Bloglander

Before the 2013 season, the Spokane Indians pumped $3.5 million into the aging Avista Stadium in an effort to improve the fan experience at the ball park. 

While the upgrades to concession stands, walkways and ticket windows were obvious to fans, along with the swanky new team store and picnic area included in the overhaul, the team didn't neglect the field where the players do their thing, either, maintaining the quality turf between the lines. On Monday, the Northwest League recognized Avista Stadium as the NWL Field of the Year for the 10th consecutive season, and for the 16th time in the last 18. 

Yes, Indians groundskeeper David Yearout finds himself tending a serious hardball dynasty in Spokane, albeit one more concerned with weeds and rodents than balls and strikes. 

The award is voted on by the managers and coaches of the A-ball league, in recognition of the team that maintains the best playing surface and maintains the highest-quality field through the NWL season.

And if you think the playing surface is a minor detail, even in the minor leagues, consider the sad tale of NFL rookie Jadeveon Clowney, injured in his first pro game this weekend thanks to his own team's shoddy sod. 

Yearout praised the members of the Indians' grounds crew for working hard "to keep the field in pristine condition for our players, coaches and the fans." 

Perhaps most remarkably, the field is the same one first created when Avista Stadium was built in 1958, meaning generation after generation of Spokane hardball fans have watched a game on the same dirt and grass. That's a testament to Yearout and his predecessors' love of the game, and their chosen trade. 

Having won the NWL Field of the Year designation, Yearout is now a candidate for Minor League Baseball's Sports Turf Manager of the Year, slated to be announced at baseball's annual winter meetings. 

The Sam Houston State Bearkats had beaten the Eastern Washington University Eagles in their last two meetings. The Eagles were hoping to change the outcome this time, in a nationally televised game on ESPN at Roos Field. The first half of the first college football game of the season was a back and forth affair with both teams going into halftime tied at 21. But, four touchdowns in the second half gave the Eagles a 56-35 win in front of a sold out crowd of 10,310.

This week's culture section includes a profile on two of mixed martial arts' up-and-coming female athletes who live and train here in the Lilac City — Elizabeth Phillips and Julianna Pena.

Both women are quickly rising in this male-dominated sport, having signed contracts within the past year to fight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, the biggest organizer of MMA events and employer of professional fighters. Both train at Sik-Jitsu in northeast Spokane, a mixed martial arts gym whose owner and sole coach, Rick Little, also trains local UFC fighters Mike Chiesa and Sam Sicilia. 

In the wee hours of tomorrow morning, Sat, Aug. 23, while most of us are still sound asleep, Phillips will step into the octagon for her second UFC matchup during UFC Fight Night 48 in Macao, China. The pay-per-view event is live-streaming online, so local fans can wake up around 3:30 am to watch Phillips battle it out with her opponent, Russian fighter Milana Dudieva. According to pre-fight odds, Dudieva is favored to win. For fans who feel that's too early to see a brutal fight, the event can also be streamed later via ufc.tv. 

Meanwhile, tonight at 7 pm, at the Tulalip Resort & Casino north of Seattle, several of Sik-Jitsu's other fighters are heading into the cage. With Phillips and Little in China, they're being supported and coached by teammates Pena, Chiesa and Sicilia. Tonight's event is organized by Excite Fight, an MMA promotion venture owned by Little.

Chiesa and Sicilia are also in preparations for upcoming UFC fights on Sept. 5, and Sept. 20, respectively.

The 14th annual Moto X arena motocross, held at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds, featured many local professional and amateur riders, drawing from as far away as Alberta, Canada and California. Riders as young as 5 raced 50 cc bikes while older teenagers and grown ups rode bikes 250 cc and bigger. The Metal Militia performed freestyle tricks while Spotlight Cheer entertained spectators with their acrobatics.

Dodge, duck, dip, dive, dodge.

This weekend, a Spokane dodgeball team comprised of seven seniors from Gonzaga University is showing off its skills at a competition reminiscent of Ben Stiller’s air time on Channel 8: The Ocho. Yes, there is an actual Dodgeball World Championship. And this team already knows what it feels like.

They're returning to the tournament, hosted in downtown Las Vegas, after an early departure from last year’s competition. In their second year, team member Sean Brennan says they hope to come home with a medal.

Have they been hurling wrenches at each other? Not quite. But the preparation for this competition stems back several years.

Early in 2012, Brennan stumbled upon a flier for the regional tournament hosted in Spokane. Fresh off a win in Gonzaga's intramural dodge ball league, Brennan and his teammates decided to enroll. That Oz Fitness dodge ball tournament offered up a grand prize of $1,000 cash, or round-trip airfare for seven players to the Dodgeball World Championship.

A lighthearted activity becomes much more serious when you dangle an all-expenses-paid trip to Vegas in front of a group of college students. 

After earning fifth place that first year, the team returned with determination in 2013 and swept the courts, finishing undefeated and earning the prize that took them to Vegas last August. 

This year, they've stepped it up even further by forming an official Dodgeball Club at Gonzaga, and selected players for a tournament team that won the Oz Fitness tournament once again.

The World Championship allows open registration to any team from around the globe. The team will compete in multiple divisions, beginning with foam balls and advancing to the rubber ball league that Brennan refers to as 'the granddaddy' of the game. Gonzaga's co-ed team begins on Friday and plays through Saturday afternoon. They're set to encounter teams from Canada, Japan and Australia, in addition to squads from across the states.

"These teams are good, but hopefully we can do our best to compete," Brennan says.

These dodgers have packed their kneepads, prepped their game strategy and are ready to create a true underdog story of their own.

Just last week, Level 1 Productions dropped the highly-anticipated official trailer for their 2014 ski motion picture, Less. Albeit goofy, this teaser is packed with urban features and playful skiing under the cinematic direction of Josh Berman, and it has gotten the online ski community quite enthused. At 1:13, viewers catch a shot of our own Northern Idaho slopes.

Schweitzer was one of the primary filming locations this season for Level 1, a production company consistently giving name to new talent from extraordinary up-and-coming athletes. This is the company's 15th film release, and the full feature will debut in September. 

less official trailer from Level 1 on Vimeo.

In July, several ski flick teasers dropped, spurring the season of eager anticipation for the first snow.  

Teton Gravity Research (TGR) dropped the Almost Ablaze trailer just days before Level 1, and demonstrated their excellence and excitement for the backcountry playground.

You can get your Richard Permin, Bobby Brown fix through MSP Film's Days of My Youth.

Amped on wild animals, steep lines, and all things gnarly? Stellar Media's Migrations is National Geographic meets freeskiing.

While the rest of us sit inside at our air-conditioned desks or do whatever else we can to stay cool today, it's fair to say Elaine K. Howley has the most strenuous plan to beat the heat. The 45-year-old open-water swimmer is attempting a solo, non-stop swim of the length of Idaho's largest lake, Lake Pend Oreille — a total of 34 miles from the southern tip at Buttonhook Bay up to Sandpoint's City Beach in the northwest. 

If Howley is successful, she'll be the first person to do so. It's expected to take the Boston-based ultra-marathon swimmer between 17 and 20 hours to complete her journey if conditions are fair, but could take as many as 24 hours if the water is choppy. Follow Howley's progress throughout the day via the Sandpoint Online Facebook page, which is posting frequent photo and video updates of her swim. 

Howley's impressive resume includes the "Triple Crown" of ultra-marathon, open-water swims — solo crossings of the Catalina Island channel (20.4 miles), the English Channel (21 miles), and a circumnavigation of Manhattan Island (28.5 miles). Adding to her swimming skill set is certification as an ice swimmer. She completed a 1-mile swim in Boston Harbor's 41-degree water in December 2012 without a wet suit.

As she swims today, Howley is supported by an experienced boat and kayak crew, though rules of the Marathon Swimmers Federation (which she co-authored) state that a swimmer may not touch the boat or any crew members, and may not wear a wetsuit. The latter shouldn't be an issue as Lake Pend Oreille averages a surface temp of 65-70 degrees this time of year.

The marathon swim is in part helping to promote the upcoming Long Bridge Swim, a 19-year Sandpoint summer tradition that helps raise funds for swimming lessons and aquatic safety. Participants in the annual event, this year on Sat, Aug. 2, swim the length of the bridge over a 1.76-mile stretch of the lake near Sandpoint. Long Bridge Swim founder Eric Ridgway challenged Howley to swim Lake Pend Oreille to help promote aquatic recreation in the Sandpoint area and the Long Bridge event

“We have such an incredibly beautiful lake here that I am sure that we are going to have many more open water swimmers coming in the years ahead to take on the challenges of this fresh water playground,” Ridgway told Sandpoint Online.

For years now, the community had rallied each summer for the Coaches vs. Cancer events, which last year culminated with an appearance by Dana Carvey.

While Coaches vs. Cancer is still a program of the American Cancer Society, a group of former C vs. C organizers have now created a locally focused charity aimed at fighting cancer. The Community Cancer Fund (CCF) is aimed at funding local cancer screening programs and research efforts.

The nonprofit organization is also debuting a celebrity golf tournament at the Coeur d'Alene Resort's famed golf course — yes, the one with the green floating out in the lake. Slated for Aug. 18, the Showcase Celebrity Golf Exhibition is to feature big names in professional golf, as well as the sort of big names in sports, specifically basketball, who've always come out for Mark and Marcy Few's C vs. C event.

Here's a rundown of those scheduled to appear, with more to be announced later, from a CCF press release:

A preliminary list of participants scheduled to take part in The Showcase events include Gonzaga University Men’s Basketball Coach Mark Few, Eastern Washington University Men’s Basketball Coach Jim Hayford, Boise State University Men’s Basketball Coach Leon Rice, Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien, Los Angeles Lakers center Robert Sacre, Oregon State University Men’s Basketball Coach Wayne Tinkle, University of Idaho Men’s Basketball Coach Don Verlin, former NBA players Dan Dickau and Craig Ehlo, and ESPN personalities Neil Everett, Sean McDonough and Fran Fraschilla. 

Spectator tickets are now on sale. General admission tickets are $20, but there are VIP packages going up to $400.

That damn chant.

“I believe that we will win, I believe that we will win, I believe that we will win ...” Over and over.

And the thing is, as a country we did believe it, almost. Because we’re Americans and how often are we the underdogs at anything? Even when our own coach thinks we don’t have a chance, even when one of best strikers Jozy Altidore is out, there was hope we could beat Belgium.
Yesterday at Geno’s restaurant, whole families, bros and people who probably called into work sick all gathered together decked out in red, white and blue to cheer on the home team. With the sun shining brightly, people cheered for every minute. Every time we nearly made a goal there was clapping, every time a call went our way there was hooting, every time goalkeeper Tim Howard deflected the ball — which appeared to be every other second — we shouted in unison. In general, the atmosphere was positive, no hollers about how much Belgium sucked or our distaste for waffles.

When that second Belgian goal ripped through during overtime, though, things became positively forlorn. No one spoke. Our team came back as 19-year-old Julian Green hammered in one goal, but to no avail.

We lost.

America freaking lost.

But Howard played one heck of a game, so much so he set a World Cup record for the most saves in one game, 16, since the stat has been tracked — this led to the US Secretary of Defense Wikipedia page being changed to Howard’s mug before it was caught. The reaction on Twitter was especially creative. Some amazing tweets included:

@TVMcGee This Howard's End made me more depressed than the Merchant-Ivory version. #WorldCup2014
@fuggirls You can't say we didn't go down swinging. Tim Howard shouldn't have to buy a beer again. EVER. - J #USA
(Inlander’s own) @danieltwalters Expecting this game to look like we barely pulled it out somehow, then Howard's skull is crushed by The Mountain.
@FigDrewton Tim Howard doesn't have Twitter followers because he blocks everyone

My heart still hurts. I wanted us to defeat Belgium so bad. But as the dust settles one day later, the exciting thing here is that after surviving the Group of Death we made the Top 16 in the world, and that is nothing to be embarrassed about. In a World Cup that saw traditional powerhouses like Spain, Italy and England not even clear their groups, we persevered.
Americans don’t care as much about soccer as the rest of the world. When Mexico or Brazil wins a match the entire country takes the next day off due to hangover. It is not ingrained in us. But as ratings for this World Cup have blasted past the homegrown sports TV ratings  and as Major League Soccer continues to grow and draw crowds, it appears change is on the horizon.

So who’s still in this?

Brazil, Argentina, Germany (Go Deutschland!) and Costa Rica are who I’m predicting for the Final 4, but absolutely anything can happen. The Top 8 will play Friday and Saturday, and even though USA is out, I bet people will still watch. The final match will be played Sunday, July 13.

Here’s to 2018 and the great Tim Howard!

On Sunday, the city and surrounding area of Coeur d’Alene turned into what women’s winner, Heather Wurtele, called “the easiest and hardest Ironman.” More than 2,460 athletes battled through choppy waters for the 2.4-mile swim, then biked through strong winds for the 112-mile bike ride and completed the 26.2-mile run. The weather was cool and breezy, perfect for the athletes competing this year. Andy Potts won the men’s professional division with a time of 8:25:44 and Wurtele won on the women’s side with a time of 9:34:32.