3 Games and Bitter Ramblings

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!!!

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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.