Category Archives: Sports

September 4, 2025 · 23:56

Draft Day

It was Draft Day for our office Fantasy Football league.

Captain Jean Luc was holding the Chiefs flag for the party. I can guarantee I was the only one on the Zoom call that had either a cardboard Starfleet officer or a team flag.

Yahoo was neither supportive nor gracious. Following the draft I got an email from them evaluating my draft as follows:

Paul’s KC BBQ Extravaganza Takes a Detour on the Road to Victory!

Well, folks, it looks like Paul’s KC BBQ Extravaganza decided to take the scenic route during the draft, ending up with a D- grade that has them projected to finish 12th in Beginners Luck. With a record of 2-10-0 on the horizon, it seems like they might need a GPS to navigate their way through this season. They kicked things off with the 7th pick but ended up with a lineup that could make even the most optimistic fan cringe. Who knew drafting four players from the same team could be a recipe for disaster? Talk about putting all your eggs in one basket, or should we say, one struggling franchise!

As if that wasn’t enough, Paul’s KC BBQ Extravaganza also has the 6th toughest schedule in the league, which means they’ll be facing some serious competition week after week. With four players on bye week 10, it’s safe to say that the fantasy gods might not be smiling down on them this season. Their best pick came at 91, but let’s just say their worst pick at 7 has fans scratching their heads. At this point, Paul’s KC BBQ Extravaganza might want to consider a new strategy—like perhaps drafting a crystal ball instead of players! Buckle up, Paul’s KC BBQ Extravaganza, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

That seems unnecessarily harsh!

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Filed under Photography, Sports

April 7, 2025 · 23:37

Ballpark Impulse Buys

At Angels Stadium this last weekend I ended up in one of the team stores to get something. At the cash register, the evil monsters had the ultimate impulse buy for the twelve-year-old Paul trapped (screaming, I suspect) inside this 69-year-old carcass.

I haven’t bought baseball cards in YEARS! But there they were, and unlike fifty-seven years ago, I didn’t have to go mow lawns, shovel snow, or scrounge through the bushes along a busy highway for discarded Coke bottles with a $0.02 refund on each in order to get a couple of packs. I had a credit card, and I wasn’t afraid to use it!

Today’s cards are a far stretch from the cards of the early 1960’s in terms of color, design, and quality. Nonetheless, what I wouldn’t give to have my original set of cards back (long ago sold off by my mother at a garage sale).

I was pleasantly surprised to get a Mike Trout card right off the bat. Perhaps that’s a good sign!

They’re great to look at and read through, takes me right back to my pre-teen days and some of my fondest memories of those days. I’m not sharing too many details about the world of 2025 with 12-year-old Paul – he was fresh out of Catholic school and hadn’t even learned to swear yet (a story for another day) and would be tragically ill-prepared to deal with all that we’re hip deep in.

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Filed under Paul, Photography, Sports

April 5, 2025 · 23:52

Angels Stadium Fireworks

Night two of the 2025 Family Baseball Road Trip. Tonight the Angels’ bats got hot, we hit four home runs, our pitching and defense were solid, and we beat Cleveland 10-4.

Better yet, after Saturday night home games, there are fireworks! I LOVE FIREWORKS!

Oh, and speaking of LA sports, the Kings were playing the Edmonton Oilers this afternoon. The Oilers are the team that we’ve played (and lost to) in the past three years in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and they’re almost certainly going to be the team we play again this year in the first round, starting in about two weeks. We’re fighting them for position, currently ahead of them by two points, and winning today would extend that to four points and guarantee the Kings a place in the playoffs. Our hotel in Anaheim didn’t have that channel on their satellite feed, so we went out and found a sports bar and watched it there. It was a fantastic Kings win!

 

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Filed under Fireworks, LA Angels, LA Kings, Photography, Sports

April 4, 2025 · 21:30

Back To The Ballpark

I don’t think I got to a single game last year at any ballpark, so we’re checking that off the list early this year by being at the Angels’ home opener.

“The Big A” is something like the fourth or fifth oldest park in MLB, but it’s still a great place to see a game.

We had a flyover during the opening ceremonies, but I suspect the nearby flight path into John Wayne Orange County Airport messed with their timing. The flyby was by five Texans (probably the Condor Squadron, but maybe a group out of Chino) and just as they SHOULD have been coming over, a 737 turning base to SNA was right over us, so the Texans were 2-3 minutes late.

All completed safely! That’s what really counts.

We’re now in the top of the seventh inning and Cleveland’s ahead 6-4, but I have faith! Oops, they just scored again. 7-4.

And ice cream. Those really GOOD Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie ice cream sandwiches.

Faith and ice cream. An excellent combination. If only we could get faith, ice cream, and someone who could get a hit with a couple of runners in scoring position!

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Filed under LA Angels, Photography, Sports

March 27, 2025 · 23:39

Opening Day

It’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball 2025 (yeah, I know that the Dodgers & Cubs played two games in Tokoyo last week) and hope springs eternal. We all started today 0-0 with visions of a great season ahead of our favorite teams!

The definition of “a great season” vary by team, of course. For the Dodgers, anything less than a World Series repeat will be an abject failure.

For the Angels, a .500 season would be their best in years. If they make the playoffs for the first time in eleven years, there would be dancing in the streets.

Pretty much everyone else is somewhere in the middle.

What do you mean, “You have a baseball just sitting on your desk?” Doesn’t everyone? No? What kind of monster are you??!!

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Filed under LA Angels, Photography, Sports

October 20, 2024 · 23:12

A Honkin’ Huge Orange Moon Rising

Wandering into the kitchen just before 21:00 tonight I looked out of the windows into the back yard and saw the honkin’ huge Moon, orange as a pumpking, rising in the northeast.

It’s a couple of days past full moon, but still really bright, and being so close to the horizon and shining through Los Angeles’ haze and light pollution, it was far, FAR from white.

Further out in the yard the color became more prominent.

I stood out here for a while, the owls hooting in the trees, the orange moon rising, and some occasional fireworks going off in the distance, presumably in celebration of the Dodgers’ win over the Mets that sends them to the World Series against the Yankees next weekend.

If the weekend has to end (and it really SUCKS that it has to!), this (and the Chiefs’ win to put them at 7-0 and the Kings’ win over the Ducks) isn’t a bad way to enjoy it.

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Filed under Astronomy, KC Chiefs, Los Angeles, Photography, Sports

September 29, 2024 · 23:31

Sunday At SoFi

SoFi Stadium in Inglewood is where the LA Chargers and the LA Rams play football. Today my beloved Chiefs were playing their division rivals, the Chargers.

It’s a stunningly gorgeous stadium and facility.

We were up in the nosebleed seats, but could still see everything just find, assisted by that GINORMOUS video scoreboard.

My beloved Chiefs did not play particularly well and made way too many mistakes with penalties and turnovers.

Our quarterback, #15 there, is pretty good. Good enough, so we’re 4-0 now. All four wins have been “ugly,” but a win’s a win.

As is usually the case with Chargers games (we’ve gone here, at their previous smaller venue before SoFi opened, and their old home down in San Diego) a huge percentage of their seats get resold to fans of the opposing team. Thus our nickname, “Arrowhead West.”

And since we’re just a couple miles from LAX, we get to watch planes on short final while waiting out in the parking lot for our shuttle bus back to the offsite parking location. This was a British Airways A380, floating up there exactly the same way that bricks don’t.

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Filed under KC Chiefs, Photography, Sports

February 11, 2024 · 23:43

Superb Owl 2024

We were ready.

BBQ imported from Joe’s BBQ in Kansas City. So many appetizers and snacks and sides and salads and sodas and drinks and beers.

So many friends and family.

A good time was had by all. The game was close all the way, going into OT for only the second time in Super Bowl history.

There was tension, there was suspense, and in the end there was cheering and champagne.

There were a lot of lousy years for Chiefs Kingdom in the 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, and 2000’s. There were only a handful of playoff appearances in a span of almost 50 years, and no playoff wins.

But we’ve been in the AFC Championship game for a ticket to the Super Bowl six years in a row. We’ve won that game gone to the Super Bowl four of the last five years. And we’ve won the Super Bowl three of those four appearances.

Next year will be next year. For now – it’s good to be a Chiefs fan.

Oh, by the way, Angels pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training camp on Wednesday.

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Filed under Castle Willett, KC Chiefs, LA Angels, Sports

January 15, 2024 · 23:30

Random Old Photo – January 15th

Yet another “proof of life” post…

In honor of the victory at Arrowhead by my beloved Chiefs in sub-zero temperatures…

It wasn’t from this weekend and it wasn’t sub-zero, but it was most certainly colder than I’ve been in many, many years.

This is from the December 30, 2018 game we saw at Arrowhead, a week after seeing the Chiefs play the Seahawks in Seattle. That was a great trip!

And we beat the hated Raiders to boot!

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Filed under KC Chiefs, Photography, Sports, Travel

April 29, 2023 · 23:17

Ten Years Of WLTSTF

It snuck up on me. It wasn’t until this afternoon that I realized that today is the 10th anniversary of my starting this website.

I guess this is sort of a big one.

10 years.

3,653 days.

3,745 posts.

8,921 images. (90%+ are taken by me. The rest are images from the news, from cell phone screen captures, and so on.) To be perfectly honest, some of my favorite images of those 8,921 were posted yesterday. Still just a bit gobsmacked by that.

72 videos.

10 audio clips.

2,978 total comments.

75,498 total views.

49,522 total visitors to the site.

11,438 total likes.

1,827 followers (730 from WordPress, 703 from Twitter, 280 from FaceBook, 10 from Tumblr, 58 from post.news, and 46 from Spoutible)

God alone knows how many words.

The last time I either was too busy or, more likely, simply forgot to post anything was April 10, 2020. Since they I’ve posted 1,115 days in a row.

In total there have only been fourteen days of those 3,653 days when I didn’t post anything at all.

I’m not only here (which is probably the most reliable source since I have the most control over the site’s existance) but also on:

  • Twitter (@momdude56)
  • Facebook (/paul.willett.56)
  • Mastodon (@momdude)
  • Post (@momdude)
  • Spoutible (@momdude)
  • Instagram (@momdude56)
  • Tumblr (pauljwillett)
  • Snapchat (pauljwillett)
  • Hive (@momdude)
  • BlueSky (waiting for an invite, but I’ll give you three guesses what it will be…)
  • Email (pwillett@ix.netcom.com)

I hope that at least a few of the 1,827 folks who get notified every day that I’ve posted something take a minute to look and/or read and get a moment of zen or pleasure from it. I enjoy creating it.

As always, I hope that in the next year there are many more occasions to share a pretty picture, a goofy story, or something clever.

As always, I hope that in the next year there will be many fewer occasions to descend into a venting rant about something stupid, annoying, or depressing.

As do we all, I’m sure.

As a lovely parting gift, couple of favorite pictures from the last year:

Stick around for the next year. It’ll be a slice!

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Filed under Airshows, Astronomy, Birds, Christmas Lights, Critters, Entertainment, KC Chiefs, LA Angels, LA Kings, Los Angeles, Paul, Photography, Sports, Sunsets, Writing