Not Just A Hat Rack

A Triumvirate of Links

I wrote about ties in MLS and RSL's need to not have one on Saturday for today's Salt Lake Tribune.  The Washington Post's Steven Goff did the same yesterday.  The Trib editors edited out Alexi Lalas' quote in my column.  The red-headed one told me that the ties are evidence of parity, and that the differences between teams are too minute for most fans to understand/appreciate.  We might get him onto a handball court soon, but that's another story entirely.

Last night's Chicago-Chivas USA game was one of the most entertaining MLS games I've watched in a long time - 11 cards, five goals, three penalty kicks and several of my favorite players/heroes/villains on the field at the same time (Marsch, Talley, Curtin, Thornton, Atiba...)  Only a soft PK call in the 96th minute saved it from being a tie.  Moral of the story: be careful if you touch Brian McBride in the box.

Watch the Men's & Women's Finals from USA Team Handball Club Nationals at http://handball.teamusa.org.

 Kenn Tomasch does excellent work on the play-by-play of both matches, and the USA Team Handball custom floor from SnapSports looks snazzy.  The action is pretty good, too.

On to more serious topics, watch, read or listen to the interview with Northwestern grad Roxana Saberi at NPR.  Saberi was released from an Iranian jail earlier this month.  The 'Hat Rack was just one of thousands of places that lobbied for her freedom.  We're glad she's free!

Eight Years and Counting

It was a perfect, fresh, clear mountain Saturday on the southwest shore of Lake Tahoe.

Five dozen friends and family gathered from coast to coast.

She let me pick the spot of our vows sight unseen, although she confirmed it on a walk through knee-deep snow just months prior.

Her sister and my brother-in-law stood at our sides.

Our nieces and nephews had small, starring roles.

Our parents cried.

Eight years ago today, Teri and I pledged to spend the rest of our lives together.

Then we kissed and ate decadent cake.

We celebrated yesterday with a mini-hike in Mill Creek Canyon.

It was a perfect, fresh, clear mountain Tuesday.

The winter runoff provided the only soundscape.

Without the little 'Hat Racks, we reminsced and enjoyed a picnic.  

Then we kissed and ate decadent cake.

Happy Anniversary, honey!

Where have I been?

I hate it when I get in ruts and can't write - not for my blog, not for the Tribune, not for Fodor's.  Just nothing.

But I'm trying to get out of it.

A few thoughts - sorry, no sequence and no correlation:

1) Vladimir Nunez is alive and well and throwing middle relief for the Gwinnett County (AAA) Braves.

2) Howie Clark was playing against the Salt Lake Bees on a game I caught briefly on the radio.

3) John Doskow is coming to town with the RIvercats in the next week or so - at least one person who will understand my first two points.

4) Utah is losing its governor to China... I'm gonna miss Jon Huntsman - my favorite state-level Utah politician... would probably be my favorite overall if not for SLC Mayor Becker...

5) Northwestern won its FIFTH straight women's lacrosse National Championship yesterday. I caught some of it on TV... I think team handball is cooler than lacrosse.

6) Elgin was a success...

7) 24 finished a great season... not the best, and a bit overdramatic at times (never!), but a worthwhile escape just the same.

There's lots of other random banter, but this will do for now.

Busy, busy, busy

I've been immersed in the USA Team Handball Club National Championships... join us in Elgin, IL starting May 8 at 9am.  Women's Final is 12:45pm on Sunday, followed by Men's Final at 2:30pm.  (Watch both live at handball.teamusa.org!)  To all of you who I know throughout Chicagoland, I hope you can make it out to Elgin - because I won't have much time to get away from our three venues.

So, I watched about 90 seconds of pre-race coverage of Kentucky Derby today. Long enough to see that the weather was similar to the two years I went in college - cold and wet.  And to find out that the favorite, which has Utah ties (comes from a polygamous sire, apparently), was scratched.  And I picked the gray horse because all the rest were shades of brown.  The gray horse did nothing, but Mine That Bird was quite a story, huh?

What a great race and one of the most honest, human reactions you'll ever see from an athlete.  Calvin Borel.  There's a name you never heard before today.

Oh, and how 'bout RSL?  You can't get any uglier than tonight's 2-0 loss on the road.  Well, 6-0 is kind of worse.  There were redeeming moments - Clint Mathis at left back.  Fantastic!  Loved it.  And the delicious irony of having the prodigal backup keeper loaned to some USL team when your starter gets hurt and misses MLS play for the first time in 40+ games.  Poor Chris Seitz.  That being said, I was very proud to see Reynish play - I was just talking to a Real SoCal guy about him on Friday.  Go Kyle!  Too bad Jamison Olave screwed your chances of backstopping a win with an ugly tackle.  By the way, is Komura the first Japanese player to score in MLS history?

But, most of all, it was fun to watch Scott Palguta play 90 minutes.  How many times did this guy try to make it in MLS?  He should have made RSL's Opening Day roster in 2006, but I guess Coach E and I didn't agree on that one.  There may not be a nicer kid in MLS that Scott Palguta.