Dusting off the blog
I had to call in the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to make sure there was no toxic mold on my blog. Five months without posting is inexcusable. It shows how lazy I am, and in this case, lazier than usual.
No mold on the blog, but I needed to use a whole can of lemon Pledge, which I use despite the highly annoying Consuela on Family Guy always demanding it from Peter, Stewie, Brian, Joe and just about any other character you can name from the show, which I no longer watch weekly like I did in the late 2000s. I understand Seth MacFarlane is so left-wing he will be a major supporter of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez if she runs for president, but it’s gone way too far. There are ways to communicate your support without going so far you have to question someone’s sanity.
Speaking of politics and sanity, I wish Donald Trump would go the hell away. Forever. Disappear. Get lost. I hate him. I hate him for forcing us to live through Dementia Joe’s presidency. I didn’t vote for Trump either time (and I didn’t vote for Hillary or Biden, either), and I never will. He gives real conservatives a bad name. He is not a conservative. He is an autocratic, narcissistic despot.
Enough about politics. ENOUGH ALREADY. The next year is going to be living hell between Despotic Donald and Dementia Joe. If this is the best American political parties can do for presidential nominations, then this country is truly the worst developed nation on earth. Period.
Kansas is ranked two places ahead of LSU (17 vs. 19) in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. It’s the first time the Jayhawks have been ahead of the Bayou Bengals in any college football survey since the final polls of the 1995 season.
That year, the Jayhawks had their best season since the Big 8 championship and Orange Bowl campaign of 1968, going 10-2 and defeating UCLA 51-30 in the Aloha Bowl in what was the last game for Bruins coach Terry Donahue. Kansas’ losses were to K-State (of course) in Manhattan and national champion Nebraska in Lawrence.
The Jayhawks were ranked ninth in the final Associated Press poll and 10th in the coaches poll. LSU, which went 7-4-1 in Gerry DiNardo’s first season, its first winning campaign since 1988, was not ranked in the final AP poll, but snuck into the coaches poll at No. 25.
Kansas coach Glen Mason, who inherited the Jayhawks after a 1-9-1 season in 1987 which included the infamous 17-17 tie vs. the Wildcats known across the Sunflower State as the Toiler Bowl, and slowly built KU back into a respectable program, including an 8-4 season in 1992 with an Aloha Bowl win vs. BYU.
On Christmas Eve, it was leaked Mason would be leaving Lawrence to take the reins at Georgia, which fired Ray Goff, the quarterback of the Bulldogs’ 1976 SEC chamnpionship team, after seven seasons. Goff had the thankless task of succeeding his coach and UGA legend Vince Dooley, and struggled to live up to the Bulldogs’ lofty past, failing to win a conference championship and falling far behind Florida and Tennessee in the SEC East.
Hours before kickoff in Honolulu, Mason reversed course and announced he was staying with the Jayhawks. UGA hired Jim Donnan from Marshall instead.
Mason spurning the Bulldogs to stay at Kansas, where he would be making less and was in the massive shadow cast by Roy Williams and what went on in Allen Fieldhouse seemed curious, but in retrospect, Mason at Georgia would have been an odd fit.
He played for Woody Hayes at Ohio State in the early 1970s, and later found his way back to Columbus, serving as an assistant to Earle Bruce. Also on the Buckeye staff in 1980 and ‘81 was a young defensive backs coach named Nick Saban. He’s done alright.
Mason spent six seasons as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator before being named as head coach at Kent State, Saban’s alma mater. Following two seasons with the Golden Flashes, he went to Kansas.
Mason never spent a day of coaching in the southern United States. I could see Georgia fans turning virulently against him if the Bulldogs had trouble against Florida, Tennessee and Auburn.
As it turned out, Mason didn’t last much longer in Lawrence.
Following a 4-7 season in 1996, he took over at Minnesota. He lasted 11 seasons with the Golden Gophers, going 64-57, making him the third most successful coach in school history after Bernie Bierman and Murray Warmath.
Kansas did not return to the polls until 2007, when fatso Mark Mangino took advantage of a weak non-conference schedule, K-State languishing under the turd that is Ron Prince, Nebraska falling apart under Bill Callahan, and not having Oklahoma or Texas on its schedule, to win its first 11 games.
That 11-0 start pushed the Jayhawks to second in the polls, including the BCS, which began in 1998.
The only team ahead of Kansas heading into Thanksgiving weekend 2007? LSU, which regained the top spot one month after losing in three overtimes at Kentucky.
LSU seemingly squandered its second chance when it lost on Black Friday at home to Arkansas…in three overtimes.
This meant if Kansas could beat Missouri the next night at Arrowhead Stadium, it would rise to No. 1 and earn a spot in the Big 12 championship game vs. Oklahoma.
The Jayhawks failed, falling 36-28. Mizzou and West Virginia were the top two teams in the next polls, but neither played for the championship; the Tigers lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game, and the Mountaineers choked vs. archrival Pitt at home.
Ohio State and LSU ended up playing for all the marbles in New Orleans, and the Bayou Bengals rolled 38-24 for their second crown in five seasons.
Two years after winning the Orange Bowl vs. Virginia Tech, KU started 5-0, only to lose their last seven. Mangino was forced to resign when rumors of player abuse surfaced.
The Jayhawks then fell into one of the deepest abysses in the history of power conference football, rivaled by those experienced by Northwestern and TCU through most of the 1970s and into the 1980s.
Kansas did not win more than three games in any season from 2010 through 2021, hiring and firing four coaches (Turner Gill, Charlie Weis David Beaty, Les Miles) and finishing last in the Big 12 EVERY SEASON.
Lance Leipold, who succeeded Miles and went 2-10 in 2021, has turned around the Jayhawks.
Last year, he got them to their first bowl since 2008.
This year, KU has a huge win vs. Oklahoma, and a 10-win season is not out of the question. The Jayhawks are favored this Saturday vs. Texas Tech and will be in their regular season finale at Cincinnati.
In between is the annual rivalry with K-State. The Wildcats have owned their rival to the east the last 30-plus seasons, but this year gives KU its best chance to beat its in-state rival in 15 years.
That’s all for now. Apologies for rambling, but it’s better than the radio silence I’ve provided since mid-June.
Morning post-mortem
When a baseball team out-hits opponent 15-7, it should win, right?
Not the Royals last night.
Unfortunately for Kansas City, four of the Reds’ seven hits were home runs, and Cincinnati got out of town with a 7-4 victory and a three-game sweeping, sending the Royals to their ninth straight loss.
Kansas City fell to 18-50, their worst 68-game record since the franchise began play in 1969. They are on pace to lose 118 games, two fewer than the modern (since 1900) record of 120 by the Mets in their first season of 1962.
The Royals were a miserable 2 of 15 with runners in scoring position. They had the bases loaded with one out in the ninth, only to leave them stranded.
The underachieving Angels of Shonei Ohtani and Mike Trout invade Kansas City this weekend. The Royals are expecting large crowds on Father’s Day weekend.
I won’t be back this weekend, but I might in August or September. I enjoyed the Diamond Club experience, even if there isn’t any barbecue.
The announced crowd was 13,731 There were huge swaths of empty seats down both foul lines, both in the main bowl and the upper deck.
The most incredible part of the game: I didn’t use the restroom despite being in the stadium for four hours and consuming three large cups of Pepsi Zero Sugar.
GET RID OF KISS CAM! It was horrendous when it debuted, it is still horrendous.
However, there was the best moment I have ever witnessed on kiss cam.
A beautiful lady asked her man to kiss her, only to get a face full of ice cream.
Later, Royals mascot Sluggerrr found the couple with a sign which stated “LOVE STINKS”. He then proceeded to place a chocolate ice cream cone on the man’s bald head, all while Def Leppard’s “Love Stinks” blared over the public address system.
Funny, but still, I hate kiss cam!
This was the first time I saw the Reds. By my count, I’ve now seen 26 of 30 teams in person. The ones I haven’t are the Athletics, Rockies, Marlins and Rays.
Not counting the Royals, I’ve seen the Astros the most, seven times. The Rangers are next with six, followed by Cleveland at five.
I have seen the Royals as a visiting team as well, a three-game series in Houston in 2000, the first year of Minute Maid Park, which was then known as Enron Field.
I have not seen the Orioles, Red Sox, White Sox and Brewers (SIGH) since I went with my dad and brother to the Rangers’ first stadium in Arlington in the 1990s.
I saw the Padres play in the Astrodome in 1989, my first MLB game, but not since.
My only games for the Dodgers and Pirates were when they played each other at PNC Park in 2005. The best MLB ballpark I’ve been to. Minute Maid is a close second because it’s indoors (for the most part).
It would be five hours and change to Denver to see the Rockies. I should have gone by now.
The Chiefs kick off in 83 days. Kansas City wishes it could be 83 minutes.
Return to Kauffman
For the first time in almost five years, I am attending a Kansas City Royals baseball game. The Royals, who currently have the worst record in all of Major League Baseball at 18-49, are closing out a three-game series vs. the Cincinnati Reds. The visitors won the first two games by identical 5-4 scores.
The last time I was in this facility was August 2018 when the Royals lost 3-1 to the Cubs on a Monday night. I wasn’t planning on going, but when Jason Malasovich, a friend from middle school, told me he was in Kansas City with his wife and their two children, I felt like I couldn’t say no when they asked me to join them. Fortunately, I was able to find a seat in the same section as the Malasovich family only one row in front. It rained briefly that night, but the low-scoring game got things over expeditiously.
I’m sitting in the Diamond Club. I figured I don’t go to many games, so I would splurge and see what it was all about.
My seat is right behind home plate. I have a table to type this post and rest my food and drink. The chair is padded. Not bad.
The more expensive Diamond Club seats, the ones with padded theatre-style seats and power outlets, are behind me. Those are more pricey.
The most expensive seats in the house, the Crown Club, are at ground level behind home plate. If I would have held out to buy tickets until this morning, I could have had a Crown Club seat for $370. I would love to sit there, but I’m afraid I’d want to do it again and again, and I don’t have the budget for it.
Diamond Club seats come with unlimited pop and wait service, although I went back on the concourse before the game to purchase a couple of hot dogs, extra sauerkraut.
The dogs were excellent, but I’m miffed as to why there are no stands for some of Kansas City’s famous barbecue joints, namely Joe’s Kansas City, Gates and Arthur Bryant’s, three of the biggest names in barbecue anywhere in the United States, not just Kansas City.
I’m also perplexed as to why the Royals do not open the gates to most ticket holders until one hour before games Monday through Thursday. They’re open 90 minutes prior to first pitch Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
To me, that smacks of being cheap. Why not open the gates two hours before to allow fans to watch batting practice, roam the stadium and make concession purchases? It would also allow more time in the gift shop so people can drop $250 on a jersey, a big waste in my opinion, but to each his or her own.
Spencer Steer just launched a 1-1 pitch into the left field stands for a solo home run to give the Reds the game’s first tally. Royals pitcher Daniel Lynch retired the first four in order.
Kansas City had runners on second and third the bottom of the first, only to leave them stranded when Michael Massey struck out.
Reds 1-0 going to the third. First two innings in 26 minutes, meaning we’re on pace for a one hour, 57-minute game. We won’t keep that pace, but Rob Manfred’s terribly misguided rule changes to speed up games, notably the pitch clock and limits on throwing to first with a runner on, is working.
I couldn’t care less about game length. I have nowhere to go afterward, and I don’t have to be anywhere until 10 tomorrow morning.
Today was Donald John Trump’s 77th birthday. Rot in hell, traitor. Just ensure Dementia Joe gets four more years, you son of a bitch.
Miami–the lesser of two evils?
For the most part, I have been disgusted by this year’s edition of the tournament to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, which, in case you might know, is the large silver trophy presented to the champion of the National Hockey League
The playoff system which has been in effect since 2013-14 SUCKS. IT SUCKS! Beavis and Butt-Head would be having a field day ridiculing this format, one which places way too much emphasis on so-called rivalries and fails to reward regular season excellence.
The Montreal Canadiens were nowhere to be found in this year’s playoffs. On the other hand, I realized how bad Les Habitants would be, and that hockey’s most storied franchise is undergoing a massive rebuild, the likes of which it has never undertaken. Montreal has won the Stanley Cup 23 times, by far the most of any franchise, but not since 1993, the last time a Canadian franchise won it.
The only good thing about the 2023 playoffs? The Maple Leafs won their first playoff series since 2004, defeating the odious Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in the first round. Sadly, the Leafs laid an egg in the next round, losing in five to the Florida Panthers, including three losses in Toronto.
For some reason, road teams win a lot more in the NHL playoffs than they do in the NBA or NFL.
The Panthers won the Eastern Conference last night, completing a four-game sweep of the Carolina Hurricanes.
I can’t stand any NHL teams which play in southern states. I would have been opposed to the NHL placing a team in New Orleans (even if I would have gone to a few games), because hockey doesn’t belong in cities where you can wear shorts to games year-round.
However, the Panthers playing for the Stanley Cup instead of the Hurricanes is by far the lesser of two evils. Here’s why:
The Florida Panthers have always been the Florida Panthers since their entry into the NHL in 1993.
The Carolina Hurricanes were once the Hartford Whalers, a team which was strongly supported even though the franchise was usually one of the worst in the NHL after they joined the league from the World Hockey Association in 1979.
I can (begrudgingly) accept a team which has been in Miami (technically, Sunrise) since day one. At least they didn’t rob another city of the NHL, besides taking a spot which could have been put to better use than to have a second team in Florida (the Lightning debuted the year before the Panthers).
I cannot, and will never, accept a franchise which moves from a city which loves hockey as much as Hartford and move to a place where you cannot play hockey outdoors at any point of the year.
Worse, the franchise moved from Connecticut to a place where basketball will always be king. The Hurricanes share the RBC Center with North Carolina State, which may not be thought of in the same breath as Duke and North Carolina, but true students of college basketball know just how important the Wolfpack have been to the growth of the game. Anyone who doesn’t know the story of Jim Valvano and the 1983 Wolfpack which came from nowhere and slayed the mighty Phi Slamma Jamma, the Houston team which featured (H)Akeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexel, needs a refresher course.
The Whalers, who began life as the New England Whalers when the WHA formed in 1972, played in Boston during their first two seasons, but struggled to find available dates at the Boston Garden, where the Celtics and Bruins were obviously a much higher priority, and other small arenas around the Hub. The franchise moved to Hartford in 1974, but was forced to return to Massachusetts–this time, Springfield–when the roof of the Hartford Civic Center collapsed from a heavy snowstorm in early 1978.
When the NHL and WHA finally agreed to a “merger” in 1979, the Bruins were vehemently opposed to the Whalers joining the NHL, but president John Ziegler insisted the franchise be part of any agreement, since the Whalers were the only remaining WHA team in the United States which was on sound financial footing. Boston was given a concession when the Whalers were forced to drop “New England” and change to “Hartford”.
The Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets were the other three WHA teams taken into the NHL. The Birmingham Bulls and Cinicnnati Stingers were forced to disband.
The “merger” was more like the NHL holding the four WHA teams hostage. Each WHA team could protect only four players, with all other players’ rights reverting to their original NHL teams. Also, the Whalers, Oilers, Jets and Nordiques were placed at the bottom of the 1979 NHL entry draft.
Fortunately for the Oilers, they were able to protect Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, two of the cornerstones of their dynasty of the 1980s.
The Whalers created some excitement in their first NHL season when Mister Hockey himself, Gordie Howe, played with sons Mark and Marty. Also, former NHL standouts Dave Keon and Bobby Hull were part of that 1979-80 club, one which finished below .500 and was swept out of the playoffs in three games.
Hartford soon sank to the bottom of the NHL, where they had a permanent lease alongside the equally pitiful Colorado Rockies (New Jersey Devils starting in 1982-83), and later, the Pittsburgh Penguins, with the Jets, Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks, and two of the NHL’s Original Six, the Red Wings and Maple Leafs, rotating in from time to time.
The Whalers won one playoff series in their 18 NHL seasons in Hartford, sweeping the Nordiques in the first round in 1986.
The beginning of the end for the franchise was a one-two punch.
The first was the NHL’s hiring of Gary Bettman as commissioner in 1993. Bettman was a high-ranking NBA official, and helped guide David Stern’s grandiose plans to turn the league into a global powerhouse, which it has become.
In 1988, the NBA expanded for the first time under Stern to Charlotte and Miami.
Bettman soon followed Stern’s lead, placing expansion teams in San Jose, Tampa, Miami and Anaheim from 1991 through 1993, plus allowing the Minnesota North Stars to move to Dallas and become the Dallas Stars.
Hartford’s second gut punch came during the 1994 lockout, when Peter Karmanos bought the franchise. Soon thereafter, Karmanos demanded a new facility from the state of Connecticut, or he would move the team to a southern locale.
Bettman had to be salivating over another southern city getting the NHL.
Sadly for Whaler fans, Connecticut’s governor at the time, John Rowland, deluded himself and many others in Hartford the state could attract the New England Patriots away from Foxborough, where they had played since 1971. Therefore, Rowland was focused only on the NFL, not on the NHL.
Prior to the 1996-97 season, Karmanos screwed Hartford good by demanding fans buy 11,500 tickets or else lose the team. Karmanos made this next to impossible by (a) raising ticket prices 20 percent, (b) eliminating all partial season plans, meaning it was all 41 home games or bust, and (c) raising the deposit required to hold the season ticket by 750 percent.
Karmanos’ strategy from day one was to go south, and he announced the Whalers were leaving in the summer of 1997, even though there was no agreement with a new location.
North Carolina turned out to be the new home of the Whalers. The team would be renamed the Hurricanes, play two seasons in Greensboro, then move into the new arena in Raleigh under construction for NC State.
DISGUSTING.
Hockey in a state where basketball, NASCAR and the NFL (thanks to the Panthers) would always be the most popular sports was, and still is, very stupid.
I vomited when the Hurricanes defeated the Oilers for the 2006 Stanley Cup. I was queasy when the Hurricanes made the 2002 final, but thank God the Red Wings stopped them. I will throw up again when the Hurricanes make it back to the final.
Thankfully, I don’t have to worry about that this year. The Panthers are far from my favorite, but they’ve never been anywhere but South Florida, and they didn’t take away a team from someone else, so they’re much more palatable than the Hurricanes.
The Panthers did the right thing Wednesday by picking up the Prince of Wales Trophy, awarded to the Eastern Conference champion.
This bullshit about not picking up a conference championship trophy has to stop. I find it asinine a team wins 12 playoff games, is rewarded for it, then says “nah, we don’t want the award” because supposedly “the Stanley Cup is all that there is”.
I was disgusted when the Blues reached the final in 2019 and refused to handle the Clarence Campbell Bowl, given to the Western Conference champion. Your first final in 49 years and you don’t give a damn? That trophy was quite an accomplishment, given the Blues had the worst record in the NHL at Thanksgiving 2018 and fired coach Mike Yeo.
Thankfully, in recent years, more teams have seen fit to handle the conference championship trophies.
Sidney Crosby has been captain of four Penguin teams to reach the final. He didn’t pick it up in 2008, and his team lost to the Red Wings. He picked it up in 2009, and the Stanley Cup was soon back in Pittsburgh for the first time in since 1992. Crosby repeated this in 2016 and 2017, and each time, the Penguins ended up winning the grand prize.
(Mario Lemieux picked up the Prince of Wales Trophy each time the Penguins won the Wales Conference championship in 1991 and ’92. Pittsburgh won the Cup each time.)
As much as I can’t stand Alex Ovechkin, at least he didn’t treat the Prince of Wales Trophy like it had a deadly disease when the Capitals reached the 2018 Finals. He picked it up and skated it with his happy teammates. Washington went on to defeat Vegas for the Cup.
When the Lightning won the East in 2015, captain Steven Stamkos didn’t even LOOK at the Prince of Wales Trophy. Tampa lost in the Finals to Chicago.
Stamkos reversed course each of the previous three seasons, electing to pick up the trophy after the Lightning clinched a berth in the Finals. Tampa won the Cup in 2020 (vs. Dallas) and 2021 (vs. Montreal) before losing in 2022 vs. Colorado.
The Golden Knights and Stars are going to overtime in Dallas. The home team must win or Vegas hosts Florida to open the Finals next week. If Vegas wins in Dallas, it will be interesting to see if it picks up the Campbell Bowl. If Vegas has to go home and win a Game 5 Saturday, I’m sure it will pick the trophy up in front of the home fans, much like the Panthers did.
Again, sorry for going so long without posting and going on and on about a hockey team which hasn’t existed since 1997. Don’t give me the bullshit about the Hurricanes being the current incarnation of the Whalers. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a lie.
Capital traffic and sporting headaches
What is it about state capitals and traffic?
I lived for nine years in Baton Rouge, where the capitol and state offices are at the western edge of the city along the Mississippi River, but the majority of population lives to the east.
Today, I was stuck in a parking lot at an exit off of Interstate 80/35 in Des Moines. Lucky for me, I did not have to go any farther north, because the traffic was worse.
The Iowa capitol and state offices are at the southern edge of Des Moines along Interstate 235. Most of the population lives to the north and east, and that makes I-80/35 look like the end of a football game in Ames or Iowa City.
Topeka has the same problem: state capitol and offices on the east side, most of the population living to the south and west.
As for other capitals, I’ve been to or through Lincoln, Oklahoma City, Austin, Little Rock, Jackson, Montgomery, Tallahassee, Atlanta, Columbia and Nashville, but don’t have enough experience to say much.
Frankfort is way too small to have traffic. The Commonwealth of Kentucky plopped down the capital there because it’s halfway between Louisville and Lexington. Good move. If you’re driving on I-64 between the big cities, be sure to stop in Frankfort to visit the Kentucky capitol and its beautiful floral clock.
Considering what’s happened the last two weeks, traffic was a welcome distraction.
I had a bad case of tonsillitis the week of March 20. Kelsey Lahey Templeman, Dr. Custer’s physician assistant, prescribed me penicillin and dexamethasone, and that cleared it up quickly.
Then there’s the world of sports.
I’m still angry over the way LSU shamed itself in what should have been one of the university’s greatest moments. It’s embarrassing to think people representing the school you (barely) graduated from could act like that.
I did not watch one second of the game live. I slept through it. In fsact, I had a dream while napping that LSU won when Alexis Morris tapped the ball straight into the basket off of a throw-in with two-tenths of a second remaining. There was then a long delay as the officials determined whether or not Morris tapped the ball straight towards the basket, or she caught it first, which would have invalidated the basket.
Under basketball rules at all levels, if there is fewer than four-tenths of a second remaining on the clock, a player may not catch and shoot. This rule was brought about from a 1990 NBA game in which the Knicks’ Trent Tucker caught a inbounds pass with one-tenth of a second left, turned around and drained a 3-pointer to defeat the Bulls at Madison Square Garden. In fact, here’s a link to Tucker’s shot on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP0t-BXCi1c
I avoided looking for the result until approximately two hours after the game ended. I accidentally surfed to ESPN’s home page, and there was a big picture of Kim Mulkey smiling and wearing another ridiculous outfit.
Then I saw a headline about Caitlin Clark, Iowa’s superstar and the National Player of the Year, receiving a technical foul for supposed disrespect towards referee Lisa Jones.
Clark had to sit out much of the first half with three fouls, as Jones and her colleagues, Pualani Spurlock-Welch and Michol Murray, thought the game was about them, not the Tigers or the Hawkeyes. (Where was Dee Kantner, arguably the greatest woman to ever officiate the sport?)
Forty fouls in a Division I national championship game? FORTY? An average of a foul a minute is asinine. That’s what you expect out of a middle school game, not the highest level of collegiate basketball.
I hope LSU has extra money in the budget for rings for Jones, Spurlock-Welsh and Murray. I have heard enough bitching about MLB umpire Angel Hernandez, but I’ve never seen him call anything as egregious as what this trio of robbers did to Iowa.
Jones, Spurlock-Welsh and Murray remind me of another infamous trio of incompetent officials–Patrick Turner, Gary Cavaletto and Todd Prukop, the three NFL zebras who suddenly came down with cataracts when the Rams’ Nickell Robey-Coleman flagrantly interfered with the Saints’ Tommylee Lewis in the NFC championship game in January 2019.
I thought about going to Baton Rouge for an LSU baseball series. Not happening now. I’m still angry about LSU’s disgraceful display in Dallas.
Why should I be surprised? LSU has embarrassed itself so many times over the years it’s now commonplace.
This was far from the worst. Covering up rape by football players takes the cake. Add in the former football coach–married with four children–acting like a frat boy towards female students working in the office, women’s tennis coaches ignoring a rape complaint by one of their players (committed by a football player) and former men’s basketball coach Will Wade breaking every rule in the NCAA manual before he was finally shown the door, and I wonder why I bother supporting that school anymore.
The Masters started today.
I will not watch.
I hate everything about The Masters, especially the haughty attitude of Augusta National members and golf fans who think The Masters is the only tournament that matters.
Memo to those who dismiss the other majors: The Open Championship started SIXTY-TWO YEARS before The Masters. Golf started in SCOTLAND, not the United States.
I’ll look at the leaderboard. But I will not watch a single drive, chip or putt.
The Masters was a great reason to escape Russell. My parents will be glued to it.
Worse, Brooks Koepka, one of the assholes who took the Saudi blood money to join LIV Golf, is tied for the first-round lead.
The West Des Moines Sheraton. A happy place. Reminds me of good times. I have work to do, but there will also be enough time to slip away to Omaha for Pibb Zero, and maybe to the Quad Cities for some hard-to-find sausage.
Time to stop for now. I don’t need to raise my blood pressure.
Adios, Arizona
Thirty years ago Saturday, Arizona became just the second No. 2 seed in the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament to lose its first round game, falling to Santa Clara in Salt Lake City.
The Broncos’ star was a previously unknown Canadian named Steve Nash.
Ironically, Nash would one day bring much joy to basketball fans in the Grand Canyon State by becoming arguably the greatest player to wear a Phoenix Suns uniform. I would put Nash behind Alvan Adams and Walter Davis, but my memory is way too good.
Today, history repeated itself for the Wildcats in Sacramento.
Despite being seeded No. 2 in the South behind top overall seed Alabama, more than a few picked Arizona to reach the Final Four in Houston. Some even had the Wildcats to cut down the nets at NRG Stadium on the night of 3 April, which would have been Arizona’s second national championship. The Wildcats won it all in 1997 in an overtime thriller vs. defending champion Kentucky.
Instead of practicing tomorrow at Golden 1 Center (which should not be the home of an NBA team) in preparation for a date with Missouri, Arizona will be boarding a plane for the long and painful flight to Tucson.
Arizona met its Waterloo this time at the hands of Princeton in embarrassing fashion, going scoreless over the final 4:45 of a 59-55 loss to the Ivy League tournament champion.
The Wildcats led by 12 points with 11:50 to go and somehow lost this game?
Memo to U of A president Dr. Robert C. Robbins: DO NOT consider a move to the Big 12. No. Don’t tilt at that windmill, even if your archrival in Tempe wants to jump.
First, the Wildcat football program is a mess. It can’t stay out of the cellar in the Pac-12 South unless Colorado goes full tank like it did last year.
Second, if your basketball program is going to lay dinosaur-sized eggs like this one and the one in 1993, why test your luck in the Big 12 against the program with the most wins in NCAA history, a Houston program which has regained its place among the elite for the first time since Phi Slamma Jamma, an up-and-coming Kansas State program, plus consistently strong teams in Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and West Virginia? Once UCLA goes to the Big Ten, there’s no reason Arizona shouldn’t swallow the minnows remaining in the Pac-12 pool.
Third, Orlando is Disney World and a whole bunch of crap. Playing UCF will do nothing for you.
Not so nostalgic for Mardi Gras
I apologize for not posting anything for so long. Then again, there wasn’t much to write about except the stupid Chiefs, who had their stupid little parade last week.
It was Mardi Gras two days ago. Not that it mattered much to me.
The last parade I went to was the Krewe of Thoth the Sunday before Mardi Gras 1994 (13 February). I knew a few of the men riding in the parade. Those men are still riding in it 29 years later. It would be the only parade I would consider attending if I ever went back to my native city for Mardi Gras.
Thoth is the longest parade within the city of New Orleans. It starts further upriver (west) than every other one, commencing at the corner of State Street and Tchoupitoulas (pronounced CHOP-it-oolas) Street near the Mississippi River. It proceeds lakebound (north) on Henry Clay Avenue, downtown bound (east) on Magazine Street, lakebound (north) on Napoleon Avenue, then downtown bound (east) on St. Charles Avenue, the main route for every parade in the city except Endymion, which parades in a different neighborhood.
The reasoning behind its starting point is to bring a parade to many who cannot attend parades.. Thoth takes in several group home as well as Children’s Hosptial, one of the best pediatric facilities in the United States.
When I attended Thoth for three years (1992-94), the parade started at Henry Clay and Magazine, went south on Henry Clay, turned onto Tchoupitoulas, went east to State, then north on State to Magazine, where it followed the current route.
I stood at the corner of Henry Clay and Tchoupitoulas. When the float carrying the men I knew came by, I was bombarded by beads, doubloons, cups and assorted other trinkets. I got pushed by more than a few kids for the cheap stuff. My dad, who was with me for the first two of those parades, just said “let them have it”, and I agreed.
I went to Rex, King of Carnvial, in 1991 and ‘92. Nothing to write home about. Everyone should see it once, but after that, take it or leave it.
I saw Endymion, which is the largest krewe in terms of members and floats, a few times in the 1990s. I wasted my timeevery time.
I never attended Bacchus, which is the Sunday night before Mardi Gras. Too many people. Way too dangerous, as evidenced by a shooting at this year’s parade which left one dead and four injured.
And I never, ever dared venture to the French Quarter. I didn’t go to the Quarter much during my time living in Louisiana, and certainly not during Mardi Gras.
There are things I miss about Louisiana. Mardi Gras isn’t one of them.
Another thing I don’t miss is the Kansas high school wrestling state tournaments.
Kansas can’t get all of its grapplers under a single roof like Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska and several other states. Instead, the boys are split between three locations and the girls at two.
It would not be hard to put six to eight mats on the floor at Bramalage Coliseum at Kansas State or Koch Arena at Wichita State (it is not practical for Allen Fieldhouse due to its construction) and hold the tournament over three or four days.
Instead, Kansas only wants to hold it for two days and forces fans to sometimes choose one site or the other.
I haven’t covered events since the spring of 2015. I don’t miss it one bit. It has meant a lot less stress for everyone. I don’t need any more stress given my myriad of health issues.
Take the Super Bowl and shove it
I have turned all my devices to airplane mode. No Super Bowl updates for me. I’m calling it a night before 2030.
I cannot stand the Chiefs. I cannot stand the Chiefs. I cannot stand the Chiefs.
I despise Patrick Mahomes. I despise Patrick Mahomes. I despise Patrick Mahomes.
I really despise Brittany Mahomes. I really despise Brittany Mahomes. I really despise Brittany Mahomes.
My schedule has me in Kansas City AGAIN starting Wednesday afternoon. That was scheduled a long time ago. I’ll be sure not to wear red.
Don’t choke, Eagles. DON’T CHOKE, EAGLES!
I refuse to bow down to “King James”
As of late last night, LeBron James is the National Basketball Association’s all-time leading scorer, breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s (nee Lew Alcindor) record of 38.387 points.
I don’t give a crap.
I hate LeBron James. I’m not ashamed to say it. I hate LeBron James. I hate him as much as I hate any athlete, past or present.
I got sick and tired of seeing him when he was a senior at St. Vincent/St. Mary’s High School in Akron. ESPN televised many of James’ games during the 2002-03 season, when the hype for his entry into the NBA exceeded the hype for any basketball player.
You think Bird and Magic got too much publicity when they played each other in the 1979 NCAA championship game? You think Jordan got too much publicity after leading North Carolina to the 1982 national championship?
The hype for those three paled in comparison to the man who was called “King James” as a sophomore at SVSM.
During the 2002-03 season, teams outside the NBA’s elite, tanked hard in order to get the most ping-pong balls for the number one pick in the draft lottery and the right to select LeBron.
As fate would have it, the NBA franchise less than an hour north on Interstate 77, the Cleveland Cavaliers, won the lottery. King James’ castle would be Quicken Loans Arena.
James improved Cleveland exponentially during his early years, turning a perennial doormat into a playoff contender. The Cavs reached the NBA Finals for the first time in 2007, but James’ team was no match for the mighty Spurs of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, and San Antonio won their fourth championship in four games.
It wouldn’t be the last time
James kept the Cavaliers among the NBA’s elite during the next three seasons, but they could not return to the NBA Finals, falling short vs. the Celtics in 2008, the Magic in 2009, and Boston again in 2010.
As the Celtics and Lakers headed for yet another NBA Finals showdown, LeBron James was plotting a move, one which earned him plenty of scorn, and rightly so.
My dislike for James became deep-seated hatred when he colluded with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh to sign with the Miami Heat in the summer of 2010.
Wade, who was drafted by the Heat two spots after James was drafted by the Cavaliers in 2003, carried Miami to the 2006 NBA championshpi with the help of some terrible officiating by men who had it out for Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
As soon as the Heat won that championship, he began secret talks with James and Bosh to get them to Miami when their contracts expired after the 2009-10 season.
The negotiations were supposed to be secret, but by time the 2009-10 season rolled around, it wasn’t a secret. Everyone knew Wade was begging Heat president Pat Riley to work the salary cap to fit all three stars under it.
Wade could sign for as much as the Heat wanted to pay him under the Larry Bird Exception, since the ex-Marquette All-American had never played for another team.
James and Bosh, however, did not have the Bird exception, and were subject to the hard cap.
Somehow, James and Bosh took much less than they could have signed for with Cleveland and Toronto, respectively.
On the evening of 8 July 2010, LeBron James went on ESPN and announced in an hour-long special that he was “taking his talents to South Beach”.
The next night, the Heat introduced their new superstar trio. James promised the rapturous throng inside American Airlines Arena they would win at least eight NBA championships.
Miami won two, defeating the Thunder in 2012 and the Spurs in 2013. The Mavericks gained revenge on the Heat in 2011, and the Spurs did the same in 2014.
Following the loss to San Antonio, King James returned to his castle on Lake Erie, signing a new contract with the Cavaliers.
Cleveland lost the 2015 NBA Finals to Steph Curry and the Warriors and fell behind 3-1 in the 2016 Finals to the Golden State team which set a record by going 73-9 in the regular season.
The Cavaliers then did the near impossible, becoming the first team to rally from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA championship series to win Cleveland’s first professional sports championships since the Browns in 1964.
James led Cleveland to the NBA Finals in 2017 and ’18, but each time, the Cavaliers lost to the Warriors.
To nobody’s surprise, LeBron went to the Lakers following the 2018 season.
It was there where LeBron became a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party, slamming Donald Trump every chance he got.
He also began vocally supporting Black Lives Matter in the summer of 2020 following the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
I’m sick and goddamn tired of talking about LeBron James. That’s it. I quit.
Fly Eagles Fly (SIGH)
I have zero love whatsoever for the two teams in Super Bowl LVII.
I dislike the Eagles. I do not like their uniforms, which they have worn since 1996. The shade of green is disgusting, there’s too much fucking black and the Eagle head is lazy and cartoonish.
Unfortunately, the Eagles’ opponent is one team I despise. I despise this team as much as any in American professional sports right now.
The Chiefs.
That’s right, I despise the Kansas City Chiefs. I cannot stand them.
Chiefs fans have become arrogant and entitled since the drafting of one Patrick T. Mahomes II in 2017. Since Mahomes took over from Alex Smith as the starting quarterback before the 2018 season, Chiefs fans (Chiefs Kingdom according to the nauseating Mitch Holthus and every other media shill) have felt it is their GOD-GIVEN RIGHT to be in the Super Bowl.
I felt Saints fans at times have gone off the deep end. The trolling of the Falcons for blowing the 28-3 lead in Super Bowl LI has got to stop. It’s been six freaking years. Matt Ryan and Tom Brady are long gone from their respective teams.
Saints fans need to be grateful they have a Super Bowl championship. Many cannot or will not remember how wretched the franchise was for most of its existence prior to Sean Payton and Drew Brees arriving in New Orleans in 2006.
However, nothing compares to what Chiefs fans have been like over the last five seasons.
Many forget how bad the Chiefs were just 10 years ago, when they went 2-14 twice within five seasons and had a massive egotist (Scott Pioli) as general manager and a head coach (Todd Haley) who had no business being a head coach at any level, especially the NFL.
Those under 45 also cannot remember how bad the Chiefs were before Marty Schottenheimer’s arrival as coach in 1989. I remember, because there were some very BAD teams in Kansas City in the1980s when I first started to watch the sport.
Patrick Mahomes has been compared by many to Michael Jordan.
I hate Jordan, no doubt, but to compare Mahomes, who has only been in the NFL for five seasons and won one championship, to Jordan, who won six in eight seasons with the Bulls, is preposterous.
I’m sick of Arrowhead Stadium being called the greatest venue in sports.
Packers fans would like to have word with those of you who worship Arrrowhead. Same with Red Sox and Cubs fans. Or those in college football.
Two years ago, I was faced with a Super Bowl between the Chiefs and the Tom Brady-led Buccaneers. I hoped the Chiefs would win, because I was sick and tired of Brady.
Kansas City laid an ostrich-sized egg and lost 31-9. I was pissed at the Chiefs for basically handing Tampa Bay the game. Might as well have stayed home.
I also did not watch one down of the Chiefs’ victory vs. the 49ers in Super Bowl LIV. I was so pissed when the Chiefs won. God I hate the Chiefs.
Super Bowl LIII between the Rams and Patriots was one I didn’t watch until the second half. I hated Brady and Belichick, but I was just as pissed about the Rams being there, since they were gifted the NFC championship when the officials went blind on a blatant pass interference/illegal hit vs. a Saints receiver.
I held my nose and hoped the Rams could knock Jesus Christ off his pedestal. Instead, the Rams offense stayed back in Los Angeles, and New England won 13-3.
That’s it. I’ve had enough of this. Hopefully the Eagles win and we can move on with life. I’ve got a very bad feeling.
Foots Prints 