Please allow me to interject my feelings about Mother Nature

Hell yes, everyone would. Fuck an ice storm and freezing in the dark. The closest we'll get to snow prep here is sand on the most vulnerable interstate overpasses. No salt, very little sand, no snow tires, few chains. Lots of hills and deep ditches, and driving on glaze ice is madness.

If you don't lose power they're usually over quickly, but if you do it's miserable.

 

He and Smith were so popular that EA made a beach volleyball video game for the Commodore 64.

 

I wrote features on both back in their hey-day. Stoklos came into the office, Smith I interviewed at a store his sister was opening in Santa Monica that featured Sideout Sports clothing, which Sinjin endorsed.

This was one of my questions to Stoklos: "How many girls attend the events with hopes of becoming Mrs. Stoklos?"
After laughing out loud, his answer was: "A LOT!!!!"

The feature I wrote on Smith, I based it around his time in the Olympic Team program, back then a shoestring operation based in San Diego. He missed a practice because on a weekend that the team was off, he went to New York for a modeling assignment and had a flight delay trying to get back. The players were living like minor-league ballplayers, a half dozen in a condo with mattresses on the floor. So they were encouraged to try to get money-making side gigs. Smith was eventually cut. The coach, Doug Beal, wrote a book about the team and it had a chapter on Smith. Beal called him a jack of all trades, master of none. Meaning, he could do everything well, but nothing great. He succeeded on the beach because he had lots of good skills, but indoor required specific roles that the players had to be great doing and Smith wasn't great at anything.
Smith's quote: "FUCK DOUG BEAL!!!"

 

Upstate South Carolina set to get some of that "wintry mix" this weekend also. I hate seeing the words "wintry mix" in any forecast. I hate "wintry mix" more than I hate the Yankees. I'd rather get 25 inches of snow.

We've been debating in the house whether it'll be OK because Helene took down all the weak trees already, or whether it's gonna really suck when all the standing trees weakened by Helene fall under the weight of a half-inch of ice.

 

"Wintry mix" is a staple of winter Boston area weather forecasts. It always sucks. Sometimes it's ice, but more often it's snow followed by rain followed by a cold front turning the whole mess into concrete.

 

When Dillard's started carrying Sideout in 1990, they had Smith hit a few stores to sign autographed posters and shirts. I was in grad school at the time and was one of four men who helped the women's volleyball team by being designated blockers during their hitting drills. Occasionally, the coach would let us scrimmage too - which was fun. I got to be pretty good-ish and me and another guy started entering beach volleyball tournaments together - which were a thing even in Arkansas! I even wore a cap with a flipped up bill like Sinjin.

Anyway, I roll into the Dillard's flagship store in Little Rock expecting to wait in line to meet him. I was the third person in line. He signed a few things for me. I asked about volleyball stuff. He asked me about good restaurants in town. I think we talked for nearly 45 minutes, then he said "Well, I guess I'm outta here." I felt bad that nobody had shown up for him. But, hey, I got a couple of free shirts out of it.

 

There's a Cliff Clavin buffalo joke there that I can't seem to pull off.

 

Cool. I know his sister, Georgie. Her husband was one year ahead of me in high school, great golfer, qualified for the U.S. Senior Open three times. He died a few years ago. I met Sinjin's sister once. His mom was a secretary in the athletic department at UCLA for all sports except football and basketball, but she knew everything going on around there. She was one of my go-to sources when I covered UCLA. When the store opened -- it was called Smithers -- I was invited to the pre-opening party. I sat most of the time with Smith's mom and Gary Adams, the UCLA baseball coach who I knew very well.

 

I'm seeing reports now that Palisades High did not burn down. They estimate 70 percent is still standing, but all of the intrastructure has to be rebuilt. They are blaming last night's erroneous report on the lack of visibility, road and air access. No air drops or helicopters were up last night because of the severe winds.

 

I've had some personal experience with a New England Wintry Mix, and as wintry mixes go, it is just about the worst.

 

LA Kings game for tonight has been postponed. And I'm starting to wonder if the NFL game this weekend might need to be moved.

 

And the Kings opponent tonight?

The Flames.