ChatBall

All the cities in the country have their own distinct feel, flavor and culture. The different cities cultivate their diverse ways of life because, although they are all full of Americans, they all develop separate from each other. In an abstract way, each city can be thought of as its own life form; evolving for hundreds of years, separate from its kin, until one day, Voila! You have a completely unique species incapable of breeding with the species from whence it came.  But, I have noticed in my short life that there is one thing that the entire country and all of its wonderful citizens share in common every year, the middle of April brings out the worst in people. This month is like surviving the development of a child. The beginning holds hope and happiness as spring sets in. Then come the teen years full of despair, mood swings and self pity. Finally, April becomes an adult, and is the hardened, pessimistic place that realizes how small and insignificant it is in the grand scheme of things. And the source of all this theatre you ask? Well, it’s almost upon us, the dreaded tax day.

But, if you live in the great state of Western Washington, there is a silver lining. Every year tax day is a signal that we are immeasurably close (well, really it’s always about three weeks…) to the most historically significant thing that happens yearly in this insignificant state. The glory of The Windermere Cup is almost upon us. Although the race itself dates to 1970, the true Windermere Cup started in 1987. If I carry my numbers correctly, that makes this year the 26^th anniversary of the event. Now I realize that most people in the Great Northwest have very little knowledge of this event. That does not mean that it is any less historically important. I would argue that most people in this area have only a scarce knowledge of the 1909 World’s Fair, but that does not mean that it carries less historical weight. For example, a short list of the teams that have come to the Montlake Cut to compete in this event includes The Soviet Union, Italy, The Peoples Republic of China, and The Russian National Team twice. This list does not even touch on the national powerhouses of Navy, Dartmouth and Stanford, nor does it touch on the Women’s event that has a history so rich its own that it would require an entirely separate post.

Perhaps what makes this event even more significant is the complete dominance over the years of Washington Crew. They have won 19 of 25 events and have won the last 5 in a row. But the dominance of Washington crew is not sequestered to Montlake, it has a very long and rich history of its own. In all, Washington Crew has 16 Gold, 2 Silver and 6 Bronze Olympic medal winning men, as well as  14 Varsity Eight, 24 Junior Varsity Eight, and 19 Freshmen Eight National Titles. None of these mention what is arguably the most historically important Olympic event of all time. I’m referring to the 1936 Crew team that came from the eighth lane to beat both the German and Italian Olympic teams in Berlin with Adolf Hitler in attendance. These records also don’t address the 1958 win over Leningrad Trud’s world champion rowers in Moscow which was the first American sporting victory in the Soviet Union. The event was so shocking that the Soviet crowd gave the Washington Crew a standing ovation during the height of the Cold War. To add to the lore of this event, it was also the first sporting event ever aired from behind the Iron Curtain.

Given all of these incredible accomplishments, it is not an impossible argument to make that there is one thing that The University of Washington and the Pacific Northwest do better than the rest of the world and I’m not talking about nursing. That being said, I will leave it to you to decide the historical importance of the Windermere cup to the University of Washington, the Pacific Northwest, and the rest of the sporting world.

(start at the 1:10 mark to see the eight man victory)

The DaWgs received their first 2013 commitment today from Lakes receiver Sammy Long. Long is 6’ 4” and weighs 190 pounds. He is rated as a 3 star recruit by Rivals and is said to be the top wideout in the state of Washington by Northwest Prep Report. Hopefully this is early proof that the coaching changes will mend the in-state recruiting fences.

I had gotten on line to write what I thought was going to be a comprehensive preview of the upcoming Husky football team. I figured I’d write about 1,000 words and wrap the whole thing up. I began to research the position battles and depth when I ran across this article that has already done a better job than my amateur fingers could dream of. So, I realize that this is sort of a cop out, but I would basically just be paraphrasing this colossal wealth of knowledge anyway. If you are hardcore Husky fan, have fun for the next 2 hours digesting the hard work of this wonderful man.

(This is one of my favorite moments in all of Seattle sports history. My cousin and I were watching it in a bar full of Huskies. The entire place was too shocked to celebrate for the first 10 seconds. We, as all Seattle sports fans do, were expecting something to come along and take our happiness away. That moment never materialized and the bar went nuts. My cousin put it best when he said, “I think that’s the first time that has ever happened for us. That is the kind of crap that usually happens to us.”)

Ah, how I miss the good old days. Yes, I realize that this was just 1 short year ago, but I believe this video displays the contrast in passion between last year’s team and this years. Terrence Ross, unquestionably the most talented player on the 2012 team, is just not “cold blooded” like Isaiah was so aptly described. The call by Gus Johnson was rated the no.2 sports broadcasting moment of the year in 2011, but good old Gus needs to send Isaiah a thank you note. This call is not great because of an announcer screaming in hysteria, it is great because of the excitement and electricity that Mr. Irrelevant naturally brings to the game. You can see it in his face. He has supreme intensity coupled with an unadulterated drive to win, and maybe more importantly, to not lose. When Isaiah left us that drive seems to have left the team entirely. For all of the circus dunks and alley-oops that we are given from Ross and Wroten, we never once had them stand up under pressure. When they lose it you can see that they are no more distressed than if they had left the house with mismatching socks. I don’t know if this is a coaching problem, or just a hitch in their personalities. Either way it is something that should have been fixed after the first embarrassing loss of the season, not something that I can rant for 500 words about at near the end of March.