The Monday Morning Wash

Sorry for being a little absent the last couple of days. I was actually forcibly hijacked early Saturday morning in South Lake Union when a friend of mine who I was going to game with told me he had to drop off a couple of tickets to some strippers he had met at the a few days before at the Sands in Ballard. Usually that would give me a bit of a pause but considering the company I was keeping I wasn't surprised at all.

When we arrived at the Wooden Boat Center I told him I would wait for him in the car. He told me I needed to check out the yacht and needed a little air anyway. As I approached the boat I noticed a number of people in gold sweatshirts but didn't really think anything about it. As we got closer I thought to myself that girl over there looks a lot like my wife. To make a long story short it was my wife!

She was surrounded by childhood friends of mine from Seattle and friends from all over the country who had flown in for my surprise 50^th birthday at Husky Stadium. I am glad they got my reactions on film because I was just floored by it all!

We boarded the Lu Lu Belle which is owned by two great people by the name of Fred and Megan Rodolf whom my wife Kate had chartered the boat from. You need to charter a boat for a party? Call Fred. Megan, and Captain John.... they were incredibly welcome and accommodating.

Kate arranged catering from the Serendipity Café in Magnolia. The proprietors Martin and Rudy were on board and had prepared fantastic Northwest Clam Chowder, Fish and Chips, and other delectable's for the bash.  The full bar they put together with my wife was also a sight for sore eyes!

As you can all guess the boat trip to and from the stadium was the highlight of the day. I was really surprised to see so few yachts parked on the lake for the game. What was even more surprising was we had the biggest yacht at the stadium. Oh how the might have fallen!

Once inside it was so surreal to see only around 25-30,000 people in the stands. It was even stranger to see my name roll by from time to time on the Jumbotron. I was truly disappointed that my wife hadn't arranged for the band to spell out my name on the playing field but you can't have everything.

We were actually treated to a decent first half where the Huskies actually tried to make a game of it. Arizona State wasn't very sharp either so it was kind of like watching a really bad high school football game. Even though it was close at the half the writing was on the wall in this one. Washington wasn't able to establish the running game. You can't get by on limited trickery and deception a full 60 minutes.

Dennis Erickson and his staff were able to take control of this by making some simple second half adjustments. Washington as usual had no answer for those adjustments in the second half. If you can stop the Huskies on first down they really have no where to go. What followed was perhaps the worst two quarters the Huskies have put together this season as they allowed a very mediocre ASU team to run over them for the victory. All I know is I had a much better time at the game on Saturday than Ty Willingham did.

During times like these it is always great to have a 65 foot yacht parked outside the stadium. We left midway through the third quarter to finish watching the game on TV. Waiting on the boat were Dick's Cheeseburgers, Deluxe's and Fries which had been miraculously delivered to the yacht by our friends from the Wallingford location. I thought the orange foil wrappers set against the stainless steel chafing dishes was a charming touch.

After the game the party moved to Chandler's Crabhouse on South Lake Union where we ended up closing down the bar with the help of Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Scott Ecklund from Dawgman who also invited me to participate in the Dawgman radio show.

The fun didn't stop there as the entire group attended brunch at McCormick and Schmick's the following morning on Lake Union. I thought the gang over there did a fantastic job putting it all together. That evening we wrapped up the festivities with dinner at Ray's Boathouse in Ballard.

When we got to the airport earlier today to head back to Chicago Kate had another surprise waiting. When we checked in the bags at the skycap the checker said have a good time in San Francisco. I said no...we are going to Chicago...My wife just smiled and said no we are headed off to San Francisco...so the party continues.

Dawgman Radio

I was a guest on Dawgman Radio after the game. It was a lot of fun even though we didn't have a win to discuss. Let me put it this way....the beer was very good!