Not Just A Hat Rack

Saturday Night Nostalgia

 

In honor of 70’s night at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, I dip into the nostalgia bank for a few thoughts:

1)    That goal Ante Razov just scored against NY Red Bulls was classic “poacher” Ante – but when you’ve scored 111 goals in MLS history, that’s a compliment.  The Red Bulls’ left back passed it just as Andrew Boyens put his head down and started running to midfield.  The alert Razov pounced on it and slotted it under Jon Conway and in the back of the net before Conway could even get his 6-foot-6 frame to the ground.  If you’ve watched much Chad Barrett, Kei Kamara, (insert any RSL striker here), etc., it was great to see a no-hesitation, no-stopping-him finish.

2)    Speaking of the Chivas USA game – anyone else catch the bilingual Toy Story Mania halftime “special moment” on tonight’s broadcast?  Disney obviously paid a pretty penny to have their green plastic soldiers parade around the field and across the broadcast?  Ugh – too much corporate overkill.  But since we’re on the topic, did anyone else think one of the soldiers looked like Brian Dunseth?

3)    How does Joe Cannon do it?  He comes up with big saves – and shutouts – with amazing consistency, especially considering how bad that team is in front of him.

4)    Speaking of olden days – what was with the horrendous format (square, with black lines on all four side) of the RSL broadcast on KSL 5.3, aka the local weather channel.  The picture looked like 1977.  I had to switch to the Wizards broadcast and inject coffee because their two announcers (Williams? And Gansler) were lifeless.

5)    So my friend Hannah, of the Orioles’ reference earlier this week, reminds me that it was 20 years ago – twenty – that we sat at center court for the rain-delayed Monday morning final of Wimbledon and watched Stefan Edberg defeat Boris Becker.  I was only 19 at the time.  It was 20 years ago.  Not sure how I feel about that.

6)    So, a year ago, I entered the Wasatch Iron Pen writing contest – held in conjunction with the Utah Arts Festival.  The topic “honeycomb” stymied me.  My submission was horrible. I didn’t win. This year, I was well on my way to a scintillating story about a salt shaker, but I fell asleep last night.  Mrs. ‘Hat Rack is away, the kids required my attention, were up early… oh well.

7)    I went to my second Arena Football League game today.  What did the 1987-ish Washington Commandos game have in common with today’s Utah Blaze game? Two things: Army commandos descending from the rafters and a Northwestern player on the home team (Mike Witteck, way back then, and big Dwayne Missouri on the Blaze today).  I left after three quarters.  The Blaze lost. The sport hasn’t gotten any more interesting.  My boys loved the BMX bikes at halftime – and little else. My daughter slept through most of the game – who knew AFL could be so relaxing?

8)    And finally, congrats to John Ellinger, who’s back on an MLS bench with FC Dallas.  I haven’t talked to him since the hire, but I’m rooting for him and Schellas.

Mark Knopfler Concert in SLC

 

Nostalgia took center stage at Abravanel Hall on Wednesday night as legendary Dire Straits’ front man Mark Knopfler graced Salt Lake City with his six-man band.  By the time he concluded his two-hour performance with “So Far Away” and the instrumental from the movie “Local Hero,” the crowd of 2,000 had swayed, clapped and reminisced their way from the late ‘70’s to today.

Known as one of the world’s premier guitarists, Knopfler and friends were at their finest when three guitars, a drums and two keyboards filled the stuffy hall with a decidedly groovy sound.  His trademark combination of London roots with Cajun/folkAmericana riffs and 80’s rock ballad lyrics resonated with the audience in that comfortable way like the night after finals.  Returning to a pre-Bush, pre-AIDS, pre-internet era was a sentimental trip for both the band and their audience.

 He didn’t take risks, played few surprises and gratefully avoided “Money for Nothing” – the song that decried the out-of-control commercialization of the rock music industry, even though it was a signature song itself during the meteoric rise of MTV. After all, with several members of the band pushing 60 years old, Dire Straits’ biggest hit would have sounded only like a creaky echo.  “Romeo and Juliet” and “Brothers in Arms” were safer descents into that bygone era.  The audience has moved on from wearing Journey and Asia t-shirts – Harley Davidson duds were far more prevalent among the baby boomer set. 

I loved the show’s lighting, updated harmonies and elaborate song intros.  The second show on Knopfler’s tour this summer, the set bodes well for forthcoming stops on his tour.  As he hits a few summer festivals and a few legitimate arenas, the band will lift off from Salt Lake’s stifling, alcohol-free concert hall setting and deliver true musical spectacles.  Last night was pure great music, but also a reminder that the 80’s are “so far away.”

Oriole Magic, Feel it Happen!

OK, it took me a month to post this article about the Baltimore Orioles, but it really struck a chord with me.  After all, there were years when my allegiance to the Birds was stronger than the Giants.  (Say it ain’t so!) 

I spent five formative years in Washington (6th – 10th grade, ’79—84) when the Orioles made two World Series appearances (I was there in ’83) and missed the playoffs on the last day of the season (I was there, too, in ’82).  These were the teams of Palmer, Martinez, Flanagan, McGregor on the mound… Murray, Dauer, Ripken, DeCinces … Lowenstein, Roenicke, Bumbry, Singleton… some of my favorite players of all time.

Prior to that, my first exposure to baseball on a full-season basis was in the early 70’s, when I have fleeting, but important memories of Brooks Robinson, Belanger, Hendricks and Doyle Alexander.

Anyways, the point of this article is that it’s been 25 years since the Orioles won a World Series game, the fans have deserted, businesses that rely on the Camden Yards are suffering and the only thing that everyone agrees upon is that “the Oriole Way” used to mean something – and still could some day.  

How times have changed though.  I miss the innocence of being a teenage sports fan with a great baseball team to follow.

My turning point with the O’s?  Two years managing their Class-A affiliate in High Desert, when player development director Don Buford made the most of a bad situation (from their perspective) and banished every malcontent, retread, drug-addicted trouble maker to the Mojave Desert where they could count out the final days of bygone baseball careers.  Plus, during my one visit to Camden Yards – as GM of one of their six minor league affiliates – they stashed my family and me in the last row of the upper deck in right field – in the visiting team player’s family section.  Whatever.  That whole trip was doomed from the outset – but we don’t need to go there.

Thanks to Hannah Buchdahl for sending the article – she’s quite proud of her 12-year-old nephew who’s quoted in the story – he’s no doubt the smartest guy of the bunch.

29 hours of running to go, 29 hours to go...

How to summarize 29 hours, 5 minutes of running with my wife and 10 (mostly new) friends in a pair of vehicles?  Hmmm, here goes.

The race was the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay... 181 miles from Logan, UT to Park City, UT.  We gathered at our house in SLC at 5am... Louie, Corey, Mary Ann, Binh, Mrs. 'Hat Rack and me.  Louie provided the company SUV, which we promptly filled with sleeping bags, running clothes, water, gatorade, snacks, books and Teri's knitting (don't leave home without it!).  Louie also raided the company pantry for some goodies - apparently that's acceptable there.  Louie is best described as a 5-hour marathoner who wears tie-dye shirts, buys pallets full of furniture on line for $100 (and donates it refugee organizations) and has developed a powerful concoction of pre-race nutrition that includes double espresso GU, ibuprofen, albuterol and beer.  It helps him run (and makes the desert colors more vivid I imagine).  Corey, a very cool dude, Teri and I talked about life in Czech - he went there as a missionary, I went there to teach English and Teri, well, she just knows more about it than you'd think.  Mary Ann said "I'm sorry" a lot.  She had no reason to!  She has great spirit and wasn't afraid to put me in my place on more than one occasion.  Binh rocks.  I am sure he was the only person out of 600 teams of 12 runners to run legs of this race in a floppy hat - he defied runner's convention to post some of our most blazing splits.  Anyways...

We set off from Logan at 8am ... our team name was "Better DFL than DNF." Some people got it. Many did not. Corey, Louis, Mary Ann and Binh helped us race through the flatlands south of Logan (pretty farm country) before they handed me the baton for a 7.5 mile climb to the top of Avon Pass (an ascent of 1,200 feet).  I trudged up a dirt road, choked by dust kicked up by passing SUV's, up, up, up.  (You'll notice a pattern here.)  Around Noon, I passed the baton to the lovely Mrs. 'Hat Rack who barrelled down the other side of the pass into Eden like a runaway gazelle - bounding over rocks, boulders, narrow passages and switchbacks.  Rock on.  In Eden, she passed the baton to Van #2.  One of the curiosities of this race is you have two vans with 6 people that comprise a team - except you basically never even see the other half of the team other than a handful of five-minute exchanges.  And since they were all sickly - we kept our contact with them to an absolute minimum (Just kidding, Dave & co. - we were sympathizing with you).

We presume they ran their guts out until the passed the baton back to us at Snow Basin Ski Resort south of Huntsville, UT late in the afternoon.  Corey took the lead leg again on a knee-crunching 8+ miles descent to Mountain Green - no doubt putting some distance between us and teams like the Moms n' Mission, the Moms with 57 & 1/9 kids, Wasatch My Back I'll Watch Yours, Human Test Subjects and The Incredible Holts.  (In the interest of full disclosure, we did get whooped by two hours by a team called "In Memory of Our Friend Ed Casmer, Who Couldn't Give Up Ding Dongs, And Was Too Lazy To Run This Year.")  So we cruised through Morgan County chewing up miles in 5-ish-mile increments until it got dark and Binh handed me the baton and, guess what, it was time to climb another mountain pass!  This time it was up East Canyon. As always, our van was extremely supportive and made the hour-long trek go by quickly as I chalked up four more road kills (passing another team on a leg).

So we get to East Canyon, it's 10:08pm and we dispatch Van #2 into the night to run to Kamas.  We ate some pasta (you don't want to see a hungry Louie devour pasta, trust me) then headed to a high school (I slept through a lot of this) although I have no idea which one - only that I woke up, stumbled to a shower, put on clean dry clothes, threw my sleeping bag on a mat in a darkened gym (surrounded by hundreds of other runners) before being awakened at 2:30am to get back in the SUV and get Corey to the start of our third portion of the run.  (Some other stuff might have happened in here, but I was seriously tired.)

Corey and Louie ran, I think, before I veered our SUV into a 7-Eleven at 4:50am and bought a fresh cup of coffee and suddenly woke up!  Whoa, what a difference being awake makes.  Mary Ann ran a killer leg and then handed me the baton as it was ... time to climb another hill.  (I'm such a martyr!)  This time it was up above Jordanelle Reservoir, where the road summited - and I got to run DOWN to the outskirts of Heber.  I was flying... wheeeeeee!  I passed the baton to Binh who continued a sub-8:00 min/mile pace all the way to town, where Mrs. 'Hat Rack grabbed the baton and triumphantly carried it to some middle school.  We celebrated the end of our run, handed the baton to the game, gallant, aggressive and completely ill Van #2 and wished them well.  We followed them for hours cheering their sickly souls forward - wait, no we didn't.  We abandoned the course as quickly as possible and went out for $78 worth of pancakes, chicken-fired steak, omelets, french toast, more coffee, and tons of potatoes (good carbs, good carbs!).  We were so stuffed when we were done at Chick's Diner that we almost forgot the other van was still slogging its way through the brutal sun - wait, I mean, nobly carrying our cause forward...

We raced to Park City to meet them at the finish... where we waited... and waited... and Corey ate more food... and so did Louie ... and we hid from the blazing sun... and we watched other teams finish... and we called Van #2... and we waited... and we debated leaving... and we talked about signing up for next year... until finally, word came they were only minutes away.  Then, 45 minutes later, Liz camed barrelling around a turn in the desert and raced down a steep tricky hill across an artificial turf field where a dozen of us joined in the final, triumphant 50 yards and we FINISHED!  29 hours and five minutes after we started.  We averaged 9:38/mile for 181 miles - not bad for a bunch of amateurs.

You can see photos of the amazing Better DFL Than DNF here at Snapfish.  

My new job... not my new job

I'm excited to announce that I have accepted an offer to become the new General Manager of USA Team Handball... one of about 40 National Governing Bodies for US Olympic sports, and the first summer NGB to set up shop in Utah (joining US Skiing and US Speedskating).  You won't find me (or us) at Beijing this summer - our men and women both failed to qualify.  We will do our utmost to rectify that before London 2012.  Go USA!

Simultaneously, I must admit that I am NOT going to be the new Anything at the Chicago Fire... They haven't decided who they're hiring, they just told me today it's not me.  Good luck to them - maybe I'll try out for Chad Barrett's spot on the roster - or I could go back to my roots as Sparky.

Off to the races tomorrow... 178 miles from Logan to Park City... on foot... we're a team of 12.  See you in PC around mid-day on Saturday!

I'm Published!

Look what I got in the mail today… the first edition of Fodor’s Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks… It’s available for pre-order at Amazon.com and the cover price is just $10.95.  Look for it at a bookstore near you!  PS,  I just agreed to a contract to write a Zion/Bryce Edition for 2009.

US Open Cup

If you want to follow America's oldest soccer tournament, you have to visit www.usopencup.com. 

It looks like a big night for RSL alums - with Chris Brown, Jamie Watson, Tiger Fitzpatrick and Melvin Tarley all notching goals for... Portland (USL-1), Austin (PDL but making plans for USL-1 in '09), Rochester (USL-1) and Minnesota (USL-1) respectively.  The Fire beat Columbus, 3-2, on a heroic late goal by Andy Herron in the last MLS "play-in" game played in Peoria.  As of this writing, none of the USASA amateur teams had survived.  At least one, Hollywood United, is still in action.

I rambled stream of consciousness on the Open Cup at www.ussoccerplayers.com this morning.

On another note, it's interesting to find out how many people have a comment or grade school experience regarding Team Handball.  The Sport of the Future?

Where Was I?

Sorry, friends... between a couple quick road trips, a pending job change, the end of the kids' school year and more - I haven't had the clear mind so sit and write.  But a few things of the past two weeks that really stand out for me:

 

I'm fired up about the Chicago Red Stars.  Great logo, great traditional logo and a funny "Christmas Eve" blog entry here.  (I will be even happier when I figure out why I can't upload images… which are stymieing me right now.)

I’m thrilled for Barack Obama and looking forward to the presidential race.  Why is John McCain reminding me more of Richard Nixon every day?

 

How about France, Spain, Croatia, Russia, Iceland and Poland earning the last six tickets to Beijing – in team handball.  Who knew?  I’m taking an active interest in handball you know… and checked out the sports facilities in Colorado Springs last week.  Very cool, very inspiring (and great food!)

Grrr.  This image uploading problem is killing me.  More when I figure it out.