Random Thoughts in the USA Midwest in the Middle of October

It's raining! Finally, it's raining! Where I live in the Middle of the United States it's been a beautiful fall. We've had daytime highs in the low 80s and night time lows in the upper 50s and low 60s. It's been terrific except for one problem. We haven't had any real rain in over six weeks. I've been watering my garden and bushes every other day. With the nice days the tomatoes have continued to roll in every day. But, as I look out the window now, it's finally raining. Glorious rain! Thank God for small favors!

The rain has motivated me to write a bit since my beloved Missouri Tigers football team is out of town this weekend. The team is now 5-1 having suffered its first loss last weekend in Columbia to a good Alabama team, 27-24. Missouri could have won the game but shot itself in the foot several times and the errors ended up costing Mizzou a win.  Tonight the team is in Auburn, Alabama to take on that breed of Tiger. Mizzou is a one and a half point favorite according to the so called experts.

-Have you been watching any of the Major League Baseball playoffs? I haven't. But, then I never went to a game all season and never watched an entire game on TV including these boring playoffs. MLB continues to focus on the long ball at the expense of other facets of the game. MLB promotional types continue to screw up at every turn. I've written in the past a monkey could do a better job. It's amazing to me how whenever MLB makes a decision its the wrong one. Keep it up MLB and you'll kill the Golden Goose.

-Just to be fair while I haven't watched an entire baseball game all year, I've not watched an entire professional football game either. The pros could care less about me and will never earn my loyalty again after having dumped on me twice when my home town teams moved away to other cities.

-There are some other things I could write about politically where I live. But, I'm not going to change anyone's mind with what I write and they won't change my mind if I let them respond to anything I write. It is what it is. And speaking of off limit topics a friend of mine has a sign he puts up every year at he and his wife's NFL Championship party.  It reads "No elections, no genuflections and no erections!"

Have a great weekend and I will write again soon.

-

Congratulations to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2024

The Professional Football Hall of Fame installed its newest class this past Saturday night in Canton, Ohio.

This year's class is comprised of eight players.  They are DE Dwight Freeney, LB Randy Gradishar,  KR/PR/WR Devin Hester, WR Andre Johnson, DT Steve McMichael, DE Julius Peppers and LB Patrick Willis.

I was fortunate enough to see McMichael play against the St. Louis Cardinals in the 80s and old Busch Stadium II in downtown St. Louis.  I also saw Julius Peppers play in person at the TWA Dome, later known as the Edward Jones Dome. Peppers was a beast causing havoc in the St. Louis Rams backfield in the 00s and teens. I also had the chance to watch Gradishar and the "Orange Crush" beat up on the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. I was living in Columbia, Mo in the 80's and Arrowhead was about the same distance as Busch Stadium.

Rather than write a long article about each of these players I will defer to the Pro Football Hall of Fame website for this year's players and activities.

Super Hype Bowl

Jerry Jones - Grumpy Ass Old Billionaire

While you're watching the greatest most super duper football game of all time, I'll be enjoying dinner and then watching a movie.

It's not that I don't like football...I do.  It's just that I have no use for the NFL (No Fan Loyalty). I love college football and if you read this blog you know I'm a huge fan of the Missouri Tigers.

But, I can no longer tolerate the NFL and it's pompous owners.  Twice, I invested my time, money and loyalties in St. Louis NFL franchises.  And twice, the NFL pulled the rug out from under my feet.  What's most frustrating is both of those franchises, the Cardinals and Rams, were extremely well supported even through numerous crappy seasons due to ownership mismanagement.  And then the league's owners told the teams they could move away and screw St. Louis.

So you can see why I could care less about the Super Bowl and all of the hype that goes with it.  I also have a hard time watching all of the PC bullshit the league parades before the American public as if it really gives a shit.  My take on it is, there are 32 billionaires trying to show low and middle income fans how much they care about you.  They don't care about you and they don't care about me.  All they care about is getting even richer at the expense of the poor working stiff.

So, while the NFL propaganda machine is working overtime I'll be grilling steaks and watching something enjoyable.  The NFL can kiss my ass.

You're What?

There is an AM radio station in Saint Louis, Missouri that refers to itself as the "Sports Voice of America".  It's not.

KMOX Radio which for years has marketed itself as the Sports Voice of America has slipped badly since its heyday.  Currently the outlet has the broadcast rights for St. Louis' MLB franchise, the rights for a local college team in a mid-major basketball conference and is one of numerous stations carrying the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL.

My point is this radio station continues to promote itself in this fashion.  But, bottom line is while most St. Louisans were watching the NFL playoffs on TV, this so called sports voice was being paid to broadcast an investment information program for retirees.  But, that is probably appropriate since the stations market demographic is comprised of a large number of senior citizens.

Great Year Bengals!

Congratulations to the Cincinnati Bengals  on a tremendous 2021 football season.  They made it to the Super Bowl only to lose to a west coast team playing on its own home field.  Not exactly an equal playing field.  Cincinnati ended the year at 13-8 and could have won the NFL Championship game but the officials seemed hell bent on throwing flags against the Bengals in the last two minutes of the game.

I didn't watch the game except for the last seven minutes because I refuse to support a league that dumps all over fans and pockets billions of dollars each year while hiring felons to line the owner's pockets. In fact I didn't watch any games in their entirety all season long because I just don't care anymore.  It turns out there's much more to life than watching the national felons league on Sunday afternoons.  Fall is a beautiful time of the year with many outdoor events and activities to be shared with family and friends.

I'm glad the season is over and all of the hype from the media (ESPN to name names) is over for another six months.

Now, one can only hope the greedy players and owners in Major League Baseball will fight over a new collective bargaining agreement all season and we won't have to watch what is now the world's dullest sport.

Farewell John Madden

Photo from Wikipedia 

NFL legend John Madden died earlier today at the age of 85.  He coached in the National Football League for ten years and then spent another 30 plus years in the broadcast booth.

I was fortunate to see Madden coach the Oakland Raiders against their arch rivals the Kansas City Chiefs in the mid 70's.  The battles between Madden and the Chiefs late head coach Hank Stram at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium were always fun to watch and emotions would usually boil over amongst the players in the games.

After the 1978 season Madden retired from coaching with one Super Bowl victory under his belt.  In January 1977 the Raiders, under coach Madden's direction, beat the tar out of the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 in Super Bowl XI.  The outcome was never in doubt after the second quarter.

After coaching Mr. Madden went on to broadcast for another 30 years before retiring from that job after the 2009 Super Bowl.  He had the rare distinction of working on all four television networks; ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC where he ended his TV career.  My memories of his broadcast style were his humor and excitement in watching the games.  I remember his catchphrase as "Hey...Wait a minute!"

My prayers and thoughts go out to his wife Virginia and his family.  Rest in Peace Mr. Madden.

Adios August

Just like the rest of this year August has flown by and we are about to enter the final four months of 2021.

Where I live it was hotter than blazes at times, yet there were several cool evenings where we were able to party outside on the deck with friends and family.  And those evenings did not include any MLB or NFL which is getting ready to kick off a new year.

MLB and my beloved St. Louis Cardinals continue to bore the daylights out of me and apparently thousands of others.  I've been looking at attendance at Cardinals games and like many other major league teams, it is down significantly.  The problem is no one wants to sit around on a hot night waiting for something to happen.  The game has become little more than walks, strikeouts and home runs.  Gone are the days of small ball and strategy.  Many years ago the late Earl Weaver of the Baltimore Orioles said his strategy was to sit back and wait for a three run homer.  Unfortunately, most MLB teams appear to have adopted Earl's philosophy.

The NFL continues along on its arrogant way.  I used to know what the F stood for in that league's name but now I believe it stands for fools, or felons or freaks of fu*k ups.  I haven't watched a single play of preseason play because I could care less about the games.  The owners of the league do as they please without any repercussions.  But, that could change in the coming days.  The only thing I have been following with the league is the lawsuit filed againstit by the city of St. Louis.  The NFL allowed Rams owner Stan Kroenke to move his franchise to Los Angeles for what he claimed was a lack of support and St. Louis refusing to build him a new stadium.  The fact is St. Louis fans sold out every game until the final two years the Rams played in St. Louis when they could no longer tolerate the crappy product Kroenke placed on the field to escape his contract at America's Center.

Now the St. Louis lawsuit being heard in federal court in St. Louis has reached the point where owners have been told they must open their books to the court.  My guess is Stan Kroenke and his buddies in the billion dollar boys club like Robert Kraft, Jerry Jones and David Tepper won't want to be bothered with this inconvenience and will tell NFL lackey Roger Goodell to make the litigation go away.

Some so called experts believe making it go away will include granting St. Louis an expansion franchise.  My guess is that won't happen but the city will get a windfall of money, which it will then piss away instead of repairing its crumbling infrastructure.

What will happen with the lawsuit?  Stay tuned, the NFL is due in court again in September.  And who knows, baseball may get lucky and have one or two pennant races even though most everything else is all but decided.  On the positive side, college football kicks off this weekend.  The games are way too long because of instant replays and bazillions of commercials inserted into the game so you can watch it on cable TV for "free".  But, the game itself remains exciting when the players are actually playing.

Anyway, that was my August, I hope you had a good one and your September is even better. 

Mickey Mouse News Operation

 

ABC Nightly News did a lot to damage its integrity this evening.

The network on at least three occasions promoted a "story" in its "newscast" about the upcoming NFL college player draft being held in Cleveland  this year.

I had planned on turning off the newscast about 15 minutes in, but ended up watching until the final "story" which was about the draft.  Seems as if the news story was just a promo for the draft which would air later in the evening on the ABC network.  ABC which is owned by Walt Disney Corporation, and which carries the league's games, tried to justify is deceptive practices by interviewing the commissioner of the league Roger Goodell.  Goodell told ABC News this year would be better than last year's draft because fans would be back in attendance.

No kidding?

ABC there are a number of options for national and international news besides your Disney directed agenda.  Keep it up and you will not be an option for a lot of people.

2017 Hall of Fame - Football

Over the weekend the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio inducted seven new members into the ranks of its membership.  Those inducted were Morten Anderson, Terrell Davis, Kenny Easley, Jerry Jones, Jason Taylor, LaDainian Tomlinson and Kurt Warner.

During the past 30 years I saw all of them play.  Briefly each of them was unique in their own way in which they dominated the game.

-Anderson impressed me with the longevity of his career. He played for five teams over 25 years and was named to the NFL All Decade Teams of the '80 and 90's.  He scored 2,544 points over that 25 year career.

-Terrell Davis spent his entire career with the Denver Broncos and when he was in the backfield with John Elway the Broncos were a force with which to be reckoned.  When the Broncos won Super Bowl 32 Davis was named the MVP as he scored the winning touchdown with less than two minutes left to beat the Green Bay Packers 31-24.

-Kenny Easley played at Safety for the Seattle Seahawks from the early to mid 80's  I only saw him on television since the Seahawks were still in the AFC at that time and the team I followed at Busch Stadium II, was the old St. Louis Cardinals before their move to Phoenix.  I remember Easley as quick and a hard hitter.  What surprised me was how long it took him to get to the Hall of Fame.

-Jerry Jones, who bought the Dallas Cowboys in 1989 and still owns them today, was never one of my favorites.  When he fired longtime Dallas legend Tom Landry I thought Jones was an ego maniac more interested in promoting himself than helping the Cowboys win.  What I didn't know at the time was he would hire his friend Jimmy Johnson and with Johnson's sills the Cowboys would win three Super Bowls in the mid '90s.  Jones also should be recognized for building a one billion dollar stadium with private funding.

-Jason Taylor was a quick strong defensive end whom I mainly remember from the Miami Dolphins. I never saw him play in person in St. Louis even when he played for the Redskins.  Taylor made six pro bowls and was a first year inductee into the Hall of Fame.

-LaDainian Tomlinson to me was the face of the San Diego Chargers.  I remember watching him play in college for TCU and knew he would be good in the pros.  And he was.  In 2006 Tomlinson rushed for 28 touchdowns and scored three more on pass receptions.  Tomlinson was named to the All Decade team by the NFL for the 2000's.  It's a shame he never got to play in a Super Bowl.

-Kurt Warner as a member of the St. Louis Rams became one of my favorite players and I count myself fortunate to have seen him play many a game for the Rams in their Super Bowl seasons of 1999 and 2001.  To be honest I never thought St. Louis would win a Super Bowl after they lost the Cardinals in 1987.  But, little did we know at that time a young man by the name of Warner would lead them to victory over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl 34.  You've probably heard the story of rising from grocery store stock clerk to pro quarterback so I won't re-visit that, but if a Hollywood screen writer had written it, the story would have been dismissed as unbelievable.  Warner quarterbacked "The Greatest Show on Turf" and with his talented offensive teammates, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt along with the coaching of Dick Vermeil and "Mad Mike" Martz, those teams re-wrote the offensive record books.  Warner, became a role model in St. Louis and he lived his Christian faith and gave back and continues to give to the St. Louis community today while living in Arizona.

The induction ceremony on Saturday night lasted four and a half hours and the speeches were long. I am not going to include videos for all seven of the inductees.  But, because Warner is one of my favorites players I am including the link to his speech.  The NFL Hall of Fame does not permit the video to be embedded into this blog so here again is the link to watch it on YouTube.  It lasts about a half hour but I loved every minute of it.  I hope you enjoy it as well.

Photo courtesy of azcardinals.com

Happy New Year...Even If it's a Few Days Late

I am writing this on January 3rd because frankly I was too busy to write it on January first.  I didn't see the New Year in and fell asleep in front of this computer, where I am writing now, about 11 p.m. on New Year's Eve.

I have enjoyed the New Year thus far because I have not yet gone back to work.  That will happen tomorrow and may I say with tongue firmly planted in cheek I can hardly wait to get back to the office and working with a bunch of "unique" individuals.

I guess the most fun I have had in the first three days of 2017 was watching the St. Louis Blues beat up on the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL's "Winter Classic" played yesterday at Busch Stadium. The Hawks scored first, but the Blues came back with four unanswered goals to win the game 4-1.  I didn't score tickets to the game but enjoyed it with family and friends in front of my television.  The Blues were the better team yesterday, but the Blackhawks are still ahead of the Blues in the division standings.

I also took joy in watching my newly adopted Green Bay Packers beat up on the Detroit Lions on New Year's night.  I will write when I get some time about what the Packers front office did for me this past summer so that they are now my favorite NFL team since the Rams bolted St. Louis for Los Angeles.  And let me thank my friends L&J for a great day watching NFL Sunday Ticket while feeding me dinner.  You guys rock!

One thing about being on vacation is the chance to stay up late each night and to sleep in each morning.  I have enjoyed a number of fine craft beers in the past two weeks, some that have made me sleep like a baby.  But, now it is time to return to reality.  So, with reality in mind let me wish you a Happy and Healthy 2017!  May it be your best year yet and may you find it happy, health and prosperous!  Happy New Year and "Go Pack Go"!

16 Million Dollars Wasted

It's been less than a week since the NFL voted to let the Saint Louis Rams move from the Gateway City to Southern California.  St. Louis politicians tried to put pressure on the NFL to allow the Rams to stay in Saint Louis coming up with a "pie in the sky" proposal for a new stadium on the city's North Riverfront.

That proposal wasn't created out of the kindness of civic benefactors kindness.  In fact several firms made out like bandits in the process.  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (which also benefited from the call for a new stadium) published a story this morning detailing how over $16 million dollars was spent by the task force assigned with trying to keep the Rams in St. Louis.  The story can be found here.

In retrospect, St. Louis knew it had little chance of the Rams staying.  My question to St. Louis leaders is why did you throw away that much money when you have residents who can't pay their heating bills and children who are hungry?  I doubt anyone ever answer those questions.

This Could be Another Ugly Season

I'm sitting here watching the St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans play a preseason game.  The second preseason game of the year.  Yeah, I know its early, but the Rams are just, well, ugly.  As I write it is 20-7 Titans.  The first teamers are the ones to watch in these preseason games and the Rams first string stunk up the field.  They gave up 20 first half points and it could have been worse.

This may be the final season in St. Louis for the Rams and I will cheer for them as I have in the past but if they leave I will revert back to my other favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs.  Come on Rams.  Let's make it a final season to remember.

The Who Cares Superbowl

We are about four hours away from Super Bowl 49 in suburban Phoenix.  Most years I have a team I want to win.  This year I really don't care who wins the game.

I'm not a fan of either team.  I can't root for the Patriots.  The team's head coach Bill Belichick is a cheater who's been caught on more than one occasion.  And the coach of the Seahawks, Pete Carroll isn't exactly a choir boy.  To put it mildly I think Carroll is a sleazeball who jumps ship at the first sign of adversity. He got out of Los Angeles one step ahead of the NCAA.

Another thing about the Seahawks I don't care for is their players strange behavior.  These idiots look into a TV camera and scream.  I've heard the talk of them taking Adderall to play better. Maybe that explains the moronic behavior.

I will root for a good game.  If not I might turn on one of the marathons on a satellite channel.

It was a Good Year for the Rams

The Saint Louis Rams wrapped up their 2012 campaign with a loss at Seattle on Sunday afternoon 20-13.  That loss gave them an overall record of 7-8-1.  But, what is encouraging is that is six fewer losses than 2011.  The Rams also lost just once in their division this year.  The division record was 4-1-1.  The tie coming at San Francisco and the loss was this Sunday at Seattle.  Both of those teams are playoff bound.

The Rams are the youngest team in the NFL and have done a nice job of filling needs with draft picks and free agents.  The talent is in place. The Rams have built up a number of extra draft picks this year and next year with trades to other NFL teams prior to the 2012 draft.

Given the current management and the job done by head coach Jeff Fischer I am optimistic about the 2013 season.

Rams Start their Pre-Season

It was a great weekend if you are a sports fan.  The Olympics wrapped up in London, the PGA crowned Rory McIlroy it's new champion, the Cardinals lost two of three to the Phillies, and the Rams started their pre-season schedule where they left off last January.  The Rams dropped the first exhibition game of the season to the Indianapolis Colts 38-3.  I did not watch it but from what I have read this morning, it was ugly.

Pre-Season exhibitions don't mean squat.  But, I sure hope this Rams team improves on last year and Sam Bradford doesnt get seriously injured before the regular season begins.  Go Rams!

The NFL is Back

What a great day. I just got back from watching the 10 year old play his first tournament of the fall season...and he played well.

Now, I'm watching football at a local watering hole that has the NFL Sunday Ticket. It Rocks. This place has over 500 beers and WiFi. I think this is (outside of sex) as good as it gets!!!

The Stage is Set

Well after 17 weeks of the regular season and three weeks of playoffs the NFL has the two teams that will play in Super Bowl 45.

The Green Bay Packers jumped on top early and held on to beat a feisty Chicago Bears team 21-14. I have to wonder what would have happened had Bears QB Jay Cutler not been injured just prior to halftime. Also, Aaron Rodgers looked like a deer in the headlights in the second half after the Bears upped the pressure on him. The Pack is fortunate to have held on to win.

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers on going to their 8th Super Bowl. The Steelers jumped on top of the New York Jets early and got up 24-0 before New York scored just before half. The Jets came back in the second half and made it close but no cigar. The final was Steelers 24-19.

If I had to speculate at this point I would predict the Packers by two over the Steelers in the Super Bowl. But, that's two weeks away. Stay tuned for the reasons why I feel Green Bay will win that game.

Football Part - II

The St. Louis Rams season didn't end as I had hoped. They ended up losing to the Seahawks in Seattle 16-6. The Rams didn't move the ball all night long and you have to credit the Seahawks defense for coming up with a game plan that shut down Sam Bradford and Steven Jackson. (Although part of the blame has to go the Rams receiver corp which dropped numerous catchable balls). The Rams had too many three and outs and never did get un-tracked. The squad ended the 2010 campaign with a 7-9 record. While it tied Seattle for the NFC West title, Seattle won the tie-breaker by having a better division record than St. Louis.

If you had told me in July the Rams would win seven games in 2010 and be battling for a playoff spot the final game of the season I would have been ecstatic. The seven wins surpassed the team's win total for 2007, 2008 and 2009 combined.

After seeing the team win some tough games, my expectations going into Seattle were a lot higher than where they were a year ago. After all the Rams had beaten up on Seattle on their visit to the Jones Dome. But, alas it wasn't meant to be.

I am looking forward to the 2011 season (if there is one) because of the improved defense and the talent that will be back on offense. With a good draft this spring the Rams could not only make the playoffs but be playing late into January.

Thoughts on the Rams

Here it is Christmas Eve and the St. Louis Rams, who won only one game last year, are leading the NFC West. Granted they are not a good team, but they are the best in a mediocre division. And like it or not the winner of the division will host a playoff game. The Rams are 6-8 and tied with Seattle. But, the Rams beat the Seahawks earlier this season and hold the tie breaker at this point. Just one game back is San Francisco.

Up next is the 49ers on Sunday afternoon at the Jones Dome. The Rams lost to the Niners earlier this season at Candlestick Park in overtime. But, the Jones Dome has a definite home field advantage. The Rams should prevail on Sunday afternoon. After the Rams game finishes the Seahawks will be playing about 3,000 miles from their home at Tampa Bay. The Rams lost in Tampa earlier this season on the final play of the game.

The Rams will then wrap up the regular season with a road trip to Seattle the first weekend of the new year. That game will have a playoff atmosphere as the winner will most likely win the division and get to host the first round wild card game on the weekend of January 8th & 9th.

Thoughts on This Past Weekend

First of all congratulations to Nebraska on it's 31-17 win over my beloved Tigers. The Huskers punched Mizzou squarely in the mouth on their first possession of the game and never looked back. Running Back Roy Helu, Jr. ran for 307 yards and scored on three long touchdown runs. I am sure there were some Tiger D'backs who had nightmares for Halloween dreaming about trying to run him down. But, they couldn't he was just too doggone fast. In fact the whole Nebraska team is fast. Combine that with the domination from the Huskers Offensive Line and that was the difference in the game. On a brighter note, while the Tigers got down 24-0, they never gave up and at one point had cut the gap to ten points. But, then Helu took off down the field frustrating the Tigers. Still even in a tough loss on the road to Nebraska, I am very proud of my Missouri Tigers. They are now 7-1 and ranked 12th in the latest BCS poll. Up next this Saturday is a trip to Lubbock, Texas to take on a 4-4 Texas Tech Team. M-I-Z!!!

On a happier note the young St. Louis Rams continue to grow and learn how to win. The Rams beat a bad Carolina Panthers team 20-10 yesterday. Even with injuries at the Wide Receiver position the Rams were able to move the ball when needed. The Rams are now 4-4 headed to their bye week. The schedule is not nearly as favorable for the Rams in the next eight weeks. The team has one one home game between now and December 19th. But, I look forward to the second half of the season as this team continues to grow and improve. Go Rams!