Monthly Archives: December 2016
Kentucky’s highs and lows
Both Kentucky schools lost their bowl games today.
Louisville, of course, lost to LSU in the Citrus Bowl, and Kentucky fell to Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl (or TaxSlayer Bowl if you want to be technical about it).
That means Western Kentucky has bragging rights in football, not only because the Hilltoppers won their bowl game, but because Western did something its bigger brethren in the Commmonwealth did not–win its conference. Now why don’t Louisville and Kentucky play Western every year? Louisville saw fit to play Charlotte and Marshall,and Kentucky played Austin Peay and a couple of other palookas. Why not keep the money in the Commonwealth?
How many people actually care Louisville and Kentucky lost today, outside Louisville and Lexington (and maybe scattered people in Frankfort, Covington, Ashland and Paducah)? NOT MANY.
Basketball soothed the pain on the gridiron for folks in the Bluegrass.
Not only did Rick Pitino’s Cardinals defeat Indiana in Indianapolis, but Duke, the most hated team in every corner of Kentucky, lost at Virginia Tech.
Duke has never been a favorite of either Kentucky or Louisville. Both the Wildcats and Cardinals own national championship game victories over Duke–Kentucky in 1978 when Jack “Goose” Givens scored 41 points in the Wildcats’ 94-88 win, and Louisville in 1986, when freshman “Never Nervous” Pervis Ellison lifted the Cards to a 72-69 victory over a Duke team led by Johnny Dawkins and Jay Bilas.
However, the Kentucky-Duke hatred reached a new level the evening of March 28, 1992.
That’s the night when Christian Laettner, one of the dirtiest players who ever graced a basketball court, stepped ont eh chest of the Wildcats’ Ammu Timberlake in the East regional final at Philadelphia. Laettner did not even receive a technical foul for being a gigantic asshole, and he hit the game-winning shot in overtime.
I have never been a Duke fan. I especially couldn’t stand the Blue Devils when Laettner played. The officials who work Duke games are intimated by Kryzewzski, but with Laettner, it was a whole different level. It’s a wonder how Duke lost games. The free throw dispartity was so lopsided. Not even Dean Smith could catch a break most of the time.
Duke and Virginia lost today. Good. Two programs which deserve each other.
I’ve never visited Kentucky. I would like to. Maybe in April when LSU plays baseball in Lexington.
Just go away, Ronda
Louisville leads the Citrus Bowl 3-0. LSU missed a field goal on its first drive. The Cardinals got down to the LSU 6-yard line on its second drive, but the Bayou Bengals held Lamar Jackson and company out of the end zone. Following the field goal, both teams have punted.
LSU hasn’t won the Citrus Bowl since 1979, when it was the Tangerine Bowl. That was Charles McClendon’s final game as LSU coach after 18 seasons. The Bayou Bengals defeated Wake Forest 34-10. The Demon Deacons were coached by John Mackovic, who later coached the Chiefs, Texas Longhorns and Arizona Wildcats. LSU lost the Citrus Bowl to Iowa in Nick Saban’s last game as coach in 2004, then to Penn State in 2009.
I am so glad Ronda Rousey lost last night to Amanda Nunes. Maybe now people will shut up about this overrated woman and focus on the real talent in UFC. I have never watched UFC to begin with, but having to hear non-stop about Rousey got sickening after a while.
Rousey has now had the piss beaten out of her twice. Holly Holm did it last November. It’s time Rousey do something else with her life. Maybe she can become a professional wrestler. If she does, I would love to see Trish Stratus come out of retirement and kick her ass too.
Or maybe Rousey can start making babies with that piece of shit man in her life. Travis Browne slapped around his ex-wife, Jenna Webb, yet Rousey saw fit to start sleeping with him while he was still married. Browne is a lowlife. Actually, lowlife is too kind of a term. He is human feces. If Rousey wants to make a baby with such a shithead, then I can’t help it. She wants to be stupid, let her.
I could care less about what Ronda Rousey does. Just as long as we don’t have to hear about her anymore.
2016 on its last legs
I usually would have no good reason to be up this early on a Saturday.
Today, I have a good reason.
I have to be at Buffalo Wild Wings by 10 in order to watch LSU play Louisville in the Citrus Bowl, which is sponsored by said restaurant. Georgia Tech and Kentucky kick off at the same time in the Gator Bowl (it’s officially the TaxSlayer Bowl, but seriously?), so there will be another game in case the Bayou Bengals screw it up.
Besides, I’m going to bed early tonight. I am not staying up to watch the ball drop in Times Square, I am not staying up to see whatever celebration the networks have for the Central time zone. No. New Year’s Eve is my least favorite day of the year.
What is so freaking great about the changing of a calendar? We flip the calendar at the end of every month. This is no different. Nothing is going to magically change when you wake up tomorrow and it’s 2017. WHOOOPEEEE. Yes, I want to waste a pile of money on a tuxedo and a lame party with bad food and cheap champagne. That’s my dream.
And people were bitching about last year’s College Football Playoff semifinals interrupting their New Year’s Eve plans? COME ON. Get right, people. If you had that thinking, you are as stupid as the people who think Disney World is the end-all be-all of tourist destinations.
I probably will be out of Buffalo Wild Wings by 8:30. I figure to make a run for it when the Ohio State-Clemson game reaches halftime. The Fiesta Bowl will be a barnburner.
The Peach Bowl should not. I don’t see how Washington stays close to Alabama. The Huskies may be adjusted to Eastern time after the cross-country flight Monday, but it will be a virtual road game, seeing Atlanta is less than four hours east of Tuscaloosa. I don’t see it happening for U-Dub. Crimson Tide in a blowout.
A Mickey Mouse kind of place
I went into my Howard Hughes phase yet again. Five straight days without posting. I’m not going to use Christmas as an excuse. I’ve got to do better. I’ve got to get this figured out in 2017.
I need to do a lot of things better in 2017. Eat better. Don’t lose my cool. Don’t worry about what I don’t have. Easier said than done, of course, but at least I have a place to start.
Bowl games are going on all day today. Georgia beat TCU in the Liberty Bowl, and Stanford is leading North Carolina in the second quarter of the Sun Bowl. Nebraska and Tennessee kick off at 2:30 in the Music City Bowl, and tonight is Florida St. vs. Michigan in the Orange Bowl.
LSU plays tomorrow morning at 10 am vs. Louisville in the Citrus Bowl. Hopefully the Bayou Bengals can shut down Lamar Jackson, the undeserving Heisman Trophy winner, and shut up Bobby Petrino.
Peggy and her family are on a skiing trip in Colorado. I have to admit I’m a bit jealous. I’m settling for Kansas City AGAIN. Not that I dislike anyone in KC, but it sometimes gets repetitive. On the other hand, I’m afraid to hang out at a Buffalo Wild Wings in another city, because I believe they would kick me out for loitering. The die is cast; I’m wedded to Zona Rosa for the foreseeable future.
The farthest west I ever ventured in my first 28 years and 11 months was HAYS. I’m not saying I wanted to go skiing, but going west would have been nice. Denver. Or maybe Wyoming. But my mother hated small towns. She still does, even though she’s lived in one for almost 11 years.
My parents DRAGGED ME KICKING AND SCREAMING to Disney World in 1985 when I was 8 1/2. It was beyond AWFUL. I hated every minute of that trip. HATED. EVERY. MINUTE. What else was I going to do? I couldn’t stay home at that age. It was a mile walk to the nearest restaurant and convenience store, and a little longer to a grocery store. It would have been awfully boring staying in the house all day, but then again, it could not have been much worse than Disney World.
Two experiences not related to Disney World on that trip were horrifying. The first was my dad’s moronic decision to eat at a greasy truck stop in Marianna, a small town about 60 miles west of Tallahassee, on the way. The second was a tire blowing out on Interstate 75 near Gainesville. Not to mention my dad got lost leaving Kissimmee and didn’t find the Florida Turnpike until we were almost to Ocala, and the hotel in Tallahassee on the way there and back overcharging my dad’s credit card.
My brother and his wife took their honeymoon to Disney World three years ago. Pretty dumb. I wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near Orlando, much less be caught at Disney World. It was bad enough in 1985, when there was only the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center. It’s a billion times worse now with MGM Studios and all the other shit. If they want to go back to Disney World with their son one day, then I can’t help their stupidity. I would never take a child of mine on that torture trip.
I don’t remember a damn thing about Disney World that was good. Maybe the video arcade. But no ride was worth a dime. And I cannot stand roller coasters. I would only go on one if I had a significant other who wanted to. And I would have to warn her I might throw up.
If you’re that desperate to go to a Disney theme park, then pack the bags and head to Anaheim. Disneyland may be smaller, but the weather is much better. I woudn’t be caught dead anywhere in Florida any time of the year. Yes, there is a the constant threat of earthquakes in Orange County, but I wouldn’t want to deal with the Florida heat, not to mention hurricanes in August and September.
I’ve been to Florida four times since Disney World, all on business. Two trips were to Gainesville when LSU played Florida in baseball. Gainesville is one of my least favorite cities in the Southeastern Confernece, and Florida’s baseball stadium is a joke. The press box has no air conditioning, or at least it did when I went there. Yeah, great idea, Gators.
The other two times were in the Florida panhandle with Delgado Community College, where I worked prior to Katrina. At least I didn’t have to worry about changing time zones.
Christmas Eve in KC–for a while
I’m out of the hotel and packed for the road, but I’m not on the road just yet. I’ve decided to spend at least a couple of hours at Buffalo Wild Wings before heading west. The restaurant closes at 5 for Christmas Eve, and won’t re-open until Monday at 11 am.
I had planned on staying until 5 then driving home, but that would mean almost all of the drive would be after dark. Molly is bartending today, and she suggested I leave earlier. If I wanted to get home before dark, it would mean me leaving at 2 and arriving at 6 or a little after. I’ve already gassed the car, so the only thing I would have to worry about is using the restroom.
I almost left early yesterday. I don’t know why, but I got down when I thought back to Louisiana. I sent out a bunch of Christmas cards to people I know, but I seriously doubt anyone will reply. It makes me sad to think I’ve been totally forgotten. Time marches on, but I don’t want it to mean I’m nothing more than a nameless, faceless stranger.
The problem is, I remember too much. My memory is too much for my own good a lot of the time. There are times I won’t remember someone I met a day or two ago, yet I can recall the name of someone I knew in the 1990s. Or earlier.
I was packed and ready to go just after 4 yesterday afternoon, but I decided to go to the patio and keep playing trivia. It was chilly, but nowhere near as cold as it has been recently, and I had my parka on, so it wasn’t that bad. Robb came out to see me and couldn’t convince me to come inside, but Dawn did. It must have been because I beat them at trivia while I was outside. Just kidding.
I’m glad I came inside. Skyler Reed, who plays with Robb, Dawn and I sometimes, finally got time off from his busy job with Cerner Corporation to join us. His mother, Corinne, was visiting from Iowa, so it was nice family time. They left at 6:30 with Robb and Dawn, and I stayed.
I’m glad I did.
I got to talking to a couple who has seen me here plenty, but just never got around to talking to me. Anna and Justin are California natives who moved to Kansas City five years ago with their son, who is now 16 and attends Park Hill High, which is just down Barry Road from Buffalo Wild Wings. The whole family are huge San Francisco Giants fans, not a popular team in Kansas City after what happened in the 2014 World Series. I did not mention the 49ers. Anna and Justin aren’t basketball fans, but I didn’t mention the Warriors anyway.
I ended up staying until 9. It’s foggy out there right now, so it’s a good idea to let it break. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, more appropriate weather for Easter than Christmas. There is a chance of severe thunderstorms in eastern Kansas and western Missouri. The best chance of severe weather extends to Salina, but not Russell.
It turns out Kansas City’s record rainfall for Christmas was also in 1973, the year New Orleans got five inches. Tomorrow afternoon is a good day to be running around in shorts. Not for the Chiefs game, but in the afternoon, yes.
I’ve got writing to do when I get home. I’ve got to be ready to come back Thursday after my session with Crista. Whether that trip also includes an excursion to Columbia remains to be seen. If I didn’t have the appointment with Crista, I might have come back Monday, but it’s not worth it with that appointment on the docket. Getting back Thursday will allow plenty of time to visit Buffalo Wild Wings.
Next Saturday I will be at Buffalo Wild Wings at 10 am, not 11, since the BUFFALO WILD WINGS Citrus Bowl kicks off at that hour. My alma mater, LSU, vs. Louisville, coached by scumbag Bobby Petrino. My plan is to be in bed when the calendar flips to 2017. No way I want to ring in the New Year live.
At least there are NFL games on TV today, plus Hallmark Channel’s Christmas movie marathon without commercials starting at 7. But there are five NBA games on tomorrow. Yikes. As if I needed the NBA shoved down my throat. It’s bad enough every other day.
The I-29 parking lot
The Price Is Right has been interrupted on the CBS affiliate in Kansas City. There is a shooter at a rest stop on Interstate 29 between Kansas City and St. Joseph. I-29 is a parking lot in both directions, with the northbound lanes backing up over five miles. Glad I have no reason to be going towards St. Joseph or Omaha.
I’ve been on I-29 lord knows how many times to drive to St. Joseph and then catch US-36 to somewhere in western Kansas, usually Smith Center or Phillipsburg. I figure one day I’m going to get caught on that highway in a massive traffic jam. It hasn’t happened yet, but it figures to sooner or later. That would be a nightmare, since I don’t know any alternate routes.
Thursday was pretty uneventful. Spent a long time at Buffalo Wild Wings, but nothing really transpired, except me playing a lot of trivia and giving out some Christmas cards to staffers. I’m going back today, and maybe tomorrow. At some point tomorrow, I will be returning to Russell. It’s supposed to rain Sunday.
I hope I see a few of my pals today at Buffalo Wild Wings. Tori has the day off, but I’m sure I’ll see many people I know who work there. I’m just hoping Robb and Dawn show up, and so does Larry.
Dreary out there. Good day to stay inside.
Horrible hump day
I left Buffalo Wild Wings early last night. I was out just after 5:30. I was upset because I learned my mother would be cooking ham for Christmas. Ham? Please. I am not a fan of ham. I do not like ham, with or without green eggs.
It left me very upset, and for no reason, I started blurting out stuff after failing at trivia. It was probably best I get out of there. I fell asleep for a little while, got back up, fell asleep, got up. It was a restless night.
Maybe I needed to get out of there early. I spent four hours there Monday, then over eight Tuesday, and I had been there for five hours yesterday. Yep, it was probably time to take a break. Back today.
People have been bitching about the cold this week. Now there is a chance of severe thunderstorms Sunday. What the hell? Thunderstorms? On Christmas? What has Eastern been moved up? That’s what you expect Easter. Not Christmas. That’s what you get for warm weather. I’m not saying 15 below is optimal. But I’d rather 15 below than 50 above. That’s the risk you run with warm weather.
In 1973, New Orleans received five inches of rain on Christmas. I wasn’t born yet, but my parents were there. They don’t remember. Hope I never see that.
Last Tuesday before Christmas
I got my best night of sleep in a long time last night. I decided I would go to bed at 11, and I did. I woke up at 6:30. I need to get back into a better routine of sleeping now, not when the new year comes.
Back at Buffalo Wild Wings right now. I didn’t leave my room until noon, simply because I wanted to watch The Price Is Right and The O.C., which is now airing at 10 and 11 each morning on the POP channel, a new channel only available on DirecTV. The hotel where I’m staying is the first hotel I can remember which has a full DirecTV lineup, instead of a limited satellite lineup or cable. There’s no NFL Sunday Ticket, but I go to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch those games anyway.
How long I stay tonight depends on how I’m feeling and who’s here. I am not a big fan of Buzztime’s Showdown, the game which is played every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. (Central), but I put up with it two weeks ago. Brainbuster is before Showdown, and I like that game, even if the questions are more difficult. So I’m here until at least 7:25. The cutoff is 9:30.
Robb and Dawn should show up between 4 and 4:30. That will liven up the day. Tori is bartending until 5, and then Dana takes over.
Now I see the precipitation Saturday should only be rain. Maybe I will stay until closing at 6. Nothing else going on.
Kansas City is about as good as it gets for me. No skiing trip. No trip to a sunny climate. Oh well. At least I have Buffalo Wild Wings. Then again, I might not enjoy something else.
12 days and less than 3 hours left in 2016…
My long day is finally winding down. I’m done with Buffalo Wild Wings, and I’m back in my room at the Fairfield Inn near the Kansas City Airport.
I’m watching Hallmark Channel yet again. Fitting I am, because Hallmark’s headquarters are in Kansas City. I’ve got most of my work for tomorrow already done, so I can get a good night’s sleep and not have to rush it. I want to get to Buffalo Wild Wings by 1:30 tomorrow. It’s half-price wing day, and Robb and Dawn said they would try to make it.
The Redskins are stinking it up right now. They trail the Panthers 20-9 just over a minute into the third quarter. Carolina cannot make the playoffs, but if Washington loses, its hopes will be hanging by a thread. Then again, all of the left-wing politicians and their sympathizers want nothing more than for the Redskins to be out of the playoffs, simply because they hate the name Redskins.
The NFL is sick these days. Really sick. I’ve now heard about people throwing tampons at Sarah Thomas, the NFL’s only female official. Disgusting. And the message boards have bashed Thomas with all sorts of sexist comments. No need to repeat them. You can figure out what they are.
Today’s Miami Beach Bowl was a shining example of why there are way, way, WAY too many bowls.
Tulsa 55, Central Michigan 10.
First, Central Michigan didn’t belong in a bowl in the first place, because it was 6-6 to start with–no 6-6 team should be in a bowl anyway–and one of those six wins was illegitimate, since the Chippewas received an extra play it should not have against Oklahoma State, scoring the winning touchdown on that play.
Second, the American Athletic Conference is nauseating. I’ve had it up to here with commissioner Mike Aresco claiming the AAC belongs with the Power Five conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, SEC). No, Aresco, the AAC doesn’t. Let’s not forget on Saturday, Houston led San Diego State 10-0 and lost 34-10, and Central Florida lost AT HOME to a mediocre Arkansas State team.
Third, does Central Michigan really belong playing at the top level of college football? NO. I’m sorry, but the NCAA needs to weed out the Central Michigans of the world and leave the big time to the programs which can actually afford it without $3 million in red ink every year. There are only two programs in Michigan which can ever dream of competing at the highest level. Sorry, Western Michigan, it isn’t you, despite your 13-0 record so far. Last I checked, one of those programs was in Ann Arbor, the other in East Lansing.
As for Tulsa, let’s be real. The Golden Hurricane will NEVER, EVER be on the same plane as the Sooners and Cowboys. Tulsa is a private school with very selective admission, and that hamstrings them. Oklahoma doesn’t have a large population to begin with, and you know the top prospects are going to be heading to Norman or Stillwater unless (a) their ties to Tulsa are so strong they don’t want to leave or (b) they leave the state for Texas schools.
Tulsa could probably be an elite team year in and year out at the lower level. The Golden Hurricane will have a fine season every now and then at the top level, but never consistently.
Tomorrow is another bowl game I could care less about. Memphis vs. Western Kentucky in the Boca Raton Bowl. It’s in the same stadium where Lane Kiffin will lead the Florida Atlantic Owls beginning in September. Yawn. I am rooting big time for the Hilltoppers because (a) the prep editor at The Advocate, Robin Fambrough, is a WKU alum and (b) I cannot stand Memphis or anyone else in the AAC, Tulane and Navy excepted.
My Christmas cards to Peggy, Clark and Caitlyn arrived in Norton today. The others are making their way to other parts of the country. I’m most worried about a few going to Louisiana and another to Connecticut.
Into the cold
I have not left my home since I made the 4-minute run to the Russell post office Friday.
That changes in a little bit.
I’m going to Hays, because I have to pick up some mail at the post office and drugs in Hays. After that, I boomerang east, passing right through Russell and all the way down Interstate 70 to you know where.
I’m going back to Kansas City to spend the days before Christmas with my pals. I won’t see Robb and Dawn today, but I hope they’ll be there tomorrow. I’m going to leave Saturday morning. I was thinking about staying at Buffalo Wild Wings until it closes at 6 pm on Christmas Eve, but the weather isn’t likely going to let me.
The previous three days were not made for going anywhere. There was freezing drizzle much of the day Friday. Then Saturday brought an Arctic blast, dropping the temperature below zero and brining in a little snow. The only good news was the snow was fluffy, not wet and crusty.
Yesterday morning, it got as low as minus-16 Fahrenheit (minus-27 Celsius) in Russell. The wind chill was as low as 35 below Fahrenheit (37 below Celsius). Yikes. It’s supposed to get close to freezing today, and tomorrow, to about 43 Fahrenheit (6 Celsius). Balmy. I’ll be running around in shorts. Not, but it will feel a lot better than 16 below.
Time to pack the computer. The road beckons.
Foots Prints 