Thanks to the Community Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the Stockton Sports Commission headed by Don Miller, the Beep Ball World Series in being played in Stockton!

This is great news for our city and we are very proud to share Stockton with the other 13 teams that have travelled from all over the US and Taiwan.

Tonight, we went to the opening ceremony at the Hilton Hotel. After an address by David Smolka, the NBBA President and Don Miller, Mayor Ann Johnston took the stage. She welcomed all of the players and thanked the Commission, CCBVI and the volunteers for helping to bring this event to Stockton. Mrs. Johnston encouraged everyone to spend some time throughout the city taking in local entertainment.

After a few more remarks by Mr. Smolka, each of the teams were introduced. Most of the teams had their own cheer but the Taiwanese team had the coolest!

To learn more about the NBBA, visit them online at http://www.nbba.org. For more information on the Community Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired and the Stockton Stingrays, check out http://www.communitycenterfortheblind.org/ and read the recent article on The Record. To watch live coverage, visit The Valley Sports Network at http://valleysportsnetwork.com/

Best of luck to all the teams!

Today was Makenzy’s first track meet, held at my old high school. She competed in the standing long jump, 100 and 400 meter races. She did very well, especially since it was her first event.


Check out the pics here.

This morning we drove out to Davis to catch the start of Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California. It was horribly windy and cold in Stockton and the weather only got worse as we got into Davis. We arrived at the Mondavi center about 10 o’clock and took the double decker bus downtown. Even though it was raining and cold, the atmosphere was great with cycling fans everywhere. I can’t believe we live this close to Davis and have never been there.

There were tons of people on bikes, even a parade of people riding penny-farthings. I was really wishing I would’ve brought mine.

The girls got a chance to write chalk messages for Lance and each scored a box of yellow Livestrong chalk.



We stood in the rain for an hour and a half until the race started. Unlike when the race started in Stockton, we did not actually see any of the big named riders until they took off out of the gate.

The weather made it difficult to take many pictures although we did manage to snap a few. Check them out here.

Tonight, Dawn and I renewed our wedding vows in front of thousands of screaming fans. Well, we weren’t the only ones. The Stockton Thunder and KATM 103.3 had a promotion tonight where DJ Walker, a licensed minister, performed another mass wedding on the ice after the first period. Although most were there to renew their wedding vows, there were quite a few couple actually getting married.

What did we wear for this occasion? Well, I wore the same Stockton Thunder shirts I wear to every game, along with a black suit coat. Dawn wore her Thunder shirt along with a beautiful veil. We were at a hockey game getting married (again) after all.




We watched the first period on TV in the large banquet room and then made our way out on to the ice. With a fight in the first couple of minutes and a 3-0 lead, the Thunder had done more than there share getting the crowd excited.

After we were re-married we went to our seats and joined the friends and family that had come out to watch us (and a hockey game).

The rest of the game did not go so well for the Thunder and we eventually lost 5-4. The Thunder remained scoreless in the second period and only scored the 4th goal on the very last second of the game.

We also tried, along with some people sitting near us, to start a wave. We never really got it going but Mike went down near the glass and got a lot of people to start doing it.


Thanks to Tony, Mike, Shauna, Christian, Rachel, Emily, Makenzy, Jack, Rita, Ken, Megen, Kenny, Missy, Dad, Angela, Tom, Tom, and Justin for coming out and sharing our special night with us.

I love you Dawn!

Check out the pictures from tonight here.

Also, Ken took a video of the fight between Stockton’s Adam Huxley and Bakersfield’s Hank

For many years I did not understand the fascination my twin brother had with golf. He’s not one of those die hard golfers but has played for a decade or so. Walking around a big course chasing that little white ball seemed like a waste of a good day. Getting that ball in that little hole from hundreds of yards away seemed next to impossible.

I knew enough to know it was not an easy skill to master. Having gone out to a driving range years before I could appreciate that swinging a club and controlling where the ball went was something that did not come natural to me (or most).

Finally, last August, when JR was out from Texas, he and I joined Mike and Shawn for my first round of golf. I stepped out on the first tee box of the executive course at Swenson Golf Course, put the ball on the tee and grabbed a club from the bag Mike had “loaned” me. Of course, it was not the right club and Mike tossed me the 7 iron. I landed my very first shot on the green! Wow! I then proceeded to take 8 putts to sink it.



I have played a few times since then (ok, maybe more than a few times) and am really enjoying the game but I am a long, long way from being good. I love data and numbers and this new hobby gives me plenty of data to think about. At the rate I’m going I have some time before I start playing par golf.

Why do I love golf?

Golf is good exercise. It’s not a rigorous work out but playing the big course without a cart means more than 5 miles of walking, with a golf bag on my back.

There is no subjectivity. I either hit the ball where I wanted to or I didn’t. I either made it in 5 strokes or 9. When we actually keep score I know exactly where I ended, and how far I am from my goal. Data doesn’t lie.

There is great tradition in golf. My brother Mike has taught me the game by focusing on the rules and traditions first. He told me I can work on my approach, stance, grip and swing later - first I had to learn the social graces of the game. I’ve learned not to walk ahead of others in my group, shut up when someone’s taking their shot and never walk on someone’s line on the green.

Golf is a social sport. Like cycling, golf can be played alone but is better with good friends and family. Also, like cycling, I enjoy the game a lot more when I focus on what I’m doing and with whom I’d doing it. Plus, since I’ll never get Mike on a bicycle, it’s a good chance to spend a half-day with him.

Now, after six months, I no longer have to ask Mike or Shawn which club I should be using as I approach my next shot. That alone gives me a great sense of accomplishment. Now I must work on my short game.

Hit ‘em long.

Hit ‘em straight!

Just as we did the last couple of years, we went to the opening home game of our Stockton Thunder. Last night they took on the Fresno Falcons.

We sat in section 107, row 9 which is probably my favorite place to sit. The crowd was very energetic and did a lot of screaming - both at our team as well as a lot of trash talking to the Fresno squad. Either my hearing is going south (I doubt it) or the PA in the arena was turned down a bit. They had a band (well, actually, a guy on guitar and another on bass) play the Star Spangled Banner but it was barely audible.

Mike Lalonde scored first putting the Thunder up 1-0. The Falcons, however, would come back and score 3 goals in just under 3 minutes of play to silence the arena a bit.

We eventually added one more goal but eventually fell to the Falcons and suffered our first home opener loss.

What about the fights you ask? Well, there were enough fights to keep everyone entertained for most of the night. The first fight came 7 minutes into the game and put our Garet Hunt against Fresno’s Spencer Carbery.


The second fight of the night came a minute or so later, just as play was resumed and was between Stockton's Milan Maslonka and Fresno's Kyle Hagel.


We also took a few pictures... check them out here.

Also, check out all of posts, videos and pictures from the last three seasons here.

On the eve of the tour I made my tour predictions. How’d I do? Not too shabby! With my first and second place finishers switched and a top 10 finish for Valverde this was my closest prediction ever!

It was a great race this year, except the doping by Ricardo Ricco. In my opinion, the biggest dissapointment was Mark Cavendish not finishing the race, especially after racing so well this tour!

My predictions versus actual
Overall: Cadel Evans / Lotto - 2nd overall
2nd: Carlos Sastre / CSC - 1st overall
3rd: Alejandro Valverde / Caise d'Epargne - 9th overall
11th: George Hincapie / High Road - 35th overall

KOM: Yaroslav Popovych / Lotto - Bernhard Kohl

Sprint: Thor Hushovd - Oscar Freire
2nd: Fabian Cancellara - Thor Hushovd
3rd: Mark Cavendish - Erik Zabel

Team: CSC - CSC

Check out all of 2008 results here. If you follow professional cycling, check out The FredCast, the internet’s premier cycling podcast!

So, how did we spend the last night of my wonderful vacation?

Watching the Stockton Ports beat the Visalia Oaks. We sat in the AARP section (and it was senior citizen night) and met two great couples. One of the men is a retired ObGyn who spent 40 years delivering babies in Stockton... how cool is that!

The game was great, with the Ports taking a 4-0 lead off a pair of two-run homers in the first inning. Just before the the first one, a couple out on a date were asked to pick a player that they thought would hit a double. If that player hit one she would get a bouquet of roses. The young man picked Chris Carter and then got down on his knees and proposed to his girlfriend, whom he met exactly five years ago, at a Ports game! She said yes and everyone applauded. Just a short time later, Carter got up and with two outs, belted a homer to put the Ports up 2-0.

Early in the game, a foul ball came flying toward our section, hit a young boy in the head, bounced and hit a woman in the head and then flew right over me. I got my hand on it but it fell behind me. I couldn’t get over the fact that the ball bounced twice and still flew from about the middle of section 119, about row 5 all the way to section 118, row 10!

The Ports beat the Oaks 4-2 and will face the Oaks again tomorrow. Dawn and the girls will be at that game as well... maybe they’ll do a better job holding on to a ball than I did.

Check out the pics here.

It’s July, so that means it’s time for my Tour de France predictions. After the debacle that was the ’06 Tour I vowed to never again follow the race. All I’ve proven by doing that is that I am weak; I still love le Tour. In 2006 I predicted that Floyd Landis would take the final yellow jersey - which he did, until he was officially stripped of the title for the final time last week.

The ’08 Tour would’ve been a lot more fun to pick had Astana been given the opportunity to race. Plus, with some of my favorite riders like Boonen and Mayo out for ’08, this year’s Tour de France is a tough one to call. Add to that the fact that I am horrible at picking winners and you have the recipe for failure... until this year!

It is without hesitation that I make the following predicitons for the 2008 Tour de France.


Overall: Cadel Evans / Lotto
2nd: Carlos Sastre / CSC
3rd: Alejandro Valverde / Caise d'Epargne
11th: George Hincapie / High Road

KOM: Yaroslav Popovych / Lotto

Sprint: Thor Hushovd
2nd: Fabian Cancellara
3rd: Mark Cavendish

Team: CSC

During the next few weeks, I’ll be following the tour from a few sites:
http://www.letour.fr/us/homepage_courseTDF.html
http://www.versus.com/tdf/
http://twitter.com/DailyTour

If you have an opinion, I’d love to hear it. Feel free to make a comment on this post or send me an e-mail. Come back on July 21, 2008 and see how I did. I’m sure Cadel Evans will be wearing the maillot jaune in the end.

April in Stockton... you know the routine. Asparagus Festival! This, the 23rd one, was held in beautiful downtown Stockton on what felt like the hottest day of the year. Emily and I arrived at 6:45 in the morning to register for the 5k Spear-It Fun Run.

This was the first organized run either of us have ever did and felt good out there, not stopping or walking at all. When we approached the water station Emily even suggested we slow down a little and let the group ahead of us go through and get their water. This way, we would miss the mess of the bunch and get our cups without stopping... what a smart idea.

We completed the 5k in 33:35. I've ran faster but haven't ran at all since December. It sure was a far cry from my first attempt at running a mile in 2006.



So, besides the 5k run, I tried deep fried asparagus for the first time, we saw some amazing frisbee dogs and met Martin Yan from Yan Can Cook!

Check out the pics here.

Check out last year's Asparagus Festival.

Mike and I went to game three of the ECHL playoffs last night to watch the Stockton Thunder square off against the Las Vegas Wranglers. The Thunder took an early lead with the first goal and then even got up to a 0-3 advantage. The cheers were quieted by the end of regulation when the Wranglers scored three unanswered goals of their own. We played a tough OT period but just couldn't score, even with a couple of power plays! The Wrangler finally put us out of our misery with less than a minute left on the clock. The Thunder are now down 3-1 and need another win to stay alive.

Check out the pics here.


I also took a couple of videos. The first one is the of the first goal scored of the game, the second one is one of a flying puck (not sure how well that comes across on YouTube).

That's right, folks... Roller Derby is alive and kicking! We joined the F&F family and went to root on Nicole and the San Joaquin Valley Vixens Roller Derby team in a bout at the Civic Auditorium. This was the first time the kids had ever seen Roller Derby and the first time any of us had seen it live. It took a while for Dawn and I to understand the logistics of the sport but once we did, we had a blast yelling at the players.

These women are tough and took a lot of hard falls!

During one of the intermissions, I was selected to join the corn-on-the-cob eating contest. I took second place but could have won if the judges gave me full credit for that last cob!



Check out the pics here.

Dawn, Makenzy, Emily and a friend went to the Stockton Thunder game tonight, a ladies night out, for the second annual Thunder Goes Pink night. This is such a great way to raise awareness and money for breast cancer. The ice was painted pink and the Thunder players wore special pink jerseys. The Thunder were victorious and the girls had a great night out!



Check out the pics here.

The Stockton Arena was rockin' tonight when we were joined by 8,640 or so of our closest friends for the first Thunder home game of the season. Tonight, our Thunder squared off against the Alaska Aces in a contest that saw not a single fight (boo hoo!).



Thunder scored first near the end of the first period and followed it up with a second goal that saw a few Aces players collide into the goalie. It was like a traffic accident being taken apart piece by piece. After a few minutes, when the officials awarded Stockton with the goal, the arena went psycho!

Neither team scored in the second period but Alaska did manage to get a couple of goals in the final period in regulation to tie the contest at 2. Rohlfs ended the sudden death match at 2:10 into OT with a sweet shot. We may be 2-3, but at least we won our home opener.

For tonight's game, we set in section 114, row 5. It was nice to be a little closer and see some pucks go flying as well as really hearing the glass pounding, but sitting this close made it hard to see down on the other end of the ice.

Check out pics here. I took a lot of video but no fights and no goals. I did manage to hit record just after the game winning goal went in... check it out on YouTube here.

If you want to take a retro look back... check out the 2006 Stockton Thunder home opener or check out all of our posts on the Thunder here.

Tonight, we took Fred and Daniel to AT&T Park to watch the San Francisco Giants beat up on the Cincinnati Reds. It was a great game that went by very fast, with very little base hits and no scores until the 8th inning when Durham hit a single with the bases loaded, sending two Giants to home plate.



Check out the pics here.

I know very little about baseball but enjoy watching it live. While in the great state of Texas I went to watch the Texas Rangers play the Chicago Cubs. I didn't know that the Rangers weren't doing so well. I didn't know that Sammy Sosa was playing, I didn't even know that he played for Texas. Needless to say, I was the only one in our group of 25 or so that didn't know Sammy Sosa had 599 career home runs and that tonight, in Arlington, against his former team, he could do what only four other ball players have ever done: hit 600 home runs. Okay, I was the only one in the ball park that didn't know that.



If you follow baseball you know how this story ends. Sammy, on a 1-2 pitch in the fifth inning, blasted his ceremonious 600th. I, along with some others in our group, left our seats to hang out at the left field wall, hoping for our chance at history. It was a crazy scene with just as many Cubs fans and Rangers fans and police officers everywhere - for protection of anyone that might catch the lucky prize. Just as the ball connected to the bat the place went crazy! Camera flashes exploded everywhere and were barely drowned out by the firework display.

After his standing ovations it was time to get the souvenirs. It was very interesting and very festive seeing the park employees taking the commemorative balls and shirts out of the boxes.

Click here for the pictures.

What's the best way to spend a Saturday night in Stockton? At a hockey game! It was a sell out game so we were lucky to get nose bleed seats, well, some may consider them nose bleed but there aren't any bad seats in the arena. We lost the game but it was a great night of hockey anyway. As always, I put up a couple of videos on YouTube.



Videos:
Thunder's first goal to tie the game - from our seats in section 210.

Jeff Lang (Thunder) dukes it out with Greg Stewart (Cyclones) - from KW's seat in section 209.

In its second year, the Tour of California rolled through Stockton for stage three, starting downtown, on the waterfront and ending in San Jose.



What a great event for downtown Stockton. The girls and I went downtown first thing in the morning and walked around. With Center Street closed between Fremont and Weber, the area in front of the waterfront was filled with the greats like Hincapie, Leipheimer, Haedo, Basso, Rasmussen and O'Grady. I even had a chance to say hello to Johan Bruyneel and wish him good luck.

I also got a chance to meet David from The Fred Cast, the internet's premier cycling podcast. David covered everyday of the race and provided some great insight and interviews as he travelled with the race caravans.

Check out our pictures from the race here.

Dawn, Emily and I went to see the Golden State Warriors take on the Miami Heat (playing without Shaq). This was Emily's first NBA game (in a suite, nonetheless). Great game... if you are a Heat fan. Since I don't really follow the NBA I didn't really care who won (the Heat burned the Warriors 118-96).



Check out the pics here.

"The Broncos needed to win or tie today to get to the playoffs... and they did neither!" - TV announcer said at the end of the Denver / SF game!

From NFL.com 12/27


The Kansas City Chiefs needed a lot to happen to get to the playoffs. First, they must beat Jacksonville and then hope Pittsburgh could pull out an upset against Ocho-Cinco and the Bengals (Cincinnati went in as 6 point favorites)... and then the Niners have to upset the Broncos (10.5 underdogs).

Well, the Chiefs beat the Jaguars... check!
The Steelers beat the Bengals... check!
And the Niners pulled off the win, with less than 2 minutes left in overtime... checkmate!

Mike Shanahan said he's glad KC won so his team would have to win in order to make it to the post season. Thanks for the confidence coach!

GO CHIEFS!

The Stockton Thunder lost their first home game this season when the Alaska Aces scored a late third period goal to tie the game and eventually beat us in the first shutout.

There was not a single fight in the whole game so I put up a goal instead. Click here to see the third period score by Brandon Hodge on YouTube.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there (well, except this unlucky bird).

Check out the pics here.

Thanks to Larry Johnson and the Chiefs... even though I only got to watch the last 2 minutes on TV... it was a great game... now we're tied for second place... bring on the playoffs!

I love football... I love Monday Night Football... and I love to see the Raiders get shut out on national TV. As I flipped through the local paper this morning something jumped out at me and had me bustin' a gut!



9 - Time Oakland Faders Andrew Walter was sacked Monday night in Seattle. The Oakland Faders... ha ha ha... I haven't heard that one this year yet! But let's get real here for a second... don't blame Walter (isn't he the 5th string QB)... blame the line and blame Shell! Gotta love them Raiders... love to see 'em lose that is.

Our new October tradition... Stockton Thunder Hockey!

Early last year, when we heard that Stockton's new arena would be home to a minor league hockey team, we were less than impressed. Hockey was never a sport that we followed in our house and it didn't seem to match very well with our warm weather and culture. We were much more excited to be getting Arena Football and Major League indoor soccer.

As the season started to get closer we decided that we wanted to be part of the hype of the new team and went to the second home game. From the moment we walked in the arena we knew this was going to be cool! When the game started we were on our feet, along with 9,000 other Stockton Thunder fans and we have been hooked ever since.

So, tonight we showed up, decked out in Thunder gear, ready to scream our lungs out for our hometown Thunder!

If you're a sports fan and live within an hour of Stockton, you have to check this out! Trust me when I say that hockey is meant to watched live; so many people have the same comment after watching their first game: "I could never get into hockey on TV... but this is awesome!"

What a game! The Thunder start the season 2-0 and right in the middle of the Pacific Division and end tonight's game being the only undefeated team in the ECHL.



The first fight of the night. The Arena went crazy when Huxley (Stockton) knocked Neilson right on his bum.


The Long Beach Ice Dogs scored an early first goal but the Thunder tied it up before the end of the first period (click here for the video from the first goal scored at home this season). The same pattern would continue for the second and third period with Long Beach scoring first and then Stockton getting a goal. The final shot in regulation came from Stockton with only 34 seconds left on the clock. The 5 minutes of overtime passed with no scoring so we were treated to a nail-biting shoot out. We tied throughout the first group of attempts so then we went into sudden death shoot out mode!

After 6 failed attempts by each club, Brendon Hodge slaps one in and the Thunder win a close one!

Congrats Thunder... you rock!

game stats

click here for pictures

Although I have ridden thousands of miles on a bicycle over the past few years, and don't even bat an eye lash at doing a hundred miles in a day, I have long thought that running was out of the question. That was, until recently, when Emily challenged me to a 1-mile race. I was pretty sure I could beat her... just as sure as she was she could beat me. So, today, we went out to her school for 3 laps around the field.


We went over what the course was, did a little bit of last minute smack talking, stretched and then headed out. When I asked asked her what the course was she smiled and just said, "Don't worry Dad... just follow me."


Here is a shot as we end the first of three laps and this is pretty much the way the whole run went... me trailing Emily and looking as if I might just die!


... and of course, my very athletic, very proud daughter beat me in my first attempt at running in probably 15 years. I did actually finish the mile... 31 seconds behind her. Great job Emily!

le Tour is here!

Landis portera le jaune à fin Juillet.

My original picks were, Basso, Vino, Landis but based on the dismissal of Basso I made a last minute change to:

FLOYD LANDIS

LEVI LEIPHEIMER

ANDREAS KLODEN

vive le tour!

Pictures, pages and videos are queued up and ready for the move. Pics from the Stockton Lightning game and the Brad Paisley, Sara Evans, Josh Turner concert are also up (go to 'pics' link). More to come soon.

Given the choice between soccer and hockey, we’d take soccer. Add arena football to the equation and we’d take that every day of the week.

We really enjoyed going to Ports games at the old park but fell in love with the new ballpark on the waterfront. This made sense.

Hockey, though? In Stockton?

Well, we decided to go the second game at the arena tonight and let me tell you, we are cynics no more!

The Stockton Thunder is, hands down, the best entertainment value in Stockton. We have never watched hockey before but quickly caught on. Even the girls loved the game. At the end of the second period we got up to leave. That was, until the couple sitting next to us educated us. We had no idea there was three periods.

Throughout the final period, Emily and Makenzy were on their feet, cheering on their new favorite team.

I can tell we’re going to be seeing a lot more of these guys. The play is awesome. The entertainment is great. The crowds are better than anything else in Stockton.

This is exactly what Stockton has been begging for.

Now given the choice, we’ll take hockey every day!

Kudos to Dan Chapman for putting together another winner!

Go Thunder!

Ok... I know... it's been eons since we updated the site... Matt's bad. Anyway, we're back... with over 800 new pictures and videos. Three birthday parties... two holidays... tons of soccer and even some cool pool shots and field goal attempts. Anywhooooo...... enjoy.... and GO CHIEFS.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! What a great Thanksgiving... great food, hanging out with the family. Some of the boys went over to the high school and tried to prove who could kick the longest field goal, even though none of us had any real experience kicking a football. Check out pictures here.
Some of the cousins... wow... these girls are getting older and older!

The Stockton Ports Opening Night.... Wow.... what a killer ballpark! Go Ports!!! Emily even got a baseball from one of the pitchers (she had to buy him a hot dog first but still a good deal).

Congrats USPS and Lance!!!! 


 

Ride Lance, ride!  Vive le Tour!  The Tour is back... and Lance is looking great... 5th overall with the team TT up tomorrow.  Look out Tyler and Jan... USPS is rollin' through!  
Maillot jaune coming soon!

Final results
i just realized that I didn't publish the ending results for our football pool... good job jim... .632 kicks butt!  i had a horrible finish... oh well... looks like you win the season tickets to the stockton cacks games! 
until next year!!!!  also.... sudden death pool 04 coming in july 04.

As everyone knows; every year I make a bold prediction of who's going to the Superbowl... I have never been right so I don't mind saying that my prediction for this year is: 
...sorry Ken and Joe, your Raiders just aint gonna do it this year... 9-7, but choke in the playoffs! 
as for my Chiefs... I still have faith in ya... just not foolish to think we're going all the way!my prediction: 7-9
Teams to watch...PHILLY, CHICAGO, MIAMI and, yes, even the TEXANS!!!
WEEK 1WOW... what did I say... watch those TEXANS and THOSE DOLPHINS!
What about that NYJ-BUF game... crazy!
UNDEFEATED AFC WEST
Thanks Dwayne Rudd Losing your helmet sure helped my team!!!

Who's gonna win the superbowl??? Who cares!  Yeah, I know... no one cares.  Well, there's one big reason to watch: to find out what the heck this MLIFE thing is all about... great hype!  I'll be watching... who knows... maybe it's a new multi-level marketing, pyramid-scheme cult that is going to take over the world !!! Well, we'll have to wait !!!