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

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"

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

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"

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

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.