered? It would have been 4th down at that point. And I would think that the Steelers would have gone for it anyway. If they scored, a few more seconds tick off the clock. If they don't, it's Seattle's ball deep in their own territory. Pittsburgh also could have just taken the three points. Either way, the finale of that drive wouldn't have been good for the Seahawks.

But the one call that still irks me is Sean Locklear's phantom "holding" call. When it's all said and done, I do believe that penalty killed the Seahawks morale. You saw it on the next play when Pittsburgh scored the sack on Hasselbeck. And even in the next play when, out of desperation, Matt air-mailed a pass clear over his receivers heads and into the hands of an opportunistic Steelers defender. Then, of course, there was that hideous "chop-block" call on Hasselbeck during the return. Has anyone in football history gotten credit for a tackle AND a chop-block penalty all on the same play?

But more than anything, it all comes down to the fact that the Seahawks couldn't finish the job in most cases. Outside of Jerramy Stevens td catch, Seattle squandered chance after chance all throughout the game. And the Steelers capitalized on a few of theirs. Some examples:

Stevens dropping like 3 or 4 passes

That horrible management of the clock near the end of the first half

Alexander's false start on a key drive

Josh Brown missing two field goals (albeit from over 50 yards. But still within his range)

Pittsburgh's 75 yard touchdown run to start the 3rd quarter

The end-around pass from Randel-El to Hines Ward

And, probably the one play that pissed me off the most...Seattle not being able to stop Pittsburgh on that 3rd and 26 in the 2nd quarter. For just about all of Mike Holmgren's tenure here in the Northwest, you've heard me yelling not to insert that STUPID prevent defense. It's killed us so many times in the past. The Rams game here at Qwest Field last season, for instance. All game long, the corners and safties pummeled and intimidated the St. Louis receivers. And the front seven got constant pressure on Marc Bulger. And the results for the first 52 minutes of that game was Bulger being forced to throw bad passes at receivers who weren't open. And then, with about 8 minutes to go in that game, the coaching staff decided to take their foot off the Rams throat and let Bulger have plenty of time to find recievers who were wide open, running around the field freely. By the time it was over, the Rams had made an amazing comeback for the win in overtime.

Perhaps it wasn't quite as dramatic in the Super Bowl. But the play and the situation were similar. Roethlisberger was getting pressured the entire game and forcing bad throws to receivers who weren't open. And then, just one play after a Rocky Bernard sack that made it 3rd and 26, they let their foot off the Steelers. Big Ben had plenty of time to scan the field until he finally found a wide-open Hines Ward for a first down on the 3 yardline.

Now, if the Seahawks had called a defensive play similar to the ones they had been calling all game, I would say that chances are the Steelers wouldn't have made a first down and, at worst, would have had to settle for 3 points.

But that's not what happened. And the result was a 7-3 lead going into halftime. A 7-3 lead that shouldn't have been had only Seattle stuck to their defensive game plan.

As you know, I'm not one to blame the referees for my team's loss. And, believe it or not, I don't here, either. Yes, they were a huge factor. Yes they cost us points. But the Seahawks still had plenty of chances to overcome those bad calls...and didn't. You can't blame the refs for that interception Hasselbeck threw. You can't blame the refs for those passes dropped by Stevens. You can't blame the refs for the Seahawks not tackling and being out of position on that long td run. And you can't blame the refs for that great pass from Randel-El to Ward.

I'll also say this; Mike Holmgren's comments at the rally at Qwest on Monday were embarrassing. If he said something like that during the game or just after, it would have been more understandable. Not the smartest thing...but still understandable. But almost 24 hours after the game? Come on Mike...show a little class. The world saw what happened and knows we got jammed out there. But spouting off like that (especially in his position of power) does nothing to help the Seahawks cause. In fact, it probably hurts us down the road.

I do see some bright spots, though. If there's one thing the Seahawks have shown over the last couple years is they learn from their mistakes (outside of that STUPID prevent defense). I think if they can re-sign Shaun and Joe Jurevicius, there's no reason that they won't be back in the Super Bowl next season. And by that time, HOPEFULLY, they will have learned their lessons from this season and finish the job.

That's about it.

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers!

GO HAWKS!!!!!!

SCREW A&M!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Champion in Our Midst!!!

2006-01-30T16:47:00.000-08:00

Check out this link to the Blues website. It seems as if our very own Joe won a bubble hockey tourney not too long ago (lol)

http://www.stlouisblues.com/fanstuff/coolbars/partypix-hotshots.html

I've already sent out a challenge to him for the next time I'm in St. Louis (since I'm not 100% sure as to if there is a bubble hockey game around here anymore. Maybe at Chuck E. Cheese...lol)

My Friends RULE!!!

2006-01-29T18:58:00.000-08:00

Really, this started out as a pretty typical Sunday for me. I slept in WAY too late for my own good this morning. I had the night off on Saturday...a rare occurance this time of year. No games to go to around here. Originally, I was supposed to go to Kennewick with Kristi and Jacque for the Tri-Cities/Spokane game. But when I got home on Friday and saw that they were expecting 12-24 inches of snow in the mountain passes, I quickly called that trip off (lol). So I wound up staying home and finally watching the third Lord of the Rings movie. Which, for me, is an accomplishment upon itself. I think that all three are good movies. They're well-directed, the camera work rivals some of the best of all-time and I appreciate the grand scope of the whole story. But I'm just not that into sword and sorcery stuff. That and I can't stand looking at Elijah Wood (lol). I was hoping he would die sooner in the story. But I guess the end worked okay for me. Even though I was rooting for that spider (hahaha).

Okay...once again I have strayed off-course. Not unusual. But still regretable (lol). Anyway, I was so tired after watching the LOTR last night, that I just kinda got on the computer a little bit afterwards, then decided to just go to bed. Which just happened to be about 10:45. I was so beat, that I figured I would just lay there whether I fell asleep or not. Well, I did fall asleep...and didn't wake up until almost 11:30am! So I must have been a little tired (lol).

After I came to my senses, I gave Lindsay a call. Today is her 23rd birthday. So I had to shout out to her really quick. She's been having a good time all week. She's made a bunch of friends at work and they tend to enjoy going out after work and get sloshed (lol). Which is good for her. She's spent so much time at home these last few years by herself, not getting out much, that she deserves to let loose now. Although, I think she's starting to get an idea as to what it's been like for me over these last few years with working and traveling all over the place for the hockey games. She seems tired alot. Which I was, too. That's a big reason as to why I've laid off a little bit this season. Perhaps not as much as I had originally planned. But I'm still going to fewer games.

And today was almost one of those games that I missed...although it wasn't by design. After talking to Lindsay, I went and took a shower then headed out the door. It was about 12:30 at that point. I went up to the 7-11 to buy some stuff. And then, as I was walking out the door, I noticed that my right-rear tire was flat as a pancake! Somewhere along the short route between my apartment and the 7-11, I had ran over a nail. So I went back into the store, bought a can of "Fix-a-Flat" and filled the tire up.

At that point, I was pretty much content with just staying home tonight. But as I pulled back into my parking lot, I saw that both of Tom W's trucks were parked there. Briefly, I thought about calling him up to see if he wanted to go to the game with the ticket being on me. But then I remembered all the Seahawks glorious results lately and the fact that he still isn't answering his phone when I call (lol). So that idea was scraped pretty quickly. Then, I remembered that Karin said that she was working today and that Rick was going to the game instead. So I called Rick up to see if I could get a ride. He said that he was already up there, but that I should call Karin to see if she would drive me. "Isn't she working today" I asked. "Nope. She's home with that bad leg right now". So I thanked Rick and gave Karin a ring. I asked her if she would drive us up there with the ticket being on me. Of course she said yes...it really wasn't much of a sell (lol).

So Karin came to my rescue and up to Seattle we went. We got there about 10 minutes into the first period. But I wasn't complaining at all. At least I got to the game!!!

I felt a little better during the 1st intermission after hearing about all the woes Kristi and Jacque had earlier that day concerning Jacque's car. Apparently, they had to park it in a church parking lot the night before. And when they got out there this morning, the good people at the church had her car towed away. As always...the brotherly/sisterly thing to do (lol). So they went to the tow-yard or wherever it was to fetch the thing. And the woman behind the desk started flipping them all sorts of shit. The main one was how Jacque needed a Washington State driver's lisence or military ID to get her car back. She didn't have her lisence, but she did have a passport with her. That wasn't good enough for the woman behind the desk, though. Jacque told her that her lisence was somewhere in her room, but she didn't know exactly where it was. Which inspired that idiot behind the desk to make a snide remark about the state of cleanliness of her bedroom.

From what I could gather, the woman behind the desk changed her attitude when small claims court was mentioned somewhere in the conversation. Strangely enough, having a Washington State drivers lisence wasn't required all of a sudden. So I guess they got the car back at that point. But it was still good to know that I wasn't the only one having a shitty car day (lol).

To Jacque:

The three of us will get that roadtrip in one of these days. I text messaged Kristi last night asking about maybe going to Vancouver this Friday. But she said you had to work. And I think last night would have been a good one if it wasn't for all the snow. But that's the way things go this time of year. But after talking to Karin about it on the way up to the Key today, I came to the realization that I would love to take the two of you somewhere. That way, when Kristi eventually ditches us, I'll still have someone to hang out with (lol). We'll go out to some bar after the game, get shit-faced, hit on members of the opposite sex, laugh our asses off. Basically, have a great time (hahaha).

Oh yeah...the T-Birds lost to the Prince George Cougars, 3-2 in a shootout. PG is a pretty good team this season. Too bad they're in the same division as Kootenay, Vancouver and Kelowna. And the Thunderbirds are starting to pick things up. They had like 50 shots on goal tonight. But Real Cyr was dynamite for the Cougars in net. And the Seattle power play is starting to look good, too. They still aren't scoring all that much. But they're passing the puck around with confidence like a good pp unit does. If they keep it up, their man-advantage woes will be cured soon enough.

So that's about it for tonight. Ordinarily, I wouldn't have written about tonight. But I still had to thank my friends for coming through for me once again.

Thanks Rick for the advice on Karin!

Thanks Karin for the ride up there! (and back home again...lol)

Thanks Kristi, Jacque and yes....even Emily (haha)....for boosting my spirits!!!

Thanks Kelly for filling me in on the rally at Qwest Field today!

And last, but not least:

Happy Birthday, Lindsay!!!!!

You're still one of the best things to ever come into my life!!!!!

The Best Day of My Life

2006-01-22T23:37:00.000-08:00

I am now one month away from turning 32. And this is the Seahawks 30th season in the National Football League. So, for pretty much my entire life, I've rooted for this team. And like no other. Sure, I like the Mariners and Sonics just fine. I want them to win. And face it...the run by the 1995 Mariners is still probably the most thrilling ride this area has ever seen (considering all the circumstances surounding it). And I was way more than thrilled when the Sabercats won the WCHL title in 1999. But for all my life, the Seahawks have always been #1 in my heart. I remember sitting in our first house on my dads lap watching their early years when the stars were Jim Zorn and Steve Largent. In the fall of 1979, my dad was telling me all week about how the Seahawks had to play the 49ers and their great running back, O.J. Simpson that Sunday. It turns out that he did all that to cover up the fact that my mom was leaving us that week. I still remember watching the game, and my mom calling me over to her so she could explain why she was leaving us. I remember I cried alot...then, after she left, I turned my attention back to the game on the tv. And I still remember the first Super Bowl we watched in our new house back then in 1980. It was the Steelers vs the Rams. And, at one point, I asked my dad if the Seahawks would ever get to play in the Super Bowl. "We'll get there someday" he told me.

And I sat there with my dad every Sunday for years and years after that. No matter what was going on that week, what we were arguing about, what we had to do that day, the two of us sat there watching every play, every down, every game. Whatever our differences were, we still had our basic love of the Seahawks to bring us together for at least those few hours.

They had a few good years back in the mid-80's. Led by Dave Krieg, Curt Warner, Steve Largent, Kenny Easley, Dave Brown (RIP), Joe Nash, Jeff Bryant, Fredd Young and Jacob Green. The coach was "Ground" Chuck Knox. Then there were the darker years. The Ken Behring era. For those not in the know, Ken Behring was simply a weasel. He bought the team from the Nordstrom brothers with the intent on driving the franchise into the ground so he could move them to California. Oakland was his first choice. But after the Raiders moved back to Oakland and the Rams took off to St. Louis, he tried to get them into Los Angeles. He even moved some of the teams stuff down there and held a make-shift practice...on the field of some junior high school, even! That proved what a cheep bastard he really was.

But the NFL said "no". They knew that there was plenty of fan support in the Puget Sound area. The Seahawks at one point had a 10 year waiting list for season tickets. And games in the Kingdome sold out just mere minutes after they went on sale in late summer. So they knew that there was a strong market here. They just had to find the right owner to prop the franchise back on it's feet. So they forced the weasel to sell the team.

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For once, it was actually SUNNY today (lol). And it was one of those days that just had that feeling to it. For example; there's this one huge rock just off the on-ramp from 56th street on I-5 in Tacoma. As long as I can remember, it's always been full of graffiti. I think if you went up to it with a can of laquer thinner, you could probably go through about 6 inches of paint to get back to the original rock. Today, it was painted blue with a #12 on it and the words "GO HAWKS". Vandalism never looked so good (haha).

And all along the freeway in Tacoma, there were homemade signs that read various things like "Go Hawks" and "Fear the 12th Man". The 12th man flag on the Tacoma Dome flapped true. As we rode the bus up to Qwest Field, people would drive up next to our bus and give us the #1 sign with their fingers. And we, of course, gave it right back to them.

The atmosphere around the stadium itself was electric. People were jamming into the various sportswear shops up and down the street buying everything Seahawks. Chants were ringing through the streets like "Let's go Seahawks", "Panthers suck" and "Super Bowl". And after wading through a freakishly long security line, Touchdown City was about 10x's more packed than I had ever seen it. Alot of people stood around tv sets watching the Steelers dismantle the Broncos in the AFC Championship game.

And it was more of the same inside the actual stadium. The Seahawks team shop was crammed up like you wouldn't believe! I was sent on a mission in there for someone and failed miserably simply because I couldn't get around in there (lol). On the north steps of Qwest Field, the Husky marching band was putting on a show. People were already hi-fiving each other...and the game hadn't even begun yet. I personally lost count of the people who wanted to hi-five me at 15 (lol). Of course, I was more than happy to oblige anyone who wanted one.

After eating my usual Ivar's 5-piece fish and chips, I went out to meet and greet a few people. The first ones I went to were Jenna and her mom (who I never learned her name...lol). They sat next to me in Husky Stadium while the Hawks played there between the Kingdome and Qwest. I hadn't talked to them all season. So it was nice to catch up with them. Then I went over to chat a little with Jerry and Elizabeth. They had come over to my seat the last two or three games. So I told them when I was up in Everett on Friday night that it was my turn to go visit them (lol). Then it was back over to my seat to be with Dan, his new girlfriend (whose name I can't remember now. But she's really f'n cool...lol).

After going through all the pre-game stuff, they did the national anthem. Usually, at the Seahawk games, they do the anthem before they introduce the players. My best guess is that they do it that way to keep the crowd buzzing. FOX brought in some American Karaoke chick to sing it. Oh, she was hot and sang it well. But I think if it was up to us, we would have liked to have seen a Seattle singer sing it. Like, say, Ann Wilson or Geoff Tate (who have both done it numerous times before and are always popular). Even Sea-Gal Trina would have been a good choice (as she was last week. And, if I may say so myself, is a much better singer than the Karaoke contestant by far!).

After the coin toss, it was time for the raising of the 12th Man flag. Usually, it's not much of a secret as to who's doing it. But it had been all this week. While I was over talking to Jerry and Elizabeth, I asked them if they had any clue. One of their kids works in the Hawks front office and usually knows. But she couldn't tell Elizabeth when she asked her on Friday because she was ordered not to. But then, on Satuday, Julie went ahead and told Elizabeth anyway. So I was already in on the secret beforehand (lol).

Back in my seat, I could hear a little commotion behind us. Not a bad one. But one of joy and excitement. Then on the big screen, the introduction began. It went a little something like this:

His dad took him to Husky games as a young boy

And from that, a passion for football was lit

Then in 1995

In the franchises darkest hour

He saved our Seahawks

And that was pretty much that. The crowd immedietly knew who it was. And the stadium roared with a deafening level of noise that I had never heard before in my life. And it was at that point, we all knew that this was OUR day. That nothing....NOTHING....was gonna stop us. How could any visiting team not get flustered by that roar? How could a home team not feel invincible with all that screaming humanity behind them and their efforts? And the reason that it was us here in the northwest watching that game and making all that noise and not Los Angeles was the one and only Paul Allen. It was his passion (and face it...his money...lol) that had gotten us out of the Behring era and to this point. And once again, as they usually do, whoever puts the stuff together for the Seahawks punched all the right buttons with us. Unlike most of the other teams in other sports, the Seahawks make sure that they let us know that, in the beginning, middle and end, it's all about us...the fans. And that's been the message sent forth by Paul Allen from day one.

And rightfully so, it was Paul Allen who raised the 12th Man flag. Thank you Mr. Allen! Thank you for this day!

All of you saw the game, I'm sure. It was an ass-whuppen from start to finish. I won't go into the usual things about what happened during the game. But I will say this. All year long, the Seahawks have shut their doubters up. I think I heard one so-called expert pick the Seahawks to win this game. Everyone else went on and on about how Carolina was gonna win. They talked about how Steve Smith was gonna burn up the Seahawks secondary. Well, 5 catches for 33 yards isn't exactly burning up a secondary. They said Shaun Alexander isn't a big game running back. I think 130+ yards in the NFC Championship game pretty much took that sick dog out back and shot it. Now the early buzz is that the Steelers are the favorites in the Super Bowl. They're a tough team...no doubt about it. But this has been one of those years where the Seahawks have just gone out there week after week and shut the so-called experts up. So keep on doubting us. It's worked for us so far!!!

When it was all over, Dan and I didn't give each other our usual hi-ten. This time, we just shook each others hand. He's been a season ticket holder since day one. And he also has heard from me about how much the team means to me and how when I finally got up enough money, I bought my season ticket that I had always wanted. So we know how much this means to the two of us. And this Wednesday, I'm gonna make an exception to my weekday hockey rule and wade through the traffic on I-5 to go to the Silvertips game just so I can celebrate a little bit with Jerry and Elizabeth. As for Jenna and her mom...they'll just have to wait until next season (lol).

See, it's not just about only the team. It's about how the team (or, in the hockey realm for me, the game) draws us together. People we don't know ahead of time, we form this bond. People we turn out to really like that we wouldn't have met if it wasn't for the team. We live through all the highs and lows. And trust me...over 30 years rooting for the Seahawks, there have been alot of lows (lol). It's something we have in common. And on days like this, it's those friendships that make the teams success so much sweeter to us. That's what makes sports so special.

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Walking out of the stadium, I could hear my cell phone ringing and text messages being sent. I just ignored them all. I was still in a daze...trying to come to grips that what had just happened really did happen. Was it a dream? I mean, we're Seattle sports fans. Our teams are supposed to choke when it comes to crunch time. But the whole time, I could only think of one call that I wanted to make. The one call that would be the first after the game was over.

When I got on the bus and it started moving, I whipped out my cell phone and called my dad. When he answered, I immedietly told him "we did it, dad". After I said that, I know I was choking back the tears. I could tell he was too when he cracked out "yes we did". Then I said "you told me we would one of these days 26 years ago". To which he said "I know. You know I wouldn't lie to you". I said something like "yeah". Then he told me "you barely have a voice. You better rest it a little so you can tell me all about it tomorrow".

And I will. There's nobody else in the world that I want to share this time with more.

Shake, Shake, Shake....

2006-01-14T21:02:00.000-08:00

It was a cold, rainy day. Okay......that's kind of a cliche (lol). But it was! Actually, that same opening line could go for any of the previous 28 days around here. Yup...for those not around here, we've had 28 straight days that featured some sort of rain. I accept the rain. It's just a fact of life up here. That's what we're known for, isn't it? I mean, California has the sun, Minnesota has the snow, the midwest has tornado's, the southeast has hurricanes and the northwest has it's rain. But almost a month of nothing but rain is getting a little old. At this point, I believe the record is something like 31 straight days (set in the 50's sometime, I also believe I heard). But on the way up to the Park & Ride today, I heard a little quote about our foul weather from Mike Holmgren's press conference earlier in the week. He said "we've broken all sorts of records this season. Why not break another one since we're on a roll"?

Indeed.

I also noticed last night when I was driving home from Everett that the Tacoma Dome is now sporting a 12th Man flag right underneath the American flag. So I couldn't bring myself to flip that rotten woodpile off like Tom and I normally do (shhhh.....please don't tell him.....lol).

Anyway, back to that cold, rainy day. The one thing that really sucked about it was that Touchdown City was held outside this time instead of inside the convention center. This was due to the fact that the Seattle Boat Show was inside. They actually canceled the boat show a couple days earlier than originally planned just because of the football game. But you could still see all sorts of expensive yachts that nobody who makes less than a million dollars a year could even imagine to own. I guess they just couldn't get all those boats out of there in the 16 hours that they had.

But I still hung out outside for about an hour before I went in. Which turned out to be pretty cool. It wasn't raining a whole bunch. So there were all sorts of people wandering around looking at whatever little was out there. There were a bunch of people hanging out at the KIRO booth watching them do the pre-game show. And we got to see quite a few Seahawk legends. Old-timers like Curt Warner, Jacob Green and, of course, Steve Largent. Warren Moon was pretty popular. Especially since he was recently named one of the 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I hope he makes it. But I have a feeling that he'll probably be one of those guys who gets voted in during a weak year of candidates. Especially since they only vote 4 guys in per year.

Trent Dilfer arrived to the quick, sporadic chants of "Dilfer" that we used to yell when he first arrived in Seattle and Matt Hasselbeck wasn't all that good. And Ken Hamlin also got a loud ovation when he popped in for a quick interview. When asked whether or not he would ever be able to come back and play football again, he said that he was planning on being in Cheney when training camp rolls around next July. But he was also careful by saying that he wouldn't do anything that the doctors told him not to do. The "Hammer" also got a rousing ovation just before kickoff as he was the one chosen to raise the 12th Man flag.

The game started off well. Hasselbeck completed an early 52 yard pass to Darrell Jackson to quickly put the Seahawks in scoring position. The Seahawks continued to march downfield and seemed destined to score on their first possesion. But Shaun Alexander commited a rare fumble on the Washington 11 yardline, which the Redskins recovered.

Then, on the next Seattle drive, we avoided what could have been a disaster. Shaun Alexander went down with a concussion that took him out of the game. Although I think that deflated the crowd a little bit, we still have faith in Maurice Morris. And Mo did a pretty good job the rest of the game against a pretty good Redskins run defense.

Washington took the first lead at 3-0. But the Seahawks came back with a good drive downfield that ended when Hasselbeck found Darrell Jackson in the endzone for a touchdown. I thought Darrell did a good job of adjusting to that ball. He turned his head around the opposite way that the ball was coming. But he was still able to twist his body around to make the catch.

By the way...you can take me off the "Darrell Jackson Haters" list (lol). Unlike the last two seasons, the guy now catches everything thrown his way. He's back to playing the way he used to. Still not the swiftest receiver out there, he's alot like Largent in that he can just find a way to get open and make the catch. And, much like Largent, he's clearly not respected as a deep threat. He caught two bombs today which were the result of being wide-open. It's like the Washington defensive backfield decided to ignore him.

So the Seahawks were up 7-3 at halftime. Walking around the upper deck during halftime was interesting. I ran into a guy who I sat next to on the bus earlier this season and talked to him for a few minutes. Before I left, he pulled a little shot-bottle of Jack Daniels out of his pocket and gave it to me. I cracked it open, and swallowed it down. That warmed me up a little bit (lol). There was also some guy marching around trying to get a "Forskins Suck" chant going. Crude, but what do you expect from a liquored-up football fan? And the lines to the restrooms were longer than any other I had ever seen! For the most part, there were two lines---one from each direction---to get into either the men's or women's room.

Crazy.

Matt Hasselbeck took the game over in the 3rd quarter. After leading the Seahawks on a drive downfield, he scored a touchdown by himself from about five yards out. That put the Seahawks up 14-3 after three quarters. The 4th quarter turned into a typical Seahawks hair-puller (lol). The Redskins scored a touchdown when a pass by former Husky, Mark Brunell, bounced off the helmet of a diving Andre Dyson and into the hands of Santana Moss. At that point, I decided to see what the line to the bathroom looked like. The line wasn't that long anymore, so I decided to snag that chance. When I got to the end of the line, a strange thing happened. Without even looking back, I could feel the life suddenly being sucked out of the stadium. When I turned around to look at the big screen, I could see a pile of players scrumming for a loose ball. Josh Scobey had fumbled the next kickoff. Luckily, all the Skins came away with was a field goal.

With the score 17-10, Josh Brown connected on yet another field goal to put the Seahawks up by 10. This was my favorite moment of the day. Not so much the field goal, but the fact that they started playing KC and the Sunshine Band's "Shake Your Booty" and it sounded like alot of people in the crowd were singing along with it. The game had turned into a giant sing-a-long (lol).

The Redskins made one more late run at the endzone. But it all came to an end when a 4th down attempt at the endzone by Brunell to Moss was batted away by Michael Boulware for an incompletion. The crowds reaction was strange, but not un-Seattle like. There was this strange silence that went through the crowd. I think the first question we all though to ourselves was "was that really an incompletion"? That turned into "are there any yellow flags on the field"? Which then went to "is this for real"? And as each and everyone of us realized that, yes, this is for real, the cheers got louder and louder. It took a good 15-20 seconds for us to soak in what had just happened.........

THE SEAHAWKS FINALLY WON A PLAYOFF GAME!!!!!!!!!

Now let's just hope they don't pull a Mariner job and blow it next week (lol).

Some final thoughts here:

Why didn't the Seahawks put another punt returner in the game? Jimmy Williams almost fumbled the first punt he received, got collered pretty good just after catching the second punt he caught (one that just about every other returner would have called for a fair catch) and fumbled the 3rd one. I mean, Bobby Engram wasn't doing much in the game. In an important contest such as this, why not put in a proven returner?

I hate rooting against Mark Brunell. Being that he was the main quarterback when the Huskies won their National Championship, it's kinda hard for me to whip up a bunch of animosity towards him. I still own his Jacksonville Jaguars jersey. And just watching his post-game press conference a few minutes ago, listening to all the love that he still has towards not only Seattle, but the Northwest in general (he's from Kelso), I actually feel a little bad for him. Not for Shawn Springs or the rest of the Redskins......just Mark Brunell.

Darrell Jackson is also the best interview in Seattle sports history (lol). Although I wasn't too thrilled with him over the last couple seasons on the field due to his butterfingers, I've always liked the guy on a personal level. I mean, how can you say bad things about a black guy who likes Metallica and NASCAR??? (hahaha) Hopefully one day he'll be in the same class of characters with Jay Buhner and Slick Watts.

And I hope that all those Hasselbeck haters eat a nice, large plate of crow sometime this week. All you ever hear from people across the country is "he's not capable of taking over a game" and "if Alexander goes down, Hasselbeck won't be able to do anything to help boost the Hawks offense". Well, what did he do today? Maybe he didn't have a huge 350 yard, 4 touchdown day. But he still took the game over. Whether it was through some audibles at the line, a makeshift route change in the middle of the play (Joe Jurevicius' only snag of the day was a slant route that Hasselbeck saw wouldn't work. So he waved Joe down field and lofted a soft pass that Jurevicius ran under and caught for a key first down) or running to paydirt for his own score, Mr. Hasselbeck DID take over that game and won it himself. And he did it against a damn good defense, too.

So I hope that I hear some respect for Matt Hasselbeck from the likes of Brian Cox, Jim Rome and Steve Czaban this week. But I do know one person who won't give Hasselbeck his props; Tom Winter (lol). And no....he's not answering his phone again (haha). Not too suprising. But, in a way, I hope that the Panthers beat the Bears tomorrow. Not so much because I think Carolina is a better match up for the Hawks. Rather, it'll just make the whole thing that much sweeter knowing that the Seahawks beat the Panthers....who are Tom's adopted team since he loves the Carolina's so much (lol). Of course, there are two downsides to that possibility. The first being that if the Seahawks do beat the Panthers, I probably won't hear from Tom for at least a month. And then there's the opposite. If Carolina does beat the Seahawks, then I won't get any rest for the next month since Tom wouldn't stop taunting me about it (lol).

But that won't happen-----will it???

Half-Way Report...and a Retort

2006-01-11T16:13:00.000-08:00

I admit it...I've been slacking here alot lately. It's just that, as has happened over the last couple years with the email, I'm finding it harder and harder to find any time to type these things out. And when I actually do have some time, it's difficult for me to find any inspiration to sit down here and type away for a couple hours. But while I was sick last week, I came up with this idea of writing about how things are shaping up in the WHL this season so far. Well, at least in the US and BC divisions. So, while Kristi was sleeping in the car on the way home from Portland last night (which, if I may be so bold to say, she looked about as hot as I'd ever seen her last night...lol), I started forming some of these things in my head.

I'll first do some takes on the 5 US Division teams. Then, I'll share my opinions on some of the players in both the US and BC divisions. No real order here unless I say so (lol).

Portland Winterhawks

I'm starting with Portland since I've been seeing alot of them lately. I still stand by what I said at the start of the season; this is, top to bottom, the most talented team in the US Division. Maybe even the entire Western Conference. They started off well. But some injuries (especially to their defense) put them in a bit of a slump. Eventually, they came out of it. But I've been noticing lately that their overall play has become less and less disciplined. They've taken alot of bad penalties at even worse times. Not to mention quite a few majors and even a match penalty. And now, Brandon Dubinsky is down with a bum knee. The Dubinsky injury doesn't kill their chances. But they gotta tighten up those bad penalties. Sooner or later, with all the suspensions that start to take real effect, those will come back to haunt them. How about this??? Put Kevin Constantine behind the Winterhawks bench and, not only are they the best team in the WHL, they may even be the best team in all of junior hockey.

Seattle Thunderbirds

All defense, no offense. When you're 36 games into the season and your leading point getter has something like 28 points, you know you're in trouble. One stat that's decieving about this team is the shots on goal every night. They routinely get out-shot in just about every game. But when you look at it a little closer, it's not because the other team is firing puck after puck on net. It's more along the lines of the Thunderbirds just don't get many quality offensive opportunities. And the ones they do get, they tend to squander away. And when it comes to describing their power play, words like pathetic, clueless, awful, horrible, embarassing, lack-luster, impotent and disgraceful come immedietly to mind. Statistically, they're not the worst this season (unless things have changed, they've been around 18th out of 20 teams in the league), but this is a problem that's been going on for about three years running now. And until it's fixed, they're doomed to another first round playoff exit.

Everett Silvertips

As I've said before...Everett is Everett. But the scary thing is that now, their third season in, they're starting to see the fruits of their in-house program ripen. And Kevin Constatine is still the best coach in the Western Division (perhaps only outdone by Sutter in Red Deer). An example being that, with the new rules in place, their neutral zone trap is just about rendered useless. But with the better personel out on the ice, Constatine is now able to use a more conventional style of defense. And they're scoring alot more this season, too. As long as they listen and obey coach Constantine and the Winterhawk players don't pull their heads out of their ass, they'll win the division going away.

Tri-City Americans

For the most part, this team is still Logan Stephenson on defense, Carey Price in goal and a bunch of other guys filling out the ice. But looking at their game sheets from night-to-night, they're getting help from different players all the time. To be honest, I was kinda shocked last Friday night at the Key when they posted the league's assist leaders and I saw Ian McDonald's name up there in the top-5. Where the hell did he come from??? (lol). But I'm hoping most that this franchise gets things turned around for good. The last owner was a weasel. So hopefully Stu Barnes and Olaf Kolzig will help get things straight.

Spokane Chiefs

This one should be an "incomplete" since I've only seen Spokane three times in the regular season so far. And not since the day after Thanksgiving. But as I recall, they're sorta along the same line as Seattle. Only with a little more offense and a little less defense. Although I was a little suprised that they moves Klassen and Watt at the deadline yesterday. So maybe they're alot worse than I thought.

Now for some players.....

Chris Durand (Thunderbirds)

Apparently he had a good night against Spokane last week. But, for the most part, he's been a complete bust so far this season. An offensive forward in his third full season and a 2nd round draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche should be, at worst, a point-a-game player. Although I really can't get into the players heads, he seems like he just doesn't care too much out there. He just kinda drifts around when he's on the ice. Sometimes, it's almost like he can't wait to get back to the bench. A major part of the rest of the T-Birds season depends on whether or not his attitude changes.

Michael Funk (Winterhawks)

Everybodies favorite whipping boy...and for good reason. Since about this time last season, I've been trying to think of the guy that Funk reminds me of. I mean, he's careless with the puck, doesn't play physically at all, is constantly out of position defensively and doesn't seem to take any personal responsibility when things go wrong in his end. But the moment it dawned on me was during a power play on New Year's Eve. I thought to myself "he's actually pretty good at quarterbacking the pp out there for the Hawks". And finally, after almost 2 years, the name came to my head; former Sabercats defenseman and captain, Scott Boston. It's scary...the two are spitting images of each other. The only real difference is that Funk is a much better skater than Boston was. And, much like Boston, Funk is doomed to a career in the low-minors unless he shapes up.

Carey Price (Americans)

Just silky smooth in net. It often looks like he's not putting any effort into making the saves. In my opinion, he's at the top of the list along with Steve Passmore and Dan Blackburn as one of the best goalies I've seen in this league. Hopefully, he won't suffer any career cripping diseases (Passmore) or career ending injuries (Blackburn) like the other two did.

Peter Mueller (Silvertips)

My personal favorite to watch. He's not a fast skater, but he is hard to knock down. Other than that, his hockey sense is off the charts. He seems to have this almost Brett Hull type knack as to where he has to be at any given time. And, much like Hull, he can zip a one-timer past the goalie before he even has time to blink. Oh, he won't be as good in the NHL as Hull. But there's no reason he can't be as good as, say, Cam Neely, John LeClair or Wendel Clark. He has a career in front of him. All he has to do is lose the mullet (hahaha).

Brandon Dubinsky (Winterhawks)

The kid can play...no doubt. But the one thing I hear from alot of people in the know is that he has character issues off the ice. His ACL injury isn't good. In the long run, the Winterhawks will miss the offense he creates. But my lasting impression of him this season will be at the end of regulation in the first Hawks/Birds game this season in the Rose Garden. After the horn sounded, there was a little scuffle in front of the T-Birds net. As Dubinsky skated by the Seattle bench, he pointed at his noggin and said "we play with our heads". Sadly, his words came back to haunt him as just a couple minutes later, good old Mike Funk literally gave the puck to Seattle's Mitch Fadden who then poked it up to Bud Holloway, who then scored the game-winning goal on a breakaway with nobody within at least 30 feet of him. I chalked his comment up to that he forgot about Funk (lol). Oh yeah......his mom's pretty hot, too.

Clayton Barthel (Thunderbirds)

I think he's the most improved player in the US Division this year. Most of the time, he seems to be the only T-Bird out there who has a clue as to what's going on. And he's playing alot more physically and has also developed a bit of a mean streak. To me, the Thunderbirds need Barthel to wear that "C" on his chest more than Aaron Gagnon.

John Lammers (Silvertips)

What a coup the Silvertips pulled in getting him from Medicine Hat. Lammers has turned into one of the top scorers in the league. But his greatest impact will come in another season or so when his attitude and work ethic begin to rub off on the younger Silvertips forwards (like Zach Hamill).

Bryan Bridges (Thunderbirds)

Since Kristi doesn't want me saying anything good about Bridges, I'll leave the rest of this blank (hahaha).

Garth Collins (Winterhawks)

Reading that Oregonlive Winterhawks blog, there was a mention by someone who said that Collins is the new Robin Big Snake. When it comes to fighting for the Winterhawks, I can see that comparison. But to me, he's more like the new Zack FitzGerald out there. Fitzy had a little more skill. But other than that, they play the same type of intimidating game. And on that front, I'll also recall something that I heard "Scooter" Vrooman make during a Winterhawks broadcast. In sort of defending his match misconduct during the line brawl on New Year's Eve, he said that "sometimes you have to go a little mad in order to send a message". After hearing that, I wondered if he was saying the same thing about FitzGerald last season when he got those two match penalties against Portland? I'm not making up excuses for any of those incidents on either side. But you gotta be consistant (like I always am....haha).

Dustin Slade (Giants)

The goalie that everyone (outside of Vancouver) hates. For a comparison, he's alot like Billy Smith or Ron Hextall. He's a goalie who treats every opposing skater in very cruel ways. But here's the secret....there's a method to his madness. Exhibit "A" is a game in Seattle about a month ago. Early in the 2nd period, he took not one, not two but THREE slashing penalties all within about a minute of each other. And, to top it off, he chased after Aaron Gagnon when he poked the puck into his net a good two or three seconds after the whistle had blown (an action by Gagnon that would have started a full-scale brawl not five years ago). And the penalties weren't of the little chippy type. These were all-out swinging from the shoulders slashes to the shins of the Thunderbird forwards that I could hear the impact of all the way up in my 15th row seat. Of course, the T-Birds couldn't score on the 6+ minutes worth of power play that they were awarded out of that (suprise, suprise, suprise). But the most telling sign that those slashes sent a message was the fact that I never saw another Seattle player within five feet of the crease for the rest of the game. Ultimately, Slade took control of the game and won it for the Giants.

And now for a little FAQ segment:

Last night during the game in Portland, Tom W called me and asked "do you know when Lindsay is coming up here"? Of course, as some of you know, he's been hoarding pucks like a squirrel lately and wanted a bunch of Blues and River Otters pucks from her (lol). But the same question has been asked of me five times now over the last couple weeks. And just so you all now know my answer.......I don't know (lol). But I'm sure that Lindsay and Joe will be here soon enough. So please....STOP ASKING!!!! (hahaha)

Last (but not least), a small addition to Emily's foul-mouthed comments she left me via Kristi regarding my clumsy ode:

She claims in there that "the only time you talked to me this season was when I sat in your section". That's half-true. I did tell her after whatever game it was that the woman sitting next to me won the Matthew Hansen jersey raffle that night (a jersey that Kristi wanted so badly that she was begging people to buy tickets for her so she could get it...lol). But I think she may have forgotten about our little run-in we had at the Tri-City tourney. Earlier that week, Kristi had told me that Emily was getting her wisdom teeth pulled just before the tourney started. So when Karin and I ran into Emily and Jacque during the first intermission of the 2nd game that Sunday, I asked Emily about getting her wisdom teeth pulled. She told me that it had been done and that they were still sore. But in the middle of a story I had about when I had mine yanked out, she noticed that outside the window the Thunderbirds were unloading their stuff from their bus. So in a very un-puckbunny-ish way, she skipped out of my story to go and stare at the guys outside (lol). I would have expected that type of behavior from Kristi or Kara. But not Emily (lol).

So there ya go......I've talked to you TWICE this season (hahaha). Here's my plate of leftover shiznit for you to finish up (hehehe). And I never said that you didn't want to talk to me. I just said that you don't talk to me (lol). I mean, you may want to talk to me in the worst way for all I know. Actually, I'd be suprised if you did want to talk to me that badly (lol). But I wouldn't know since you just plain don't talk to me at all (haha).

That's about it for now. Hopefully I'll have alot of cool things to write about the Seahawks game this weekend.

Another Blog

2006-01-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

This is a blog by former Thunderbirds play-by-play guy, Ian Furness. It seems to be mostly about the Trailblazers. But I still think that, when it comes to being able to paint a clear picture of a hockey game over the radio waves, Furness is still by far and away the best I ever heard. And I've heard alot of them.

http://ian1080.blogspot.com/

If you wanna hear him, listen closely to the background in those new LeBron James Nike ads on tv (which I think are pretty funny). He's doing the play-by-play in those on the tv in the background.

Winterhawks Blog

2006-01-05T16:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a "blog" from Oregonlive that I thought was pretty good. So I decided to post it on here. If, for no other reason, than for it to be here whenever I feel like reading it myself (haha)

http://www.oregonlive.com/weblogs/winterhawks/

Top 10 of 2005

2005-12-26T21:01:00.000-08:00

Since this will probably be the last posting on here for me this year, I decided that I would make my own little list of the best things to happen to me this year. Some are moments, some are certain events, maybe days or even a couple days. Whatever they may be, here they are:

10. Seahawks vs Cowboys @ Qwest Field

I think this one qualifies as a moment. For the most part, the game itself wasn't anything to write home about. Up until the final minute or so, the biggest news that day was our miraculous run of having no official rain on gameday had come to an end. It was also the weekend after Ken Hamlin had his skull caved in during a brawl outside of a Pioneer Square bar. For the most part, the feeling all throughout the stadium was one of gloom and doom. But then, with about a minute to go in the game, Jordan Babineaux intercepted a Drew Bledsoe pass and ran the ball back to about the 30 yardline. With 6 seconds left in the game, Josh Brown came onto the field and kicked the game-winning field goal. With no time left on the clock, the Seahawks were victorious. But the best thing was, for the first time since that Monday Night game against Dallas the year before when the Seahawks got screwed by the officials (both on and off the field), the Qwest Field crowd was absolutely deafening. And the crowd stuck around, cheering for ever and ever. It was our first hint that maybe....just maybe....this season might be a little different.

9. Devil's Tower/Sears Tower/Gateway Arch on the Summer Roadie

I'm just combining these three as one highlight. Being a fan of the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" for years, I always wanted to visit Devil's Tower. It's even cooler when you get to see it in person. When I was a kid, my best friend, Arik, told me all about his visit to the Sears Tower. The one thing I remember about his story was how cool he thought the elevator ride to the top was. You don't see much. But when you get to the top and look down, it really is pretty amazing how quickly you got that high. And although I had seen the Arch on my previous visits to St. Louis, it was still pretty neat to get to actually go to the observation deck. It was also pretty cool to get to see a ballgame in Busch Stadium in it's last season.

8. Seahawks/Giants @ Qwest Field

Frankly, this one shouldn't even be on the list. Holding an 8 point lead with about three minutes to go, the Hawks went into their stupid prevent defense. And, of course, the Giants marched straight down field and scored the game tying touchdown and two-point conversion. Then the interesting stuff began. Giants kicker, Jay Feely, missed a game-winning field goal as time was running out. That one was just wide left. He then missed another one in overtime (granted, it was from well-over 50 yards. I knew before he even tried it that he was gonna miss that one. It was too cold to boot it that far). But the miracle miss was his third attempt. From only about 40 yards, he just plain muffed that one. From where I sit in the opposite endzone, it was gonna split the uprights. But then, the ball stopped going up. And it wound up falling well-short. The Seahawks got the ball back and, on the 2nd play from scrimmage, DJ Hackett caught a Matt Hasselbeck deep ball to put the Seahawks in scoring position. Being smart, the Hawks used one play to get the ball placed more in the middle of the hash-marks, and Josh Brown came on and won it with another field goal. I know we had no business winning that game. But a win is a win, isn't it?

7. Missoula, Montana

I had already planned on going to Missoula for a weekend (as I always do in the summertime). But this year, Tom had expressed interest in going there, too. He wound up flying over there a couple days ahead of me. When I got there on Saturday, we just kinda went ahead and went through our usual stuff. We ate lunch at a Hardee's and left several nasty comments about the staff on some of those comment cards they put at the tables (I signed mine as former Sabercats captain, Scott Boston; he signed his as former Winterhawks goon Randy Turnbull). At the mall there, one of those people with their clipboard wanting us to take a survey bothered us. So we bothered her right back. I also entertained Tom by making an obviously sloppy pass at a couple chicks working at a coffee stand. We then went to a Missoula Osprey game. The game itself was fairly routine. But we started calling bullshit when some church group from Corvallis (a small town south of Missoula) was, literally, winning all of the prizes they were handing out during the game. So there we were, everytime someone else from their group would win something, hollering out variations on how Satan was the supreme ruler and stuff like that. Most of the people around us got it and joined in with us. We literally had them in the palm of our hands. Of course, the twisted highlight of the trip was the next day at the new Spokane Hooters. Not only was the Seahawks pre-season victory over the New Orleans Saints playing on all of the televisions in the place, there was also a kids birthday party there. Two things that Tom hates...kids and the Seahawks winning. Needless to say, he didn't have a very good time there (haha).

6. World of Outlaws

This whole thing started out as the two of us heading out to Elma to watch the local yokels participate in some dirt track racing. But things changed a little when we drove past the race track and saw a bunch of fancy trailers in the pits. "These guys don't mess around, do they" I told Tom. When we got to one of Tom's favorite restaurants, the Rusty Tractor, we realized what we had stumbled upon...the World of Outlaws were in town. When we got to the ticket booth, the only seats we could get were $40 and in the 2nd row at the start/finish line. So for the warmups and the first couple races, we were literally being showered with chunks of mud. As time went by, these two drunk chicks stumbled down our way and made fools out of themselves. One of them went up to the fence and mooned the racers as they raced by while taking the green flag. That same woman also wound up giving me her phone number (and I didn't even ask...lol). But, then again, she gave it to almost all of the guys around there. Then, just to even out the mud at the start of the night, we got a constant, large cloud of dust flying over us for just about the entire main event. The legendary Steve Kinser lost the lead of the main event with about 5 laps remaining, we got pelted with mud, showered in dust and my left ear rang like crazy for two days after. But it was still $40 well-spent.

5. Seahawks vs. Rams @ Edward Jones Dome

Right now, I really wish my internet hadn't conked out on me the night I wrote all about my trip to St. Louis in October. But hey...shit happens, eh? Anyway, it was still really great to be able to walk out of the EJD a winner this time (haha). Unlike last season, I didn't get all the taunts and the such after the game. Although, I do suspect that having Joe walking along side also helped out alot (haha). One of the highlights (at least to the people who would have read it...perhaps not as much for Joe, Lindsay and I...lol) was getting the cheerleaders to autograph a calendar I bought from them. Unlike with the Sea-Gals, the Rams cheerleaders experience is rather detached. Basically, you give one of them the money to buy the calender, then they just pass it around among themselves to sign it. So you really only get to say "hi" or something like that to one of them. So things were going along fairly smoothly until a bunch of firefighters showed up. Then they all just kinda ignored the rest of us (who look an awfully lot like me, coincidently I'm sure) and just fawned all over the firefighters. The other groups came from other parts of the stadium leaving other calendar buyers waiting for them clear across the way. So that turned out to be about 15 minutes worth of standing around doing nothing. But part of that was more than made up for about 10 minutes later when I had my picture taken upstairs with those other three (as depicted in that one photo on here). The rest of the trip was pretty fun, too. Going to the Budweiser plant, Union Station, the Blues game, a deserted mall downtown and hanging out at Lindsay's new digs. Really, it turned out to be a fairly relaxing trip which more than made up for the stress and anxiety brought on by the summer roadie. And I really needed that.

4. Vancouver, BC

What can I say? There's just something about the best city in the world that brings out alot of killer times. Funny things seem to happen north of the border. Whether it was Kurt being honest at the exchange station, the bartender with the thick Canadian accent, the British street performer in his straight jacket begging for cash (no coins) or our mystery guest spinning us all out of control. The whole thing turned out to be yet another memorable daytrip. I'm happy that I skipped out on that game in Everett (as I suspected I would when I made my decision).

3. Calgary/Red Deer/Kelowna

Scenic drives, a cool new city that I desperately want to visit again (Calgary), meeting a couple cool new people (Steve and Matt), Kristi and more alcohol fueled madness. This trip had a little bit of everything. Outside of a crappy ending in Kelowna (which, if it wasn't for that, this trip would probably have been #1 on this list), this was a trip that I don't think I'll ever forget. I don't think I'll ever listen to "I'm Just a Girl" the same way again (lol).

2. Kelowna in the Springtime

This was the first trip Kristi and I had ever taken together...of any sort. So at first, I had my qualms with it. However, it turns out that Kristi is now one of my favorite roadie partners! Frankly, our drinking was out of hand on the first night there in Kelowna. The whole thing came to a head while we were at McDonalds after the game and the girl behind the counter told me "sir, your girlfriend can't sleep in the restaurant" (referring to Kristi passing-out on one of the benches). For the most part, I was just fine the next day. But poor Kristi had the hangover from hell (lol). We didn't go to the same insane extremes the next day. But still, this was the most fun I'd had on a trip...maybe ever.

Ode to Kristi...

Okay...this isn't technically an "ode" since I'm not exactly musically inclined (lol). But it's still funny how people come together sometimes. At the 2004 Everett pre-season tourney, Karin and I were walking around the EEC concourse when she suddenly stopped and started talking to these two girls. Not once during the whole conversation was I ever included in it. When they were done talking, I turned to Karin and said (in a farily whiny voice) "how rude of you". She gave me that Karin "look" and then said "whaaaat"? "You didn't introduce me to your little friend there". She looked at me and asked "which one"? "The one with the glasses". Karin kinda laughed and said "that's Emily". I told her "she looks interesting enough". Then she said "the other one is named Kristi. Most of the guys go after her". I told her "I can see why. But I'm sure she wouldn't give me the time of day". So later on that day, while I was walking around by myself, I saw Karin talking to Kristi and Emily again. She waved me over and introduced me to the two of them. Before I could even get a word out, Kristi said "dude! I need a sip of your pop. Can I have one"? And somehow or another, the chick I thought wouldn't "give me the time of day" has turned into one of my best friends! As for Emily? You know, I don't think she's even said 10 words to me since then (lol). Now, when I'm planning one of my trips, I'm always asking Kristi if she is interested in going.

I love running around with all my friends. And the trips make for some really memorable times. Whether it's Kurt, Kara, Karin, Lindsay, Joe or anyone else, everyone makes for interesting times on the road. But really, the two that seem to bring out the best of times in me are Kristi and.........

1. Fear and Loathing at the Tacoma Navigators Game

.......Tom Winter. It was just something that we heard was happening on the radio that afternoon. It was a pre-season "minor league" basketball game being held at the new Mt Tahoma high school. So, in kind of a spur of the moment way, we decided to check it out. Afterall, it was only $5 to get in. But when we got there, it was clear that there was another reason for holding a game between two teams in early August when the actual season didn't even start until somewhere in the middle of November (and you know...I'm not really too sure that the Navigators even actually made it into the league). The whole thing was nothing more than a campaign spot to renew the bonds on that rotten woodpile known as the Tacoma Dome. Everywhere we looked both outside the school and inside were signs that read "Save Our Dome". While we were inline buying the tickets, Tom asked the real question; "are you gonna put the ice back in so we can get another hockey team here"? The old man selling the tickets stuttered a little bit. Then, from behind us, another man answered "that's gonna be in phase two". Turning around, it turned out that guy was none other than Tacoma sports legend, Stan Naccarato with his wife, professional bolwer Jeanne Naccarato. "How ya doin', Tom" he then asked with a wink. "I'm fine" he answered. "But whether or not this passes, it's still gonna be fucked if you don't put the ice back in". Mr Naccarato turned into the apologist. "Well, if more people turned out for hockey, that wouldn't be a problem". To which Tom fired back "when was the last time the Rainiers ever drew 14,000 people for a game? Shit, they're lucky if they can get 14,000 for a two week homestand". Naccarato sneered, shifted the toothpick in his mouth and answered that with "you two have a good time here tonight".

And that's basically what started the whole debacle. Clearly, Mr. Naccarato had no clue as to the can of worms he had just opened up. Within the two minutes it took for us to get out of the truck and past the ticket table, the two of us had gone from doing something out of boredom and into full F&L mode. There weren't many people at the game. I think at one point, I had counted 35 people scattered around the gym stands. But our pot of gold was the announcer. He was some sort of successful used car salesman who owned both of the teams (the other one was from Bellevue). Listening to him call the action, well, he was trying to be like that guy with the "and 1" tour. You know...basically full of "oh baby" and "oh my god" and stuff like that. We listened and watched the game for a couple minutes. Then the announcer/owner asked the crowd "what do you think of the action out there"? Tom then made our first move by yelling back "LAME"!!! A couple minutes later, the question was asked again. This time, both of us yelled back "LAME"!!! He also explained to us this new rule for the league called "3D". The way he had explained it, if the defending team got a turnover in the other teams backcourt, if they scored a basket off that turnover, they would get an extra point. Meaning, if it was what normally is a two-point hoop, they would get three points. And four points instead of a three-point basket. The only problem with this is that he seemed to call it at times when there was no turnover. Obviously, causing all this confusion, we would take turns asking out loud if "the 3D was on".

So if you're ever wondering what the hell the two of us are talking about when we ask each other if the 3D is on, that's where that all started (lol).

At halftime, the announcer/owner interviewed our old friend, Stan Naccarato. He was basically singing the praises of the Tacoma Dome and tried to sway us to vote for those bonds. During the whole conversation, he mentioned that Frank Sinatra himself claimed that it was the "best sounding venue he had ever sang in". To which Tom hollered out "but what did Sammy Davis, Jr think about it"? Then I chimed in with "or Dean Martin?". Tom then came back with "Regis Philbin?". And then I said "Jim Nabors?". The announcer turned around to us and told us to "shut up". When the interview was over, Tom left to go to the bathroom. And I had to call Lindsay to tell her that we were "this close to getting kicked out" of there (lol). I could see her on the other end rolling her eyes.

So now you know what we're talking about when we start asking each other "what did Frank Sinatra think about the accoustics of this place"?

When the 3rd quarter started, the announcer/owner started giving away some prizes. One of which.....I kid you not.....was a basketball ACTUALLY USED AT A NAVIGATORS PRACTICE! He made a big deal out of that for some odd reason. You would have thought he was selling the baseball Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's homerun record with. He also started giving away t-shirts. Apparently, the $10 they were charging for them outside the gym wasn't selling too many of them. At one point, I left to go to the bathroom. As I was walking back up the stairs to take my seat again, Tom hollered out at me "get your ass back down there! You won a t-shirt"! I then said back "no shit? Are you fucking with me"? Tom then hollered back "yeah....I'm fucking with you! You're a loser just like everyone else here who actually paid to get in here! I hate myself right now"!

But the whole thing came to an end when one of the players made this behind the back pass to his teammate who then blew an easy lay-up. But the announcer/owner was so impressed with the pass that he yelled into the microphone "I can't believe the skill involved with that pass"! To which I yelled back "I can't believe I paid $5 to watch this garbage"! And that was that. The announcer/owner got up from behind the microphone (while this skillful play was still happening, too) and marched right up to us. "Okay" he said all red-faced, "you two better leave or there's gonna be trouble here". Always curious, Tom asked "what kind of trouble"? Struggling for a clever comeback, all the announcer/owner could choke out was "now" while pointing his thumb at the door.

So we decided to go ahead and leave. Along our route out of there, a couple other people told us that we were funny and to take care and all that stuff. Another one liked our message about getting the ice back in the Dome. When we walked past the Naccarato's, Tom looked at Stan and said "well, we had our fun like you told us to". Mr. Naccarato just kinda nodded and moved his toothpick around a little more. After that, it was off to Hooters to laugh at all the things we had just done over a couple beers.

Epilogue

So that's about that as far as this year goes. I'm sure that there's gonna be one more cool moment here on Thursday when I get to see Kara for the first time since before she went and joined the Army. But with less than a week to go before the end of the year, that's how it all breaks down for me.

And I'll also take this opportunity to once again tell all of you how much each and everyone of you means to me! I've said it before and I'll say it again; the games are the excuse I use to get there. But it's my friends that I always look forward to seeing the most!

So thank you! My friendship with each one of you is cherished more than you can ever imagine!

Happy New Year!!!

(Hey....let's all try to top the things on this list in 2006!!! LOL)

Is It That Obvious?

2005-12-18T21:54:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I sat down here and typed about anything. Mostly, I've just posted some stupid stories that I found amusing for whatever reason. But Saturday finally gave me enough inspiration to sit down here and click away at my keyboard. Of course, just about any trip up to Vancouver, BC inspires me to write (haha). It's no secret that I absolutely love that city. For whatever reason, something there just clicks with me. So it's easy for me to write about it. Of course, it'll still take me at least a couple of hours to complete this task. But it'll still be worth it.

The whole story started about two weeks ago. At the December 2nd game up in Everett, I had purchased a ticket to the Silvertips/Thunderbirds game on the 17th. Sometime that next week, Kurt gave me a call and told me that he had bought two tickets for the Giants/Winterhawks game up in Vancouver for the same day. The idea, he told me, was that the second ticket was for me. At first, I told him that I had already bought that ticket for Everett and I wouldn't be able to go. But after thinking about it for a couple hours, I figured that since I didn't have any games in Vancouver on my schedule for this season, this was a perfect opportunity to head up there. So I emailed him back and told him to count me in.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Kurt met me at my apartment at 9:00am. He dropped his car off in my parking lot and we took my car up there. He had originally offered to drive up there. But I told him I would since a) he had worked late the night before and would be pretty tired and b) he had drove us up there last year. The drive up to the border was pretty normal. Just cruising along listening to rock & roll at fairly high volumes.

While we were waiting in line at the border (a line which wasn't as long as I had expected on a Saturday at noon), these two hippies walked over to the grass to our left and held up a large sign connected to two posts that they held which read something to the effect of not using anymore "Minutemen" to patrol the border. For those not in the know, as far as I can recall the story, there have been these people who live on our side of the border lately who have taken it upon themselves to try to stop people from smuggling the ever-popular BC Bud into the United States. And, evidently, the American Government has been turning their heads the other way while they do this. Frankly, I have nothing against this practice. It's well known that I think hash should be legalized since I feel that it would cut down on alot of crime and help empty out our jails a little bit. But it's still illegal. So if the government won't do anything about it, why not let the citizens? And, of course, it didn't suprise me that the two guys holding up that sign looked like they had sampled the ol' hippie lettuce earlier in the day.

Also while we were waiting in line, Kara gave us a call. She was all stoked about being able to go to the Coyote Ugly there in San Antonio. I think she was trying to make us jealous or something. I didn't have the heart to tell her that they not only have something similar to that up in Seattle (Cowgirls Inc.), but also down here only about 200 yards from where I live (The Lady Luck Saloon). But it was still nice hearing from her. And, of course, I can't wait to see her back on leave here on New Year's Eve! That'll be great!!!

The girl in the booth who takes your id's and stuff seemed pretty slow. I think it was mostly just due to boredom. But she still asked all the usual questions. And then let us go on our way.

Our first stop in Canada (as always) was at the cash exchange shop. There were two clerks at the desk and we were the only ones in there. So we each took a window. We each gave them $60. Kurt got done first and started putting his cash back in his wallet. Then, as my clerk was counting out my money ($74 and change), Kurt spoke up. "Wait a minute....you gave her $60, right"? I answered "yeah". "And you're getting $74 back, right"? Again I said "yeah". "Okay...I also gave $60, but I only got $64 back". I turned around and looked at the clerk. She looked at her computer, typed something in and said "oops. I'm sorry". So now, with my honest way's kicking in, I gave my $74 and change back to her so she could give me the correct $64. I shook my fist and cursed Kurt even before we left the store (jokingly, of course). He told me he was sorry and that he shouldn't have said anything. As a peace offering, he told me he would buy me a beer later on. So I forgave him on the spot (lol).

So it was on towards downtown Vancouver. Robson street traffic really wasn't all that bad at the time. But the sidewalks were packed with Christmas shoppers. I parked the car in the usual garage just off the corner of Robson and Bute. And even though we knew about it before we got there, we still paused for a moment of silence in rememberance of the now-closed Hooters. Ah, the memories of that place. Kurt's undercooked buffalo shrimp last year comes to mind. Also, the fact that they made just about the best fish & chips I've ever tasted will be missed. But come on...we all know what the best memory of the place is. It took place during our infamous "Fear and Loathing" trip up there back in November of 2003. It was the "Tom & Tom" show clicking along at it's best (or worst...depending on your point of view). While we were in there, all they were playing was rap music. After about 15 minutes of this, Tom W waved his hand at the waitress, motioning her to come over to our table. "Is there something I can do for you" she asked. Tom replied "yeah....can you play something white"?

Since we were the only ones in the place at the time, they did flip the music over to the oldies station where, ironically, they were playing"I'll Be There" by the Four Tops. But the lines infamous place is still well-intact. And probably will be for as long as I'm alive. Even if it was just about the worst Hooters I've ever been to, the joint will still be missed just for that reason alone.

So having to find a new place to hang out on Robson Street (and finding a place so Kurt could take a piss), we decided on this bar called "Fogg & Suds". There weren't many people in there when we arrived. But, then again, it was only about 12:30 at the time. So we bellied up to the bar and ordered our beer. And, just for the record, Kurt did pay me back (lol). We sat there at the bar chatting with the bartender (who had one of the thickest Canadian accents you'll ever come across and also gave me a free basket of fries) and another fellow while watching the Giants/Chiefs NFL game on the tv. Eventually, there was another employee who came to work wearing a Vancouver Giants Gilbert Brule jersey. It turns out that he was a Giants season ticket holder. And we sat there with him chatting away about the Giants, Winterhawks and the rest of the WHL for quite awhile. After spending almost three hours in there, we agreed on our way out that "Fogg & Suds" is gonna be our new hangout while in Vancouver.

So it was onto Robson Street to walk around for awhile. We walked down a few blocks, occasionally taking a trip into a shop to take a look at some over-priced items. Of course, we ogled and drooled at all the girls who we knew wouldn't even give us the time of day (lol). Eventually, we got to a point where we decided to turn around and head back. But when we looked across the street, we noticed that there was a crowd gathered around the art museum. At first, Kurt didn't seem too interested in what was happening over there. But dammit, there was a crowd over there and I just had to see what it was all about. When we got there, in the center of everything, there was a man standing there in a straight jacket. It turns out he was kind of a stand-up Houdini. He told us that he was from Great Britain (which was pretty obvious from his accent). He also begged for money alot (cash only...he didn't want any coins). His reasoning for this was "the more money you give me, the more money I'll have". My favorite line was said during one of his first attempts at getting out of his jacket. He told everyone to clap in unison while he jumped up and down trying to get out of it. So the crowd did and he jumped along to the rythem. Of course, as usually happens when crowds clap together, the beat starts coming at a more rapid pace. When it did, he stopped and said "I said clap together, not faster you idiots". Even insults towards the crowd like that brought laughter. At one point, he even told us to flip off the people on the bus passing behind us. And some people did.

Eventually he got out of the jacket. As Kurt and I were leaving, the last things I heard coming out of his mouth were more plea's for money...cash only.

We still had some time to kill. So we decided to head back onto Cambie Street and go to the Oakridge Mall. We weren't looking to buy anything there. Mostly we just wanted to kill more time and find another place to take a leak. But on our lap around the place, we couldn't find any restrooms. Just as we were about to give it up, I found one of those maps of the mall. I went over to it and started looking. I didn't even notice that there was a woman standing next to it in a Santa hat. "Are you looking for anything in particular" she asked. Without hesitation, I said "yes...a bathroom". She laughed and pointed at the back of the drug store that we were just outside of. So we weaved our way through there, did what we had to do, and headed back out to the car.

Along the way to the PNE, we hit the end of a street. And the only way to turn was right. So I went ahead and turned left there and then another left at the next light. But again, this was another street that doesn't hook up with Renfrew (the street that the PNE is on along with Hastings). I started getting a little suspicious after a few miles and decided to take a left turn. It turns out that this was a smart idea. I noticed that the lit-up ski resort on Grouse Mountain was a little further to the west than I had remembered. So we took a couple more turns and headed back up north until we got to Hastings. It turns out that I was right. But the cool thing was that we were only about two or three blocks from where we were supposed to be. So really, in the end, we only lost about 5 minutes or so.

Things went a little south when we got to the parking lot. The price to park there is $6.50. Why they charge the extra 50 cents is anyone's guess. So when we got to the booth, trying to get rid of as much of the Canadian money that we could, Kurt and I started fishing around in our pokets trying to slap together $6.50 in coins. While fumbling around like a couple fools, the girl in the booth said "you guys are from the States, huh"? I kinda guffawed and replied "is it that obvious"? She chuckled a little and said "yes it is". Eventually, we slapped the money together, got our little ticket and parked the car.

While we were waiting in line at the will-call window, a man asked his son (probably somewhere around 7 or 8) what the name of the team was on the jersey I was wearing. I always wear my old Joe Sakic Quebec Nordiques sweater up there. It almost always gets alot of love (unlike my Jackman Blues jersey I wore there a couple years ago. Some lessons are best learned the hard way). But the kid had no clue. So I decided to change the question a little bit in the hopes that he would be able to correctly answer it. I took my Seahawks jacket off and asked him if he knew the first name of the guy who's jersey it was. I heard his mom feed him the answer, but I still slapped him 5 when he answered "Joe". Then his little sister (about a year or two younger) closed her jacket up and asked me what was on her shirt. She didn't cover up a star on it, so I thought for a second and answered "All-Star"? She said "Nope" and then revealed to me that it said "State Champions". Her dad then said "even though that's kinda hard to do up here in the Provinces". That didn't stop her, though. "My soccer team is called the Maniacs. And we NEVER lose". I popped my eyes open and said "wow! You must be an all-star then". She then reached in her pocket and pulled out what looked like a picture."Here. You can have this" she said as she handed it to me. It turned out to be a little notepad with a snow monkey on it. Her mom bent down to her and said "wow...that's a really nice thing to do". I waited for a second for her mom to look back up at me. When she did, she gave me a little nod. So I knew that accepting this gift was alright. Then I said "well thank you. I will definitely remember you for this and, next time I see you, I'll have something to give you in return".

Of course I won't (lol). The chances of me seeing her again are pretty slim. But I was still touched by her gesture. Eventually,the dad got their tickets (they were another slow bunch at the will-call window) and we waved good-bye to each other.

Now as for what all happened while we were inside...well...most of that is gonna have to go unsaid. It's not that anything particularly bad happened or anything. It's just that one of the participants who we ran into there wanted annonimity. And as is known well-ahead of time, I won't write about anything on here that people don't want out in the open. Which in this case is probably a good thing (lol). The things that Kurt and I were exposed to were, at the very least, unsettling. Other words that come to mind are unsavory, uncomfortable, bizarre, sleazy, unwanted information, etc. And we'll jump ahead here and just say that it pretty much dominated the conversation in the car on the way home. So this is one of those rare instances that I have to say "what happened in Vancouver is gonna stay in Vancouver".

Sorry kids.

The game itself was odd. For the first 52 minutes, the two teams were locked-up in a 0-0 tie. Then Vancouver scored the first goal. Then the second. Then the third. Then the fourth. Then the fifth. By the time it was over, the Giants had a 5-0 victory over Portland. To me, I would compare the Winterhawks in this game to a boxer with a glass jaw. They hung around for awhile. But once that first big punch landed, they were staggered enough that they couldn't come back to mount any fight.

And so the race for 2nd place in the US Division continues to stumble along. With Portland, Seattle and Spokane all within 2 points of that spot, not a single one can win a game to save their lives at this point. And first place Everett isn't fairing much better, either.

And that's about that. Not much happened the rest of the way home. The only real thing of note was that getting back into the States was more normal this time. The guard asked a few more questions than they did last time. But we still got through. All-in-all it was a great time. Once again, I survived the lunacy that is Vancouver traffic (always a victory in my book). We found a cool new hangout, a greedy street performer, a cool family and we got through what could have been a potentially embarrassing situation (lol).

Not bad for one day!

My Next Road Trip (hahaha)

2005-11-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

First catfighting cheerleaders. Now this. It's pretty much settled; I'm going to Tampa Bay for a game (lol)

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/special1/article.adp?id=20051129160909990012

HEY!!!

2005-11-22T16:44:00.000-08:00

Perhaps it's time that the Thunderbirds and any other teams that use this song start looking for another one.

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/music/article.adp?id=20051121192609990011

http://www.jimrome.com/home/article/article_3.html

11-15-05 Seattle vs. Tri-City

2005-11-16T20:55:00.000-08:00

The Thunderbirds did themselves in tonight losing to an inferior Americans team, 5-2. All game long, the Thunderbirds looked lost and confused. Which was especially suprising after how well they looked on Saturday down in Portland. Well, now that I think about it, they really didn't look too good on Saturday, either. Gavin McHale looked great on Saturday. The rest of the team looked okay at best.

The star of the game was Tri-City forward Juraj Gracik. He rolled up four goals on the night. Not a bad little game. The goat of the contest was Seattle's Chris Durand. He took FIVE minor penalties in the game. He even took some time to complain to the ref. Here's some advice to Mr. Durand; if you don't like it when the ref keeps calling penalties on you, then stop hooking, holding, tripping and high-sticking the other teams players right in front of the referee. If you follow this simple advice, I promise that the refs won't call any penalties on you. And if I'm wrong, I promise you DOUBLE your money back!

James McEwan tried to fight Aaron Boogaard of the Americans. Once again, he didn't do too well. I commented to Kelly that Boogaard was landing so many right hands that McEwan was begging him for a left (lol).

As for this weekend, I may or may not get up to Everett on Friday for their game against Kamloops. Friday night is just the WORST in getting through Seattle and into Everett. But that'll be a decision I make after work on Friday. Then on Saturday, it's yet another meeting between those old friends, the Seattle Thunderbirds and the Portland Winterhawks. This time it's up in Seattle. On Sunday, it'll be down to Portland to watch the Winterhawks play the Regina Pats.

Now, if I go strictly by my schedule (which includes a Husky game in Mountlake Terrace on Thursday and that game in Everett on Friday), I'll have games to go to on 10 consecutive nights! And possibly 11 if I decide to get to the Thunderbirds game after the Seahawks game on Sunday the 27. So I'll be Mr. Busy here over the next little while.

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold....and WET

2005-11-16T20:13:00.000-08:00

The Seahawks "Revenge Tour" ended on Sunday when they pounded the Rams 31-16. Shaun Alexander ran all over St. Louis for a total of 165 yards and another ho-hum 3 touchdowns. Can anyone stop this guy? I'm not calling him the next Jim Brown, Walter Payton or Barry Sanders. But watching him run this season, you just get the feeling that we're watching something really special unfold in front of our eyes.

Another question...was Mike Martz calling the Rams plays from his couch in his living room or something? In one of the more bizarre play-calling sequences I've ever seen, the Rams had a 4th and two on the Seahawks 6 yardline. First, they lined up the offence like they were going to go for it...a call that made some sense since they were so deep into Seattle territory. If they made it, they had either a new set of downs or even 6 points on the board. However, that wasn't what they seemed to be doing. Instead, they tried to make the Seahawks defense jump offsides. It was a pointless exercise since when the crowd is as loud as it was the defense are told to just watch the ball for when it's snapped. So the Rams were forced to take a timeout when their little ruse didn't work.

Then things got even stranger than that. For some reason, they decided to fake the field goal and have the kicker...yes, the KICKER...try to roll out to his left and throw a pass. Needless to say, that fell apart at the seams and the Seahawks slipped out of danger.

The Hawks defense was pretty solid all day. For the most part, they stopped Stephen "Ms." Jackson (if you're nasty) in his tracks just about everytime he touched the ball. Of course, as has been proven in the past, the Rams receivers were shaken everytime the Seattle corners played them tight. The only two dissapointments were Marcus Trufant (over-rated in my book. Which hurts me to say since he's a Tacoma boy) being burned for a touchdown by that wussy Tori Holt and the fact that, once again, the defensive brain-trust decided to go back into their stupid dime package at the end of the game. A strategy that almost backfired on them until one of the Rams receivers slipped and fell on an out-&-up route enabling Michael Boulware to make an easy pick inside the Seattle 5 yardline. Other than those two little gripes, the Seahawks looked good...VERY good.

As you know, I don't harp on refs too often. But I did have to wonder if the Back Judge had some cash riding on the game. In the 1st quarter, he allowed one of the Rams d-backs to tackle Bobby Engram as the pass was coming his way. The d-back never even turned around...he just wrapped his arms around Engram and dragged him down. Bobby probably would have caught it, but we'll never know since he had a St. Louis player laying on top of him when the pass flew by. Then, later on in the 3rd quarter, the Seahawks were called for pass interference when Kelly Herndon TURNED AROUND to play the ball and got his feet tangled up with the Rams wide-out. And it wasn't one of those ones where he turned around at the last second...he was looking back at the ball for a good ten yards! A legal play in the rule book (incidental contact), but apparently not to that one official. At least he didn't trip up the Hawks wide receivers like one of them did two years ago in St. Louis (lol).

In other news, Dan brought his new girlfriend along to the game. Her name is Mia and she's a definite upgrade over the last one (lol). She was quite friendly. The only real knock on her is that she's a devout Raiders fan (BOOOO). But don't let that cloud your judgement (haha). Every now and again throughout the game, she would sing me one of the songs she wrote about the Raiders. And I'm telling ya...there were quite a few of them. She told me that she had more, too (lol). She also gave me some helpful advice; "if you ever go to a Raiders game in Oakland, be sure that you bring a knife with you".

Note to self....stay away from Network Associates Coliseum on Raiders game day!!!!!

11-12-05 Seattle/Portland: Overtime, Big Hits and Fights, Oh My!

2005-11-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

Things didn't exactly get off to a roaring start. I got off to a late start on my way down to Portland. Well, at least later than I had originally planned. But I still left in what I thought was plenty of time to be able to meet Rick and Karin at the Red Robin just up the road from the Rose Quarter. However, just getting through Olympia proved to be difficult and trying. For some odd reason, there was just one traffic jam after another on I-5. So instead of getting there at about 4:00 like I had originally planned, I wound up pulling into the RQ parking lot at just a little after 5:00.

So the three of us just wound up standing around outside by the ticket booth for a good 45 minutes or so. Jackie and some other woman came along a little bit afterwards and joined in our conversation. Jackie kept saying how bored she was...which apparently didn't speak well for our conversational skills (lol).

Anyway...onto the game itself. It was quite a thriller to say the least. Seattle jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first on not one, but TWO power play goals. The first was scored by Aaron Gagnon and the second was put in by Ryan Gibbons. I was actually on the phone with Joe in St. Louis when the T-Birds scored their second goal. I thought that was pretty good timing on his part.

Kara also called a little later during the first intermission. For those not in the know, Kara joined the Army last July. Of all the people in the world, she's one of the last people I (or just about anyone else) would have expected to join the Military. But she made it through Basic Training. And she's now studying to be a field medic. But she's also hit a bit of a snag. While going through Basic, she developed some stress fractures in her hips. So she basically spends all day hobbling around on crutches. I guess she's still going through the training. But she's unable to participate in any PT. They're also accessing whether or not she's going to be able to stay in the Army. If they decide to let her go, she'll still get all the benefits that they promised her when she signed up for her 5 year hitch. But I think that she's still a little dissapointed that they might be discharging her.

Okay....back to the game (lol). The two teams skated around without much happening for almost the first eight minutes of the 2nd period. Then someone apparently hit T-Birds defenseman, Clayton Barthel, in the face with a stick or something (I couldn't honestly tell you since I didn't see it). As play came back to center ice, what started out as a small gathering between the benches turned into a bit of a line-brawl. Eli Grossman of the Thunderbirds was punching away at the back of Brandon Dubinsky's helmet. Portlands Max Gordichuck then jumped into that fray with James McEwan diving in just behind. All the while, Seattle's Joshua Schappert and Portland's Scott Gabriel were duking it out just off to the side. There was chaos and mayhem on the ice; or just another typical Seattle/Portland hockey game. Just the same as most of the others over the last 100+ years (lol).

While they were cleaning up the mess on the ice and sorting out all the penalties, they had kind of an impromptu dance contest on the big screen. The two contestants were a fairly decent looking chick and this fat kid. So they would put the woman on the screen and she would dance a little and people would cheer a little. Then the kid would be put up there and get some cheers. Then the stakes were raised a little. The woman did this little shimmy with her butt that got the crowd whooping a little bit more. Knowing that he was now behind, the fat kid turned around and just started shaking his butt wildly. The crowd really started cheering for him and the chick conceded defeat to the kid. For some odd reason, I actually found that entertaining (haha).

When the dust settled, Portland had a five minute power play. And about three minutes into that pp, Portland's Jannik Hansen scored a goal to pull the Winterhawks to within one. The final highlight of the frantic 2nd period was a doozy of a scrap between Seattle's Benn Olsen and Portland's Frazer McLaren. The two 6-5 players just stood there trading punch after punch. I called that one a draw. Portland out-shot Seattle 18-4 in the period.

About three minutes or so into the 3rd period, Brandon Dubinsky scored the tying goal for Portland. The Winterhawks pretty much dominated the play throughout the rest of the period. But T-Birds goalie, Gavin McHale, stopped everything that was thrown at him. McHale wound up being the first star of the game after stopping 43 of 45 shots.

Portland had the first three shots in the overtime stanza. But then, about three minutes in, Michael "Santa" Funk literally just handed the puck to Seattle's Mitch Fadden who then pushed it up to a wide open Bud Holloway. With nobody within 30 feet of him, Holloway made a move to his forehand side and beat Dustin Butler under his pads to win the game, 3-2.

Another good Hawks/Birds game. Granted, most of them are more than just entertaining. But this was one of the better ones over the last couple years. I'm also making this the first nominee in my "Game of the Year" catergory...at least when it comes to hockey.

More Movies & Some Hockey

2005-11-11T20:01:00.000-08:00

This was the list that Karin sent me in regards to that question I had about what movies would be on the schedule for your own personal film festival:

Star Wars
Mystery, Alaska
The Neverending Story
Forrest Gump
Indiana Jones (she didn't specify which one exactly. So I'll accept all three)

I thought that was a good list. I remember seeing The Neverending Story when I was a kid. But the only real thing I remember about it was that they released this song with it that I found annoying (lol). Other than that, I still remember liking the film itself. And the original Indiana Jones movie, "Raiders of the Lost Ark", was one of about 10-15 other movies that were in the final batch that didn't quite make the last cut when I was pairing down my list way back when.

In hockey news...I went down to Portland on Tuesday night to watch the Winterhawks play the Prince George Cougars. Portland won the game 4-3 in a shootout. I thought both goalies played well all night (Dustin Butler for Portland and Real Cyr for PG). With a goal and two assists, Brandon Dubinsky of the Hawks was the star of the game. But the play of the game came with less than 10 seconds left in the 3rd period. With the score tied at 3-3, Portland's Jonathan Bubnick somehow got the puck and made this nasty drag move with the puck that went between his legs. With nothing but ice between himself and Cyr, he let go this wicked wrister that was going up and over Cyr's left shoulder. But Cyr's glove came flashing up and snagged the puck before it hit the twine. Even Kurt, a Winterhawks fan, had to tip his hat to Cyr's lightning-fast glove on that one.

A good weekend is on the slate for me! First off, there's another Seattle/Portland game down in the Rose City on Saturday night. Then on Sunday, it's the Seahawks taking on the St. Louis Rams. They say it's gonna rain alot on Sunday, too. I guess us season ticket holders have to pay the price sooner or later after going 3+ seasons without even a drop at Qwest Field (haha).

Story of the Year!!!

2005-11-07T16:43:00.000-08:00

You gotta check out this story! When I heard this at work today, it just cracked me up to no end!!!

http://articles.news.aol.com/special1/article.adp?id=20051107161309990003

Oddly enough, the Panthers website is currently down (lol)

Laugh it Up, Fuzzball

2005-11-06T22:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I wound up doing nothing this weekend. My original plans to go over to Spokane were wiped out when it started snowing like crazy in the mountains. Then, when I woke up on Saturday morning, I just didn't have it in me to make the drive up to Vancouver. So I just wound up lounging around here and not doing anything. Well, I did clean up the joint a little. But that was about it.

It was a good thing that I didn't even go to Kennewick on Sunday as I was also thinking about. It turns out that there was yet another rock slide on I-90 again. For those keeping score at home, that's three in about two months. So they finally did the wise thing and just completely shut down the entire freeway for a good 12 miles or so. Which, in the larger scope of things, isn't all that good for our economy...at least for the short-term. I-90 is the main arterial between west and east in Washington. Oh, there's still highway 2 and 12 to go over. But if you're going between Seattle and Spokane, that's alot of extra miles to drive. They just had some pictures on the news of highway 2. It's already jammed up for miles and miles. So I'm sure glad that I don't have a job that takes me to the other side of the mountains on a daily basis.

So to replace the game that I was missing out on, Tom and I first decided to go to Sprinker to watch the UPS club team play. But then Tom called and said that he didn't want to go to that one, but rather the Puyallup High game out at Sparks Stadium. So we decided that we would do that. But then, about 10 minutes before we were to leave, he called and told me that he just didn't feel like going to that one, either. So here I was with absolutely nothing to do on a Saturday night. Which actually didn't bug me a whole lot. I don't get too many Saturday nights at home. So I figured I would just watch a couple of movies.

The two I watched were the first two original Star Wars movies. I think I chose those since I hadn't even watched "A New Hope" all the way through for a couple years. Of course, the "Cantina" scene in the first one is still one of my all-time favorite scenes. I still think the best part of that one is when the band starts into the second song and the patrons in the bar let out a little cheer like it's one of the most popular songs of all-time. Even after almost 30 years, that still cracks me up whenever I hear that.

But the real highlight was watching "The Empire Strikes Back". A film that is still in my all-time Top-10 favorites. The battle of Hoth is one of the better battle scenes ever shot. It also cracks me up when Yoda goes rummaging through Luke's little supply box. The scene where Darth Vader and Boba Fett (my favorite character in the saga...by the way...lol) invite their company to join them is still pretty cool. And, of course, the scene that absolutely rocked every 1st graders world in 1980.....when Vader broke the news to Luke that he was his old man. Of course, adding insult to injury was that not even a minute before, he had hacked-off his kids right hand.

Some say the best chase scene of all-time was the one through the streets of San Francisco in "Bullitt". Others like the one in the "French Connection". Those were pretty good. But I still nominate my favorite scene from "Empire".....the chase scene through the asteroid field. Even with the special effects technology being out-dated by today's standards, it still works really well. My highlight of that scene is when one of the TIE Fighters slams into an asteroid and you can see the pilot go spinning through space at the bottom-left part of the screen.

So other than watching the Seahawks whup-up on the Cardinals today, that was pretty much my weekend. Not too exciting. But, when I think about it, it's nice to have a weekend with no running around or driving miles and miles to do stuff. You know...kinda recharging my battery a little bit. Next weekend is a little more normal. Saturday night is gonna be spent down in Portland as the Winterhawks take on the Thunderbirds. Those are always good. And then on Sunday, the Seahawks "Revenge Tour" (that's my title, not theirs...lol) continues as the St. Louis Rams come back to the scene of their crime from last season. Over this little stretch that I've given that special name, the Hawks have:

1. Beaten the Rams in St. Louis
2. Pounded a lesser team (Houston) into submission
3. Avenged last seasons bogus loss to Dallas at home (you were out of bounds, Keyshawn!!!)
4. Avenged last seasons embarrassing loss to Arizona in Tempe

And now for the biggest monkey on their back.....FINISHING the Rams at home. By that, I mean don't go into that ridiculous prevent defense at the end of the game. Keep slapping those softies they like to call receivers around since they don't seem to like that too much. And keep on hitting Bulger like there's no tomorrow. He's almost as fragile as Kurt Warner. And also, hopefully Holmgren's pass-happy arrogance won't get in his way. This time, if they have a large lead near the end of the game, just let Shaun Alexander and Mo Morris finish it off. If they can do that, then they'll be just fine.

To end this little entry, I'm recalling an email I got about a year ago from somebody. In it, they asked "if you could choose 10 movies to show at your own film festival, which ten would they be"? Here were mine:

Pulp Fiction
A Clockwork Orange
Dr Strangelove or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2001: a Space Odyssey
Run Lola Run
Fargo
The Empire Strikes Back
Seven Samurai
Kill Bill (both volumes as one)

Now I'd like to hear what yours are. Feel free to post them in the comments section or email them to me. If you email them to me, I'll post them on here at some point in the near future.

Wheat Kings Aren't Good

2005-11-02T16:41:00.000-08:00

Just a quick little bit about the game up in Everett last Sunday between the Silvertips and the Brandon Wheat Kings. Before wamrups, there were three Wheatie players sitting a few rows behind me. Someone else recognized them as such and asked them "so who are your best players out there? You know...top scorers and stuff". One of them answered "nobody, really". The fan then asked "really? Not even one good scorer on your team"? The player then replied "nope. We're pretty much all the same. No differences. We suck".

I'm glad I'm not a Wheat Kings fan (lol).

Other than that, not much special happened. Tom W drove up there just as recklessly as always. And near the end of the game, he was openly rooting for Brandon. Not that he's suddenly a Wheat King fan or anything. Rather, he just wanted to see how the shootout went in the WHL. When Brandon scored in the final minute of regulation, he threw his arms up in the air and whooped it up a bit. I hadn't seen him do that before (lol).

This weekend will be interesting. As of right now, I really don't know exactly where I'll be. If Snoqualmie Pass is open and relatively decent, then I'll be heading over to Spokane and maybe Tri-Cities (if the pass is okay on Sunday night). If it's snowing up there, then I'll be heading up to Vancouver to watch the Giants play the Calgary Hitmen. I'm sure I'll have fun with whatever I do, though.

3 Games and Bitter Ramblings

2005-10-29T22:36:00.000-07:00

Originally, I was gonna write this one, long story about the last three games I've been to this week. But when I got up today to some news that really depressed me. So I was just basically going around all day just kind of thinking about how things are for me right now. It's the same ol', same ol' that most of you have heard me bitch about before. But sometimes it just hits home with me more than it usually does. I'm still gonna write an overview of the last three games here. But before I do that, I just want to thank some people for being such good friends; Rick, Karin, Kelly, Jeff, Jennifer and Jeff's old man, Tom. I know I was kinda out of it tonight on my outside. But just their mere presence made me feel alot better inside.

Thanks guys!!!

Okay...on to more entertaining stuff (lol)

On Wednesday night, I made a now rare trip up to Everett (at least for a weeknight game). I met up with Kurt and a couple of his friends from Anacortes (one of which I can't remember their name right now. So I'll just leave them both nameless for now...lol) at Turners before heading in for the game. Everett won, 3-1. The most amazing part of this game was how little time it took to play it...2:04! It was done so quickly that Kurt and I decided to stop off at the Tacoma Hooters for a night-cap before he headed the rest of the way back to Gresham and I headed home for bed (lol).

Friday night it was the Thunderbirds playing the Brandon Wheat Kings. Seattle took this one quite handily, 5-1. For once, even I was kinda hoping the T-Birds would have gotten one more goal (lol). This season, if the Thunderbirds score 6 goals at home, everyone gets a coupon good for one free medium one-topping pizza at Domino's! I think that's alot better than a slice of pie (which is what it was a few years ago) or the $0.50 taco's you get in St. Louis (hey....anything free is better than having to pay for it). But I still don't think it's as good as what they have (or maybe HAD...I'm not sure about this season yet) in Anaheim. There, if the Ducks score 5 goals in a game, you get 10 free chicken wings at Hooters. Of course, the reason that one wins is because you get your freebee at Hooters (hahaha).

And tonight (Saturday), the Thunderbirds lost at home to the Spokane Chiefs, 3-2. To be fair in this one, it probably should have ended in at least a tie at the end of regulation. And, in all fairness (since I praised one last week), I do have to say that the referee blew this one big time. With 2 seconds left in the 2nd period, Seattle scored what looked to be the game-tying goal during a mad-scramble in front of the Spokane net. But referee Derek Zalaski waved it off claiming that it was either batted in with a hand or scored off of a hand pass (no exact reason was given other than the puck was hit with a hand). But when you see the replay, there isn't even a hand anywhere close to where the puck was.

Once again, just to state my position exactly, I'm pretty ambivalent about the refs. They have a tough job seeing everything that happens out there and anyone who's been on the ice in a game understands that. But blowing a call like that is pretty unexcusable. Well, blowing the call may be slightly understandable. But not even taking a break to talk it over with the linesman is. Other than that, he called a decent game. But that one poor decision cost him my vote of confidence for tonight.

I also have to point out what is starting to become a disturbing trend with the Thunderbirds this season. Over this first month of the season, they seem to be hitting guys from behind and into the boards alot more than normal. Just over these last two games this weekend, they've done it twice; Friday night against Brandon when Greg Scott slew-footed the Wheaties Riley Day and sent him head-first into the boards near the end of that game. And then tonight when James McEwan ran a Chief into the boards from behind. At least McEwan answered the bell after that happened. But Scott had both Mitch Fadden and then Benn Olson fight for him (and that scores alot of negative points in my book).

But I just don't like it when teams have reps. For instance, Everett over the last couple years has been known (and rightfully so) for diving alot. They don't seem to do it as often this year (at least so far). But they're still on the hook. And a few years ago, the Winterhawks were known for their stick-work (slashing, high-sticking, spearing, butt-ending, etc). But they've cleaned up their act over time, so they're off the hook. But running people and slew-footing them into the boards like this trumps everything else. You're not making a fool out of yourself by falling down with the slightest little breeze around you. And you're not maybe injuring someone that'll put them out of the lineup for a few weeks. Now you're talking about not only possibly seriously injuring people, but possibly even crippling them for life.

Teams take penalties like that from time-to-time every season.....it happens. But this has been happening way too often for the Thunderbirds lately. Even if it is just an anomoly, I'm hoping that they clean up their act here in a hurry before someone gets in serious trouble for doing something senseless.

What can I say? I'm just bitter tonight (lol). Tommorrow should be interesting, though. It's up to Everett to watch the Silvertips play Brandon. Maybe a better Wheat King team will show up. But the real fun is that Tom W is going with me. So I'm just hoping that cheers me up alot (which I think it will).

Long Live Efren Herrera!!!

2005-10-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

I go to alot of games in alot of sports every year. For the most part, they're pretty uneventful. You go, you watch the game, the crowd and all of that. Sometimes something kinda cool happens. Sometimes not. I then come home and go to bed. 99% of the time that's how things go.

And then there are days like today. Days that stick out. Days that I'll talk about for years to come. It's just one of those days where everything comes together. It's days like today that help me through all those other routine game days.

The only bad part of the day for me was the fact that I couldn't find my parka anywhere. But I just kept telling myself that it doesn't rain at Qwest Field....EVER! Well, I won't be saying that anymore (lol). It wasn't that hard of a rain. Really, it was just this constant, persistant drizzle that just wouldn't go away. Kind of a normal day for us up here this time of year.

And because of that rain, it made it difficult for both offenses to get themselves going. Granted, Dallas wasn't helped at all with the loss of Julius Jones. But there was still alot of slipping and falling out there along with some passes thrown by both quarterbacks that just kinda floated into nowhere. So it wasn't the scoreboard tilter like last season's Monday Night game. But it was just as exciting.

Only the outcome was MUCH better this time!!!

The Seahawks took the opening drive down deep into Dallas territory. Things were looking pretty rosey at that point. That is until Peter Warrick let one slip through his hands and into the waiting arms of a Cowboys d-back. After some punts and generally sloppy play, the Cowboys eventually scored a touchdown on a nice pass from Drew Bledsoe to Keyshawn Johnson. Originally we thought that Johnson didn't get both feet in bounds. But seeing the replay later, he did a great job getting both feet in.

With less than a minute to go in the first half, Ryan Brown kicked a 55 yard field goal to pull the Seahawks to within 4 points. Which wasn't so bad considering that the refs weren't exactly calling the best game ever. Oh, it was going both ways. But they clearly missed at least two (alot of people were saying three) obvious pass interference calls on the Dallas defense in that first half. But we sorta got away with one later.....sorta (lol).

Half-time was interesting. They had the drumlines from Washington, Washington State and Oregon State perform with the Seahawks Blue Thunder line. I guess the University of Oregon declined the invitation. Perhaps it was because of the way their band was....literally....booed off the field at half-time a couple years ago (lol). Up here, Husky fans and Cougar fans don't get along none too well. But I think the one thing they can join each other in an unholy matrimony over is in their dislike of the Ducks.

The second half was a slop-fest. Neither offense could get anything going at all. Part of it was due to good defense. But I think alot of it had to do with the weather. Like I said before, it wasn't all that bad out there. But it was bad enough to cause problems for everyone.

The turning point of the game came in the 4th quarter. Off a punt, Seahawks deep man, Jimmy Williams, decided for some strange reason to pick up a bouncing football. Of course he didn't get it. And the Cowboys recovered the ball deep in Seattle territory. With the scoring at a premium in this game, things looked pretty bleak for the Seahawks at that point.

But the Cowboys went 3-and-out. Although, it wasn't without controversy. On 3rd down, the Cowboys went with a passing play. The Seahawks defensive front came in and sacked Bledsoe. But there was a flag on the play near the goal line. The back judge came running in at the referee and was signaling pass interference on the Seahawks. Which I found to be strange since you can't technically call pass interference when there was no pass in the first place. So the refs huddled together again (for about the 128th time in the game) and decided that there was no penalty on the play. Seeing it again when I got home, it looked like the Seahawks defensive back slipped and fell in front of the Dallas tight end. The real question is did he take a swipe at the TE for Dallas or not? If he did, then they could have called illegal contact against Seattle. But the referees decided that whatever contact that was made was incidental.

The best part of all of that was watching Bill Parcells punch one of his assistants in the arm while he was arguing with the ref. They had just put the dispute on the big screen when Parcells commited his assault. Of course, that drew alot of "ooh's" and "aah's" and "hahaha's" from the crowd.

So on 4th down, the Cowboys decided to go for a field goal. But it was one of those things for the Cowboys when everything just kinda went sideways. First it was a bad snap. Then the holder, who had to make adjustments to the bad snap, put the ball down in the wrong place. And that caused Dallas kicker Jose Cortez to shank the kick to the left. I'll take credit for all of that. I hexed them by wiggling my fingers at them before the snap (lol).

With momentum on their side, the Seahawks took the ball at their 20 yardline. And the Seahawks did what they normally do....nothing (lol). After giving the ball back to Dallas, the Cowboys promptly marched into field goal territory. This time, everything went right and they made the score. This time, I blame myself...I forgot to wiggle my hex-filled fingers at Cortez (lol).

At that point, I turned to Dan and said "that's okay. We're still within striking distance". Which we were. But judging from what little the Seahawks had done the rest of the game, I didn't have much faith.

But the one thing the Seahawks had going for them was the Cowboys went...well...Seahawks (lol). They didn't go to that dumb-ass dime package. But they did go into something of a nickel/cover-two scheme. Which is something that you don't want to do against a passing game like the Seahawks (or...as I've bellyached a million times...the Rams). And that allowed Hasselbeck to just sit back and find whoever was open. And he used everybody. Once it was DJ Hackett. Then Jerramy Stevens. Then Joe Jurevicius. Here's one over to Jerheme Urban.

The Cowboys did a good job of stuffing Shaun Alexander all day. But they couldn't stop him from making a key 9 yard run for a first down. On the next play, Hasselbeck found Hackett on a pass that took the Seahawks down to the 1 yardline. They tried to hand it off to Alexander for the touchdown. But the Cowboys defense did a great job of stopping him once again. The Hawks took a timeout to re-access their situation. On the very next play, they ran a play action roll-out where Hasselbeck found a diving Ryan Hannam in the endzone! After the extra point, the Seahawks had tied the game at 10-10 with 42 seconds left in the 4th quarter.

Things started out looking pretty bad on the next kickoff. The Dallas returner was able to run the ball back to about the Cowboys 40. Then, on the very first play, Drew Bledsoe threw an interception to Jordan Babineaux! He ran the ball back to about the Dallas 30. Holmgren wasted no time in getting Josh Brown back onto the field. The snap was good...the hold was good...and the ball sailed a true 50 yards through the air and split the uprights with no time left on the clock!

Seahawks won 13-10!!!!!!

After that, the stands in Qwest Field turned to bedlam. Everybody was just up and yelling and screaming and cheering like I've never seen before. You would have thought that they had just won the NFC championship or something (lol). We were high-fiving everyone around us. People who don't know each other were hugging each other. Nobody (outside of dejected Cowboy fans) left their seats. Babineaux and Marquand Manuel ran around in the south endzone holding a Ken Hamlin jersey up in the air. And we cheered some more. No Seahawk fan left until the entire team was off the field. And even on the way out of the stadium, we were all still high-fiving each other and chanting different things. One woman tried to start a Super Bowl chant. But nobody joined in (lol).

See, even though we're very happy with the win today, we're still fans of Seattle sports. And we've been teased too often over the last 10 years or so with our teams to start up chants about the Super Bowl or anything like that. But it's still a start. I've been calling this little stretch of the Seahawks schedule the "revenge tour" for a little bit now. It's their chance to avenge three of their most crippling losses of last season. This was the first...putting that Monday Night debacle from last season behind them. In two weeks, it's down to Phoenix to hopefully beat the Cardinals. That was a loss last season that should have been an easy victory. Hopefully they'll take that one more seriously this time. And then the week after that, it'll be time to tackle the biggest gorilla of them all...finishing off the Rams at home. They've already proven that they can beat the Rams when they did that a couple weeks ago in St. Louis (wasn't that just a glorious game, Linsday???). Now they just have to do it in Seattle. On the same field where their season basically fell apart last season.

If they can pull off those two victories, then maybe the hardcore Seattle fans will truely begin to believe.

Obviously the star of the game on the field was Josh Brown. Two half-ending field goals that total 105 yards will do that for you. But maybe the biggest star of the game off the field was former Seahawks kicker Efren Herrera. He was the one who raised the 12th man flag before the game. After he did that, he went out to the end of the paltform and started waving his arms around to get the crowd loud (like most of them do). And that lasted for about 15 seconds or so (like it usually does). But after the cheering died down, he just kept standing there waving his arms around in the air like a buffoon. He just wouldn't leave. Some official finally came and pulled him away.

Then a couple times during the game, they had our old pal Efren on the big screen while he was roaming around on the sidelines, still waving his arms around. It was actually kinda funny. Perhaps they should replace Blitz with Efren Herrera as the team mascot (lol).

So as this grey, rainy day turned to a cold, dark dusk we left the stadium on a dizzy high. Is this team really something to believe in? Or is this just another cruel mirage for us long suffering Seattle fans? I guess only time will tell.

Seattle vs. Portland 10/22/05

2005-10-22T22:58:00.000-07:00

Classic Portland/Seattle game tonight! The Thunderbirds took the game, 3-1. But there was all sorts of intensity out there. Something that I hadn't seen by both teams in any game this season. Brian Woolger opened the scoring in the first period for Portland. For the most part, the Winterhawks controlled the game. They outshot Seattle 34-26 for the game. But after that first goal, Bryan Bridges was about as solid in net as you could ask for. Seattle's first goal came rather unexpectedly...on the power play! Scott Jackson let one rip from the top of the slot to make it 1-1 after the first period. Then a couple minutes into the second period, Seattle's Roman Tomanek made this wicked drag move around Portland's Garth Collins and shot the puck past Dustin Butler to give the Thunderbirds a 2-1 lead. And then with a little over a minute to go in the 3rd, Ladislav Skurko shot one from center ice into the empty net.

Then the fun began (lol). Three fights in the final 19 seconds of the game. The last of which I have quite a bit to comment on...with both the T-Birds, Winterhawks and the referee. The first one began when Portland's Cameron Cepek tried to get Yashar Farmanara to drop the gloves after the whistle blew. Farmanara is probably the favorite target for Seattle's opponents simply because he's the softest guy in the west. So just before the next draw, T-Bird defenseman Bretton Stamler swapped places with whoever was lined up on the left wing and went at it with Cepek. A decent scrap...I called it a draw. Not too long after that, Clayton Barthel of Seattle went at it with Frazer McLaren. McLaren is one of the tougher guys in the league. But Barthel isn't much of a push-over, either. But I had to give the slight edge to McLaren in that one.

Now for the most interesting one. There are two ways I can start with this. Now I'm thinking of a good way to do it fairly (lol). Okay...after the first fight there in the final 19 seconds, Portland coach Mike Williamson decided to put his enforcers out there on the ice; McLaren and Garth Collins. Seattle just went with what basically was their 3rd line out there. After the McLaren/Barthel scrap, there were no line changes outside of replacing the two who got into the fight. Collins was out there jawing at anyone in a different colored jersey. After the puck dropped, he went after Farmanara (no suprise there...lol) and then out to the point where Eli Grossman was. Basically, he just pinned Grossman to the boards and started pounding on him. Grossman is another softy. And, to be frank, it was a gutless thing for Collins to do.

But with that being said, I also have an issue with the way the Seattle bench handled that situation. It was pretty obvious to anyone with a clue what Portland was doing out there. And I had nothing wrong with that...at the end of rivalry games, if things are gonna be settled, better to do by dropping the mitts instead of someone going Bertuzzi on another player. But why didn't Farwell/Knox/McTaggart (who the hell is officially in charge of that bench right now, anyway?) send James McEwan out there? Granted, McEwan has a past of doing stupid things himself in those same situations (re: Everett last year and in the pre-season against Everett, too). But you gotta stand up for yourself in that situation. One of those non-fighters could have gotten hurt out there. And that can send a bad message to the players you're coaching.

And here's the statement that'll get everyone's gander up (lol). I thought that referee Devin Klein did the right thing throughout that entire situation. He understands what that rivalry is all about. He understood that the game had been chippy. So he let them do their thing. And he also did something that he'll probably get into trouble with the league over but made me glad to see; he didn't give Collins an instigator in that "fight" with Grossman (even though even I had to think that he should have gotten one). He just flipped a giant middle finger to that stupid new instigator rule that's been put in the books for this year. Now, if you get an instigator in a fight in the last 5 minutes of a game, you get an automatic game misconduct. Instead, he just gave Collins a roughing minor. Even if that was a text book "instigator" penalty (lol).

So now, along with Peter Mueller being my favorite player to watch, Devin Klein is my new favorite referee. He's the first ref to be so honored since it's an award I just thought up of here a couple minutes ago (lol).

On to other things. Kelly bought this goofy-looking octopus hat at Fred Meyer. She seemed rather proud of it (lol). The fan of the night was sitting in front of me. It was given to some guy who they thanked for all his service in the Coast Guard. The only problem was the guy was nowhere to be found. So they gave this kid who couldn't have been older than 4 that was sitting in the winning seat a can of Almond Roca. He didn't exactly look like the burley sea-weathered type (lol).

Kind of funny during warmups. At some point, Kristi had snuck down to the boards and put up these pro-Portland signs. When I first noticed what was going on, her friend Jackie was down there ripping them up. Kristi was trying to stop her. But her efforts were futile. I also gave Kristi the stuff I bought her in St. Louis. She seemed to really like the puck I picked out. And I guess she liked the shot glass. She also flipped me shit about not taking her to Spokane the night before like we had originally planned. I told her earlier in the week that I wanted to make it up to her somehow. So she just had me buy her a beer (lol). So that was a first for me...buying a beer for a minor (lol). Oh, I had bought it for her before. But that was up in Canada...where she's legal (lol). And while I was up there buying it for her, I couldn't get out of my mind what someone told me not too long ago. They said that when she turns 21, I'll pretty much be obsolete to her (lol). I hope that's not true. But I'm sure that one of my uses will be out the door (haha).

Seahawks game against Dallas tomorrow. It'll be interesting to see how the Hawks cope without Ken Hamlin in the free safety position. I just hope they don't lose by too much (lol).

Seattle vs. Everett 10-21-05

2005-10-21T23:05:00.000-07:00

Seattle won the game tonight, 3-2. I think that was a good win for the Thunderbirds. The star of the game was the up-to-now missing Chris Durand. He scored the first two goals for Seattle and also had an assist on the game-winner. Seattle is going to need alot more from Durand if they want to get back to where they want to be. Bryan Bridges also played fairly well in net. The first goal was a bit of a softy. The Silvertips second goal of the night was a beautiful one-timer that he had no real chance to stop (more on that in a bit). But the play of the game was made in the 2nd period when he made an amazing grab while laying on his side on the ice. How he ever got that one, I don't know.

As for Everett...they came out well in the first period. After the first, they were up 1-0. They then took a 2-0 lead early in the 2nd. But that was about it for the Tips. It's not that they played particularly bad. I think this was just one of those nights where the other team (being Seattle) just flat-out wanted it more. Everett is Everett...they'll still finish with one of the better records in the WHL. And will probably get through at least the first round of the playoffs, if not further.

Now back to that second Everett goal I mentioned earlier. When I was in St. Louis a couple weeks ago, Lindsay asked me who my favorite player to watch was...in any league. I had a hard time coming up with just one NHL player since several came to mind (and the fact that I hadn't gotten to watch the NHL for a year and a half). And it was also early in the WHL season. So I hadn't had much time to see the guys around here, either. Well, I think that after tonight I may have come up with a new favorite player. For those not in the know, his name is Peter Mueller and he plays for Everett.

I'll start by mentioning the one glaring knock that I can see the scouts whining about in the future; he's not exactly the most fluid skater in the world. Not all that fast, either. But as they say, that can be worked on. Other than that, this kid can flat-out play with the puck. It's amazing, really. It's almost like you're watching an experienced NHL forward out there whenever he makes a play. Most of his passes are tape-to-tape. He has a shot that resembles a shotgun bullet. And you never really see him make a bad decision with the puck. And the decisions he makes with the puck are made with a scary efficiency. He's also capable of playing a physical game. But he's smart in that he knows when it's okay to go ahead and finish that check and when to just let it go.

In short, he reminds me of my all-time favorite player.....Cam Neely.

He's from somewhere in Minnesota. I know there was alot of colleges back there who wanted him in the worst way (including the Golden Gophers). When it comes to choosing between college and major juniors, I usually take the stance that you really can't go bad either which way. But in Mueller's case, I think he made the correct decision in coming to the WHL. He's so advanced at his age that he needs the best possible competition to test his skills with right now. And he seems to be doing quite well for himself.

As for that goal; it was scored when Mueller fired a lazer off of a one-timer. Bridges got over there pretty quickly. But Mueller found this one little area just between Bridges right skate and the post that was about a foot wide. I'm not sure that the goal on the whole was as pretty as the one-timer Brian Woolger scored against the T-Birds last season. But I think I'll have a tough time seeing a better goal than that this season.

So mark down the name of Peter Mueller. You'll be watching this guy for the next 20 years.

October 15-16

2005-10-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Not much exciting happened last weekend. Actually, on Thursday and Friday, Tom W and I went to a couple of high school football games. They were both pretty ugly blow-outs. Lincoln beat Mt. Tahoma 56-0 and the Puyallup Vikings beat up on Jefferson 45-9. Puyallup is always one of the state football powers. It's been the high school for the Huard's (Damon, Brock and Luke), Chad Eaton and Dane Looker among others. I also believe it's where Olympic swimming gold medalist, Megan Quann, went to high school. But I still like going to at least a couple high school games each year.

As for Saturday night's hockey game at the Key...it wasn't all that exciting. The Saskatoon Blades came into town and shutout the Thunderbirds 3-0. For what it's worth, Brian Bridges looked pretty good in the net for Seattle. But once again, the Thunderbirds failed miserably to score on their power play. I have no love or hate for the T-Birds, but it really is getting sad watching their ineptitude while a man-up. It just seems like nobody wants to take the shot. And it even often looks like nobody out there on the ice even WANTS the puck. When they get it, they handle it like it's a live hand gernade. Perhaps that's why they don't want to take a shot...they're scared that if they do, the puck might explode like a gernade (lol).

Former T-Bird, Aaron Bader, scored the first (and eventual game winning) goal and later added an assist. What did the Thunderbirds get for Bader in the first place? Probably another 6th round draft pick like they do just about everyone else.

The Seahawks game was a laugher. 41-10 games tend to make you double-over in laughter. Shaun Alexander had another ho-hum four touchdown game along with well-over 100 yards running. And former Oregon Duck, Mo Morris, also ran for 104 yards on the day. I really hope that the Seahawks sign Shaun to a long-term deal here. He's one of the top two RB's in the NFL (along with Tomlinson of San Diego). But if they don't, then I'm more than comfortable with Morris back there. He's not as flashy as Alexander (and Shaun's not that flashy in the first place). But he's still an excellent north-south runner.

And what exactly was Ken Hamlin doing in a Pioneer Square bar at almost 2:00am after the game? I'm not passing judgement on why he got into it with the guys he did. Stuff like that could happen at the McDonalds in Bellevue at 2:00pm on a Sunday. But you gotta use your head a little more. Now our best d-back is probably out for the season...if not the rest of his career...due to a stupid lapse of reason. Hopefully the rest of the team will learn from that mistake.

Nope (lol)

2005-10-16T00:43:00.000-07:00

I guess it didn't work (lol). Doesn't suprise me, though. I can't make heads or tails out of how to do things on this blog. I'll give it another go here. Maybe it'll work...but it probably won't. If it doesn't work, just ignore this whole debacle and go back to what you were doing (lol).

YAY!!!! IT WORKED!!!!! (hahaha)

Picture

2005-10-16T00:35:00.000-07:00

Hopefully, there's a picture of me here with some new "friends" I made in St. Louis (haha). I'm kinda doing this in the hope that it shows up here (lol).

St. Louis Trip

2005-10-16T00:08:00.000-07:00

Okay....this is kind of a long, boring story that some of you already know. But I figure I might as well say it to everyone. Last Tuesday, I sat down here at my computer to write all about my great weekend in St. Louis. Well, after sitting here for 3 1/2 hours typing away at the thing, I was almost done when all of a sudden my AOL shut down on me!!! Frustrated (and tired...it was almost 11:00 by that time) I decided to go ahead and do it over again on Wednesday. But that never happened because I woke up that morning with a pretty bad cold. So I've been putting it off and putting it off since then.

So I'm sitting here tonight and figured to myself "it's been a week now. I HAVE to do something". So, instead of the more exact story that I usually tell, I decided to just run out a quick overview of all that happened. Well, at least the major stuff. I mean, I have tonights bore-fest at the Key Arena to write about as well as the Seahawks/Texans game tomorrow. It deserves alot better than what you're about to read. But I'm still feeling the after-effects of this cold and it's getting even later than it was last time (lol). So here it is....the condensed version of my weekend in St. Louis....

Saturday, October 8

Lindsay took me to this Farmers Market near downtown St. Louis. We then drove a few blocks over to the Budweiser plant where I bought a few things. After that, we headed over to Union Station and ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. When we finished eating, we walked around downtown and visited this empty mall for a little bit. Then it was over to the Savvis Center where we watched the San Jose Sharks defeat the St. Louis Blues, 7-6.

Sunday, October 9

Lindsay and Joe picked me up at the hotel and we headed out to the Edward Jones Dome. We hung out for awhile outside at one of the little block parties they have. We then went inside and cheered the Seattle Seahawks onto another glorious victory (well, at least I did). After the game, we went to the best looking Hooters I've been to (and that's been quite a few...lol). Then we just went back to Lindsay's and watched a couple of movies on tv.

So there it is (lol). Nobody has to read all the stuff that usually happens (haha). But I still feel kinda bad about not getting all the gory details on here. As always, Lindsay and Joe were outstanding hosts. The whole story deserves better than this. But it's just bad timing.

Anyway, I'll just end this by telling Lindsay and Joe "thanks" once again. I know when I'm there I'm cracking about St. Louis' crime problems and the such. But I still LOVE visiting the place. It's really not a bad place ( I mean, I live in Tacoma. So that makes me eligible to make fun of the place if you ask most of the people who live around here...lol). And I look forward to going there again sometime soon (well, not that soon...but you know I'll be back...lol).

Now if only the two of you can get up here......

October 1-2

2005-10-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

This was a more normal weekend for me. No huge trips or anything like that. After next weekend, these types of posts will be more of the norm. But that's not to say that nothing interesting happened.....

We'll pickup the story on Saturday afternoon. It was a foul weather type of day...even by our standards up here in Washington. My partner in crime that day was.....well.....the same as always when we're talking crime; Tom W. We made our first stop at the Hooters on Lake Union (geez...what a suprise there, eh???). When we got there, we took a table over by the window. We sat there without anyone coming up to us for about 12 minutes. When the first girl finally came over to our table, she asked us if we had been helped yet. I said that we hadn't. "How long have you been sitting here" she asked. Without even flinching, Tom hollered out "at least a half-hour. Maybe more".

I knew this wasn't true. But I decided to let things play out to see what happened. She took our order (I asked for a bottle of Bud, but wound up getting a bottle of Bud Light instead. Which is usually what happens there. I think they have some policy about Bud Light being first or something). So after we got our drinks, the manager came over to us. "Hey guys" he started out with, "I heard that you had a bit of a wait to get served here". Tom, once again at full-volume so the entire place could hear "YEAH!!! AT LEAST A HALF-HOUR!!! MAYBE MORE"!!! The manager apologized and said "so there are no hard feelings here, anything you drink here will be on me tonight. Whatever you want, you drink for free". There were no hard feelings in the first place. But our wily friend Tom had scored us free drinks the rest of our stay there. I immedietly ordered another bottle of Bud....which, of course, magically came back as yet another Bud Light.

After that, it was back in Tom's Blue Monster (aka his little Ford Ranger). As we were approaching the Seattle Center parking lot, my phone rang. When I answered it, Karin was on the other end. "Hey! Where are you" she asked. "Well, we're coming up on the par.....". At that point, without a trace of warning, Tom slammed on his breaks in order to get into the side entry of the lot. "Parking lot" I finished. "Sorry about that" Tom said sheepishly. Karin asked "what happened"? "Oh nothing" I answered. "I was almost sent through the f-----g windshield. That's all".

"Oh. Well, we have a little problem here" Karin continued on with seemingly no concern for my safety. "The Key Arena is flooded". My brain was still rattled from our sudden change of direction. "Flooded" I asked. "Yeah" Karin replied. "And they aren't letting people in". Now I needed answers. "Did the ice melt or something"? "No" she said "it's the concourse. There's water everywhere". It turns out that about an hour earlier, there had been this sudden rain squall go through there. And the water was coming so fast, it literally just went right through the door and flooded parts of the concourse. When the two of us finally got there, the gates had opened on the upper level. But they were still mopping up the mess down near the main entry.

Right after we descended the stairs, I turned around and saw Kelly just a few steps behind us. So the three of us hooked up and walked over to our seats. She had a bunch of pictures of her washing the Qwest Field roof back around Labor Day. They were actually pretty cool pictures. She landed that gig through a friend of a friend. Now apparently that same company has a bid in to wash the roof of the Tacoma Dome. Tom and I were kinda hoping that Kelly could find a way to somehow make that pile of crap burn down "mysteriously" so we could maybe get a newer, better place for a new hockey team here.

The opening ceremonies for the T-Birds was possibly the most memorable that I've ever seen. Well, at least what I could actually SEE of it. When they were introducing the team, they had the usual fog machines spewing out their mist at the end of the ice. Well, with the storm blowing through the area outside, they claim that there was a thunderclapper that suddenly took out the scoreboard, PA system and the ventilation system all at once. But the fog machine was uneffected. So with nothing to vent it out with, the fog comletely clouded the entire arena. When the lights finally came back on, you could barely see the other side of the place. I joked with Kelly that it was RJ Reynolds night at the game and that Joe Camel was gonna drop the ceremonial first puck.

After the haze went away (for the most part. There were still some leftovers hanging around even after the first period was over), the Thunderbirds came out playing hard. They scored their first goal of the night 51 seconds into the first period. They had a second one just a couple minutes later. But that was all the scoring for the Birds on that night. Their offense was just about as sad as it had been over the last couple of years. It was so bad that, to the best of our collective memories, they had only one shot on goal the entire 2nd period. Kamloops tied it up with less than a minute to go in the 3rd period at 2 goals apiece, then won it 1-0 in the shootout.

As far as my first regular season views of the T-Birds go, I thought that Ryan Gibbons looked pretty good out there for them. Barthel and Stamler were fairly solid on defense. Bryan Bridges was looking sharp in net (sorry Kristi....he did....lol). James McEwan got into another fight...and lost again. But he still skated off with that happy-go-lucky grin on his face. I guess it's nice to know that he enjoys his job.

But my main impression is that the T-Birds season is going to come down to two things. The first one is the power play. It looked just as impotent as ever out there. I don't think I've ever seen a team as talented as Seattle look so confused out there when they're a man-up. I know that there are goaltending coaches and skating coaches. I wonder if there are such things as power play coaches out there. Because if there are, the T-Birds can certainly use it. But their penalty killing unit looked good. Tom commented at one point that they looked more dangerous shorthanded than they did on the power play. And he really wasn't exagerating.

The other thing to me is the play of Chris Durand. He obviously has the talent to be a 40 goal scorer in the WHL. But everytime I watched him all night, he seemed to have himself on cruise control out there. I hope there weren't any scouts in the crowd from the Avalanche. If there were, I would think that they were thinking that perhaps they had wasted their 2nd round pick last summer.

But it was still cool seeing all the people up in Seattle again. Not just Kelly, but Jeff, Jennifer, Tom (yes....there's another. He's Jeff's old man) and Elspith outside. Rick was there with Karin. Apparently he bought a weekend package so he can at least make a few more games this year (lol). Later in the game, I looked across and saw Carl and Mary...my old neighbors in the Tacoma Dome from the Sabercat days. But I never got to go over there and say "hello". But I'm sure there will be plenty more chances for that as the season goes along.

All night long, Tom was pestering me about him wanting to drive me down to Portland the next day. And, of course.......

.....at 8:00am on Sunday morning, he called saying that he was backing out. After all that whining and begging, he backs out! How Winter-like was that??? (hahaha)

But at least I was gauranteed a fairly safe drive down there (lol). So I met Kurt at the I-205 Hooters there in Portland. We sat there watching the Seahawks game. Kurt had never seen me rooting for a particular team before. Since I don't root for any of the hockey teams around here, he's never seen me all that into a game. And he said he didn't like it when I was rooting for the Seahawks (hahaha). In fact, I think that the only person on here that's ever seen me root for the Hawks is Lindsay (and Dan if he reads this...lol). I'm just a bundle of nerves while watching. When I'm here at home, I'm up and pacing all over the living room during their games (as I was while I was in that hotel room in Kennewick during the first week). I did have to take a little walk after Josh Brown missed that potential game-winning field goal with time running out in the 4th quarter. But other than that, I just sat at the table watching....with my legs bouncing up and down furiously and my fidgiting with my cell phone in one hand while constantly knocking the table with the other (lol). And as Dan has heard me bellyache on numerous Sunday's there at Qwest Field, I had several choice words for both Mike Holmgren and Ray Rhodes after the Hawks tried a safety blitz in overtime which backfired when former Husky, Mark Brunell, completed a pass over the middle to put the Redskins into scoring position. I went on this long, foul-mouthed rant as the Redskins kicked the winning field goal. I think Kurt was embarrassed (lol).

Eventually, Kristi showed up, too. I had accidently written down the wrong freeway when I sent her directions the night before and she got lost (the exit number was the right one. It was the freeway's name that was crossed up). So we sat there shooting the bull for the next couple hours. We told Kurt all about our trip up to Red Deer and Kelowna the week before. She gossiped about the Winterhawks. I was still whining about Ray Rhodes and Mike Holmgren. We laughed at the guy sitting behind us who looked like Rick "Superfreak" James. Tom called. He was wondering why we weren't across the street (Karin and Kelly get that one...lol). Kurt and I got our jollies telling it like it is about Keith Tkachuk with Lindsay over the phone (donuts anyone?????). Some people just can't handle the truth (hahaha....jokin' Lindsay).

Then it was off to the Rose Garden. Got to see Kurt's parents for the first time this season. They're two of the nicest people you'll ever meet. But sometimes I think they wonder to themselves "who are these freaks that our son hangs out with"? I don't know if it's so much me as it is Tom W and Kara. Lord help them when they meet Kristi (lol). That's another reason Lindsay has to get up here.....so they can meet someone in our circle who's normal (well, at least if she gets to go to Portland if she gets here).

The first couple of minutes between the Winterhawks and Prince George Cougars was, dare I say, old school jumior hockey. A fight off the opening draw, a Portland goal followed immediately by another fight before "TNT" could even get started. Followed by a couple other dust-ups, and another fight. But after all of that, not much happened. Prince George eventually won the game, 3-2. But I was still VERY impressed with the Winterhawks. They were playing like a team that has an idea. It seemed like every pass hit the stick. It just so happened that the PG goalie was on his game that night. And if he was ever out of position, the Hawks were unable to capitalize on their opportunity. If I were just judging from what all I've seen so far in this young season and the pre-season, I think that not only are the Winterhawks the favorites in the West, they may just go ahead and win the WHL title. I think the only real thing they need at this point is a better goalie. But if they play their hand right, I don't think that will be too hard to come by.

After the game, it was the long drive home. I knew it was hockey season as I drove through another driving rainstorm in Vancouver. And as I sloshed through all the puddles that accumulate so quickly along that stretch of freeway, I was wondering to myself "will they ever finish this construction project"?

That's about it for this week. Next weekend, it's St. Louis. It'll be interesting to see if the Seahawks invent another new way to blow a game.

Some Things Are Bigger Than Sports

2005-09-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

Many of you have met Jerry and Elizabeth...the two great people who sat next to me in Everett for two years. Well, Elizabeth emailed me yesterday saying that Jerry is having surgery to his heart. His left artery is 95% blocked. So I can tell you that all my best wishes and good karma are being sent out to him for a successful operation, quick recovery and better health in the future.

Oh, Canada

2005-09-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

As far as out-and-out madness goes, this was probably the biggest weekend of the season (at least regular...you never know come playoff time). Kristi and Tom on the road seeing western Canada. This is our story...and I think we can stick by it.

We'll pick up our adventure on Friday (since Thursday was fairly uneventful. Just a straight burn to Spokane. Get that one, Kristi??? LOL). We left the hotel at about 5:00am and just started driving like mad. We went up through northern Idaho (it seemed beautiful. But it was kinda hard to tell with it still being dark and all through most of it). The first interesting character we ran into was the Canadian border guard. After going through the usual questions, he asked us "why hockey"? I snapped back without hesitation "because we LOVE IT"! The guard kinda snickered "I thought Americans hated hockey". "Well", I said "at least a couple of us love it". He then gave us our stuff back and told us to have a good time.

And as the sun was coming up, we hit the mountains. Everywhere you looked there were tall peak after tall peak. In the Cascades, there are alot of hills with maybe a smaller mountain popping up here and there. But up there, they were all smaller mountains with larger mountains all around them. We pulled off in Cranbrook for a quick gas stop. While we were there, we made a quick once-around for the arena there just so she could see it. Believe it or not, as small as that town is, we couldn't find it (lol). I remembered about where it was. But it's a pretty tiny building (at least alot smaller than even say Tri-Cities or Kelowna). And we also didn't look all that hard. We were on a schedule, afterall. I did find out in Cranbrook that my ATM card doesn't work in those ATM machines that they have in the gas stations.

Going through Fernie, BC we saw a newer style Volkswagen Bug. But this one was a little different than the ones we're used to seeing. It was painted yellow with red and green stripes running up the middle. And on the front of the hood and on the side of the door, it had a cannibus plant painted on the side. Ahhh.....nothing like a free ad for some of that famous BC Bud (lol).

Somewhere in some little town along Crowsnest Pass in Alberta, we stopped off at a gas station to buy a road map of Alberta. And, in a very rare occurance, I decided to hand the keys over to Kristi so she could drive for a while. When we went up to Kelowna last April, she mentioned the first time she saw my car that she would love to drive it sometime. So I was kinda thinking about it along the way on Friday. And I figured that since she had never brought it up since and was patient about it, I would go ahead and let her drive for a while. And she did a really good job; nice and smooth. No sudden bursts of acceleration or testing the limits of the vehicle (lol). She seemed most facinated with the cruise control on the car (lol). At one point, in the middle of some long stretch, a smile washed over her face and she said "cruise control is awesome"! She was also amazed at how well it accelerated. Although I had to tell her that I was somewhat dissapointed in the acceleration of my current Mustang over the last one I had. But she still thought it was great. The only little bump she had was when she first started out, she stomped on the breaks a little hard and almost sent us through the windshield. "Oops! Sorry" she said. "I'm used to having to slam on the break peddle on my car to get it to stop". I told her that it was alright and to just keep going.

So about a half-hour from Calgary, she pulled over and let me back behind the wheel. As we headed into the city, you could see downtown from a good 15-20 miles away. I guess that's how it goes when you're on land that resembles a pancake. Of course, we stopped at one of the two Hooters they had there (Kristi has dubbed Hooters as "our place" ever since Kurt and I took her to the one in Beaverton. Although we've been to more Denny's than Hooters over the last year or so. I believe the count at this point is Denny's 4, Hooters 3. But I think she wants that to change...lol). After we were done eating, we each wanted a shirt. Me; a regular black one like I normally buy. Her; a tank-top. But our waitress came back to us and told us that they were all out of all women's wear except for sweatpants. So Kristi left somewhat dissapointed.

Now, since my ATM card didn't work at that gas station in Cranbrook, the one thing we needed more than anything was Canadian cash. And since Calgary is a rather large city and we didn't have time to hunt all over the place for a bank, we decided to press our luck and try to find one in the much smaller Red Deer. And since we only had about 90 minutes to get up there before the banks closed at 5:00, I decided to follow that age-old wisdom "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". Well, in this case, it was "do as the Albertans do". But you get the drift. Anyway, I just decided to hook-up with the fastest train of cars along the freeway and run with them. The speed limit along the way was 110kmph. Now, I believe that's around 70mph down here. All I know is that at times, we were hitting 90mph along with the other 8 or so cars heading up there. So time flew by rather nicely for us.

After we checked into the hotel, we asked the girl behind the counter if there were any banks around. Luckily, there was a mall just a couple blocks down from our hotel and she said that there were a couple of banks there. So we went straight from the lobby of the hotel to that mall. We found a bank there and made it inside with 7 minutes to spare (lol). So that little bit of stress was taken care of.

On the outside of the hotel, the place looked like an absolute dump. But once inside, the joint ruled! I had to rent out a suite there since it was all that was available. Which I've done before at other hotels. But most of those other suites basically just had a couch or two in them and not much else to distinguish them from the other rooms in the same hotel. But this one had the works! Not only did it have a couch and a recliner in it, it also had a full kitchen in there complete with a full-sized fridge and an oven. I think I had stayed at one other hotel like that in my life. And that was when I was a kid and my mom and step-dad had rented out this huge rudy-poo room at an over-priced hotel in Ocean Shores. So I was pretty thrilled with what I had gotten for only about $125.

After we rested for about an hour, we headed up to the Enmax Centrium for the game. I went in and picked up our tickets for the game and went back outside to hang with Kristi for a while. As we were doing that, we had our first encounter with this one guy. Basically, he was probably somewhere in his late-40's and was.....well......retarded, frankly. I don't say that to be mean. He just was. Although he definitely knew his sports! He knew it so well that he recognized my Tacoma Rainiers PCL North Division championship shirt I was wearing and even knew that Tacoma had been swept by Nashville in the PCL Finals. So he would ask us a couple of questions and we would answer them and then he would walk away. And that's just kinda how it went with him for the entire night. Seriously....this guy was something out of an episode of the "Twilight Zone". It seemed like at every turn, while we were standing there talking with each other or someone else, he would just kinda shuffle up from out of nowhere and start in talking with us again...asking more questions. I remember at one point during one of the intermissions, we were standing around talking to a couple of guys. I turned around to see what this crashing sound was that I had just heard, and there he was. Never even heard or knew that he was there. And he was just staring at us like we were aliens or something (well, I guess we are Americans. And there probably aren't too many Americans who make Red Deer and the Rebels a planned destination for vacation). I didn't mind him too much. He seemed like a nice fellow with a heart of gold. But he was definitely on Kristi's nerves (lol). But I just told her a couple times that he was harmless. But I don't think that helped much (lol).

Now, those two guys I was just telling you about that we met. One of them was names Steve. And, for the life of me, I can't remember what the name of the other guy was (and neither could Kristi). But they were really cool. One of the first things we found out about each other is that we all had standing room tickets for the game. They told us where the perfect place to "stand" was. It turns out that they had put in some bleacher seats that, at first, we thought were actual seats that they sold. But they weren't....they were for us "standing room" folk. So unlike Kelowna last season, we actually got to sit this time!!!

Another cool story from Red Deer. A few minutes after we had gotten into the place, this little old man came walking up to us as we were exploring the arena. "Excuse me", he said, "I couldn't help but notice that you (Kristi) had a Thunderbirds jersey on and you (me) had a Seahawks jacket on. Are the two of you really from Seattle"? We told him yes....more or less. "Oh, I love Seattle. I have a son who played for the Thunderbirds for a few years. But that was about 15 years ago". I asked him "so what is you're sons name? Maybe I remember him". He looked at me and beemed as he told me........

"Glen Goodall".

Kristi and I just looked at each other with that "holy shit, we hit the jackpot" look on our faces. Even Kristi, who has only been following the game for a few years, knew who that was. For those not in the know, Glen Goodall is an absolute legend in the WHL. At one point, he was the all-time leader in goals, assists and points (he's still #1 in goals with 262. But has since been passed up by Brian Sakic....Joe's little brother....in assists and points). He also still has the record of most games played in a career with 399.....all with Seattle. And, even with all the great players who have gone through Seattle over the years (Glenn Anderson, Ken Daneyko, Dave Ross, Chris Joseph, Petr Nedved, Lindsay Vallis, Turner Stevenson, Chris Osgood, Mark Parrish and Cody Rudkowski to name a few), he's still the only one to have his number retired.

So we wound up asking a bunch of questions about his son. He's still playing over in Germany as he has for the last 10 years or so. At one point, he was reunited with his former linemate, Vallis, for a couple of seasons. And he really enjoys it over there. So after talking with him for about10 minutes, he told us "I gotta get back to work now" (he was an usher there). "I'm only supposed to talk to people for one minute. And I've gone way over that here with you two". So I told him "don't worry, Bud. That was just one really long minute if anyone asks us". He smiled and told us to have a good time while we were there.

The game itself was rather boring. The Rebels were playing the Calgary Hitmen. And, for what is supposed to be a "rivalry", there was next to no intensity out there. It had all the feeling of one of the pre-season games we had gone to over the last few weeks. Calgary wound up winning 4-2. Perhaps the most entertaining part of the game was the "standing room" section next to us on our right. That's where the Hitmen Booster Club was sitting. I recognized one of them from the past. He's this older, heavyset fellow with grey hair and a beard. He has a Hitmen jersey that reads "HOHOHO Santa" on the back of it. There was also this one clown running around in a gorilla mask with a Hitmen jersey on. At one point, Krist swore that he shouted out a racist slur. I didn't hear it. But she seemed pretty sure about it. So I'm taking her word for it. I found that to be kind of a shame.

Other than that, the arena was pretty much dead. But Canadian fans are alot different than American fans. They just kinda sit there like I do and study what's going on on the ice. If one of their players do something good, they just politely applaud a little.....no loud roars or anything like that. And if one of their players screw something up, they just mumble a little about it amongst themselves.....no jeers and original, intelligent statements like "you suck" and "you're worthless" and so on. And most amazingly, they really don't complain about the refs too loudly. They might grumble about a questionable call or non-call. But they have the basic understanding that the refs job is awfully difficult to manage alot of the time. So you also don't have the fans claiming that there's some sort of conspiracy against their team like you do in the USA (especially in Seattle. But they also do it in Everett, Portland, Spokane and the Tri-Cities, too).

So I've always figured that that's why I love going to games up in Canada so much. Not only is it the home of hockey, the fans are also on about the same level of understanding as I am. I love talking about the game with people. But the only ones I can talk to on a regular basis with a true understanding of the game itself are Kurt and.....yes....Kristi (at least when it comes to goaltending. She knows her goaltending, for sure; styles, strengths, weaknesses, etc. I'm trying my best to teach her the X's and O's of the game. But she'll get all of that here fairly soon if she listens to me.....lol).

After the game, we stood around inside the arena where the players come out when they're done in the locker room. The one reason Kristi really wanted to go on this trip was so she could visit one of her favorite players, former T-Bird and current Rebel, Matthew Hansen. While we were waiting there, a nice lady came up to us and asked if we were there to see Hansen. Kristi told her the story about him and then the lady told us that she was his billet for the season. She also told us that he had family in town and that he wouldn't have much time to talk once he did emerge from the locker room. But that it also would only be a few more minutes until he got there. So armed with that information, I decided to head out to the car and wait there for her. I could tell that she was somewhat annoyed with me standing around with her, crimping her style and all (lol). But at the same time, I didn't want to just ditch her there like she wanted me to and head back to the hotel and have her find out a way to get back there herself. The hotel there wasn't like the ones in Kelowna that are just a few blocks from the arena. The one we had there was about a mile or so away. So, after I was out in the car for about 15 minutes, she got back there and into the passenger seat. "So, did he finally show up" I asked. "Yup. And that was definitely worth the trip for me" she said. "Thanks Tom! Now I'll have a smile on my face for a week because of that"!

We were both pretty hungry at that point. So we went to another popular place with us....McDonalds.....for dinner. Only this time, we just went to the drive-thru. I have a feeling that, unlike Kelowna last April, we BOTH would have fallen asleep in there this time (haha). So we just went back to the hotel, ate our food, and promptly crashed asleep for the night. Afterall, it had been a long day for the both of us.

On Saturday, we got up around 7:00am. After pulling ourselves together, we hit the road around 8:00am. After stopping in Calgary for breakfast (yes.....Denny's), we started back west for Kelowna. As we were going through northern Calgary, we came across some of the leftover stuff from the 1988 Olympic Winter games. From the road itself, we could clearly see the ski-jumping area and the bobsled/luge course. There were also signs pointing towards where the Olympic Village was. So Kristi grabbed my camera and snapped away taking picures of that stuff.

And then there were the mountains; the Canadian Rockies. To me, the coolest thing about them was just in how they stood there. I mean, we're driving along on this very flat land. And you can clearly see where these mountains start to rise. And it doesn't take a very long time for them to start climbing very high into the sky. It really is a beautiful sight to see.

But the one thing you should probably remember is that, after Banff, there's just about nothing out there except for mountains, mountains and more mountains. So if you ever go driving through all of that, just remember to hit the mountains with plenty of gas in the tank. I don't think we even saw our first gas station until we stopped in Golden, BC. And I think that was after well over 100 miles of no civilization.

And on through all these small British Columbia towns we went that we had known of different players coming from over the years; Revelstoke, Sicamous, Armstrong, Vernon and on and on. We had some time there between Sicamous and Armstrong that, at the time you're really annoyed. But when it's all over, you kinda laugh about it. We got stuck behind this one middle-aged woman driving a blue Ford Escort with this old, gray and balding man sitting in the passenger seat. She was the kind of moron who drives REALLY SLOWLY in areas where you can't legally pass. But then steps on the gas once she hits an area where you can pass her. And on and on our little duel with this woman went. And it wasn't just me....there were a few other cars behind us who were equally annoyed. Perhaps part of it was because I had a hard time properly predicting and choosing a time to pass her so they could follow suit. It got so frustrating that, at one point, Kristi started telling me that she was about to reach out the window and throw her water bottle at the car in front of us. Of course, going at the speeds we were going, this would be a pointless task as the empty bottle would wind up going behind us and strike one of our allies. Which, also at this point being associated with Dubya's Kingdom of Fear, wouldn't bode well for us Americans. I wasn't in the mood to fan those flames. So I talked her out of throwing the bottle at the car (although she did carry out her other threat and flip the finger at her when I finally did find an area to pass. Frankly, a gesture that I normally wouldn't condone, but was well deserved. And I couldn't help but imagine how proud Tom W would have been with her. Which he was when I told him about it today.....lol).

So, we finally got to Kelowna. And again, after getting some rest in our hotel room, we started walking out towards the arena. Along the way, after talking to Karin for a bit on the phone (her and Rick were in Yakima for a country concert and had watched some of the sprint cars that were there that weekend practice and qualify), we headed into a casino across the street so Kristi could buy some more cigarettes. While there, I was taken by this slot machine that was titled "Fistfull of Dollars". It was taken from the movie and had Clint Eastwood on it. I was tempted to try it out, believe it or not. But of course I didn't (lol).

Of course, it was Kelowna. So once we got inside the doors of the arena, we did pretty much what we did last April.....head straight for the beer stand (lol). I had three of them before the end of the first period. And, of course with not having eaten anything since breakfast, I drank all of that on an empty stomach. So I was fairly well buzzed after those. With that buzz going, I really don't remember a whole lot from the game (lol). I do remember that we watched the first period together (in seats that I bought that I thought she would really like down in the 2nd row by the goal where the Winterhawks shot twice during the game). But we got seperated somewhere during the first intermission. So I was pretty much left there in these seats that I couldn't stand all by myself. I do remember that I talked to Karin for pretty much the entire 3rd period (and Lindsay for a little bit, too). But the exact details are still hazy at best. Mostly just a couple of comments here and there. I do remember there being a couple of fights near the end. I also remembered that Portland won the game 6-3. Other than that, don't ask me about the game because I don't really remember it all that well (lol).

So when it was over, I just shuffled my way back to our room. I flipped the tv on looking for some WHL scores that I promised Karin I would pass on to her. But I didn't have to wait all that long since Tom gave me a ring with all the updates that he heard on the radio. So after I text messaged Karin those results, I just crawled into bed and fell asleep.

I set the alarm in the room to go off at 4:00am. When it went off, I looked over to my left and saw that Kristi had somehow gotten back to the room at some point during the night. So I just quietly got ready to go and woke her up after I was done. Probably the absolute best thing about Kristi on these trips is that it doesn't take her a long time to get ready to go. And when I tell her that we absolutely HAVE to leave by such-and-such a time, she's always ready by that time....usually alot earlier. So I had no problem with letting her get an extra 15-20 minutes worth of sleep.

Kelowna at 4:30am on a Sunday morning is an absolute ghost town. We didn't see another car on the road until we were almost out of Westbank. And even after that, I counted a grand total of five other cars on the road between there and Merritt (about 70 miles or so). And with Kristi sleeping that entire way, I was back to my lonely self that whole time (lol).

I decided to stop off for gas while in Merritt. Gas prices there are even worse than they are here in the States. I paid $47 for about 3/4 of a tank. The guy next to us spent $90 to fill up his truck. And there are still questions as to why I'm cutting down on alot of the games this season.

So we just screamed along the freeways of British Columbia until we got to the border. And that turned out to be a fairly decent experience. There is this sign about a mile before you get to the border that tells you how long the wait is in line at the border. The sign said that it was 5 minutes. I think that from the time we hit the back of the line (granted it wasn't much of a line. There was only one other car in front of us), we were there for about 2 minutes. He just asked a couple of basic questions and let us go along on our way. No trunk search or nothing. I don't think I've ever spent more time getting into Canada on a trip than I have getting into America. But it happened....it REALLY happened (lol).

And since we spent so little time going through customs, we decided to curl off in Bellingham for breakfast. Once again, it was a Denny's (lol). Kristi wasn't too happy since the waitress screwed up her order. Other than that, it was your typical breakfast at Denny's.

After that, we just drove back to her mom's apartment. We unloaded her stuff and hugged each other good-bye. And the last image I have of Kristi is her walking towards her mom's building towing her luggage behind her with her mom up on the balcony waving madly yelling "hi Tom"! And I had this image of Kristi getting upstairs and telling her mom to "stop acting like a whore" (lol). Whether it happened or not, I don't know. But I do know that it's happened in the past...I was there (haha).

Then it was onto the Seahawks game. Since I didn't really have enough time to get back down to the Federal Way P&R, I decided that I would bite the bullet and pay for parking. I parked in the same lot that I park in when I go to the Mariner games. For those, it costs me $5. Today it cost me $25. But the thing is that, for the Seahawks, all the free spots are basically taken up by about 9:00am on gameday. So ultimately, I had no real choice in the matter.

When I got to Qwest Field, Dubya's Kingdom of Fear once again reared it's ugly head. The line to get into Touchdown City in the Convention Center was unbelievable. I must have been standing in the same spot for about 5-7 minutes before I just gave up. See, now when you go to an NFL game, not only do they search through every bag with a fine-tooth comb, EVERYBODY has to go through a very thorough pat-down. Basically, you're treated with about as much dignity as a criminal caught in the act. It's just strange to me that you can enter the country from Canada (a place where it's known that alot of these terrorists live until they feel like striking) with almost no harrassment at all anymore and THEN get treated like crap once you're in here. Although I liked getting through customs quickly like today, I kind of prefer it the other way around.

The football game itself was a laugher. The Seahawks ran over the Arizona Cardinals, 37-12. Shaun Alexander had four touchdowns on the day for Seattle. Matt Hasselbeck was just about as flawless as you can get. The receivers didn't drop that many balls. But I was most impressed with the defense. They just flew all over the field making good tackles, slapping the ball out of the air, and just absolutely punishing Kurt Warner and then, later on, Josh McCown into submission. Of course, they went into that crappy prevent defense at the end. But by that time, McCown was so shell-shocked and his receivers were so jittery, they were unable to do anything about it.

Of course, everyone up here is once again talking like the Hawks are going to the Super Bowl. But if I remember correctly, we were saying the same thing about them after this same point last season. Then the Rams came in and ruined all of that after Holmgren and Rhodes decided to turn to that rotten prevent defense. Next week, they go to Washington, DC to play the Redskins. Then, after that, it's off to St. Louis to face the Rams. And that game will be the real test. If they can beat both Washington and St. Louis, then I think all of this talk will be waranted. But until then, I'm still not completely sold. They're a good team. But Super Bowl contenders????? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

So there ya go. How did that sound for a weekend??? (lol) I had a GREAT time, though. Got to see a couple of cool new cities, hang out with Kristi and meet some cool people along the way. Not too shabby for a three day period.

Seahawks vs Falcons

2005-09-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

Went to the Seahawks game against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. Seahawks barely held on for a 21-18 victory. Looks like the defense is up to their usual antics again.....shut down the oppsostions offense in the first half and then let them run wild in the second. The highlight of the game was Jerramy Stevens diving catch for a touchdown in the 2nd quarter. So now the Hawks are 1-1. They have Arizona coming here this Sunday. Hopefully they won't let Kurt Warner do his thing in the second half of that game. He may be extremely prone to concussions these days. But he still has a good arm and a couple of good receivers (Boldin and Fitzgerald) to toss the rock to.

Of course, after the game was over, Tom W. had a hard time calling me (as he seemingly does after EVERY Hawks win....haha). So when I finally got a hold of him, it goes without saying that he wasn't too happy with the results at Qwest Field that afternoon. So pissed off was he that, right in the middle of my gloating, he hung up on me (haha). So remember kids....bitterness leads you nowhere in life!!!

Here We Go

2005-09-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well, since I had this link to Joe's blog, I decided why not give this a shot? It probably won't be updated all that much. But it's still here just in case I ever feel inspired. For those of you not in the know, my name is Tom....and I'm a hockey addict. I go to waaaaay to many games every year for my own good (111 last season, 108 the season before). Mostly they're Western Hockey League games. But there are also a few NHL, ECHL, UHL and college club games sprinkled around, too. The games are almost always entertaining (not all of them, though. Let's face it, when you go to 100+ games a season, there are bound to be a few dogs in there). But if the game sucks, there are always my friends. Usually, they're more entertaining than whatever is being played on the ice. So, here we go. I hope whoever reads this stuff finds it at least half-way entertaining. I'll be posting pictures as the season rolls along, too.