Not Just A Hat Rack

Asking for your Prayers

I received this message from Berta Keeney, who has been a rock and a saint at the side of Marcia Williams in her battle against leukemia since last year.  Please keep the Williams' in your thoughts and prayers today... and tomorrow... and until Marcia returns to her healthy self.  Thank you.

Many of you know about the fight my best friend Marcia has been facing and many of you don't. For the past year Marcia has been fighting a rare form of leukemia and three weeks ago she had a cord transplant.
  
 Marcia is truly a child of God and he has instilled in her a gift of being able to over come anything and fight through things that others might give up on. After her transplant she has had to over come some obstacles but she's done it by walking with God and relying in her faith and the faith of others.
  
I'm not at liberty to give out too much information about her condition at this time.  I can tell you that she is battling her biggest hurdle and she needs all of our prayers. Things are not as good as we would like them to be at this time and because of that I'm asking that you please pass this email to everyone on your email list so that God can hear our voices together.
  
I know some of the people that you will pass it to don't know Marcia but if we all send a Prayer to God can you just hear the beautiful voices that God will hear and all of them will have Marcia's name in them.  
  
  PLEASE SEND THIS EMAIL TO EVERYONE OUT THERE AND LETS GET MY BEST FRIEND HEALED AND BACK HOME!!!
  
  THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU..
  
  BERTA KEENEY

The Phone Rings at The Count's House

It has been my favorite Giants' regular season in years.  They can pitch.  They play young players. They win at least half the time. And tonight, Jonathan Sanchez threw the first no-hitter since 1976.  The last Giant to throw a no-no was John "The Count" Montefusco in his second season, 1976.  It was the high point of an otherwise nondescript decade in Major League Baseball for The Count - 90 wins, 83 losses and no postseason appearances.

According to this Henry Schulman article, merely 1,369 fans attended The Count's no-no in Atlanta, just days before the end of a miserable 1976 Giants season in Atlanta.  That year, the Giants finished 71-91 and were last in the National League in attendance with just over 600,000 fans over 81 home dates (that's about 7,500 fans per game!).  Bobby Murcer hit 23 homers to lead the team; Johnny LeMaster hit .210.

How times change!  Looked like a near-capacity crowd at AT&T Park.  The game had real meaning against division rivals, San Diego.  And Sanchez only earned his way back to the rotation after Randy Johnson got hurt a week ago... what a story.

I can be such a baseball geek!

PS - I love the fact that ESPN calls Giants' 3B Pedro Sandoval by the nickname "Kung Fu Panda".

(Above: Kung Fu Panda; Below: Sanchez. Photos c/o mlb.com)

High Desert Mavs on Baseball Tonight?!

Some guy named Jamie McOwen has a 45-game hitting streak for the Mavs... Baseball Tonight showed a clip of McOwen getting a hit a Mavericks Stadium... and it looked hot, dry and miles from real civilization.  I have more stories from my three years there....  Go Mavs!

Steve Applauds RSL

Based on his comment to my previous post, Kenn.com thinks I'm a little bitter and negative over RSL.  So, in my most sincere and upbeat manner, I have to give all due credit to the current RSL administration for renewing the Xango jersey sponsorship through 2013.  There aren't too many options for big employers in Utah to support the local MLS side, and RSL has two of the biggest ones locked up in Xango and Rio Tinto.  In this economy, this is a huge win for RSL.  Congrats, Dave.

Happy now, Kenn?

So, Dave...

When you collected $100 million and invested it into Rio Tinto Stadium, wasn't the logic that RSL would be near capacity for EVERY game - and bursting at the seams for special events and holidays?  And didn't I just read about a month ago that RSL would sell out its next six games, if not the rest of the season?

So what explains the thousands of empty seats last night for the July 3rd Fireworks show?  I know the economy is tough and all, but I have to admit it was disappointing - the buzz seemed absent.

Also, in 2005, we learned that making fans sit and watch horrendous post-game entertainment before starting the fireworks show put an incredible damper on festive evenings.  So last night, I leave right after the final whistle to miss the fireworks traffic.  I had to walk 20 minutes to my car (fireworks launching inconvenience), but the show hadn't started yet as I pulled out of the parking lot.  I could hear an atrocious DJ compelling the people to "represent" and chant "801" and "435".  That's your Sandy demographic?

Ugh.  

Maybe you're saving the good show for Pioneer Day.  Good luck - maybe I"ll go camping.