The Cougars are coming town, but they will be leaving with their hide laying in front of the fire place.
The Beavers are going to start out carefully, but I think by the end of the half, the starters will be playing checkers on the side lines. If I am right, (and I usually am), this will be an excellent game to give some of the back-up players some real game experience.
WSU has one win against a lower division school, (Portland State). That will probably be their last win. They were blown away in most of their games: Oklahoma State, 39-3; Cal. 66-3; Baylor 54-17 and the Ducks, 63-14. They put up a gallant fight with UCLA, but still lost 35-3.
However, We will have to cover Brandon Gibson . Remember that name for the game. He is # 2 in the PAC-10 for catches, with an average of 6 a game. He averages 76.7 yards a game. He has caught a pass in 29 straight games. We would love to break that record.
WSU leads the PAC-10 in one statistic they don’t want to lead in. They have an incredible 19 turn-overs in six games. OSU leads the PAC-10 with the fewest at 6 in five games.
I have already given out my prediction of 34-3 with the 3 quetionable. We have a 30 point winning spread according to the odds makers. That is a record spread for the PAC-10.
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The final chapter of my travels to Pennsylvania:
When we were in the Gettysberg area we stopped at Dwight Eisenhower’s home, which was a nice farm. It has 186 acres. He invested into it towards the end of his career. He raised cattle on it. He had special things added to the farm. He had his own skeet shooting area. He also raised pheasants on the farm and then released them to hunt. He had a special area built just for him to practice golf. He had a green with sand traps placed around it. He had a fishing pond.
His home is what you would expect for a home back then in the farm area. It had a large living room that Mamie decorated with things from the white house. They had a special mantle at the fire place that IKE liked in the White house. They brought it to his home and installed it onto his own fire place. He had live in maids. He had a forman for the workers, who was also an expert herdsman. He lived in a 1797 house on the farm. His name was Bob Hartly. IKE became very close to Bob through the years.
IKE was an avid painter. He started painting in 1948. Many of his paintings were displayed by Mamie. Ike’s golf cart, jeep, and station wagon are still in the garage.
They have a guest house. Young David Eisenhower stayed in that house, and worked one summer as farm hand.
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OK!
It’s off to Boston, to see the Boston Red Sox play Tampa Bay. We got to the Hotel Buckminster, which was built in 1897. We wondered where the park was. The guy working there said, “Look out the window.” It was right across the freeway from us. This hotel is where Babe Ruth stayed when he played for the Red Sox. Ted Williams also stayed there. It was also the hotel where “Shoeless Joe,” Jackson, supposedly took the bribe that cost the team the World Series. You could almost hear people talking out in the hallway about how much they would give him to throw the series.
It was game day, and I was really excited. We got to the game, and my world went back over a hundred years!! Fenway park stood right in front of me, and I was about to go in! We went in and the building looked old, because it was old. Many of the seats where still the ones used back 50 or 60 years ago.
Charlotte and I hunted for our seats, and we kept climbing. Up went went through the bottom section; then the next section; up and up. We finally got to the very top row, AND it was ours. There were no seats behind us. There were standing room only people right behind my shoulder drinking beer and breathing down my neck. I decided that it didn’t matter. I was at Fenway Park ready to watch the Red Sox play. BTW……The park was named Fenway Park because….They were in the Fenway district of Boston. Nothing romantic, or exciting there.
Two really large (huge) guys sat right in front of us. They were brothers, and they knew how to drink beer. As a matter of fact the stands were full of people who knew how to drink beer. They all went down and brought two beers at a time, and it was just for them.
The game got started, and the huge young man right in front allowed about four inches for clear viewing space. If he moved his head to the left, I was cut off. There were posts there . But no! I would not get upset. I was at a Boston Red Sox’s game!!!
Jacoby Ellsbury was the player that all the OSU fans around the park wanted to see. He didn’t start!! He had a pulled muscle in his leg, and he was benched. The game went fast. It was exciting to sit there and realize where you were. You dream of going to the old parks before they were tore down. Well, we made it to this one. I was sitting where I was looking right at the “Green Monster.” The plays I remember way back when I was a kid that happened off of that wall still are visions in my head.
It was a close game down to the end. The Sox were behind one run coming into the last inning. A player got a hit, and……..you got it! Jacoby came in to pinch run. It didn’t take him long. On the second pitch he took off for second. The throw was wide and got through the shortstop. It didn’t go far, but Jacoby was already on his way to third. “SAFE!” You could hear the unpire way up where we were in the stands! The crowd let out a roar that was ear splitting. Jacoby was only in there about 30 seconds, and he was standing on third. It was for naught however, the next player flew out to right field. I called him David Ortiz. I was quickly corrected. One of the brothers in front of me said, “People from these parts call him popie. You must be from out of town.” I said “Yup, but I am a big fan of the Red Sox.” I got a big hand shake, and I made a new friend.
The boys liked Charlotte and I so much that earlier in the game they said they would trade seats with us for the rest of the game so we could see better! Boston people are my favorite people, have I ever told you that?
Jacoby gear was selling for more than the other palyers’ gear. He is the most popular player on the team. Of Course he is…he’s a Beaver!
The next night we had much better seats! Down close, and on the first base side. We were sitting with six or seven people from OSU that also got tickets through Tom Huggins, of Eola Hills Winery. He arranged the whole thing including getting us tickets. Eola Hills does a wonderful job of planning trips. They take care of everything from the time you get to the airport until you land again back home.
This game didn’t go any better. The Tampa Bay team is for real, and now you see that they are playing Boston again to see who goes to the World Series. Should be a great series.
As I looked at all the numbers around the field, I could see they were numbers of great players of the past, There is the always famous #42. That was Jackie Robinson’s number. He was the first black man to really make it big in the majors. There was the number for Carlton Fisk. Can you vision him trying to coax that ball going down the left field line? His hands gestures point where the ball should go, is still shown many Years later. Of course there was also Carl Yastrimsky. (sp) Yaz was one of the greatist hitters in Boston Rex Sox history, but the real number belonged to Ted Williams. He was the greatist hitter in the history of the Boston Red Sox and some say the major leagues. They have a bronze statue of him looking down at a little baseball fan, and he has his hand on the boy’s head, in a loving gesture. There were other numbers up there. Boston had a history that could have me typing all night, but I am weary, and I have rambled on enough.
I hope you enjoyed going on this journey with me. I travel a great deal, and I will be sharing what I saw and my thoughts while there, when ever we do travel.
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OUT!!