A thought about leadership

Hillary Clinton claims that she is more prepared than Barack Obama to lead the country. That may be true. But my question is this: Which candidate is the country more prepared to follow?

Freshman basketball: Perfection

I probably wouldn't be doing my job as a dad and a sports fan if I didn't mention the season just concluded by the GHS freshmen boys' basketball team. Under the tutelage of Mr. Ken Riggan, ably assisted by David Duong, these boys wrapped up their schedule with a win over LaSalle to finish with an amazing 20 wins against zero defeats.

Making this feat even more remarkable is the fact that Coach Riggan, while he certainly wants to win, is a firm believer that teaching trumps winning. So obviously, the boys listened and learned! Coach Riggan has been around GHS since, I believe, the fall of 1968 and cannot recall another undefeated squad. Beau, Blake, Drew, Erik, Hector, Jacob, Joe, Kenny, Mason, Sage and Ted: Great job!

Fishing fights cancer

The Sherrie Hildreth Ovarian Cancer Foundation has scheduled its second annual Fish for Life salmon derby for Saturday, April 5, at Clackamette Park in Oregon City. (Sherrie, of course, teaches sixth graders at Kraxberger Middle School.) Registration for the derby is $50 per angler, $150 in the Pro Guide division. The event also includes a barbecue, raffle and silent auction. The raffle features a hand-crafted Willie drift boat. For more information, visit the SHOC Foundation Web site.

Catching up on the news

It's been a long, long time since I've posted here, but I've got a backlog of topics. Let's see how far we can get. For now, let's talk about Darlene Hooley.

You've probably heard that our longtime congresswomen has decide to leave the House of Representatives at the conclusion of her current term. She's been a strong advocate for business, our armed forces and veterans, and the people of of the 5th District for six congressional terms (not to mention her service as a Clackamas County commissioner and in the Oregon state legislature). I'm disappointed to see her go, but I completely understand the grind and toll that bi-coastal living probably exacts, and I'm hopeful Kurt Schrader can pick up her torch and continue the thoughtful work Rep. Hooley has been doing in the trustworthy manner with which she has conducted herself.

A number of years ago, we (my family) had some difficulties with the INS. An aide of Ms. Hooley's (who now works in government relations for ODOT) looked into our situation and got things moving. I'll always be grateful.

Darlene, thank you for your service.

Gladstone to host state football playoffs

The Oregon School Activities Association has asked permission to hold the 1A State Semi-finals for 8-man football at Gladstone High School. The games will be this Saturday, November 24. The OSAA will rent the facility from Gladstone School District, and the Booster Club will run the concession stands. Crane will play Mohawk at noon; South Wasco County faces Imbler at 4:00 p.m.

Gladstone already has a reputation for putting on great track meets. This is an excellent opportunity for us to further showcase the Gladstone community and our wonderful stadium. Volunteers are needed, in shifts, between 11:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. E-mail the Booster Club (president@gladstoneboosters.org) and let them know when you would be available to help out. By showing the OSAA that we can host games and provide a quality atmosphere, our district wll be in line for more events (and income) in the future.

Remember, snack shack volunteers get to specify a contribution from the profits in the amount of $10 to the GHS sport of their choice, and high school kids 15 and older can work and get community service credit hours.

Network television worth watching

Despite the reported demise of network television, there are three primetime dramas I'm watching on a consistent basis. You might check them out, especially if you've liked the shows I used to like: Wise Guy, Murder One, Homicide: Life on the Street, The West Wing, Shark.

"Journeyman" (Monday 10 p.m., NBC) - Dan Vasser travels back in time, now and then, but doesn't know why. Complicating matters are his job as a newspaper columnist, his brother the police detective, his former love interest who supposedly had died some years earlier but turns out also to be a time traveler, his wife who was formerly his brother's love interest, his young son who once accidentally observed his dad's "magic"...it's a lot of balls to keep in the air at once. Set in San Francisco, it's a nice change of pace from the usual L.A., Chicago or Seattle. Reed Diamond is the only cast member I was familiar with previously, due to his work as Detective Mike Kellerman in "Homicide: Life on the Street." Interesting cultural and historical snippets are interspersed, such as Nixon's resignation, Neil Young playing the Winterland and the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

"Life" (Wednesday 10 p.m., NBC) - I think this show is actually starting to generate a little buzz. It stars Damian Lewis, most familiar for playing paratrooper Dick Winters in the HBO drama series "Band of Brothers." He's been released from jail after serving a number of years for a crime he didn't commit. The resulting lawsuit has put this complex, Zen-like character back on the job &mdash as a police detective. It also made him rich, so he and his financial advisor, a former white-collar criminal he met in prison (played by Adam Arkin of "Northern Exposure," "Chicago Hope") live in a fabbo mansion. Not everyone on the force believes he was wrongly convicted, so much conflict ensues as he tries to both do his job and figure who framed him to start with.

"Numb3rs" (Friday 10 p.m., CBS) - Speaking of "Northern Exposure," this drama stars Rob Morrow as FBI agent Don Eppes, whose genius math-whiz brother helps him track down criminals and solve crimes. Math is everywhere, you know. Also features Judd Hirsch ("Taxi," "Dear John") and Peter McNichol, as well as a really cool bungalow in Pasadena.

The big plays

Dennis Dixon going down early in Oregon's game against Arizona was, obviously, huge. Kwame Agyeman's fumble at the end of the fake punt was big, too. But I'm focused on three other key plays that I think were difference makers.

• The pass dropped in the end zone. It hit the receiver right in the number and would have put Arizona down a quick 15-0.
  
• Cason's punt return for touchdown. The back judge was so intent on where to drop his bean bag that he blew the obvious illegal block that sprung Cason. The play should have come back.
  
• Grigsby's one-yard run. Late in the fourth quarter, trailing by only seven points, the Ducks intially stopped the Arizona running back well short of the first down. But a great second effort got Grigsby over the line to gain for a fourth-down conversion, and Arizona subsequently moved the ball into field goal position and put the game out of reach.

It wasn't the Ducks' night. It also wasn't ESPN's night. Fowler spent the entire first half mis-identifying the Duck who dropped the pass in the end zone (it wasn't Williams). According to one of Fowler's play calls, Stewart ran up the middle and fumbled but the fumble was recovered by Leaf; in actuality, Leaf had the ball the entire time. Later, WR Derrick Jones dropped (another) pass; when they put up a follow-up shot to get his reaction on the bench, they got the wrong number 6 and showed Walter Thurmond III. And they never did correctly pronounce the name of Oregon's kicker. Finally, maybe this is just me, but what the guys with the microphones interpreted as a lack of life, hope and enthusiasm on the Oregon sidelines after Dixon's injury I took to be a lack of panic. I think the Ducks were confident that Leaf and the rest of the team were going to find a way to win.

Missing passed classmates

We haven't lost many classmates from the GHS Class of 1980, at least as far as I know. Russ Jones and Tim Gorman come quickly to mind. We lost another this past weekend. Caroline Meyer was a star of our High-Q team and, along with her brother, one of the smartest people I've ever met.

Here is her obituary from The Oregonian:

Caroline F. Meyer
A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007, in Ross Hollywood Chapel for Caroline F. Meyer, who died Nov. 10 of cancer at age 44.

Caroline Meyer was born Dec. 9, 1962, in Wheelus Air Base, Libya. She graduated from Portland State University and was an underwriter for Standard Insurance.

Survivors include her father, John; sister, Catherine; brother, Patrick; and companion, Mark Fleming.

Remembrances to the Oregon Zoo. Arrangements by Ross Hollywood.

Not a valid reason

The two ballot measures clogging the airwaves in the run-up to this November's election are generating no shortage of misleading arguments. The most ridiculous of them is the anti-50 message telling us we "shouldn't mess with our constitution." What is sometimes forgotten is that the Oregon constitution is not at all like the relatively pristine, high-minded United States constitution. As noted in a Corvallis Gazette-Times editorial earlier this week, our state constitution "is more of a legislature- and voter-approved dumping ground than the New Jersey salt marshes" and has been amended 24 times in the past eight years alone. If I'm not mistaken, something like 240 amendments have been tacked onto Oregon's constitution.

I also don't buy the argument that taxing a product seeing diminshing use—and that we all hope disappears—is unwise because then that funding also disappears. But do you realize how much healthcare money we will save by taxing cigarettes out of existence? And how many fewer kids will start smoking due to the expense?

Regardless, you might find a reason to vote against Measure 50. But the fact that it changes the Oregon constitution really shouldn't be one of them.

Another voice talks about one of the jewels of Gladstone

West Linn writer Cornelia Becker Seigneur has discovered the Happy Rock Coffee Company on Portland Avenue in downtown (no giggling when you say that!) Gladstone. Read her very nice take on the local atmosphere here.

4A Football: Somebody's not paying attention

Gladstone and Cascade have the same record and similar results on a game-by-game basis. But somehow, barely a week removed from defeating Cascade, the Gladiators are ranked behind the Cougars in the new poll. Fortunately, this isn't like the BCS; in the long run, the polls don't matter, only the playoffs.

A Night of Celebration

Hey, Gladstoners. Just in case you’re interested, I have eight four two remaining raffle tickets at $25 each for one prize of $4,000 in travel vouchers. Only 600 tickets will be sold, and all proceeds support the Gladstone Education Foundation. The drawing will be this Saturday night—need not be present to win. Saturday is the GEF dinner auction fundraiser; if you aren’t already attending but are interested in doing so, give Tammy Tracy (some of you might remember her as Tammy Davis) a call at 503-650-2577 or visit this Web site: www.gladstone.k12.or.us/.

Some of you have already donated auction items for this event; thank you very much for doing that. Anyone who would like me to set aside one or more raffle tickets for them, just drop me a line with your address and phone number in the next couple days.

Also, this Friday night is the Homecoming football game. The boys are having a very good season, and the facility features a new track and synthetic playing surface that is fantastic, so come have a look. Those of you in the Class of 1980, following up on Ted’s idea, how about we gather near the snack shack in the northwest corner at the end of the first quarter? (Just so you know what you've been missing out on, Diane's niece was homecoming queen last year.)

Small-town barber shops are the best

If you're a guy and you go somewhere other than a classic downtown storefront barber shop of between one and four chairs, you are missing an experience that will help complete your training as a male of the species. What's there? No "Cosmopolitan" or "Us Weekly" magazine. Maybe "Time" or "Newsweek," and almost always a couple years' worth of "Outdoor Life" and "Sports Illustrated." Sometimes there's a television, in case there's a ballgame on, or golf; if not, reruns of COPS will do. But best of all (besides a fine haircut at a reasonable price) is the local flavor. By that, of course, I mean the characters.

A couple days ago I visited a fine local example of this institution on Gladstone's Portland Avenue. On this particular day, Ton, the proprietor, didn't have much to say, but that was mainly because he could not get a word in edgewise. The leader of the day's discussion just preceded me in through the door, but he graciously offered to let me go ahead. I told him I was on vacation and not in a particular hurry, but he informed me that he was coming up on 87 years of age and had been on vacation 20 straight years. So I was next.

I think the guy just wrapping up in the chair knew what was coming, because when he was finished, he didn't leave; he just took a seat.

During the course of my haircut, we covered a lot of ground. Howard Hobson had refereed this gentleman's eighth-grade football game; I'm not sure I exactly followed the story that Mr. Hobson flattened a mouthy head coach with one post-game punch. (BTW, this would have been about six years before Hobby led the Tall Firs of the University of Oregon to the first NCAA basketball championship.) Did you know Tommy Prothro was played quarterback in the 1942 Rose Bowl game that was played in North Carolina due to onset of the war with Japan? (I knew it had been played there, didn't know Prothro was involved.) At Oregon State, I learned, Coach Prothro always had a couple cases of Coke handy; "The Pumpkin" (that's Dee Andros for any latecomers), on the other hand, kept a keg of beer nearby. And the Oregon State baseball squad defeated Oregon two out of three during my conversational partner's time on campus in Corvallis. I couldn't really figure out if he actually played ball for the Beavers, but he did tell me that Oregon's baseball coach was the legendary Len Casanova; "heckuva football coach, but he didn't know much about baseball."

Our conversation wasn't completely limited to sports. Too many countries have the A-bomb. Stay healthy by walking an hour and a half every day ("that's your job"). At some point, this world isn't going to be able to handle all the people on it. China and India now have as many people as the Earth's entire population in the '30s.

That was probably about half of what we went through. I don't know how long I was there, but it seemed like the fastest haircut I ever had. And before I left, it was pointed out to me that someday I'd be eligible to pay the same price he does; those age 65 and better pay $10 instead of $12. Well, I've got a few years to go yet. But if every visit to the barber shop is as interesting and entertaining as this one, there's no doubt about the value of that extra two dollars.

Baker History: College Football

I'm initiating a page on Ralph "Moon" Baker, my great uncle and an All-American halfback at Northwestern University in the 1920s. The triple-threat halfback led the Wildcats to a tie for the Big Ten conference title in 1926. He was named to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1981. Only my uncle Gerald (Dad's older brother) rivals Ralph in gridiron accomplishments (a running back for Wesleyan University, he was pictured alongside the great Jim Brown of Syracuse in a Sports Illustrated college football preview issue). See link at left.

Observations on a late-night stroll

Somebody remind me why we can't put an adequate public library on the property near the intersection of Webster and Oatfield.

If you live in the area of Stonehill, Barbary, Ridgegate and Stonewood (or pretty much anywhere else north of Kenmore or east of Oatfield, take the dog food and the cat food off your back porch. It's attracting racoons.

It seems like sprinklers on the baseball field at Kraxberger could be set so they don't make mud pits of first base and home plate every night. I can't imagine any benefits to watering dirt.

Baseball is a funny game

I've always enjoyed those famous utterances and insights from days gone by, such as the famous "Ninety percent of baseball is half mental" from Yogi Berra. Or this gem from San Diego play-by-play man Jerry Coleman: "There's a deep fly ball... Winfield goes back, back... his head hits the wall ... it's rolling towards second base! This is a terrible thing for the Padres!"

There are a couple recent entries. Earlier this month I was watching the Mariners face the Pirates on television. The Pirates catcher, according to broadcaster Dave Sims, eased into second base "with his 11th triple of the year." And I spotted this in one of the Seattle newspapers: "As far as all that other stuff, it's bridge under the water for me," said Reds first baseman Scott Hatteberg.

Playing catch-up

After a couple weeks of doing a really bad job coming up with a substantive topic to share, I find myself needing to bust out a series of random thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head. See if any ring true for you.

• Are any other Ducks getting tired of being asked why Oregon doesn't have a baseball team? I've taken to saying it's for the same reason Oregon State doesn't have a track team.


• Meanwhile, the Duck contingent at work got a good chuckle out of the photo of OSU fan in Omaha with the sign proudly proclaiming that she is a "BEAVER BELIVER." ("I wonder if she needs a liever transplant," says my friend David.) It reminds me of the giant banner that hung on the outfield fence at Goss Stadium last year, courtesy of Arbor Custom Homes: "GO BEAVER'S"


• There are some really amazing people on the Gladstone Education Foundation board.


• Have you ever been to the Wonders of Wildlife museum in Springfield, Missouri? It's an extraordinary place. But there's one thing that has always bothered me. I can deal with "Adopt a Whatever," but this outfit invites you to "Become a Parent." Well, hold on one second! Writing a check to "adopt a madagascar hissing cockroach" does not make anyone a parent. Calling these supporters "parents" really demeans and diminishes actual parents of human beings, adoptive or not. It just rankles me that things like nurturing, guidance, dedication, etc., are being ignored in a cheap effort to tug at heartstrings and wallets.


• Shouldn't I be able to listen to a baseball game on the radio (the Mariners, in this case) on a Sunday afternoon and not have a promo for other station programming (I believe it was Jim Rome's show) spend its entire 60 seconds blabbing about sex and orgies and how much sex somebody in the NBA has had and lot of sex and orgies and, uh let's see...oh, yeah, sex—all with a 7-year-old and a 14-year-old in the car with me? C'mon, KFXX, you can do better. Baseball should be safe for families, even on the radio.


• Next time you're in Lincoln City, give Momiji a try for some great Japanese food. I loved the udon in particular. They've been on Hwy 101 near SW 51st for awhile and have now opened an outpost up the road in the Tanger Outlet Center.


• More baseball: I'm not a big fan of the Internet when it comes to athletes who aren't even out of high school. Too much toxicity, not enough responsibility. But the boys in the Class of 2011 have a lot going for them. They are currently 12-4 at the Junior Baseball "Senior Federal" level and have been bouncing around between second and fourth place all season, in a 12-team league populated almost entirely of 5A and 6A teams. They should be fun to watch in the years ahead.

Until next time...

A commercial word

Part of my professional life involves working on behalf of a couple of Pacific Northwest brewing icons: Widmer Brothers Brewing and Redhook Ale Brewery. You may wish to direct your interest to a couple of fun interactive contest Web sites they each have recently launched.

www.lemonyourwidmer.com
Check out the amazing videos already posted here. I have it on good authority that the golf shot required no more than 10 takes.

www.defyordinary.com
We're all a bit odd, somehow. Immortalize your oddity in cardboard, or vote for others bold enough to want to.

Portland Ave.

The city is in the middle of an evaluation process regarding business and traffic (or lack thereof) in downtown Gladstone. I appreciate being able to get a haircut in downtown Gladstone for half of what it would cost me in downtown Portland. But good ideas for viable businesses are hard to come by. I do recall, though, that when the center turn lane was added to Portland Avenue some years ago, it became more difficult for intersecting traffic to see oncoming vehicles. Unless that center lane is important as temporary parking for delivery trucks, I wouldn't mind seeing it go away.

Click for Google Maps image of downtown Gladstone

If you're personally interested in this topic, there's a community forum scheduled for 6:30 p.m. June 14 at the Senior Center.

News and (my) commentary

Two items in last night's local television newscasts struck me as just plain wrong. Now, I'm not one of those "all media are bad, and biased, and stupid, and controlling the agenda" types. But there are definitely moments when you have to wonder what they're thinking.

Earlier this week, a man was shot and killed by Portland police officers after he screamed he was going to shoot someone and then pointed a loaded shotgun at the officers. The news last night on our CBS affiliate was that the "victim" had been identified. Victim? Victim of what? Certainly not the police, though that was the implication. Maybe of his own stupidity or mental instability. But calling him a victim in this story made it seem like he was wrongly shot by the police. And that struck me as wrong.

Meanwhile, on our NBC affiliate ran a story about a group of seniors at a area high school who dug up a lawn on campus and planted "SENIORS 07" and a giant peace sign in flowers. Only one student has admitted to participating. Among the ridiculous details:
(1) The news station calls this a "prank"; it's actually criminal vandalism.
(2) All those other students are letting Maggie twist in the wind on this; she may want to choose some new friends.
(3) Maggie doesn't want to "out the other kids" and her mother, amazingly, says she doesn't want to encourage her to do so. Mom, sorry to resort to name-calling, but you are an idiot. When a crime has been committed, you cooperate. You're fortunate the school has handled this themselves rather than calling the police.
(4) Maggie apparently has received calls and offers of monetary assistance to pay the fine that stems from this prank/vandalism (since, as the only identified perpetrator, she is on the hook for all the damages). I was astonished to hear the news anchor editorialize at the end of the report that it's "good to see that Maggie is getting some support." Are you kidding? Support for what? Damaging school property? Withholding information about the commission of a crime? For this she deserves "support" and we're supposed to be glad?