Ten Years Ago Today

I still can’t believe it’s been ten years since Dale Earnhardt passed away on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. I don’t know where the time went because it doesn’t feel like it’s been a decade since he, Kenny Irwin Jr., Tony Roper and Adam Petty all perished in racing accidents within a year of each other. What was I doing on the day Dale died? Believe it or not I didn’t see the wreck when it happened.

That afternoon I was at home watching the Daytona 500 live on Fox when halfway through the race a friend of mine called me to ask if I wanted to put in a few hours of overtime. Back then I had a very well paying retail sales job, so I couldn’t refuse the chance to make a quick hundred dollars or two for about four hours of work. At lap 120 I turned off the television and left my apartment well before Tony Stewart flipped and tumbled through the air on the backstretch.

While I was away from home I made sure I was in my own cone of silence. At work I was nowhere near a radio or a television, and on my way to and from the retail store I listened to some old CDs so I wouldn’t accidentally hear the results of the race.

When I got home that evening, I watched the final 79 laps and then the wreck that changed the racing world happened.

When I saw Ken Schrader climb out of his wrecked M&M’s Pontiac, approach Dale’s car and then frantically signal for safety crews to assist Dale, I knew he was in serious trouble. I had witnessed on live television the near-fatal wreck of Stanley Smith at Talladega eight years earlier and Smith collided with the unforgiving outside wall in an eerily similar fashion. Smith had suffered a severe head injury, the same type of injury that claimed the lives of Irwin Jr., Roper and Petty seven years later, and I was afraid that’s what had happened to Dale. When I watched footage of Dale’s ambulance drive to nearby Halifax Medical Center at a speed that made Al Cowlings look like he was speeding down Interstate 405 with a “police escort”, I already knew Dale and his aura of invincibility were gone forever.

QUESTION: Where were you when Dale died?

No longer a scotch virgin

Since this is a sports bar, we do occasionally offer up alcohol reviews; and since I was given a bottle of The Glenlivet for Valentines Day, I thought this would be the perfect occasion to write another review.  Keep in mind that I don't have the most discerning palate and rarely taste what reviewers describe in ales or alcohol.  "It's got a nice spice note" or "a floral or fruity finish"...okay, if you say so.
I had often thought about investigating scotch because I have heard many people talk about how much they like it; that it's their preferred daily decompress medicine.  But my tastes are more towards the sweet, and so would tend to order a cocktail out at dinner or make myself a bourbon and ginger ale at home.  While I like bourbon very much, I've never enjoyed it straight.  I've found it too strong alone; and the better quality the bourbon, the stronger I find it.
Well, that's not the case for me with scotch, certainly not this fine twelve-year-old single-malt.  It has a very smooth woodsy flavor throughout the mouth on the first drink, with a slight biting finish.  That biting finish is nowhere to be found on the second and subsequent sips.  I do drink it on the rocks and am finding that scotch is much more susceptible to the quality of the water used in the ice than your average cocktail.  As the ice melts, it's watering down the scotch, of course, which is fine, but whatever else is in the average tap water does not blend well at all.  And while I find ginger ale to be a perfect partner for Jim Beam, I cannot imagine it or any other mixer blending well with scotch.
Needless to say, I find The Glenlivet enjoyable sip after sip.  I can't give it a real high recommendation simply because I don't have much to compare it to, other than the "rail" scotch with which I was initiated by my good friends Rick and George.  Salud, fellas!  It is certainly superior to rail but I look forward to trying some other brands and higher qualities of The Glenlivet to compare.  I can certainly see myself regularly enjoying a Glenlivet on the rocks until the bottle is empty.

Happy Birthday: Strat-O-Matic

I’m willing to bet very few of my regular blog readers know what Strat-O-Matic is, but for someone like me who grew up playing and watching sports it was a big part of my teenage years. Back before game console sports games were sophisticated enough to make players behave like their real-life counterparts, hard core gamers like me had Strat-O-Matic board games to pass the time.

I bought my first Strat-O-Matic hockey game in early 1985. That version depicted the 1983-84 NHL season and included the Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers, which boasted three 50-goal scorers in Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson. The game also included my then-favorite team the Los Angeles Kings, who were led by Bernie Nicholls, Charlie Simmer and Marcel Dionne but couldn’t hold an opponent under five goals if their lives depended on it. And I can never forget the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils, the two worst teams in the NHL at the time. Both of those teams were busy trying to out lose one another so they could earn the right to draft Mario Lemieux the following summer, and the Penguins prevailed with players like Gary Rissling, who amassed an astonishing 297 penalty minutes in 47 games.

What I loved about Strat-O-Matic hockey the most was the realism. It was played with a board, a pair of dice, two stacks of action cards, and a player card set. The top sixteen skaters and two goalies on every NHL team were included in the box, and you could order a set of additional player cards to fill out the rosters so you could choose which skaters to dress. A typical game could be played in about an hour, and I used to play about four to five games a week. I used my Los Angeles Kings team set and played a 40-game mini season, which was easy to do since the NHL only had twenty-one teams at the time.

How realistic was it? The Kings had a 23-44-13 record that season and I don’t think I won more than seven games in either twenty-game season I simulated.

By using those player cards on a near daily basis, I became quickly acquainted with just about every NHL player that participated in the 1984-85 season that was well underway, and I later bought the 1984-85 and 1985-86 season card sets to keep “current”. Sadly, I stopped buying the game after my first year of college. I didn’t have the time to play anymore.

Despite the evolution of video game consoles and sports games, the Strat-O-Matic game company not only survives but it turns fifty years old today.

Happy birthday, Strat-O-Matic. I may end up buying the computer version of your wonderful game someday, especially since you have the 1984-85 NHL season and the 1975-76 WHA season rosters available as an add-on.

Only in Red Sox Nation

Only in Red Sox Nation is it a "holiday" when the moving vans leave from Fenway to head south for spring training, fondly known as Truck Day.  Truck Day is even sponsored, by Jet Blue, just like seemingly everything now related to the Red Sox.  If you didn't know, there's practically a parade, with organized events to send them off.
If you don't believe me, check out this video, if for no other reason than to see Heidi Watney do The Dougie.  Make sure you see the kids on top of the snowbank, who've summed up perfectly how we all feel right now.

So for those of us who bleed Red Sox red, here's a nice NESN article to catch you up, fill you in or act as a primer for the uninitiated. http://www.nesn.com/2011/02/fenway-park-nearly-got-retractable-roof-in-1960s-and-eight-other-red-sox-thoughts.html

Marshall Faulk’s Going To Canton

I want to congratulate former San Diego State Aztecs running back Marshall Faulk for his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame yesterday. But did you know there was one single event in his life that started him on his path from the Ninth Ward in New Orleans to the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio?

I wish I had kept a copy of The Daily Aztec, the school newspaper, to back this up but I remember sitting in my pickup truck in the bowels of the parking garage reading an interview Faulk did with the paper. In it he disclosed the reason why he chose to attend SDSU. We were the only college program in the nation that was willing to give him a shot at running back. Every other major college program that tried to recruit Faulk wanted to convert him into a defensive back.

I’m sure Faulk would have turned into a fine football player regardless, but can you imagine how different his life would have been if he never ran for a then-NCAA record 386 yards and scored seven touchdowns against the University of Pacific in his second collegiate game?

Like I said earlier, it’s the truth but I can’t prove it.

A perfect team for an old-time hockey town

A Boston Bruins team that can fight and score in almost equal measure...priceless.

What follows in quotes are my Facebook status updates during the first two minutes of the Bruins/Stars game tonight, keeping in mind that there was already one face-off fight at the opening whistle between Campbell and Ott:
"Shawn Thornton rules!!" after he wins a face-off fight three seconds into the game
"And down goes another one! How's that for some old-time hockey, eh!?" after McQuaid almost takes a Stars' head off in another face-off fight six seconds into the game.
"‎3 fights in the first 6 seconds, and then Lucic scores 35 seconds in. The Big Bad Bruins are coming on!"
" And then Bergeron scores 45 seconds after that. woooooo!"
"Welcome back to Boston Andrew Raycroft...now, take a freakin seat." after Raycroft was benched after seeing two shots, both of them finding the back of the net.
"Never seen a game like this one, at least not in a very long time. Another fight!"

Then I'll skip some back and forth with some sissy soccer fans until "Recchi to Marchand to Bergeron and he scores!!!!!" after Bergeron scores again to make it 3-zip Bruins halfway into the first period.

What's hysterical about this to me is the fact that immediately prior to tonight's game NESN replayed last year's game between the Bruins and Stars that took place in Boston, where the Stars were chippy and the Bruins made them pay with punches to the jaw and goals in the net.

SHAWN THORNTON RULES!!!!  Make that 4-0 Bruins, on a Thornton bomb into the back of the net immediately after another nice save by Tuukka Rask.  I figured Claude Julien started Rask instead of Tim Thomas because he was afraid Thomas would get into the midst of the fighting.

End of the first period, Bruins-4 Stars-0...man, that was beautiful!



UPDATE:  Final score Bruins-6 Stars-3 and Shawn Thornton was just an assist short of a Gordie Howe hat trick.

A Must Read

Have you read The Cranky Redskins Fan’s Guide To Dan Snyder yet? Please do so before it disappears from the Internet. The hit piece hit the mark because the Redskins owner may file legal action against The Washington Pages and Dave McKenna, the author of this excellent takedown.

Willie O’Ree: San Diego’s Hockey Legend

Many people know Willie O’Ree as the first black NHL player but did you know he was a very accomplished minor league forward? For those of us who grew up in San Diego with hockey in our blood, we were lucky to have O’Ree as our most popular player when the San Diego Gulls played in the Western Hockey League in the late sixties and into the mid-seventies.

O’Ree was one of the top scorers for the Gulls throughout his career, and in his final WHL season he scored 30 goals in 73 games. Five years later, O’Ree came out of retirement to play for the San Diego Hawks of the Pacific Coast League and scored 21 goals in 53 games – at the tender young age of 43. I had the privilege of watching many of O’Ree’s game that final season and even at his advanced age he was one of the PHL’s better players before the league folded in 1979.

When the San Diego Gulls were revived in the International Hockey League in 1990, and again in the West Coast Hockey League in 1996, both teams thought enough of O’Ree and his accomplishments to retire his #20. Even though we no longer have minor league hockey, Willie O’Ree will always be known around here as Mr. Gull and is as beloved in our community as Tony Gwynn.

Today O’Ree lives in the La Mesa area and is currently the director of diversity programs for the NHL.

Hockey Night With Bro

Maine-1 Boston University-1.  I don't think I've ever seen a game that was so lopsided in shots on goal.  There was a point in the game where Maine was outshooting BU like 36 to 13 but many of Maine's shots were from the point.  Actually, I bet Maine had 80 shots in that game, 40 of them blocked by BU defensemen.  It felt to me like Maine was relying on its talent instead of doing the hard work to get better shots.  There was a disallowed goal by Maine that would have given them the victory, though I have no idea why it was disallowed.  Maybe someone who watched on TV can fill me in.
This was also one of the chippiest college hockey games I've seen...lots and lots of penalties, and even more pushing and shoving and cheap shots.  They obviously don't like each other.
Unfortunately for Maine, after losing yesterday to BU and the tie tonight, they drop to fifth in Hockey East behind Merrimack.  Does that sound like the same team that spanked your Sioux in two games earlier in the season, Brent?  They've been very streaky.
My brother is a Maine grad, Class of '90, and it had been many years since he'd been to a game at Alfond Arena.  He had a great time reminiscing and seeing how much and how little has changed.  And the first time I had seen a game there was while he was a student.  So it was a good time for the both of us going back to a game there together.

Heady Times At Montezuma Mesa

I want to take a moment and give props to my alma mater for doing something I never imagined they would ever do when I attended San Diego State University what seems like a lifetime ago: the Aztecs men’s basketball team is now in the Top 5 in the national rankings.

Not only are the Aztecs one of two undefeated teams remaining (#1 Ohio State is the other) but with #2 Pittsburgh losing to #16 Notre Dame last night this would be the perfect opportunity for SDSU to climb further up the ladder if they can beat #9 BYU on the road tomorrow night. If the Aztecs defeat the Cougars, they also have a shot at running the table and finish the season undefeated at 31-0. That’s right. 31-0.

I’m stunned by this turn of events. When I attended SDSU the team not only couldn’t give away free tickets to basketball games at old Peterson Gymnasium but there was one season in which they won only two games. Those two wins were against non-conference opponents early in the year and the Aztecs lost twenty-one in a row to end the season.

Today, students are not only lining up on Monday mornings to get their tickets for the week’s home games but the Viejas Arena regularly sells out for men’s basketball. I never imagined this could happen in my wildest dreams and I’m bursting with pride. We finally have a winning team that can compete with the top basketball teams all across the country. Yes, even the top teams in the SEC and whatever alphabet conferences on the other side of the country that get all the love from the East Coast voters that don’t bother watching SDSU games except for SportsCenter highlights.

I’m telling you right now if the Aztecs win tomorrow night I may not sleep that evening. I’ll likely be busy burning off a lifetime of humiliation and disappointment that accompanies being a fan of Aztecs sports programs.