Category Archives: Sports

Close your eyes

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

Don’t watch. Seriously, you don’t want to see this.

Cal was at Stanford today for the second of their two games. The first, Thursday, was at Haas Pavilion with Cal pulling out a win on Asha Thomas’ buzzer beating last basket. Today the favor was returned in spades. No clue what was going on, but baskets were missed, passes easily intercepted, literally a dozen opportunities lost. Stanford had its act together. It wasn’t pretty.

Then there was the heartbreaker of the Blackhawks beating the Wild 4-3 in overtime (Hockey, for those who don’t recognize the teams).

Otherwise, I spent a small amount of time on homework, but mostly worked on various embroidery projects. All told, six items completed. The cutest –

x two. reversed colors

were a pair of flour sack towels. The purple is called Orchid – that orange? Allegedly it is Devil Red.

Clowns on Muni

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

There is a Clown School in San Francisco – link here. They are located near the N-Judah Muni Line. The website really, really needs work, but it gives you the basics.

A couple of stops after George and I boarded near UCSF, a clown alley (yes, that is what a group of clowns is called. Trust me – well, ok, but I did look it up!) boarded the Muni and started working their way up and down the car. Young women they were. I don’t think that any of them were over 23. Each one of them was unique in her clothing, appearance and make-up. Hats and noses varied as well. Not everyone (thank goodness) was wearing the classic red bulb nose.

A few of the passengers reacted quite negatively; a number of the rest just pretended that the clowns weren’t there. I thought I counted seven but wasn’t completely sure since there was a lot of moving around involved. A spritely woman likely somewhere in her 40s was moving through the car as well making suggestions, keeping an eye on the group. I asked her if she was their keeper. She laughed and said this was one of their first outings. I would have pictures, but when someone else took out her phone for a picture, she was politely but firmly asked to refrain.

I exited the Muni at Civic Center, heading back to class. George stayed on, headed across the Bay. He was able to watch the chaos accompanying the clowns as they searched for the correct stop (Powell St Station).

After class, I met George in Berkeley. Dropping my backpack off in the car, we headed to Haas Pavilion and the Cal Women’s Basketball Game. It was hard fought, neither team ever leading by more than 6 points. Cal won 81-80 on a buzzer beating score by Asha Thomas.

Four Thousand Screaming kids

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

In what is reputed to be an annual affair, there were literally thousands of school children at today’s Cal Women’s Basketball Game. Schools from San Jose south of us to Fairfield on the north (plus several Richmond primary schools), all the Berkeley Elementary Schools, a number from Oakland and (surprisingly to me) a number from both San Francisco and the peninsula. Since they announced all the schools, accompanied by lots more screaming, it was easy to determine who was missing (Albany, Marin, and about 1/2 the private schools).

As is there wasn’t enough noise, it was also Fire Prevention Education Day. Yes, Smokey walking around large as life was a real hit. I didn’t mind all the hints, but demonstrating sirens and fire alarms? That was a bit much.

Did I mention that the game started at 1130 which obviously put it at an excellent time for schools. It wasn’t a great time for the Straw Hat Band. They were out on their annual ski trip. As far as their usual alumni taking over, well, most had to work. I was really impressed that they managed to field about 20 with a bit of rearrangement as to who played what so that the important instruments (percussion & brass) were covered.

For a change, the referring was even handed and quite good. Very few questionable calls, and refs who were strict, The Cal Women’s managed to pull off a win over Washington State. Interesting to note, the Cougars didn’t have one native Washington State player on the team (Portugal, Australia, Israel, Eastern Europe – kind of like the University of Utah).

Timed it perfectly to catch the #65 up the hill to home. George spent the day doing various assorted meetings in San Francisco so he wasn’t home till late. My last missing textbook finally showed up. I thought about studying….

And more rain

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

Nothing like looking at the forecast and seeing rain.

Or, for that matter, looking out the window which just confirms what you already know – it is quite wet out there. There is a strong temptation just to curl up in front of the fireplace with a nice book, blanket. Or audiobook and knitting if I believed for even a minute that it would be possible to knit a complicated lace pattern and do anything else at the same time.

So instead I ran errands, replenished my bead supply (see knitting mentioned above and Wild Swan from a couple of days ago). By the end of the day I had made it to row 69.

The highlight (or not) of the afternoon was getting soaked on my way to the Cal Basketball game (which they managed to not lose).

from the opposite bleachers

and then it was home followed by a late in the dark run to OAK to pick up Noah.

I should be studying

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

At least that is what I am telling myself. So far I have reviewed five pages of outlines, several misc. documents, read through my notes, played computer games and skimmed some junk genre fiction.

So much for good intentions.

And there was also the Cal’s Women’s Basketball game this afternoon (they pulled off a win, but their % from the floor left a bit to be desired. Had the opponent been one of the PAC-12, it would not have turned out so well). But the Straw Hat Band was there, tho not in numbers. I gifted out the first batch of pins made from Miriam’s design

thought about studying some more, but had dinner instead and going to sleep relatively early.

They won

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Up front, I am not much of a football fan. US football just so there is not any confusion. I don’t detest it the way I do boxing (no excuses, a sport where you win by inflicting brain damage on your opponent? – I DO NOT think so). While in the military I was continually confronted with that particular bit of stupidity. They needed a doctor for their boxing matches. I left it open to my crew – no penalties if they wanted to support – complete back up if they didn’t want to participate.

The catch was – no doctor – no match, so you understand the pressure.

Really, there we are in a combat zone continually screening people for TBI (traumatic brain injury) secondary to just about everything. And they want to box in their spare time? Really? Let’s support our enemy by damaging our own troops ….

Oops – I think I was starting to discuss today’s Cal football game. I was there because? George has season tickets. Since he attends somethings with me (As baseball) and lets me off the hook for others (formal receptions, cocktail parties), the least I can do is go with him. When it is not raining, or snowing or there isn’t someone else begging to go along.

So there we are, in our usual seats. Maus & Friend are sitting over in Q for the first half. They join us for the second since the season ticket holders next to us don’t appear. The marching band is great. The football team? Meh. Unlike those around me, I don’t have any objection to the quarterback. Hello? He is a freshman. Let me repeat that – this is a college game and he is new this season. I don’t care how good you were in high school – this is NOT high school. He has a great and a good running back. He has a couple of really good pass receivers. What he doesn’t have is decent blockers from the line to protect him.

Enough said.

Cal won by points. Colorado won on everything else. They had more yards passing, rushing, 1st downs made, fewer penalties. What destroyed them was the first few minutes of the game. You can’t receive the kickoff and on the second play throw a pass that is intercepted by Cal and returned for a touchdown. That means you just tossed (literally, sorry) away your chance. Seriously, what you don’t do is repeat the process on your next return and have another interception mean that you are down 14-0 in the first five minutes of the game. Then there was a fumble…

Colorado came back and almost managed a win. By the time we hiked up the hill (which seems like a mountain about then) it was dark and cold. At least the Cal-Stanford Game (rescheduled to next Sat because of the air quality secondary to the wildfires) will start at noon. Whole game in daylight. Much better deal.

And now back to studying for my first exam (on Wednesday).

Why was I in class?

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

yes, I know that education is important. Certainly the US government is paying through the nose for me to entertain myself with attending classes. But really, one has to set priorities.

My choice this afternoon was being a good kid and attending my Health Law class with an alternative of going to the As game. Now, for those of you who are not in any way a baseball fan it might seem as a little to no choice. I actually made that choice last night when I turned in my Thursday afternoon ticket for a second seat on Friday evenings game. It wasn’t an easy decision but a practical one: the game starts at 1235 and class doesn’t finish till 1530. I didn’t think there was any chance that the game would still be going long enough for me to get there.

As it turned out, I wouldn’t have made even the final out but in this case absolutely the game was still going on when class ended. That means over three hours. It means that I missed a great game.

Oh, I didn’t mention that the As wiped the Angels off the diamond?

Since class didn’t start till 1310, I watched the play-by-ply on my phone for the first couple of innings. And then, the third inning started shortly after the start of the class. I couldn’t resist and kept phone running while I desperately attempted to pay attention to the class. I mean really, defending medical malpractice vs watching the As score six runs in an inning?

It got worse, or better, depending on whether or not you want to feel sorry for the LA Angels.

Finally score? 21-2.

Lasted a bit longer

Holly Doyne Posted on by 1

at the ball game. It might have been because I wasn’t as cold. It might have been because the As were obviously doing a lot better than the previous evening.

In any case, had fun. We made a lot of noise. The As won (8:2).

This wasn’t a day on which I had to go to San Francisco. It wasn’t a day, as it turns out where I needed to give Daughter #2 a ride to/from work in the early hours of the morning. It was a day for reading, picking up the crop share (garlic, lots of tomatoes, melon, squash, cucumbers, grapes, apples etc) and sitting in on a class at Cal.

Without the travels, my life has become rather a blur from one day to the next with distinguishing characteristics based more on which classes I have rather than cities seen or interesting people met.

But I did get to avoid Dallas with George. There are a lot of places left in the world that I would like to visit. Dallas isn’t one of them….

Cold & wind

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

I didn’t last the whole game. It was cool. I can’t say it was cold; not when Minnesota or northern Sweden are my comparisons for what is really cold. Rather, my nose started to run, there ere way too many Yankee fans in our seating area. Once the sun went down, I was no longer blinded by the glare but the breeze came up.

All of this is either my excuse or explanation for heading home early. It explains why I missed seeing the As lose in the last couple innings.

And I survived my classes…

Interesting SPAM

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

most of the time I just delete everything that Askimet places in my SPAM folder. By and large, it is BOT produced comments that are about Canadian Pharmacies, penile enhancements, fund frauds, illiterate links and other fun stuff. I would say that it is not worth the reading.

Then there was the gem in today’s queue warning me that the Democrats are out to bring back the draft.

Oh, really? When did I miss that? Why hasn’t it been in the news?

And what is so horrible about having a draft? I should never ever vote for someone who thinks that others should serve their country like I did for, oh, let us say 33 years? Or that I might vote for someone who was not interested in cutting federal employee wages? Or that might leave my social security intact?

For the sake of not starting an argument with anyone who thinks Fox produces objective and well rounded news reporting, let me move on to reality.

The As beat the Yankees…….

Too much sports?

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

Since George went with me to the baseball game last night, I owed him. Well, sort of.

Anyway, I went along to the Cal football game this afternoon. He has season tickets in Section E which turns out to be well placed as far as being out of the direct sun by the time you hit half time, but not as great since there are no backs to the seats. The couple sitting next to us were great, one of those behind ran his mouth continually until well into the third quarter. An amazing number of opinions. Can’t judge their accuracy, I just don’t care that much about American Football. I don’t dislike it terribly, not like boxing which I firmly believe needs to be outlawed completely in all education to include the military (hint – the sport in which you win by inflicting brain damage on your opponent. Yes, I am Army, but that doesn’t mean that the Navy or Air Force need their heads rung…).

From there it was on to the As game by way of BART. Unfortunately, the As didn’t manage a complete come back and lost 8-7. I made it to just about the end of the game…..

I don’t think I am going to go for two games in a day again.

Not counting an As doubleheader of which there is maybe one every few years.

Not so hot

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

Or rather too hot.

My life this past week has fallen into the “not too terribly organized” which is not the way I really appreciate living. I like knowing “where my stuff is.” Which might just explain why I am so anal when traveling about placing everything in an exact place, not having anything cluttering up desks and counters and getting crabby about sharing space as I get older. Right now I am drifting between our house and that of the Eldest as she recovers from surgery. I am willing to leave her alone for a couple of hours, but not for an extensive time period. It doesn’t help that school is starting this week nor that the As are in the middle of a home stand.

Telling myself excuses much?

Today’s game was against the Astros. We had done decently to well in the last couple of games. The team, unlike one of the NYC teams, is not high on arrogance. But sometimes they just don’t completely have it together. The fan numbers were good but not great inspire of the front office providing discounts for students and encouraging large numbers of groups to attend the game. Our group was high energy with drum count at six and cowbells at least double that. Jose now has an As jersey that says “More Cowbells” in the name location and 149 for the player number.

The game started well, then the pitcher seemed to lose it. For that matter, it had been chilly in Richmond. It wasn’t in Oakland, but I wasn’t exactly dressed for the warmth. After six innings the As were down and I was significantly overheated. Since it didn’t seem like either of us had an alternative, I headed first home to pick up what I needed for tomorrow’s assignment and then back to Richmond.

Oh, and a stop at Safeway for ice cream… Best way to cool off….

Quilts and a side of As

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

Ok, you have managed to avoid having to listen to me discussing baseball for, oh let us say at least a day. So first I will mention that the As are doing fine – in spite of a couple of the relief pitchers. Essentially they rock. A goodly number of my fellow Right Field Die Hards are in Anaheim this weekend expressly for the purpose of watching the As walk all over the Angels. Well? 2 out of 3 ain’t bad as the old country song goes.

Otherwise, I have put a bit of time into quilts that different daughters were making for friends babies.

To be clear – my daughters are not having children, but have several friends that are doing same.

The Eldest finished all but the machine quilting and just wasn’t up to it at the moment so

top

and I took it over to her today.

Meanwhile, the quilt and bibs that Daughter #2 sent off in the mail have arrived –

the model, quilt, bib towel

and just to make sure

A not quite full day

Holly Doyne Posted on by 2

Day 2 of the orientation didn’t include me till early afternoon. It meant that I didn’t have to roll out of bed at the crack of dawn or battle huge crowds on BART. On the other hand, most of the morning didn’t feel like it was really mine to do with what I will since I had an afternoon hanging over my head.

So there I was, hanging around Hastings waiting for our library tour which was followed by a trip to the main lecture building for a discussion of expectations, Bar exams, and all the differences between the study of law in the US and other countries.

Since I am in a Master’s program and not a “law”student, a lot of it really doesn’t apply to me. Yes, I am tak8ng some of the same courses but am not being graded on the same curve. In any case, my attitude now is the same as when I was a med student and when I did my MPH. I am in this for knowledge, not for grades. As long as I get credit for a class, grades do not matter to me. pass is the same as an Excellent as far as I am concerned.

Going from class, I headed straight over to the ballpark. The Dodgers are about the toughest team we have faced in a while and our starting pitcher never really had it. End result, we lost 4:2. Headed home before the 9th, cold, tired and the writing was on the scoreboard.

One game, three loads of laundry

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

Not sure which is of the higher positivity – managing to arrive at the stadium and slide into our seats less than five minutes before the opening pitch – or doing three loads of laundry after we got home.

The As won.

Now that is out of the way… no wait. We had a rep from Foxx News-Detroit in the stands with us for about four innings. Apparently some Tigers fan got upset yesterday and Tweeted (!) about the drum noise. Unlike some of those who use social media without checking their facts, this particular individual, suit and all, decided to stop in. End result? He seemed to have a good time and asked questions about the group origin, rationale behind the various beats and the general upbeat nature of the group. Decided that one reply on the previous day “they can’t be controlled but can be contained” was probably correct.

Then there was laundry.

But the most fun (ack) of the day was finishing the machine quilting for a project of the Eldest.

at least I don’t have to do the binding….

The weight of law

Holly Doyne Posted on by 2

Often we have heard various descriptions of law as heavy, weighty. I had always thought of it as perhaps relating to the seriousness of what it meant both to society and the individual. Or perhaps to affects on in dividuals or even the density of words since we all know that it takes lawyers 150 words to be precise where the rest of us might use a simple sentence that starts with either “yes” or “no.”

It isn’t that most of the breed are trying to be obscure, rather they are trying to be totally and completely clear in their obscure way to make sure that there is no question of the exact meaning of anything that they say. Obviously it takes a lot of words to be that precise. In fact there are so many words in many of their documents that loop holes and exceptions wind up occurring. Disagreements as to happenstance, events, opinions keep the rest of them completely occupied in settling disagreements and the court dockets full.

I think that all of us can agree that some rules and regulations are necessary when a population gets above a certain size. The law then becomes that set of rules which we agree govern us. Or, if we don’t agree – still have an effect on what we are allowed to do in public, with our things and to/with others. I can’t be an anarchist since I firmly believe that a civilized society has the responsibility to protect those individuals who, for reasons of health, ability, finance, position, have the ability to protect themselves.

I would like to believe that we have come a significant distance from those Homo sapiens rolling out of Africa and into first what is now Europe and Asia and happily slaughtering Homo neanderthal and the other hominid species on their way to taking over the world. * (If you haven’t read Yuval Harari’s – Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind – it is an excellent book. Check your public library. I was introduced to this book through Coursera).

All of the above doesn’t explain why I am considering the weight of law.

This is why I am concerned

The two hardbacks (rented, not bought) weigh about 1.5 kg each. The paperback slightly under a kilo. Law is just heavy and those that write the textbooks don’t say anything in five words if a paragraph will do. See comments above. I am waiting on the last book to arrive from Amazon. As much as I would prefer to support UC Hastings Student Bookstore, there is no way I am interested in carrying these tomes anywhere other than upstairs to my desk. They are certainly not going back and forth from home to class on McAllistar Ave in San Francisco. Orientation starts on Monday. I am hoping not to have to revise my opinion on book hauling.

Wearing my As Fan Hat –

Fireworks Night

Apparently Chevron and the powers that be assume that Harry Potter is the right cultural reference for a Witches and Wizards Fireworks evening. I have no clue where the “witches” come in since the wizard’s school didn’t seem to discriminate or change nomenclature based on gender. I didn’t get the shiny gold baseball with wings in the center. Duh – as someone mentioned to me – this is baseball’s interpretation of the Snitch from Quidditch.

Who new? Or cared?

A’s won 2:1 in the normal amount of innings.

How many are there?

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

There seems to be a general opinion that my life currently seems to be all about baseball. Not exactly true, but since I am really not traveling anywhere in particular, it is something that is going on regularly in my life. Further helped, of course, by the fact that the As are actually playing decent ball a year or more ahead of what everyone predicted. They entered this season stating that this would be a year of rebuilding; surprising everyone but their dedicated fans on their play. Especially repeated success in coming back from a deficit in the 7th or later innings to pull off a win.

And then there was tonight’s game which turned out to be a battle of the bullpens which left most of us wondering how many relief pitchers were going to be activated by the time the game finished. Not counting the fact that Anderson pitched for seven innings you would predict 1-2 relief pitchers.

Did I mention that this bit of insanity lasted 13 full innings? With NO score till the bottom of the 13th? There were a couple of times when each team managed to get a runner on base, but then, between pitching and excellent fielding that last out was accomplished.

By the end of the 11th, I was completely wiped and it was barely 2200. Then I got a txt from George saying he was at North Berkeley to pick me up. Why? Oh, I read that you were on BART, but that was yesterday wasn’t it? Yep. Do you want me to head home? He went off to fuel the car and head home. I considered the game and superstition kicked in.

Every time I leave, the As win. If I stay? 50/50. I headed to BART and watched the rest of the game on my phone on the way home. Six to seven pitchers for each side, The new kid on the team, just called up from Nashville came through in the bottom of the 13th. His single brought in the first (and last) run of the game.

And we will do this again tomorrow, and Sunday, and Monday and ….

you get the idea.

Twins Baseball

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

It is Sunday, the weather is beautiful, so obviously it is a great day for Baseball.

as it turned out – these were nosebleed seats

but we had a good time anyway.

this is Target Field

Much of fan traditions are pretty universal. Well, except that the fans here are much better behaved that those in many other parks. They (unlike a lot of fans of that team across the Bay from me) are actually watching the game.

There are always activities to keep fans busy between innings – after all, we have to leave time for TV advertisers, right? But I defy you to find this particular contest anywhere else in the country.

only in Minnesota

Minnesota Lynx

Holly Doyne Posted on by  

No, not four footed creatures but a team in the Women’s National Basketball Association. If you are not US based, you are excused for not knowing that there has been professional women’s basketball for several decades. The Minnesota Lynx date from 1999 as an active team. I have friends in St. Paul who have been fans since the team’s founding. Since there was a game tonight, it made total and complete sense (ok, as much sense as anything else I do) to attend this evenings game with them.

After all, flying from SFO to MSP is not enough to totally wipe me out for a day even given BART on the home and dealing with a rental car on arrival.

Since it is not winter but rather the season known as road construction, I was not surprised to find that the basic driving route that I had planned provided a few challenges. Never the less, I made it safely to St Paul in plenty of time. Time enough to see that the apartment that I occupied in 1978 across the street from the Commodore Hotel is still standing. I heard it went condo a couple of decades or more ago.

Back to the Lynx – it was a pretty full arena. The fans are loud. Now this is Minnesota and – Garrison Keillor aside – people are pretty polite. These folks were LOUD. Nice, but loud. Not the bad language and name calling that has come to be associated with professional sports (men – baseball and US style football. We will completely ignore the UK’s soccer) but high levels of positive cheering.

Of course, winning does help.

The 4th

Holly Doyne Posted on by

I am long past the point where I am interested in fireworks or large crowded holiday celebrations. So why in the world, you wonder, am I at the ballpark with thousands of others on a sunny Wednesday afternoon? It might be because I actually enjoy watching baseball live. It might be because I really enjoy the griup with whom I sit.

It also could just be that I really didn’t want to clean and organize house, stufio, or garage.

Or more than one if the above. Don’tyou just love multiple guess?

Today’s score biard

The As won, pulling off their – come back in later innings game.

But really. I came to see what André was wearing.

In celebration of the 4th