Seahawks On Monday Night Football

 The Seahawks, now at 7-3  and alone at the top of the NFC West, will take on the 6-3-1 Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football. 

Levine Blog Celebrates 15 Years

Ken Levine's blog has just celebrated it's 15th, as they say, blogaversary.  Ken is probably known around the Seattle area as a former radio broadcaster for the Seattle Mariners, but he is also a TV writer for shows such as Frasier and Cheers.  He also was a former top 40 DJ.  

When Ken started, not long after I did, blogging was very common, a way to express one's self through sports, politics, news or art.  Now, with social media platforms as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as new media such as podcasts,  as well as writer burnout, most have disappeared.  

The majority of blogs that I link no, no longer publish, but like a good book, they retain excellent content. 

The picture above, was taken from Ken's 15th year post. 

Elk Crossing At Belmont Woods

Just one of a herd of Elk having Thanksgiving feast at the entrance to Belmont Woods in Maple Valley.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Stay Safe!

Iconic Car Wash Sign Removed

 One of the most enduring reminders of old Seattle, the Pink Elephant Car Wash sign is being removed. 

The Pink Elephant Car Wash announced it was closing it's location on Denny Way near the Seattle Center due to homelessness, drug activity, and business costs.  

The sign will go to Western Neon for restoration work and then donate the the Museum Of  History  And Industry.

In my early days of living here, the sign along with the Pink Lincoln "Toe" Truck were two of the most unique signs I would come across when going to the Center for festivals and basketball games.

Jennings Tapped As Interim Jeopardy Host

 Ken Jennings, Jeopardy's biggest money winner according to various sources, will be its first interim  host.  The popular evening game show is planning to use a series of interim hosts until a permanent one is chosen.  Jennings has been speculated to be a candidate for host since the death of Alex Trebek earlier this month.  

The show will resume filming Monday.  The first episode with Jennings as host will air January 11th. 

Jennings lives in the Seattle area. 

Biden Begins To Pick Cabinet Members

 Anthony Blinken has been tapped by President Elect Joe Biden to be nominated for US  Secretary Of State. 

Blinken, though not well known to the public, served as President Obama's deputy secretary of state, he also at a time, Obama's deputy national security advisor. He also served on the National Security Council during the Clinton adminstration.  His charge will be to rebuild trust  of America's allies.  

Blinken attended schools in New York and France.  He is a graduate of Harvard. 

According to the Wikipedia, Blinken also plays guitar and has two songs on Spotify. 

Apple Cup Cancelled

 The annual Apple Cup between the Washington State Cougars and the Washington Huskies has been cancelled.  The reason being that WSU does not have enough scholarship players available due to positive test and contact tracing. 

There is a chance that the teams could play a make up game in December. This is the first season the cross state rivals have not faced one another since 1944.

No Cougar Football Today

 

Sad, but true today's WSU vs Stanford game has been cancelled because a number of players including quarter Jayden de Laura (pictured above) have tested positive for COVID.  Friday's Apple Cup game pitting the Cougs against Washington is also in jeopardy. 

Barers Of Maple Valley wish a quick and safe recovery for all members of the team. 

Familiar Face To Leave KOMO 4 TV

 Congrats to Connie Thompson!  The Puget Sound Media blog reports she is calling it quits after 46 years at the station.  

Even 10 years is like an eternity in the broadcasting profession.  You could probably make a TV mini-series out of her career.  

I met Connie at the Space Needle when we had our wedding rehearsal dinner in July of 1995.  No, she wasn't at our dinner but at some banquet with other KOMO broadcast people in an adjacent room.  She was very down to earth and friendly.  

Thank you to Puget Sound Media for breaking this!

Century Link Field Gets New Name

Numerous sources report Century Link Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks, will now be called Lumen Field.  The name has gotten the approval of the Washington State Public Stadium Authority, which owns the property.

The names reflects Century Link's rebranding to Lumen Technologies.

Seahawks vs Cardinals--The Rematch

 The Seattle Seahawks will face the Arizona Cardinals at 5:30pm pst on Thursday Night Football.  The Seahawks, who were once 5 and 0, have lost 3 of the last 4, including an overtime loss to Arizona. 

710 ESPN Trims Staff

 Lack of advertising due to COVID restrictions and changes in consumer habits are said to be a factor in 710 ESPN laying off three of it's daytime personalities.  

Tom Wassell, John Clayton, and, Jim Moore (pictured above) have left.  

Both Moore and Clayton originally worked for local Newspapers, Clayton for the Tacoma News Tribune, and Moore for the Seattle PI. 

Clayton is known nationally as The Professor from his days at ESPN.  

Moore is a proud WSU graduate, who frequently interacted with listeners, talking about his family life and his love of Cougar sports on social media. 

Wassell was co-host of the midday show. 

Sad Football Weekend--Cougs And Hawks Go Down

 Not much happiness on the sports front as the  Washington State Cougars lost to Oregon. 43-29 and the Seahawks were beaten by the Rams by a score of  23-16.

New Restrictions For Washington

We believe these are reasonable and will get us headed in the right direction on this.

Cardboard Minshew At Coug Game

 During last night's  Oregon vs WSU match up, cardboard cutouts were shown of WSU fans.  This one almost needs no introduction, former Cougar quarterback Gardner Minshew. 

Sadly, Minshew is reportedly out of action in Jacksonville.

MLB's Miami Marlins Make History

 It's a record that's bigger than it's sport.  The Miami Marlins of Baseball's National League have chosen the first female general manager in any of the four major sports in the US with the pick of  Kim Ng.

Ng is also the first Asian American to hold that position in Major League Baseball.  She has a long, successful record, working in the sport.   

Congratulations to Kim Ng!

Go Cougs Go Seahawks!

 Both teams looking for wins this weekend!

Yoko Ono Passing Business Interests To Son Sean

 Signaling the passage of time, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono has passed her business interests including many involving the Beatles to her now 45 year old son, Sean.  

Sean, John Lennon's only child with Yoko and half brother of first son, Julian, is now 45.   He recently interviewed Sir Paul McCartney about the early days of the band. 

Ono is now 87 and reportedly in a wheelchair much of the time. 

Olbermann vs. Trump #24 - Relax! Trump's "Re-counts" Are Just Another MO...

Keith Olbermann is back or at least has been found.  Yes, I take him with a grain of salt, but he is able to bring up things that aren't discussed in the so-called mainstream media.  Thank you to Ken Levine for bringing this up. 

Mariner Kyle Lewis Wins Rookie Of The Year

 Mariner Center fielder Kyle Lewis has been unanimously chosen as the AL Rookie Of The Year for the 2020 season.   He is the first Mariner to win that award since Ichiro in 2001.

The accomplishments of Lewis have been somewhat obscured by the shortened pandemic plagued 2020 season and the fact that the Mariners have the longest playoff draught in professional sports. 

Hopefully, this is the start to great things in the future.  A first Mariner appearance in the World Series would do wonders for our area. 

 

'Jeopardy' host Alex Trebek dies at 80 after pancreatic cancer diagnosis

I found this tribute to Trebek, especially touching.

Biden And Harris Address The Nation

Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris and President-Elect Joe Biden stand with their spouses at the end of their victory speeches.

Popular TV Host Dies

CNN reports the death of Alex Trebek, 80. host of TV game show Jeopardy. 

Trebek had been battling pancreatic cancer. 

Trebek continued to host the show after his diagnosis in March of 2019, showing few signs of  being hindered by the disease.

Ken Levine, pays tribute to Trebek , click here

The 46th President

 Sources have declared former Vice President the winner in very close race.  Kamala Harris will become the first female vice president and the first woman of color to serve in that position. 

Go Cougs

 Pac 12 Football begins tomorrow with it's latest start in memory, due to the pandemic.  The Washington State Cougars will face the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30pm. 

This will be the first game for new head coach Nick Rolovich.  Bring on the Rolo era!

Washington gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp refuses to concede, double...

Loren Culp, the GOP candidate for governor  is accusing the state of vote irregularities and is refusing to concede the election to current Governor Jay Inslee.  I can see concerns in a tight election, but this one was called for Inslee soon after the polls closed.  

Still, these accusations should be taken seriously and if there are grounds for investigation, they should be be a follow up.  

However, the vote totals seems to me to follow regular voting patterns in this state. 

Inslee Wins Third Term

  Democrat Jay Inslee has become the first Washington governor to be elected to a third term since Republican Dan Evans in 1972.  Inslee's handling of the COVID crisis has won him praise as well as some harsh criticism for his closing of businesses and schools in our state. 

Election Day 2020

 The country is on pins and needles.

Sean Lennon interviews Paul McCartney | October 4, 2020.

Very interesting interview.  Sean Lennon, John's son with Yoko Ono interviewing Paul McCartney.

JERRY JEFF WALKER Mr Bojangles

I was taken by this song the first time I heard it.  Jerry Jeff Walker, who died a little over a week ago, wrote this about a man he met while serving time in a New Orleans jail. It has since been covered by many different artists. 

Lee Goldberg Remembers Sean Connery

 My cousin, Lee Goldberg, has written a great post on seeing the late film icon Sean Connery in an L.A. movie theatre.  If we have the fortune to meet a celebrity, we are prone to reminisce about the encounter when we hear of their passing.  

You can read about Lee's encounter with Connery, who died over the weekend, by clicking here.