Sunday Observations - New Year

- Welcome to 2009. Cheers to a New Year.

- My friend Ruth started her New Year with a torn ACL. She was hiking. MRI next week. Wish her luck.

- I knew it was coming: the football letdown. The Yellow Jackets got thumped in the Chick Fil A Bowl on New Year's Eve and the Dolphins lost their playoff game today. Not a good way to end my football season. I won't be able to eat Chick Fil A for a long time.

- Oh Charles... why do you do what you do? Charles Barkley got picked up for possible DUI. This was after I blogged about him last week and also soon after I finished reading his book "Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?". Like I said, I like Charles. He actually said a lot worthy things in the book, especially about the value of education and the importance of accountability. By the way, the premise of the book: a discussion about race. It had interviews of Samuel L Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and others talking about racism, what Barkley calls "the cancer of my lifetime".

- What to do about Gaza. Hamas has no right to volley rockets into Israel. Israel has a right to defend itself. But have we exhausted all diplomatic means? Does the reported 500 dead in the Gaza Strip send the wrong message? I think that history is going to show us that one of the follies of our time is that in our efforts to stop and fight terrorism, we've done an outstanding job of helping it grow.

- A 12-0 Utah team that beat Alabama should get consideration for a National Championship. They won't, but they should. That's why we need a playoff, to give everyone a chance. This is not Hawaii getting pounded by Georgia or Boise St beating a good, but not great Oklahoma team on two great plays. This is a "midmajor" soundly thumping a team that was ranked number 1 for almost 10 weeks.

Crush of the Week:

Emily Bradford is one of my favorite people. She was visiting for the holidays last week. The only bad thing that Emily has ever done to me is move to Alaska. With her went my most consistent biking buddy, a heck of an Ultimate player and a pretty awesome friend.
Emma and I are trying to plan an epic bike ride this summer. It would start in Skagway, Alaska and take the only road out. About 100 miles later, you end up in Whitehorse, Yukon. The loop goes along the Yukon River to Haines Junction before dropping south and back into Alaska. If you are up for some time in Alaska, then let me know. You don't even have to bike. Two people to drive support would be SWEET!

Here's our planned route:


Here is Emily's blog if you want to catch up on her Alaska adventures.