End of the Road

Linfield found the road to Salem was a little too long especially when it winds through Dover, Delaware.

The Wildcats' season ended over 2500 miles away from where it started in September after the Wesley Wolverines rode a series of uncharacteristic mistakes and lapses by Linfield to eradicate a 20-point Linfield halftime lead. Wesley scored 42 unanswered points in the second half to continue on to the Quarterfinals in the DIII playoffs.

Brent's football career also ended this weekend about 5000 miles away from where it started back in his eighth grade year at St. Louis. It was a very memorable ride for Juliet and me. And I know Brent feels very fortunate for the opportunities and experiences he had.

It will be a lot different for all of us now that both of the boys are done playing organized sports but we'll look forward to whatever is down that road.

Samsung Galaxy S II

Trying out my new Smartphone today.

So far, so good. I saw it on sale at Radio Shack for $49.99; AT&T wanted $199 for it.

It's a 4g phone and I was able to keep my Unlimited Data Plan and so far it seems like a great bargain. It's fast!

It has a 8mp camera and looks like the reviews were right...it takes nice photos.

More later...

Preview of the longest trip

Wildcat11 of Advantage Catdome posts a game preview each week that Linfield football plays.

I'm glad he will be able to make the trip to Dover. One more familiar element for the team on Saturday.

Here's his game breakdown

http://catdomealumni.blogspot.com/2011/11/ncaa-playoffs-round-2-preview-linfield.html

Round One Down

The Wildcats used all but 33 seconds of the full 60 minutes of gametime to once again knock Cal Lutheran out of the playoffs, 30-27 at Maxwell Field this past Saturday.

It was the third straight year that the two teams have met in the first round with Linfield coming out ahead all three times.

This one was a nail-biter as the Kingsmen from California fought back from a 20-3 deficit to come within a Field Goal from tying the game as time was running out.

A blocked field goal secured the win in the last minute of play and led to a happy Wildcat greeting after the game.

The team will travel across the country to face Wesley College in Dover, Delaware on Saturday.

A sack goes unrecorded

Although it wasn't included in the Official Stats, these photos show that Brent did get a sack on Saturday

Lewis and Clark QB takes off to the left.

Brent keeps position

He dives for the QB and moves out of sight

The QB goes down!

Stacking the deck

The official brackets for the Division III playoffs were released on Sunday afternoon.

http://www.d3football.com/playoffs/2011/bracket.pdf

d3football.com's #5 ranked Linfield will be matched against #8 Cal Lutheran in the First Round for the third consecutive year. This will be the 5th time that they are playing each other in the past 3 seasons.

CalLu fans must be frustrated at not being tabbed for a home game in the opening round especially since SCIAC (Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) runner-up, #14 Redlands, was also included in the tournament and sent on the road to face the top seed in the bracket, #4 Mary Hardin-Baylor in Texas.

This was one of many perplexing things that seem to occur with yearly regularity in the NCAA Selection Committee's decisions. There seems to be a heavy bias against the West-coast teams in terms of seeding and travel:

• Four of the eight teams in the bracket with Linfield finished in the d3football.com Top Ten
• Seven of the eight finished in the Top 20
• #3 St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN) is a #1 seed in a bracket that has NO other teams ranked higher than #11 Delaware Valley
• #1 Wisconsin-Whitewater, also a #1 seed has only #10 Salisbury in its bracket and 3 other teams in the Top 20.
• The final top seed, #2 Mount Union has two Top Ten teams in its bracket but also includes teams ranked #22, #25, #38, #39 and one unranked automatic qualifier.

Another oddity comes in the second round where the winner of the Linfield-CalLu game, barring an upset by #31 Hobart, would likely face #7 Wesley in Delaware! d3football.com feels that Wesley may have been the best team to not make the DivIII finals in the past 2-3 seasons.

Finally, besides the tough draw in the bracket looking forward should Linfield be fortunate enough to keep winning the travel schedule would likely criss-cross the nation and add to the difficulty. If form holds according to rankings the Wildcats would play at home the first week; Wesley in Dover, DE; Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, TX; Mount Union in Alliance, OH then finally to Salem, VA for the Stagg Bowl.

That's a lot of frequent flyer miles!

GO 'CATS!

Senior Day at Linfield

Saturday was also Brent's last regular season home game. The school honored 24 Seniors by recognizing them and their families just before the game.

We waited on the sideline until Brent came for us. He handed a rose to Juliet and we all stood in a line in front of the rest of the team. Each Senior was introduced along with their families for recognition. Brent made sure that his brother was with us on the field; that's something he wanted to make sure they both shared.

It was a very special moment.

Championship Saturday in Mac

We are back in McMinnville today for what we thought when we originally planned it, would be Brent's Senior Game and final regular season home game. Instead, because of a resurgent Lewis & Clark team the importance of the game has skyrocketed.

The Pioneers lost their first game of the year last week to Willamette and although it was also a Northwest Conference loss can still walk away with the automatic bid into the NCAA playoffs if they can get past Linfield today.

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The 'Cats won, 47-14 and claimed the outright Northwest Conference title. Along with that comes the automatic bid into the playoffs.

The wait for the official seeding will last until Sunday afternoon. Then they find out who and where they will play in the first round. It's almost certain that they will be home for their first game but the opponent is open to pretty wild speculation.

Get to know a Wildcat

Advantage Catdome featured Brent in his weekly "Get to know a Wildcat" feature on his blog.

http://catdomealumni.blogspot.com/2011/11/game-8-preview-linfield-7-0-4-0-nwc-at.html

Catdome interview

Brent was interviewed by Ryan Carlson who maintains the terrific Catdomealumni.com website and the companion Advantage Catdome blog .

He goes by wildcat11 and archives lots of Linfield football information and does field level video at all home games plus many road games. He is a very devoted 'Cat alum who was a record-setting Defensive End in his own right during his career.

http://catdomealumni.blogspot.com/2011/10/pacific-lutheran-post-game-interviews.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbSSl0-113E

Yamhill Wining

We visited two vineyards near McMinnville and did our first-ever wine tasting!

Our first stop was at Yamhill Valley Vineyards

Next we went to Amity Vineyards.

We're definitely not ready for Sommelier status but we did like a few wines and brought home 4 bottles.

No place like home...snf*snf*

We got back from our trip on Monday and I immediately got sick. No fun.

Allergies got the best of me and turned into a cold-like cough and runny nose. Bleah!

I finally got around to loading our photos...

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

I'll post some others later.

Brent's Sack vs Puget Sound

Brent had a sack this past Saturday and Juliet was able to get a series of photos on the play

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

We started the day at this lighthouse south of Newport

Newport, Oregon

We drove to the coast from McMinnville this morning. It's a little rainy but nothing real scary to drive thru.
We stopped for lunch at Mo's Annex which is just across the street from the original Mo's.
The fish tacos were really good!

'Cats roll.

Great Homecoming win today. All phases of the game dominated Puget Sound.
Brent had a good day. Two tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for loss.

Live from the Catdome

Conference Play Begins

Linfield opened Northwest Conference play by travelling to Salem to face Willamette on Saturday.

These two teams have won the past 4 Conference titles and were predicted to be 1 and 2 again this season.

In a game that was marred by almost a dozen fumbles because of heavy rain, the Wildcats prevailed, 20-10 and took a huge step towards repeating as Champions for the third straight year.

There are many more games to be played but this was a big one to get over.

Brent played his best game at Linfield and ended up with 5 tackles including 2 assists in Tackles for Loss (TFL) and one Forced Fumble!

http://cmsimg.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Site=J0&Date=20111001&Category=SPOR

Conference Play This Week

The Linfield Wildcats open their Northwest Conference schedule with a road game in Salem against Willamette. The two teams have competed for the conference championship for the past 3 years with the Wildcats taking the crown the past two seasons.

Unfortunately there is no video feed available so we'll be following it using our theater of the mind!

Gametime!

From Sam Boyd Stadium

Viva Las Vegas!

Made it in to Las Vegas this morning for the UH-UNLV game.
Checked in and had a nice breakfast with SteveM and Rasu Begasu.

After some downtime the same trio met up for dinner at the buffet at Golden Nugget.

Downtown was hoppin' with Hawaii fans out in force at all the popular hotels: The Cal, Main Street and the Nugget. I didn't make it to the Fremont but it was probably the same.

Wildcats Win Season Opener

It's a big day as the Wildcats take the field for the first time this season against Cal Lutheran in McMinnville.

Linfield ended the Kingsmens' season in the first round of the playoffs last November and also avenged their season opening loss from last season to Cal Lu in Thousand Oaks.

Brent gets his first ever start for Linfield today which really kicks up the excitement level. He'll be playing DE today and for his Senior year has decided to switch to #92 in honor of his brother who wore that number at Eastern Oregon for 4 years.

One hour prior to that game the Warriors kickoff their first road game this season at Husky Stadium in Seattle. We're looking forward to that to see if these Warriors are really going to be able to make some big things happen this year.

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Linfield survived an opening drive TD by CLU to win their first game, 24-14.

First-time starting QB Mickey Inns shook off some opening jitters to manage the win, mostly by handing off to RB Josh Hill and Hill's replacement Stephen Nasca.

Brent did start the game and rotated snaps with 4 other DE's. He played well and I'll update his stats when they become available.

Let's Go Warriors!

Just received our UH football season tickets!

Time to get out the tailgate checklist....

Made in Hawaii

Juliet went to the Made in Hawaii Festival today and brought back a Lomi Stick. It's a really nice one, too!

Guava stick that we can use to replace the loop that Brent took to Oregon with him last week.

She said the event was very crowded and there was lots of neat things and food.

A good event.

Go 'Cats!

Just got our season tickets for Linfield football.

Yahoo! Go 'Cats!

Sailor Blue's Birthday

We were at Murphy's Bar and Grill last night to celebrate Jerry Boster's Birthday with his wife, Janice.

He had a successful bid at a fundraising auction for a catered event by Don and Marian Murphy.

We were surprised by the food that was served. It was a menu that was filled with items that I had never seen on their regular menu.

Salmon served on a bed of watercress. Very moist and tender.

Barbeque Chicken Thighs, Baby Bok Choy, and Corn.

The star item was this suckling pig that Don Murphy brought out himself. The presentation was terrific with all of the meat having been shredded and laid in front of the hollowed out shell of the carcass. The flash prevents seeing the transluscence of the skin from showing up but it was masterful.

And the snout was shortly gobbled up.

That was Robin Gomes (addahknowjoe) who presented Jerry with a poster that he created in his graphics shop. Our own Captain America!

The surprise entertainment for the evening was the result of another successful bid at the same fundraising event for Japan Tsunami Relief.

It was a performance by Hoku-award winner Mailani Makainai!

What a treat!

Of course, Marian Murphy is the consummate hostess as always.

It was a terrific evening and we were glad that we were fortunate to have shared it with Jerry and Janice.

Makapuu Lighthouse

We joined Shannon and Jim Wood for their "Night Before the Full Moon Hike" to the Makapu'u Lighthouse. The goal was to reach the summit in time to see the moon rise.

Juliet has been wanting to do this hike for years and it was the first time either of us have been there.

We set out from the parking area at 4:30 and were amazed by some of the views we saw!

We made it to the top! Whew!

After a few minutes to catch our breath, someone spotted the moon! It had already risen from behind Molokai.

We caught some nice views on the way down as the sun was setting.