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!

Labels: 2008, Baseball, football, Jayhawks, Kansas, Shawnee Country Club, Topeka

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!

Labels: 2008, basketball, Bill Self, Jayhawks, Kansas, party, Topeka

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!

Labels: 2008, Bill Self, Jayhawks, Kansas, Kansas City

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!

Labels: 2008, Baseball, basketball, Beasley, Big Twelve, Carrie, Honda Accord, Jayhawks, Longhorns, Topeka, Walker, Wreck

Labels: 2008, basketball, Jayhawks, Kansas, Kansas State, Texas

Labels: 2008, basketball, Jayhawks, Kansas

What a Saturday! Trip to Legends to celebrate a birthday (see Birthday Celebration for Juanca) and college basketball. It does not get much better than that to make for a perfect Saturday!

My day started off taking the Civic to get brakes checked, oil changed, and fluids checked. I was at Sharp Honda for a little over an hour. While I was there I test drove a Honda Accord 2008 which I liked, and watched ESPN Game Day. They were of course at Allen Field House the Home of the Jayhawks for Game Day. The place was already rock'n at 10 am and the game was not until that evening. This only fueled the excitement and environment for the rematch of K-State and KU.

Kansas State beat up on the Jayhawks back in February in Manhattan. The Jayhawks went to the "Little Apple" and suffered their first loss of the season. This started a slide for them of not playing well and another loss to Texas. After beating KSU yesterday 88 - 74. Beasley scored 39 points for the Wildcats, but he did not get much help from the rest of the Cats. I did not have a chance to watch the first half, but from what I read on Jason Whitlock's post on the KC Star that KU won with help from the officials. I did not see those calls, so I cannot comment on whether there was help from the officials to give the game to the Jayhawks.

I do know that Walker and Pullen got into some kind of funk and did not step up to what needed to be done to win the game. I do not care how many points a start player makes, there still has to be help from his teammates to win the game. Basketball is after all a team sport and it requires a team to win the game. Too often this season I have watched Beasley score a lot of points and Kansas State loses.

There is no doubt in my mind that Michael Beasley is a great player. He definitely has the talent to play in the NBA. According to Beasley, he has not stated whether he is going to the NBA or not. Read a interesting article posted on ESPN Saturday regarding Beasley and what he has gone through in his life to this point. (See Beasley teetering on the precipice of adulthood on ESPN.) I did find it interesting to hear what kind of vehicle Beasley drives and the fact that his Mom and siblings moved to Manhattan so Beasley could have his family close.

Kansas moved to 26 - 3 (11 - 3 conference) and are now tied with Texas for number one in the Big Twelve. Kansas State moves to 18 - 10 (8 - 6 conference). Kansas State is back in a position where they need to win their next two games to avoid being skipped over by the NCAA selection committee this year. Recall that last year they were skipped over as a bubble team and there is concern this could happen again this year even with a star player.

Kansas plays again Monday night against Texas Tech who just came off a huge victory of their own beating Texas 83 - 80. You can bet that Tech is going to be pumped up for Monday night when they face the league tied first place Jayhawks in Lawrence for senior night. The Jayhawks must win Monday night and again on March 8 when they face Texas A&M.

Have a great week and I will be back Monday night.

Labels: 2008, basketball, Beasley, Jayhawks, Kansas, Kansas State, Saturday, Walker, Wildcats

What a weekend it was for Washburn mens and womens basketball. WU played Emporia State on Saturday and won both games. The men won 76-58 and the women won 78-52. Both are playing well coming down the stretch of the season and playing when it is the best time to be playing well so they can go strong into the post season.

The Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday afternoon did not perform well. They never got things going in the game against going in a 60-61 loss to Oklahoma State at OSU. This is the third loss on the season for the Jayhawks and about the forth or fifth time this season that they did not appear to be playing as a team. Nothing was clicking early on in the game and they certainly did not get their typical half where the team clicked. Nothing seemed to go well for them on Saturday. There was discussion that I heard about on Monday that it was caused by the death of cousins (or relatives) of two Kansas players; according to Coach Self, this took away from the focus of these two players on the game. If this it in fact the reason, perhaps those two players should have been left behind to deal with their grief.

Saturday night found the Kansas State Wildcats losing to Baylor. Beasley and Walker combined for seventy plus points and lost the game. I did not see any of this game, but looking at the stats afterwards it would appear that no one else showed up for the game except for Beasley and Walker. Scoring that many points between two players and not able to pull out the win; something seems wrong with this picture.

Tonight found Kansas State playing the Texas Longhorns on Big Monday at 8 pm on ESPN. It was overall a good game, but once again K-State could not close the deal. They let it get away from them late in the game while leading some of the first half and starting the second half tied. Beasley had a double-double in the first half to keep that streak alive. Meanwhile, Walker only had one point in the game. So I go back to ask what happened in the KSU vs. Baylor game? Seven-five points combined and then Beasley/Walker only combined for 31 points in this game which was another loss. What is wrong with this picture?

The next game for Kansas is Wednesday night and then next Saturday it is Kansas State vs. Kansas in Lawrence, KS. After the way these two teams have been playing, it is going to be a interesting weekend!

I have to point out that there are no undefeated teams left in the NCAA. Memphis finally lost on Saturday night to Tennessee. So, as we are a week away from March it is only going to get more interesting.

Labels: 2008, basketball, Jayhawks, Kansas, Kansas State, Longhorns, Texas, Washburn, Wildcats

What a weekend it has been so far. I ended up going home sick on Thursday with a temperature of right around 100. I had not been feeling well for most of the day and I did not feel any better in the car ride back to the house. I had started acking mid-morning and had the feeling that I was running a temperature. Sure enough, I took my temperature and it was 100. I called into work to let them know that I was staying home to try and break the fever.

Friday I woke up with the same 100 degree fever that I had on Thursday. I notified work around 7 am to let them know I would not be into work. I went right back to bed and slept until about noon. Well, I should say I tried to sleep. Insurance called about the car and a question we had about how something worked; Carrie called a couple of times to check on me and see how I was doing. I did sleep most of the morning, but it did not feel like it.

At about noon on Friday I could not sleep any more, so I moved downstairs to watch television. I watched part of a movie and took another hour or so nap. When I woke up I took my temperature again and it read about 101. Crazy because the day before and that morning I had been taking Tylenol and other meds that Carrie said would help me get better. So far medication, sleep, or time was doing anything to get rid of the fever.

Carrie got home from work around 5 and found me watching a movie. She asked when the last time I had taken my temperature. I told her it was probably back around 1 or so when I had a 101 temp. So we took it again and it read 102. So, I took more medication, drank some fluids, and lay back down on the sofa. I was not getting any better and starting to feel slightly dizzy.

We spent the evening flipping channels and Carrie said she was going to make some chicken soup for me. Nothing sounded good to eat at all. The last time I ate was earlier that day when I had a left over donut from work. I said that I was going to head to bed, so Carrie wanted me to have more of this lemon tasting stuff that warms up and is supposed to make me better. I drank it and went to bed about 9:30.

Carrie kept coming up to check on me during the evening. At about midnight she woke me and took my temperature. This time it read 103. It is getting ridiculous and nothing seems to be having any effect on how I was feeling or the temperature. We agreed that if it had not improved by morning we would go to the doctor.

I slept well for the most part. Although I woke up at 5 am and could not sleep. I was dying of thirst and my head was hurting. I got up and went down to get a drink of water. I decided I better try and sleep some more because I could tell just the way I was feeling that I still had a temperature.

So when I finally wake up it is about 8 am. Carrie takes my temperature again and it is 102. Ok, so it had come down one whole degree. Crazy! I went downstairs to watch television and sleep. Taking another nap and drinking some more of the lemon flavored stuff that Carrie had we took my temperature again around noon or so and finally my temperature was under 100.

With a temperature being lower, it sure did not feel like it since I was still aking and felt like I had a temperature. I started to watch the Colorado vs. Kansas game and ended up falling asleep for the first half. I awoke to find Kansas leading by a large margin over Colorado. I do not recall the final score, but Colorado definitely did not deserve playing Kansas a second time. Colorado has played Kansas twice both times after KU comes out of a loss the game before.

So, now I start watching the Missouri vs. Kansas State game. Carrie is starting to get sick and I am about ready for another nap.

Until next time....

Labels: basketball, Jayhawks, Kansas, Saturday, Sick

It was a good game tonight for the Kansas Jayhawks. Did they finish it off strong, no? Out of timeouts and no set play to try and tie the game was not the way to finish the night at Texas. The Longhorns looked strong and played Kansas well.

While the game was being played I was playing poker (Blackjack and Texas Hold'em). Hold'em was going well, but a friend wanted to go to play Blackjack instead. This was not for real money of course, but all for free on Face Book. Granted my attention was diverted toward the end of the game while trying to watch the KU game and also focus on what I was going to do with my hand.

Going back to the basketball game, the Jayhawks simply could not contain the Longhorns. KU got off to a slow start and and could only tie it up most of the time. They never really got the lead or were they able to keep it.

Until the next game....

Labels: 2008, basketball, Jayhawks, Kansas, Longhorns, Texas

Labels: basketball, Jayhawks, Kansas, Lawrence

Labels: basketball, Big Twelve, Jayhawks, Kansas, Kansas State, Wildcats

Labels: basketball, Beasley, Discussion, Jayhawks, Kansas, Kansas State, Manhattan, Walker, Wildcats

Labels: basketball, Beasley, Discussion, Jayhawks, Kansas, Kansas State, Manhattan, Walker, Wildcats