America's Pastime

Had some good news over the weekend from our former landlords over at the Lynndale Apartments. Even though they probably technically could have charged us $1300 for the hole that we inadvertently burned in the carpet over there, they let us off the hook with only a $200 repair fee. So we received a check on Friday that neither Ashley or I was expecting for our security deposit. Not bad, eh? Better than getting taken to small claims court.

We went to see the Timber Rattlers on Sunday for an afternoon affair with the potent Lugnuts of Lansing. After the Lugnuts jumped out to a 12-1 advantage by the fourth inning and we watched our pitcher give up back to back homers followed by a double off the centerfield wall, we decided it was time to bounce early. The funny thing is, we somehow wandered around Fox Cities Stadium until the seventh inning stretch. I love the atmosphere of minor league baseball. There's something down home about it that gives you a kind of fluttery feeling in your stomach. The T-Rats even get to host at least a few playoff games this year, a reward for winning the "pennant" for the first half of the Midwest League season.

The one thing that bugs me about watching a game at Fox Cities is that very few people actually realize there is a game going on. I shouldn't climb too high on my pedestal as I don't think I could rattle (he, he) off half a dozen players off the top of my head. Let's see: Yun Chi Chen, Rob Johnson, Sebastian Boucher (but he got called up to AA), What's His Name Clement, and I know there's another Johnson in there somewhere. So that's five...kinda. The fans at these games are definitely not into the action on the field. However, there is enough going on during breaks in the action, my favorite being the "Brat-zooka," a compressed air gun type contraption that shoots Sher-Make bratwursts into the stands. Oh yeah, you read that last sentence correctly.

All of these little side attractions have sponsors, too. Sponsors are huge in minor league baseball (let's face it: when the most expensive individual ticket is $7.50 and you can get a 32oz beer for $5.00, you have to make up the difference somewhere.) They even give a plug to the industrial supply company that provides the compressed air canisters that power the Brat-zooka. I'm surprised the bathrooms at the stadium aren't sponsored by Toilet Duck: "For the cleanest toilet bowls for your buck, trust Toilet Duck."

I'm looking forward to the big football clash between college football adversaries Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech this weekend. You have no idea the level of sheer stokeditude that I am going through for the return of college football. That, combined with the fact that the NFL is on the cusp of starting and that we are going to have an NHL season this year makes me feel that all is right with the world. I can't wait for the storylines of the season: The race for the Heisman, the first big upset, the first Ohio State player to get suspended for being under investigation by the authorities, etc... The Northern game is sure to be a blowout and this season should lead to the firing of coach Doug Sams (which should have happened last year), but at the end of the day it is still football. They don't put betting lines on games in Division II as far as I know, but I'm sure that MTU would be favored in this game by about 40 points.

I'm finished,
Nate

NJH25

I joined a couple of clubs over the weekend. On Friday, Aug. 12 I turned the ripe old age of twenty five, which is required to join the Quarter Century Club as well as the lesser known Creepy Old Guy Club. Creepy Old Guy is a term that I started using back in my Marquette days, referring to the older guy at the bar or the party that is still trying to be cool, and not neccessarily suceeding. I have to realize that I am now halfway to fifty and am "not cool" anymore. I guess I can deal with that.

I took some time to review my life this weekend and the things that I have got a chance to do and made a list of those things that stood out (good and bad.)

• Learned to walk.
• Learned to read.
• Saw Mt. Rushmore and Old Faithful in the same week.
• Won a spelling bee.
• Broke a bone (ankle.)
• Played a varsity sport (football.)
• "Starred" in a half hour television program (yes it was Public TV, it was a high school quiz show and I was on 3 or 4 episodes, but still.)
• Designed my own web site.
• Dropped out of college.
• Graduated from college.
• Worked as a janitor...twice.
• Worked for a Fortune 500 company.
• Saw a game at Lambeau Field.
• Visited a foriegn country besides Canada.
• Studied two foreign languages (mastered neither.)
• Went to a frat party.
• Saw the Avalanche and Patriots win championships within one year of each other.
• Had some girlfriends.
• Broke up with some girlfriends.
• Saw the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.
• Changed the oil in a vehicle.
• Drove a tractor.
• Swam in the moonlight.
• Swam in the moonlight without clothes on.
• Swam in the Pacific Ocean.
• Swam in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Saw the light.
• Was baptised.
• Used a chainsaw...once.
• Saw every Star Wars movie in the theater (obviously not when they first came out.)
• Cried a little.
• Lied just a little.
• Stopped and smelled the roses.

Not bad for a quarter century's work.

I'm finished,
Nate

Anchorman 1938 - 2005

Today, I feel as though we need to remember a great man who we invited into our living rooms on a regular basis for as long as I can remember. Peter Jennings died last night at the age of 67. If you don't know who Peter Jennings is, chances are you've never seen a TV or your one of those people that frequently says "I don't really pay attention to current events" (usually something said to defend one's blatant ignorance of a situation.)

Peter Jennings made up one part of the most prolific group of evening news anchormen to ever simultaneously grace the airways along with Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather. In the years before the 24 hour CNN's of CNBC's of the world and the massive news information available on the internet, the evening news anchorman was the go-to guy for world news. I remember watching some of the biggest news stories of the 80s and 90s, some of which I couldn't even understand at the time, unfold from the golden voice of one of the big three anchors. I probably put Mr. Jennings a little below Tom Brokaw, but superior to Dan Rather in the scheme of things. Admittedly I no longer get the majority of my news from the big three, but network news was a large part of my developmental years and contributed, almost exclusively, to my awareness of the world around me. I'll miss you, Peter.

I'm finished,
Nate

Philly Fans Will Boo You...They Will.

I start out this post with a quote from Ray Liota's character in "GoodFellas." It's right at the end, when he is testifying against his former Mob bosses after getting busted by the Feds:

"Anything I wanted was a phone call away. Free cars. The keys to a dozen hideout flats all over the city. I bet twenty, thirty grand over a weekend and then I'd either blow the winnings in a week or go to the sharks to pay back the bookies... Didn't matter. It didn't mean anything. When I was broke, I'd go out and rob some more. We ran everything... Everything was for the taking. And now it's all over... That's the hardest part. Today everything is different. There's no action. I have to wait around like everyone else. I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook."

This might be an interesting quote to preface a post about hockey, but bear with me, it's fitting. For the last decade, one of my most favorite vices has been my love for the NHL and the Colorado Avalanche hockey club. We've had a heck of a run since the club moves from Quebec at the beginning of the 1995 season, a season they capped with a colossal battle with the now bitter rivals from Detroit in the playoffs and a Stanley Cup victory. Another title has come to the Mile High City since that time and many more battles with the hated Wings have ensued (see Claude Lemiuex, also see Darren McCarty.) The Wings would start signing stars, and the Avs countered by bringing in "hired guns" every year, guys in the last year of their deal traded for about mid season, basically auditioning for a long term contract. The list includes some pretty prominent folks: Ray Bourqe, Rob Blake, Darius Kasparitus, etc... We engaged in what amounted to an arms race against the Red Wings for many years.

Then, in 2001 the rumblings began. People began talking about crazy things like a salary cap. The owners attempted to throw the blame on skyrocketing salaries of the players. Basically, the owners had to impose a limit on their line of credit because they had started overspending like a high school sophomore at the Mall of America with mom's MasterCard. No worries though, they had three years to figure it out. Three friggin years later, there was no resolution, and four friggin years later, there was a new NHL with a new salary cap. Basically, NHL franchises had more garage sales than the classified ads, dumping players all over, and Colorado, with its larger than average payroll, had some decisions to make. There was one big decision to make: Do they keep Adam Foote, a premier defenseman, or do you keep Peter Forsberg, who when healthy is in the 99.99 percentile of players in the world? No amount of fuzzy math in the world could let them keep both.

Then, the UNBELIEVABLE happened. As of Thursday, August 4, 2005, Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote are no longer property of the Colorado Avalanche. Foote decided to take the money in C-Bus and Forsberg escaped to Philadelphia. This, along with an aging nucleus (see Joe Sackic), and a changing landscape in the NHL in which teams most teams received a badly needed fresh start, the large payroll teams are in trouble.

As a fan, I no longer have the luxury of the omnipresent thought that we have Peter Forsberg and you don't. I can't relish in the fact that we have Adam Foote to find the opposing team's best player and eat his lunch for him. It's taken away the aura that on any given day, the Avalanche was as good or better than anything the rest of the NHL could throw at them. Of course this doesn't mean I'm jumping ship. I got to see two Stanley Cups won by my boys and got to root for the greatest netminder of all time in Patrick Roy.

I have to try to put a happy face on the recent events. Hopefully it will give a chance for former Spartan John Michael Liles to prosper. Maybe they save that money and make a run at a big free agent next year, or sign some talent yet this year. But, I can't help feeling like Henry Hill at the end of GoodFellas. The Avalanche fan is now just a average nobody who has to live life like a schnook. For now.

I'm finished,
Nate