dream ranch

How often in sports do you see a comeback of eight straight wins to take a championship?

Oracle Team USA polished one off Wednesday in the 34th America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay. Announcers said that kind of comeback hadn’t happened before “in sports.”

Great sailing, Oracle. I’m still getting my head around it, but I am in awe of the mental discipline alone needed to win eight straight and overcome an 8-1 deficit.

Congratulations Larry Ellison, Jimmy Spithill, Ben Ainslee, Tom Slingsby and the rest of the crew.

Free pictures hard to come by, so here’s sfgate.com from the San Francisco Chronicle . And here’s the New York Times.

Going soft

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September 25, 2013

Until I was 40, I could get everything I owned in the back of my pickup. Now, at 64, I’m having central air conditioning installed at my house. I try to keep my head high by saying it’s mostly for the dog.

Comeback on the Bay

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September 24, 2013

Wow. Oracle Team USA comes back from 8-1 deficit and evens up the America’s Cup on Tuesday with a seventh straight win.

Final, winner-take-all race on San Francisco Bay on Wednesday.

Thrilling. Way to go Team USA sailors and Oracle, a finely tuned boat.

Here’s the San Francisco Ch ronicle. Here’s the New York Times.

Bon voyage

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September 23, 2013

Bye-bye swamp cooler. Hello Oracle.

Team USA and Oracle outsailed New Zealand again in America’s Cup on Monday (Race 16). They’ll sail again on Tuesday. Points now 8-6 in first-to-9 series. As I’ve said before, I just want the Cup defense to stay on San Francisco Bay.

And, no, I did not take off work so I could watch this on TV. I’m having a new furnace and an air conditioner installed. Central air for Cooper. He’ll be more comfortable, but I wonder what Albuquerque-area life will be like without swamp cooler jokes.

Don’t know whether to say good riddance to the thing or not. They’re pretty reliable for all their Rube Goldberg-ishness. Mine was 21 years old and humming along. They just don’t do well during monsoon season and the higher humidity.

Swamp cooler

Meanwhile, who thought the sailing of 72-foot catamarans with carbon-fiber “wingsails” would be fun to watch?

Oracle

Guts, tactics: Oracle

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September 22, 2013

Oracle wins back-to-back races Sunday — 14 and 15. The San Francisco-based boat is still down 5 to 8 points overall to New Zealand, and New Zealand still needs just one race to take the America’s Cup from the defenders. But what a display of guts and tactics on San Francisco Bay by Team USA with Ben Ainslee and Tom Slingsby reading the conditions and helping to call the moves for helmsman Jimmy Spithill.

Actual races are 8 to 7 for New Zealand but Oracle and Team USA started off with that two-point penalty.

Huevos rancheros

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September 21, 2013

It’s a crying shame that I was too busy working to go out and eat on a three-day trip to Las Cruces. I know there are good places to go.

It was somewhat pleasant to find that I could purchase a microwavable Thai noodle bowl at the front desk of my hotel. And I’m always happy to find biscuits and gravy at those free morning buffets. (More than once I have chosen lodgings simply because of this offering). But the truth is I was craving chile each night.

Making matters worse, leashed to my laptop with resentment growing, I caught only a glimpse of a fine sunset through my room’s window.

So, it’s mighty fine to be off work and back in my quiet neck of the woods with Coop and Whiting’s coffee. And, for breakfast, huevos rancheros with red chile and Soyrizo, polished off with a fluffy, warm tortilla dripping with sister Hope’s cherry-raspberry-apricot jam.

Cooper had his usual, but he’s mostly recovering from three days at the Canine Country Club.

My man Spithill

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September 21, 2013

Oracle wins Race 13 on Saturday. New Zealand still leads overall, 8-3 in first to 9 series. Second race of the day postponed. Congratulations to skipper Jimmy Spithill, tactician Ben Ainslee and the rest of the crew. Brilliant overtaking of New Zealand after New Zealand won the start. Spithill and Ainslee, seeming to read the wind better and making no mistakes, sailed to 1 minute, 24 seconds victory.

A big part of my chauvinism here is simply wanting to keep the Cup defense on San Francisco Bay. It’s been great viewing, although my scow sailing sister up in Montana thinks the cats she’s seen on Flathead look “unwieldy.”

Best place to watch the races probably is on TV because of the multiple, well-placed cameras. But annoying out here in Placitas to hear feral horses whinnying and fussing down the rocky hill while I’m still feeling the thrill from the ocean-breezed bay.

Zozobra watch

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September 16, 2013

Sunday evening: Zozobra returns to Santa Fe, following Fiesta torching September 2013.

Zozobra update: Upset over not being invited to White House Correspondents Association dinner on May 3, 2014. Wanted to be on the red carpet with the rest of the celebs.

Time to hit the sack

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September 16, 2013

DO KNOW

— Moderation in everything should extend to blogging.

— Undisciplined efforts produce shapeless results.

— Dog keeps barking at feral horses snorting in the dark.

DON’T KNOW

— Is Twitter the future of news?

— Did the president rattle the threat of a U.S. military strike in Syria only to achieve a diplomatic resolution?

— Do more people now grow old alone?

Last legs

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September 15, 2013

Tactical mistake on the fourth leg Sunday costs Oracle Team USA Race 10 after looking terrific and winning Race 9. Bummer. New Zealand needs just two to win compared to eight for Oracle. Oracle has been coming back strong after starting with a two-point penalty deficit, but can any team come back this far? The boats seem pretty evenly matched, although an Oracle rudder hit something under water before the Race 9 start. The official site.