Serving Franklin County, WA
Serving Franklin County, WA
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The NCAA men’s tournament will be over next Monday and an old champion will once again be crowned as the best in the land. Well at least the best at the end of the season which is all that matters. The matchups for games dictate so much because each team plays a certain way and you need to adapt or else you will need to catch the next flight back home. As a Gonzaga fan last Thursday’s game was a real punch to the gut. I’ve been there before seeing a near perfect team strug...
I’ve applied for several jobs during my long working career. For each job I was interested in, I needed to modify the resume and get new letters of recommendation. Now that I’m retired and doing volunteer work or part-time substitute teaching, having to prove myself or needing someone to vouch for me is something I don’t worry about. But what if you are a former college and professional quarterback that happens to be a bit controversial — like Colin Kaepernick? We all know the...
It’s harvest time again and I look at all of the huge equipment that works hard to get the crop into the grain elevators. This past weekend I was reading a bit of history that my uncle wrote about the family farm, my mom’s dad’s place. He wrote about the work that was involved to get the crop planted using horses. He also talked about harvesting with a 9 foot header. My neighbor’s combine header is 40 feet. Anyway going from a header to a pull type combine with a 14 foot he...
Last year, the NCAA approved student-athletes being able to earn money for their name, image and likeness or NIL. I think that a lot of fans thought it was a good idea since colleges and the NCAA were making huge amounts of money from the big time athletes showing off their talent in playing arenas and stadiums. So, if an athlete makes a few bucks doing a commercial, good for them. With the transfer portal in place — certainly an offshoot of the COVID-19 pandemic — there hav...
The basketball tournaments are over and we local fans should be happy that our teams played on for a while. Getting to playoff time is always fun. We get to brag about our team and watch them play in different venues against new opponents. The Broncos had a great year and their late season rally and defensive prowess was something to be proud of. I know a lot of fans love to watch the up and down the court pressing and fast breaks but late in the season that isn’t easy to d...
So we are down to our final two weeks of college basketball. I’m kind of a basketball junky. I love the high school playoffs and tournaments followed by the college conference tournaments and then of course March Madness. While many people will follow their team and could care less about watching any other team I love to watch the different teams, players and coaching styles. I’m not sure why but I can be watching a game and immediately start wanting one of the teams to win. I...
On Sunday the brackets for the 2023 NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament were announced. This year’s tournament will have the Gonzaga men and women and the Pac 12 women’s tournament champion WSU Cougars in the mix. I have had the opportunity to see a couple of men’s regionals and one women’s regional final and one NCAA men’s championship game. For all of the years that I have watched the tournament on TV it is really special to get to watch the games live. The NCA...
Congratulations to Jay Humphrey on his retirement from coaching, hopefully after the State 2A tournament in March. I’ve watched Jay coach on more than one occasion and he certainly had his passion for the game that he learned from his dad, Denny. I have fond memories of Jay’s time as a Bronco shooting guard in the days before the 3-point line was established. Jay had a really nice shot and could make things miserable for his opponent. Our paths crossed on several occasions, us...
I have a tendency to look at the scores of games that were played the day before and try to imagine what made the game unique. Was a close game close from start to finish, or just in the last few minutes or the last quarter? For instance, last Saturday, the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos defeated the Okanogan Bulldogs, 50-48. In the first half, the Broncos had trouble finding their shooting range and only scored 15 points, which is not a lot for them. The Bulldogs scored 26...
I have a few things to talk about today so bear with me. A couple of days ago I was driving on the freeway where doesn’t really matter. Anyway I was in the left lane and there were cars coming off the exit into the right lane. I needed to be in the right lane so I speeded up and at the right time I moved over. The car that I moved in front of decided to get into the left lane and would sling shot into that lane. As he moved passed me I noticed that the passenger side of t...
I’ve seen a few Sci-Fi movies about time travel and how someone can change history. But, of course, we really can’t and neither can the folks in the movies. I look at time travel and think where has the year gone now that we are near the end of 2022? To me that seems really fast but a minute or an hour haven’t gotten any faster it just seems that they have. We get up in the morning and splash some water on our faces and the next thing we know is that we are splashing water on...
I was reading the sports page this morning and saw the odds posted for basketball games that would be played later in the day. This early in the season there are a lot of games being played by the haves versus the have-nots. There are also some games that look highly competitive. The amount of points that the favorites are expected to win by varies from 2–32 points. Some of the game will be blowouts; a few will be nail biters. It’s early in the season and if you feel sec...
As the college football season continues into the last third of the season you can see how fortunes have changed for some teams. My Eastern Eagles have fallen on hard times as several injuries have led to young players getting playing time and valuable experience. However, with the inexperience and youth factor it has meant a fair amount of missed blocks and tackles and some opponents have looked like All-Americans. Case in point, on Saturday the Portland State QB juked and ra...
It was quite the season that the Seattle Mariners had. It helps that there are more Wild Card teams otherwise the M's may have had to wait another year to make the playoffs. I know that there are a fair amount of purists out there that think only the division winners should make the playoffs. I remember when there were only the teams from the American League and National League and they played each other all season long and the team with the best record would go to the World S...
I think we are all looking at the rising cost of living and we’re wondering where it will end or if it will end. I think it is frustrating when those people in power have a tendency to say that it’s not so bad or it won’t last long. That really doesn’t make me feel confident especially when those that are influential have other priorities. Who pays the price? Those that are in need are usually the ones that pay the biggest price. Those that can afford it usually are a bit unc...
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had read some history about my mom’s family. It is interesting to envision how life was over 100 years ago. Life was certainly not easy especially travel and the comfort of riding in a vehicle with A/C in the summer and heat in the winter was non-existent. I would have to say that those relatives that went before us were certainly a lot tougher than we have become. When I read the family history, I saw that my great grandparents and great u...
Anytime we hear about a death of someone in the sports world sadness is the first thing we all think about. Last week we lost two within a couple of days Bill Russell was 88 and Vin Scully at the age of 94. Death is going to happen to all of us we have no other choices but doing something good with your life for as long as you can, should be the goal. These two gentlemen gave it their all and were respected for it. Bill Russell was recruited by one college the University of...
The first thing I need to do is apologize for something I said in the column last week about Root Sports. Evidently the information I received second or third hand was not right. Root has not been purchased by another satellite provider. It seems that the provider that we have chosen has not been able to come to terms with Root Sports. I want to say that I am sorry for the confusion and misinformation that I put in the column a week ago. But if that is the worst thing I did...
Normally, I would have written a story or two about the Mariners season by now, but I have only been able to watch one game thus far. Why? Well, like many of you, we had Root Sports to follow the Emerald City nine. That is no longer the case. The television provider that we have no longer gets Root Sports. The provider that we once had purchased Root Sports, I’m sure figuring that we were going to change providers just to see Seattle baseball. In the words of Dan Carvey when he was impersonating President George H. W. Bush o...
It’s amazing when a person retires and there is a holiday. When I was working I really looked forward to having the day off but when you’re retired it is seemingly just another day like all of the others except that some businesses are closed and the mail will be a day late. But that’s okay I’ve adapted quite nicely anyway. You most likely heard the bombshell that UCLA and USC will be headed to the Big Ten in a couple of years. The payout for the two schools will be $80 mil...
It's amazing when a person retires and there is a holiday. When I was working, I really looked forward to having the day off. But when you're retired, it is seemingly just another day like all of the others - except that some businesses are closed and the mail will be a day late. (That's okay; I've adapted quite nicely.) You most likely heard the bombshell that UCLA and USC will be headed to the Big 10 in a couple of years. The payout for the two schools will be $80 million...
Last week, the Eastern Washington University Eagle coaches came to Ritzville for golf and steak dinner hosted by the Ritzville Lions Club. The event has been going on for a long time and we only missed the June 2020 get together due to COVID-19. We all wanted to hold the event but the so-called "higher powers" said no way. The last time that I participated was 2019 and I believe that it was also the last time I golfed. It was great to visit with the new Eastern coaches and...
Sorry about not having a column for a few weeks. I’ve had last minute commitments on the day I normally write this column therefore I miss the deadline. Oh sure I could have written it a day early but that’s not my style. If you look at the March 16 date you might not remember that it was two years ago that the world shut down for two weeks to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now 104 weeks later it seems that this state finally has decided that we are safe aga...
I’m not sure if you saw the news this past week that showed some very young elementary school students in Nevada. These youngsters were told by their teacher that starting the very next day they would no longer have to wear masks in class. The kids started screaming with excitement and jumping up and down as if they were told that they would get to have a five hour recess and only two hours of education for the rest of their lives. There have been a lot of states that have lif...
Trying to find a great sporting event to watch on Sunday was not easy. Sure there were a few college basketball games that were televised but I can’t say there was one team that I hoped would win and to me that is half the reason for watching. The other half wants to watch great athletes play the game. I must have watched less than five minutes of the Pro Bowl which is the NFL version of an All-Star game. This game used to be played the week after the Super Bowl but since s...