Team Helmets

Calling all BK alumni.  Please comment on which you like.  I think the white needs to happen.

Please keep in mind, there will be helmet stickers on there as well.  The BK crest on one side, numbers on the other.

Keep these unis in mind

It is so football season.

Dana’s Player Sink 3/4 Court Shot

This was during the semi-finals of their conference tournament last year.  I was the official stat-keeper but couldn’t contain my excitement.  I jumped out of my seat so fast the chair flew back in to the stands.  Thank goodness nobody was sitting directly behind me, cause I might have injured someone.

The British (Bogus) Open

Periodically a few of us who enjoy disc golf put together “formal” competitions.  It’s not like we don’t compete every time we go out, but these special events are ones that come with bragging rights built in.  In honor of the recent British Open, we decided to drive up to Bogus Basin to play a treacherous course none of us had ever experienced before.

The views were amazing.  Here’s Porter teeing off on the fourth hole.

Basket is in the group of trees down and to the left

It was weird seeing Bogus without any snow.  It’s hard to imagine smooth clean runs when all you can see are rocks and shrubs.  While the views were great, the course made it hard to hang on to your discs.  I personally lost two (one particularly good one), while Porter and Jake lost one a piece.  Chris was the only one to come out unscathed in the disc department.

Speaking of which, Chris won “The British” by two strokes.  I took second, which is my best showing in one of our formal competitions.  Chris got me by two strokes.  Going in to the back nine he was up four, and I brought it back to within one, but he closed it out nicely.  I did have a good highlight on the day though, hitting a put from about 30 yards or so.  I took a picture from where I stood right after it went in.  You can kind of see my pink putter in the bucket.

Porter Giving an Approving Thumbs Up

We’re considering having one more “major” before Porter takes off for the Peace Core.  Hopefully I’ll sneak one out then.

The Criterion

Had a couple of awesome days this week.  The first involved an evening at the annual twilight criterion in Downtown Boise.  Dana and I were joined by Beth and Porter.  We started off with our usual view atop the Hotel 43.

View from up top

A couple next to us were rocking a green laser pointer, which they were flashing on to the sidewalk down below.  The guy was putting it right in front of kids who were walking with their parents.   The kids would be startled but then start looking around for the culprit, usually unsuccessfully.  A few dogs fell victim to the antics as well.

Then we moved down to the street level.  The corner of Grove and 10th offered a view from a grassy hill, allowing us to sit down and relax while the riders went by.  I took a picture with my camera phone as the bikes went by from about five feet away.  It created a cool ghost like effect.

This must be what bike races look like in the after life

I’m a little bummed that they don’t use the old course which circled around Main and Idaho street.  The parking garage by the Egyptian gave an amazing view of the finish line.  Now you have to crowd in next to the fences down below to catch a glimpse of the end of the race.  Hopefully they’ll move it back in the next couple of years.  Still a great time though.

Uh wha?

I think every nation that calls soccer “futbol” should have to use our lingo if we defeat them.  And no adding your language’s accent.  Spaniards, we attempt to use a Spanish accent when we try to get cute and use “hola” to greet someone.  It’s your turn now.

From Deadspin – “The U.S. got two big chances, took advantage of both and sent a message to the entire world. We are not incompetent at soccer!”

Thanks Dad!

To celebrate father’s day I thought I would bring up one of my dad’s all-star moments:

My senior year of college the Albertson College lacrosse team lost our coach. According to PNCLL rules, we needed to have a non-player coach present at all games. During practices my buddy Cody Hart and I would coach offense and defense respectively, but we could not be the official coaches in the eyes of the league. As the season approached we were having no luck finding a coach. A few promising ventures fell through and the first game was only a few weeks away. I spoke to my dad about our dilemma and he decided he wanted to help. So, even though he had no experience with the X’s and O’s of the game, my dad signed on as the head coach of the College of Idaho lacrosse team.

The 2006 Yotes - Head Coach: Dewain Gaudet

Three times a week he would drive out to Cadlwell for practice, fighting terrible rush hour traffic and giving up three and half hours of his day. When he got there, he would simply ask us what he could do to help. Sometimes he would run ground ball drills, and other times he would spend an hour backing up shots while the team played six on six. In essence, he did anything he could do to make sure our team was functioning as normally as possible.

During games he got the best seat in the house, right in the coach’s box. Technically, he will go down as the first head coach at the College of Idaho to pick up a win, as we secured our season’s only two victories in the first two games of the season. It was fun to have him as a part of the team, and he earned the support of all of my teammates, who would refer to him as “Coach Gus.” He even traveled with us on away trips to the Seattle area, Missoula, and a grueling loop around the entire State of Oregon.

Thanks Dad!

Alumni Game

When I took over at BK one of the first things that I put on my to-do list was to re-establish the annual alumni game.  We had stopped doing it a couple of years earlier, but I thought it was a great way to connect former players to the current team.  Tomorrow will be the third consecutive year for the game, and the fifth overall.

Cody Hart rips a shot for the alum in the 2007 edition of the game

In 2007 the alumni suffered our only loss in the series, falling 8-7.  The current team had some help from a Team Idaho squad that made the A bracket at Vail that year, which is an excuse we like to use, but really we just got beat.

Last year, however, the alumni stormed back and took out the current team with an 11-0 score.

Tom Seibert (left) and Dustin Williams (right) during the 2008 alumni game

This year should be interesting.  The current team will have a good mix of graduating seniors and young guys who are just starting to gel.  We’ve been practicing for the Rocky Mountain Showcase with next year’s squad, so they should be more prepared than usual to take on the alum.

My favorite part of the whole thing, however, is the fact that I get to reconnect with some guys I haven’t seen in a long time.  Every year we have a pretty solid list of people who let me know ahead of time that they plan on attending, but there’s always a few guys who surprise us.  I’m interested to see who that will be this year.

If you’re interested in attending, the game starts at 11:00 a.m. at BK.

Summer High School Lacrosse in Idaho – Why Not?

This next spring will be my sixth as a coach in the Treasure Valley Lacrosse League. The experience has been incredibly rewarding but I’ve always felt like the TVLL could offer more. Last night I figured out what that “more” could be.

The following picture was taken on June 5, 2009.

Centennial 48 - Caldwell 10

The woman in the white shirt standing just to the right of the white square is my wife Dana. She is the head coach of the JV women’s basketball team at Centennial High School. It is not basketball season, yet she is coaching her girls in a game against Caldwell High School. How is this possible?

In the summer the Idaho High Schools Activities Association moves out of the way and allows its member high schools to operate on their own schedule. Aside from participation in summer league, Dana will be taking her team to a number of tournaments and team camps over the next two months. All the IHSAA asks is that participation in said tournaments and summer camps is not made mandatory for girls looking to play next winter.

So why isn’t this happening in the Treasure Valley Lacrosse League? To alleviate this, I have two proposals that I will be bringing to the next TVLL meeting:

1) TVLL teams should be allowed to participate in as many team camps and tournaments as they like from June 1st until August 1st, so long as participation is not made mandatory for individuals who want to join the team the following season. Every sport in the IHSAA, Oregon Scools Activities Association, and Washigton Interscholastic Activities Association is allowed to operate as an independent organization in the summer, and lacrosse should be no different.

2) The Treasure Valley Lacrosse League should sponsor a high school summer league organization. Teams should be allowed to enter as independent organizations (i.e. a Bishop Kelly team, a Boise team, a Borah team, etc), with each organization given the freedom to determine their own rosters and practice schedules. If a program chooses not to participate, the players in said program should have the option of joining a “Rogue Team” sponsored by the league.

Conflicts:

These two proposals will be met with opposition. The most vocal argument I have heard thus far is that summer programs favor teams with money. Example: “Team A has the money to travel in the summer, so they would be receiving an unfair advantage over other teams who do not have an equal amount of money.” However, the TVLL currently allow teams to travel to an unlimited number of pre-season tournaments starting in February. Compare the following scenarios:

• Team A travels to two different pre-season tournaments, one in February and one in March.
• Team B travels to a summer tournament in June, and one pre-season tournament in March.

Does Team B hold an advantage over Team A? Does Team A hold an advantage over Team B? Hard to say. However, I know that the area is gray enough that Team B should not be kept from pursuing a tournament in June if Team A is given free reign to travel as much as they want in February and March.

Thoughts?