Sports & Recreation

Pro Sports/NCAA

Well, we all know the NY Giants won the Super Bowl, but this year we'll be pulling for the Broncos more than usual, since we are now officially SEASON TICKET HOLDERS!! Annemarie managed to get us set up with four tickets on the Club Level, right about the southeast goal line, in Section 343. Not only are these good seats, but they come with VIP parking, access to the Club Level (including upscale food, private elevators, fireplace, jumbo screen TV, bars, etc.) complimentary neck and shoulder massages, the whole works! This is the way to watch football!!! Amazing - here's a link to what all is included: Broncos Premium Seats

Living in Colorado, we pretty much follow the local sports teams - specifically the Broncos (yeah, even if they had a dismal season), the Rockies, the Nuggets, and the Avs. For NCAA, we watch Air Force and WVU, CU and CSU as necessary, and we're still waiting for Allegheny to move up to Division I.

In the past year, we've attended Broncos, Avs, and Rockies games - we've been lucky, too, inasmuch as our teams seem to win whenever we're at the games. So far, we haven't had any luck convincing the front offices to give us free season tickets to help the teams win any championships, but we're not giving up!!

As for NCAA, we just attended our first Air Force game this season, a valiant effort against Navy. Air Force didn't pull it off, but kept the game to within one TD. I guess you can call that a moral victory. WVU chalked up it's best season in recent memory last season, but are off to a slow start this year. Their new head coach, Bill Stewart, seems like a really nice guy - I met him at the Blennerhassett Hotel this spring - but I think he might be a bit TOO nice to run a Division I program. Or maybe it's just growing pains, who knows? We have, however, decided that the girls have to pick a university with a solid football presence so we can visit on weekends and go to games!!

On a football related note, both Annemarie and I participated in Fantasy Football leagues this year and had a blast. We set up a private league this season, but most of the people playing haven't really done a whole lot with it. C'mon, people, take a quick 5 minutes each week and set yer teams already!

Denver Broncos Football

Mountaineer Football

School Sports

Both Katie and Annemarie are very active in school sports. Annemarie has been doing volleyball, basketball, soccer, and track, while Kate has been big into softball (playing both JV and varsity as a freshman and sophomore) and soccer (also on the varsity squad). The big news lately - the Lady Pirates just won their first 3A state championship! They capped off a great (18-1) season with a 2-1 win over Alexander Dawson High School. If you want to see some photos of Kate on the field, go to the home page and click on her MySpace link and view her slideshows. Annemarie has been preparing for her new career as a cheerleader at SMHS - she is the first freshman in the history of the school to make both the varsity AND the competitive squad as a freshman. Now THAT'S an amazing accomplishment! We put a LOT of miles on the car taking them to games and practices - but they love competing with their friends - and we love to watch them play!

The photo you see at left was one that was NOT supposed to happen - a few years ago, when Katie was in 8th grade and Annemarie was in 6th, there were not enough players at Divine Redeemer to make up complete teams, so some of the younger players had to play up a grade or two. Annemarie ended up playing for the DR 7-8 grade team, and Katie was on the PMCS 7-8 grade team, so we had our daughters playing against each other for the league championship. That was tough on us, as we had to stand at the midfield line and cheer on both teams equally! :-)

Shouldn't be any chance of repeats of that for a while, since Katie's now at St. Mary's High School and Annemarie will be there next year. Go, Pirates!!

St. Mary's High School Web Site

Divine Redeemer School Web Site

And for the truly insane, the SMHS Ladies Soccer squad had a team building exercise where they all ran up the Manitou Incline and then back down Barr Trail at the base of Pikes Peak. This is truly a test of one's intestinal fortitude (as well as your legs and lungs, too!) and for people who can run this, well, more power to 'em. For what it's worth, Kate was the first of the players to reach the summit. Way to go!!

Manitou Incline Information

Golf

We golf! Well, to be more accurate, we play at golf. Being a firm believer in getting the most for my money, I try to take the maximum number of strokes possible on each hole. That way, I feel as if I'm getting my money's worth.

Actually, neither one of us got enough time on the links this past year. We're really going to try and get out more this year since Annemarie's biggest motivator in getting Lasik was to play golf without glasses! We'll see. . .no pun intended!

Skiing

We ski! Or rather, we used to. Again, it's tough to find the time to get out to the slopes as much as we'd like. It's a shame, too, as we have world-class ski areas within 2-3 hours of our house.

Some of our favorite areas are:

Breckenridge
Copper Mountain
Ski Cooper (great for families!)
Sol Vista (also great for families!)
Vail (if you have a lot of time and money)

Hopefully we'll get a few days in this year. Gotta get the old skis waxed up and ready for a free day!!

Motorcycles and ATVs

And yet another hobby where other commitments take precedence: Honda Powersports!!

For my street jones, I have an Asphalt Black 2004 Honda 919 sport bike, known as the Hornet 900 in the rest of the world. Zero to sixty in about 3 seconds and a 145 mph top end - lot of fun!! Oh, and it gets about 45 mpg if I take it easy, which comes in handy with gas at $3.00 a gallon! It's stock except for a modified stock exhaust to give it a nicer sound with a slight bump in midrange power. (Insert your Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor grunts here.)

For playing in the dirt, I have a 2003 Honda TRX-400EX sport quad, slightly modified, that'll wheelie through the first three gears and top out at a GPS verified 74 mph. Not bad for a vehicle with a 4' wheelbase! I've only flipped it once, and the bruises, scrapes, and separated shoulder served as a strong lesson on what NOT to do on a trail!! It's a lot of fun riding on the extensive trail network out through El Paso and Teller counties - especially through the Hayman fire recovery area. The year after the fire, riding through there was like riding around some eerie moonscape; no trees, all black, just totally desolate. It's making a comeback now, but it's going to be decades before it's even close to what it was before.

I sold my trailer last year, as I had a BIG one that was taking up too much garage space. I finally found a good one that suits my needs perfectly - thank you, craigslist!! Pics to follow soon!!

Honda 400EX

Honda 919