The Great Winter Storm of '09???

Much of St. Louis has slowed down today because of a piddling three inch snowfall. That's how it is currently, at least where I live. Most schools are closed and many people stayed home from work, because of the fear of a much greater snowfall amount. The hysteria was triggered by over zealous radio and TV weather forecasters.

It made for humorous television watching last night. At the first hint of a snow flake several of the stations started running crawls of cancelled events; such as the "St. Charles Old Ladies Sewing Circle" and the like. Some of these groups probably don't have more than five people who attend them, but yep, we got to see them all night long on that stupid crawl. Then, while flipping channels I saw where the ABC affiliate was running a crawl of all the schools that were closing for today. The same crawl persisted on KDNL for at least two hours and it did not appear to be updating any of the times I saw it.

Then the NBC affiliate,of which I have written of so "fondly" in the past, has a new trick. It is embedding it's call letters and logo into footage that airs in it's newscast. It is annoying and totally not professional. But, they do it because some idiot consultant has told the station to do so. KSDK's "news" director has blindly followed the order. If seeing an animated logo/call letters in the middle of your screen while your trying to watch the "news" isn't reason to stop watching the station, then I don't know what is. The station is owned by Gannett and it has always had a large amount of cheesy crap it obscures the picture with, while you're trying to watch NBC programs.

KWMU Update

The Riverfront Times has updated it's readers on KWMU.

The alternative newspaper wrote last spring about the management "style" of former GM Patty Wente. The article helped to drive her from the position after an investigation was launched by the University of Missouri which owns the St. Louis NPR affiliate. Since then Tim Eby has taken over as the boss of the station which resides on the UMSL campus.

The latest RFT article also reports KWMU with it's highest ever rating in the fall Arbitron book.

I am So Ready for Spring

It snowed today and the ground is covered in white. It's 18 degrees outside, the sky is dark and threatening more snow. In fact the forecast calls for a chance of snow from now until Wednesday. And it's not going to warm up very much any time soon. The high for the work week should be about 35 degrees on Thursday. And the furnace is running off and on all the time. I like being warm but I hate paying the gas company a fortune just to be moderately warm.

Uggghhh! I am ready for spring.

I Would Say They Have no Integrity

A journalism professor of mine told me many years ago if you see an advertisement on the front page of a newspaper it means one of two things. Either the paper is going broke or it has no integrity.

Well the same can be said of a St. Louis TV station that runs advertisements inside it's "newscast". The local CBS affiliate, KMOV, is doing just that. I was flipping channels after the Mizzou game ended and the sports dude was showing highlights of the St. Louis Blues. But, down below it was an ad for a local hamburger chain just as plain as day sitting next to a crawl of NBA and NHL scores.

Since the parent company of this TV station, Belo Broadcasting, isn't going broke it verifies the management at the TV station has no integrity. Shades of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which pulled a similar stunt about a year ago.

Tigers Escape Stillwater with a Win

My beloved Tigers basketball team went into Stillwater, Oklahoma this evening and escaped with a 97-95 win against a good Oklahoma State squad. The Tigers led by 20 points with ten minutes to go in the second half but barely got out of the pit; Gallagher-Iba arena. The Tigers pressure wore down the Cowboys in the second half as they built the lead. But, OK-State capitalized on Missouri's turnovers and cut the lead to a point with a minute to go.

The win moves Mizzou to 16-3 and 3-1 in the conference. OK-State is now 12-5 and 2-2. The Tigers play next at home Saturday against Texas Tech.

It also provides some payback for the Cowboys football upset of Missouri in Columbia back in October.

Bimbo Alert

I had the opportunity (or should I say misfortune) to watch Fox "News" last night while it was covering the inaugural balls. Fox was patting itself on the back for having reporters at a large number of the balls and went to one of it's "reporters" in the field. Megyn Kelly, while doing her stand-up, stopped and turned her back to the camera. She then told someone at the party "I love you too". Granted, a reporter should have some leeway in a light feature, but come on. If you want people to respect your product then start acting like a professional and not some bimbo beauty queen.

George....He's Not Dead

Somebody at ABC needs to tell George Stephanopoulos to calm down. I am not quite sure who decided this guy should be on a national network doing commentary but for some reason he is doing just that. And not very well.

George stuck his foot in his mouth earlier this afternoon when news of Ted Kennedy getting sick at a lunch for the new president was put out by ABC. Stephanopoulos made the following remark..."Gee, Barack Obama really admired Ted Kennedy". Hey George why are you speaking in the past tense... Teddy Kennedy isn't dead! George, please sit down and shut up.

Congratulations Mr. President

The United States has a new chief executive. About an hour and a half ago, Barack Obama took the oath of office and succeeded George W. Bush.

Is this a new day for America? I don't know. I certainly wouldn't want the job that Mr. Obama has just assumed because he has his hands full with domestic and international issues we have been facing for years. And keep in mind Mr. Obama is just a man...he is not the messiah some have attempted to portray him.

I pray for Mr. Obama that God may grant him wisdom and safety and that he may be just in his actions.

May God Bless America!

Uh, Gee...You Think?

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a story this weekend saying gambling may have played a role in the theft of money from a local school district". Really???

Not exactly breaking news there Post-Dispatch. The Superintendent, Henry Williams of the Riverview Gardens School District was convicted of stealing TWO WEEKS ago. At that time the prosecutor told the media "gambling" was the motivation for the theft.

I guess the Post missed that news conference. Maybe it's reporter was too busy looking up the value of the stock of the paper's parent company. Oh, for the record Lee Enterprises closed on Friday at 36 CENTS per share.

Spagnuolo to be Rams Next Coach

According to the NFL web site New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will be the St. Louis Rams next head coach.

Spagnuolo was apparently not the Rams first choice. The Rams wanted to hire Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. But, Ryan is headed to the New York Jets. Spagnuolo is going to have his hands full trying to get the Rams back into playoff contention after the dismal just completed 2-14 season. Spagnuolo will replace interim coach Jim Haslett who got canned this past week.

The thing that gets me is Haslett had a selfish bunch of individuals on the Rams playing better than they had their first four games of the season. Firing Haslett is like firing the school principal because little Billy in the third grade got a F on his history test.

Spagnuolo should be announced to the public as the new head coach in St. Louis on Monday afternoon. From a Rams fan point of view the team of Spagnuolo and GM Billy Devaney can't do any worse than the management team that had been in place until this past fall.

A Tasty APA

Over the weekend I got to visit Mattingly Brewing in south St. Louis. The establishment is brewing it's own beer now and has come up with a winner in it's APA. The micro brewery has created a beer called "Hoptimal Munition APA" and I enjoyed it. It is reddish brown in color and has the characteristic hop and evergreen smell when you smell the aroma. The hops and malt do not disappoint as they come across the palate. And the beer finishes nicely. I would recommend it to anyone who likes the APA style.

Mattingly's is on South Jefferson and is, how shall I put it, "cozy". The night I was there several young couples had turned their children loose on the bar and it was very loud. But, that won't stop me from returning. The beer was that good. In fact, Mattingly's is having it's grand opening this coming weekend.

According to the barmaid Mattingly's is now brewing four styles and it will expand in the near future. In the meantime it is serving several Boulevard, Schlafly and Odell Brewing beers to supplement it's own offerings.

The Host Makes the News

I happened to watch the CBS affiliate this evening and the anchor appeared clean shaven. No, not his beard but his head.

Belo owned, KMOV Channel Four, anchor man Larry Conners made an appearance for the first time with a clean shaven head. The new "look" dominated the banter during the newscast. While that is acceptable for TV news, the remarks stretched into the newscast itself. That is not acceptable.

Catching Up

I've been meaning to post on this for some time...but what is wrong with the New York City Council? The Yankees have made a joke of the MLB "Luxury Tax" this winter by signing Mark Teixeira, AJ Burnett and CC Sabathia.

The Yankees are paying over to $420 Million for this trio. So, it raises the question in my mind, why is the city of New York being asked for financial assistance to pay for the new Yankee stadium? If I were a city taxpayer I would be livid (especially if I were a Mets fan) about having to subsidize this mis-managed bunch in the Bronx.

Gators Win...Longhorns Get Their Due

Congratulations to the Florida Gators and Tim Tebow on an impressive win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the BCS Championship game 24-14. The Gators put up 480 yards against the OU defense and never trailed in the contest played in suburban Miami.

The win gives the Gators their second national championship in three years. As you would expect it left Florida on top of the final polls of the 2008 season. In the AP writers poll undefeated Utah finished second following it's win over Alabama a week ago. The Utes picked up a quarter of the votes for number one in the poll of writers. (In my opinion the writers poll carries more credibility than the USA Today poll of coaches. For starters how many coaches can watch games while their team is playing and secondly because the coaches are doing the voting it is more political than the writers poll).

Finishing third was USC ending the season with one loss. The Trojans beat up on Penn State New Year's Day. Fourth; the Texas Longhorns and in the five spot the losers last night, Oklahoma.

I guess there is justice in college football because Texas had beaten Oklahoma during the regular season and ended the season with just one loss. Oklahoma ended the season with two losses. Longhorn fans believed their team had been snubbed when OU got the BCS championship game bid over Texas. Texas had beaten the Sooners in mid October in the Red River Valley game 45-35.

And my beloved Mizzou Tigers, who finished 10-4 came in at number 20. It wasn't what I expected in early September but it's still the second consecutive year the Tigers finished in the top 20 teams in the nation.

Way To Go Longhorns

As a fan of Mizzou, it is sometimes hard to root for the Texas Longhorns especially after the whooping they gave the Tigers in October. But, I am happy for Texas and it's fans in their come from behind win over an Ohio State team that played over it's head in last night's Fiesta Bowl.

With the win the Longhorns run the Big XII's record in bowl games to four and two. (All three North Division teams, including Mizzou, won their bowl games). While Ohio State played well in Phoenix, it left the Little Eleven conference (OK, OK...Big 10) with a bowl record of 1-5. Once again the Little Eleven has failed to live up to the media hype. Last night the cream rose to the top.

Happy New Year

This is slightly belated as the past few days have been a blur. But, I hope that you and those who care about you have a healthy, peaceful and prosperous 2009. 2008 wasn't the best year I've seen but it still was great to be alive and to witness the many events that took place in the year just past.