Observing the start of another NFL season . . .

Not that its loss would have been a tragic setback for our culture - but I did want to preserve the below video.  DVRs do have a shelf life (as we've seen several times), and this clip has been sitting on our DVR way too long.

The murmurings of the replay ref and announcers at the beginning of the clip are mundane.  This is all about a Philly fan who is either very passionate, or lacks any sense of proportion given the utter insignificance of the official ruling, or - most likely - both.  (As a result of the coach's challenge, the Eagles are faced with second and goal from the six-inch line - instead of first and goal from the six-inch line.  Sheesh.)

I like how the fan appears to come to grips with the non-disaster - then loses it one more time.

Anyway, the NFL is back.  It's become a bit of a time-dominator, but RedZone does help.

D'backs - Mets (August 13, 2011)

 Our local heroes have exceeded expectations all year, and currently lead their (admittedly weak) division by two games.  CPG, PJr, PJ and I headed out to the ballpark Saturday evening to check things out.

Great seats in second row in left field bleachers - we all liked the vantage point.  It was "Bark in the Park" promotion, featuring a fine doggy parade just prior to game time (and right in front of we fans in left field).

Great seats in second row in left field bleachers - we all liked the vantage point.  It was "Bark in the Park" promotion, featuring a fine doggy parade just prior to game time (and right in front of we fans in left field).

Walked to dinner at Hanny's downtown after the game; then home for unspeakable Euchre games; fun night (except for the last part).

This seems a little unnecessary

Notre Dame staggered to another loss to Navy - at Notre Dame Stadium, of all places. And Navy didn't even have Roger Staubach on the field.

Charlie Weis just hasn't worked out as head coach, to put it mildly.

It seems like a long time since I put up this post, probably seeking to bask in CW's reflected glory in the very early days of his reign.

The kid holding up the sign in this photo (click to enlarge) probably needs to consult that saying about glass houses.

Birthday/Opening Day

Patricia claims that, back in the day, the "Opening Day" for the Cubs often fell on her birthday. I'm a believer. Doesn't happen much anymore because the season opens a few days earlier than it did "back in the day". But this year, thanks to the "World Baseball Classic", the Diamondbacks' opening day fell on April 6!

This wouldn't have made much difference to us except that Mary Beth came up with a four sweet tickets and one sweet parking pass; so we went to the game with she and Mark. V. fun, plus the Diamondbacks looked pretty good and won the game.

It was a gorgeous day outside. But unfortunately the roof was closed shortly after the typical "fly-over." No idea why they don't keep that thing open whenever possible, the park is so much nicer with the roof open . . .

This was our second trip to the ballpark in a few days, as POC had lined up tickets for the Diamondbacks - White Sox exhibition on Friday evening. Also very fun.

This makes three games in less than a month. And we haven't paid for a ticket yet.

Visitors; spring training

It's been nice that our out-of-town daughters have been around Arizona some lately. This started with Kerry on a work-related trip that had her here in Phoenix the last two weekends of January. This even included Super Bowl Sunday (February 1) which, shockingly enough, included the Arizona Cardinals. It was fun having her around.

Nicole was in town the first weekend of March, which also was v. fun. POC has been around since White Sox hit town for spring training. Patrick is an "intern" with the White Sox for spring training (working for POC) and has been traveling far and wide going to spring training games.

The two Patricks hosted us (Patricia, Chris, Nicole and me) for a game at the new White Sox spring training facility (Camelback Ranch, shared with the Dodgers) on Friday, March 6. Perfect weather. Longish trip out there. Somewhat amateurish competition - it was the Australian national team (trying to prep for the World Baseball Classic). But a classically delightful spring training experience. We were able to tour the facilities after the game (not to mention a press box tour during the game. (The press box tour was complete with a Bud Selig sighting - he was touring the new stadium, just like us! If only we had a picture.)

Per our recent and thoroughly unsatisfactory habit, we are failing to take photos of much of anything that goes on. That's why this post only includes shots of our Camelback Ranch hosts. Just look what passes for a "desk" if you're an intern.

Shaq in town (and somewhat dangerous)

We pay quite a bit of attention to the NBA in general and the Phoenix Suns in particular. They surprised the heck out of us by taking a step away from the running game and trading for this extraordinarily large man named Shaquille O'Neal. It's not clear how well this trade is going to work out, but there are some encouraging signs and it's certainly entertaining in the meantime.

Anyway - Chris, Paul Jr. and Pat Herrara (the latter two home on spring break) were sitting around on Tuesday evening (3/11); Patricia made a large and wonderful spaghetti & meatballs supper for us. After eating massive amounts of food, we were talking and watching a Suns laugher against the lame Memphis Grizzlies. Shaq has developed a dangerous propensity for diving after loose balls (including almost taking out a couple rows of fans in a game two days earlier).

Anyway, the Suns bench must have paid attention to the previous game, and their desperate escape tactics (shown below) in response to Shaq's pursuit of another loose ball were pretty amusing to us.

The video is funny. It was a fun night in general.

Spring training 2008 . . .

Here was a fun little visit/trip. Nicole arrived from Chicago Wednesday evening (February 27) and hung around with us on Thursday (including a hike in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve (40th street trailhead) and attendance at the ASU basketball game with Chris, Paul, etc.)

On Friday, we drove down to Tucson to see Patrick, go to a spring training game, etc. The game featured the White Sox and Diamondbacks at Tucson Electric Park; great seats courtesy of Nicole's pal from Chicago (also a Patrick). We were positioned just to the left of the Sox dugout and spread out in rows 1 and 2. Gorgeous weather; high of 81 in Tucson that day. So it was perfect for watching a game. Very different perspective from that close. Among other things we noticed: it's amazing how muscled up the players are (presumably without the benefit of PEDs).

Patricia and I stayed at the Best Western Royal Sun (again), notwithstanding that we seem to have issues there every now and then. We hosted a fun reception there between the game and going to dinner at the Guadalajara Grill. Overnight there was no heat in the room and it was 60 degrees when we awoke. That felt cold.

A nice breakfast with Nicole, Patrick and Nedda; then we wandered through some of the shops in the "Lost Barrio" area (including the large carving of St. Michael the Archangel shown here).

Patricia and I made our way back to Phoenix later in the afternoon, it was a very fun trip. We saw Nicole (with Chris) a few hours Sunday afternoon before taking her to the airport.

Super Bowl I - musings of a 10-year-old

This being Super Bowl day here in Arizona, I was thinking back to Super Bowl I (ok, it didn't have a roman numeral then). I remember that I was pretty interested in the game, and very much hoping the underdog (Kansas City Chiefs) would beat Green Bay. Probably because I was sick of Green Bay beating up on the Minnesota Vikings.

So I consulted my diary for specifics (click to enlarge).

We watched during Steve's birthday party held at "Uncle Casper's". I do remember going back and forth from the pool table in the basement of Raymond's house across the road, keeping an eye on the game, etc.

Other points of interest (at least interesting to me) from the diary:

On Sunday (1/15/67), the kids were sent to school while the pastor lectured the adults. That's the only time I remember that happening. I wonder what they talked about, maybe the Super Bowl?

On Friday (1/13/67), we "played with the electric train a lot" and "shot with the BB gun downstairs a bit." (We were shooting at a target drawn on the bottom of a cardboard box; the box was placed on its side and filled with newspapers. Thinking back, this does seem a bit dangerous. I recall some interesting ricochets in the shower area. But no injuries.)

On Thursday (1/12/67), I was parroting some criticism I must have heard about Lyndon Johnson ("Well he's a Texan. I do not agree with his policy - "The Great Society . . . But speaking as a loyal American I still don't care for him.") Not sure what triggered this unhappiness with government policy from a thoroughly uninformed 10 year old.

On Monday (1/16/67), I felt cheated out of a snow day - after all, it was very windy in North Dakota.

D'backs beat Cubs

This turned out to be fun. Paul organized a group of 10 (including Patricia and me) to attend Game 2 of the division series between the Cubs and D'backs.

Seats were up high along the right field line. We've never sat up there before and the seats were just fine, actually a really interesting viewing angle. (And baseball is truly a beautiful game - click the top photo to enlarge and get a feel for our perspective.)

The game turned out really well, at least for the D'backs. Cubs hit an early two-run home run to take the lead, but otherwise it was all Arizona.

The D'backs did all sorts of interesting things - three-run home run by Chris Young (leading to the Ted Lilly glove toss); safety squeeze by Doug Davis scoring Justin Upton and discombobulating the Cub infield; two unbelievable plays in the field by Stephen Drew; Augie Ojeda being a general annoyance to the Cubs; Justin Upton tracking down a ball in right center (we actually had a great line on that play from where we were sitting); etc.

Then there was an entertaining element in dealing with Cub fans. Arizona is plagued with these folks (as are various other markets, including Florida cities in particular). There was a decent number of Cub fans in the stadium, with quite a few near us. And there was some big talking going amongst the Cub contingent after the initial home run. After that: complete shut-down. It had to be a miserable game for these folks, some of whom supposedly had traveled from Chicago due to ticket shortages there. Most were gone by the 7th inning.

Two of these folks deserve(?) mention. I'm enjoying that the photo here of a portion of our group also includes the obnoxious - and obviously miserable - Cub fan that sat right behind us. This guy was loud and annoying for about 15 minutes (which is about how long it took for the Cubs to fall behind for good); then he spent three hours in evident agony, very quiet, until finally disappearing in the 7th. Beer didn't seem to help him.

Then there was another clown in a Cubs hat who jumped from section to section blowing a whistle. The guy ostensibly was pumping up Cubs fans (though only a few remained at this point), but it was pretty obvious that his main goal was to draw a response from the Arizona fans. Which he got, including (in addition to some not-so-fond comments) a beer shower and a water bottle in the back of the head before security shuffled him off. This woman sitting beside me (Laurie) was pretty well loosened up at this point and the soon-to-be-incarcerated clown certainly inspired her to run her mouth. Not that it took much.

Huge crowd (48,575) and long concession lines, which led to a tale by Jon Blaha about selling two beers to some fan for $20 each.

Good times.

Suns game (almost finished with Christmas)

Chris had given me two tickets to a Suns game as part of my Christmas gift. It was Sunday's game against the Dallas Mavericks (April 1) - an excellent choice. The tickets were located on the upper level behind the basket - not normally considered a prime location, but it is my favorite place to watch basketball. On TV, I'm always complaining that the camera focuses too closely on the ball, and after a made basket, focuses on the scorer while ignoring the entire setup of the next possession. From this location we had a great view of the entire sequencing of each possession.

And the Suns are the right team to make this particularly interesting. The best play was an oft-repeated favorite where Leandro Barbosa cuts back-door while Steve Nash throws a bounce pass through a keyhole. It was fun being able to see them peeking at each other down the court while setting this up. The short video below (from a Sacramento game) shows how well this works (complete with the camera missing most of a play while focusing on the scorer from a play that's already history). Three straight trips, Nash-to-Barbosa! This is how basketball is supposed to look. By the third time, the defenders appear to realize they have a problem.



By the way, the Suns won in a blow-out over the team with the best record in the league. So that was fun. Plus the section beside us had some mouthy-but-funny fans who said unkind things about Dirk Nowitzki. And the NBA is just awesome in general. (Don't get me started about the college game.) You can read about the game here.

The team handed out "thunder stix" to fans in our general area, and Patricia finagled a set. It's not clear that every fan should be entrusted with these devices. Look at the photo, you can tell she was having too much fun.

So now our Christmas gifts are pretty much fully realized. All that's left are a few cookies packed and shipped to Patricia from Iowa. But it's already April, so we enjoyed great mileage out of this year's gifts.

Suns are at it, again

No doubt - the NBA is far and away the best sports league going. And here in Phoenix we get to watch the most entertaining team in the NBA.

The Suns have been on an East Coast swing into the major media markets - Washington DC and New York City for starters - and so are riding a publicity blitz with regular comparisons to Magic Johnson's Showtime Laker teams of the 1980s. It helps that they have the best record in the league and lead in every major offensive category.

I liked this photo from nytimes.com because it shows a standard scenario: 1) Steve Nash running the break; 2) two teammates filling the lanes in classic formation; 3) sorry defender trailing behind, but at least in a good viewing position for the upcoming dunk or three. I also like how they superimposed the statistics, and that they took the photo from an interesting angle.

I'm hugely entertained by all this. Here's an entertaining (if somewhat fawning) Bill Simmons article that gets into much more detail about what the Suns are up to this year.

Part 2 - Basketball can be injurious to your health

I thought he was kidding, but no.

Just yesterday I put my crutches into the closet for good (why I was using them is explained here). This afternoon Paul Jr. calls saying he rolled his left ankle playing basketball and had immediate severe swelling.

What's there to do? Only one answer: head back to Patricia's emergency department for an X-ray. The kid has a bad sprain and has now taken possession of my crutches (as you can see in top photo). So I got to meet a bunch more of Patricia's co-workers, and we were treated very well.

But something odd is going on here. We miss Patricia when she's at work, but seem to be going to ridiculous lengths to go visit her. Twice in 17 days. Whatever. After she got off her shift, she hung around with us and then we went to dinner at 8:45p at a place called Bahama Breeze. It was good, or we were just really hungry, or maybe both.

Paul Jr. will now get to experience the joys of hobbling around a college campus. Ugh.

(And how much fun is a phone with a camera? Who ever carries a camera separately?)

Basketball can be injurious to your health

Check out the unwelcome addition to my life. I just finished a week on crutches following a pretty significant ankle sprain. Swelling has not gone down much though I feel quite a bit more strength down there. Not sure how long this will take to fix, maybe another week on crutches?

All this started late afternoon of Friday, December 29. My three sons and I were having one of our little two-on-two basketball games at the court in the park just west of our house. Chris and I were playing against Patrick and Paul Jr. Darkness was falling and we were down to the last couple points. I jumped under the guise of contesting a shot by Paul Jr. (or failing that, I was just going to foul him). On landing from the not-so-dizzying heights, I rolled my left ankle. Swelling was immediate. Oh, he made the shot anyway. I walked around pretending to play defense while Patrick finished us off, then gimped home.

So on Patricia’s day off from her job at the emergency department (Saturday, December 30), she took me to the emergency department at Mayo Hospital. I met a bunch of her co-workers, a nice group and it was fun. They did an x-ray and gave me some training on using crutches. (Though they didn’t show me the tricky part, which is negotiating stairs.)

Patricia and I went to coffee on December 31. I haven’t set foot outside the house since. So I’m still looking forward to my first outing of 2007.

My pals here are pretty good about accommodating me, but I think I deserve more sympathy. It is disappointing that I can’t play basketball when the weather is so favorable. How could you beat playing 2-on-2 with three sons?

If I hadn't seen it . . .

. . . I wouldn't have thought it possible. A quick note about Monday Night Football: it was fun to attend in person. A quick note about the Arizona Cardinals: they have an uncanny ability to find a way to lose. Since our opening day victory (read about it here), there have been three more home games. Each time, our local heroes take what seems to be an insurmountable lead, only to prove it surmountable. Tonight they had the undefeated Chicago Bears beaten up and down the field for 57+ minutes.

The good news is that some pals of Dennis Blaha arranged a major feed stop at the tailgate. Brats, Italian beef, sides. Weather was awesome. The game was very fun in its own way. And they opened the roof (see photo)! At this point, Cardinals fans tend to be fatalistic rather than frustrated or angry. No more home games until November 12, which is good because we could use a recovery period.

I can't stand to write about the game, but you can read about it here.

Home Opener!

Today we went to the home opener for the Arizona Cardinals. Which meant Patricia and I had our first visit to the brand-new, and very nicely put together, Cardinals Stadium. All of this resulted from Chris’s notion several months ago to buy season tickets, which at the time were available for a very reasonable price (this being the Cardinals, who historically have never sold out home games here in Arizona). Anyway, after we bought the tickets the demand curve spiked after the team picked up Edgerrin James and Matt Leinart. Plus the new stadium is an even bigger demand driver. The season is now sold out, and no doubt they’ll jack up prices next year. But we’re in for now.

Jon Blaha and his parents (Dennis and Pam) are in on the gag also. Photo shows the six of us enjoying, or at least presiding over, the remnants of our tailgater. The food/drink was like a pre-season effort – solid and workmanlike, but uninspired. We can and will do better.

The stadium deserves the hype. You can see photos and read about it here. It’s supposed to look like a barrel cactus – you can make your own judgment, just look at the cactus photo. I personally think the stadium looks like a spaceship. Here's an article discussing the architecture (which has won awards).

This did require a 25-mile trip out to Glendale, Arizona. Our seats were very nice. The only problem was that a fat guy sat beside me and invaded my personal space. Kind of like on an airplane. But he was nice. And take a look at the video of our heroes being introduced.

And oh yes, the Cardinals won. Mostly due to the effort of former Iowa Barnstormer and grocerybagger, Kurt Warner. Fun all around.

Whats going on in MN?

The natural order of things was disturbed last year. The Twins have reliably rebuffed the White Sox as long as I can remember . . . until 2005. Now things appear to be getting back to normal. The screenshot from today’s game (conclusion of three-game sweep) confirms things (and it was fun learning how to capture it).

Then there’s this Mauer kid (he of the ridiculous batting average). I saw a reference to a blog by “bat girl.” I understand that she focuses on the Twins and, in particular Mr. Mauer. She calls him “Chairman,” even though he looks nothing like Mao Tse Tung. In the spirit of the Great Leap Forward, there was a contest for “best slogan” involving the Chairman, including the following entries:

• The Chairman is a shining son in the heart of the people's line-up


• Mauer to the People OR Mauer to the Meople


• Long Live Chairman Mauer's Bats O' Plenty and it Will Be Poured On


• Once All Struggle is Grasped, Base Hits Are Possible--Chairman Mauer


• Chairman Mauer's Great Guidance Gives Us Unlimited .OPS.


• Crouching Mauer, Hitting Dragon


• In Mauerist Minnesota, Sideburns Grow You.


• The Chairman uses his bat and his arm to fire benevolent beams of distress against his AL Central foes


• Sideburns, lumber and the gentle joy of victory. Vote Chairman!


• The Chairman's Bat is Benevolence to the People and Misery to the Opposition

I’m guessing this all is quite fun for folks in the Twin Cities, not so much White Sox fans (especially bandwagon riders).

End of the line

For you NBA fans, the Phoenix Suns' season finally ended tonight. The NBA has been my favorite sports league since watching the Baltimore Bullets in the 1960s (Gus Johnson, Earl Monroe), but this Suns team was particularly enjoyable, at least for those of us here in Arizona. Not only were they forced to deal with the absence of critical players due to injury, it turned out that the injuries were concentrated among all of their bigger players: Amare Stoudemire, Kurt Thomas and Brian Grant. So they were forced into playing even smaller and faster than planned (which already was pretty small and fast). It's ridiculous that these guys got within two wins of the NBA finals.

Their success was so striking -- and fan-friendly -- that it clearly is influencing the style of play across the entire league. Just watch the personnel moves this off-season and the playing tactics next year. Actual skill will be important, rather than large men simply grabbing and beating on each other. So I thought it was worth a post.

Muller loses one on his own

In the interest of journalistic integrity, it must be reported that Gilles Muller got his butt kicked in the very next match following his incredible coup (see post of August 31, below). Straight set defeat against a pedestrian opponent: 1, 1 and 4. But in my opinion this does not reflect on Luxemburg as a country, it was just an individual shortcoming. I think he just needs to eat more, since he's 1.96 metres tall and only weighs 75 kilos -- how can he expect to compete at the highest level? More data on our ex-hero is at http://www.usopen.org/en_US/bios/profile/ms/atpma30.html.

Muller wins one for Luxemburg

A rare occurrence: somebody from Luxemburg made headlines in the sports world. Some guy named Muller pulled a big upset in the US Open tennis tournament. So there, to all who underestimate the Grand Duchy. The match received lots of attention because the victim of the upset (a fella named Andy Roddick) is the most-hyped U.S. player, and much of the tournament marketing was centered on him. The entire exciting story can be found at http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/usopen05/columns/story?id=2147513.