Scooter Chapman
A sports fan's heaven
Published on Wed, Feb 10, 2010 by Scooter ChapmanRead More Chapman
It's a columnists dream, folks, a super dream.
Sports galore going on ... high school wrestling and swimming championships, college and prep basketball getting to the exciting stages, the Winter Olympic Games in nearby Vancouver, British Columbia, something called the Super Bowl and major league baseball beginning spring training.
It's a full plate and we'll highlight a few today.
Halibut
The area's doom and gloom publication recently commented on the sad state of halibut affairs and even suggested the Port Angeles Salmon Club's halibut derby on Memorial Day weekend might be in jeopardy.
What with the cancelation of the Discovery Bay Salmon Derby over who had the right to promote and sponsor the annual affair, which would have been this weekend, another fishing closure would really hurt.
Seems a 15-percent reduction in halibut quota is in effect and Port Angeles Salmon Club officials are awaiting the results of a conference today in Olympia that sets the Strait of Juan de Fuca season, Area 6.
Neah Bay opens May 13 and 15 and May 20 and 22. Thursday and Saturday fishing only until a quota of 101,179 pounds is reached, down from a little over 108,000 last year.
Normally, the area off Port Angeles opens in late April to June 5, that's why the popular halibut derby is held on the Memorial Day weekend. Area 5, which is Sekiu, normally opens May 27 and that might be the same.
Before printing its brochure and fishing tickets, the P.A. Salmon Club board will meet Thursday night to decide the fate of the derby following today's Olympia meeting.
Winter Olympics
It's so close, yet so far away ... the Olympic Games in Vancouver, just a couple of short ferry rides away from the Olympic Peninsula.
Skiing, bobsledding, the luge, ice skating, speed skating, snowboarding, it's all in Vancouver and Whistler. If you plan on going, take plenty of money. Many hotels that were booked solid now have empty rooms and if you shop around, you can get a good deal.
Tickets to the various events, however, might be a different story. There were 1,600,000 tickets available: 90,000 allocated to fans in the U.S. and each U.S. athlete gets two tickets to each event to share with family members.
Television will be beamed to the world, but on the Olympic Peninula we never will know if it's live or Memorex (if you remember that term).
If you tune in NBC, all events will be tape-delayed three hours. Live action can be seen on CNBC, MSNBC and USA and on Canadian stations.
I love to watch the downhill skiing, the bobsleds and the figure skating, but I hope the television announcers of the ice dancing and figure skating somehow find time to talk about the good things in a skating routine rather than focus on what little thing is wrong with the effort.
For instance, I'd rather the announcers say something like this when a lone skater is doing her long program...
" ... well, Kim Yu-Na is in line for the gold medal and she's doing some magnificent routines ... oh, gracious, that triple toe loop was way above her normal and look at that super triple lutz ..."
Instead, you always hear this ...
"... Former world champion Mao Asada needs a clean skate to try and catch the leaders. That take off on the triple axel was great, but ... oh, oh, she didn't get all the way around on that Salchow, her left foot was a little off angle ... that will cost her points ..."
Agree?
Enjoy the Winter Olympics, folks, even though most of the skiing areas look like golf fairways as the snow hasn't happened and they are trucking it in.
Super Bowl
It was great game, folks, with New Orleans taking a 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
As Peyton Manning was driving his team down the field in the last period after the Saints had taken a 24-17 lead, I said to myself, "Self, there hasn't been a fumble lost or a pass interception the whole game ...."
That's when Tracy Porter jumped a short pass route and returned Manning's pass 74 yards for the touchdown that sealed the New Orleans victory.
The second period was pivotal. With a 10-3 lead, New Orleans kept Manning on the bench with ball control. A field goal just before half after the Saints failed on a fourth down and short at the goal line, was big.
Then, after a long, long halftime (The Who doesn't do it for this old man) the Saints surprised the Colts with an onside kick that Indy muffed and New Orleans recovered.
The Saints then drove to a touchdown to take a 13-10 lead. The Saints ran off 32 of 38 plays from mid-second period to mid-third period and that stalled the Colt momentum.
Manning answered with a 10-play drive to a score, then New Orleans got a field goal and when Indy missed a 51-yard field goal early in the final period, you sort of knew the Saints were going to win it somehow.
Drew Brees completed 32 of 39 passes, including 10 in a row in the last drive to a score, and then got the two-point
conversion after a challenge.
The Super Bowl commercials? None really stood out for me, but the one that got the biggest laughs at the party where I was master of ceremonies was the Denny's grand slam chicken spot with the screaming hens.
Spring training
Pitchers and catchers report this weekend in Arizona and Florida to begin getting ready for the 2010 major league baseball season.
The Seattle Mariners have high hopes this year and they have made so many deals in the past two weeks that every time I start a spring training preview column, they add a guy here or subtract a guy there.
By next week they should have the 40-man roster set and be able to start working on which 25 guys will come north to begin the season in Oakland in April.
No doubt that pitching is going to be a strong point and power hitting will be the Achilles heel right now.
It's play ball time next week.
A softball thought
I'm thinking out loud now, but Peninsula College is considering dropping its fast-pitch softball program and going to a women's soccer program to replace it.
It's also in the works to purchase field turf for the Wally Sigmar Athletic Complex on campus and, in the future, add lights and a grandstand.
Before that happens, might not the city of Port Angeles and Peninsula College get together and pool financial resources for this:
Use the college funds and city funds to put field turf at Civic Field in Port Angeles that already has drainage, already has a grandstand and already has lights, instead of the college site.
That would leave the college fastpitch field intact and I'm sure scheduling could be worked out for city, prep and college soccer if a field didn't have to be maintained and lined all the time.
Maybe there is something in the laws preventing the college from using state building funds to build elsewhere, but it's a thought, folks.
Sports galore going on ... high school wrestling and swimming championships, college and prep basketball getting to the exciting stages, the Winter Olympic Games in nearby Vancouver, British Columbia, something called the Super Bowl and major league baseball beginning spring training.
It's a full plate and we'll highlight a few today.
Halibut
The area's doom and gloom publication recently commented on the sad state of halibut affairs and even suggested the Port Angeles Salmon Club's halibut derby on Memorial Day weekend might be in jeopardy.
What with the cancelation of the Discovery Bay Salmon Derby over who had the right to promote and sponsor the annual affair, which would have been this weekend, another fishing closure would really hurt.
Seems a 15-percent reduction in halibut quota is in effect and Port Angeles Salmon Club officials are awaiting the results of a conference today in Olympia that sets the Strait of Juan de Fuca season, Area 6.
Neah Bay opens May 13 and 15 and May 20 and 22. Thursday and Saturday fishing only until a quota of 101,179 pounds is reached, down from a little over 108,000 last year.
Normally, the area off Port Angeles opens in late April to June 5, that's why the popular halibut derby is held on the Memorial Day weekend. Area 5, which is Sekiu, normally opens May 27 and that might be the same.
Before printing its brochure and fishing tickets, the P.A. Salmon Club board will meet Thursday night to decide the fate of the derby following today's Olympia meeting.
Winter Olympics
It's so close, yet so far away ... the Olympic Games in Vancouver, just a couple of short ferry rides away from the Olympic Peninsula.
Skiing, bobsledding, the luge, ice skating, speed skating, snowboarding, it's all in Vancouver and Whistler. If you plan on going, take plenty of money. Many hotels that were booked solid now have empty rooms and if you shop around, you can get a good deal.
Tickets to the various events, however, might be a different story. There were 1,600,000 tickets available: 90,000 allocated to fans in the U.S. and each U.S. athlete gets two tickets to each event to share with family members.
Television will be beamed to the world, but on the Olympic Peninula we never will know if it's live or Memorex (if you remember that term).
If you tune in NBC, all events will be tape-delayed three hours. Live action can be seen on CNBC, MSNBC and USA and on Canadian stations.
I love to watch the downhill skiing, the bobsleds and the figure skating, but I hope the television announcers of the ice dancing and figure skating somehow find time to talk about the good things in a skating routine rather than focus on what little thing is wrong with the effort.
For instance, I'd rather the announcers say something like this when a lone skater is doing her long program...
" ... well, Kim Yu-Na is in line for the gold medal and she's doing some magnificent routines ... oh, gracious, that triple toe loop was way above her normal and look at that super triple lutz ..."
Instead, you always hear this ...
"... Former world champion Mao Asada needs a clean skate to try and catch the leaders. That take off on the triple axel was great, but ... oh, oh, she didn't get all the way around on that Salchow, her left foot was a little off angle ... that will cost her points ..."
Agree?
Enjoy the Winter Olympics, folks, even though most of the skiing areas look like golf fairways as the snow hasn't happened and they are trucking it in.
Super Bowl
It was great game, folks, with New Orleans taking a 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
As Peyton Manning was driving his team down the field in the last period after the Saints had taken a 24-17 lead, I said to myself, "Self, there hasn't been a fumble lost or a pass interception the whole game ...."
That's when Tracy Porter jumped a short pass route and returned Manning's pass 74 yards for the touchdown that sealed the New Orleans victory.
The second period was pivotal. With a 10-3 lead, New Orleans kept Manning on the bench with ball control. A field goal just before half after the Saints failed on a fourth down and short at the goal line, was big.
Then, after a long, long halftime (The Who doesn't do it for this old man) the Saints surprised the Colts with an onside kick that Indy muffed and New Orleans recovered.
The Saints then drove to a touchdown to take a 13-10 lead. The Saints ran off 32 of 38 plays from mid-second period to mid-third period and that stalled the Colt momentum.
Manning answered with a 10-play drive to a score, then New Orleans got a field goal and when Indy missed a 51-yard field goal early in the final period, you sort of knew the Saints were going to win it somehow.
Drew Brees completed 32 of 39 passes, including 10 in a row in the last drive to a score, and then got the two-point
conversion after a challenge.
The Super Bowl commercials? None really stood out for me, but the one that got the biggest laughs at the party where I was master of ceremonies was the Denny's grand slam chicken spot with the screaming hens.
Spring training
Pitchers and catchers report this weekend in Arizona and Florida to begin getting ready for the 2010 major league baseball season.
The Seattle Mariners have high hopes this year and they have made so many deals in the past two weeks that every time I start a spring training preview column, they add a guy here or subtract a guy there.
By next week they should have the 40-man roster set and be able to start working on which 25 guys will come north to begin the season in Oakland in April.
No doubt that pitching is going to be a strong point and power hitting will be the Achilles heel right now.
It's play ball time next week.
A softball thought
I'm thinking out loud now, but Peninsula College is considering dropping its fast-pitch softball program and going to a women's soccer program to replace it.
It's also in the works to purchase field turf for the Wally Sigmar Athletic Complex on campus and, in the future, add lights and a grandstand.
Before that happens, might not the city of Port Angeles and Peninsula College get together and pool financial resources for this:
Use the college funds and city funds to put field turf at Civic Field in Port Angeles that already has drainage, already has a grandstand and already has lights, instead of the college site.
That would leave the college fastpitch field intact and I'm sure scheduling could be worked out for city, prep and college soccer if a field didn't have to be maintained and lined all the time.
Maybe there is something in the laws preventing the college from using state building funds to build elsewhere, but it's a thought, folks.
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