Watching Leeds Play Harrogate With Mark And The Leeds United Colorado Supporters

I went with my friend Mark, seen in the photograph above, to watch Leeds United play Harrogate Town at Denver's DNVR Bar with the Leeds United Colorado Supporters yesterday morning. It was an Emirates FA Cup match, once one of the most prestigious soccer tournaments in the UK, and Bo, the head of the group, hoped to get 100 people to DNVR to watch the game. And I think he succeeded. Virtually every seat in the house was taken, and Leeds won the match by a score of 1-0. This group is a friendly bunch, and one couple even gave up their seats to Mark and me (probably due to my advanced age) so that we could sit in front. Everyone was in a great mood, especially since Leeds dominated most of the game. DNVR Bar is a popular place to watch sports in Denver and was featured on the local television news last Sunday when it was packed with Broncos fans watching the final game of the season. It looked like it was pretty wild there, and I suspect it will be even wilder today when the Broncos play their first playoff game in 9 years. Be there or be square, as we hipsters say. Otherwise, see you at the next Leeds soccer match.

Dining With Wally And Susan At Poppies

My sister Susan and I had dinner with Wally, my friend and former University of Denver Bookstore colleague last night at Poppies, located on South Colorado Boulevard here in Denver. Wally made reservations for us, which was very wise, since the place was packed, and it was a 45-minute wait for a table. And that would mean being seated after happy hour - talk about disaster. In any case, Wally is doing well and "baching it" while his wife Linda is in San Francisco visiting their son Peter and his wife, who are expecting their first child, this after their daughter Lydia and her husband, who live right across the bay in Walnut Creek, just welcomed their first child. Wally is still wondering what he will ultimately be called now that he is a grandfather. Gramps, Grampy, PopPop, Boompa? The possibilities are endless. But I do like Boompa.

Poppies has been around a long time and has a reputation as being popular with an older crowd. There is no music blasting from speakers there, thank God, and so you can have a conversation with the person sitting across the table from you without having to text each other on your phone. However, last night it looked like a very diverse age group was there. We all enjoyed our dinners, and it was fun catching up with what Wally has been up to. However, there were so many people there (it was a Friday night, after all) that both Wally and Susan thought the din was a little too much. I myself, being a sophisticated hipster type, did not mind. After all, those are my people. Right? Right?

The 2025 National Western Stock Show Parade - Where's The Beef?

I went to take photographs at the National Western Stock Show on 17th Street in downtown Denver yesterday and was surprised and disappointed to find that the most popular part of the parade, cowboys driving 30 Longhorn cattle through the heart of the financial district, did not happen. I stayed around hoping that the Longhorns would come at the end of the parade, instead of the front, but no such luck. It had snowed that morning, and the winds were pretty damn strong, but by the time the parade began, the snow had stopped and the streets were dry. And so, my only thought was "what gives?"

For some reason, I have always thought that those Longhorns were kept at the National Western Complex, located a few miles to the northeast of downtown Denver, and just driven over in livestock trailers, or perhaps via Uber. But later on, I was watching 9news Denver and chief meteorologist Kathy Sabine, who was the Grand Marshal of the parade this year, seen waving to the crowd in the photograph on the right. She talked about how dangerous whiteout conditions had kept the Longhorns from appearing. Evidently, those Longhorns come from a ranch located 10 miles east of Colorado Springs, over 70 miles to the south of Denver, requiring them to be driven over the Palmer Divide, which at an altitude of 7,300 feet can be quite treacherous during a snowstorm with high winds, which explains the whiteout conditions.  I don't see why they couldn't have put everyone up at the local Motel 6 the day before, setting up temporary holding pens in the parking lot. But what can I say? Nobody ever asks me for advice. Their loss.

In any case, considering the cold, there was a good turnout for the parade, including parents with their kids, including newborns, and lots of people wearing cowboy hats and their finest western wear. And by the way, in the background of the photograph on the left is the Oxford Hotel, in which is located the Cruise Room Bar, which opened the day after prohibition ended in 1933 and features stunning Art Deco decor. And probably much warmer than watching the parade out on 17th Street. 

The January Issue Of Chicago Magazine

I just finished reading the January issue of Chicago Magazine. Although this month's issue did not have any nostalgic articles about events from the city's past, which I especially enjoy, it did have some interesting articles. The cover story was "Top Docs," which I did not bother looking at, since I have not lived in Chicago since 1981 and the odds of me needing a doctor there are very slim (and have I just jinxed myself? Hopefully not). There was also an article about "Our 25 Favorite Things To Eat Right Now," which I did peruse, finding a number of items that actually seemed edible. Surprise! The "312" section featured an 1889 Victorian home for sale in west suburban Elgin, which features eight bedrooms, a tower, turret, and wraparound porch, listed at just under $600,000. Talk about a bargain - the small wood-framed homes here in Denver's University Park neighborhood are selling for almost that, thanks to Denver's crazy, overpriced real estate market. Of course, property taxes in Illinois are at out of this world levels these days, and so what might seem like a bargain perhaps really isn't. Finally, there was a piece in the "My Neighborhood" section by John R. Daley (one of THE Daleys?) about favorite places in his Bridgeport neighborhood. Amazingly, Guaranteed Rate Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox, is not one of them. Go figure.

Five Weeks Until Spring Training!

Pitchers and catchers report to baseball spring training camps in Florida and Arizona in just over five weeks, with the rest of the team reporting a few days later. Early predictions are that my South Side heroes, the Chicago White Sox, will lose 114 games this coming season, while my adopted hometown team, the Colorado Rockies, will lose 105. I know that both teams will probably not be playoff contenders, but will they really be that bad? Who are the geniuses who make these predictions, anyway? Do they see what a team does last year and add or subtract a few games in predicting their 2025 record? It would not shock me if the Sox and Rockies are that bad, but anything can happen in baseball, so I will keep a positive attitude. At least for now. As for those North Siders, the Chicago Cubs, they will, of course, tease their fans with the possibility of a postseason run, and then blow it during the last week or month of the season. A heartwarming tradition every Cubs fan is familiar with. In any case, I took the photograph above of Coors Field yesterday afternoon. Hopefully it will not look like that on Opening Day. I do not plan on attending the game, since due to the advent of "dynamic pricing," tickets that ordinarily would cost $30 will be selling for over $100 that day, and with my luck, if I did buy a ticket to the game, it would probably wind up being even colder and wetter. In any case, it is definitely time to start thinking about baseball once again. Holy Cow!

The January Mutt Of The Month

I took the photograph above last month of the January Mutt of the Month at Maria's Cafe in downtown Stuart, Florida, a popular and inexpensive breakfast spot on Osceola Street. Sitting on the outdoor patio, you get a ringside view of all that is happening in the downtown area, which becomes more and more crowded as seasonal tourists and residents (the snowbirds) head south for the winter. People are very friendly in Stuart, and as you can tell from the photograph, so are their dogs, including the one above, who was more than happy to pose for a portrait. See you again at Maria's in a few months, guy.

Epiphany!

Today is Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas, the day the 3 wise men arrived in Bethlehem. This is also the last day you can leave your Christmas tree and decorations up without neighbors starting to remark on it. Of course, here in Denver, it is considered good etiquette to leave your Christmas decorations up during the National Western Stock Show, which takes place at the Denver Coliseum from January 11th thru January 26th.  And that is why the Denver City and Country Building keeps its colorful light display up thru the last day of the stock show. Which means I myself can leave our Christmas tree up until then, too, before people start referring to me as crazy old man Hoyt again. Life is good! And by the way, the photograph above is of my mother Mary taken during Christmas 1996 at my sister Susan and brother-in-law George's condo up in Fort Collins. And Susan, I might add, used to leave her tree up some years until Easter. And they call me crazy?