Joel Przybilla is out for the season so somebody else will have to man the critical "Watch Dwight Dunk from Under the Rim" defensive position tonight. Fortunately the Blazers still have the "Touch the Butt" and "Knock Your Knees in Fear" spots manned.
Moriah has been really under the weather this weekend. Earaches, fever and general flu symptoms. Poor kid. So, Saturday we were catching some tube together. Since I knew she likes Michael Jackson, I turned on a “Remembering Michael Jackson” special. One of the first videos we saw was the old “Rock With You” video – you know, the one where he’s in a sparkling disco outfit dancing with a single light source behind him. Brilliant song. But 7-yr old Moriah wasn’t having any of it. Her comment: “Dad, Michael Jackson was better when he looked like a girl.”I presume she was referring to his music.
The new year is upon us. We had some friends over for a new year’s eve celebration. Fun had by all. On new year’s day we watched the rose parade and I got all geeked up for the Rose Bowl. The ducks started out flat, with the Buckeyes scoring the first 10 points. But Oregon surged back, tying the score at 10 in the 3rd quarter. I had hope…but then it was dashed to pieces in the latter part of the game. Ohio State simply executed well. It is also being reported that their athletes are just plain bigger than Oregon athletes. I noticed this when the Buckeyes walked out on the field. They just looked big compared to our team. In the end: Buckeyes 26, Ducks 17. I was disappointed, but it only took a few hours for me to flush it out of the system and look forward to next year. It was a great year. I think the young team learned a lot from this experience. It’s tough to make it to this game. I want to see them get there again soon.
Emery and I went to the Blazers-Clippers game last night. She is 9 now and is becoming more and more fun to enjoy a game with. I really love taking the kids to games. Especially the 1-on-1 time talking about the game…and whatever. It’s a fun tradition we’ve been enjoying each year. 
Today, Melissa was smitten. Not with another guy, of course, but by a choir. She was able to attend the weekly broadcast of “Music and the Spoken Word” in Salt Lake City. She admits it. She is smitten. The broadcast was so impressive and the choir sounded perfect. Our bro-in-law directed the choir for the final song - an awesome arrangement of “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”. The whole experience was particularly impressive to her. And yes, she has re-kindled the notion that, someday, just maybe, she would like to audition for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Just...maybe... I fully support her ambitions there and think it's awesome she wants to be a part of something so special. Of course, we’d probably have to move back to Utah before she can do so….so, we dunno. The "MTC" is awesome. And a lofty goal for her to dream about, too. Someday, right? Someday.
We made the long trip to Utah for Christmas, so I had limited access to check out the Las Vegas bowl featuring BYU vs. Oregon State. My father-in-law went with me to a sports grill to check out the game, which ended up being unentertaining because BYU totally dominated the Beavs. So, while watching the bowl game, I was intently watching the ESPN ticker at the bottom of the screen. As it scrolled through NBA scores, I was getting excited to see that the Blazers were hanging in there – at Dallas – and eventually saw that they won the game. I was stoked. As my father-in-law and I drove home, I explained to him all of the injuries plaguing (cursing, really) the team right now. So I was excited that, based on the score periodically flashing on the bottom of the screen, that the team probably played a good game. I was honestly most excited that they were likely “injury free” that night. Then, the next morning I check online and find out Joel is out for the season. Seriously!?! Better update this chart:
