Happy 21st Birthday Anti-Post!

Today marks the 21st anniversary of this blog. I started it on this date, May, 21, 2005. I didn't really know what to expect but was gung-ho to jump on this new form of communication called a "blog". At the time there were literally thousands of blogs popping up on the web. As you are probably aware, since then many of the blogs that existed have gone away or have been abandoned by the authors. There have been several times when I thought I was done with "The Anti-Post".

My favorite topics have been sports related. I love writing about my beloved Missouri Tigers and ripping on Major League Baseball's incompetence. I also love to rip on local and national media when they screw up or attempt to pass off commercials as news. (It happens more frequently now, then it did 21 years ago. Now, you'd be surprised how many stations are compensated for news coverage or product placement).

Sometimes it's been a blast to write for, God only knows, who reads this. Other times its been a drudge to find a topic and write. My current goal is to post at least once a month. So, with this birthday post I've doubled my average monthly production!

I will keep writing as long as I'm able if you will keep reading. I very much appreciate your patronage!

A Sad Day for Radio News is Approaching

Following almost 99 years of operation, CBS News Radio will go dark tomorrow night at 10:30 p.m. CDT. The CBS Radio Network started the news service in September 1927. Rather than attempting to paraphrase its history, read this Wikipedia article.

As a broadcast journalist who spent much of my life reporting, writing and anchoring newscasts, this makes me sad. CBS was the gold standard for radio news and was the source for many Americans getting their news from the second world war. Edward Murrow covered the blitz of London, the numerous battles as the fascist Axis powers plowed through much of Europe and North Africa. That was followed by the D-Day Invasion of France and the eventual liberation of much of Western Europe. Murrow was also the first American radio journalist to break the news of the existence of German POW camps near the end of the war.

CBS Radio News also broke the news that President John Kennedy had died in Dallas on November 22, 1963. They scooped all other outlets with a source in Texas who verified the fact the President was dead, before others had a clue what was happening at Parkland Memorial Hospital. I use the word scoop in this post because that's what a scoop is. Not the baloney tossed about today by cable networks and local newscasts.

In January 1986, CBS News broke the news to its listeners the space shuttle Challenger had exploded shortly after it lifted off from Kennedy Space Center. The CBS Radio News network also told listeners of its affiliates about the attacks on the World Trade Center in Manhattan on September 11, 2001.

CBS News was the only network of which I'm aware that featured a ten minutes newscast at 6 p.m. every weeknight. It was called the "CBS World News Roundup" and gave its listeners every significant story that happened domestically and internationally that day.

I have a personal tie to the CBS News format and style. I studied Journalism at the University of Missouri, in the early 1970s which had a strong relationship to CBS. I was taught how to write a newscast following the CBS style that included re-writing the AP "A" wire, pulling voicers, wrap arounds and actualities from the CBS feed to affiliates. My efforts were graded and my professors must have liked what they heard. That education served me well through my 40+ year broadcast career.

Friday will be a sad day for me both professionally and personally. CBS Radio News you will be gone but the stories you covered will live on in my memory.

MLB Screws Up Again

Happy last day of April. I hope it's been a good month for you. I've been working a part time gig, which makes it one of my busiest months of the year.

Baseball is back and so are some changes to MLB's (Major League Baseball's) rules. This year computer umpires are calling every pitch of the game, but so are human umpires. The human umpire behind home plate is still calling balls and strikes the entire game, but this year, pitchers and batters can challenge a ball-strike call if they think the ump missed it.

Image courtesy of nesn.com

With a lot of rain in April where I live, I've seen a lot of games. And I've seen a lot of ABS challenges. (ABS is the computer umpire calling every pitch.) I don't like ABS.

Many of the challenges show the umpire made the right call. But, everyone makes mistakes and the human gets overruled. Then a ball becomes a strike or vice versa. Teams are given two challenges per game and, as long as they are right in their challenge, they retain them. But, if they are wrong, they lose a challenge. Then miss another one, and the team has none left for the rest of the game. The problem is, as the game gets to the late innings, the challenges mess up the rhythm of the game, and it drags out the last inning or two. Combine the ABS challenges with the other challenge calls, and it slows down the pace of the game, especially if the score is tight in the last few innings.

My advice to MLB is to get rid of ABS challenges and let umpires do their jobs just as they have for the last 157 years. Maybe some fans like looking at a scoreboard image to see if the baseball touched an imaginary electronic strike zone. I don't.

Get rid of it MLB and, while you're at it, re-evaluate the other video replay challenges allowed too frequently in major league games. 

Happy Spring 2026

It's been several weeks since I've written but in that time our long cold winter has given way to warmer temperatures and more sunshine where I live.

All, I can says is thank God!  Now, I can get out in my yard and work in it. I will try again to kill all of the weeds along my neighbor's and my fence line. Honeysuckle is a noxious weed and every summer I try to eradicate it and each spring it comes back with a vengeance. But, this year I have a new weapon with which to battle the weed. It's all natural ingredients and friends have told me it works if applied properly. I am a skeptic so we shall see. If it does the job I will let you know.

You are probably aware I don't have much use for winter. So, today I am a happy camper with the high forecast in the upper 70s.

Big Spring Missouri - image courtesy explorewestplains.com

Hope You are Doing Well

Greetings, we've made it to the end of the month and are one day closer to Spring. I am alive and well and have frequently planned to write in this blog, but just as frequently got distracted. As a result I am still posting only once or twice a month.

I have a lot to say about the current administration in the United States, but you'll need to stay tuned for my take on Washington and the way the media has reacted.

My most written about topic has always been sports. I won't go into detail about the game, but congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks on winning the NFL Championship. The Seahawks made the New England Patriots offense look like a seventh grade flag football team. I enjoyed the first half and the tough defense displayed by Seattle and New England. The second half wasn't much to see as Seattle exerted its dominance.

Look for more thoughts from an old man in the middle of the Midwest United States.