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2010-03-20T09:39:00.001-05:00

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March Madness and Other Discussions....

2010-03-20T09:15:00.004-05:00

I love this time of year! It is one of my favorite times of year since probably grade school. I remember writing papers during Spring Break in junior high and high school with basketball games playing. What a start to the NCAA tourney! K-State and Kansas both play tonight and it should be a lot of fun!

This year I took off Thursday and Friday to watch basketball. It was worth it! My sister, Dina, takes off two whole weeks during this time of year. I would love to do so, but I can probably only afford to be off work for the two or so days; I will probably plan on doing the same thing next year because this was great!

I was able to watch three games at once and then follow the score of the forth game in real-time via ESPN Insider. It was awesome! There is a lot more work to do for the Kansas Jayhawks! They started out flat in the game Thursday night and then woke up in the second half. They cannot afford to do that again if they want to win the national championship.

Well, it has once again been a while since I posted anything. Geez, I was going to try and do so much better. This is not one of the things that jumps in my head each time I sit down on the computer. Well, a post every two to three months will work for me.

I know I need to redo the forums here on Haverty.NET as they stopped working after my hosting company made some changes. Again, not a priority, so I have not gotten back to correcting the problem or adding a new forum.

If you have not tried Google Reader, do so now! It is available at http://reader.google.com and it is awesome! It is a RSS (or feed) reader, but it can also track standard web pages for changes. It definitely makes checking my feeds a lot easier and I can also access the feeds via my Blackberry. Check it out!

Well, we are getting ready to go do some grocery shopping, so I better sign off. It is a winter wonder land outside today after we got a blanket of snow. More is on the way.... This is the first day of Spring and we got about six inches of snow. More is on the way, but hopefully not a lot.

Have a great weekend and I will to you the next time!

Another Long Time...

2010-02-10T21:47:00.003-06:00

Ok, I must say it has been a long time since my last post. Once again! Where does the time go? Well, I know, but I think it is primarily just me not wanting to post anything event though I think about it from time-to-time. I keep saying I am going to get back into the swing of posting on a regular basis and then I keep letting weeks slip by without posting anything.

Ah well, that is the life of a blog..... The holidays were great! I always love the time between Christmas and New Years as I get that whole week off. It was almost ten days this year. No, I did not do a lot during that time except for watch movies, stay up late, and have a few beers.

The Spring semester started with not a lot of problems. For the most part, it was one of the better starts to a Spring semester. We are coming up on a month away from Spring Break which is hard to believe.

Lately, I have taken up reading. Carrie won a Kindle at her work and I have been using it a lot. I love it! I finished "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown and now I am reading Michael J Fox's book which I am almost done with... after which I have a list of books on my save list at the library on-line section. Too cool! I have also downloaded a on-line book from the Topeka Public Library connection and I listen to it on my Blackberry over the weekends.

Well, tonight I find myself watching the Duke vs North Carolina game. It is a lot closer than what I was expecting from UNC from their last few games. However, I guess you could see it coming with them playing tonight at UNC. Good game!

The Kansas Jayhawks are going strong once again this year! They are undefeated in the Big Twelve and they are fun to watch. They play again on Saturday and then again on Monday. There are only four more home games which is crazy... again, we are almost to March Madness.

Well, I am going to finish watching the end of the game and hopefully I will be posting again soon. Until then, happy trails...

What a Fall.... Recap and New Long Post

2009-11-10T09:55:00.001-06:00

Well, as I mentioned, it has been a while since I really posted anything to my blog. What is a blog if I never write anything. I know..... it is just empty space that is out-of-date. Perfect! That's what I have here.

Well, as you start looking around the site trying to find content, you will see that the forums no longer work either. I have not had the time, or motivation, to work to resolve that problem. I would like to have another forum on my site, but it is just not that important right now. So, anyone looking for the forums are getting a page with a error message. I did fix up the photo gallery a while back and I am happy with how it turned out. Everything else, well, has just been the same for the past

two something years. Great!

OK, no on to my update which I have been meaning to do for sometime now. The last time I posted anything meaningful to this blog was back in August. I recapped what had happened over the Summer. I spoke a lot regarding my golf game. Well, my golf game basically stopped in late July. My elbow was hurting so much that it forced me to go to the doctor. I had it checked out and then had to go to physical therapy (PT). After all of the PT, I have not played any golf. I missed it a lot, but hope to be able to get back out to play in the Spring. Granted, we have had a lot of good days recently that I should have been playing, but Carrie and I have had something to do every weekend in October.

The Fall semester started back in August. It was a fun start to the semester with a major upgrade at work. We upgraded MyWashburn and our email systems. This caused a few weeks of tense times at work, but it eventually was resolved. We are running on the new version of MyWashburn, but our email system is still running on old hardware. The good news is that with this new upgrade, my Blackberry syncs with email (read, deleted, and moved) as well as with the calendar system. It is very nice! I am hoping to be able to keep it for years to come as it does cost money to use the service.

September was a busy month... in fact, the next two months were extremely busy! Carrie and I were on the go both September and October. It was a fun kind of busy though, so we did not complain. September we had football games just about every weekend for Washburn. I think during the course of the season I only missed about one game which was the first one of the season. We made it to all the rest.

The other big news for September was that my friend, Javier, came back from Costa Rica. He came back on Wednesday, September 23. Brenda, Cheri, Eileen, Carrie, and I rented a limo to pick him up from the airport. It was great! He was completely surprised and we all had a great time! We drank the whole way there, the whole way back, and into the evening. The good news was that I took the next day off of work to run errands with Javier. (Carrie's idea and it was a good one!) We have had Javier living with us while he is renting out his house and trying to sell it since September 23. We are having fun and he is also helping us to eat healthier as well as motivation to work out. His mother is coming to live with us on November 13 for three weeks for Thanksgiving which will be fun. Carrie and I will be gone during some of that time though traveling to Law Vegas, but we are looking forward to having her with us. I know Javi will enjoy it too!

The first part of October brought the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival in Helena, Arkansas. It was a great time! Of course I drank a lot and ate too much, but it was fun! A lot of great music and it is always fun to see everyone each year. Chad and I went down this year while Corrie and Carrie had fun in Houston. Yes, Carrie bought purses (notice plural)! Oh well.... There were many great bands. We did have a nice day on Thursday. Friday was rainy and cold... Saturday was just cold! It was a great time though and I enjoyed it once again. I believe this was my 5th year to attend the festival and I am already looking forward to next year! I am hoping that next year, Carrie and Corrie are able to make it. I have only been to the festival once with Carrie. I know she has a great time in Houston with Corrie, but it would be good to go to the festival again with her.

November Carrie and I will be heading to Las Vegas. This is our forth time to Vegas. We are looking forward to it. We will be meeting Chad and Corrie there for the second time. We can hardly wait! We leave Thursday, November 19 and return Tuesday, November 24. We both work one day and then of course there is Thanksgiving on the 26 and 27. We planned it that way! We will be doing some gambling, but not a whole lot. We usually split up $100 or so between the two of us and gamble with it until it is done... Or until Carrie doubles her money and pockets the first part she started with. Me, I usually go through everything we start with and then I watch her play. Gulp! We will be going to a show, but we are not sure which one yet. We got our hotel rooms for really cheap, but not as cheap as what Chad and Corrie got theirs at. They stayed at the place before, so they get member benefits. Oh well!

The football season is starting to end. The Kansas Jayhawks were not anywhere close to what they were hyped at doing this year. We have lost four straight with the most recent last weekend against Kansas State. Reesing has not looked good at all for the past four games and we are on a bad slide. Doubtful we will win any of our last three remaining games with as bad as they are playing and it does not look like any bowl games are in the works for KU this season. I have heard rumors that Mangino might be on his way out. Funny how he does so good for so many years and then he has one bad year... they want to get rid of him. Geez!

The Washburn football team was alright this year. Not great, but not bad. They missed out on playing in a bowl game as well. Their season is done and now we start basketball. Javier and I need to get to some Washburn basketball games this season. I still want to go to a volleyball game, but we never seem to start looking at those until it is too late.

Well, that is a long recap of what has occurred the last few months. Again, I am going to try and update this more often. If nothing else, than with a short message to say where I am at. Have a great rest of the week and I will chat with you later....

SMS Update

2009-10-29T10:30:00.003-05:00

Ok, this is a short update from my phone to let you know I am working on a blog update. I promise! It is crazy how long it is taking me to do updates....

Where Have I Been and What Have I Been Up To?

2009-08-30T10:39:00.005-05:00

OK, so, this will start the process of me blogging again. I enjoyed it so much when I was doing it on a regular basis. I got into somewhat of a rut just posting about sports. While that will probably play into a lot of what I post about, I do plan on posting on a variety of other topics as well.

The last time I posted anything of content was Sunday, April 26. It was the weekend after the Spring Faculty/Staff golf tourney. What a great time! So much time and things have passed since the April day. I will try to recount some of those items in this long over do update.

The faculty/staff tournament back in April helped to kick off me playing golf. I had planned to play a lot of golf over the Summer and I feel good about the amount of golf I have played. July was the month I played the most golf. One week right before my birthday, I played 36 on one day, 27 on another, and 18 on one day. It as great!

I have also taken a lot of golf lessons. I received golf lessons from the Shirrons' last Christmas and I started to use those in June. I was having a problem with my right wrist hurting when I would play, but I took a lesson with Joey at the club and he helped me to the over swing I was doing and instead not take the club back as far. This helped my wrist a great deal. Now, I have having problems with my right elbow. I know, odd! So, I scheduled another lesson for September 1 with Joey for another lesson. He is going to watch my swing to see if he can figure out why my elbow would be hurting. It hurts to the point where after playing golf I cannot open doors, lift a glass of water, etc. This goes on for days and at this point is preventing me from playing much golf. Still, I love the game, the process, and the experience of playing a round of golf.

The Summer also brought the start of Men's League at Shawnee Country Club. I managed to put a team together for Men's League this year. It was a lot of fun and September 3 is the last day for the league. We did not win, but we had a lot of fun! It is so much fun playing each Wednesday with a different group of guys, drinking beer, talking, and then eating dinner afterwards. The experience is great and I encourage it for anyone. The women's group has been trying to get Carrie to play for two years, but Carrie still needs to get clubs and learn the game. I think she would enjoy it just as I do if given the chance.

This is our third year of belonging to Shawnee Country Club (SCC). For two years, my handicap has been above the mens maximum handicap, so I had a 37.7L handicap. Ouch! The "L" indicates that it is above the mens maximum handicap and it is a local handicap. Well, finally, after three years I am finally below the maximum and I am at 33.9. Ah, much better!

June was a fun month playing golf with my brother Tim. We had a great time playing in the SCC Member Guest Tournament. Tim and Jennifer stayed at our house for the weekend. We had a great time! While Tim and I did not win, we did have a good time! We smoked cigars just about every day (and night). We had a lot of beers! We also had a lot of good conversation! I plan to do it again next year. It was just good to have my big bro staying with me at my house. It was great to be able to get up and go to the golf course with my brother to play golf and know that all we would be doing for three days was play golf and be together. While Tim and I were playing golf, Carrie and Jennifer were able to spend time together too. They had fun shopping, going to lunch, and just lounging around the house doing nothing. We all had a fun time the last night, Saturday, with dancing and a full dinner. SCC did a great job with the event. It as my first of many and I was already planning at the end of the week to do it again next year. Good times!

July 4 weekend found us over at Robin and Scotts'. We had a great July 4 weekend. It was nice and long with the forth falling on a Friday. We actually saw someone light a firework in their hand and set it off. Later, Mike D, had to go to the emergency room to see if he fingers were broken. Nah, they were just badly bruised and still bleeding. The best part of the night was watching Scott and Carrie dance in the fireworks.

I am jumping around a bit, but after so much time what can you expect? We move into August and it gets extremely busy at work. Move in week for residential living, upgrade for MyWashburn, and working with new faculty, staff, and students as they start to use Washburn systems. It is now about to turn to September and things remain busy at work. The kind of busy where the day is ending and it feels like it just began. The types of days where you have to make it a point to get your lunch in or you will miss it completely. The only good thing is that the days pass by so fast you barely realize you have been slammed the whole day.

Turning to September also takes us into the start of college and NFL football. The Washburn Ichabods played their first game of the season yesterday. They played the Colorado School of Mines and kicked their butt 27 - 7. Good way to start the season. Carrie and I will miss the first home game next weekend as we will be down in Arkansas to visit family that we are meeting down there. We will make it to the September 12 game and it should be fun as it is a night game.

Well, I realized I forgot to mention anything that happened in May. I do not recall at this time what happened that month. If I happen to think of anything, I will be sure to post it. Other than that, rest assured that I am going to try and post a update at least once a week. I am going to set a reminder task so I get reminded of it each week.

Now, we begin the slow descent into the winter months. What a odd Summer it has been. We went to the lake on Friday and about froze in the water. Odd! We had a fun time and hope to be able to get out to the lake once more before winter hits.

Until I write again... Have a great week and I will be back on next week!

SMS Update

2009-08-30T10:11:00.003-05:00

Hello... I know it has been a while. Well, I am going to try to start posting more. About anything and everything. Not just sports! :). Mobile posts are set.

Weekend Wrapup

2009-04-26T21:05:00.001-05:00

What a great weekend! It started Friday with our faculty/staff golf tourney. Other than the high winds, it was a fun day. It did take our foursome a long time to get around the course. We teed off at 1 pm and we were still playing at 6:30. We skipped the last hole because we did not see anyone else around from Washburn. Plus, they had taken away the sign on hole eighteen that we had won the previous two years, so we knew everyone was gone. As it turned out, the coordinator was extremely unhappy with Western Hills where we had the tournament. This was my third time to play at Western Hills for the tournament, but this was definitely the longest. The club seemed to be unorganized and wanted everyone to start on hole one instead of a shot-gun start. Odd! We still had a fun time playing golf. Our team came in last. Great!

Friday night after golf, we went to Tailgators where the post ceremony was held. With us being so late, a lot of the golfers had already left. Apparently two groups quit after four hours of play and they had only finished nine holes. We had fun at Tailgators too talking to those that were still around. The food was great and the beer was cold! I did not stick around too late that night as Carrie was home sick. She did not go to work on Friday and is still feeling under the weather today. I left about 10 and picked up something to eat for Carrie on the way home.

Saturday night I had a lot of fun meeting up with Jason from twenty years ago. Jason and I went to grade school together and up through high school. It was great to think back to our childhood years and then what all has happened between grade school and now. We remembered funny stories and had a good time talking. Carrie was supposed to go with me, but with her being sick, she stayed home. I met Jason at Free State brewery in Lawrence and the tornado sirens went off. We had a good meal and drank a few Free State beers. It was a good night!

Sunday, well, it has been doing a lot of nothing. Carrie is still not feeling great, so we watched some movies and I listed to the Royals. Oh the Royals, they lost again and go to 9 and 9 (or something like that). Hopefully they do not go on a downward spiral to losing. They start another series tomorrow, so hopefully they can get things back in gear.

Well, the weekend is coming to a end. I am catching up with Javi this evening via Skype video and going over his bills. It will be good when he is back in the States.

Well, have a good week and I will talk to you again later.

Summertime and Golf

2009-04-18T09:20:00.001-05:00

Well, it is hard to believe that Spring is here, or at least it feels like it now, and golf is right around the corner. I am once again playing in a mens league at Shawnee Country Club (SCC). This will be my second year to play in the league and I am excited. It starts on Wednesday, April 29. We have our team and I will be playing with a good group of guys.

I intend to get out to play a lot of golf this Summer, but other things always seem to take away from doing so. I went out and played nine holes on April 8 and it was painful! I did not start off well, but after the third hole I could finally start hitting the ball. I had a few good shots and those that will bring me back to the course, but I also had a nagging problem of my right wrist hurting. After playing nine holes, I could barely use my right hand with my wrist hurting so bad. This happened last Spring too where I played in a tournament and afterwards my wrist was killing me. It went away through the Summer where it did not hurt as bad, but it would come back at odd times while playing golf. As soon as I hit the first drive off of tee one on April 8, my wrist immediately started hurting. I am not sure why. I did a Google search on it and found that I might be holding the club wrong which could be causing the problem. I have six lessons that I got for Christmas and I hope to be able to use those next week and learn what I am doing to cause my wrist to hurt.

It seems so odd to be starting the Spring and not have Javier in town. He had to go back home to Costa Rica back in February. It just does not seem right to be going into Spring without Javier here. I know it is difficult for him to be back home and worrying about his house, cars, etc., here in Topeka, but Carrie and I are taking good care of his things and I talk to him a few times a week. We talk mostly on Skype, but we also chat back and forth with Yahoo and MSN Messenger. So, we stay in touch. He just started looking for a job back home, so he is hopeful to find something where he can earn money and still be able to tend to bills he has here.

As we move into full swing with Spring, and soon Summer, I will try to do a better job of posting. With golf on my mind, I will hopefully be posting about the progress of my golf game through the Summer months. Oh, I am very excited to be playing in the Tee-Par-Tee in June with my brother, Tim. We will be teamed up to play in the member-guest tourney at SCC, so that will be a lot of fun!

NFL Sunday

2008-12-28T13:46:00.001-06:00

It is hard to believe that the NFL season is coming to a end. It seems like just yesterday that we held our fantasy draft. The last week for fantasy football and the last regular season weekend. We move to the playoffs and once again the Chiefs are no where close to being any good.

I truly love NFL Sundays. It is fun to follow my fantasy teams on ESPN and then bragging rights with friends when something goes right. Granted, this has not been one of my better seasons.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday! Until next time...

Already December!

2008-12-11T11:15:00.001-06:00

It is hard to believe that it is already December. College football is
almost over and we are well into the college basketball season. Wow!

Ok, this time I plan on posting more to my blog. Let's see how this goes
this month.

Happy holidays!

Long Time No Post

2008-09-13T11:26:00.004-05:00

Well, I am back and I am going to try and post on a regular basis again. I know, you have heard this before, but this time it is true. It is so easy to fall out of the habit of writing, but it is fun and helps me to remember what happened on certain days. Kind of like a journal if you will.

Well, lets see what has been happening.... The Royals have managed to fall completely out of anything they had going. Frustrating to be a fan and follow this team. Still, I follow their games, watch their games, and hope for something to change. You might wonder if I am still excited about the new manager and my answer is still yes. Give it some time and I think he will do good things for KC.

I have been playing a lot of golf over the Summer. Carrie and I are members of the Shawnee Country Club and we are having a lot of fun there. I have played a little over 20 rounds of golf so far this Summer. I was hoping to get to at least 30 for the Summer, but with all of the rain we have been getting lately that might be a little difficult. Not to mention that it is getting colder and colder which seems earlier than normal. I hope to be able to play some during the winter months too.

What a season Kansas had last year in football and basketball. Wow! The football season is underway. KU played last night and lost to another ranked team. It was tough, but KU looked good in all except the third quarter. They were out scored in the 3rd 33 - 0. Wow! They did manage to tie up the game and had a chance for a win, but things did not go that way. Unlike my friends (i.e. Mr. Black) I think that KU will have a great season and they will continue to be fun to watch for seasons to come.

Well, that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing well. Go KU and go Chiefs!

Holly Crap!

2008-05-31T12:58:00.002-05:00

The Kansas City Royals are on a twelve game losing streak. They started off against Boston some weeks ago just one game shy of 500 and now sit 21 for 34 (.382) and 9 & 1/2 games out of first. Wow, what will a couple of weeks of not winning do to a team? Look at the Royals and you will find out.

No one ever thought that going into this season the Royals were going to be good. But, no one ever thought that we would lose twelve games in a row either. I believe it was last season that the Royals lost 16 or 17 games in a row setting a franchise record.... well, we certainly flirting with that record this season.

The Royals sent Bill Butler to the minors yesterday to try and spark something for this young team. This is a single minded team with some of the players that cannot hit at all (look at Pena). Pena being the most troublesome of the bunch.... He apparently is not listening to the batting coach, or to Hilman. They give solid advice and it worked for a few games (i.e. he was getting hits), but then he went back to using a lighter bat, striking out, and not getting contact. Pitiful!

It is too early to tell whether the Royals will be able to come out of their slump. Right now it is difficult to watch their games. Lets Go Royals!

John Bale is a Idiot!

2008-05-05T09:02:00.003-05:00

John Bale, LHP for Kansas City Royals, who has been on the DL the past few weeks because of a shoulder injury will remain on the DL. In frustration over his shoulder not healing as fast as he would like punched a hotel room door. Did he punch it with his non-pitching hand? No! He punched it with his pitching hand. Idiot!

John Bale is 33 years old and has been playing in the majors for 1999. This is something I would expect to see from a teenager in high school. If he was frustrated with the rate at which his shoulder was healing at least use the sense to hit the door with your non-pitching hand. Idiot!

Bale has pitched 15.1 innings and been rocked for 13 hits in only three appearances. He has a 7.63 ERA in his second year with the Royals. "They've got to think about how it's going to affect the rest of their team -- how it's going to affect their individual possibilities of being able to perform" Royals manager, Trey Hillman, said of the incident.

Brett Tomko pitches in tonights game against the Angels. The Royals swept the Cleveland Indians yesterday afternoon 2 - 0 improving their record to 14 - 16. The Angels spanked KC when we visited them back in April. Tomko needs to have a great outing tonight to help the Royals. Tomko has not been good at all in six starts. He has a 6.26 ERA and has has struggled
in all but one of those appearances.

Time will tell how Bale's actions will impact the Royals. Not being impressed with his abilities early in the season, his punching the door could be a bonus to the Royals.

Note that prior to Friday's game Trey Hillman shaved off his goat. Since that day, the Royals are 2 - 0 (Friday was rained out). I noticed in yesterdays game that Hillman had a clean shaven face. Can that be the spark that will help the Royals keep a 2 game winning streak? We can only
hope!

Tenth Win Finally Arrives for the Royals

2008-04-27T10:54:00.003-05:00

The Kansas City Royals finally win their tenth win of the season last night. They are on a two game winning streak with both wins coming from the Toronto Blue Jays. The Royals won last night 2 - 1. Their ten win coming after a seven game losing streak. Their last win before the losing streak coming from the Angels back on April 16 (see my post from April 17). The Royals managed to from a half game out of first to dead last in the AL Central. What a streak!

The team, fans, announcers, and other teams were all in awe of the Royals starting the season on an unexpected run that placed them in first place. There does seem to be a split between fans. You have those that know what would eventually come to the Royals and those that thought we could win the division. Well, the seven game losing streak finally put things into perspective and we saw the "same old Royals".

If you did not read the article on ESPN (see Hillman adamant about changing Royals' losing ways) by Elizabeth Merrill, it is worth a read. I have said since Trey Hillman was hired and during Spring Training that there is a definitely new feel to the Kansas City team. In the article, Hillman is quoted as saying that [seven game] skids were something that he and Royals general manager, Dayton Moore, were expecting. It is good that they are finally out of the skid and have a new two game winning streak going. Kansas City has a chance for their second sweep of the season against the Blue Jays today at 1:10 PM CST.

I was one of those fans that was very excited with the start of the season. How could you help but not be excited the way they started. Still, there were some obvious problems. I still have a offensive problem with Tony Pena, Jr. He cannot bunt and he cannot hit. He is batting .156 for the season. The Royals finally scored their most runs in their first game with the Blue Jays scoring eight runs in a 8 - 4 win. Prior to that, they had scored as many as six runs, but that came in a loss to Cleveland 9 - 6.

Still, I could also feel the same feeling in my gut as I watched the seven games prior where they lost. The worst being the last of a two game series against Cleveland when the Royals played a double header on Thursday night. Along with the Oakland A's series, the Cleveland series was just about as painful to watch as a fan. Given how the team started and then to crash like that, it did feel like Royals teams of old.

For now, we will take it one game at a time. We will enjoy the wins and hope that the losses are few between. Lets get the Blue Jays for the win today! Go Royals!

Tenth Win Has to Wait for the Royals

2008-04-17T23:54:00.002-05:00

Well, Kansas City lost tonight against the Angels 5 - 3. Their tenth win will have to wait for the series with the Okland A's coming up tomorrow. The Royals were down 5 - 2 going into the top of the ninth. They scored one run and had the go ahead at the plate, but could not get a hit after two outs. The Royals split the series with the Angels. They go up next with the A's in a three game series.

Lets Go Royals!

Kansas City Royals Doing Well... 9 - 6 on the Season

2008-04-17T21:03:00.004-05:00

Well, if you happen to remember last season, you will recall that at this time of year Kansas City was not even close to getting their tenth win of the season. They were losing games left and right, not scoring runs, and their pitching was horrible!

This is 2008 and the Royals are a half game in back of the Chicago White Sox (they are tied at the end of 9 against the Orioles) and they are going for their tenth win of the season. Except for the fact that the Royals have not been getting a lot of runs, they have had some great pitching (starters, relievers, and closers). They have been fun games to watch and like last night I have stayed up late watching them play. They won last night in their first game against the Angels 3 - 2.

That is not to say that they do not have some odd things during the games. The other night Billy Butler popped it up and did not even bother running; the Angels recognized this and ended up getting a double play. For the most part, I have seen nothing but hustle coming from the Royals. They run like someone is chasing them to first base; they appear to be trying on every at bat. It is fun to watch and great to see when thinking back to the previous years teams when they give up running to first.

We only have a couple of items that need improvement. The first part of the needed improvement is that of our last part of our starting pitchers. We have a couple that are struggling. On the flip side, we have three pitchers that are pitching lights out. The second part that needs improvement is that of Tony Pena, jr. I love it when TPJ comes to the plate and needs a bunt. He cannot lay down a bunt to save his life. It is frustrating to watch and I cannot imagine what Hillman is going through to watch him try. However, his defensive skills are what is keeping him on the field or not putting in a pinch hitter.

The important thing right now is that the team is having fun. You can see that they are having fun while watching them on the television. Later this Summer, I will personally see that they are having fun when I go to their games. You can see that they have a manager that they believe in and that they are willing to do what he asks them to do. I blogged early in Spring Training that I like Trey Hillman and that continues. There is a different feel when watching the 2008 Kansas City Royals. There is a difference there that I have not felt for a long time when watching this team.

We are through three innings in this evenings game and it is zero all. Lets go Royals!

KC Royals go to 5 - 2

2008-04-08T22:40:00.002-05:00

In case you missed it, the Kansas City Royals won today in their home opener against the New York Yankees (5 - 2). This makes the Royals 5 - 2 and tied for first. Meanwhile, the Detroit Tigers have not won a single game this year. Oh, how we can relate to that type of pain. Well, except for the fact that they spent a lot of money on their roster and so far it is not producing for them.

Kansas City plays New York again tomorrow evening at 6:30 pm CST. Go Royals!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk! What a Run....

2008-04-08T21:58:00.003-05:00

The Kansas Jayhawks topped off a incredible season with a win Monday night against the Memphis Tigers. What a run and it still feels like a dream that I had last night... But then every channel I watch, every sports web site I visit, and they are talking about the Kansas Jayhawks. Wow!

I watched Saturdays game at Henry T's here in Topeka, so of course we had to go back Monday night to watch the championship game. We went right after work and we were afraid that we would not get a table. The place was already crowded and people were vying for open tables. We had heard on the news starting Sunday that Lawrence bars were charging $20 just to have a table. One place, Jeffersons, had everyone leave at 3 and then they re-opened at 4 pm so they could charge the $20 fee. Wow! Talk about crazy!

So, there we were at Henry T's in Topeka trying to get enough people to hold a table. There were only three of us initially and they would not let us sit at a table for six because we cannot hold spots. OK, so we got on our cell phones and told the group of people that were to meet us to hurry up. The (smaller) table next to us had a group who also wanted the large table. However, because there was only three of them they could not sit there either. Our group finally showed up and we were able to move to the big table (right in front of the big screen). Perfect seats!

We ordered food and our first of many beers for the evening. The scene was set with a full house at Hentry T's and everyone was ready for the game to start. Oh, but we still had three hours to go before tip-off. OK, not a problem! The WIBW 13 news crew was there and while we watched "Wheel of Fortune" they kept cutting to the fans at Henry T's. Everyone would go crazy and simply try to make the time pass so we could get to tip-off.

Finally after eating some food, drinking a few beers, and it was time for tip-off. The Jayhawks looked great! There are many blogs and web sites that discuss the game, but I have to add that it was one of the best NCAA Championship games I have ever seen. It was Mario (I had to include the picture of his three pointer...) time and he helped to push us into a overtime with the momentum to win the game. Talk about a crazy environment! Jumping up and down screaming at the top of my lungs and hugging people I do not even know. What a night!

Now the talk is about whether Bill Self will go to Oklahoma State as they try to draw him away from Kansas with a HUGE check. If Self decides to go, well, can you blame him? I do not think so. The amount of money that it has been discussed Self could earn, no other college coach is making that type of cash. Crazy! It is hard to believe that OSU would decide to do all of this during this time of year when Self should be focusing on being the National Champion.

I should also mention that Roy Williams (North Carolina coach) was at the game wearing a Kansas Jayhawk sticker. That was pretty cool! I would like to see North Carolina and Kansas meeting up in the Final Four (or the championship) game each year like we use to always meet up with Duke back in the 80s and 90s. I thought that showed real class by Williams to not only be at the game, but to be wearing a Kansas sticker.

We will have to wait and see what happens with Self. Is there a right decision for him to make? Probably in the long term there is a right decision for him to make. It just seems that OSU could have waited to do this afterwards.

It has been a season non of us will ever forget. Not only in football, but of course in basketball. It feels like a dream, but oh it feels so much better than previous years and the day after losing a nail bitter. I can definitely relate to Memphis and their fans. In the last two minutes of regulation they thought they had the game won; Kansas turned it around and pushed it into overtime and eventually won the game. Wow!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk! Go KU!

KU in Final Four... Royals 3 and 0....

2008-04-03T22:06:00.003-05:00

University of Kansas in the Final Four

Well, Kansas basketball has made it to the Final Four this year. What a ride! Oh, and the ride is not over! It is hard to believe that just a few short months ago the Kansas Football team was going up against Missouri in a huge game and then made it to a bowl game and won. The fun continues with the University of Kansas going up against the North Carolina Tarheels. A re-match of KU's coach (for 15 years) Roy Williams against Bill Self (currently five years).

I am so excited for Saturday to get here to watch the game. Talking to my Kansas friends I feel the excitement from them too. My KSU fans, well, not so much. In fact, even though their coach asked them to they are not showing it yet to us Kansas fans... that being to cheer for all Big Twelve teams. One of my friends parents is not even going to watch the game because Kansas is playing. Anyway, enough about that.... It is going to be a fun game. The FINAL FOUR and Kansas is playing against North Carolina.

I recall when I was growing up and Larry Brown was the coach. I remember Ted Owens before that and going to the games with hardly anyone in Allen Fieldhouse. The most we had to cheer for were the custodians as they swept the floor between halves. Me, all of eight something years old. I was lucky enough to be born into a family that had season tickets when Ted Owens was the coach of Kansas and to still have tickets when Larry Brown took over. This year celebrates twenty years since the University of Kansas won the 1988 national championship. Those were great years with Larry Brown. He left us after he won the title and we took in a unknown coach from North Carolina. Roy Williams gave us fifteen great years of great, fast, entertaining, and fun basketball. My family continued to have season tickets well into the Roy Williams era.

Roy's boys were fun to watch. Much like the North Carolina team is today. They ran the ball and played hard (aka Jerod Hasse). My Dad still talks about the Roy Williams type of ball and how much he likes it.... because it was so fast! Bill Self does not run the team as fast as Roy, but obviously Self is doing a great job at the University of Kansas.

If you have not heard, there are rumors about Self leaving KU to go back to Oklahoma State to coach the Cowboys. Does it seem like deju vu when Williams was our coach and was tempted, and then finally left, for North Carolina? Well, it should because it happened at almost the same time. Oh, that's right! It actually happened to Williams by North Carolina after we made it to the championship game. Williams heard about it in the post game interview from a woman interviewing him after they won the Final Four in 2003. OK, if Self leaves Kansas to go to OSU, yes, it will be difficult, but I think that Kansas will get another quality coach and we will not lose a lot. Do I hope that Self remains at Kansas and coaches us for another twenty years? Yes, absolutely!

I do know that this Saturday is going to be a lot of fun to watch four quality teams match up against one another. Four teams that have been number one during the course of the season. Four teams that score a lot of points and play incredible and entertaining basketball. Go Hawks!

Kansas City Royals Baseball

The Royals beat the Detroit Tigers today 4 to 1. They swept Detroit to start the season. Wow! What a way to start the season and beat a team that spent millions on their team. My excitement for the Royals continues to grow. My enthusiasm for Trey Hillman also continues to grow. Tomorrow they start a series with Cleveland and then home to Kansas City on Tuesday for the home opener against the New York Yankees. Oh, how nice it would be to be at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday for that home opener. How nice it would be to start the season with another 9 - 0 start like we did a few years back.

We had great pitching the last three games for KC. Our bats have also been producing which we did not have last year. Overall, I am pleased with the start of the season. How could I not be pleased?

I was listening to the Yankees game on XM this evening and the radio announcer talked about the Royals and how they won. He went on to say how "funny it is how fans of bad teams get excited when their team wins three games". "Like it is football or something" he said. I think he was putting us KC fans down simply because his teams gets paid so much more. Or, is it because the Yankees are in the hunt for a Word Series each year? Well, have they won the World Series recently with all of those millions? Nope! Then shut up!

The Royals play tomorrow night against Cleveland at 7:05. It will be fun to see how they do in this series and hopefully this sweep will not be their only one of the season. Go Royals!

It has been a while... but lots of things have been happening....

2008-03-29T16:29:00.004-05:00

I know it has been a while since I have posted anything. This post will be slightly different from previous posts because I have a lot of items to mention. I will try to start making regular posts once again. I do enjoy writing about various events and posting them here. I have received some interesting comments about what I have posted, so I hope others are finding this at least somewhat entertaining.

Basketball

The Kansas Jayhawks have been playing well since they beat the Texas Longhorns 84 - 74 in the Big Twelve Championship game. Since March 16, they have advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tourney. Winning with scores of 85 - 61 (over PRST), 75 - 56 (over UNLV), and 72 - 57 (over Villinova). They now have a date set for Sunday, March 30 to play Davidson.
A win for the Jayhawks and they advance to the Final Four for the first time in a lot of tries. A loss, and Bill Self is left with a disappointing season of not making it to the Big Dance.
I am feeling good about the Jayhawks at this time of year. We are playing well and the team seems to be focused on what they need to do to win. Last night in their win against Vill, I was concerned because we kept letting Vill. back into the game. When watching North Carolina play I do not see NC let their opponents back into the game; they put them away and do not look back. Kansas has a problem of losing focus in games where they have a large lead and it allows their opponent to get back in the game.
As far as my brackets go... Well, I have no shot of winning any of the seven or so brackets that I created. Three of which I am completely out of except that I still have Kansas in them to win the whole thing. Wow, a whole 100 points to win that in those brackets.
Kansas State's Beasley and Walker... What is going to happen to them? Will they be around next season? The odds say no for Beasley. If he is smart, he will not be in the Little Apple next year. Already athletes are announcing for the NBA draft, but so far there has not been any mention about Beasley being part of that draft. Only speculation about why he should do it. Walker, well, I heard that he has to talk to his people to make the decision about going pro. From what I saw from Walker this year, he should stay another year to drop weight and sharpen his skills (and attitude). If Beasley and Walker leave for the NBA, what will Kansas State be left with for a basketball team next year? Will it be worth the gamble they did on intense coach? Time will tell and it is going to be interesting to see who is around next year for the Wildcats.

Baseball

Baseball season has officially started. It started earlier this week in Japan during the early hours here in the United States. The Kansas City Royals are about to finish up their Spring Training "season" with one of their best records in my recent history. They play their last game today against the Brewers (they are losing currently 2 - 3 in top of the 8th). Their record for Spring Training is 16 and 13. Hey, they are over 500 for Spring Training and I am hoping that can continue into the regular season.
I still feel excitement about this team managed by Trey Hillman. He had what local sports radio shows referred to as unusual management style during Spring Training, but I think what he did was needed to knock some sense into this team. If you did not hear about it, Trey called the whole team on the field at the end of a loss about half-way through the ST season. He basically chewed them out in front of the opposing team and fans. I heard 610 and 810 sports radio talking saying that he should not have done this sort of thing and that it is something that would be done with a little league team. Well, I think it was needed and obviously he has the team producing because I do not think we have been over 500 in Spring Training for as long as I can remember.
The season kicks off on Monday at Detroit with a 12:05 start. Gil Meche will pitch the first game of the season for the Royals. Lets try and get off to a good start just like we did in Spring Training.
This morning I participated in my last live draft for the 2008 Fantasy Baseball season. I have five teams going into this season. It is going to be fun watching all of my leagues and making sure I have starters playing each day. My of my friends did not want to participate in fantasy baseball because it does require so much more work than fantasy football. But, I think it is fun and keeps it interesting to have fantasy teams. Let the fun begin!

Car and Ticket Update

Carrie and I once again are a two car family. We went out about two weeks ago and purchased a Honda Accord 2008. When we first looked at the '08 Accords, we did not like them at all. Well, that has since changed and we love this car more than we did the '07 Accord that was wrecked. A lot of things were changed in the new '08 Accords including the arm wrest that we did not like in the previous car; it would slide forward when coming to a stop. The new one locks in two places and works much better. The new car also includes a MP3 jack which is nice to have and not have to worry about listening to our MP3 players using radio stations. Overall, we like the new car a lot and we got a much better APR on this car than we had on the previous '07 Accord.
Carrie and I went to try and battle the ticket that she was issued for the wreck on February 6. Oh, that was interesting! This was Carrie's second trip to the courthouse and my first. The first time Carrie went to set our date for March 27 where we thought we would talk to the judge and hopefully get out of the ticket. Nope! Instead, we sat with about thirty other people all getting out of similar tickets (many worse than simply a ticket for wrecking). There were interesting people in the courtroom as you would expect. One guy had a hat on and a policewoman asked him to remove it. The guy mumbled something that involved a curse word and than did not hear the policewoman asking him what he had said. Carrie and I looked at each other and mouthed "Oh My God!". Later we realized that the guy was actually deaf, but that did not excuse him for being a dumb ass and not removing his hat when it was requested. So, we get to go back for a April 22 court date where apparently we get to represent ourselves and try to get out of the ticket. I plan on stopping by the Washburn Law School to try and get some assistance with the process because neither Carrie or I have any idea what we are doing. So, we will work on building our case and hopefully get out of a ticket on April 22.
I will see if I can get a picture taken of our new car and posted on here in the next week or so.

Well, a lot has happened since my last post back on March 16 (see Wow! Big Twelve Championship Game and NCAA Tourney). Hopefully in another short week or two there will be a lot more to post about regarding basketball, baseball, and a ticket that we manage to remove from our record.

Have a great weekend and a great week!

Wow! Big Twelve Championchip Game and NCAA Tourney

2008-03-16T18:21:00.001-05:00

Kansas played a great game to win the Championship game against Texas today. Brandon Rush was solid improving his status for a NBA pick hitting 6 of 9 from three point range with nineteen points. A overall balanced attack from Kansas once again in their win. Chalmers had 30 points today. Kansas looked good in both the first and second half which was good to see for a team that has not played great in both halves for the past half dozen games.

Of course following the Big Twelve Championship game was the NCAA tournament selection and that found Kansas a number one seed in the Midwest along with five other Big Twelve teams. Kansas State did get into the tournament and they are paired in the Midwest which is fitting. Being in the Midwest means that there could be a rubber match to decide the winner of the Kansas State vs. Kansas games of the regular season. We did lose out on seeing a rematch between these two teams during the Big Twelve tournament.

If you have not yet joined the NCAA tourney, drop me a note via a comment on this post and I will send you the information. You have until Thursday to get your entry created and your picks selected. See you in the Big Dance... the best time of the year!

Another Day... Another Win for the Royals!

2008-03-06T22:14:00.001-06:00

Kansas won today 4 - 3 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Kansas City improved to 5 - 3 in Spring Training. Can you believe it? OK, seriously, when did this last happen that KC actually won games in Spring Training? I do not recall a time when they were winning in Spring Training. Can someone tell me when the last time they were over 500 before the season started? I know it does not matter, but still it makes a fan happy after having losing seasons the past few years. Oh, I should also point out that the Royals are on a four game winning streak.

What I feel good about is that the Royals are producing with the bat in Spring Training. They have posted high scores many of the games and while they did not score a lot of runs today, they hit two homeruns. Billy Butler and Ryan Shealy hit solo homeruns in the game today. It was Ryan Shealy's second homer of the spring and it was Butler's first homerun. Both of which are promising if those trends can continue into the regular season.

OK, I need to settle down and remind myself that this is Spring Training. This is a trend I am telling myself over and over since we started winning in this not-so-important Spring Training "season". Oh, but it feels so good to see that the Kansas City Royals are 5 and 3 in Spring Training. It gives me hope that following them this Summer will not feel like a waste of time when the end of the season arrives and they are just a few games shy of 100 losses.

I can hardly wait for the Royals to start appearing on television. I heard that Fox picked up their broadcasts this year, so hopefully we will see a lot more games this year. Basically, Fox picked up the Royals Television Network (RTN) from what I read. I have not heard officially that this was taking place, but hopefully it means that their games will be available no matter where I am visiting. Previously, RTN was only available in certain areas and through certain cable companies. Of course Cox and Sunflower both carried the games and that will continue. It is simply that before RTN had to be fit in on other non-sports channels; now the games will be on Fox Sports Network as far as I can tell. More information on this later when I go and look for it.

KC plays again tomorrow at 2:05 pm CST against Colorado. We will wait to see how they play tomorrow.

Go Royals!

Royals Go to 4-3 in Spring Training

2008-03-05T22:47:00.001-06:00

The Royals win another day in Spring Training. They improve to 4-3 on the short Spring Training season. They won today over San Fran 3 - 1. Another good day of hit production and the picthing appears to have held through nine innings. Actually, the Giant got their only run in the bottom of the eigth inning, so that is not bad at all. The bases were loaded and only one run was let through. That is not bad at all!

I did not have a chance to check who they play tomorrow. I still continue to be excited for them to start the season. I did read a good article on Alex Gordon who was supposed to have a great rookie season last year (see: Gordon Attempting to Put Difficult Rookie Season Behind Him) and ended up struggling. He is expecting great things from himself this year and so far it appears that it might just happen.

I know, I cannot get excited about Spring Training, but I just cannot help it. Lets go Royals!

Kansas State Wow!

2008-03-04T22:15:00.000-06:00

Kansas State tried to lose the game late. I just finished watching the game and thought that they were going to blow it and let Colorado win the game (see Kansas State Has Problems) that I posted with six minutes left in the game. It was not a pretty finish to the game when KSU had a double digit lead in the first half.

Granted, Colorado has something to prove and was not going to roll over and give up. I did not think that it was going to end with a six point different (78-72 KSU). I thought it was going to be at least a double digit win for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats have work to do in their next road game against Iowa State on Saturday. Iowa State is in second to last place of the Big Twelve, but you can bet it will not be a cake walk. Another win is needed for KSU to make a strong case for making it to the tournament.