Not Just A Hat Rack

Utah: Governor-Statesman Departs

We're feeling blue today in this reddest of states.

Our governor-statesman, Jon Huntsman, Jr., departs today, headed to China as President Obama's nominee as Ambassador

Although you'd think unity would be hard to come by, departing Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr., took courageous stands, brought a worldly perspective to this desert state and took great pains to truly represent every citizen.

I met him on several occasions during my tenure at RSL.  The first time, on the field before he delivered the ceremonial first kick to launch RSL's franchise in April 2005, we discussed his impressions of soccer during his ambassadorship (and mine, as the son of an ambassador).  Later, he opened the doors of the Governor's mansion for a team party (spurred on by goalkeeper DJ Countess' flirtations with one of Huntsman's talented daughters) - and for a reception with Real Madrid on the eve of their game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2006.

But all that aside, Huntsman left behind a thoughtful letter behind for Gary Herbert, who will babysit the office until a highly charged, petty, partisan race sweeps the state in 2012.  Can't wait for that.

In Huntsman's typical, elegant way, his letter encourages Herbert to rise above the calls from "self-appointed arbiters of morality and virtue, who are the loudest, providing a lot of the cacophony that tends to consume our political dialogue." 

Herbert, who from all accounts, is culturally much more conservative and whose actions in the past appear to greatly favor Utah's rural, conservative and yes, LDS, majority - would be wise to heed Huntsman's advice.  He delivers his inaugural address today - this Utah voter will be watching.

Mapleton Chamber of Commerce

First of all, Mapleton is south of Provo, not adjacent to Alpine.  Figured that out as Mrs. 'Hat Rack and I were racing to the second annual Mapleton Midnight Half Marathon from SLC Airport on Friday.  I landed (delayed) at 8pm, and she was to start the race at 9:40pm.  We steamed down I-15, up Hobble Creek Canyon to some campground where we parked the minivan in a tight space (we'll come back to that), donned lots of light-up garb to go running 13.1 miles with a goal of ending at midnight.  That's right... start when you want, but try to finish at midnight.  By the way, no watches allowed.

Teri left around 9:50pm (10 minutes later than her intention)... I found a group of four Mapletonians (?) leaving at 10:10pm and jumped in with them, fearing that my impeccable sense of direction might be compromised by the dark canyon, unfamiliar trail and/or mind racing from a busy couple days in Colorado Springs.

Turned out to be a great fit for me.  They weren't really Chamber of Commerce members, but might as well have been.  Lyle told me all about the big houses we ran by (you could sort of see them in the dark), the "city of arts", the running community, the Hobble Creek Half Marathon and much, much more. It was a nice, fun, social run.

When we ran into Mrs. Hat Rack and her friend around mile 7, I slowed down to join her for about the first time ever in a race.  It was fun even if she kept shooing me away worried that I was going to miss my own goal.  Of course, as soon as I took the lead, I also took a wrong turn and took us into a cul de sac with a dead end.  So off I went to find those Mapletonites who actually knew their way around these roads.  

I blazed through the last four miles in what felt like sub-7:15 pace... Legs felt strong. Air was crisp and cool. I was passing people left and right.  And, in my favorite water stops EVER in an organized race, we actually got to run THROUGH someone's garage.  In one side, out the back, across the yard, and back on to the road.  How cool that the race organizers (I think) opened their own home for a water stop.

Anyhow, I felt like I was at a pace that would put me over the finish line just shy of midnight.  I passed the final dozen runners in the last 100 yards, cruised under the clock and turned around to see I'd finished at 12:01:35.  95 seconds too late.  Oh well.  My new Mapleton friend Lyle finished at 11:59:59 - too early by one second.  Some other dudes finished as the first four at midnight - and Jan's wife, as you can read here, finished fifth after midnight (although there's controversy).

Great race, fun night, and we got home at 2:45am.  (Where did 2 hours and 45 minutes go?  Scraping aforementioned minivan - pretty badly - leaving the campground to go pick up Mrs. 'Hat Rack at finish line... getting lost all over Springville and Mapleton trying to find my way back to her... making five phone calls to people to try to figure out where I was... then reuniting with Teri and our friends for the trek back to SLC.)

Ahh, as we say around the handball office, "good times."

Speaking of Perfection

My disdain for the Dodgers is well-known, but this 44-year-old recording of Vin Scully calling the 9th inning of Sandy Koufax's 1965 perfect game is pure magic.  Even this Giants' fan likes Scully's voice.   

"There are 29,000 people in the ballpark and a million butterfiles."

Good stuff.  Scully Calls Sandy Koufax's Perfect Game.

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.

What Marca is Saying

The Spanish sports daily Marca declares "The Yankees have brought us down from the clouds."

From coach Del Bosque: "This is sport and today it was our turn to lose."

Casillas: "Of games like this, we lose one in ten."

Xavi: "We have to learn from the loss."

Villa: "This was like a World Cup for us."

Xabi Alonso: "We have to accept it."

Sergio Ramos: "I didn't see there was someone on my shoulder."

Sweet win.  Let's hope they can come up so big in the World Cup.  Go USA! 

Thoughts on coaches...

In no particular order...

1) I think Bob Bradley is the man for the USA through 2012. We can reevaluate at that point. He can only work with the talent he has... We need a Technical Director for US Soccer, by the way.

2) Jim Tracy's replacement of Clint Hurdle in Colorado demonstrates that a new manager CAN have a huge impact on a team - they've won 16 of 17.

3) I think RSL would benefit from a coach with substantial head coaching experience, but it doesn't necessarily need to be at Jason Kreis' expense.  That being said, I think Mr. Kreis has a long, long leash from Mr. Checketts and will be at the helm for a long time unless the team goes into a protracted tailspin and is eliminated from playoff contention with two months left in the season (which is mathematically improbable in the super-parity MLS).

4) Finally, and this is what truly prompted this post, I can't think of a better fit for the profane, morally corrupt, miserably disheveled and overrated Kevin O'Neill than USC Basketball.  They deserve each other as they move from the Tim Floyd mess to the one that O'Neill will create.  He is Northwestern's most embarrassing hire in the past 30 years.