Meet John van den Raadt

Bright and early on Thursday morning, Laurie and I loaded up the PT Cruiser once more for another fun filled trip to Las Vegas to visit Andy, Jenn and our grandson Kevin.

We thought that this would be the perfect time to meet our new Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons QB John van den Raadt who lives somewhere in the Inland Empire which is on our way to Sin City.

We decided to meet for breakfast in Fontana at the Wendy's in the appropriately named Falcon Ridge Shopping Center.

On the two hour drive out to meet them our sports talk radio had only one topic of discussion. That was of course was the just breaking story of Notre Dame University All-American linebacker Manti Te'o and the hoax of his having a fake girlfriend that the media had reported dying during the past season.

Thus Laurie and I were both excited when John entered Wendy's with his real flesh and blood girlfriend of over two years, Robin Portela. We found her to be a smart and outgoing young lady,  so the Falcons can rest assured that there will be no girlfriend hoax in our futures!

Robin Portela and John van den Raadt

As for John, our meeting left me feeling very positive about the rest of our season in France. There are people in life that you meet and just hit it off with instantly, knowing that this is a good person to have in your camp.

John is one of those people.

After all of the craziness that has been a part of trying to bring an import QB to the Falcons, I think that our long wait has been worth it.

Besides outstanding football credentials from his playing days at nearby Azusa Pacific University, John is also a caring person. He just returned to Southern California this week after serving on a mission the past six months teaching at a school with his brother Nick in the South African Republic of Malawi.

All of the Falcons are excited to have
John joining us for the stretch drive!

A Week in Sunny, Chilly Southern California

The past few days have been fairly quiet as we continue to meet with friends and visit some of our favorite haunts before heading back to Lyon, France next week.

 A little wine at lunch with Laurie

is always a good option

 As is babysitting Jacob on Wednesdays

A Wednesday basketball game at

Rio Mesa against Oxnard was yet

another good choice 

The Spartans, in white, won thanks

to a strong second half effort

Jacob with Great Grandmother

Chuny last Sunday

We loaded up the PT Cruiser and drove to San Marino to visit "The Ladies" last Sunday.

Great-Great Aunt Katica wanted some

Jacob time too

Great Aunt Linda, my sister,

with the baby football

Aunt Katica, me and my Mom Chuny

  

Malibu

On Monday, my old college buddy, Mark Johnson, asked me to meet him at Dinah's Family Restaurant near the Los Angeles International Airport.

I decided to take the scenic Pacific Coast Highway for the one hour drive on a sunny morning while my friends in Lyon were buried in snow.

Although he lives in Seattle, Mark's business brings him to Los Angeles for meetings once or twice a week.

He was very secretive about why he wanted us to meet but said that it would be extremely important for me to get there and to bring my camera.

Surprise!!!

Seated L. to R.: Mark, Tom, Ken and Loren

Standing L. to R.: Me and Paul

Photo by Chris

Mark had contacted five of us separately about this meeting without telling any of us that the other former Huskies would be there. We were all greatly surprised and had a ball catching up and telling stories.

As I said, Mark has been a close friend for for the past 45 years. He works with Chris Burrows, also a UW alumni, who joined us for lunch and took the picture above. Chris went to college with us but I have only recently met. Remember that the UW student body numbered about 32,000 people back then, hard to meet everybody.

I went to both high school and college with Tom Verti and he was one of my roommates my Senior year in college. I believe he helped us mix the best five gallons of sangria to ever grace a refrigerator's vegetable bin one warm spring Saturday.

Ken Lee was a tough as nails Linebacker for the Dawgs who went on to play for the Detroit Lions and the Buffalo Bills intercepting six passes for the 1972 Bills.

I had not seen Tom or Ken in about 15 years so it was really a treat to see the two of them.

Loren Brucker was my college roommate for three years and has been a life long friend. We are fortunate to have stayed in touch with his family and I love that his kids and ours are good friends.

Paul Sabolic is one of the most caring and genuine people that I know. He is a person that we see often but not often enough. He bleeds purple and gold and was completely depressed when we last saw him right after the Huskies loss to Boise State in the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl last month.

What a great gathering . . .

THANKS MARK!!!

Only he could have pulled this off.

Baseball in January?

On a very sunny and warm Saturday morning, I joined our son Mike to watch his Newbury Park H.S. JV baseball team play at Thousand Oaks H.S. against the Lancers' JV squad in a Winter League game.

Mike leaning over the dugout railing

An NP Panther taking a cut

A Sno-Cone catch

Panther Pitcher Dealing the Heat

A Panther Taking Two!

Larceny was in his heart

Hacking Away

Bringing in the lefty

They were scheduled to play two 7 inning games today but we were only staying for the first contest.

The only real action in the morning came on the last play of the game when a single to center field with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and a Lancer runner on second base. A perfect throw by the Panthers to the plate cut down the potential game winning run.

The final score was Panthers 0 - Lancers 0.

Mike with one of his players,

Landon Nealon, post-game

Post-Game Meal at Five Guys Burger

YUM!!!

Now, back at Casa Contreras, it is time to sit back and watch the first two NFL Wild Card playoff games in comfort. It is a good day indeed!

The 2013 Rose Bowl Game

First and foremost, Happy 39th Birthday today to our son Andrew!!!

How is that even possible? 

Our final stop on the Bowl Game tour for this football season occurred in Pasadena, California on Tuesday at the 99th Annual Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio courtesy of our long time friends Susan and Michael D'Antuono.

Wisconsin Badgers

 8 Wins - 5 Losses - 0 Ties

Big Ten Conference Champions

vs.

Stanford Cardinal

11 Wins - 2 Losses - 0 Ties

PAC-12 Conference Champions

The Wisconsin record was a bit deceiving as three of their losses came in overtime games with Michigan State (13-16), undefeated Ohio State (14-21) and Penn State (21-24).

Additionally, the difference in each of their other two losses was a mere field goal as they took it on the chin against Oregon State (7-10) and Nebraska (27-30). That is five losses by a grand total of only 19 points!

Stanford lost an overtime game itself to undefeated and currently #1 ranked Notre Dame (13-20). The Cardinal's other loss you ask? Why to none other than those pesky Washington Huskies (13-17)!

Both teams featured bruising, ground oriented offensive attacks and very physical defenses. It looked to be old school, big boy football at its finest.

I would not be disappointed as the day unfolded.

Not Disappointed but

DEFINITELY Shocked

Throw in the $10 souvenir program that I bought as I drove into Pasadena's famed Arroyo Seco and I had dropped $50 USD before we even got out of the car.

Lets see, $40 x how many cars?

The announced attendance at this Rose Bowl game was 93,359. It is easy to thus speculate that parking alone brought in close to $500,000!

"The Granddaddy of Them All"

Wisconsin Fans Dressed to Kill!

With Michael and Susan D'Antuono

before the game

The Rose Bowl Stadium

The view from Club Level E,

Section 208, Row A, Seat 18

WOW!!!

Badgers getting FIRED UP!!! 

The Most Beautiful Setting in

ALL of College Football

The VERY Impressive Wisconsin Band

led by mascot Bucky Badger

The Unorthodox Stanford Band

led by mascot The Tree

 Stanford Band Up Close

Note the young lady on the 45 yard line playing a Stop Sign.

A STOP SIGN???

The lady at the 48 yard line to the right is playing the kitchen sink!

Unorthodox is the right word indeed!

The Stealth Bomber did a

VERY quiet flyby 

Here come the Cardinal!

On Wisconsin!

REVERSE!!!

Drew Terrell, #4, would throw a pass on this play to set up Stanford's first TD. 

Wisconsin Cheerleader Stunts

Wisconsin Fly Sweep

Badger Workhorse Montee Ball

Ball won the 2012 Doak Walker Award given annually to the nation's best collegiate running back. He entered the game with 1,730 yards rushing and 21 TDs.

He is the NCAA's all-time leader in rushing TDs (76) and total touchdowns (82).

He would add to those totals in this, the Badgers third straight Rose Bowl appearance, when he scored on an 11 yard scamper in the second quarter.

 The Stanford Defense

held on Fourth Down!

At Halftime with Stanford ahead 17-14

Stanford Running Back Stepfan Taylor

He had rushed for 1,442 yards in 2012 and would also score a TD in the Rose Bowl game from three yards out.

It was a HARD HITTING game

to say the least

I think that a Cardinal just earned

a Dying Cockroach helmet decal

No Spread Offense, no up-tempo pace, just a good old heavy weight title fight.  The two teams combined for 405 rushing yards on 70 plays. They added another combined 240 yards as they completed 23 for of their 37 passes.

Both defenses played inspired football in the second half as only Stanford could score. Even that was a mere 22 yard, fourth quarter field goal. 

A Water Color of the Rose Bowl

FINAL SCORE

Stanford 20 - Wisconsin 14

What a GREAT day!!! We can not thank Susan and Michael D'Antuono nearly enough for the incredible experience that we thoroughly enjoyed.

MERCI D'ANTUONOS!!! 

50th Anniversary

I still have this 1963 program

This year's souvenir program included a retrospective on the 1963 #1 Southern California vs. #2 Wisconsin Rose Bowl Game. This was special for me because I was in attendance at that game with my friend John Walsh. We walked from our homes in Pasadena and San Marino both to and from that historic 42-37 Trojan victory. It was the first Rose Bowl Game that I ever attended. The combined 79 points scored still ranks as the third highest total of the 99 Rose Bowl Games.

For more on the 1963 Rose Bowl Game, click on this link: 

http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffarth/2012/12/30/50-years-later-the-63-rose-bowl-doesnt-tarnish-with-age/

It's been 50 years? Really?

We finally took down

our Christmas Tree today

You know that you are a Washington fan when you take NINE of the Danbury Mint's annual porcelain Husky Christmas ornaments off of the tree. Our collection started in 2004 with the balloon in the upper left and concludes with this this year's big drum in the foreground.

A big THANK YOU to Paul and Joanne Sabolic for gifting most of these cherished possessions to us over the many years!!!

It is good to have GREAT friends!!!

How in the world can Andy be 39 years old???