Le Mars Daily Sentinel

An Official Welcome to the Holiday Season

Posted Friday, November 28, 2008, at 3:42 PM
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So there I was, peacefully sleeping when my alarm went off at 4:34 a.m. I hit snooze once then got up and threw on my clothes from yesterday and jumped into my car to head to Radio Shack. I finally got the laptop I desperately needed - I guess that's really an important thing for a reporter to have.

Since I was up, I went to Wal-Mart where the traffic was wall-to-wall people. I couldn't even find the $2 DVDs but that's just as well. I have enough to do without watching movies.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. I enjoyed the rare privilege (?) of watching my Seattle Seahawks lose to the Cowboys - an event in which my cousin's 9-year-old son took much delight.

Matt Hasselbeck (brother-in-law to Elizabeth, who is the only reason "The View" is worth watching) has battled chronic back problems all season, necessitating the insertion of Iowa State's own Seneca Wallace into the starting lineup during a four-game stretch earlier this season. And, in a fittingly tragic turn of events, the Seahawks matched the Cyclones' season record (2-10) with yesterday's loss.

It's a shame Wallace has been relegated to backup QB duty during his six NFL seasons. Many have said he could be a Pro Bowl-caliber wideout if he were given a chance, and he has made several big catches while lined up at receiver. You may remember the 28-yard TD catch he had from Hasselbeck in the 2005 playoffs.

And with the rash of injuries the Seahawks receiving corps has experienced this season, this was Wallace's prime chance to make his mark - until he hurt his calf during warmups before the team's second game.

At any rate, the Seahawks' reign of supremacy (if you can call it that) of the NFC West is at an end. With an aging Hasselbeck, Shaun Alexander's demise (due in large part to Mack Strong's abrupt midseason retirement last year), injuries at wide receiver and sub-par performance from Julius Jones, the Hawks appear to be headed back to their mid-90s performance in Mike Holmgren's last season.

All right, on to lighter subjects:

Akron-Westfield's Joe Sievert is ranked third among the state's 1-A 171-pound wrestlers. He was the only local one I could find, though I did scan the list rather quickly. Here's the link to the Des Moines Register for the entire rankings.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article...

No local boys basketball teams ranked in the DMR preseason poll. Here's that poll if you feel inclined to look at it.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pb...

All right, that's all for now. I'll leave you with a youtube video of "The Run" that Seneca Wallace turned in against Texas Tech in 2002.

Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa!

Jesse Geleynse

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In case you hadn't already inferred it from my columns and blogs, I am not a native Midwesterner. Before November, I had been to Iowa a half-dozen times to see my relatives in Hull, so naturally I assumed everyone in Iowa was Dutch and Christian Reformed. I certainly never thought I would live here. But after a year working part-time at the Everett (Wash.) Herald, it was time to start looking for a full-time gig. What could be better than one just a half-hour from where I spent a number of summer vacations? At least there's ice cream instead of a great ball of twine. I stumbled into journalism at Washington State University after beginning college as a political science major at George Fox University where I was on the baseball team. While at Wazzu I wrote for the "Daily Evergreen" and was an active member of the Gamma Theta chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. I am still a die-hard fan of the WSU Cougars (2-11), who were NOT the worst team in college football last season by virtue of an Apple Cup victory over archrival Washington (0-12). I'm also a huge Seattle Mariners fan, a bandwagon Seahawks fan and I could really care less about the Storm, the Sounders or the OKC Thunder. I own a Hawkeyes sweatshirt and a Cyclones T-shirt, but I have to give the nod to State for two reasons: 1. Seneca Wallace was a Cyclone; 2. I am also a graduate of a land grant institution (Google it). Like Orange City, my hometown of Mount Vernon, Wash. has a tulip festival. MV is also the hometown of Mark Hendrickson (Orioles pitcher and one of a dozen or so people to play in the MLB and NBA), Jim Caviezel (played Jesus in "The Passion" and made out with J-Lo in some other film), Kyle Kendrick (Phillies starting pitcher and former high school teammate), Robert Gates (US defense secretary) and Glenn Beck (Fox News pundit). Someday my wikipedia page will be longer than all of them.

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