March 2009 Archives

Dateline Jacksonville, Florida:

Parents are suing the St. Johns County School Board saying a teacher made their children learn a religious-themed song for an end-of-the-year program.

The lawsuit, filed last week in federal court, says “In God We Still Trust,” interferes with the parents’ right to raise children according to their own beliefs.

Sample lyrics:

Now there are those among us, who want to push Him out,
And erase His name from everything, this country's all about,
From the Schoolhouse to the Courthouse, they're Silencing His Word,
Now it's time for all Believers, to make our Voices heard.

Wow. I was pissed off when they made us sing "Proud to Be an American". This song would have sent me over the edge into total psychosis.

I feel very fortunate to have managed to score a ticket to the inaugural game of the Seattle Sounders FC. You can say want you want about soccer, but last night was something special:

Meanwhile, Sounders coach Sigi Schmid is pretty clearly going to compete with Ichiro in the Most Hilarious And/Or Nonsensical Sports Story Quotes category.

"Until all the nerves hit, until all the pressure is there, until you see all the people in the stands and you feel that momentum kick in and the adrenaline kick in, then you see how people react to those situations," Schmid said. "That is what usually separates the guys from the other guys."

Schmid knows what it takes to get to the postseason, having led two MLS teams to titles.

"Our goal is to make it to the dance, because once you're there you have a chance," he said. "You have to make it to the dance to get the girl, and that's what we're trying to do."

Drew Carey, erstwhile sitcom star and a poor substitute for Bob Barker, nonetheless has already proven himself to be the coolest owner of a professional sports team in the history of the world.

The city has embraced the expansion club in a way you wouldn't expect when Americans and soccer are involved. More than 20,000 season tickets have been sold, and Carey likes to think that the team's fan-empowering policies have something to do with it.

Especially since Seattle sports fans recently endured a very unpleasant experience with a team ownership group.

"Here comes this evil NBA owner who takes the SuperSonics, screws the city with this duplicitous deal he put together and takes them to Oklahoma," Carey said. "The whole city hates this guy. One of their major sports is gone now. And we come in like, 'Hey, is yo man not treatin' you right? Come and see us."

Oh... snap.

Apparently they're trying to spread a meme that "billy joel" is slang for "blow job". And in an article that isn't even about Billy Joel. It's all very casual.

This week, Alex discovered mud puddles. Tragically, I didn't have my camera to capture the transition from hesitant curiosity (sploosh?) to unbridled glee (stomp stomp! splash splash!). He kept on stomping and splashing until all the water had splahed out, getting muddier and muddier, and saying, "feet cold!" between giggles. There's no shortage of dirt and rain in Seattle, so I'm sure there are many years of joyous, muddy play days ahead. (I might even remember my camera for some of them.)