Barks and bites from the weekend...

"Well hello out there in TV land..."

Ed Norton made those words famous in the Honeymooners episode where Ralph and Ed sell the Handy Dandy kitchen utensil on television. If there was ever a day where y'all (Southern term of endearment I still don't get) should have seen our day in the Barkan Household, it was Sunday.

Had the kids birthday party at the house. We invited a bunch of people over to swim, play in the backyard and jump on a Dora the Explorer moonwalk. Everything was set except one minor detail: weather.

It hadn't rained down here in about 45 days. We are in a drought situation, again, as it seems we are every summer. So, Elizabeth and I go out for dinner with friends last night and as we are about to get to the car, the skies opened up. It was just a torrential downpour.

So, I am thinking, no issues. Rains now, it'll pass by and that's it.

Well, I was way off on this one. People started coming over at 11 a.m. - weather was cloudy, but hot. Got about 30 minutes into the pool when we heard thunder ... so out of the pool and into the basement we go. After about 20 minutes, cleared up and everyone back in the pool. Cool - we've dodged the bullet again. Nope.

About 20 minutes later the skies opened up and it pretty much rained cats and dogs from noon until about 6 p.m. It was the kind of rain where if Noah pulled up in the Ark, I wouldn't have been shocked.

All things being equal we had a great time. Abbie is only worried that next year, it will rain on her party day and that she won't be able to swim or jump. It's only 355 days until her next birthday, I am sure she will talk about it every day until then.

Some observations from around the world over the weekend:

It seems like a lifetime ago when the National Team Development Program was started by USA Hockey in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Many people scoffed and many people tried to tear the program apart. Thanks to the work of men like Jeff Jackson, Bob Mancini, Scott Monaghan, and Ron Rolston it lives and breaths today as one of the most successful programs in the world. 10 Americans were selected in the first round of the NHL Draft. Erik Johnson became the fifth American player to ever go first in the draft. Keep up the good work in Ann Arbor boys, after this past Olympic showing we need some new blood.

Speaking of hockey, the last original Atlanta Thrasher was traded to the Dallas Stars, Patrik Stefan. He was the first player ever taken in the entry draft by the Thrashers and he never lived up the hype/responsibility of being that first player ever taken label. Looking back on that draft, it's easy to say the Thrashers should have traded the pick to add more pieces. Problem was, not many pieces were available and not many players from that first round have turned into the players they were projected to be. I hope he can go to Dallas and be successful, but I am not willing to bet on it.

No matter what sport you may like, there's no more horribly officiated games that the World Cup soccer matches. Sunday's match between Portugal and the Netherlands was one of the worst officiated events of all-time. The Russian official handed out 16 cards (13 yellow, 3 red). For those who don't follow the sport, that's a TON of cards for a match that was between two very good teams if the official would let them play. You know how bad it is when I think Mick McGeough should be doing these matches.

And by the way, if you haven't watched the World Cup yet, watch the quarterfinals. These are the best of the best and if you ever wanted to learn the game, these are the games to watch. It's like poetry in motion to watch the Brazilians, Italians and Argentinean play.

Maybe Bruce Arena should watch as well, he may learn a little about the sport.