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.

Goodbye Saint Louis Rams

Good bye Rams. You were fun to follow for about ten years of your time here.  I never thought I would see a Super Bowl Champ in Saint Louis but the "Greatest Show on Turf" with Faulk, Warner, Bruce, Holt, Pace, Fletcher and Jones were among the most exciting football teams I have ever seen. But, the past ten years haven't been that great. In fact to be honest you were terrible but we still loved you and sold out the dome until the end when Stan Kroenke made known his plans to move you out of town. Am I sorry to see you leave. Of course. But, I will get past you. There are 31 other teams in the NFL we can watch. And Mizzou will always be in Columbia with fans more loyal than most NFL franchises will ever know.

So goodbye Rams, and good luck supporting this poorly managed franchise to the fans in Southern California who will now cheer for you in their second chance. As far as you Stan Kroenke; you could have just kept your mouth shut and not gone scorched earth policy on the St. Louis region. You don't have a lot of fans here and my advice is leave quickly and don't let the door hit you in the butt.

A Look Back at 2015 - What a Year

I hope this finds you well and that you all had a nice Christmas.

My 2015 was good with the highlight coming in September.  I made a journey through 13 states and drove 3,000 miles to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, the Green Mountains of Vermont, Boston and its Freedom Trail and Fenway Park and then up the coast of New Hampshire to Maine.  I had a blast visiting places I had only read about previously.  The Hall of Fame  was awesome and I've attached a photo of the plaque of my favorite player as a child.  The plaque of Stan Musial.

Boston was nicer than I expected and the Freedom Trail brought the Revolutionary War to life as I visited the likes of Paul Revere's home, the Old North Church, the USS Constitution, Bunker Hill, the site of the Boston Massacre and Boston Common.  I was impressed with most of what I saw there, but the USS Constitution (in dry dock) was a highlight of walking the Freedom Trail.  On my way back to the burbs (where I stayed because Boston hotels are too darn expensive) I visited Fenway Park and took a tour of the facility.  I got down on the field while the Red Sox were taking batting practice, got to touch the Green Monster and then got to sit in the seats on top of it.  It is old but to me was in better shape than Chicago's Wrigley Field.   (It also doesn't smell like urine as does Wrigley).

The ocean in New England was different than anywhere else I have been. I drove through Seabrook and Portsmouth, NH and then into Maine.  The rock on the beach looks like lava.  The beach was rugged but beautiful in its own way.  After leaving Maine I made it home in two days.  The day I started back was 9/11 and it took me about four hours to get around the suburbs of New York City.  I made it as far as Hershey, PA.  (Somehow I had never heard of this place before arriving there late that night.. What a pleasant surprise!)  The next day I drove 850 miles and got home late evening.  After sleeping in hotels and motels for a week it was nice to sleep in my own bed.  It was a lot of miles and time in the car but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

This past football season was unlike any I have ever seen in almost 50 years of watching Mizzou.  As  you know the football team joined campus protests which ultimately led to the resignation of the University President and Chancellor.  And head coach Gary Pinkel resigned at the end of the season because he is battling a form of Leukemia.  On top of this throw in the starting QB getting suspended mid season and then being suspended for the rest of the year after he got into a fight while being heckled at the Fieldhouse the night after he was initially re-instated.  Maty Mauk has now been re-instated to the team by new coach Barry Odom.  My guess is Mauk won't be back to Columbia.  While, Mizzou's offense struggled, the new QB true freshman Drew Lock learned under fire in the SEC.  His offensive line was not very good and his receivers dropped passes they should have caught.  In reality the Tigers were lucky to go 5-7.  I am glad they made the decision not to pursue a bowl berth because they would have just embarrassed themselves.  Still, I am glad to have my season tickets and have a lot of good times going back to tailgate each week

In my spare time I followed the Cardinals and Rams, who are apparently not long for St. Louis.  I also hacked around on the golf course when time allowed and I watch the kids play tournaments on travelling teams in the summer time.  One is 14 and the other is 12.  I also spent a lot of time visiting craft breweries when I could.  I have developed a liking for craft beers after drinking the pee water that came out of the AB plant in St. Louis for the first 40 years of my life and now know there are a lot more styles and flavor to choose from.  I live in an area that now has about 35 breweries and I have to support the local economy..

Well reader. I have told you more than you probably care to know and did not mean for this to become such a long post.  I hope 2016 brings you peace, health and prosperity!

Happy New Year 2016!

Here's hoping that 2016 brings you the best of everything. May your year be filled with peace, health and prosperity. Happy New Year to you your family and friends!

Thoughts from a Mizzou Fan on the 2015 Football Season

I have never seen anything like this in the 50 plus years I've been watching Mizzou play football. From a season in which the Quarterback was suspended and then kicked off the team to the team boycotting practice and demanding the resignation of the University President...to the Head Coach saying he was resigning because of his health, it certainly made for a unique year.

I am sorry QB Maty Mauk has been through such a pressure filled time in his life.  His father is battling cancer and I personally know that is a major mental challenge.  Maty Mauk also felt the pressure of a huge fan base dis-satisfied with his offense's inability to the move the ball.  Some of it was Mauk's fault but a large portion of the failure rested squarely on the shoulders of the offensive line.  This is more pressure than most 21 year old kids can handle and ultimately Mauk succumbed to it.  Apparently he also made a poor decision by placing himself in a position where he would get into trouble.  You know the result.  Head coach Gary Pinkel removed him from the team permanently.  I certainly wish Maty Mauk well and hope he can get some help and land on his feet somewhere he can contribute.  Mauk is a gifted athlete.

I have mixed emotions about the President of the University retiring.  I understand the frustration with the way minorities have been treated at times in Columbia.  I am white but I get it.  Keep in mind though that Columbia is probably the most liberal city in the state of Missouri.  But, it is in a region known as "LittleDixie".  I was not there to witness any of the insults but my belief is the insults and epithets were hurled by non-University of Missouri students in an effort to create racial disharmony.  The motivation is difficult to comprehend but the world is full of stupid ignorant people.  As far as TimWolfe resigning I believe it should not have happened.  As one much wiser than me put it..."how is one man supposed to stop racism in an entire state".  Wolfe could have been more transparent when approached by African American students but he should not have been terminated.  The Chancellor of the Columbia campus also resigned under fire.  R. Bowen Loftin had been the object of African American wrath for several months until the day of the University's Homecoming parade.  At that time an incident involving Wolfe and his car in the parade turned the wrath to him.  I do believe Loftin's resignation should have happened sooner.

This post is getting long so I will cut to the chase.  I am sorry that Gary Pinkel is resigning after restoring pride to a program that had been a laughing stock of the nation until this millennium.  Pinkel never got to a BCS game or won a Conference Title but he took Mizzou to the next level when he won divisional titles on four occasions in the Big 12 and SEC Conferences.  While I am sad to see Coach Pinkel go, I applaud his looking after his health and spending time with his family. Gary Pinkel you will be missed.

And finally while the Tigers could have played in a bowl game with a mediocre 5-7 record, I am glad they chose not to seek the NCAA's approval to play in one as did Minnesota and Nebraska. Missouri stated its reason as focusing on a new head coach and staff and recruiting for the future.  I am pleased with the selection of Barry Odom as the new head coach.  Odom is a former Tiger player and has distinguished himself as a top level Defensive Coordinator.  His players are glad he is going to be the boss. I'm pleased with him bringing in new staff for the 2016 season.  I hope the changes will take the Tigers to the next level.  But I know as a season ticket holder, alum and Tiger fan Odom will have his hands full in 2016 when he has road games at West Virginia, LSU, Florida, SouthCarolina, and Tennessee.  I am optimistic about the 2016 season.  But to wrap this up I hope I never see events at my beloved Alma Mater as I lived through this past season.  M-I-Z!