Not Just A Hat Rack

Go Sounders

Congrats to the Seattle Sounders for winning the USL-1 title tonight, convincingly. The Sounders trounced Atlanta, 4-0, before a capacity crowd at the Starfire Soccer Complex.

RSL alum Leighton O'Brien started, but left with an injury in minute 18. Jake Besagno did not play. USL-1 MVP Sebastian LeToux was once again instrumental in the Sounders' stellar play... the French midfielder/attacker was spotted by Sounders' owner Adrian Hanauer in the same showcase in which RSL netted Jean Martial Kipre. Will LeToux play in MLS soon?

It's a great moment for the Sounders, who, from all reports, will make bigger news in the months to come and be involved in an MLS expansion team in the Emerald City.

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Mrs. 'Hat Rack and I met 2002 skeleton gold medalist Tristan Gale at a wedding last week... she's coaching the 2010 Italian men's team - in case any of you are slacking in your sled sports coverage. Running into Olympians over cheese and crackers is one of the fun parts of living in SLC.

Yellowstone ... What Can I say?

No kidding?!

I have spent more than 14 magical days and nights in and around the Park since August. As I sit down to organize my information about the park for an October deadline, I have to fight a wall of self-doubt that I can't possibly add to the volumes already written about America's first national park.

I stayed at Old Faithful Inn and Lake Yellowstone Hotel. i visited the park's four other National Historic Landmarks as well (quick - can you name them?). I camped in multiple sites and visited all 12 front-country (and a few backcountry) sites in the park. I biked up Mt. Washburn and out to Lone Star Geyser. I hiked from Lewis Lake to Shoshone Lake and back. I stared down an ermine. I was startled by deer and elk. The bison mostly ignored me. I joined the queue to see a bear amble by the road on three occasions. Wolves and beavers eluded me.

I met really neat people like MacNeil Lyons of Yellowstone Association. I chatted with kayakers Jess and Kale from Wyoming, making their annual fishingn trip to the park - without their father for the first time in a decade. I met the Frugal Fly-Fisherman from Kansas. I watched Lone Star erupt with the resident artist (and his wife) from Old Faithful Inn - who retired from firefighting in Casper to paint full time.

I knew the park would reveal itself in so many ways to me... the buffalo and the owl at my campsite in Bridge Bay. The bald eagle soaring above me as I drove Gull Point Drive. But I also anticipated that the people who inhabit, visit and work in the park woiuld offer experiences and stories as rich as anything I could encounter on my own. And I was not disappointed.

I'll try to share some excerpts here as I get down to the business of writing. And, since you didn't know, the four other National Historic Landmarks are the roadside "kiosk" that tells the story of Obsidian Cliff; and the interpretive exhibits/musems at Norris, Madison and Fishing Bridge. Collectively these four landmarks have been selected because nearly a century ago, they changed the way we experience our parks. No longer did you learn about a natural wonder in an urban museum, and then head out to the country to see it. Beginning with these landmarks, the educational and inspirational aspect of National Parks went "trailside."

Fishing Bridge

PS - Kudos for Kenn.com's cartography class today. I chuckled.

Godfrey III

I interviewed Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey this week for a story that will run early next year in a SLC-based publication. The long advance deadline for the article, plus the unexpectedly close primary challenge that Godfrey faced last week, make for an interesting quandary for the magazine's editors. Will he or won't he be mayor by the time the article runs?

(Photo c/o Connect-utah.com)

Godfrey's CEO approach to economic development in Ogden for the past eight years (he's seeking a third term in November) has raised the city's profile and attracted outdoor industry companies like Amer Sports (Salomon, Suunto, Atomic and other brands), Descente USA and Goode to relocate their headquarters to a city once known as a railroad boom town; and more recently as a land of no opportunity. I don't know enough about him to and the issues in Ogden (crime and key public services such as police and fire coverage seem to come up a lot) to be sure - but from what I've read over the past three years, and after meeting him, he seems to have done very productive work on behalf of Ogden, and deserves another term.

He also gets my vote for citing two of my favorite business leadership books as influential tomes - Good to Great and The Tipping Point.

Decide for yourself by visiting www.votematthew.com. His election day opponent is named Susan Van Hooser, and she's at www.susieformayor.com.

By the way, both mayors are running first-name campaigns... How cute. Matthew vs Susie.

Almost Home

My first week in Yellowstone NP is almost finished. I have communed with bison, bald eagles, black bears, elk and, this morning, an ermine. I have tales to tell, many pages to write, and at least one more journey back to this magical place to look forward to.

But first, I have to share a picture from a friend who obviously shares the same sense of humor I have. We met earlier this week in Yellowstone, but this is one of his pictures from Chaco Canyon.

So what did I miss? Becker won... and Buhler makes it a very interesting November race. Make no doubt about it, the 'Hat Rack supports Ralph Becker.

RSL lost twice. Northwestern is 2-0! Go Cats!

Oh - I'm taking a job that will keep me in SLC. But I'll keep it a secret for now.

This and that...

I'm headed to Yellowstone soon to begin research and writing of the 2008 Fodor's Guide to Yellowstone... It's the largest writing project I've ever undertaken... anyone who has good/bad/special experiences with Yellowstone, please comment below or email me - you could end up in the 2008 Guide...

So my posts might be a bit sporadic. (Like the last week). Some thoughts rattling around:

Who doesn't long for the good ol' days when RSL invited fans to come dressed as the mythical Mexican "chupacabra" goat sucker for a meaningless postseason friendly vs Chivas USA? That's what I thought about when I read this in the SL Trib this week:

Did Phylis Canion and her Texas neighbors find an ugly, mangled coyote, or is what they found really the legendary creature known as the chupacabra? Canion, who lived in Africa for four years and has hunted all her life, believes that the roadkill she scooped up last month isn't just another coyote. She believes that what she has stored away in her freezer for the past month is the head of the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra.

Three 40-pound bodies of the animal were found over four days in July in Cuero, Texas, about 80 miles southeast of San Antonio.

Here's a copy of page 162 of September's Hemispheres magazine (that's United Airlines, in case you didn't know). Scroll down to the bottom left - there it is, my first byline! I'm across from so-called "fitness expert" Denise Austin's toothy smile chomping an Idaho potato.