In this morning's email inbox there was an email from Spencer Jack's papa, he being my favorite nephew, Jason, with the email message being
"I found this photo amusing. I thought you might as well."
The photo to which Spencer Jack's papa refers is that which you see to the left.
I find two things to be amusing in the photo. One being the claim made on the billboard, with the other being all the people engaging in a support the Seattle Seahawks demonstration.
That
"Welcome to Yakima The Palm Springs of Washington" billboard went up well before I moved to Texas.
As far as I know the only thing Yakima has in common with Palm Springs is both are in a desert climate where temperatures can get quite hot.
Unless it has been added since I moved to Texas there is no Yakima Tram taking people to the top of any of the hills you see in the photo.
I remember way back when I first made note of how goofy I thought the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle was, after first learning of the TRV Boondoggle in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in a front page article with a HUGE headline that said something like
"Trinity Uptown To Turn Fort Worth Into The Vancouver of the South."
This was around the same time the Star-Telegram was propaganda-izing that an extremely lame food court-like development called the
Santa Fe Rail Market was modeled after
Seattle's Pike Place Market, public markets in Europe and would be the first public market in Texas.
Was the Santa Fe Rail Market propaganda the instance when I learned one can not trust what one reads in the Star-Telegram? I don't remember.
The Star-Telegram's turning Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South propaganda was quickly dropped, I assume because someone who had actually been to Vancouver pointed out how ridiculous such a claim was, as in even more ridiculous than suggesting that Yakima is the Palm Springs of Washington.
Changing the subject to the other thing amusing in the photo.
That being the phenomenon of the Pacific Northwest going totally gaga over the Seattle Seahawks current run to the 2014 Super Bowl, which they are one win away from, with going to the Super Bowl requiring beating the San Francisco 49ers today in Seattle.
I completely understand fans getting all caught up with their team having a successful year. I remember when the Pacific Northwest went nuts during the 1990s, I think it was 1995, when the Mariners were doing real well in the playoffs. I recollect going to one of those games in the Kingdome. I recollect that when a game was being broadcast you would hear it everywhere. Drive to Safeway, with the game on the car radio, get to Safeway, walk inside to find the game blaring loud.
The Seattle Seahawks have this 12th Man fixation, which near as I can tell means the fans are the 12th Man on the team. This 12th Man thing has been going on for years. The 12th Man thing existed when I still lived in the Pacific Northwest. If I remember right the NFL had to make some new penalty rule to deal with the problem of the fans making too much noise in the Kingdome rendering the opposing team unable to hear the play being called.
The fans in CenturyLink Field during a Seattle Seahawk game rarely sit down, and rarely quit yelling and stomping. This has lead to a couple Guinness World Records for stadium noise. And has triggered a couple earthquakes.
I would think the earthquakes might be an indicator that maybe the Seattle Seahawk's fans need to dial the enthusiasm back a notch or two.
Perhaps opting for some medium zone between the current hysterical 12th Man Seahawk fan frenzy and the funereal mausoleum-like effect that seems to be the mood much of the time during a Dallas Cowboy game in their new stadium, where the fans do not appear to be much engaged in the game, directly, and instead seem to spend the game looking upward at one of the world's biggest TV screens.
And on another Dallas Cowboy/Seattle Seahawk football coverage note. I watched the last Dallas Cowboy loss of the season. I lost track of how many times we were shown Jerry Jones in his luxury booth. Not once during either of the two Seattle Seahawk games I've watched this year have we been shown owner Paul Allen in his luxury booth.
If you watch today's Seattle vs. San Francisco game note how frequently the crowd is shown, often in closeup. Why does this rarely occur during a Cowboy game in their new stadium? Bad stadium design? Lifeless fans? Or did I just catch the Cowboy fans on a bad day?
I will be watching the aforementioned Seahawk game closely today, looking for my favorite nephew Christopher, aka CJ, who flew up from Phoenix yesterday to be one of the 12th Men today.....
