December 24, 2008   University of Indiana's Straight - No Chaser

Carol of the Bells


The 12 Days of Christmas


Stand By Me


Merry Christmas Everyone

August 04, 2008   San Diego Vacation Photos

Click here for a few photos of Tracey, Tyler and Ryan having some fun in San Diego

And click here for a few photos of Tyler and Ryan enjoying the Arctic Adventure at Sea World

June 05, 2008   Photo updates

Click here for a few photos of Melfi and Spencer

And click here for a couple photos of Nemo and his buddy Dori

July 03, 2008   Deer Valley All Stars Update

The Arrowhead game we played Monday night was a nail biter.  We all new this was going to be a tough game but I don't know that anyone thought Deer Valley would be in the lead with a score of 1 to 0 going into the bottom of the 4th inning with Arrowhead coming up to bat.  Wahid was tiring a little so his command wasn't what it had been and he gave up a double and a walk right off.  But a critical error by our short stop that would have been one or two outs if they turned the double play really hurt.   Instead of runners on 1st and 3rd with one out, it was now 2 to 1 Arrowhead with a runner on 2nd.  

We entered the top of the fifth inning down 6 to 1 to Arrowhead and their new pitcher handled the top of our lineup pretty well.  Ryan came in to pitch for us in the bottom of the fifth inning and struggled from the start walking the batter and hitting the next batter and giving up a 3 run homer to to the next batter.  Vince came in and got us out of the inning not giving up another run.  

Top of Six, Deer Valley down 9 to 1.  The only saving grace at this point was that they aren't going to run rule us.  We play six innings and we were playing the sixth.  Our first two batters got up and quickly grounded out bringing Austin up to the plate.  He stepped in and went down two strikes right off the bat before battling back and winning a 12 pitch at bat battle with a blooper over the short stops head.   Devin came up and walked on four straight pitches bringing Spencer up to the plate.  We might have given up three home runs between the fourth and fifth innings but the sweetest shot of the night was Spencer's bomb plating three more runs to bring the score back to a respectible 9 to 4 and that's how it ended.

We battled Arrowhead hard and played them really well.  We're so proud of these boys.  We kind of feel like the team that everyone overlooks due to the past few years outings in All Stars.  Well, we play tonight and with this win we will advance into the tournament for the first time since the 2004 team that went all the to the West Regional.  We still have a tough game tonight that we can't overlook but we are all loose and confident that we can win this one.  It's an extremely busy time for us, but we're loving every second of it.   Wish us luck and I'll try to give an update over the weekend.  Thank you and take care.

June 05, 2008   Photo updates

Click here for a few photos of Melfi and Spencer

And click here for a couple photos of Nemo and his buddy Dori

June 05, 2008   Little League Update

The regular Little League season has come to an end and we are wrapping it up with an end of season party this weekend for the Giants.  Closing Ceremonies aren't until Tuesday but it's been a long season.   The Giants finished with a 5 and 11 record and then went 0 for 2 in the tournament.  It doesn't sound like much but when at the beginning of the season, no one thought we would win a game.  I think we did something pretty special.  It was frustrating at times, but it was lots of fun most of the time.  I'm proud of our boys as they played hard and with guts.

All Stars doesn't start until after the 15th so the Sluggers are playing in the Fathers Day tournament next weekend.  But then All Stars fires off and here we go again.  Tracey's playing summer basketball for O'Connor and they have tournaments every weekend the month of June.  She's also double dipping playing club softball with the Vipers and they have at least two tournaments this month. So the quiet month of June got real busy for us around here.  Add our newest additions to the mix and then there is Nemo and his buddy Dori to keep me busy when I have absolutely nothing else to do.  

I've had a freshwater tank for four or five years now and I have always wanted a saltwater tank.   Well, I finally broke down and got a small 29 gallon tank.  It's small and I can't do a lot with it, but it's a start and I hope to build a little reef in Phoenix.  That's about it for now so until next time, stay safe and we'll see you here again soon.

March 24, 2008    Brief update
I've added a few photos from our recent Laguna trip.

Click the photo above to see this and a few other photo's from the Laguna Beach.

Also, games at Deer Valley Little League are starting up today.  Follow the link to the site and look for the Major Giants to follow along and see how we do.  I'm coaching and Tyler's playing so cheer us on (even when it's difficult).  We'll need the support.

May 14, 2008   Little League Update

A couple things to bring everyone up to date on.  The Dodger game held April 16 was quite an exciting game.  Tyler pitched five innings and faced 17 batters striking out 14 and making the play on the lone put out through those five innings.  Then David Williams comes in to close it out in the sixth inning and strikes out the side facing the minimum three batters.  What an outstanding game by Tyler and David.  The Dodgers coach was the first to point this fact out to us.   Then we figured out the only two runners allowed reached on errors.  These two kids threw a combined no hitter that night.  It was completely amazing.  And being in the mix of it as a coach I didn't even realize it.  It was a special night.

There's one game left in the regular season and we've been bringing up the bottom of the barrel since week four or five.  But with the last two wins, we've jumped up to seventh place which is fine with me.   I hope we can play this last game out of the regular season and come out on top so we can stay in the seven spot.   Then the end of season (second season) tournament begins Monday.  Wish us luck.

All Stars is approaching and we feel that Tyler will be selected again as everyone keeps telling us to keep him healthy for All Stars.  What never really crossed my mind was the coaching of All Stars.   There's 13 kids selected from 96 to play and there's only three coaches from the 24 selected to coach.   A couple of the coaches have asked if I would want to help coach and I said sure, but I never thought much about it as I've only officially coached the one season.  Well, I got the call today from the coach who has been selected to manage the All Star team and he asked if I would help coach the team.  I was shocked and immediately responded and said, "Yes, I would love to."  It's quite an honor and I am very surprised that he asked me.  It means quite a lot to me, and that surprises me too.  I don't know what else to say as I smile from ear to ear.  Stay safe and we'll see you here again soon.

April 09, 2008   Giants lost to the Red Sox

The Giants played hard and stayed with the Red Sox through three innings tied at 7 until they changed up their pitching and shut us down.  We struggled from there and we had two bad innings instead of the usual one.  I hope the kids are learning something and having some fun.  

My work is really begin to stress me a bit.  Just last night I found a major bug in our ImageNow software that can cost us if we don't get it fixed.  The only way to fix it though is to upgrade and I already don't have any time.  I've got to try to slow down a bit but I'm not sure how to do that.  It seems my life is run, run, run.

April 03, 2008   Giants lost to the Marlins

The Giants appear to be a Jekyl and Hyde team.  If it's Monday Dr. Jekyl shows up to play and if it's Wednesday Mr. Hyde shows up and we end up losing.  The Hyde Giants can't field a ball and make a play.  It's amazing sometimes.  Tyler also went O-2 last night.  It wasn't pretty, but we get to play again Monday.  I hope the Jekyl Giants are on as we're playing the number 1 team in the league.  Wish us luck.

March 25, 2008   Giants Win

Giants won their home opener last night against a good Diamondbacks squad.   The game was won on pitching you could say.  Tyler had a no hitter into the fourth inning before giving up a triple to his friend and Slugger team mate Joe Fisher, but he struck out the side in each of the four innings ending the night with 12 strike outs.  I have to verify it but I believe all of our six runs were scored on wild pitches by their pitchers.   We held them to four runs when it was all said and done and Tyler went two for three in the game.  It was fun and exciting and a huge releif to come out on top.

March 24, 2008    Brief update
I've added a few photos from our recent Laguna trip.

Click the photo above to see this and a few other photo's from the Laguna Beach.

Also, games at Deer Valley Little League are starting up today.  Follow the link to the site and look for the Major Giants to follow along and see how we do.  I'm coaching and Tyler's playing so cheer us on (even when it's difficult).  We'll need the support.

January 10, 2008   

The Utah Bus Crash in Rick's own words...

Rick finally made it to a hospital and is receiving the attention that he needs after making it back to the valley.  As you can see by this video footage, he's pretty beaten up and upset at the entire ordeal.  David and Jim are still in the hospital here in the valley as well.  We did find out that Kevin, Joe's father is still unconscious and doesn't know about his son.

The entire article and news footage can be found here.

January 08, 2008   

Utah Bus Crash injures three from UTI Home Office IT Department

The reports state there were 51 people on the bus but only 24 were injured.

That isn't quite true.  According to Rick Scarborough (UTI) there were 51 people on the bus plus the bus driver.  Prior to the accident, Rick says several of the passengers told the driver to slow down, he was going way to fast.   The only person not thrown from the bus was the bus driver who was belted in.   All 51 passengers were thrown from the bus.  Some ended up under the wreckage while the rest were strewn all over the place.  When Rick was thrown he lost his shoes.

With Rick on this trip were a group of friends.  Seated in front of him was his friend Jeff and Damien, next to him was Paul, behind him was Joe and his dad Kevin, and behind them were Jim Johnston (UTI) and David Rhodes (UTI).

Once the accident was over, Rick and Paul helped go through luggage looking for blankets, coats, anything warm and they tried to locate everyone and make sure they stayed warm.   Rick still had to find shoes too but still went on without them in the beginning.   Rick and Paul found their friend Jeff, he was killed during the accident.   That is the hardest thing for them to deal with right now.

Rick, not one of the 24 listed as injured in the accident has a broken collar bone and broken nose.  Apparently his face is pretty beat up.  He states he can move his nose all over his face.  The clinic in Blanding Utah that triaged the victims ran out of pain medications.  They usually only see five or six patients a day.  They were not equipped to handle this event.  Rick is only taking Tylenol for his pain at the time we had talked to him yesterday.

Jim Johnston who is a diabetic was immediately moved to Monticello Regional Hospital so he could be looked after properly.  They first thought he had internal injuries sustained in the accident and possibly an injury to his back but now they believe there are no internal injuries and there is a 95% chance that the back injury will be minor.  They were waiting for a specialist to review the X-rays but their Internet was down so they had to express the X-rays to the specialist.  Jim was transported to Phoenix last night for observation and recovery.

Damien was transported to Monticello yesterday morning along with David Rhodes due to their injuries.  David was recovering from a broken knee cap on his left leg before he left on this trip.  Now he has a shattered right leg, dislocated hip and four cracked and broken vertebre.  But at this time it appears that there is no spinal damage which is great news.  David was transported to Phoenix last night as well.

Kevin remains hospitalized.  Joe, Kevin's 18 year old son and a senior at Scottsdale Saguaro High School was killed in the accident.   We're not sure if Kevin is still in Utah or if they transported him along with Joe's body back to Phoenix yet.

Along with those close to us at UTI, a junior girl from Deer Valley High School who was a talented dancer, a senior from Deer Valley High School who was a member of the wrestling team, a sixteen year old who's brother attends Deer Valley High School, a twelve year and three others from the valley were killed in this accident.  The bus driver walked away with only minor injuries.

January 01, 2008    WinterNationals 2007
WinterNationals didn't provide the results that anybody wanted (0 for 5 in the tournament) but a few photo's came out of it like this one below:

Click the photo above to see this and a few other photo's from the week long event.

September 17, 2007   Sugarland "Want To" Video

July 21, 2007   
A Good Girl has gone home.

Daisy, our perfect dog for the past nine plus years was put to rest last night.  She had a large tumor that was found internally yesterday that gave her pain and took her strength.   We found it extremely difficult but necessary to stop her pain and let her rest.   She was a good girl, the best girl.  We love you girl.

June 11, 2007   
A night with Keith Urban

Friday night Carol and I spent the evening with our friend Keith Urban and it was amazing.  We met him briefly backstage before he showed us to an intimate little room and talked about the making of this tour.  How it all came together and how he had visions of an elaborate stage production and another friend of his suggested a much more simpler setup.   One that consisted of the band, a 56 foot wide stage and a 56 foot screen behind them for visuals and projecting the band up so everyone could see.  Then he performed "You're My Better Half" acoustically and it was beautiful.  Then someone asked, "Why do you play country music?"   And Keith replied, "Because I can't play football."  It was magical.

After that we left to take our seats for the show and it was absolutely amazing.  The man is a musician and performer who takes time to appreciate us, the fans as much as we appreciate all that he does for us.  It was a very special night.

June 9, 2007   

  
Univeristy of Arizona Softball wins the 2007 Womens College World Series

Congratulations to the University of Arizona Softball team and Taryne Mowatt for winning the 2007 Womens College World Series.  Game two in the Championship Series was a nail biter and I have no more fingernails to prove it.  An unbeleivable 10 inning 1 nothing game and U of A came out on top scoring the only run in the Womens College World Series against Monica Abbott and the University of Tennessee softball team at the time.  Hard work and belief in themselves goes a long way and U of A softball never gave up coming out of the losers bracket to win this thing.   Thanks for a great ride and congratulations again.

May 29, 2007   

Arizona Rebels finish 2nd in the Super Series Memorial Day Tournament

The Arizona Rebels (Tyler's club baseball team) finish in 2nd place this weekend falling just a few innings short of the title.  They started out the tournament never flinching when the Verde Valley Bandits jumped out to a three nothing lead in the first but turned it on and ended the game with 12 to 6 win.  Then Ryan Goetz threw a complete game no-hitter against the Tucson Diablo's finishing that one with a 10 nothing win.  Then the Rebels finished undefeated in pool play by defeating the Peoria Slyders 13 to 9.  A tough game but the Rebels played hard and won the battle.

The Rebels started tournament play seeding first in our pool and played the number four seed of the other pool.  The Rebels sent the Red Wings packing with a 13 to 5 victory putting us into the semi-final game the next morning facing the dreaded Thunderbirds.  They are a tough team that we've played once before and lost convincingly.  But the Rebels weren't done yet.  They played their hearts out to a one, one tie after regulation sending the game into extra innings.  The Rebels with Tyler behind the plate was able to stop a run from scoring with a great play from the field to home where Tyler tagged the runner out sliding into home.  What a play it was.   The Thunderbirds turned around and held us scoreless in the bottom of the inning.  Top of eight and the Rebels slipped allowing a run but it wasn't over yet.  The Rebels were home and still had to bat.  The coaching by Eric Goetz was really on today and he had to work hard for this stealing third and second.  Then Bradley, the little man himself pulls a Gonzo and bloops a hit into short right field scoring the two runs - Rebels Win three to two in dramatic fashion.

Undefeated through five games with the Championship on the line and we're going up against the Sun Devils.  Tyler takes the mound and pitches exceptionally allowing only two runs in three innings.  The Rebels fight back and take the lead three to two after three.  But there was an issue.  Tyler has pitched already this weekend and he's caught four games in the Phoenix heat.  He comes off the field and says his arm hurts.   His elbow is feeling the effects of throwing 91 pitches and catching returning over 325 pitches over the weekend.  We have to rest him, so we move Tyler to first and put Andy in to start the fourth inning.  Andy gets us an out but some timely hits and couple of walks allows a few runners and a couple to score so we replace him with Ben.  Ben can usually give us a couple good innings but he's out of it and off the mark too allowing a couple more runs.  We finally bring in Drew who's already thrown over 60 pitches this weekend but he gets us the outs to get out of the inning.   The Rebels are only able to score one more run over the next couple innings as the Championship slipped away.  We simply ran out of pitching.  Six games in three days left our tanks and arms empty.

But it was a great weekend of baseball and the Rebels have nothing to hang their heads about.   Coming from behind in a couple of games to pull out some dramatic wins including that extra inning masterpiece pulled off by Eric and the boys.  The Rebels have heart and they are all champions to us.  Thanks for a long and exciting ride boys.  We are all proud of you.

May 25, 2007   

We Salute Our Troops this Memorial Day

God Bless each and every one of you serving our country.  We are proud of you and wish for your safe return home.  Memorial Day was set aside to honor those who were not able to return home to their families, friends and loved ones.  We hold you in our hearts and know that you served with Valor, Honor and Dignity.  

Here was my tribute to one fallen soldier who never returned home, Pat Tillman

May 23, 2007   

Jordin Sparks Wins American Idol

Arizona's own, Glendale's own, Sandra Day O'Connor's own, Stetson Hills Elementary's own Jordin Sparks is America's newest Idol.  Congratulations Jordin, you deserve this.