The Worst Team... (cont.)

When you become the object of an article in the Onion, you have reached the status of cultural icon, that is only marginally less than that of being on Saturday Night Live. The Raiders have now reached that status.

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/raiders_achieve_first_down

There will be no fly of the day today.

Tight lines,

Dave

Worst Team in the Bay Area

This week, I have seen two articles about how pathetic two of the bay area teams have become: The first is about the Raiders and the second diagnoses the current disaster that is the Warriors.

I'm a San Francisco Bay Area kid, born and raised. During my time there, I have been fortunate enough to watch the Raiders win two Super Bowls (plus one when they were on loan to L.A.), the Warriors win a World Championship (1975 was a long time ago), and the A's win 4 World Series (though it easily could have been 6 if not for Canseco's 'roid meltdown). This is both a good thing and a bad thing. Once one of your childhood favorite teams wins a championship, you are scr*wed. You can move 3 time zones away, and no matter what, no matter how much your teams s*ck for how many years, you are stuck rooting for them for the rest of your life. My wife just cannot understand why I don't give up on the Raiders and start rooting for a good midwest team like the Bears. (Note, I left the Bay Area before the Sharks came to town, so I am free to support the Avs.)

The fate of a professional franchise, much like the fate of any corporation, usually rests on crucial decisions that are made by the management team. For example, the hiring of Bill Walsh put the 49ers, who had been the worst team in football for a decade, on the path to one of the best stretch runs in the history of the NFL. Likewise, the hiring of John Madden got the Raiders to their first Lombardi Trophy. The Raiders and the Warriors since the mid-'80's have had terrible records, with brief periods of hope, largely due to successions of poor decisions.

At Golden State, the demise started in 1976, when they traded Jamaal Wilkes to the Lakers for Bob Abernathy, nice shooter, couldn't block out my grandmother. They followed that move up with:

- Trading two hall of famers, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale for Joe Barry Carroll

- Drafting Russell Cross

- Drafting Chris Washburn

- Trading World B. Free to Cleveland for Ron Brewer

- Trading Bernard King to New York for that coke-head Michael Ray Richardson

- Trading Penny Hardaway and 3 #1 draft choices for Chris Webber (massive head case with a dope arrest in DC, and couldn't figure out why the cop was arresting him)

- Siding with Don Nelson over Webber and losing both by the end of the season.

- Trading Webber for Tom Gugliotta (jumps like a brother shoots like your mother)

- Trading Gugliotta for some idiot who I think is still soaking up a paycheck from somebody

- Trading Vince Carter (10 time all-star) and cash for Antawn (pronounced Antoinne) Jamison (2 time All-Star)

- Giving A. Jamison a max deal then having to dump him for peanuts

- Firing Chris Mullen to hand the reigns back to that megalomaniac Nelson (Nelson is kind of like the General Santana of Mexican history, he just keeps coming back.)

- Letting Baron Davis go free agent because he knew Nelson was an megalomaniac slacker

In the middle of all that, there were the Run TMC years, like 3, but a single round in the playoffs for a couple of years is really not that impressive. Somewhere in there they had the ability to draft Kobe Bryant, but Todd Fuller looked like he had a much better future...???

On the Raider side of things, the list is almost too long. The benching of Marcus Allen because he told Al Davis to kiss his ass, about sums up the mindset in Oakland. Marcus Allen then went on to Kansas City where he resumed his Hall of Fame career. The latest tragedies include:

- Firing Art Shell

- Letting go of Charles Woodson (Now Making Pro Bowls in Green Bay)

- Running out John Gruden (Beat the Raiders like a drum in the Super Bowl.)

- Drafting and paying Off the JaMarcus Russell

- Drafting the bleeder Darren McFadden

- Drafting and paying some offensive line stiff, Robert Gallery who is now an average guard

- Re-hiring Art Shell

- Making an inn keeper your offensive coordinator

- Passing on Matt Leinart because Andrew Water looked like he could throw

- Drafting and overpaying Darius Whothehellisthat Bay

- Keeping a coach who threatens to kill his assistant coach

Now the questions are: Who is the worst team in the Bay Area, and what is the likelihood that under current ownership there is any chance of there being a return to competitive play? There are certainly votes and arguments for both sides. Depending on the day of the week, I could sway one way or another. It is clearly apparent that ego and personal relationships are more important to both controlling entities that winning. Barring the introduction of adult supervision that can make rational decisions instead of gut decisions, the downward spiral will continue.

The only thing I know for sure is that I'm glad I got the Setanta package so that I can watch the Heineken Cup, Six Nations, Super 14, and Guinness Premiership rugby, instead of the two sports that these clubs supposedly play.

Enough frustration, if you got this far, thanks for listening to the vent. There is always standing in a cold stream...

The fly of the day is the Zebra Midge, put up on the Fly Tier's Page by Charlie Craven, Charlie's Fly Box in Arvada, CO

Tight Lines,

Dave

Black Squirrel

About a week ago on the way down the hill from a good day on the river, my buddy and I saw a black squirrel. Maybe it is just farmer's lore, but when you see a black squirrel, I have been told that means we are in for one nasty cold winter. Living in Colorado, this shouldn't be much of a surprise. You get used to snow on Tuesday, followed by 65 degrees and sunny on Friday. One thing I have not seen since moving here is snow that comes before the leaves fall off the trees. On Saturday, we woke up to 6-8 inches of snow on our decks. After shoveling off the bulk of the weight, I turned around to see that the little burst of wind, had taken the leaves off of our maple and oak trees, creating a bit of frozen potpourri.

Another interesting shot from the weekend is one that is more reminiscent of Mt. Tam than it is of Left Hand Canyon.

We've had a bit of the fog/haze hanging over Boulder, since Saturday. It'll go away, unfortunately, so has dry fly season. Cold hands, cold water, waders with sweats on underneath, midges, leaches, eggs, and bright yellow strike indicators may be all that is left for the angler in these parts until the Mother's Day next year.

The fly of the day is the Bunny Leach, courtesy of Mike Mora at the San Juan River Fly Fishing Site

Tight Lines,

Dave

It's a lot easier than it looks

I read somewhere that fly tying is more about capturing the general than mastering the specific. I have also found that there are at least 3 ways to tie every fly.

A few weeks ago, my fly of the day was the Parachute Adams. I posted a link to a site with tying instructions, that was actually pretty good. As I attempted my first 10 or so Parachutes, I thought there must be some form of Zen art form to getting the hackle to wrap around the post. The output of my efforts were more akin to cripples, with a good portion of the hackle fibers getting caught up in the head wrap. In talking to friends of mine who also tie, they have all decided it's easier to buy parachute flies than to tie them. I was about to adopt the same position.

In the course of doing some research on another topic, I stumbled across the Fly Tying Forum. What an awesome find that site is. You can search on just about any topic and find multiple articles, and there are a great bunch of folks there who are more than happy to help you out if you are in a bind.

Once there, I decided to see if there were any tips or tricks to tying a parachute fly. Sure enough, I discovered a video at Hatches TV, that shows a new and much easier way to tie a parachute fly. Here is the link to the video. In the spirit of there being more than one way to tie, the instructor finishes off the fly with some form of adhesive or cement, which I prefer not to use because I really don't want to breathe that cr*p unless absolutely necessary. (I have used the whip finisher around the head, and that seems to work best for me.)

If you have been struggling with the Parachute Adams, take a look at the video, it's a lot easier than it looks.

Tight Lines,

Dave

John Deere Service Videos

Because my grandparents were farmers, driving and working on machinery is something that I learned at an early age. I can pretty much look at a component and figure out what needs to be done. In case of a break-glass emergency, I'll consult an owners, Hayes, or Chiton manual, which will usually give you about 75% of the information you need to do it properly. It wasn't until I was in my mid-20's that I really figured out that not everyone grew up around a pretty extensive set of power tools, benches, vices, and the like. I imagine that the percentage of people who can and do fix their own gear will continue to decrease as the digital age progresses.

Since I wrote my 1-year review on the LA145, I've noticed that readers have searched my site for instruction on how to change oil and perform other basic maintenance tasks on John Deere riding lawn mowers. The other day, I received a marketing email from John Deere, that contained links to videos of how to perform some of these tasks. Included in the email, there were also links to help you buy the filters, belts, blades and other parts useful to perform these tasks. The activities include:

- Changing Air Filters

- Changing Oil and Oil Filters

- Mower Deck Maintenance

- Lubrication

- Removing and Attaching the Mower Deck (probably the most valuable)

Good luck. If you get in a jam, call your local John Deere center. The folks I have dealt with at Longs Peak Equipment, have always been super helpful.

Because the BWO hatch is coming on in the Front Range, the fly of the day is the Parachute Adams, with tying instructions provided by High Country Flies.

Tight Lines,

Dave

Boulder Water Well

Here is the latest installment of: These Guys Rock!!!

On Saturday after doing some basic home maintenance, I was headed out to the annual BBQ/drink up at the Boulder Reservoir, known as the Rez Fest. About half way there, I get a call from my wife, explaining that there is no water at the house, hence I flipped a b*tch to see what is going on. After figuring out that it is not a burst pipe, I called around to see if there is someone who can take a look at this problem. Note, it is about 4pm on a Saturday at this time.

I called the number of the company who put stickers on all the well-related equipment in our basement, and left a number for them to call me back. I also called Boulder Water Well, which I found in the phone book. Boulder Water actually had someone answer the phone, and told me that they could get someone out here in about an hour, and that the serviceman would give me a call in about 15 minutes to get some particulars. In the meantime, I did receive a call from the first place, where a gentleman who may have been stonned called and told me that the best he could do was get there the next morning.

Within an hour or so, Brent from Boulder Water Well showed up at my house, diagnosed the issue as being a dead pump, and started the replacement process. It should be noted that there were two possible issues, a dead pump or a dry well. Needless to say that replacing a pump was the much less expensive of the two. At the end of the day, the pump, which had a 5 year warranty, lasted 21 years. You can't really blame the old guy for finally giving up the ghost.

Three hours later, we had running water, and a high degree of confidence in the work that had been done. Brent had answers to all my dumb questions, (I like to ask those just so that I can make sure that they have been asked), gave us some options for pump and controls, hooked us up with new water service, and even told me about a local pond where you can pull out 3 to 5 pound bass.

If you're in Boulder and you have a problem with your well, I highly recommend these guys.

Tight Lines,

Dave

How Being Married Can Save Your Ass... or at least Your Toes

The other day, I went fishing on South Boulder Creek, up by Walker Ranch. Great day, sun was shinning, mild breeze, a bit of cloud cover here and there to break things up, and the fish were biting on some Stimi's that I tied recently. Because it is August, it is wet wading season in Colorado. Waders have their purpose, but if the water is warm enough for you to go in with a pair of shorts and a pair of boots, it is a far superior day.

The one thing I didn't take into account, when planning this little journey, was that Walker is about 1/2 mile below the dam, and hence, that water is fairly cold. After about 15 minutes in the water, I started to feel my toes tingle, and it had nothing to do with the bite being on.

In my younger and more reckless years, I would have just plowed through, and stood in the middle of the river to keep fishing. On this day, a slightly different thought that went through my head: If I come home with frostbite on my toes, my lovely wife will not be impressed, and I will certainly hear about this for the rest of my existence. With that thought in mind, I figured it was better to spend the rest of the afternoon, fishing from the shore, or perched upon a rock in the stream, with my toes safely out of the water.

I'm not sure that I have become any smarter over years, but I can thank my wife for adding a few valuable branches to my decision tree.

The next trip to the fly shop will include a purchase of a pair of these:













The fly of the day is the Boulder Creek Caddis, provided by Jay Zimmerman over at Front Range Anglers




Tight Lines,

Dave