Wish List For Santa

Poopdeck Pappy wrote:Real M&Ms were served in the PC twice this season?!! Wow!!!

Xmas Wish #2: Permission to take my PC brewskie back to my seat in the stands.

Hell and freezing over in the same sentence come to mind.

We are talking Santa, not the tooth fairy.

Hell and freezing over in the same sentence come to mind.

Well, given the current state of affairs in the Portland area, maybe that's not too far off (not that I consider Oregon Hell by any means...but some people do). I haven't driven anywhere since Saturday night, leaving my house once or twice to walk across the street to the store...

White Christmas?

I have a firm date tomorrow night with the two girls next door

Dead man's hill!

Purplegeezer wrote:I have a firm date tomorrow night with the two girls next door

Nice! The Geezer still got game!

(you left yourself wide open there...)

Don't know how to respond.

better shut up.

Wish No. 3: For the reintroduction of a team mascot at all home games.

I'm thinking that the kids would like to see someone in a Pilot outfit roaming around Merlo during home games. I was at a Wake Forest game a couple of years ago and they had a Demon Deacon going through the stands. Now that was a sight to see! Parents kept asking to take a photo of him with their little Jill or Johnny. Who wouldn't want to see such sweetness at Merlo?!

A free Wally movement?

Poopdeck Pappy wrote:Wish No. 3: For the reintroduction of a team mascot at all home games.

I'm thinking that the kids would like to see someone in a Pilot outfit roaming around Merlo during home games. I was at a Wake Forest game a couple of years ago and they had a Demon Deacon going through the stands. Now that was a sight to see! Parents kept asking to take a photo of him with their little Jill or Johnny. Who wouldn't want to see such sweetness at Merlo?!

I asked some current students about this. Evidently they had a Wally mascot and they generally thought it was lame. So Wally went away. However, I agree they should do it. I am too old to worry about being cool. and,

Geez, the Free Willy reference didn't get by me. I saw Phil Collins totally lose it on Leno when he mentioned the movie during his show. Evidently Willy has a different meaning to Englishmen. HA

I thought Wally was great. The Giant Head, purple and white striped shirt and red suspenders was awesome! He used to wear a goalkeeper jersey during the soccer games. The current students are way to hip for their own good. Let me just say this: He's better than some damned leprechaun.

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Ha ha... that's good stuff right there!

I don't think we'll ever see the return of Wally, but I do think there could be a new mascot coming at some point... you know what I think would be good? Having an actual animal, like UGA or Traveller or the Colorado Buffalo. Not really sure what would make sense for a Pilot... maybe some kind of dog? Or a bird? I don't know... I think it could be kinda cool and unique though.

Somehow it seems appropriate to put this here.

Santa apparently has delivered early.

It seems clear at this point that the deal closed for the Triangle Park property. Apparently a notice went out to faculty and staff that the University had closed on the property Wednesday while we were all enjoying a snow day. (That's the one bummer about retirement - no snow days). And when your Barista tells you in the morning, you have to figure it's all over town. I imagine the news will go official in a couple of days.

I'll bet different interests are already carving up the space for the goodies they'd like to put down there. From the settlement agreements online, we know there will be additional cleanup to be done, not to exceed $3 million for the University. After that amount, the EPA will kick in money. Also, agreements with the city or EPA (I forget which) says the land will be used for athletic and recreational use, and there will be a public greenspace/riverside trail of some sort.

The cleanup must be done within 25 months, according to the EPA documents.

So- Now we have to start adding Items to the Santa list

Baseball stadium?
Track?
soccer fields?
boathouse for the crew team? (assuming we get a crew team)
Move the 1000 poster clubhouse down there? (I'm holding out for a skybox next to Harry when the new skyboxes go in at Merlo)
Frisbee golf course?
cruise ship dock?


What ideas do you have for the place?
sorry, necking there on a moonless night with your new best squeeze doesn't count....

Here's the official release from UP:

http://www.up.edu/shownews.aspx?id=3693

Very exciting news... it was an amazing struggle to make it happen, and now it's finally done.

Geez, don't expect help from Santa when you rail against "the old white males" in charge-- those are his homies! HOF needs to get with the times and admit the many classy women soccer players who brought (and still bring) honor, fame, Olympic gold, NCAA titles and positive press coverage to UP.

purple haze wrote:Geez, don't expect help from Santa when you rail against "the old white males" in charge-- those are his homies! HOF needs to get with the times and admit the many classy women soccer players who brought (and still bring) honor, fame, Olympic gold, NCAA titles and positive press coverage to UP.

Yeah, but Santa is no misogynist. He's a full partner with Mrs. claus and gives her full credit.

Here they are resting up in the bahamas after last year's grueling delivery run




Apparently Santa has a sun allergy. That might explain the North pole thing.

Oh man, Stonehouse, you remember going to games as a kid and seeing Wally like I did, right?. The guy who was Wally in the mid-90s did an awesome job. I remember one night he was dancing around on the court and his head fell off!

I think Wally went away while I was in school after we had one who just didn't look that into it. In fact, he acted*ahem*like he might have been at the T-Room before the game...

In the early to mid 90's, Wally was run/maintained by an (infamous?!) fraternity... There were several games in a row where Wally arrived after consuming several adult beverages... the U put a very quick stop to that and introdcued their own version (the most recent, with the striped shirt) that lasted a couple years in the mid to late 90's. He was a student and was quite good, and had some actual mascot training, I believe.... I hope he comes back, some day....

I think Wally's downfall may have started my senior year, when a girl was chosen to play Wally. I'm all for Title IX and equal opportunity, but if your mascot is *indeed* a man (as his name and giant spongey head persona would indicate), then you probably shouldn't have a woman playing him. I remember some of the men's basketball players at the time saying it was mildly distracting to watch her try to pump up the crowd during timeouts.

If the university isn't using the Wally head, I've got a nice spot for it in my house. hahaha. :P I wonder how much money they would make if they put it on eBay and sent a release to all the alums about it...i'd wager they might get a pretty hefty sum for it.

I remember girl Wally, or was it Wanda? That was terrible. For the most part Wally was pretty bad when I was a student. I think it was my junior year they had tryouts for Wally and somehow one of my roommates got the gig, that was not the best decision...

Well, here's some synchronicity: as part of my professional life, for a number of years I was one of the attorneys for the Columbia River Pilots. If you ever want to know something about a legal oddity, do a study of how the American legal system treats ship pilots. (Not "boat" pilots. Never! If you call a "ship" a "boat" in front of the wrong person, you could end up in the drink -- not the kind you imbibe!) Getting a ship from Astoria to Portland takes tremendous skill. Given how much ships and their time are worth, ship owners don't want their captains trying to get their ships from Astoria to Portland and then having them in drydock for repairs. So, they use Columbia River Pilots (Columbia Bar Pilots, too). Occasionally, there are captains who try it on their own, and a number have had very expensive accidents.

However, there was a Russian captain who disdained the use of Columbia River Pilots and navigated across the Bar and all the way into Portland. This was back in the days of the Cold War. Never had a miss, always arrived at the right place without incident. Highly admired by the Columbia River Pilots as a tremendously courageous and skilled captain. Guess what: The captain was a she!

Is there a connection here to the Pilots' women's soccer program? Could there be here the making of a different mascot for the women's soccer team? Willamina? Maybe not so benign looking as Wally?

wait a minute here...

what are they going to do w/ the skateboard park down there??? demolish???

KFTC wrote: but if your mascot is *indeed* a man (as his name and giant spongey head persona would indicate), .

Hey! this spongey headed persona takes umbrage -- I think.