Seahawks Kick One Through In OT

I don't think I've seen a game like this since the Rams beat the Packers a few decades ago. A late burst in overtime by Saun Alexander set up a Josh Brown (above) field goal and a Seahawks win 24-21. Lady Luck smiled in our favor in this one as the Giants shut down our offense and made bigs plays late. The "12th man" came into play, causing the Giants 11 false start penalties. The Giants' Jay Feely also missed 3 field goals any of which would have won the game for the New York Football Giants.
It was a heartstopping game and I have a feeling that we may not have seen the last of this great, but snake bitten Giants team.

Movie Review: Walk The Line

I am a casual fan of Johnny Cash, there are songs of his that I enjoy but have never really considered buying a CD or record of his. I can also say the same about Ray Charles maybe I could say that I enjoy Charles a little more. Anyway last year's Ray for me was a "must see" and this year's Johnny Cash film Walk The Line was also.
I just did not enjoy Walk The Line as much as I thought that I would. Critics were correct in saying that Joquinn Phoenix nailed Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon also turned in an Oscar worthy performance as June Carter, but the Johnny portrayed is not the one that I remember. I remember Johnny Cash in the late 60s as the stern brooding man of the hardscrabble life and the larger than life stage appearance. The movie portray an early Cash as Good time pill popping, womanizing, pass out on stage drunk who was in the midst of screwing up a promising career and the chance to get the love of his life June Carter. In that vain it was an adequate, if long movie and there were indeed some uplifting moments.
I was a little disappointed that they did not doIf I Were A Carpenter which is probably the best known of their duets.

"Mike--I'll see you in the Boardroom."

The Apprentice: A Firing offense On My Part?

We were driving home from Thanksgiving dinner during last night's 2nd hour of The Apprentice and I was planning on watching the rerun on CNBC tonight. Unfortunately, CNBC only ran the first hour so I will switch you to PJ's recap. She is from Texas and nobody writes The Apprentice as well as she does! Take it away PJ.

My KTEL Days

My first commercial radio job was something to remember. The station was KTEL and it was where my cousin Burl cut his teeth in the business. It was 1978, the station had been remodeled since Burl had worked there as they had moved the offices from downtown to the transmitter. It was still a real dilapidated place. When Burl and Lee came to visit one time, Burl pointed to the little holes in the wall and said--"that is where I fired a pellet gun at the bugs crawling on the wall". When I got on board the station was all country which took some getting used to, they had just stopped playing rock. My friend Jeff recently told me in the rock days, everytime a jock would play In-a-Godda-Divida (the classic 27 minute song) the Cranky Engineer would screech into the parking lot fearing that the DJs were partying.
KTEL was also the station where my Grandfather gave gardening tips on Tuesday morning as part of the "Men's Garden Club". The station was totally run by Jack Keating an elderly man who was rarely at the station. I only saw him 3 times during the year that I worked there. Once was when he hired me.
I was the last DJ to sign off of the old board. We were the Seattle Super Sonics station and I was working the board running the game when they won their NBA title in '79. Also the cranky Engineer was terminated after working there for 25 years during that one year. I later went back to WSU to get my degree and returned to KTEL for a brief time 6 years later.

Jerome Harrison Made The Cougs Entertaining

WSU's Harrison set a career rushing record this year

Another Walla Walla Celebrity

Considered by some to be the greatest shortstop of all time, Ozzie Smith came up through the Padres Organization and played for the single A Walla Walla Padres in the late 70s. He is shown here doing one of his famous back flips. I hope to have a more in depth story on Ozzie at a later date.

Scary Moments At Tacoma Mall

Terror reached close to home this afternoon as a gunman opened fire on shoppers at the Tacoma Mall, about 20 miles from here. The gunman was taken into custody after hitting (at this time) 6 people. There is one victim in critical condition at Tacoma General. Please have the victims in your thoughts.

Hawks By A Whisker

The Seattle Seahawks barely escaped "The Stick" in San Francisco with their tails todays as they squeeked by with a 28-26 victory over the 49s. Saun Alexander was "average" with 115 yards and only 2 touchdowns and credit needs to be given to our defense, who slowed down a team that threw everything but the kitchen sink at us and had nothing to lose.
Can you believe the state of Washington has 2 of the most electrifying running backs in the country? In addition to Saun Alexander leading the pack in the NFL, Jerome Harrison finished at Washington State as the nation's second leading rusher in the college ranks.

The Apprentice: I Write The Songs

This weeks episode a little more entertaining that the last few because of course it dealt with Entertainment.
Team Excel is down to just two players after last weeks double firing. Albeit 2 strong players in Rebecca and Randall, both have overcome adversity and have shown great leadership.
Capital Edge tries to make amends with Clay, but since the other 3 players have denied him an exemption--he takes it as a slap on the face which essentially it is. He is the team's "sore toe".
To start the next task Clay answers the morning call from Rhona. I still have not figured what she does (since Robin is the Receptionist).
Everyone gathers at the designated place and Trump evens the teams by letting Capital Edge get rid of one player. The choice is academic and Clay is now team Excel. Randall and Rebecca are excited because although they know Clay is a flake, he is also frequently on the winning team. This week they are too audition an artist, write a song for that artist and that the song would be played on XM radio, marketed as the hottest thing in entertainment. Donald's parting words are a matter of dispute, 5 contestants and the ever dwindling TV audience heard him say "Now is the time to step up!", however Clay heard Trump say "now is the time to be a bigger pain in the butt and screw over your teammates"!
Excel finds that Clay is too much for them to handle--too bad he's theirs. Capital Edge can just do it right and they are the winners.
Poor Donald finds Clay in the boardroom with what he thinks are his best contestants. He quickly knows that no matter what happens he has to fire Clay so he says he is going by past record even though it he had never mentioned that criteria before.
The reward for winners Capital Edge was a helicopter trip over New York City. Trump pointed out all his properties as if New York City was a giant Monopoly board.

B'Nai Torah And SHARE Fight Bellevue City Hall

One of the most inspiring people I have ever met is Rabbi James Mirel of the B'Nai Torah. When the Temple was in Mercer Island, Deb and I took a class in Judaism from him. We have gone to his Sabbath and High Holy Day services and been deeply moved by his thoughts and wisdom.
Temple B'Nai Torah is suing the City Of Bellevue to ease restrictions on it's hosting of Tent City 4, which is a chance to house almost 100 homeless people. The encampment is moving from Woodinville.
According to a story by Ashley Bach in Seattle Times, The City Of Bellevue has adapted some of the most restrictive laws in the region on Tent Citys. The City Planning director issued the permit allowing the Tent City, but did not ease up on the restrictions.
The Temple and the Seattle Housing And Resource Effort (SHARE) are challenging the restricions based on religous Freedom. They are basing their lawsuit on a 2000 Federal Law protecting religous institutions in land use decisions.
Suing the City is nothing new in Bellevue, but it usually involves greedy developers. There are many sides to this issue, but one thing is for sure, Rabbi Mirel's cause is a noble one.

Goldberg Brothers To Make Seattle Apearance

My cousins Lee And Tod Goldberg will be in Seattle December 3rd. Both of these gentlemen have just had books published and will be signing their respective books at the U-Village Barnes And Noble at 3:oo pm. It would be great to give them a warm Seattle greeting, a rather ironic statement since they are from California where temperatures are in the mid 80s.
Lee and his sister Karen used to visit their grandparents in Walla Walla which where my Uncle Dave and Aunt Dorothy. I remember playing in Wildwood Park and going to Sunday School at Grandmother Barer's with the Goldbergs.
I understand that both Lee and Tod's books are getting great reviews.

Seahawks have Ram Feast

Is "next year" finally here? The Seahawks won their 5th straight game behind the brilliant running of Saun Alexander and the quarterback mastery of Matt Hasselback. Saun scored 3 touchdowns and our defense once again stepped up to limit the Rams explosive offense to only one touchdown. Is this the magic year? Right now I'm just enjoying the wins! 

Marshawn--Fired Apprentice Candidate was strong until she did the wrong thing at the wrong time. 

The Apprentice: May The Farce Be With You!

You may think that with Marcus fired, the stupidity would end but such is not the case. Clay is comes back from his near firing and is angry, very angry. He decides to declare war on his own team. The remainder of Capital Edge get together to strategize minus Clay and it is clear that he has become a pariah and a noose around their neck, lovely! So Capital Edge is handicapped by a candidate that despises his teammates, remember they live together as well.
It 's the morning phone call and everyone is summoned to the boardroom, this weeks project is to create a display for Starwar III Revenge of the Sith and Battlefront II video game. Excell seems to have a real advantage. Randall (seen by most as the strongest candidate) is a Starwars freak, he knows the concept, everyone respects him. His teammates are not quite in the know on the Starwars saga. Seemingly no problems until the pick Brian to be PM.
The teams presentation is to be judged by executives from Lucas films and Best Buy (the display is for Best Buy). Brian makes a morning appointment however the native New Yorker does not consider logistics. They need to get from Manhatten to Chelsea in 15 minutes. That is impossible is good traffic, let alone the morning rush. As they are caught in Seattle type traffic. Brian calls to imform the brass that he will be late a couple of times. I bet that Cab driver did not get a good tip. By the time they arrive, the execs are there but they need a get to another meeting.
To make a long story short Capital Edge makes the meeting giving them a "Capital Edge" and they win the task. Excell misses the whole point, and it's Brian's fault. There is more blame though as Marshawn, one of the sharper contestants is to make the presentation, but at the last minute decides it's not her thing and defers it. Rebecca picks up the ball and as usual does very well.
Capital Edge wins on the shoulders of a suddenly very capable Alla, all decked in fur she must be offending PETA like crazy, and Clay, who is just plain crazy.
For the first time since the initial episode Clay is not voted an exemption, but the team gets it's reward. A chance to hang out with Bill Rancik (whoopee!)
At the boardroom Trump is angry. He cannot believe Brian scheduled so badly and that Marshawn deserted the team. Once again he fires both.
I think it is very fitting that Star Wars was picked, like the Apprentice it was once a big hit and now it just plays to a niche audience. The difference being that The Apprentice has fallen faster.

Elections Go Our Way

It has been said that the best creative writing is born out of misery. There is not much to be unhappy about as this weeks election seemed to indicate that common sense is creeping back into politics.
County Executive Ron Sims won a 3rd term as David Irons Jr is now back in the private sector. I think that Mr Irons needs a little time in the private sector to iron out some of his personal woes.
I-912 failed and our state can start improving our roads. We know how prone to earthquake this area is and it would be nice to be proactive in shoring up the highways.
I-330 which asks us to surrender our rights to the Insurance companies also went down. If the insurance c0mpanies need solace, the smoking ban bill, I-901 passed as well. That has got to drive down rates by improving public health in general.
John Rittenhouse will serve on the Issaquah City Council, I worked with John on the 5th district policy committee.
Glenn Smith is elected to the Maple Valley City Council. I was impressed with him when he doorbelled my house.
Kathy Huckabay easily coasted to victory on the Sammamish City Council. Congrats to all these winners and good luck. Let's keep the victories rolling.

Working for former US Senator Warren Magnuson in the early 70s, my cousin Stan Barer helped inspire my passion for politics. Stan is also a Wa-Hi graduate.

West Wing's Live Debate

Generally shows try gimics when their runs are nearing an end and I think that the West Wing is no exception. I had not watched it in years but my father-in-law is a faithful watcher and while having dinner overthere, I felt myself drawn in.
The concept was a live debate with a real journalist Forest Sawyer, actually done twice so it would be live in each time zone. At the start of the debate, the Republican candidate played (believe it or not) by Alan Alda proposed that the scrap the rules and have a real debate to which the Democratic Candidate (played by Jimmy Smits) reluctantly agrees. What happens is you get 2 candidates articulating ideas in a way not seen in a real debate. My eyes could not leave the screen.
Alda was polished and direct, Smits was passionate. This is one time where I wish life could imitate art.

Hawks back in Action--Beat Cards In The Desert

The Seattle Seahawks came off strong after Bye week and thumped the Arizona Cardinals 33-19. Shaun Alexander scored an 88 yard touchdown in the third quarter and Hasselback was right on target. The Seahawks right now have the best offense in the NFL and enter mid season at 6 and 2, the best mark that I remember. It looks like the team is starting to gel and is running on all cylindars. This coming Sunday they will take on the Rams at Qwest. 

A Mighty Tough Coug

KOMO 4's Kathi Gortzen returns to her anchor duties this Monday. Earlier this fall she underwent her second surgery to remove a brain tumor. We wish the best for Kathi.

A Walla Walla Celebrity

Drew Bledsoe is one of a handful of former Wa-Hi Blue Devils to excel in Professional Sports. He joined the Hapless New England Patriots and lead them to the Super Bowl. He now is one of the NFC's leading passers with the Dallas Cowboys. A Super Bowl win before his career ends will probably get the former WSU Cougar into the Hall Of Fame. Hats off to Drew!

Go Sonics

The Seattle Super Sonics redeemed themselves by taking an overtime game from the Minnesota Timberwolves 107-102. The game was nationally televised on ESPN and was billed as the homecoming of former Seattle Super Sonics assistant coach Duane Casey who is now head coach in the Twin Cities.

Apprentice: End Of The Road For Marcus

I could make a big deal of this episode. But it all boils down to one thing, Trump finally had a chance to fire Marcus and he took advantage of it. In the process I learned two things, my "soul brother" Adam is not Trump material and I am not up on to date on fashion designers as I had no idea who Michael Kors was. 

The Apprentice--Delay

I was unable to watch last night. I'll have my report over the weekend after I watch the rerun on CNBC. Thank you for reading and have a great weekend!

Ouch! Sonics Blow the Opener

The Seattle Super Sonics opened their Season by pulling out to a big lead at home against Los Angeles' other team the Clippers. But in the 4th quarter, they let it all slip away as Sam Cassells caught fire and the Sonics could not seem to muster up any energy. The final score was LA 101 Sonics 93. Since the Lakers are having a down year, the Clipper have a chance to make a little noise in their hometown, something that the Angels where able to do a couple of years ago after playing second fiddle for 30 years to the Dodgers.
It was the head coaching debut for Bob Weiss and it was a shame that the team could not cement the victory for him.