grandfather stylin and profiling/ doin mighty fine a month away from 99

Here's Grandfather enjoying the Thanksgiving festivities at the home of Don and Darleene Davis(Dawn's parents)  

Heres Dawn Marie at the 2005 Davis Thanks Giving dinner. 

Luuuuuucy!/ GET OUT! (shove)

My beautiful Dawn Marie is sleeping on my couch. Mere minutes ago we were perusing mike's blog. Dawn wanted to leave a comment. AS i was kidding her about her typing skills she said "hold it, wait a minute, LET ME FIND MY HOME ROW!". Something about the way she said that made me laugh so hard I almost couldn't breathe.

Yesterday I walked into her house and I thought I was going to have to call a haz mat team. my lungs were burning my eyes were watering. she had cooked some steak and covered them in habenjero pepper. their is NEVER a dull moment with her.
sometimes It's as if I am dating a combination of Lucile Ball and Elaine from Seinfeld. Yet that description really doesn't due her justice as she is a unique and special person that defies description.

No matter how crummy a day I am having it always gets better when I spend time with her.

Random stuff

Dawn and I watched the fights(ufc ppv) Saturday night. I am now a perfect 6-0 picking fights on this blog. I realize no one reading this understands the significance of that, needless to say if I were in Las Vegas and a betting guy I would have made more money in two nights then I make in a month(don't worry I wont be be running to las vegas and betting my pay check). Although it would be nice if I could put my knowlegde to work somehow. this reminds me about my frustration at work
all my sports knowledge is worthless as it seems that all anyone wants to talk about is NASCAR. NASCAR is one of the few sports that I don't give at rats tuchuus about. It's the same boring stuff no one watched 20 years ago yet some how all of a sudden
it's all anybody(at least anyone who walks into Oxarc talks about). Every sponsorship tie in I have seen regarding welding companies has been race car related with NASCAR being the most common.Half of frigin espn sports center lately seems to be dedicated to Nascar these day. Arggggggh!!!!

Anywho the fight were not as good as I had hoped. The live special on spike TV was considerably better then the ppv. The fighters on the special may not have been as talented but the match ups were far more entertaining. kinda like the huskey cougar game was far more entertaining then the Seahawk 49er's game.

Pro wrestler Eddie Gurrero passed away last week. Mr. Gurrero was one of the very few modern day pro wrestlers that I actually enjoyed watching (if I were flipping the channels I would stop if Eddie was performing). Anyone who payed money to watch mr. Gurerro perform got their moneys worth as he seemed to be giving 100 % anytime I watched him (unlike a certain bald reality show star who spent most of his career mailing in his in ring performances). To many young fans Gurerro was their Jimmy snuka. Eddie Gurerro death is tragic and any sports reporter or columnist who makes lite of it is a $#&*#$%!

I went by grandfathers tonight we watched monday night football until halftiime. He is in good spirits except that his legs are bothering him.

I found it ironic that I read about my brother Danny's fluffy sienfeld shirt and lo and behold I turn on the TV and that particular episode is on.

Goodnight.

The Apple Cup and UFC 56

I went over to grandfathers today and had lunch. Then we watched the Apple Cup. Both the Huskies and the Cougars are far better teams then their records indicate. Congrats to my Cougars. I think Mr. Willingham has the Huskey program headed in the right direction. I think next season will be much kinder to both teams.

Dawn and I are watching the UFC pay per view at 7:00. Hopefully Dawn can stay awake this time. Two weeks ago she slept through the entire spike TV special. Of course that the same day Dawn's ex got maried and we had our vodka and boo koo shenanigans.
Anywhoo here are my UFC Quick picks.

George St. Piere over Sean Sherk (2nd rnd ko)
Mat Hughes over Joe Riggs (2nd round arm bar)
Rich Franklin over Nate Quarry (unanimous dec)

Locked on Sports

My brother Michael has a link on his blog to david locke's blog locked on sport. Mr. Locke's simulblogs are good and his inside the box score entries are very good. If you are a basketball fan i suggest you check it out.

Les schwab k mart and the used food store

I went over to grandfathers yesterday. WE Watched football for a couple of hours. then we ate lunch. Grandfather wanted to get his winter tires on so we went to sears to get the tire changed.
when we arrived we found out that sears automotive dept in ww is closed permanently. So then we went to the used food store. grandfather wasn't looking for food he was looking for a new winter jacket(the store sometime stocks inexpensive coats). They had none in stock. Then we went to bi-mart they didn't have much of a coat selection either. OUR next stop was les shwab where we got the tires changed. Then we went over to K Mart and grandfather got a new winter Jacket. He seemed happy with the days excursion.

Frank Bonnema

Anyone who reads this blog knows I have very fond memories of the old Portland Big Time wrestling show. When I was between the ages of 5-10 I would stay at my grandparent house on friday night and I wouldn't leave until tell Saturday evening. My grandfather and I watched Portland wrestling together every saturday afternoon.I suppose I would have had fond memories no matter what wrestling program I had watched with grandfather, but Portland wrestling wasn't just any wrestling program. During the period that we watched the show the northwest had an amazing array of talent. Pro wrestling icons like Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper, and Jesse Ventura hit their stride as performers during their time in the northwest . When I first got on the internet I started looking for old Portland wrestling tapes.I seemed to find tapes from every rinky dink promotion from around the country but nothing from Portland from the time period I was interested in. The reason for this was that Portland promoter Don Owens recorded over the master copies every week. Could you have imagine if Lorne Michaels and NBC recorded over the master copies of Saturday night live during it's early years and all that Belushi, Akroyd, Murray stuff were lost for ever. Any way Don Owens kids can't be to happy because those old tapes would have been worth a fortune. Last year I finally found some tapes from the late 77 to early 80 time period. The quality of these tapes leaves alot to be desired. I still really enjoyed watching them. My first thought was how nice it was to hear announcer Frank Bonnema's voice again (when the audio acually would work). Bonnema hosted the show from 1967 until his death in 1982. Bonnema had a classic deep raspy voice that added to the drama of the action. The show was never the same after he was gone.

Diego Sanchez prevailed in the main event on Saturdays TUF 2 season finale on Spike TV 

My Tuf 2 Season Finale Review

The Saturday November 5th season finale of the ultimate fighter on Spike TV was a tremendous show.

All three predictions I posted on Friday were correct.
However I did not expect this card to be anywhere near as good as it
was.

Kenny Florian vs Kit Cop
I didn't make a prediction for this fight because I had not seen Cope. Cope
is an accomplished muay thai kick boxer. Florian is a submission grappling wizard.
Florian has shown a willingness to stand and trade in previous fights. That was not in his best interest in this fight as he was definently outclassed while standing. Florian wasted no time closing the distance and forcing a clinch. Florian was trying for a take down but cope was defending well. Florian persisted and eventually got the take down. Cope was able to hold and stall for a while. Then florian got free improved his position and applied an arm bar. Cope tapped out but the bell sounded a split second before the tap.
Florian did not waste any time in the second round taking Cope down and securing back control
he then worked for and attained a rear choke hold forcing Cope to submit early in the second round.

Joe Stephenson vs Luke Cumo
There was a funny moment after ref John Mcarthy finished with the pre fight instructions. Stephenson looked at Cumo and said "LUKE I AM YOUR FATHER". I got the feeling Joe was expecting to have an easy night. When I think of Luke Cumo it reminds me of the scene from the first Rocky movie where Apollo's going over all his personal appearances with his staff while his trainer is watching a news report on Rocky "champ you might wanta take a look at the guy you're gona be fighting.. he means business" and Apollo blows him off and says" I mean business too" as he continues to talk about the Non fight related topics with his staff . While Rocky Baboa was a fictional character you do sometimes see examples of athletes who seem to overacheive
in a almost unbelivable fashion. Luke cumo is one of those guys. Cumo was portrayed on the reality show as a unathletic nerd who was the last of 18 fighters picked when teams were chosen. Luke (using some stiff muay thai kickboxing and solid defense on the ground)willed himself through two very tough fights on the reality show. Despite Lukes success on the show It was expected that Jow Stephenson would easily outclass Cumo. While Stephenson quickly took luke down he could not break the will of the stubborn cumo who demonstated very nice defensive ju jitsu. Throughout the first two five minute rounds stephenson spent alot of time in the top position unloading hard punches and elbows on cumo while at the same time constantly trying to improve his position and finish the fight with submission locks. Cumo showed tremendous heart, toughness, conditioning, and some nice technique as he was constanly blocking and slipping strikes at the same time avoiding and escaping numerous submssion attempts continually working his way out of bad positions. Cumo was even able to scramble up to his feet on a couple of occasions which is almost unheard of against a grappler of stephensons caliber. Cumo had expended a tremendous amount of energy staying in the fight yet at the begining of third round he looked to be the fresher fighter. Sure enough as stephenson went for a take down early in the third round Cumo stuffed the attempt and put stephenson on his back. At this point the crowd was going nuts as the underdog had the highly decorated grapler on his back. Cumo went to town throwing everything but the kitchen sink at an exhausted stephenson. To stephensens credit he absorbed the punishment got a second wind and finished out the round in the top position.
Joe Stephenson went on to win a unanimous decision as well as the three year the six figure UFC contract that went along with winning the 170 lb weight division on the reality show. while Luke Cumo lost a tough fight he was able to captured the hearts and imaginations of the fans.

Rashad Evans VS Brad Imes
This was the heavyweight final for the reality show. Nice visual as they are both getting instruction from the referee you get a sense of the size difference between the two. Imes is 6'7"
260 while Rashad is 5'10" 220. This fight could have been considered either a sloppy kick boxing match or a stand up war. Even though these two didn't have the greatest striking ability in the world I really enjoyed this bout. My prediction for the final outcome for this fight was correct but this fight was way better then I expected. I thought Rashad a former all confrence wrestler at Michigan st would take the taller Imes (a former offensive lineman at the university of Missouri) down to the ground and just do enough to win.I was very wrong. Their was very little in the way of grappling or take down attempts in this fight. At times Imes was able to use his sizeable reach advantage to land stiff jabs and right hands other times rashad was able to use his supperior quickness and handspeed to land explosive left right combinations.
(I find as I get older I am more appreciative of a good game/ bout/match and less of a rah rah fan). A Great game or match occurs when two teams or individuals have styles that match up well and truly want to win and in the prosess the two sides bring out the best in each other. On this evening Brad Imes and Rashad Evans pushed each other to limits of their skills and endurance. Both of these guys at different time in the bout looked like they were moments away from being knockout and everytime this happened weather it was Rashad or brad they were able to reach down deep and get themselves back in the fight. In the end Rashad Evans one a narrow split decision winning himself a three year six figure contract with the UFC. Brad Imes lost but their really wasn't a looser in this fight.

Diego Sanchez VS Nick Diaz
Diego Sanchez was the 185lb winner on the first season of the ultimate fighter reality show. After the show he dropped down to the 170 lb division. Nick Diaz is a Mixed martial arts veteran. Despite the fact that Daiz is only 23 he has several impressive victories on his record (more impressive then Sanchez). Due to the fact that Sanchez won the reality show he has a far more lucrative contract then Diaz. This has caused Diaz to be more then a little bit bitter.
Both of thesse guys had something to prove.
This fight featured some truly beautiful submission grappling with all sorts of twists, turns, submision attempts, escapes, sweeps, counter and reversals.
In a way this fight was simmilar to the Cumo Stephensen fight I described earlier but at a much higher skill level. Sanchez was able to use his superior take down skills to put diaz on his back. Once the fight hit the ground Diego through visicious strikes at Diaz and was doing everyting in his power to end the fight. Diaz a slick ju jitsu practitioner skillfully defended himself blocking and slipping punches constantly scrambling to get a better defensive position. On several occasion Diaz was able to use is excelent ju jitsu technique to reverse Sanches and get the top position. Unfortunatly for Diaz he was never able to stay on top for long as diego was always able to grapple his way out from underneath diaz. In the end Sanchez one a very exciting unanimous decision. This figh gave an example of how exciting ground grappling can be.

All in all this was a very exciting nigh of fights and it made for great TV. UFC and Spike TV should be very happy.

Vodka and Boo Koo

Dawn's ex husband Pat got married today.
Dawn not only attended she also did the floral arranegments.
Neither one of us are really drinkers. Today was
a special occasion though. To get us through this joyous
event I stoped by the liquor store and picked up some vodka
then I went to the conveince store and picked up some boo koo energy drink.
Before we entered the chapel we had some very stiff shots. As I recall
it was a very nice ceremony.

Saturday Night UFC Predictions

The TUF 2 season finale will be on Spike TV Saturday at 9:00.
Steve's predictions

Diego Sanches over Nick Diaz
via decision

Rashad Evans over Brad Imes
via decision

Joe Stephenson over Luke Cumo
2nd round via arm bar

I'll have to pass on picking the other fights because I have not seen enough of their bouts to make an informed prediction.

A Wednesday visit to Grandfathers

Dawn and I stopped by grandfathers after work. He was happy to see us and he looked to be in very good spirits. When we arrived he was just finishing dinner. When he was done
we worked on the crossword puzzle. Between the three of us we were able to finish it in a reasonable time. Grandfather then gave us both oranges a couple of cookies before we departed.