Art by Zee

Speaking of the environment, the Seattle Parks Department has partnered with the Neighborhoods Department and the Healthy Parks, Healthy People, Healthy Planet project to present the very first HP3 challenge.

The HP3 Challenge bills itself as “the first and only environmental adventure race of its kind”. Competitors will climb, pull, sprint and pedal their way through 5 vigorous Challenge Sites across a 16-mile course through and around West Seattle’s Delridge neighborhood. In the Elite Division, two-people teams will participate in events like pushing a wheelbarrow full of gravel .5 miles up the Soundway trail, carrying two buckets of gravel .5 miles at Camp Long, and planting native trees in Westcrest Park. In the easier (but not that much) Open Division, four people will split similar duties.

This is not a race for the faint of heart or weak of body; you’ve got to already be pretty tough to compete. But if you’re looking for a serious challenge that will push you to limits while you help preserve, protect, and improve Seattle’s environment, register for the race online and start getting ready now.

Do you love roller derby? Have you always wished you could be a rollergirl?

You may not have the skills to throw down on the actual flat track with real, live rollergirls, but if you can manage a game controller, you can get in on with theJam City Roller Girls, ready for download on January 24 through Nintendo’s WiiWare(tm) Service.

Featuring real-life teams, real-life players, way-out venues, and, of course, way-out action, “Jam City Roller Girls” is bound to be a big hit with anyone who appreciates the thrill of roller derby, which is anyone who has ever seen roller derby. At last week’s Rat City Rollergirls bout, the capacity crowd roared at the mere site of some video clips from the game; just imagine how great actually playing it will be.

He was the child of a banke who wanted him to become a dentist, but instead Dave Niehaus enrolled in broadcasting classes at Indiana, making his debut as a sportscaster by calling an Indiana-Ohio State basketball game. After college he moved out west and worked as a page for NBC before being drafted into the US Army. During his military service he was a sports broadcaster for the Armed Forces. Back in civilian life he became a weekend sports reporter for KMPC in Los Angeles, and then called games for the LA Rams, UCLA, USC, the Pacific League, and the California Angels before finally taking on the job for which he’s best known.

Dave Niehaus was the voice of the Seattle Mariners from the start of their franchise until his death yesterday at age 75. He was a well-respected broadcaster, considered by many to be the finest ever, and in 2008 was recognized by the National Baseball Hall of Fame with the Ford C. Frick Award, the highest award a baseball announcer can earn. Niehaus was twice named Washington Sportscaster of the Year and was inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame.

Niehaus wasn’t just an excellent sportscaster, however. Even people who never watched a baseball game were familiar with his voice and his signature calls: You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in Washington who didn’t recognize his “My Oh My!” Niehaus wasn’t just an announcer, he was an icon. He will be missed.

Dave Niehaus is survived by his wife Marilyn; their three children: Andy, Matt, and Greta; and their six grandchildren Zach, Steven, Madeline, Alexa, Audrey, and Spencer.

The Indoor Football League Kent Predators have released their schedule for their upcoming second season as a team. The 2011 schedule kicks off with a game at home (Kent’s ShoWare Center, also home of the Seattle Thunderbirds) on February 25 versus the Sioux Falls Storm and reaches the regular season end on June 16 at home versus the Tri-Cities Fever.

The Predators will begin their second season in the league, while the Storm enters its third IFL season, after appearing in the 2010 United Bowl (IFL Championship Game) against two-time defending league champions the Billings Outlaws. Billings has been forced to skip the 2011 season due to tornado damage to its home venue Rimrock Auto Arena last June 20th.

Kent signed former Outlaws head coach Heron O’Neal—the winningest coach in league history–earlier this month, and has so far signed seven former Billings players, including league-leading wide receiver James Walton and safety Michael Eby, the 2009 IFL Defensive Rookie of the year. O’Neal has also resigned seven players from the 2010 Kent Predators roster, including Charles McCullum, Andre Jordan, Kevin Jones, and Jeremiah Captain.

Light the Wick is the first ever winter film to use Real D 3D filming to bring alive the excitement of the winter season. Filmed in HD and 3D by the award-winning Teton Gravity Research, known for their ski and snowboard movies, Light the Wick features spellbinding snow sport footage from around the world including Petersburg, Alaska; Croatia; Italy; and BC. Seattle skiers and snowboarders will particularly enjoy the first ever 3D ski segment, shot just up the road at beautiful Stevens Pass, but you don’t have to be a winter athlete yourself to appreciate it – just having the chance to take in some amazing athletes in such a lovely locale in a brand new film experience makes a movie for anyone into the great outdoors. (And who knows, it might inspire you to take up the skis or board yourself.)

Light the Wick screens one night only at the King Cat Theater downtown on October 21; doors at 7 show at 8. Be prepared to be blown away.

Seattle Storm fans: Make sure you head down early to the Key Arena on Saturday, August 7, to see the Storm take on the Tulsa Shock. The first 4,000 fans will get a Lauren Jackson bobblehead, celebrating the much celebrated forward and center who was Western Conference Player of the month in both June and July.