Friday, October 19, 2007

Happy Birthday, Keaton and Elliot!

It's really hard for me to believe that one year ago today, my little sister, Melissa and her husband, Ryan welcomed into this world their first children.

Twins.

Keaton and Elliot have been such a blessing from God to our family. In back of our cross-country move, in which Mandy and I hauled my parents' only two grandchildren to the West Coast, God especially blessed my parents through the blessing of Mel's kids.

Today, Keaton and Elliot celebrate their first birthday. Mom is there for the festivities and Dad will make it to Northwest Arkansas in time for the big birthday celebration on Saturday.

Mel, give Keaton and Elliot a great big hug today from Uncle Jim, Aunt Mandy, Trae and Tori. We so wish we could be there to take part in the big birthday bash on Saturday. I know you'll pull out all of the stops and we can't wait to see all the pictures!

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All week, I have begun my blog about how dumbfounded I am with the marketing gurus at Major League Baseball.

Apparently, I am not on the only one.

In Thursday's edition of The Fresno Bee, the headline reads: "Interest ticks down as TV, time hurt playoffs." The AP article, written by Tim Dahlberg, raises many of the issues I have raised. "Television and greed," Dahlberg writes, "dictated that the Indians wait another day to try to finish off the Red Sox." Dahlberg points out that the bewitching start times of the NLCS resulted in television ratings half its previous low. "When the Rockies finished off their sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, less people were watching than were tuned into the final of the Little League World Series. That's right, 12-year-olds with pimples on their faces proved more interesting to America than the no-name millionaires toiling for the Diamondbacks and Rockies."

Dahlberg concludes: "It's a pretty simple equation: Late (as in start times) and long (as in game time) is killing the postseason. You would think someday baseball folks would figure it out."

Uh, yes you would, Mr. Dahlberg. But this is the regime of Bud Selig, he of the All-Star game tie, were talking about.

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Tonight is undoubtedly the biggest night this fall in Valley High School football. #1 Bullard and #2 Edison battle at Chukchansi Park while #3 Clovis East faces #9 Clovis West.

Last year, East and West battled in the Valley Championship with East prevailing 33-14. Since East took off the Nevada Wolfpack look-alike sticker from their helmets and replaced it with the slick, lightning bolt "E", they have been unstoppable. West, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have its house in order and appears to be in organizational disarray heading into tonight's game.

Tonight will be a rerun of last year's Valley Championship: East 33, West 14.

At Chukchansi, based on my opinion, Edison surpasses Bullard at the skill positions. Edison should dominate but Bullard has had the hot hand all year.

In the battle of #1 versus #2: Edison 27, Bullard 21.

And in this week's bonus pick, San Jose State comes callin' on Saturday afternoon for Fresno State's homecoming. Let's see, it's homecoming against your fiercest rival with Boise State looming on the horizon next weekend.

Trap game?

Not hardly.

Fresno State keeps rolling, 35-17.