Category Archives: Thoughts

To Our Incensed, Let-down, Enduring, Terrorized Supporters:

Posted by Granny Trudy on

That tears it!  Whoever decided to install the first bathroom stall door that swung in needs to be drug out into the street and shot!  Am I alone here?  Who on earth could possibly think it would be a good idea to force people to squeeze around the door, just millimeters away from what horrors one can only imagine on that toilet seat!?

Granted, our toilets here at RCC are generally quite clean, but that cannot be said for a great many restrooms elsewhere!  Especially for an older woman like myself, maneuvering around a porcelain rimmed death trap can be quite hazardous, and let’s not even mention what I have to do with my walker!

Frankly, I’m fearful for my safety, but this isn’t just about me.  Your husbands and wives, your cousins and grandparents, your parents and children, your brother and sisters and friends and girlfriends and uncles and distant relatives whom you don’t know but who certainly deserve better are facing this terror, many of them every single day.  Something has to be done!  Stand with me!  We will not take this sitting down (so to speak)!  Raise a rallying cry and form a resistance!  Do it for yourself; do it for your neighbor; do it for the children!  File petitions with building inspectors; picket any building with inward-opening stall doors; lay down your life for the cause if necessary, but never back down; never give up; never allow the inward-opening-bathroom-stall-door heathens to win!  Who is with me!?!

Granny Trudy

The Magic Toilet

Posted by Mark McLean on

On planet Earth many things are magical.  The most famous is the school bus, but the best is the toilet. The magic toilet was made by Miley Cyrus in 1984. She sang to it in the middle of the night. Her voice was wonderful. Then, she vanished. The toilet was sold to Bob Saget in 2006. Whenever he sat on the toilet, it sang a song. Bob gave it to a guy who acted as a vampire in a movie. He then sucked the blood out of it and the toilet was magical no more. This is why you only give singing toilets to were wolf’s. They will use it for good.  RIP magical toilet.

Mark McLean

The Madness Began

Posted by Taylor Hart on

Just this weekend, I experienced one of the craziest soccer games in my life. I traveled all the way out to Olympia, to Pioneer Park, for a game against Blackhills F.C.. We, HPFC, played this team last year and took a loss, thanks to the poor officiationg that gave away two unnecessary penalty kicks to the other team. We were determined to get our revenge this year. I started the game at my usual spot, center back, and ended up playing the whole game there. From the very start, you could tell the refs were going to be the same as last year and we would receive no help from them. We had to overcome the odds and win this game on our own. Within the first five minutes, the refs had not called an obvious foul inside their penalty box, which lead to an easy clearance by the keeper. They came back and almost had a shot on goal but their player slipped on the wet, damp grass and fell. The ref, being out of position and not focusing just saw the guy on the ground and called a foul. Luckily, their “star” player blasted the ball nowhere near the goal he was aiming for. This was just a preview of what was to come. The game continued like this, with the ref continuously making bad calls. Our team got more frustrated as the game went on, and the game got rougher and rougher because of it. We were down 3-1 when the madness began. The ball was deep in their territory and went out for a throw-in. From where I was, I couldn’t see much but I hear a loud smack, like the sound of a cleat hitting a shin guard. It turns out, that’s exactly what it was. One of their players had swung his leg as hard as he could at one of our players and hit him directly in the leg. Our player went down, screaming in agony. The ref rushed over there as soon as possible and sent the player off and separated the two teams before any punches were thrown. And believe me, they were about to be thrown. Our team had rushed the field, ready to take the kid out. The players settled down and the ref immediately blew the whistle to end the game once play had restarted. Soon after, the fire department and medics had arrived and were taking care of the injured player. When the medics asked him what had happened, he began with, “Well, it was a frustrating game,” and went on to explain the rest. He had a welt the size of a tennis ball on his shin. Cops had been called and were talking to the kid that kicked him. He got to his feet but couldn’t walk and was carried to his car, to drive an hour back home after a disappointing, stressful, and painful 3-1 loss.

Youth Highlight: Snohomish Bigfoot Tournament

Posted by Joshua Hart on

This past weekend I played in the Snohomish Bigfoot Tournament. My team HPFC, coached by Don Preiss, went into it expecting to do all right, but came out with a lot more. Despite the long drive to Snohomish daily my team seemed ready to play. We started off the first game on Thursday by playing South Hill Revolution. We topped them 2-1 in a thrilling game. Than the next morning we all made the long drive again for our 8:00 game. Even though we had to wake up at 5:00 our team came ready to play and won their second game 1-0 over NW United. We had a very good chance to move on to the championship if we tied or won the third game of the group stage. We played the next afternoon against NW Nationals. We took it to them and ended up winning 2-0. We had finally made a championship in a tournament. This was the first time for the team. We were all excited but knew we had a tough opponent ahead of us, GRFC. This was a do or die match, loser goes home, winner is the champion. It was a very rough game from the start and GRFC almost scored early but on the counter attack we scored and took the lead 1-0. The score would remain the same for the rest of the game and we took home our championship medals. It was quite thrilling to go undefeated in the Bigfoot Tournament.

Josh Hart

Shocking The World

Posted by Taylor Hart on

On Wednesday, the 14th ranked USA national soccer team took on the number 1 team in the world, Spain. Spain had won 15 straight international matches and had gone 35 games without being beaten, a feat that has only been done by the Brazilian national team. USA came out strong, dominating the game early. USA created several scoring chances early, the most promising ones being Davies’ bicycle kick missing just wide, and Dempsey’s long shot rolling just to the left of the goal. It wasn’t long before the USA would get one in. It came in the 27th minute when Dempsey received the ball on the sideline and saw an opportunity. He burst toward the middle of the field, drawing two defenders away from Jozy Altidore. At the perfect moment, he chipped the ball between the two defenders toward Altidore. Altidore used his strength to push the defender off the ball. From there, he saw nothing but green. He kept his composure and tucked the ball into the back of the net, giving the US a shocking 1-0 lead over the best team in the world. This snapped Spain’s 451 minute scoreless streak and put their undefeated streak in jeopardy.

However, Spain knew there was plenty of time left and they did not give up. They shortly proved why they were the best team in the world. Torres and Villa connected several passes, tearing up the USA defense. David Villa was left with a great opportunity, only to be stopped by a last ditch effort from USA’s central defender, Oguchi Onyewu. This was a preview of what was to come for the rest of the game. The USA defense was constantly under pressure. However, this US team had no fear. They would do whatever they could to keep the ball from getting anywhere near the goal. They risked serious injuries for a chance to top the best team in the world, and it sure did pay off. They denied Spain several very promising chances at a goal. Around the 70th minute, Spain started to get some fresh legs out on the field. These included Cazorla and Mata, just two of the skilled players on Spain’s deep bench. However, it would be USA’s substitution that made all the difference. USA brought in Benny Feilhaber around the 70 minute mark. In the 74th minute, Feilhaber hustled after a 50-50 ball, won it, and continued down the field. He dribbled through several Spain defenders, keeping the play alive and playing it to Landon Donovan just to the right of the goal. Donovan had a clear shot at goal, but he passed it up and looked for Clint Dempsey on the far side. It took a deflection and went straight to Sergio Ramos, a star defender for Spain. He did not see Dempsey behind him, so he took a touch to clear the ball. Dempsey made the most of this mistake, sliding around Ramos and squeezing it into the small space between Ramos and Casillas, Spain’s goalkeeper and captain. This put USA up by 2 late in the game. It looked as though USA was going to pull off the upset, shocking the world.

 They played strong defense for the rest of the game, despite the relentless attack of Spain. After 1 minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle. Immediately, the entire USA bench stormed the field, the crowd erupted, and several Spanish players fell to the ground in shock. No one could believe what the USA had just done. After all was said and done, Clint Dempsey walked off the field with the honor of being named MVP for the match, with his early assist and insurance goal. The stats were clearly one sided. All were in favor of Spain though. Spain ended with 29 shots to USA’s miniscule 9. Spain had 27 corner kicks while USA finished with just 3. Spain controlled the ball for 56% of the game. But at the end of the day, it’s all about the goals, and that’s the category the USA won.

604 Dollars?!

Posted by Joshua Hart on

I was sitting at home, chilling out and watching tv, when I almost had a heart attack.

My mom had just come home and I had heard her going through the mail. Soon she called out, “604 dollars of internet usage!”

“What?!!!” I yelled. “I thought Taylor had set up the unlimited family internet.” I was freaking out. I didn’t have 604 dollars to spend. What was I going to do?

My mom called out, “Don’t worry, I am calling AT&T.”

I listened to her talk to AT&T. It didn’t sound like it was going very well, but soon enough the phone clicks off. I was worried, biting my lips, hoping that I didn’t have to cough up 604 dollars.

My mom called out once again,”Ok they are giving us a 604 dollar credit. You owe your normal 15 dollars.”

Whoo. I let out a sigh of relief. I almost had a heart attack, but its all over now. It was just a slip up on the AT&T’s part. Ok I was fine. Everything was all right.

 

Joshua Hart