Atlanta Nips Seahawks

The Atlanta Falcons closed out a nightmare season by beating the Play-off bound Seattle Seahawks 44-41. The 'Hawks built up a 10-0 lead but starters exited as the game had no effect on Play Off positions. Down by 3 with a minute left, the Seahawks appeared to have recovered an on-side kick, putting them in position to make a miracle comeback, however an offsides violation nullified the recovery and the Falcons where able to keep gain possession on the next try.

2007 In Review--King County Eastside Dinner Outburst

This exchange last fall between an Iraq War veteran and Congressional Candidate Darcy Burner at the normally civil Eastside dinner should give us a hint about what the political climate will be in 2008.

Not So Great News For Warren Moon

Warren Moon's football credentials speak for themselves. When he graduated from the University Of Washington, black quarterbacks were nowhere to be found in the NFL, so he headed north to the Edmonton Oilers in the Canadian Football League. Shattering any record in site, the NFL finally realized that a quarterback of Moon's caliber would have to play in their league. He is currently the only African American quarterback in the hall of fame. He is also a former Seahawk. One of the few players in star in this town in both College and Pro. Currently he is a commentator on the Seahawks broadcast team.

The sad thing is, he also has a penchant for trouble with the law. Warren Moon was stopped this weekend for Driving while impaired by alcohol, the second time this has happened, as a matter of fact, his Washington Driver's License had been revoked and he was using a driver's license issued by the state of Texas. Moon had recently been stopped in August, but pleaded guily to a lesser charge. There have been other incidents as well, but Moon continues not only on the Seahawk broadcasts, but also doing endorsements such as Burien Chevrolet. Warren Moon is working while many others, who don't quite have his smooth persona have fallen. It is somewhat surprising and disturbing.

A Perfect Regular Season For The Patriots

This game was in my opinion more exciting than most Super Bowls, as the New England Patriots overcame a 12 point deficit and beat the New York Football Giants 38-35. This makes the team formerly known as the "Boston Patriots", the first team go undefeated in a 16 game regular season. The 1972 Miami Dolphins finished a 14 game season undefeated. To add insult to injury for Miami Dolphins fans, this years addition of the Dolphins are horrendous this year. They did not have a victory for the first several weeks of the season.

Steve's Dog Adventure

It has been a harrowing week for brother in Walla Walla, Steve and girlfriend Dawn.

Barers Of Maple Valley Wishes You A Merry Christmas!

Seahawks Throttle The Ravens

The Seattle Seahawks got back on the winning track by thrashing the Baltimore Ravens 27-6. The often ailing Shaun Alexander seemed to win back the fans, rushing for 73 yards and catching a touchdown pass. That pass and a 21 yard catch by Nate Burleson, gave quarterback Matt Hasselbeck a career high 27 touchdown throws for the season. Bobby Engram (pictured above) continued to be an excellent Hasselbeck target, catching 5 passes for a combined 69 yards. The Defense held the Ravens scoreless until the 4th quarter on rain-soaked Qwest Field.

She'll Be Home For Christmas

The Seattle Times Reports that Tanya Rider, the Maple Valley resident who was trapped in her car for over a week last fall, will be released this weekend to spend Christmas with her family.

Back From The Dead: The Apprentice

The Apprentice will return to NBC next month, the question is, will it's audience return as well? The once successful franchise is bringing back "lightning rod" Omarosa for this coming Celebrity Apprentice

Cougars Defeat The Citadel

I joined 12 thousand plus Cougar fans last night in Key Arena as number 10 ranked WSU beat The Citadel 67-45. Aaron Baynes lead the Cougs with 16 points. The games was billed as the "Cougar Hardwood Classic" it gave alumni in the Seattle area a chance to see the nationally ranked team. The Cougs will return here later in the season to play the Washington Huskies.

Led Zeppelin Concert In London

Hey, my music era is back in full force as the surviving members of the English Supergroup reunite for the first time in 27 years.

Panthers Trip Seahawks

In a game where a strong defense was unable to create a turnover and a strong offense was unable to start it's engine, the Seattle Seahawks lost to the Carolina Panthers 13-10. Even though there was no scoring by either team until the 4th quarter, it was clear that the Seahawks were feeling the "hangover" from last week's NFC West clinching victory over the Cardinals. The Seahawks were unable to get any threatening drive in the first three quarters, in spite of the fact that the 'Hawks were at full strength while the Panthers were playing a fourth string quarterback.

The Mitchell Report--My Thoughts

I looked through the Mitchell Report and really found very little in the way of surprises. I had not thought of Roger Clemens, I have never been a fan of Clemens and even less of a fan when he threw the barrel of a broken bat at Mike Piazza. I think if we condemn the players, we need to also condemn the trainers, the managers and even the players not mentioned who may even have been non-users for their silence.
I was happy to see who was missing from the report, Edgar Martinez, who is one person that I had the chance to work with, who I look up to as one of the class acts of sports. No mention at all of John Olerud, Dan Wilson or Jay Buhner.
I think much of this problem lies at the hands of Baseball going years with just an acting commissioner. Bud Selig was an almost invisible "acting" commissioner for years. I think that there no longer is ruling law in baseball.
In 1989, Commissioner Bart Giamatti suspended Baseball Icon Pete Rose, the weight of the move may have cost Giamatti his life as he died 8 days later from a heart attack. The point is that players implicated need to be dealt with.

In Pullman--The Paul Wulf Era Begins

There is a new head football coach at Washington State University, 40 year old Paul Wulf will guide the Cougs. He will replace Bill Doba, the first WSU coach anyone can remember who got fired for not winning. Doba lead Cougar teams beat Washington Huskie teams in 3 of the 5 Apple Cups that he coached in, that did not satisfy athletic director Jim Sterk. It looks like this is a chance for the Cougs to take football to the next level. Hopefully, the old attitude of. "if we beat Washington it'll be a successful season", will be out the window. WSU has proven during the past decade that it can be competitive in the Pac-10 with it's 2 Rose Bowl appearances, I only hope that Coach Wulf can be the Cougar coach who can raise the bar.

My Cousin Sam Barer Writes About his Grandfather

My Cousin Sam Barer has a blog with mostly car tips, but he changed the subject slightly today to honor his wonderful maternal Grandpa who was honored by the University Of Oregon
This weekend I had the honor of helping my grandfather, Leonard Donin, out to center court at Portland’s Rose Garden arena right before tip-off of the basketball game between University of Oregon and University of Utah. At 96 years old, Grandpa is the oldest living U of O varsity athlete, having lettered in basketball and baseball.
My grandfather was introduced over the public address system as the game’s honorary captain. The entire crowd (which included over thirty family members and friends) came to its feet. As he waved to the adoring crowd, I applauded the man who not only fathered my mother, but also was responsible for the little athletic ability I received.

My Blog Hits A Milestone

Barers Of Maple Valley received it's 10,000th hit yesterday according to site meter. The figure is somewhat misleading, of course as the blog was well over a year old when I added the sitemeter, still this blog has had an impact and I cannot thank anyone who reads this enough.

Seahawks Win This "Battle Of The Birds" Clinch Division

The Seahawk victory train is rolling to 5 straight. Seattle beat the Arizona Cardinals 42-21 in a game that sent the Seahawks to 9-4. The Seahawks have now clinched their 4th straight NFC West crown and will draw a bye (won't play) in the first round of the play-offs.
Matt Hasselbeck, Patrick Kerney, and Marcus Trufant had career games, Hasselbeck threw four touchdown passes, Kerney sacked Cardinal quarterback Kurt Warner 3 times, while Marcus Troufant, (an ex-Coug by the way) intercepted Warner 3 times. Suddenly the Superbowl seems to be very much in sight for our surging team.
Also of note, Coach Mike Holmgren was given the game ball from Seahawk owner Paul Allen for passing Chuck Knox as the winningest Seahawk coach of all time.

A Fun Christmas Song

Hopefully this will help get you into the Holiday Spirit.

Disaster To The South

Our thoughts go out to the victims of the recent flooding in Chehalis and Centralia, approximitly 100 miles south of here.

An Infamous Washington State Political Blunder

Rod Chandler used to represent Washington's 8th Congressional District. In 1992, he decided to run for a US Senate seat that the late Brock Adams was vacating. Adams was caught up in a sex scandal and an unknown Shoreline candidate named Patty Murray was the Democratic choice to run for the seat. No one thought that Chandler would lose, he was after all, a former television newscaster. With the campaign underway Chandler and Murray met for a debate and in a scene that could have been scripted from the movie Shampoo, Chandler ended the debate quoting Roger Miller's "Dang Me Dang Me-they ought to take a rope and hang me" Patty Murray became our US Senator and Rod Chandler was finished in Washington state politics.

Once Again Defense Saves Seahawks

Lofa Tatupu had 3 interceptions including a game saver in the last seconds (above) as the Seattle Seahawks beat the Philadelphia Eagles 28-24. Julian Peterson also had an interception. Shaun Alexander returned after a 2 week absence and netted 65 yards including a 2 yard touchdown run. Mo Morris ran for a 45 yard touchdown in the 4th quarter. It looks like the Seahawks are getting hot at the right time as this is their 4th consecutive victory.

Snowstorm Hits Seattle Area

We got the season's first snowfall today. This picture is from the Seattle Times.

"The King And I" Playing At Issaquah's Village Theatre

I watched "The King And I" with Deb, her parents and grandmother last Thursday at the Village Theatre in Issaquah. I had seen the Rogers And Hammerstein production as a second or third grader at the Little Theatre in Walla Walla.
The premise to the story, based on a true story, is an English school teacher coming to Thailand to teach the Royal children. It is focusing on the clash of Western and Eastern culture, however many of the issues presented in the production seem very relevant even today in American culture. The King, played brilliantly by Michael Lee is a power hungry, greedy but clumsy despot with 37 wives, lovers, etc. Ana, played by Beth DeVries is appalled by the degradation, not only of women, but of the King's subjects. She somehow also see that somewhere, the King has a heart and that sets up a wonderful production.

Evel Knievel: Pop Culture Icon Dies

It just does not seem right, Motorcycle Daredevil Evel Knievel meeting a peaceful death, but it happened in Clearwater, Florida. I remember him trying to jump the Snake River Canyon in 1974, the day President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. Knievel was mentioned in Pat O'Day's recent biography and had strong Northwest connections. He formerly owned a motorcycle shop in Moses Lake.

Adam Sandler--The Chanukah Song

Behind the silliness in this song,at this time of the year many Jewish children really feel like they are the "only kid in town without a Christmas tree. That is because they are usually right. It is nice to hear some familliar names of people who are Jewish "just like you and me"