As we approached Eugene, the smoke and haze off in the distance was making me a little nervous. I had checked the forest fire maps and the air quality readings for Oakridge and everything looked fine, but the sky was telling a different story. We'd made an unsuccessful trip to Oakridge last season, and I was really hoping we wouldn't be making the trip for nothing again. So, for week 1 of the season (last week was week 0. Don't ask me, I don't know why) we were back on th

Here I was once again. The Saturday after Thanksgiving. The last Saturday in November. After three months, Championship Saturday had arrived and it was my job to keep track of all the action. Okay, I admit it: I hadn’t watched or listened to the 5A or 6A games that took place Friday evening at Hillsboro Stadium. In the 5A game, the Wilsonville team we’d seen win their quarterfinal game so impressively beat Mountain View of Bend. Mountain View led for most of the game and

The time has come for closing books, and long last looks must end. I never envisioned using any of Lulu’s lyrics in this blog, but that line is kind of fitting. This season is in the books and we’ll be taking one long last look at this long last weekend. If “To Sir, With Love” is stuck in your head now, then you owe me. That girl could sing. Probably still can. As usual, this championship Saturday was filled with more than just high school football games, and I had that

Another holiday, and another Friday evening downpour. Luckily, we were headed south this time and by the time we reached Roseburg the rain was starting to let up. We were headed to Myrtle Creek. You know Myrtle Creek: That place where I-5 gets curvy and the speed limit on the interstate is 50 miles per hour. It was only fair that we finally got a look at the town and gave it a chance to be remembered for something more positive than that. We took exit 108, crossed the 10

For week five of the 2022 season I made the trip to Mapleton. It’s a trip I’d already made with Mrs. Ednold during the weinerpus season, but our plans to see that football game had been foiled by the zealously-applied Covid precautions of the locals. We weren’t related to any of the players so we weren’t allowed on the premises. I wasn’t too pleased with that, but we ended up at our back-up game at Siuslaw that night where we saw them beat Sutherlin handily. So, Mapleton

Here’s a little something to think about before we get started: If you were hiring a musical act and could only judge the applicants based on their resumes, what’s the single most impressive thing you could find on one of those resumes? What’s the one thing that, if you read it, would immediately make you say “OK. You win. The job’s yours”? What if they said they had won a Grammy? Big deal. Lots of people have one of those. Gold records? Platinum records? That’s nic

As seems to be the case each Championship Saturday, this Saturday was packed full of more sporting events than anyone could possibly keep track of. But the Arsenal game started at 4:00am, so Gabriel Martinelli scored to secure that win, and assure my fantasy team’s loss, long before the football started. Which gave me time to prepare my breakfast of champions - Grits “All The Way” - and otherwise prepare myself for an afternoon in my chair juggling the onslaught of soccer,

Another week, another progressive president. This time I was headed to Kennedy High School in Mt. Angel to watch the Trojans host the Nestucca Bobcats in the first round of the 2A playoffs. Once again, Mrs. Ednold had been detained at work, so I stopped along the way and picked up little bro to occupy the shotgun seat in The Bucket. Mt. Angel is a town of 3,500 about 20 miles northeast of Salem, and it's one of those places that isn't easily accessible from any main highwa

As I mentioned in my last story, there are links to things in this world that are sometimes unexpected. Sometimes it’s just plain strange the way people and events are connected to each other. I wasn’t planning on ever mentioning the song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” again in my entire life. But here I am bringing it up yet again and drawing more attention to it than it ever deserved. If you hate that damn song as much as I do, I apologize. If I could write this without men

Since the Ducks played in the Rose Bowl this New Year’s Day I have been doing a little Rose Bowl reading and it has reminded me of my favorite Rose Bowl story. If you haven’t heard it before then you should hear it now. For those already familiar with it I hope you’re like me and it only gets better and more interesting each time you hear it. There has only been one Rose Bowl played outside of Pasadena, California, and it was won by a team from the state of Oregon, from a sch

What?? You thought the season was over? Even as I was savoring the late Newcastle goal that cost Manchester City a Premier League win on Saturday morning, there were still 12 teams in Oregon with their dreams of a state championship still intact. But, with the exception of Central Catholic who puzzlingly play their home games in Hillsboro, none of those teams will be playing another game on their home field, so we decided to leave The Bucket in the driveway this holiday wee