For your listening pleasure...

Mahna Mahna, through the years:
Here's the original 1969 version.

The 1976 Muppet Show version.

And the 2011 version from the movie The Muppets.

And here's one done by Animal.

I'm Actually Jealous

Just a little jealous.  Really, I am.



"Mucking it out" in the corner

Our first start-to-finish season as Spokane Chiefs Fans came to a rapid, emphatic close last night.  The boys were on the road against a very talented bunch from Tri-City, and not only pushed the series to 7 games, but led with 5 minutes to go.  Our team's MO all season had been to work hard and maximize opportunities - and it got them farther than anyone expected.

Cheeseball

Which is why it will be hard to say goodbye to this team.  By rule, all of the 20-year-old players and most of the 19s will not be back.  Steven Kuhn never missed a game in four years with the Chiefs.  Corey Baldwin anchored the defense (and provided the best clue to know if an announcer actually followed the team - the program lists his name as "Corbin" - if that's what the announcer reads, he's just here for the check).  Darren Kramer inspired a bobblehead that came with bobble gloves; how cool is that?







Yes, Angry Birds

This year taught our boys about being a fan, how trades work, how playoffs work, how to be in a rivalry without being rude.  And how to play Angry Birds while surrounded by 6000 screaming hockey fans.



Game On!

There were large, real tears last night when the horn sounded (after the green light came on).  Cam was devastated that there will be now more "puck drops in..." on the Chiefs' website until September.  "I just want to see one more game" he emphasized.  He didn't want it to be over.  I have no active memory of being a sports fan and being thoroughly crushed by the end of a season.  It probably happened, and I'd actually love to hear about it, but I don't recall it.  I was spoiled that my oldest sports memories are literally the Sonics losing game 7 to the Bullets in 1978, then winning the championship in 1979.  Back then we had three VHS tapes and I had recorded the final game until I erased it sometime that summer.  I remember watching it dozens of times all summer - man, I wish I still had that tape.


Puck drops in 5 months



here's Boomer!

I learned tons more about hockey this season than I had in my previous 39 years. Save for a dabble during the Pavel Bure/Vancouver Canucks years, when the league left ESPN, I didn't really go looking for it. As enjoyable as it is to watch on TV, nothing compares to being in the rink, seeing a player unchecked across the ice, who would certainly be off-camera in a televised game, anticipate a move by his linemate and come in for a goal.

Next season can't come soon enough for me!


Bobble GLOVES!



So Camp

Looking forward to the YLIN family retreat for families with diabetes.  This camp was definitely a high point of year one with T1D - and we've been looking forward to this year's retreat ever since.

It's comforting being in a room full of people in the same boat, having to count everything and stop before dining.  There will be a ton of "no idea how he/she got so high/low - we did everything exactly the same as the day before" stories.  It is these stories that turn our lives into Bg Whack-A-Mole - and even though every situation is unique, somebody is bound to have seen every situation we can come up with.

Thank you to all the friends and family at Hugo's for being such an invaluable sponsor of this event.

0:00.1

That's the margin that held the Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans going to overtime for the second game in a row saturday.

Game Recap

It's been three days and I'm still shaking my head - I'm sure I don't recall many plays as bang-bang as that, and certainly not just as the clock struck 0:00.0.  TV replays slowed down showed that as the green "game over" light came on, the puck was not yet in the net.  The puck crossed the line four frames of video later.  There are 30 frames per second, so the elapsed time of .13333 seconds provided the whisker-thin margin.

Oddly, in our house, the least affected by the whole thing was probably the Chiefs-lovingest 8-year old who doesn't care for it when we boo the officials (they're doing their best), and sees no conflict in rooting for Tri (they're the second-closest team, dontchaknow?).  While the grownups were intently watching full-speed replays in  which clearly the puck was in before the horn sounded, he was only interested in the final result - no goal, series tied at 2.

Thunder Always Comes After Lightning

I guess that's why there are two systems, the horn being the loud obvious intruder, announcing that TIME HAS EXPIRED!  Meanwhile this little unobtrusive light, sitting behind the glass, is the official arbiter.  Light travelling faster than sound means a horn blasting at the same time will actually reach your ears after the light has registered to your eyes.

Game three is tomorrow and it's on TV.  Grab some popcorn.