June 18th, 2013 at 6:57 pm by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Sports, Weather
June 13th, 2013 at 2:58 am by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Sports, Weather
I have today (Thurs.) off. I’ll be at the Meadows Clubhouse at GVSU for the Champions Luncheon, featuring Darrell Waltrip, one of the best racers of all time! There’s golf to follow. You are welcome to join us for either the lunch or the golf (or both). The lunch is only $15/person. You can come as early as 10:30 AM. The lunch begins at 11:30 AM. Really, I mean it. Even if you can get away for a couple hours during the day, come out and have lunch with me. If they run out of food, you can have my lunch! If you really honestly can’t afford the $15, I’ll buy your lunch. Really, I will. There’s still room for you to golf, too. That’s $150/person and it includes the luncheon, golf fees, cart, beverages on the course and Prize Picnic to follow event. I’m playing with Darrell – I think I’ll let him drive the cart! It’s a benefit for Moriah Ministries at Grand Valley State University. Moriah Ministries has taken kids down to do tornado clean-up. – it’s a great group. More info on the luncheon and golf at this link.
January 12th, 2013 at 2:25 pm by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Sports, Weather
The next round of the NFL Playoff games will be next Sunday the 20th. The first game will be San Francisco at Atlanta at 3 PM in Atlanta and the second game will be Baltimore at New England. In Atlanta, temperatures will likely be in the low-mid 50s. From this far out, it looks dry during the game with a northwest wind (outside the dome). In New England, look for about low 30s with a fairly stiff west wind at 15-20 mph. I can’t rule out a flurry, but nothing significant. The Super Bowl on 2/3 will be in the dome in New Orleans.
Some low temperatures Sat. AM out West: 25 Tucson, 15 Douglas AZ, -9 Flagstaff AZ, -7 Gallup NM, -23 Bryce Canyon UT. Check out the heavy snowfall in Utah. The heavy snow caused many school closings and over 400 accidents in the Salt Lake City area. It’s sunny and in the low 80s in S. Florida. There’s a Yellow Warning for England, Scotland and Wales. The UK Met Office has scaled back their long-range forecasts. The cold coming into the UK looks pretty significant.
January 10th, 2013 at 12:01 am by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Sports, Weather
Today is the anniversary of the famous “Freezer Bowl” – Jan. 10, 1982. The AFC Championship game between the San Diego Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals was played in Cincinnati in the middle of one of the most brutal Arctic outbreaks in U.S. history. That Sunday afternoon at game time, the temperature was -9 and the wind was west at 27 mph. That made the wind chill temperature -37, the coldest wind chill ever for a pro football game. Before the Chargers took the field, Running back Hank Bauer tested the field conditions. Bauer recalled: “when I came out of that tunnel… man, it (the wind) just hit you-like somebody threw 100 knives at you.” When he returned to the locker room, he told his teammates: “Whatever you got on, take it off. Number one-you won’t be able to move (with all the layers) and number two-it ain’t gonna help.” The Bengals offensive line played the entire game with bare arms. A number of them played with bare hands as well. They placed hot water bottles inside their athletic supporters and between plays they walked around with their hands in their pants. It was so cold, icicles started to form on Dan Fouts’ (S.D. Quarterback) beard early in the game. The game was one of the few in NFL history in which the same team kicked off to begin both halves. Cincinnati won the toss and instead of receiving, elected to have the brutally cold wind at their backs to start the game, believing it would neutralize San Diego’s passing game and help the Bengals to build an early lead. The strategy paid off as Cincinnati built a 10-0 lead. They went on to win the game 27-7. (picture from www.bengals.com)
November 24th, 2012 at 2:00 pm by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Sports, Weather

On Nov. 25, 1950 Michigan and Ohio State met for what has been called the “Blizzard Bowl” or the “Snow Bowl“. Check out the film of the storm here and here. Michigan won the game 9-3 despite gaining only 27 yards of offense in 46 plays. They had no first downs, didn’t complete a pass and punted 24 times. In fact, there were 45 punts in the game. Both teams mostly tried two runs then punted on 3rd down, so in case the punter slipped, they could try again on fourth down. Only 2 of the 45 punts were returned (for a total of 8 yards). That was mostly because the return man couldn’t find the ball. Most just hit the snow and stopped without bouncing. There were only 10 fumbles in the game. The temperature at the start of the game was +10° and the wind was howling out of the north-northeast. One Ohio St. player remarked that he was supposed to go down and block a linebacker, but when he ran downfield he could find him! All the points were scored after blocked kicks in the first half. Several hundred Boy Scouts were on the sidelines helping to sweep snow off the field so the officials and players could find the yard markers. Most of the state of Ohio got 10″ or more of snow, with reports up to 33″ and drifts up to 25 feet! The temperature in Grand Rapids that morning reached -10°F, the coldest temperature ever recorded here in the month of November. (photo – OSU library)
November 22nd, 2012 at 12:01 am by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Sports, Weather
November 15th, 2012 at 7:37 pm by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Sports, Weather
October 20th, 2012 at 4:04 am by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Sports, Weather
October 5th, 2012 at 10:40 pm by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Sports, Weather
September 28th, 2012 at 11:33 pm by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Sports, Weather

The Tigers magic number is just one (either one Tiger win or one White Sox loss). The Tigers won a close one Sunday, 2-1 on a Fielder homer in the 8th. The Tigers have 3 road games left in Kansas City, starting Porcello Monday evening. The Chicago White Sox have faded like the ’69 Cubs, losing to Tampa Bay 6-2 Sunday aftn. The White Sox have now lost 10 of their last 12, while Tampa Bay was won 10 of the last 11. Miguel Cabrera continues to have a decent chance being the first Triple Crown (home runs, runs-batted-in and batting average) winner since Carl Yastremski in 1967.
This sure was a week that “our guys” lost. Michigan State came up a point shy in a 17-16 loss to Ohio State at East Lansing. Michigan State had only 34 total yards rushing. Central Michigan got blown out by Northern Illinois 55-24. NIU had 407 yards rushing. Toledo thumped Western Michigan 37-17. Hope College lost their 4th in a row, getting shut out by Adrian 24-0. Kalamazoo College dropped a 30-20 decision to Trine. My Wisconsin Badgers blew a 17-point lead in a 30-27 loss at Nebraska. Ferris St. lost to Saginaw Valley 31-24. Grand Valley held on to score a 51-43 win over Michigan Tech. They were up 51-14, then gave up 29 consecutive points. Also, how do you score 63 points and still lose? The U.S. team sure crashed in golf’s Ryder Cup at Medinah C.C. just west of Chicago. I played golf a couple times before as an Evans Scholar.
Then there’s the Lions…losers of 10 of their last 16 games since they started last year 5-0. They are 1-3 for 2012 so far. They have a bye week and won’t play next Sunday.