Irish 2-0 in California!

When you are having your worse season in history that's the kind of stat you look for. Yes, sports fans - the Irish of Notre Dame are undefeated, 2-0, in the state of California. They were successful in beating UCLA earlier this year and now have taken down the proud Stanford Cardinal 21-14! So, they have that going for them.

As a representative of the Great State of California I formally and humbly apologize to the remaining 49 states for this tragedy.

It's hard to describe the actual game. Let's just say it was an appropriate kind of game for two teams trying to be the best '3 win' team in America. I guess Notre Dame took the crown. Woo-wee.

I think officially there were 112 turnovers in the game. Maybe 113. We're not sure because the statistician gave up and started drinking in the 4th quarter. My friend Ramon went along with me to the game. He is a famous algebra teacher and even he was getting confused trying to add all those negative numbers. So, he just gave up and started staring at Jennifer Montana. That's the wife of Joe Montana - a famous Notre Dame alum and SF 49er. Okay, I don't think he was really staring at Jennifer so much as trying to figure out if his figure was as good as Joe's. I decided to stay out of that discussion altogether. I just know he had two orders of garlic fries. You decide.

You're also probably aware that the TV writers guild is on strike. In most cases you can actually view that as a good thing that California is doing for the country. Being the socially conscious people that we are - part of the Stanford band decided to strike during the pre-game show. You have to love the Stanford band. I think they may be the only college band that has ever been put on probation by the NCAA! That's quite an achievement. We, of course, are very proud!

It was fun to have Dean Smith and Matt, his son, along for the game. I think we all went home entertained.. but not exactly sure what the heck just happened. It was one of those games!

It's Raining Js!

The day before Thanksgiving is the traditional King's Academy (TKA) Alumni basketball game. On that evening alumni from all around the country return to take on the varsity womens and mens teams.

This year the Alumni women's team featured some of last year's varsity stars including our own #12 - Hannah '5 ft of fury' Henderson. Did the varsity stand a chance? I don't THINK SO!

The alumni OWNED the varsity women's team. And who led the ownage? Let's just say Hannah was UNCONSCIOUS. She was raining Js (that's making jumpshots for those of you in Michigan!) from all over the court. Official statistics were not available.. but Hannah was dropping 3-pointers like crazy. She had 6 for the night - and a couple other baskets and free throws.

The next morning she came out of her bedroom hunched over, limping and moaning. Being a superstar definitely hurts the next morning - especially when you've been off to college and studying instead of playing ball!

It was so fun to watch the games.. (the alumni boys won as well!). And it was fun to see Hannah dominate! She's still got it!

Can't wait for next year!

Spanking vs Time Out?

I received the following funny email today:

Spanking vs. Time Out... (a psychological conundrum)...

Most of America thinks it's either wrong or bad to spank children. So, I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have 'one of those moments'.

One that I found effective is for me to just take a child for a car ride and talk. They usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together.

I've included a photo of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique!

Sweet Victory!!

Ahhhh... sometimes victory is soooo sweet!

Saturday was the big rematch between the Knights of The King's Academy (TKA - yeah!) and the Sacred Heart Prep Gators (SHP - booo!).

A little history might be helpful here. You see, last year's game led to the 'curses heard round the world'! In the waning moments of last year's classic football game against SHP.. TKA was barely leading and SHP was lined up to kick a field goal in order to take 'the meat off our fork' as we say in Michigan. With seconds left SHP kicked the ball... it appeared good.. then was called wide left by the referees (that we paid!! - oops.. did I say that?). Let's just say those weren't a chorus of 'praise the Lords' coming out of those mouths. It made me misty remembering living in Michigan and watching fans getting into fistfights in the stands at hockey games. Seriously. Misty!

Anyways, being the 2000's.. this led to the 'blog wars'.. where the arguments (or whining as viewed by the WINNERS) continued for days and weeks. We even made the local papers (Christian Schools In Verbal Slugfest!). Loads of fun listening to the crazy rantings of kids and parents and trying to guess who was who (I think I figured it out.. generally speaking the kid's posts looked more like text messages and made more sense). Exciting - at least for a Christian school.

Wanna relive the drama? Yeah, you know you want to see it! Okay.. go to youtube and take a look for yourself and read the comments (FOUL LANGUAGE ALERT.. the comments are a bit... spicy!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMOSKsJLWqU

Now, with that history in mind - you can imagine the level of excitement that built for the rematch. SHP parents studiously preparing new swear words in various foreign languages so as to let us believe they were speaking in tongues. TKA parents doing whatever they do (hey, how would we know??? we're NOT TKA parents anymore!). SHP football coaches and staff planning on how to loose in the last few seconds.. and TKA coaches and staff preparing their victory speeches.

The rematch was worthy of the budding rivalry! (Did I mention that Kings just beat SHP for the CCS soccer championship?) The game itself was pure excitement. The number of TKA fans pretty much matched or exceeded SHP fans - even though the game was played at SHP. Alumni from as far away as Cal (Go Bears!), Redlands, USC(boo!), Gonzaga, and various other places streamed into the bay area to show their support!

TKA fans were LOUD and PROUD and helped push the team on. The game itself was a classic back and forth slugfest! When SHP scored with seconds remaining on the clock they were down by one with a choice to go for the tie or the win. They chose to go for two and the win. I give them a lot of credit for that. That took some sack! However, let's just say when several of our defenders met their running back at the 2 yard line and escorted his face into the ground back at the 5 yard line with time running out.. it was flippin SWEEET! TKA 28 - SHP 27.

Congratulations to TKA for a great game. You played with heart and determination and skill. And.. you finished STRONG! (LOL).

Huskies Rock!

Saturday afternoon we had a great time attending the Washington vs Stanford game at Stanford stadium. One of my best friends.. and a person you will hear about often on this blog..is Tim Logan. Tim is a Washington Alum and a big fan so it was great to be able to go. Joel, Julie, Tim, Auntie and I attended.

Don't ask me why.. but I THOUGHT Tim was really more interested in the football team and their efforts... but we found Tim over in the cheerleader area - with some of his close friends. Then, he was was hanging out with the Washington mascot. As you can see, Tim is tight with his Washington peeps.

It was a great game. The game time temperature was near 80 (perfection - since we sit on the shady side of the stadium! Our seats are 3 rows up from the field (behind the visitor bench) on the 38 yd line! So, we were able to chat up the football players as well and Julie had something funky going with Ty Willingham - Washinton's head coach.

And, you'll be happy to hear.. with Tim in attendance and rooting for his alma mater... they defeated the Cardinal!

Okay - technically, I think Stanford would prefer if we would rout for them - since we are season ticket holders! But - well, Team Henderson doesn't roll that way! We stay with our wingman! It is such a blessing to be able to experience great times with good friends.

Go Huskies!