Wednesday, February 22, 2012 @ 11:27am
Face Off
An enthusiastic fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide goes to games with a GIANT CUT-OUT OF HIS OWN FACE to freak out the other teams. Luke talked to this young man, Jackson Blankenship, about this practice. We'll post the audio soon. In the meantime, check out the photo below.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 @ 9:20am
Luke Burbank identifies with man needing to drink for day at Disneyland
![]() A few drinks makes Disneyland much happier for 97.3 KIRO FM host Luke Burbank. (AP) |
Security at Disney's California Adventure Park had to pepper spray a drunk and disorderly man over the weekend, and while park goers were shocked to see such a display at Disneyland, 97.3 KIRO FM host Luke Burbank says he can identify with the man taking a few drinks before facing a day at the park.
"Does that make me un-American? The fact that I don't go in for Disneyland?" asked Burbank in a conversation on 97.3 KIRO FM's Ross and Burbank Show. "Disneyland gives me the willies for some reason. I can on some level, identify with 52-year-old Glenn Horlacher."
Listen to: Luke Burbank identifies with man needing to drink for day at Disneyland
Apparently drunk, Horlacher was caught on video being combative with Disney security guards. When the guards asked him to remain on the ground, Horlacher continued getting up. The guards used pepper spray to subdue him.
In the video, other park attendees can be heard yelling at Horlacher.
"What are you drunk? Disgusting," said one woman. "You're in Disneyland."
To which Horlacher responds, "I know where I'm at."
While some on Main Street USA might see Horlacher's disorderly drunkenness at Disneyland as a crime, Burbank said for him, libations are near essential for Disneyland to live up to its claim of being "the happiest place on earth."
USA Today reports Horlacher was booked for assault and battery.
"You drink one to two bottles of wine, it does start to feel a little bit like the happiest place on earth."
By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 @ 8:27am
What are we going to do about these high gas prices?
Listen to Dave Ross Commentary: What are we going to do about these high gas prices?
Oil is over $100 a barrel; there are warnings it could hit $150, which would mean gas prices of $4.25 a gallon by spring, and maybe even $5...and we Americans can't believe it:
"It's unbelievable. I thought we were beyond this," said a woman in one news report.
It is unbelievable. But you know what's REALLY unbelievable? That anybody still thinks high gas prices are unbelievable!
I remember it being unbelievable when it broke $1. Then it was unbelievable when it broke $2 a gallon. Then $3 was really unbelievable.
You know what? I'm starting to believe it.
But Dave you say, how can prices be going up when the White House says we're drilling more than ever?
"Oil production in the United States has increased every year this president has been in office," said one report.
It's called the free market, people!
The thing that every Americans love, including this guy:
"It's power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched," said Obama.
And the way it works is, when we save gas, thereby creating a glut of gas, oil companies are free to refine less gas, and to send what's left over to South Africa -- at least according to news articles I've been reading:
"It's unbelievable."
Well, believe it!
So -- what are we going to do about these high gas prices? We are going to unleash a torrent of nasty tweets, like the world has never seen -- and then pay them. Until every middle east sheikdom has a mile-high skyscraper.
If you don't like it, it's a free country, you can go fracking in your backyard and find your own oil -- I hear in some places they can light the faucet on fire and get free hot water on demand.
I'm just relieved that $4 gas is the one scourge in America that appears to have nothing to do with gay marriage. So far anyway.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 @ 8:15am
President Obama sings again, this time it's the blues
The president just couldn't say no: Mick Jagger held out a mic almost by way of command, and soon Barack Obama was belting out the blues with the best of them.
The East Room of the White House was transformed into an intimate blues club on Tuesday night for a concert featuring blues all-stars of the past, present and future, and the president himself.
The surprise performance by Obama came at the end of the playlist when the blues ensemble was singing "Sweet Home Chicago," the blues anthem of Obama's home town.
Buddy Guy prodded the president, saying he'd heard that the president sang part of an Al Green tune recently, and adding, "You gotta keep it up."
Then Jagger handed over the mic, and Obama seemed compelled to comply.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 @ 12:42pm
Q&A: Meteorologist Rich Marriott analyzes fatal avalanche
KING-5 Meteorologist Rich Marriott, whose graduate research at the University of Washington turned into the Northwest Avalanche Center, says the skiers were prepared for the worst and there was nothing they could have done outside of not skiing that day.
Dave and Luke of 97.3 KIRO FM's Ross and Burbank Show asked Marriott about the conditions and risk factors.
Listen to Meteorologist Rich Marriott
Q: Were the conditions at Snoqualmie and Stevens Pass atypical?
A: Everything was done right, but you can't reduce risk to zero. Ninety nine out of a hundred times everybody gets through OK. This is that one time it just didn't come together properly. There were 14 or 15 people skiing those slopes broken into smaller groups. They already had three people come down and not release anything. This one skier just hit the sweet spot for the slope and it shattered. When it shattered, it shattered large enough to actually go into the safe areas at the edge of the trees and pull people out. There's a certain level of risk you can't get rid of, no matter what you're doing.
Q: The trees can't deflect the snow?
A: Normally, trees are enough to break the force of the avalanche so that you can shoulder behind them or hold on to the tree or keep it from flowing through freely, but this one apparently involved enough snow and it was low enough density to move through the trees with enough force to pull them back into the main flow of the avalanche.
It was a large avalanche as it broke out. The fracture line was reportedly around 3 to four feet deep in spots and that's a lot of snow considering hundreds of square yards start moving at one time. That's hundreds of tons of snow starting to shift down the slope very quickly.
Q: What's the most dangerous part of the avalanche?
A: Most fatalities with avalanches are through burial and suffocation, but a significant percentage of them are through trauma. I was caught in a small one one time and got caught in a tree and popped a disc.
It doesn't have to be a very large avalanche. I think the bulk of fatal avalanches run less than 100 meters.
Q: Have you gone over the information the skiers would have had on Sunday?
A: Absolutely. It's understandable and I probably would have skied that as well. I've actually skied that in the past. We knew there was some deep instability in the snowpack, but it wasn't really showing up very often. They were taking the precautions you'd normally expect to take.
Q: How big of a sport has this become?
A: When we started the avalanche center in the mid 70's the reason we were doing it was because of the increased use of the backcountry during the winter. It's been a pretty good growth sport, including snowshoeing. The bulk of avalanche fatalities in North America are among snowmobilers.
Q: You would have skied this and you're a guy who's studied this for years. It sounds like this was a freak accident?
A: It's something that can happen. It wasn't a glaring error. They didn't expect a slide this large to come out. If you think about it, the number of people who already came down the slope, if they missed that spot everybody would have gone on down the slope, and would have been back home that night.
Q: Should people be doing this?
A: Yeah, I think they should. You can be headed on to work in your car and have someone plow through a red light and come into the side of you. The only way you're going to avoid that is to not work...People get struck by lightning on a golf course.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 @ 8:59am
At your own risk
Listen to Dave Ross Commentary: At your own risk
This has been a deadly week for backcountry skiers. Six killed in separate accidents -- three in the accident at Stevens Pass.
Which focuses a lot of attention on this free-skiing culture which flirts with avalanches and skis over cliffs on purpose. They've turned the stuff that used to be illegal into a growth industry. There are all sorts of videos on the dangers.
But these victims weren't crazy kids...these were all accomplished backcountry skiers; they knew the rules; they MADE the rules.
They used the buddy system, they crossed the dangerous slopes one at a time, they sheltered in the trees. And it still wasn't enough. So why do they do it all?
Because for every safety video, there are many more videos like this.
What you see in these videos is a culture that values freedom more than it fears danger. And maybe it's the soundtracks, maybe it's the subzero rosy checks -- but I have to say they look genuinely happy.
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Ross & Burbank Podcasts
- 9:00 am - Wednesday February 22tba
- 10:00 am - Wednesday February 22tba
- 11:00 am - Wednesday February 22tba
- 9:00 am - Tuesday February 21The latest on the deadly Stevens Pass Avalanche. More and more people are heading to the backcountry
- 10:00 am - Tuesday February 21Republican front runner Rick Santorum said the president subscribes to a \"phony theology.\" His spo
- 11:00 am - Tuesday February 21A Republican member of the Indiana House is refusing to honor the the Girl Scouts on its 100th birth





