Seattle Sports Fan

I love Seattle sports. Let me correct that: I am obsessed with Seattle sports. Cara gives me a hard time about it and points out that I devote way too much time and energy to this obsession. And, I totally agree...but, I'm sucked in! I can't help it! So, I turn to blogging in an attempt to give my obsession an outlet. Maybe it'll help slow me down. Then again, maybe it'll only make my obsession grow. And grow. Poor Cara...

My obsession started innocently enough. As a kid, I loved sports and stats. I got a baseball video game (Bases Loaded II: Second Season) and never looked back. Since the game did not calculate statistics beyond one game itself, I christened myself league statistician and did so myself. There I was, a 9-year-kid crunching away batting averages, ERAs, on-base percentages, etc. Nerdy? You bet. The sports obsession seeds were planted.

I grew up loving the Atlanta Braves. I think this is largely because I could listen to every game on the Turner Radio Broadcast in Gaithersburg, MD. And listen I did. I would stay up late with the radio down low getting my fill of sports and stats. Feeding the growing obsession. Other than that, I can't recall being particularly obsessed with any one team in particular. In fact, it wasn't until I moved to Seattle that I really started feeling pride for the home town teams. And it has only been since I moved to Knoxville a few years ago that this pride has turned into obsession. I am obsessed with NW sports.

I think that the root of this obsession is that it connects me with the NW. I miss my family, friends, the weather, the sights and sounds. Following NW sports obsessively helps connect me to the NW. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. But, I probably could stand to turn it down a notch. Here's a sampling of what drives Cara crazy:

• Seattle Mariners: I watch all of the M's games on MLB GameTracker and simultaneously refresh the M's Live game blog page at the Seattle Times website (see the blog, here). So, under the pretense of "work," I am typically keeping a watchful eyes on my boys in grey and blue. So far, the M's are off to a surprisingly hot start at 8-5, leading the AL West by 2.5 games. I'd like to claim this is due to my obsessive vigilance. But, Cara has convinced me that is poor logic. So, I'm gonna try to keep a slightly less obsessively vigilant eye on the M's.
• Seattle Sounders FC: Ever since the expansion Seattle Sounders FC MLS team was announced, I have eagerly snapped up any information on the new hometown franchise. And now the dream is a reality. The Sounders stormed into their first season as an MLS franchise with three straight wins. And I was (you guessed it) keeping a watchful eye out the whole way! Well, sometimes it was a watchful ear I guess. The games are broadcast online at KIRO radios website, so I've taken in a game or two with headphones in my ear. In fact, there have been a couple of occasions when I had both the Sounders AND the M's to stimulate my sports/stats obsession!! Awesome!! Nevermind my first professional/semi-professional soccer experience was when Cara took me to a Timbers game in Portland. She claims that I have to be a Timbers fan. I have a blast proving her wrong and cheering for the Sounders that much louder! It'll be even more fun when the Timbers join MLS in 2011! A rivalry is born! Now I just need a jersey!
• Seattle Seahawks: In reality, my Seahawks obsession is more of a fantasy football obsession. I posted about this obsession here. It's a long blog. So, I'm just gonna leave it at that.
• Gonzaga Bulldogs: I would say that the Bulldogs are probably my healthiest obsession, in that both Cara and I are passionate about our alma mater's basketball team. So, at least we can share in the obsession. Within our first 12 hours of dating, we were snuggled up on the couch watching our Bulldogs in the 2008 NCAA tournament. And the "fan-dom" continues in Knoxville. ESPN2 and the WCC have a suh-weet deal where a handful of league games are broadcast nationally. Unsurprisingly, Gonzaga hogs the spotlight which is perfect for us! So, we get to see quite a bit of our Zags in Knoxville! The game times are killer, usually starting at 11pm EST. So, Cara watches the 1st 4 minutes and falls asleep on the couch. I promise to go to bed at halftime if the Zags are blowing their opponent out. The Zags dominate the 1st half. I proceed to watch the ENTIRE game anyways. Then I wake Cara up and we go to bed around 1am EST.

Bottom line. It's exhausting work. But, that's the life of a SUPER fan. Make that an obsessive, super fan. I'm trying to drop the obsessive part. But, I've got a ways to go. Well, I gotta run. M's are on GameTracker...

Kidding.

"How I Met Your Mother " Poll Results

A couple of weeks ago, I ran a poll of your favorite "How I Met Your Mother" character. The runaway winner was Barney Stinson, and for good reason. His character provides sure-fire comedy night-in and night-out (click for example). I chose Marshall Eriksen. His character is awesome. He is such a dopey, loveable guy. Kind of like...umm...me! And if you want comedy, he delivers. Just check out the Smacksgiving episode (here)!

Knoxville Bar Review - Toddy's

A few weeks back, I promised to rate some of the Knoxville watering holes (see my blog, here). And now I deliver on this promise. I’ve chosen several of Knoxville’s finest bars, taverns, and/or pubs and I will review each of them in due time. For each, I rate the ambiance, furnishings, food, drink, and prices. This all adds up to a total score (out of 25) and I’ll conclude with my brief take on the strengths and weaknesses. And without any further ado, the first location up for review is:

Toddy’s Back Door Tavern: This hole in the wall on Kingston Pike was founded by former Vols basketball player, Ted Cook. The name Toddy’s is a play on Ted’s nickname, Joe Toddy. The bar has earned the vote of two local legends, Peyton Manning and Justin “The Accountant” Gundy. Says Gundy, “Hot Dog Bar!” Need I say more?

Ambiance (3 out of 5): A definite hole in the wall, but it’s got a cozy, down-home kind of feel to it. The back porch is awesome, especially on a nice day. The bar itself is a little bit small with an awkward layout. The barside has a good feel to it with decent television screens.

Furnishings (3 out of 5): Definitely nothing to write home about. The furniture and amenities could be improved. But, at the same time the furnishings give the place its charm. And it’s got a lot of that.

Food (2 out of 5): The hot dogs are where its at. Problem is, they used to be free and now they’re not. However, they are tasty and there isn’t much that goes better with a tall, cold one than a hot dog. Rest of the menu is limited.

Drink (3 out of 5): The beer flows here and they’ve got Shiner on tap. That alone should make the Texans in the area pretty excited. I gotta admit, Shiner Bock is pretty darned good.

Prices (4 out of 5): The beer is cheap (and so are the hot dogs, despite no longer being Happy Hour giveaways). However, the place doesn’t take credit cards and I find that annoying. I must just be a snob or something.

Overall (15 out of 25): Weaknesses – Limited food options, no hard alcohol selections (it’s a tavern), does not accept credit cards and overall the place could use some TLC. Strengths – At the end of the day, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. I’ve always had a great time at Toddy’s. Cold beer, hot dogs and a patio on a nice, sunny day? Now, that’s living, folks.

On the Home Front...

Owning a home can be both maddening and exciting. The past two weeks have been a prime example of this dichotomy. Cara and I had a blast hosting her sister (Megan) and adorable niece (Becca) a week and a half ago (see Megan’s blogs here, here, here and here for deets). A big part of the fun was showing off OUR house and all the work we’ve done since Cara moved here last October: new paint, new carpet, new kitchen table, rearranging the rooms, etc. etc. However, during Megan’s visit we had two major appliance blowouts illustrating the maddening flipside of the home-ownership coin. First, we were doing laundry and I went downstairs to change loads only to find the floor soaking wet. Ugh! Broken washing machine?!? The verdict is still out, but I’ve done a couple of small loads since and I’m fairly certain it was more of an overload flood, than a leaky or malfunctioning washing machine kind of flood. So, I think we’re safe there. Whew!

Little did we know, we could have used all of that excess water a few days later when our oven nearly started an electrical fire! We had just cooked up a delicious baked macaroni and cheese casserole and were sitting down to eat at the dining table when we all heard an odd crackling sound. I got up to check the office, where we all believed the sound to be coming from. Once there, I quickly realized it was the kitchen and opened the oven (which we had forgotten to turn off) to find it glowing from within. The crackling sound was the baking element which had broken and was arcing electricity. It looked like a welder’s torch! I couldn’t take my eyes off of it and probably burned out a few retina cells as I tried to figure out what to do. Turning off the oven didn’t work and so we sent Megan downstairs (Cara still being hobbled from her knee surgery) to grab the extinguisher (just in case) and to flip off the breaker (Cara’s great idea). The breaker shut-off did the trick and we were officially without a working oven.

So, the next step when you’re a home owner (of course) is to fix the problems. And that’s where the costs start adding up. Cara and I had a few other “fix-its” around the house, so I set out to tackle the stove and the garage door (which has been out of commission with a dead garage door opener since late last summer). So, off I went to Sears and $850 later we had a new garage door opener and a new stove purchased and ready to be installed. The garage door opener installation was scheduled yesterday. As it turns out…I’m an idiot. The installation contractors got here and quickly determined a late summer electrical storm had flipped the breaker on the grounded outlet sourcing the garage door opener. The original one wasn’t dead afterall and the installation (and new opener) weren’t needed! So, they instead – to make the service call money worthwhile – installed a bar along the top of the garage to keep it from buckling over time and I got to return the opener and have the full price (and installation) refunded! Whoop whoop!

The new range was installed just this afternoon and it looks great. It’s nice to have a shiny new oven in place and this one has even got a utility drawer underneath which gives us much needed additional storage space in our tiny kitchen! After doing the self-clean all afternoon – and nearly dying from the fumes of all the oils that coated our new range burning off – we are now ready for cooking action once again! Oh, and while all this madness was going on…we bought an indoor plant as well. It really ties the room together. It’s a Schefflera Arboricola or “Dwarf Umbrella Tree”. Suh-weet!