Citizen Unk

This weekend we are in the San Joaquin Valley celebrating Lennis Scheline, a.k.a. Unk, as Kingsburg, CA's "Citizen of the Year." He is certainly one of the CLOAK readers of the year, as well. Yesterday our very own dignitary got a ride down Draper Street in this jewel of a Firebird:



Robert Gallery was not in attendance.

We then put on our game faces for a picture in front of the maypole.


You may notice the "Citizen Unk" artwork on my custom T-shirt. CLOAK contributor Brad Webster, a.k.a. dobolina, is the artist.

And finally, as David White can attest, no trip to the Valley is complete without a visit to Sal's for a Fancy Burrito.


Congratulations, Citizen of the Year!

Raiders and David White Having a Good Offseason

The Raiders' approach to this offseason has thus far been a pleasant surprise, as noted here and here, and measured by the generally upbeat tone of the blog given that the Raiders lost 11 games (again) last season.

Another pleasant offseason surprise has been the blogging of the Chronicle's David White (noted here, here, and here). Back from a week in his hometown of Selma, CA, today he achieves permanent "That guy's ok with me" status after explaining that he spent a significant portion of his vacation dining at Sal's Mexican Restaurant. My parents are from Kingsburg, a mere couple of miles down the road from Selma, and Unk lives there today. Every time we visit Unk, we make a trip to Sal's.

If you are ever in Selma, eat here.

Bye

I finally had a chance to click Johnny's infamous "here" link and watch a portion of Al's press conference for the decades. Wow. With even more drama than usual and no on-field action to spell us, it's good timing that I drive with Kristy to the remote Mammoth Lakes area to celebrate our anniversary this weekend. Hopefully the closure to the Fossett mystery will not overwhelm us.

So I check in from Kingsburg on our way to Tioga pass. Unk's "show me" approach to the season continues, with some skepticism over the commitment that Cable's interim tag can inspire. But he's right, we know we won't get a loss this week.

Maybe it's the heat of the Central Valley, but I'm picking the Forty Niners over the Patriots. Let's say 24-16. Randy Moss will do something to remind us why Al shouldn't be so disappointed that Kiffin (allegedly) moved him. Perhaps he'll be seen walking an out route to the Gatorade table during a play designed to go to the other side of the field.

The Packers will beat Atlanta, but I can't even keep track of who is healthy for Green Bay anymore. And the state has gone all Brewers crazy. It must be the first time in any Packer player's lifetime that the Pack has been overshadowed by the Crew...though the situation may have passed by Sunday. Let's say 27-14.

And for this week's wild card, I'm going with another crazy west-coast upset, Arizona over Buffalo, 31-24. No real good reason for this, except that Buffalo at 5-0 would look weird. Maybe Whisenhunt is a good enough coach to bounce back after a bad loss. And they have to be fired up for Anquan. Unk tells me Buffalo should win. He doesn't think they are a 5-0 team, but Arizona isn't good. He probably has a point.

Hey, look at this. Dobolina and Warren Sapp see eye-to-eye after all. And the "professional liar" has even stepped in to stir the pot.

Enjoy the weekend. Best of luck to Dobolina who should be a father for the third time over within a matter of hours.