On the Sidelines: All About Lee Plus Boys Gone Mild + Other Musings by VivaLoudoun Editor Dan Sousa

On the Sideline is Dan Sousa's new blog within the VivaLoudoun blog ... if you enjoyed the Ramblin' Man blog then take a look at the latest to emerge from Dan's clutter mind ...

While researching the big Park View vs. Broad Run football game this Friday I came across the following lead in the Loudoun Times-Mirror to the Patriots win over Liberty (read the full story here):

The list of famous Lees includes Robert E. (Civil War general), Bruce (martial arts), Spike (movie director), Stan (comic books) and, perhaps, even Geddy (Canadian singer).

Add Brandon to the list.

The Park View quarterback had a night to remember Sept. 11 in a 28-25 road victory over Liberty. Despite throwing three interceptions, Lee made so many great plays you needed two hands to count them ...

And of course that got me to thinking ... heck, which "Lee's" did they Lee-ve out? Follow the jump for my own list:


Top 10 "Lee's" Left Out of the LTM Story
10. Christopher Lee
Dude ... He played both Saruman the White and Count Dooku!


9. Henry Lighthorse Lee
Come on ... there isn't a Robert E. Lee ...without his daddy!


8. Lee Meriweather
She played Catwoman on TV during my formative years ... it left quite an impression on a young boy!


7. Lee Majors
We can rebuild him! The $6 Million Dollar Man ... If they remade that TV show today ... it would have to be the $6 Billion Dollar Man due to inflation.


6. Ida Lee
She has a rockin' recreation center named after her ... who was she? First cousin of Robert E. Lee! And grandmother of William F. Rust who donated the land to Leesburg to build the facility!


5.Rock Lee
He is a character from Naruto ... why or why do I even know this! Curse you Wikipedia!


4. Levi Straus
O.K. I'm stretching the Lee thing but then again ... I noticed by Levi's are stretching a bit these days!

3. Ang Lee
For my money, gives Spike Lee a run for his money as best director named Lee! I had some sort of Brokeback Mountain joke here but oddly enough it was wildly inappropriate! 

2. Lee Marvin
One tough-looking actor! I'd watch any old movie with him in it!

1. Sara Lee
When it comes to baking cakes and pies ... nobody does it like Sara Lee!


Boys Gone Mild


So until a week ago I hadn't missed a Friday of high school football in five years and over that course of time I had missed five years worth of my neighborhood's golf-and-poker weekend to Ocean City.

Afraid that the invites wouldn't keep coming, I took the plunge and found myself in a group of 12 men -- no wives! -- alone in Ocean City. I know, I know ... I saw the Hangover too ... not a good set-up.

But golf is the big attraction for this group ... all who live or have lived on my street in Ashburn farm or the adjoining cul-de-sac. If it hadn't dumped five inches of rain in OC, some of the guys would have gotten in 90 holes of golf in the long weekend!

For me, 90 holes of golf just sounds like a advertisement for BenGay ... I am one of the world's worst golfers. Honestly ... I played two rounds during the weekend (skipping a round on the way up and a round on the way back) and shot 67 ... on the back nine of the final round ... which was a three shot improvement over the 70 I carded on the front nine.

How can you shoot 70 on nine? Well, if you hit consecutive tee shots into the drink on a par five and you are teeing off five and that tee shot doesn't get past the Ladies Tee ... well, do the math or forget it, it took awhile to add up the strokes.

Luckily we played poker a couple of nights (OK ... I got 15 hours sleep total in three nights) and twice I won and the third time I made it to the bitter end of Texas Hold'Em ... turns out all that TV watching of the World Series of Poker paid off.

Of course, I also lost at credit card roulette for one of the big meals (everybody puts their credit card in the hat and the waiter draws out the cards one at a time and the last card gets stuck with the big bill) ... thank goodness it had been decided to split the bill between two unlucky neighbors because my half of the bill was pushing $300! I don't even like All You Can Eat Crabs!

So, 12 crazy guys without the "Mrs." in Ocean City ... sounds wild? Truth be told ... the group is all pushing or looking back at 50 ... in fact, I was the youngest of the dozen at 46 and on some of the nights ... we had more guys drifting off in front of the television watching Sports Center than we had playing poker ... and that was at 10 p.m.!

Call it a case of Boys Gone Mild ... won't be long before we are catching that All You Can Eat Crabs ... Early Bird Special ...

Back to School Night Thoughts


At Back to School night at Stone Bridge Monday and I was struck by how professional and smart and creative the teachers are ... great learning environment. My college schedule should have been as ambitious as my senior's!

I loved the video played for the parents vs. the old series of speeches in the auditorium ... can't be long before we are simply Skype-ing Back to School night from the comfort of our own homes!

Finally, I sat in my son's newspaper class and looked around and thought about the medium which is quickly going away ... at least on the print side and thought ... Newspaper class in 2009 ... a bit like taking Blacksmith in 1910 ... OK not that bad ... but I took Typing class in high school and there are no more typewriters though they still teach "keyboarding" now ... some day all the kids that take "newspaper" now will have to explain to their grandchildren that there was a time when the news came on paper ... indeed.