Wednesday, November 19, 2025
The big news of the day was really more of a wake-up call and a cold reality slap in the face at the same time.
With Joanne and Paul Sabolić
at one of their son's California State
Playoff games a few years ago
Late in the afternoon I received a call from Paul from his hospital bed!
As it turns out, he had suffered some, as he put it,
" . . . left pectoral chest pain" but was determined to tough it out.
Enter our story's Heroine, Paul's wife Joanne, who said,
"NO, WE ARE GOING TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM NOW!"
Joanne is wise beyond here tender years.
Once at the hospital and after a battery of tests, it was determined that the main artery in Paul's heart was 98% blocked.
YIKES!
The doctors felt that since most of his vital numbers were normal that issue is genetic in nature.
You can't pick your parents.
A successful angioplasty surgery was performed and Paul was up and about ready to be discharged sometime Thursday morning he was told.
He got the green light to still meet with Michael D'Antuono and me for lunch this coming Friday in La Cañada-Flintridge.
If he tries to order his usual fried fish and chips, we are going to have an issue.
Thank God that Joanne got him to listen and made him promise to make some necessary adjustments to his dietary and lifestyle habits.
All of us now in our 70s should take this episode as a warning to enjoy each day completely, see our doctors on a regular basis and NEVER EVER listen to anything that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. offers up as medical advice.
I thought a lot about Husky football today . . .
The Huskies may be playing
in the last UCLA game at the
Rose Bowl
Rumors have the Bruins moving their home games to Inglewood's SoFi Stadium, home of the NFL's Rams and Chargers, in 2026.
UCLA has played their home games at Pasadena's Rose Bowl since 1982.
Today, we finally bought tickets on line for our first two games of the weekend.
We purchased our three C.I.F.-Southern Section DXII Semifinal playoff game tickets for the Bellflower H.S. (8-4) at Santa Paula H.S. (7-5) for a mere $20.90 total.
As for our Washington (7-3) at UCLA (3-7) Big-10 Conference tickets, we were able to secure four of them in the North End Zone for a total of only $80.
Look for us to escape the North End Zone area soon after the Opening Kickoff.
Some things concern me about this game that should, in theory, be a win for the UW if you just look at the two team's records.
First, five of UCLA's seven losses have come at the hands of, in order, Utah, UNLV, New Mexico, Indiana and Ohio State. Those five teams have a combined record of 44-7 this season. Thus, I surmise, that the Bruins may be tougher than their record indicates.
Also of concern is Washington Head Coach Jedd Fisch's road record over his now almost two complete season's at the helm of the Huskies. If you include the Huskies 35-34 loss to Louisville in the Sun Bowl last season, Fisch's Huskies are a dismal 2-8 in all of their games played away from the cozy confines of Seattle's Husky Stadium.
Put the above two points together and you may see my reason to be concerned about Saturday's clash.
Rumors are also swirling around Jedd Fisch's future as the UW's Head Coach. Apparently both Florida, the Gators are Fisch's alma mater, and UCLA, where he was once the Bruins Offensive Coordinator, are interested in him taking over their programs who both fired their coaches weeks ago.
It got me to thinking about the, to me, alarming unstable state of Husky Head Coaches.
In the 36 seasons from 1957 to 1992, Washington had a grand total of but two Head Coaches:
Jim Owens
1957 - 1974
99 Wins - 82 Losses - 6 Ties
Coach Owens was our Head Coach when I attended the UW in the late 1960s. I really enjoyed and learned many things practicing under his tutelage.
Don James
1975 - 1992
153 Wins - 57 Losses - 2 Ties
Since Coach James resigned following the 1992 season, they have installed somewhat of a revolving door at UW Head Football Coach's Office.
Jim Lambright
1993 - 1998
44 Wins - 25 Losses - 1 Tie
Rick Neuheisel
1999 - 2002
33 Wins - 16 Losses
Keith Gilbertson
2003 - 2004
7 Wins - 16 Losses
Tyrone Willingham
2005 - 2008
11 Wins - 37 Losses
Steve Sarkisian
2009 - 2013
34 Wins - 29 Losses
Marques Tuiasosopo
Interim Head Coach
2013
1 Win - 0 Losses
Chris Petersen
2014 - 2019
55 Wins - 26 Losses
Jimmy Lake
2020 - 2021
7 Wins - 6 Losses
Bob Gregory
Interim Head Coach
2021
0 Wins - 3 Losses
Kalen DeBoer
2022-2023
25 Wins - 3 Losses
Jedd Fisch
2024-Present
13 Wins - 10 Losses
That's a total of nine Head Coaches and two Interim Head Coaches in the 33 seasons since Head Coach Don James retired.
In the 36 seasons and 399 games under the lead of Coach Owens and Coach James, the Huskies record was 252-139-8. That's a winning percentage of 63%.
In the next 33 seasons since Coach James left the program, the Huskies have played a total of 402 games with a combined record of 230-171-1. That works out to a winning percentage of 57%.
I like stability and commitment.
Just saying . . .
GO DAWGS!
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