Don't ask me what she is pointing at. I have no idea. And Yes. There are other sports outside of our hockey consciousness (not that you asked). Lots of you follow all or a great majority of them. I don't. It goes that way I guess. I grew up playing soccer. I played baseball for a couple of years and when (as a 7th grader) I realized backup center on the City View Mustangs Junior High School football team would suck ... I opted out on Day 2. Soccer was the only sport at which I really ever excelled. At one point, I could have given most people a beat down on a basketball court but in high school there were still easily 15 guys better than me. So from an fairly early period I've been more of a fan than an athlete.
I'm an Olympics "freak". I love them. It's the racing ya know. There is nothing in sport that compares to 100 meter final in the Olympics as far as I'm concerned. All the track and field events keep my attention in particular but I'll watch and be excited about any race. All credit for my Olympic fandom should go to Bud Greenspan who produced a series that aired on PBS called, "The Olympiad". I watched the whole series at a formative time I suppose. It stuck with me.
I knew who Bob Hayes was when I was 8 or 9 years old after the Mexico City games. I remember some things vividly from Munich in 1972 but nothing clearer than sports reporter Jim McKay unfortunately becoming news reporter. In 1976 I was 15, in 1976 there were lots of 16 year old gymnasts in Montreal. I was unfortunately in Denver but I watched them on the tube. My ONLY gripe with Jimmy Carter's presidency is the boycott of Moscow's Olympics in 1980. Carl Lewis in 1984 in Los Angeles is a strong memory. But it was marred also by the whole reverse boycott thing. Argh.
Wasn't seeing so many boxers get screwed by South Korean judges a wonder to behold in 88 ... FloJo and Ben Johnson? I remember being so offended in 1992 when some talking head TV asshole asked a swimmer if they were disappointed in finishing 2nd in Barcelona. I was heartened when the swimmer pointed out that 2nd fastest in the entire world wasn't a bad thing especially when you're 2nd by .019 seconds. The Coca-Cola corporate Olympics in Atlanta were memorable for bad reasons even though Ali lighting the torch was very cool. The park bombing of course was horrific. The Aussies did pretty much everything right in 200o mate, Athens overall bored me but Beijing was just WOW. So yeah ... I like the Olympics. I won't give you my "memory lane" recall of the Winter Olympics but it's just as extensive.
I couldn't begin to guess about anything with regard to Major League Baseball. As a young boy, I read Babe Ruth's autobiography. I played baseball with all the neighborhood kids and for a couple of years played for a regular organized youth team. I've attended two MLB games. I saw Willie Mays play at one of them. In the other game I saw the Cincinnati Big Red Machine put a beating on the Astros in the Astrodome. I watched baseball and followed it closely until the first players strike in 1991. After that, the sport got less and less of my attention. The 1994 strike sealed Baseball's fate with me. I haven't followed, watched or listened to so much as a minute of anything related to it since. It isn't a sport anyway. It's a pasttime. Like bowling.
I used to be a much bigger Tennis fan than now ... the Connors through Agassi era mostly. How could you not love Johnny Mac? I watched him play Boris Becker for 5 hours once in a Davis Cup Match. 5 hours? It was crazy. I think Steffi Graf is hot. Ilie Nastase was always worth watching. I liked watching Bjorn Borg lose. I watched nary a bit of the recent U.S. Open. Shame on me for that. I once spent hours and hours on the phone in Milwaukee trying to find a sports bar that was showing it and now I just ignored it? Like I said, shame.
If car racing is a sport then it's only true representative is Formula 1. The Indy 500 used to be cool and all that. But of course some greedy fuckers in CART and IRL ruined that. Nascar is hillbilly crap so I don't watch it. I don't listen to hillbilly music, or eat hillbilly food either.
The NFL is ruined by the business of the NFL. I see highlights but haven't watched a game with any interest in years and years. Greed is now the primary motivator behind everything associated with football.
I grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan in Wichita Falls, Texas between about '66 and '74. A kid in the grade below me accidently hung himself in an attempt to get attention after his dad cancelled their rabbit hunting trip to watch the Cowboys in the Super Bowl. In high school in Denver I had to ditch the last half of "Orange Crush Day". I'd worn a T-shirt which I'd festooned with Cowboys player names and numbers. After 3rd period I learned the plan was to dump a bucket of orange paint on me. Nobody had much to say on Monday after the Cowboys stomped the Broncos that weekend.
I stopped watching the NBA almost 20 years ago for the same reasons. When college basketball wasn't just a farm league for the NBA I was interested. Watch a highlight reel from any day's NBA schedule and you wouldn't be able to tell if it was from last week. Dunkfest = boring. For a time I was a college basketball fan and saw Benoit Benjamin play for Creighton in Omaha when I lived there. The business that college basketball has become is shameful.
College Hockey and the Olympics? That's it? Nope. The FIFA World Cup wraps me up for sure. And I follow the English Premiere League closely; I'll watch an MLS game depending on who's playing. I hate Arsenal and Chelsea. I favor Fulham and Tottenham. I'll cheer for Man City instead of Man U any day of the week. Wayne Rooney is a twat. I have one question though for the broadcast originators of the EPL? What is the fascination of always showing fans "biting their nails". It's a nice quaint little saying that describes how tight a game is and all. But do you really think I want to see people doing it? It's disgusting. Quit putting it on my TV. You must have a cameraman dedicated to finding those people ... either that or EVERYBODY IN ENGLAND BITES THEIR NAILS. You don't see any Scotsmen biting their nails on TV. I'm just sayin.
So yesterday this former Arsenal player named Emmanuel Adebayor scored a goal for Man City against Arsenal. It was on City's homeground so Adebayor immediately ran the length of the pitch to taunt the visitor section. At some point in the past when he played for them, Arsenal fans had booed him. What a douche. Here's the video. Take note of the throng coming down the aisles and the look on some of the faces of the Arsenal fans. They'd have killed him if they'd gotten through. Near the end of the game, Adebayor found Robin Van Pussy's face under his boot and made sure to get the full effect of such contact. Needless to say, this particular preening pimp of a player is likely to watch a couple of games from the stands. I don't not like Man City. But I'm reconsidering that in light of these events.
I'm an Olympics "freak". I love them. It's the racing ya know. There is nothing in sport that compares to 100 meter final in the Olympics as far as I'm concerned. All the track and field events keep my attention in particular but I'll watch and be excited about any race. All credit for my Olympic fandom should go to Bud Greenspan who produced a series that aired on PBS called, "The Olympiad". I watched the whole series at a formative time I suppose. It stuck with me.
I knew who Bob Hayes was when I was 8 or 9 years old after the Mexico City games. I remember some things vividly from Munich in 1972 but nothing clearer than sports reporter Jim McKay unfortunately becoming news reporter. In 1976 I was 15, in 1976 there were lots of 16 year old gymnasts in Montreal. I was unfortunately in Denver but I watched them on the tube. My ONLY gripe with Jimmy Carter's presidency is the boycott of Moscow's Olympics in 1980. Carl Lewis in 1984 in Los Angeles is a strong memory. But it was marred also by the whole reverse boycott thing. Argh.
Wasn't seeing so many boxers get screwed by South Korean judges a wonder to behold in 88 ... FloJo and Ben Johnson? I remember being so offended in 1992 when some talking head TV asshole asked a swimmer if they were disappointed in finishing 2nd in Barcelona. I was heartened when the swimmer pointed out that 2nd fastest in the entire world wasn't a bad thing especially when you're 2nd by .019 seconds. The Coca-Cola corporate Olympics in Atlanta were memorable for bad reasons even though Ali lighting the torch was very cool. The park bombing of course was horrific. The Aussies did pretty much everything right in 200o mate, Athens overall bored me but Beijing was just WOW. So yeah ... I like the Olympics. I won't give you my "memory lane" recall of the Winter Olympics but it's just as extensive.
I couldn't begin to guess about anything with regard to Major League Baseball. As a young boy, I read Babe Ruth's autobiography. I played baseball with all the neighborhood kids and for a couple of years played for a regular organized youth team. I've attended two MLB games. I saw Willie Mays play at one of them. In the other game I saw the Cincinnati Big Red Machine put a beating on the Astros in the Astrodome. I watched baseball and followed it closely until the first players strike in 1991. After that, the sport got less and less of my attention. The 1994 strike sealed Baseball's fate with me. I haven't followed, watched or listened to so much as a minute of anything related to it since. It isn't a sport anyway. It's a pasttime. Like bowling.
I used to be a much bigger Tennis fan than now ... the Connors through Agassi era mostly. How could you not love Johnny Mac? I watched him play Boris Becker for 5 hours once in a Davis Cup Match. 5 hours? It was crazy. I think Steffi Graf is hot. Ilie Nastase was always worth watching. I liked watching Bjorn Borg lose. I watched nary a bit of the recent U.S. Open. Shame on me for that. I once spent hours and hours on the phone in Milwaukee trying to find a sports bar that was showing it and now I just ignored it? Like I said, shame.
If car racing is a sport then it's only true representative is Formula 1. The Indy 500 used to be cool and all that. But of course some greedy fuckers in CART and IRL ruined that. Nascar is hillbilly crap so I don't watch it. I don't listen to hillbilly music, or eat hillbilly food either.
The NFL is ruined by the business of the NFL. I see highlights but haven't watched a game with any interest in years and years. Greed is now the primary motivator behind everything associated with football.
I grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan in Wichita Falls, Texas between about '66 and '74. A kid in the grade below me accidently hung himself in an attempt to get attention after his dad cancelled their rabbit hunting trip to watch the Cowboys in the Super Bowl. In high school in Denver I had to ditch the last half of "Orange Crush Day". I'd worn a T-shirt which I'd festooned with Cowboys player names and numbers. After 3rd period I learned the plan was to dump a bucket of orange paint on me. Nobody had much to say on Monday after the Cowboys stomped the Broncos that weekend.
I stopped watching the NBA almost 20 years ago for the same reasons. When college basketball wasn't just a farm league for the NBA I was interested. Watch a highlight reel from any day's NBA schedule and you wouldn't be able to tell if it was from last week. Dunkfest = boring. For a time I was a college basketball fan and saw Benoit Benjamin play for Creighton in Omaha when I lived there. The business that college basketball has become is shameful.
College Hockey and the Olympics? That's it? Nope. The FIFA World Cup wraps me up for sure. And I follow the English Premiere League closely; I'll watch an MLS game depending on who's playing. I hate Arsenal and Chelsea. I favor Fulham and Tottenham. I'll cheer for Man City instead of Man U any day of the week. Wayne Rooney is a twat. I have one question though for the broadcast originators of the EPL? What is the fascination of always showing fans "biting their nails". It's a nice quaint little saying that describes how tight a game is and all. But do you really think I want to see people doing it? It's disgusting. Quit putting it on my TV. You must have a cameraman dedicated to finding those people ... either that or EVERYBODY IN ENGLAND BITES THEIR NAILS. You don't see any Scotsmen biting their nails on TV. I'm just sayin.
So yesterday this former Arsenal player named Emmanuel Adebayor scored a goal for Man City against Arsenal. It was on City's homeground so Adebayor immediately ran the length of the pitch to taunt the visitor section. At some point in the past when he played for them, Arsenal fans had booed him. What a douche. Here's the video. Take note of the throng coming down the aisles and the look on some of the faces of the Arsenal fans. They'd have killed him if they'd gotten through. Near the end of the game, Adebayor found Robin Van Pussy's face under his boot and made sure to get the full effect of such contact. Needless to say, this particular preening pimp of a player is likely to watch a couple of games from the stands. I don't not like Man City. But I'm reconsidering that in light of these events.
_______________
I did not attend today's Seawolf Meet and Greet picnic. I'm sorry that I didn't. I meant to go. I planned to go. And at 3:15 this afternoon I realized that today was Sunday. Seriously. I thought today was Saturday. Don't ask. I'm 48 ok. I shouldn't be experiencing confusion about the day of the week. Yesterday, I knew it wasn't Friday. Why today I thought it was Saturday I cannot fathom. Rather than admit all that here ... I was going to say that "circumstances unfortunately conspired to keep me from attending". It was vague but also true. I thought you'd all appreciate my humanity though if I shared my day of the week foible. I'll go watch one of the official practices and do a post to make up for it. I hope I can manage to recognize days of the week enough to do so.
_______________
I recieved a pleasant early response to yesterday's (Saturday right?) "Open Letter ..." post from Colorado College's Athletic Director (UAA alum and Seawolf Hall of Fame member) Ken Ralph. I posted his email in the comments section as well as my follow up with him. Honestly, I was surprised to get any reply. I feel a bit self-conscious that I hadn't recognized his name but the "big name" swimmer I remember was his teammate Jon Pauole, my ignorance UAA history doesn't translate to Ken not being a stud. No excuse. In any case, Ken's response was interesting. I note here that he did not renounce these payments. I commend him here for his willingness to engage the topic in a reasoned discussion. Good on ya Ken. Your past UAA honors will not be lost on me in the future.
_______________
I don't know if you saw it at the end of last season or yesterday (or was it the day before?) when I left it up for observation and/or comment but I've decided that "The Official UAA Hockey Fan Blog Chat Room" will be up and running during all games this coming season. It seems easy to use and nicely functional. I saw one other better free chat program last year on another blog but lost that bookmark when my old computer went tits up. I like that it's easy for me to match up my blog custom colors with the chat room ... it looks integrated. Check it out if you can't get to the game. I'll be on whenever UAA is out of town. It will also be a useful thing for me to review when I get back from home games to write a recap.
Progress is good.
21 comments:
Meet and Greet attendees are cordially invited to submit their observations here ... please.
It was nice to have it on campus, some of the basketball players came in late and got to listen as each of the players introduced themselves.
Campbell Blair and Reggie Simon were not in attendance, they are out recruiting. Coach said this is an important recruiting period.
Talked to Derek Donald, he has some very good ideas to get the students to the games. I hope it pans out, he sure is excited ... it's great to see.
He had some really nice posters made up with pictures of Backstrom, Tuton, London & Clark on the front (in white home jerseys), with the home schedule printed along the bottom. He urged business owners to take them and put them up. Good idea!
There were maybe 60 people there, the regulars. Hunt appears to have a broken arm. :(
Kevin Clark reminded the freshmen how much we HATE _airbanks. When Haddad said he spent the summer in Fairbanks, he got boo'd. :)
That's all form me.
Hey Donald, The "the Twat" has 5 goals in 5 games, not bad, eh?
NFL = No Fun League, it bores me as do most professional sports.
Olympics, the announcers and their melodramatic stories, puke!
I'll stick with hockey, preferably college, preferably UAA and preferably winning!!!!
Suze,
Thanks for the info. Wish I'd been there.
ManURules:
I played with and against plenty of twats who goals just seemed to follow around. Inexplicable.
Here is a link to an article on the Washington Capitals web site. Beagle is getting involved with the community down there. It's good to see him doing well.
http://capitals.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=498412
Man, hearing my first radio commercial certainly kept me for a few hours just thinking of the very high ceiling we have this year.
Finally:
http://www.westerncollegehockeyblog.com/2009/9/11/1026195/best-of-the-west-37-lee-baldwin
I haven't heard the commercial yet, but I have been told that a new TV commercial is in the works, using the team.
The whole team? Or just highlights from certain players?
Chris from WCH picked UAA to finish 9th in WCHA.
What radio station did you hear the commercial on?
And let's give Haddad a little bit of a break......he can't help it if he's from Squarebanks. Poor bastard.
17 more days...........
550 The Zone
Oh, and the commercial is just the usual "zone" ad, featuring Kurt Haider's calls on some goals and the reminder to tune in Oct. 2.
The TV ad will feature three players.
That's a good little tease.........
Will the commercial be on all the stations, and when can we expect to see it? Can you tell we are more than ready for hockey season to begin?
More than ready is an understatement! I've dusted and polished the old cowbell and all my green and gold attire is hanging on hangars ready for October 2nd.
They're in the studio Sunday to tape the TV commercial. Yeah, we must be bored.
Or, restless...........
or anxious to get the season going
Spoke a minute with Trevor last Sunday. He said he broken his hand playing hockey and had surgery. The cast is due off the first part of next month, if my memory hasn’t completely failed me over the course of the last week, but I didn’t write it down, so ya takes yur chances.
WhiteBeard
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