Happy Superb Owl Day everyone !!!1! Sabo & me will be watching the first half at the Sabotat, and then I'm going to the bar, and Sabo's listening on the radio. Superb Owl out at the bars can get way too crazy for dogs. I shudder to imagine what it gets like out east, with the three hour time difference.

Week #22 is the bye week before the Superb Owl game (Panthers -225, -5½ pts, odds from 5dimes.eu). Nothing happens. And for us Chargers fans, nothing happening was the best possible news. I hit 2/3 on my 'Bold Bolt' predictions: missing on the tie game, but nailing that the Chargers wouldn't move, and that the NFL would shamelessly string us along for another year.


Us Bolt Fans have shined like lightning throughout this whole never ending ordeal. Of course. So have the Chargers... you know, those dudes who actually play football, remember them? Obviously, I was already a big fanboy, but because of the way P.Rivers stepped up to the situation, as a Charger, as the acknowledged team leader, but most importantly as a San Diegan, that I'm officially going from being a #19 Bolt Head to a #19 and #17 Bolt Head.

Sabo's yapping a lot this morning about the Broncos (he's for the Broncos because Panthers are cats). I got some more 'Bold Bolt' predictions... (1) Sabo won't be yapping after the game, (2) the Panthers are going to win big. If you can get it, take them up to -400. Give the points, take the over. (3) I'm so disgusted with the NFL right now, that I'll spend less time paying attention to their sorry-asses this offseason (including preseason), than I do to the game today. F*** them !!!1!

Sabo Era Gambling Log

Win	When		Where	Game	Buy	Downs	Notes
52	2014-5-2	12:30am	Lucky Lady	23/3	200	1½	T:5; F:James
128	2015-8-30	10:30pm	Marina Club	26	192	2½	T:1,2; D:Louis
-46	2015-11-30	12:30pm	Lucky Lady	3	200	1½	T:3; F:April
-65 76	2016-1-3	10am	Lucky Lady	n 23	65 200	1½ 2	20 players, RB 75 IBB, $2.50 added T:5,4; F:Malinda
-2	2016-1-13		Dive Bar #1	lotto	2		have ticket

Yeah, what can I say? I got sucked into billionaire lotto mania. Just think, win twice, and you too can afford an NFL team. But then you'd be joining a club of scumbags. F*** them !!!1!

Well, Sabo was yapping all night because the Broncos won the Superb Owl game. Sabo got off the schneid, and ended up 1-6 in his football predictions. I fell to 6-4. I would have lost on the money line, the points, and the total. It's a good thing that teh boyz & my tradition of a pregame LF trip (TJ sportsbook) fizzled out years ago. I did mention that back when I was a professional gambler, I was a baseball sides specialist, didn't I? Anyways... on Sabo's behalf, I'd like to congratulate the Bronco fans on their world championship !!!1!

Saturday	Sabo's Aztecs	(11-3)	my Golden Bears	(8-5)	my Chargers	(4-12)
#1 Sep. 5	U San Diego (FCS)	W 37-3	Grambling State (FCS)	W 73-14
#2	@Cal (P12)	L 7-35	SDSU (MW)	W 35-7	Lions	W 33-28
#3	South Alabama (SB)	L 27-34 (OT)	@Texas (B12)	W 45-44	@Bengals	L 19-23
#4	@Penn State (B10)	L 21-37	@Washington*	W 30-24	@Vikings	L 14-31
#5	Fresno State*	W 21-7	Washington State*	W 34-28	Browns	W 30-27
#6	@Hawaii*	W 28-14	@Utah #17	L 24-30	Steelers	L 20-24 Mon
#7	@San Jose State*	W 30-7			@Packers	L 20-27
#8	Utah State	W 48-14 Fri	@UCLA	L 24-40 Thu	Raiders*	L 29-37
#9	@Colorado State	W 41-17	USC	L 21-27	@Ravens	L 26-29
#10			@Oregon* #19	L 28-44	Bears	L 19-22 Mon
#11	Wyoming	W 38-3	Oregon State*	W 54-24
#12	@UNLV*	W 52-14	@Stanford* #3	L 22-35	Chiefs*	L 3-33
#13	Nevada*	W 31-14	Arizona State	W 48-46	@Jaguars	W 31-25
#14	Air Force &	W 27-24			Broncos*	L 3-17
#15					@Chiefs*	L 3-10
#16					Dolphins	W 30-14
#17	v.Cincinnati (AA) &&	W 42-7 Thu	v.Air Force (MW) &&&	W 55-36 Tue	@Raiders*	L 20-23 (OT) Thu
#18 Jan. 2					@Broncos*	L 20-27

See also weeks #19 (Alabama wins FBS), 20, 21, 22 & 23 (Broncos win Super Bowl).
& _{MW Championship.} && _{Hawaii Bowl.} &&& _{Armed Forces Bowl @TCU.} * _{Division Rival.}
^{NFL on Sunday unless noted. Final AP rankings. In person games highlighted.}


My Golden Bears finished their season slaughtering Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl. Fittingly, they mainly beat them through the air. This was the J.Goff show. He went as 25/37 for 467 yds with six TDs and no picks. It was his college finale too, as he declared for the NFL as expected. The next A.Rodgers? Well he could be, as he's seems that good. But only time will tell, as always.

The two games that sum up my Golden Bears season were the week #5 win vs Washington State and the week #8 loss at UCLA. Cal was a good team in 2015. They won three more games, had their first winning season, and went bowling, for the first time in four years. They were ranked for a while, and they won their bowl game. Washington State was also a good team, and were also ranked for a while. The game was really close, and could have gone either way... but in the end Cal won at home. Which is what good teams do.

OTOH Cal got waffle-crushed by UCLA... in Pasadena, in the Rose Bowl, on hallowed ground. And so it went all season long. Contrary to popular misconception, it's more important to beat the bad teams than the good. Cal did just that, going 5-0 against teams that were never ranked. However, against teams that finished ranked, and the two LA teams which are always going to be good, Cal went 0-5. They just couldn't beat the really good teams in 2015.


It's been a long, strange trip this season, and not a pleasant one. If you were going to pick the WOAT Chargers season, there really are only two candidates: the 1-15 2000 season, and the 2015 season. The 2015 team was far superior to the 2000 team, and won three more games. However, the off-field antics of the evil greedy carpetbagging Spanos has left a bitter, bitter aftertaste. It's going to be a lot harder to forget about 2015 than 2000. I'm going with 2000... just because I don't want the Spanos' to #win.

The two games that sum up this Charger season where the "Fish Bowl", the 'last home game' win over the Dolphins, and the "Charger Bowl", the final game of the regular season in Denver. The future world champions were a better team, and had something to play for, as they clinched the #1 seed with their win. But my Chargers played them close, hung in there, and could have sent the game to OT with a successful final drive. But... they turned the ball over on downs in the red zone, and that was that. This happened all year long it seemed... well, it actually did, except for a few games they got blown out of. Unbelievable.

I thought my Chargers would be lusers this year, but I was thinking 7-9 or 6-10. But, it's not an excuse, they actually had a staggeringly high number of injuries, especially on the already very weak OL. They might have been lucky to have gone 4-12. Stinking has it's perks though, and they'll have the #3 pick in the draft. I'm usually a "best athlete" guy, but this year I hope they draft for "immediate need". Reason being is that the player (and team) might be gone after only one season. The most immediate need is on the OL, but I ain't no draft-geek. With the Spanos in charge, I figure they'll just draft another R.Leaf, so it really doesn't matter. Either way, I'm hoping I don't hear who they draft until September.


Sabo's Aztecs had what might, looking back, be called a breakthrough season. They won their first outright conference title since the 80s. They won their first conference championship game. They won their bowl game. They were undefeated in conference. And they did all this in convincing style. If Sabo's Aztecs could somehow put a string of conference championships together, with all that SDSU can offer off the field, and us San Diegans as a fan base, SDSU is Boise State.

The two games that sum up Sabo's Aztecs season are the week #2 loss at Cal, and the Hawaii Bowl. Sabo's Aztecs were undefeated in conference. They only splits they can improve on are out of conference. ZOMG: think about what I just blogged. That's a sign of a program taking it to the next level. But to be another Boise State, they can't fall on their faces out-of-conference. They gotta go at least 1-0 vs a legitimate FCS team, 1-0 vs G5, and 1-1 vs P5. The most frustrating loss was the OT loss at home to 17-point dog South Alabama. But the Jaguars were the better team that day, and those things happen. The game that really sums up the non-conference season up was getting whipped by Cal. To move it up to the next level, they gotta start beating P5 teams every now and then.

OTOH the Hawaii Bowl showed how good Sabo's Aztecs really were. They just crushed the Cincinnati Bearcats. R.Penny ran the opening kick back. The Aztecs added another quick score. D.Pumphrey, who is coming back, rushed for 99 yards. The new QB, C.Chapman looks like the real thing. It got ugly early, the whole second half was garbage time. The only score by the Red & Black was with only 3:21 left.

Wat? No typo. It turns out the Bearcats are often called the "Red & Black", in reference to their school colors. Sabo's favorite colors, and his Aztec's school colors, and the IWWs colors, are all Red & Black... so that did get a little confusing. BTW: my favorite colors are Red & Brown.

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Editors Corner

Rankings: Alexa #8929 (#17621 overall); HOB Recent #1, Posts #12 (#19 overall), Views #7 (#12 overall w/33444).

Regular Feature #1: 20xx Football Season.

I'm going to do a slow motion review of the editorial side of the Saboblog. One regular column, so to speak, I'm going to keep pretty much just the way it is are these numbered weekly football posts. Look for the next edition of this column on 2016-8-26.

Poor Sabo, if it hasn't been one thing, it's been another. Sabo hasn't been for a hike in the canyons for over a month now. The latest is my trick left ankle went on the fritz again Thursday. This wasn't that bad. No need to get the crutches out, and I was only off my feet Sat & Sun. We got big things to do this weekend, and I still need to build up some strength down there. But we should be good to go by Monday.

Sabo (Who BTW had a sea-change regarding his cuddliness just lately) has just been the best Good Nurse Sabo. Gotta that Sabo, he's a good guy !!!1!

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Editors Corner

Rankings: Alexa #8924 (#17839 overall); HOB Recent #1, Posts #11 (#19 overall), Views #7 (#12 overall w/33662).

Regular Feature #2: Good Nurse Sabo.

Another regular column, so to speak, I'm going to keep pretty much just the way it is are these Good Nurse Sabo posts. This irregular column will be comprised of Sabo's vet visits, injuries, and also when relevant, his caring and healing nursing of myself. Gotta that Sabo, he's a good guy !!!1!

Yes, it's a Sabo extended Big Weekend™, because it's Flower Daze. Which is a drinking festival I just made up last year, whose theme is reminiscing about Flower the dog. It's always in February, being the shortest month and all, although the duration and start date vary from year to year.

So far, I opened up the Silver Fox Friday morning (6 am), and then proceeded to do the Garnet Shuffle back to the Beach Shack. Sabo & me are heading out to Dive Bar #1 directly. Tomorrow, I'm going to go buy prescription glasses for the first time. Yes, after all these years, I'm becoming a 4-eye. Sunday, being the 3rd one of the month, it's Sabo's regular IWW meeting. The rest of the time won't be wasted on being sober !!!1!

Of course it's been a Sabo Big Day™. I'll blog the whole day soon, but suffice to say it's been fun. The second Anny is the Hamburger Anny, and it turns out Jack-in-the-Box, a native San Diego company, just like Sabo's a native San Diego dog, has off-menu hamburgers for dogs. For a buck. I got Sabo a few. Sabo's had a good Anny... and it's not over yet. It's a nice warm night, so we're going to go out again.

Just to clarify: This post is about Friday 2-19 to Sunday 2-21 this year... otherwise known as Flower Daze. Still to come, a wrapup of the Sabo Big Day™ 2-25, our 2nd Anny.

2013	3rd Sat, five days	Should I get "Tres"? (a new dog)
2014	3rd Wed, seven	Picking up Artie (Sabo's pound name)
2015	3rd Fri, three	The Year of Sabo®
2016	3rd Fri, three	The Year of New Tricks® (below)
2017	3rd Sat, three
2018	3rd Sat, nine	The Year of Mastery®
2019	3rd Wed, six
2020	3rd Thu, six
2021	3rd Fri, three

Flower Daze is a February drinking festival I made up back in 2013. The traditional mourning period after sending The Missile onward had recently ended, and it was time to consider getting a new dog. I remembered The Missile every day, but my memories of Flower had faded over the years. Since it was such an important decision, I needed to channel them both. The festival was a success, as I made the firm decision to get "Tres" (my working name for the new dog) ASAP.

So, skipping a few stories, it was already around to next year's Flower Daze in 2014, and I still hadn't gotten a new dog (although I had decided on 'Sabo'). So two years ago I channelled my good girls who had went onward... and Flower Daze culminated in me actually getting off my but and getting Sabo. Another great Flower Daze !!!1!

Last year Flower Daze was pretty much a dud. I couldn't drink for non-dog related reasons I'll blog soon enough. This year I drank like a fish (Silver Fox & Garnet Shuffle on Friday, a session in Dive Bar #4, and a session in Dive Bar #1 on Saturday, and dinner & cocktails at the Sabo'hood Outback* on Sunday. _{* not really an Outback, but an equivalent national chain}).

But... both the last two years I basically came up empty with the reminiscences. Hmmm... maybe alcohol actually isn't good for the memory. Oh well... I'll just try drink harder next year, I guess.

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Rank: Alexa #8641 (#17968 overall); HOB #1 Recent, #9 Views (#12 overall w/34260), #14 Posts (#19 overall).

Column Review: Sabo Big Day™, Sabo Big Weekend™, and Sabo Three Dayer™.

Abbv	Column	Start	End	Theme
SBD™	Sabo Big Day™	12:01 am	next day 5:00 am	optional
SBW™	Sabo Big Weekend™	Friday 12:01 pm	Monday 11:59 am	yes
STD™	Sabo Three (or more) Dayer™	usually 12:01 pm	usually 11:59 am	yes

Review: I'm going to split the recurring intermittent Sabo Big Weekend™ column into three related columns (above). I'm also going to tighten them up a bit. Looking back, in 2014, SBW™s were evaluation & OST exercises. The theme concept was just a goof. However, the theme concept turned out to be pretty cool. By 2015: The Year of Sabo®, SBW™s were just Sabo & me out-and-about having a theme of fun. Starting here in 2016: The Year of New Tricks®, we've added OST back in as part of the mix.

Going forward: SBD™s can be any day. They'll usually have a theme, but might just be a really big event. Starting now SBW™ will exclusively refer to the traditional classic-style weekend. STD™s are longer, and can start & end any time. And yes I know SBD™s covers two days, SBW™s covers four, and STD™s cover five or more.

Posting Policy: There'll be an announcement post, preferable on the preceding day; and one or more conclusion posts, preferably starting on the concluding day. In the middle of the event, I'll tend not to post.

Column Memes: I'm going to make new memes for all the regular columns. These are going to be a standard 500 pix wide, and feature the column names... so I don't have to keep typing them out.

Today's New Trick: Sabo's first ever Leap Year's Day !!!1!

As I've blogged, 2016: The Year of New Tricks® is mainly about me learning new people tricks. But Sabo's going to be learning some new tricks too, hence the relevance to this blog. Last month I blogged about Sabo starting second grade. That kind of formal training is mainly what this column will be about. However, Sabo learns new tricks all by himself too... and lately he's made a coupla big u-turns in behavior, so to speak.

Now, don't get me wrong when I say Sabo didn't used to be a 'snuggly dog'. Sabo loves getting hugged, and getting the love. After all, he's a shameness nose-nudger. And it's not like he snuggles all the time now. Now he'll usually 'post up', followed by lying close by, then less frequently cuddling in. Likewise, overnight he'll usually sleep on a corner of the bed, followed by in his nest, and now less frequently burrowed under the covers. Those are both big changes for a little dog.


Good dogs respect people's space. That's how Sabo is. But him&me share the bond of the pack, so he doesn't have to be that way with me. Nevertheless, he'd always stop short, and wait for me to hug him first. However, he's always liked a little nominal contact. It started with just, say, occasionally touching a paw to my leg. Slowly, it became Sabo usually 'posting up', where he lays with his backside up against me. About 3~4 months ago I guess he just said f***-it, and started occasionally just snuggling on in. Sabo's a good guy !!!1!


As I've blogged, Sabo's never wanted anything to do with the covers. When I got'em out, he'd hop down into his nest. Nowever... we don't have a space heater here at the Sabotat any more than we have AC. About a month ago, we had a real cold snap... cold for us, in the 40s. Sabo was sleeping next to me. I covered him up with the blankets and snuggled on up. He woke up so warm and happy... and bang!!!1! Just that one experience, and now he's a burrowing dog too.

Previous: Announcement Post; Forward: && 2016YONT && (see below).

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&& 2016YONT && and Pointers: Forwards & Backwards:

Now that we are two years into the Sabo blog, I've reached the point where it isn't obvious to me when Sabo's done stuff in the past. So I'm going to make a concerted effort to provide backward facing links... like the 'Previous' section above.

However, I can't do forward links here at 2+2 at all. So... as a work around, I'm going to put in Pseudo-Forward Links to selected topics. These are unique search strings, like '&& 2016YONT &&'. A forum thread search for '&& 2016YONT &&' without the quotes will find all the Pseudo-Forward links. After a topic TOC is posted, a search without the quotes, and without the spaces, should uniquely find that table of contents.

New Column: 2016: The Year of New Tricks®:

This will be an 18 installments series for 2016. Installments may span multiple posts. There was an announcement post (Jan 5th), there will be 12 monthly reports (including a belated January report in early Mar), four quarterly reports (early Apr, late Jun, late Aug, late Nov), and the wrap up post (Dec 30th).

Column Review: OST Report, Sabo Status Report, Top (bottom) Ten List:

The OST Report (variously titled), like Operation Sabo Training itself, was put on hiatus during 2015. OST has resumed. However, the OST Report will wait until 2017 to reboot. The Sabo Status Report (variously titled), regarding Sabo's Official Grades & Good Dog Status has also been on hiatus since 2014. It will reboot in 2019. OTOH the Top Ten List has been cancelled with extreme prejudice. As I predicted, it just made Sabo seem like a little monster... which he most certainly is not. Gotta that Sabo... Sabo's a good guy !!!1!

Rank: Alexa #8378 (#17835 overall); HOB #1 Recent, #9 Views (#12 overall w/34348), #14 Posts (#19 overall).

Sabo & me certainly had a good time for our 2nd Anny last Thursday. We started out with a hike in Tecolote Canyon, resuming the long stalled quest to hike all of the Tri-Canyons. Then we went back to where it all started out exactly two years ago... the Pound. Yes, I took Sabo back to the SPCA/HS and told the receptionists it didn't work out, and I want to give the dog back. After watching their hearts drop... I told them just kidding, and thanked those good folks again for looking after Sabo when he was Artie.

Then it was off to Sabo's favorite restaurant: Bull's BBQ where every dog gets a bone. Then a stop by the Coronado Brewing Co tasting room. I had forgotten to get Sabo a present, and couldn't remember what the dog tradition was for the 2nd... when the nice young chica at JBox helped me out. It turns out Jack sells plain hamburger patties for $1 off menu. Gotta that Sabo... Sabo's a good guy !!!1!

This will be Sabo's third annual spring training, and his third annual Arizona trip (although it's looking like Sabo will visit AZ twice this year). In 2014 Sabo tried to attend a Cactus League game at USD. They weren't letting dogs in. Upon further review, it's possible he might have 'knotholed' that game. I left Sabo in the charge of some nice young USD students who live in the dorms. Some of the dorms at USD look into Fowler Stadium from RF. FYI: On 2015-12-17 Sabo & me returned to USD, and an empty Fowler Stadium, as part of our Tri-Canyon Quest.

The theme this year is "Rolling on the River". We're going to spend four days and three nights partying down the AZ side of the Colorado River: from Lake Havasu, down the Parker Strip, and onto Yuma. Starting early tomorrow morning !!!1! But that's not all. Sabo's going to get his spring training too. We're going to pop over to Surprise AZ on Friday, and then that night to Peoria AZ, where we'll see Sabo's Padres play the World Champion Royals. But that's still not all. April Fools day in San Diego, we plan on 'knotholing' our second Cactus League game from Hotel Indigo: White Sox @Padres.

Previous: 2014 Spring Training @USD, 2014 AZ Trip, 2015 AZ Spring Training Trip.

The crown lies heavy, as Sabo's Royals start the 2016 edition of Sabo's Dog Day Championship with an elimination game. Wait, what... Sabo's Royals ??

Let me nip this in the bud right now. First, although the Royals won the World Series last year, it was their cross-state rivals, the St.Louis Cardinals, who won the 2015 Sabo Dog Day Championship. The Cardinals will be trying to be the first team to repeat since his Padres won in 2012 & 2013.

Second, just because the Giants were defending champs last year, and Sabo stayed in Scottsdale (where the Giants train), and went to every Giants dog game (home & away), and planned our whole summer vacation around a trip to AT&T Park... and just because the Royals are defending champs this year, and Sabo will be visiting Surprise (where the Royals train), and wants to go to every Royals dog game (home and away) and is trying to plan our whole summer vacation around a trip to Kauffman Stadium... doesn't mean he isn't a diehard Padres fan.

Fear not, my (perhaps six) readers, Sabo will always bleed Padres Blue.

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Sabo's Dog Day Championship 2016 Rules

1. Standings are by games ahead, winning percentage, games. Tiebreakers are head-2-head, batting second, Sabo games, then by all-time records, proximity to Sabo’s shrine.
2. The 2014-3-28 Indians 16 -vs- Padres 4 @USD spring knothole, and 2015-9-29 Astros 4 @Mariners 6 game are certified as official.
3. The White Sox are still 2014 Champions.
4. Staff shall continuously update the schedule.

~ The Competition Committee (T.Gwynn Jr, A.Manning, C.Rice, P.Rivers, P.Townsend, et al)

*sigh* And welcome to another season of the Competition Committee riding staff's butts. Staff being Sabo & me. I'll blog about the tiebreaker tweak later. The Competition Committee ruled the 2014 USD game was a 'retro' game under the "could have" doctrine. FYI: The Cardinals are still 2015 champs.

As for the 2015 Astros@Mariners game... what can I say? Keeping track of these damn dog games is hard. The Mariners added this game on September 1st... after I had finished The Audit, but before I blogged the results on October 2nd. Keep in mind the SDDC schedule is always a work in progress.

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Column Review: News of Sabo's Dog Day Championship: I'm going to keep this just as it is... except I'm going to drop the year number from the title. 20xx MLB Where & When Trivia: Cancelled. Seeing as this is an All-Star year... I'm going to go in a different direction regarding misc sports chatter.

Rank: Alexa #8248 (#17941 overall); HOB #1 Recent, #9 Views (#12 overall w/34480), #14 Posts (#19 overall).

The dog game season can be cruel. Yesterday, the Royals were eliminated by Sabo's Padres... even though it was only their third spring training game, and they are more than four weeks away from even starting the defense of their world championship.

Blessedly, this was a night game, and it was a wonderful evening... not like last year when it was a barely tolerable day game because of the heat. A hot chica from the PHX Fox station was interviewing dogs during the game, and picked the big dog next to us. Sabo could have been on tv too... but he didn't care to be, as he shied away from the chica.

My brotherman D from Lake Havasu joined Sabo & me at the game... about halfway through, as he had car troubles on the way in. It was too late to get his car fixed by the time he got into town last night, so we got rooms in PHX. Which means we can go to another game today too (it was going to be D'backs -vs- Dodgers @Glendale, but it turns out this game is sold out). Except for poor Sabo.

Last Saturday, we ended up at the Blue Water Resort casino, on the Colorado River, just north of Parker AZ. The bar was packed for that UFC nonsense. After the fights, they had a $2-500 spread limit Hold'em game going in their (once again) re-situated poker room. The max buy was $500, but as nobody had over $300 the table, it played exactly like $1,2NL. They were dropping $5 a hand, including promo.

Anyways, it was a fairly good, but surprisingly careful, even timid buncha players. I only got two pairs during my time, both 5s, with which I won all my profit... one by buying the hand, the other was an over pair to the board, which I showed to win.

Win	When	Where	Game	Buy	Hours	Notes
52	2014-5-2, 12:30am	Lucky Lady	23/3	200	1½	T:5; F:James
128	2015-8-3, 10:30pm	Marina Club	26	192	2½	T:1,2; D:Louis
-46	2015-11-30, 12:30pm	Lucky Lady	3	200	1½	T:3; F:April
-65 76	2016-1-3, 10am	Lucky Lady	n 23	65 200	1½ 2	20 players, RB 75 IBB, $2.50 added T:5,4; F:Malinda
-2	2016-1-13	Dive Bar #1	lotto	2		have ticket
93	2016-3-5, 11:30pm	Blue Water	2500	288	1½	T:1; F:dave

We didn't plan to be in the Phoenix area on Saturday, but my brotherman D from Lake Havasu & myself found ourselves there anyways. So... why not see another Cactus League game? Our first choice, the D'backs -vs- Dodgers @Glendale was sold out. So we kept with the whole 'surprise' trip theme, and went to the White Sox -vs- Royals @Surprise game instead.

This was a day game... and they only had lawn seats available. However, the temperature was in the low 80s, and here was a blessed breeze and a beautiful overcast the entire game. Surprise Stadium, another Populous design, was quite nice. Parking is free. Of note: a bevy of Surprises' Finest were guarding the Royals World Series Trophy, which was on display.

We also saw the Royals lose for the second time in less than 24-hours, starting spring at 0-4.

Previous: 2014 All-Star Game, 2015 All-Star Game.

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New Regular Columns: Poker Content on a Poker Site and All-Star Sabo-Metrics.

These two intermittent features are now elevated to regular columns. Together with the aforementioned 20xx Football Season and News of Sabo's Dog Day Championship, these four columns will serve to focus the gambling and sports content ITT.

The Poker Content on a Poker Site column will also cover any misc. gambling. In addition to actual Sabermetrics, the All-Star Sabo-Metrics will now also cover general baseball, out-of-season FBS, and any other misc. sports. FYI: I currently have an embargo on out-of-season NFL news. Likewise, when general sports are covered in the 20xx Football Season and News of Sabo's Dog Day Championship columns, it will be after a section heading entitled "All-Star Sabo-Metrics" (but not the meme).

In most cases, these four columns will conclude with either a gratuitous Sabo pix, or a dog pix captioned with some directly dog related content. Or... ugh... an Editor's Corner box.

Rank: Alexa #7933 (#18083 overall); HOB #1 Recent, #9 Views (#12 overall w/34963), #14 Posts (#19 overall).

We made several drives to support this Sabo Three Dayer™. March 3rd: Sabotat (67°) to Yuma (92°, 187.1 miles). March 4th: Yuma (88°) to Peoria (90°, 182.5 miles). March 5th: Surprise (81°) to Parker (81°, 148.9 miles). Unlike our three previous road trips, where I front-loaded the longest drive, this time I back-loaded it. We finished with Parker (77°) to San Diego (57°, 290.6 miles)... which we did in 5:14.

New mileage for me was CA-98 and Calexico, as well as most of the stretch to Parker (AZ-85 to AZ-95). We also put on a fair amount of in-town mileage (Yuma 38.6, Phoenix 68.7, Parker 38.8) for a total of 955.2 miles. Comparable to our 2014 AZ Trip (1000), our 2015 AZ Trip (1010), and our San Francisco Trip (1181)... all of which were a night longer.

I took the car this time, and bought gas in Gila Bend (95°, $1.799), I-10 & Vicksburg Rd (79°, $1.599), Ehrenberg (68°, $1.699), and topped off back in San Diego ($2.519). All total 31.292 gallons for $59.56 ($1.903 ave)... for a surprising 30.5 mpg. The minvan got 19.7 mph (@$3.244 ave) on last summer's San Francisco trip.

Once again I prepacked all the road munchies (none of which I ate). We stopped at a JBox in Calexico, to have lunch, give Sabo some paw-time, and so I can say I've actually been there. Besides a coupla dogs at the ball games, that's the only food I bought... mainly because we were generally guests. So... I spent way less on food than normal these four days.

Unexpectedly, my brotherman D & me needed rooms in the Phoenix area over Friday night... which during spring training can take a major miracle. However, we got lucky, so to speak, and found a hotel on the other side of I-17 in Phoenix, which had a coupla 'problem' rooms they'd rent us. The problems weren't that bad, and they did give us a break on the rent ($39.98).

My other expenses were $5 parking @Peoria, and four people tix to the games ($14 + $16). Together with my poker win, this trip cost me all of $41.54. OTOH, Sabo spend $5 on his dog tix.

This is probably a mistake... but I'll wrap up this Wrap Up of the Sabo Three Dayer™: 2016 AZ Spring Trip by narrating the trip pretending Sabo can actually write. FYI: he can't.

Today's New Trick: Trying to remember what I thought I had already blogged back in January, but apparently forgot to hit the 'Post' button after I typed it.


After quick one week & one month marks, I settled into grading Sabo on longer terms. He got his grade reduced to the B- because of the May Day pulling incident at City College... where he ended up hurting my knee. Because Operation Sabo Training was on hiatus during 2015: The Year of Sabo®, I haven't yet blogged last year's three marks. Here we go...

• 2015-1-15: A-: Sabo spent eight months wearing the nose-thingee (leader harness) until New Year's Day last year. Over the course of almost a year together, he had really started to blossom, and come into his own. Hence: the Year of Sabo. So... a coupla weeks in, I was channeling Flower on Flower Remembrance Day... and I got to thinking. How can it be the Year of Sabo, if Sabo's not even an official Good Dog yet? Flower was already an official Good Dog for years before The Year of Flower Power, as was Cinnamon Stick before 2007: The Year of the Missile®. Well... Sabo was so darn close, and good dogs don't do bad things... so I went ahead and elevated him to official Good Dog status (A-)... but I also placed him on Super Secret Probation for a year.
  
  
• 2015-8-4: C: This was the day Sabo ended up getting bit in the head. Ultimately, this was all my fault, of course. I'm the responsible adult, and my dog was obviously not under control if he's running around sticking his head in a pitbull's mouth. However, I was very disappointed in Sabo during this incident, and this incident has delayed his permanent official Good Dog status.
  
  
• 2015-9-9: A-: However, about a month later, I was channelling The Missile on Cinnamon Stick Remembrance Day. I remembered her Master S always saying: "She's a good little dog, but she's not perfect". So, I started thinking again. Before Sabo got his head bit, he'd only done three other bad things all year. None of those other things were really bad bad, certainly not bad enough to scuttle his official Good Dog status. So, taking all that into consideration, I once again elevated him to official Good Dog status... and once again placed him on Super Secret Probation for another year.

Sabo's more than halfway through that second SSP, and he hasn't slipped up a bit. And... don't worry my (possibly) six readers, just because I'm never going to do a Top Ten List again, doesn't mean I'm not going to still dish all the dirt on Sabo.

Next: January Part II: The Bottom Four (&& 2016YONT &&). Previous: Announcement, January Part I (above), February.

Win	When	Where	Game	Buy	Hours	Notes
52	2014-5-2, 12:30am	Lucky Lady	23/3	200	1½	T:5; F:James
128	2015-8-3, 10:30pm	Marina Club	26	192	2½	T:1,2; D:Louis
-46	2015-11-30, 12:30pm	Lucky Lady	3	200	1½	T:3; F:April
-65 76	2016-1-3, 10am	Lucky Lady	n75/20 23	65 200	1½ 2	$2.50 added T:5,4; F:Malinda
-2	2016-1-13	Dive Bar #1	lotto	2		have ticket
93	2016-3-5, 11:30pm	Blue Water	2500	288	1½	T:1; F:dave
-10 15	2016-3-14, 9:30am	Lucky Lady	3 n75/26	100 85	½ 2	T:2; F:April 7th w/$5 tip, $0.77 added

I was out running the same errands again, and decided to stop into Lucky Lady again. Again, the owner's dog was there, wandering around the cardroom. I jokingly asked April, the floor person, if I could bring Sabo on in. She said "Absolutely not".

The theme for this Sabo Three Dayer™ is "Finish the Quest". That's right... Sabo will finally complete hiking all the trails in the Tri-Canyons, and connect them with all the nearby parks. Today, we completed most of the remaining odd and loose ends... we visited Mt Acadia Park, Cadman Park (with it's leash free area), revisited Mission Heights Park, and connected these to the canyons. We also hiked the 80 yard long Mt. Ariane trailhead, which had been closed the last two months during construction of a storm drain. Thus we have only three areas still not hiked... conveniently one per main canyon. These are...

• Friday: Tecolote Canyon Floor, Balboa Av to Mt Ausmun Dr; and Mt. Everest Side-Canyon. Back in January there was a landslide that took out a sewer trunk line at the foot of Mt. Ausmun Dr. Besides fouling the creek with six million gallons of s***, this closed the main Tecolote canyon trail along the east bank for several weeks while repairs were made. Sabo & me left this stretch for later (~3 miles round trip).
  
  
• Saturday: Stevenson Canyon. We've done all of Rose Canyon Park proper, and it's unnamed tributary side-canyons. But... it turns out I misspoke back in 2014 when I said Rose Creek only has one named tributary. It turns out this obscure side-canyon tributary has a name, Stevenson Creek, after a long defunct elementary school... and is now-tributary-by-over-a-mile-of-storm-drains to Rose Creek too. It also isn't a park, but according to many sources this is open space and open to the public... and by all reports a nice little canyon itself. (~3 miles round trip).
  
  
• Sunday, The First Day of Spring: Sabo's regular IWW Meeting. We're planning our big April 30th Show... Mayday Eve, of course.
  
  
• Monday: San Clemente Canyon Floor: We've only touched on Rose Creek's other named tributary, San Clemente, a handful of times during this quest. We did a symbolic 400 yds of the main trail the very first day: 2015-2-1. We've barely touched the canyon floor on 2015-3-4, 2015-7-7, 2015-10-15, 2016-1-18, and 2016-1-19. In other words... we've almost completely avoided the main canyon floor, so we could hike it in full, and end to end. Saving and savoring the best for last. (~6 miles round trip).
  
  
• Tuesday: Revisit Tecolote Nature Center. If open (hours vary by funding, etc). We'll finish with the new traditional After Quest Victory Feast at Sabo's favorite restaurant: Bull's BBQ... where every dog gets a bone.

Quote:

Sabo Quests: This is a new column paradigm for ongoing projects, like the Tri-Canyon Quest, that transcend a Big Weekend, or two. Several of Sabo's recurring hikes, and associated adventures, will be rebranded as Sabo Quests. There'll be some new Sabo Quests added to the mix soon too.

A coupla notes regarding Sabo Quests: First, mileage, visits, etc, unless otherwise specified as a Sabo Twist™, are all Sabo life cumulative. Second, unlike the old Sabo Complete Trail Guide era, Quests are not considered an exclusive priority.

Sabo's Tri-Canyon Quest: Perversely, as much as I'm glad to finally be finishing this project... I'm going to keep this column going for a while with a long multi-part wrap up. Besides trip reports on the dozens of trails, I wanna explore why it took so damn long, discuss an incident that happened a year ago I considered filing a complaint with the police regarding, some other general issues... and most important: debut my long promised super-neato map of all Sabo's hikes.

BTW: The new Sabo Quest rules were instrumental in finally bringing this first of all Sabo Quests to a conclusion. In particular, the cumulative rule allows the recycling of the epic Beach Shack hike of 2015 (from Balboa & Morena, to Tecolote & Morena, unto Ulric & Friars) to connect Mission Heights Park, Cadman Park, and Stevenson Canyon... avoiding many miles of boring suburban street walks, all miles and miles across town.


Rank: Alexa #7705 (#18075 overall); HOB #1 Recent, #9 Views (#12 overall w/35619), #14 Posts (#19 overall).

Happy Spring, my (perhaps six) readers !!!1!

This year, on the morning of February 2nd, 2016, Phil (a woodchuck) didn't see his shadow, while Sabo (a close to the ground dog) did see his shadow... hence they both predicted an "early spring". As the drought heads into its six year, and as the only significant, but brief, storm this entire alleged El Niño winter was in January... they were both correct.

Critter	Sabo, a ground dog	Punxsutawney Phil, a woodchuck
2015	Early Spring	Late Winter
2016	Early Spring	Early Spring
Record	2-0 1.000 --	1-1 .500 1

Just to clarify, this was the S3D™ covering March 18th-22nd... the Grand Finale of Sabo's Canyon Quest: The Complete Trail Guide to the Tri-Canyon Parks. As I blogged, I'm going to stretch this so-called guide out into many parts. The second part will be: "What went wrong?". This first part will just be a quick overview of the last week's S3D™er.

• Friday, 3-18: BTW: the short answer to Part II: is "nothing"... as in nothing went wrong, and Sabo & me had a great time. I'm so very happy I could share these special places with Sabo... as I had with Flower and The Missile before him. Take my word, Sabo was so very happy to explore them.
  
  We had a perfect last two days of winter, so good in fact we started at dawn to stay out of the sun. The short stretch of the Tecolote main trail we had previously skipped was just up stream of the sewer spill, and newly redone as part of the repairs. This completed Sabo's hike down Tecolote Creek, from North Clairemont Park to the shores of Mission Bay (~6.8mi). As I expected, Mt Everest side-canyon isn't passable down to the main canyon floor, but we connected to it's four upper trailheads using the Power Line trail.
  
  
• Saturday, 3-19: As I blogged, I wasn't aware of this side-canyon until after we had started this Quest. It's now a 'stealth' tributary to Rose Creek, said to connect through storm drains somewhere near the inlet. It's also not a park, but a combination of private & city open space, which is held open to the public. This was a very nice little canyon too. We connected it to Rose Creek Monday in a roundabout manner using the Beach Shack hike, and Tecolote, Power Line, and San Clemente trails.
  
  
• Sunday, 3-20: For the first day of spring, we took a break from the canyons so Sabo could attend his regular IWW meeting. In some major news, we've decided to move our show to Sunday evening... May Day itself. Sabo was voted the official mascot of the semi-official after party to the official big May Day parade !!!1!
  
  
• Monday, 3-21: This was the final and biggest bite of the whole Big Enchilada. It was the perfect spring day. Unlike Rose & Tecolote canyons, which we cut up into multiple segments, Sabo & me spent the whole day hiking all trails on the San Clemente canyon floor. We hiked it end-to-end twice: first westward taking almost all side trails. Then we hiked the main trail eastward from right under I-5 to right under I-805. It was sublime. We finished the whole damn Quest with the not-so-sublime crazy scramble uphill to Limerick Ave (which is clearly visible along I-805 southbound @CA-52).
  
  
• Tuesday, 3-22: The nature center was closed. We did visit Sabo's favorite restaurant to celebrate. And now... along with that tremendous feeling of satisfaction that comes from successfully completing a Quest, there's an empty feeling... we need a new Quest or three !!!1!

I'll just have to admit I'm 'chugging' a bit on this whole 2016: The Year of New Tricks® thingee. As I've blogged, this is mainly about me learning new people tricks. Or to be more specific, I'm spending the year working on 'process'... how I do things. My first phase was to articulate a personal doctrine, so to speak. I had hoped to get this phase done before the start of spring. Alas... I didn't even come close. Which sucks, because now I'm bumping up against my phase two: Spring Cleaning 2017... which started on 2016-3-20, and which is a higher priority for the time being as this includes the preparations for Sister J's State Visit next month.

However, I promise I'll spare my (perhaps six) readers all those details. How this 'chugging' relates to Sabo, is I had hoped to review my Sabo doctrine too, before spelling the beans with the 'Bottom Four' (belated January Post, part II)... which will be further belated. Instead let me blog what positive progress Sabo & me have been making this 2016: The Year of New Tricks®...

We've been regularly attending Second Grade of Petco's Obedience School. and our next class (April 8) will be graduation. Second Grade is group training... and so far, Sabo's been the star pupil !!!1!

Previous: Announcement, January Part I, Part II (early May), February. Forward: && 2016YONT &&.

As long as I've known Sabo, he's went out and had a Sabo Big Day™ on Chavez Day. Two years ago it was his first visits to Balboa Park & his shrine: the Tony Gwynn Sr statue...on a day out with his God-Uncle B. Last year it was our epic hike around Mission Bay. This year will be no exception.

Like the last two years, there's nothing programmed regarding Chavez today. So like last year, we're going to take advantage of the quirk in the calendar that makes Chavez Day the day with the most dog-friendly daylight hours, and the most evening hours, on San Diego's beaches. That's 2:23 in the morning, and 3:08 in the evening.

These rules also apply to the San Diego River jetties west of I-5. So that's just what were going to hike... both the south jetty and the middle (northern river) jetty. We'll throw in hikes to Dog Beach and Dusty Rhodes dog run too. And hopefully... I'll get Sabo to actually swim across the river !!!1!

The dog game season resumes today, as Sabo & me are off to 'knothole' the White Sox-Padres Cactus League game @Petco Park as soon as I hit post. This will be the first time we've 'knotholed' a regular business night at Hotel Indigo's Level Nine rooftop bar... previously the bar itself was closed, or it was during their Canine Cocktails 'yappy-hour' promotion.


Well, in the dog game world, they most certainly are. They not only pioneered the whole promotion in MLB... but in the SDDC world they're five time champions (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014) and are perfect (7-0)... each by far the record for an organization.


Since early March both the Royals (see above) and White Sox have had games added to their dog game seasons. This is what accounts for the Royals zombie like resurrection from elimination, and the mighty White Sox not quite facing elimination today.

¡7¡¡¡ Share this link !!!1!

I truly believe this is the best and only
complete dog game list on the interwebs.
Please link to here, or copy/pasta, to all relevant
dog related websites.

¡7¡¡¡ Share this link !!!1!

• @D'Backs 13, Sun 1:10: Cubs 4-10; Pirates 4-24; Rockies 5-1; Giants 5-15, 7-3, 9-11; Padres 5-29, 10-2 (12:10); Marlins 6-12; Dodgers 7-17, 9-18; Brewers 8-7; Reds 8-28.
• @Pirates 10, Tue 7:05: Cubs 5-3, 9-27; Braves 5-17; Mets 6-7; Giants 6-21; Brewers 7-19; Padres 8-9; Astros 8-23; Cardinals 9-6; D'backs 5-24.
• @Nationals 6, Sat 7:05: Twins (1:05); Marlins 5-14, 10-1 (4:05); Cardinals 5-27 (Fri); Cubs 6-13 (Mon); Phillies 9-8 (Thu).
• @Padres 5, Mon 7:10: Mariners 6-2 (Tue 6:10); Brewers 8-1; Cubs 8-22; Red Sox 9-5 (1:40); D'backs 9-19.
• @Mets 4, Wed 7:10: Phillies 4-10 (Sun 1:10); Reds 4-26 (Tue); Nationals 5-18; Braves 9-21.
• @Reds 4, Tue 7:10: Giants 5-3; Cardinals 6-9 (Thu); Rangers 8-24 (Wed); Brewers 9-13.
• @Mariners 3, Tue 7:10: A’s 5-24; Tigers 8-9; Rangers 9-6.
• @Royals 2, Tue 6:15: Tigers 4-19; A’s 9-14 (Wed).
• @Braves 1 of 2, Sun 1:35: Mets 4-24; Nationals 9-18.
• @White Sox 2, Tue 7:10: Rangers 5-17; Indians 9-13.
• @Rays Sun 1:10: White Sox 4-17.
• @Marlins Sun 1:10: Mets 6-5.
• @Rangers Sat 7:05: Blue Jays 5-14.
• @Phillies Fri 7:05: Braves 5-20.
• @Cardinals Sat 3:10: Rangers 6-18.
• @Tigers Tue 7:08: Mariners 6-21. [According to several sources]
• @Dodgers Sat 4:15 Padres 7-9.
• @A’s Fri 7:05 : Rays 7-22.
• @Rockies Tue 6:40: Nationals 8-16.
• @Giants Sun 1:05: Mets 8-21.
• @Astros Sun 1:10: Rays 8-28.

Friday night, Sabo & me watched his Padres lose a Cactus League game to the White Sox 3-5. We were 'knotholing' into Petco Park from the Hotel Indigo. It was fairly busy, but not crowded... with a couple of other dogs, all on leash. Peeps were noticing the Padres game, but Sabo & me were the only ones trying to follow it. After the game, to console Sabo on his loss, we visited the new (to us) Fault Line Park.


The big news in the dog game world for 2016 is (a) after a several year hiatus, the Tigers are their dog game. This means 21/30 (70%) MLB teams now do dog games. The other big news is the increasing number of dog games. As of opening day there are 62 scheduled (2.6% of MLB games). The two teams leading the way are (b) Sabo's Padres, who are going to have five this year. Sabo's going to them all !!!1! But the real driver is (c) the D'backs, who built an indoor-outdoor dog park into @Chase Field... now all 13 Sunday home dates are dog games.

Like the last two years, Chavez Day was a beautiful clear spring day... warm but not hot with a nice cool breeze. We started with an early session.

We hiked the middle jetty west from Sunset Cliffs Bl. When we got to the spillway over to the Mission Bay channel, we found the fence had fallen down completely off to one side... and there were already peeps fishing out there. I figured further scofflawing was in order... so I released the dog. We went across the spillway, and then on the rip-rap all the way out to the end... way out to sea it seems.

We also made a side hike to nearby Hospitality Point. It also has a jetty, but that fence was intact. We retired from the beach shortly the 9am dog curfew. We returned to Old Town somewhat before the 4pm lifting of that curfew... which changes to 6pm for April Fools.


From Old Town, we proceeded across to the north bank of the river on the Pacific Hwy bridge. This bridge sucks, BTW, because it doesn't have any sidewalks. Then we scrambled down to Friars Rd, and proceeded west along the north bank to the middle jetty. I had hoped to get to the jetty at 4pm, so as maximize our hike time. However... we made really good time, and were half-an-hour early. So... more scofflawing. We crossed back over to the south bank of the river... and into legality... using the Sunset Cliffs Bl bridge This bridge has great & safe sidewalks.

From here we made a side trip to the Dusty Rhodes dog runs. We checked out both the little dog & big dog pens. These are adjacent, but they don't connect, and the gates are on opposite sides of the park. I tossed Sabo over the shared fence, then walked all the way around... Sabo watching me like a hawk the whole time, and following the fence line the whole way. Gotta that Sabo, he's a good guy !!!1!

From there, we cut across Robb Field, down the rip-rap of the south jetty, and then Sabo 'swam' straight across over to the far eastern end of Dog Beach. By 'swim' here I mean wade. Sabo seemed a lot more interested in actually swimming today, and I had a coupla challenges I was going to try... but I decided to save that adventure for a later day. We had hiking to do today.

We went out to the end of the south jetty too, but it's much shorter, and is always open the public. Then we turned around and hiked the south jetty straight back to Pacific Hwy & Old Town. Once again, we made real good time... we actually had time to drive back to the Sabo by sunset. This was truly another epic Chavez Day... and most certainly was a Sabo Big Day™.