KC Confidential

Think of it as a Big 12 / SEC bragging rights showdown…

Missouri vs. Oklahoma State on January 3rd. The near Big 12 champ going up against the near SEC champ.

The chance to show the world that the conference MU jilted, it never should have left. To demonstrate that 10-2 in the Big 12 trumps 10-2 in the SEC.

That Missouri’s successes this year were based in no small part on luck, being in the right place at the right time against teams like Texas A&M that were down on their luck. That Missouri lost to the only two good teams it played that were healthy.

And that’s what makes January’s Cotton Bowl matchup next month so appealing.  Continue reading →

Might as well cut to the chase…

“Well, how bad do Missouri fans feel right now realizing that if they’d won the Auburn game yesterday, they would have been playing in the national title game?” wonders comedy club owner-turned-sports scribe Craig Glazer. “I was watching some of the highlights of the game and when it comes right down to it, we all kind of knew better with Missouri. I mean, their offense played good, but it wasn’t good enough. And overall, you have to look at three things.

“First, Missouri was overrated, especially their defense, because Auburn moved the ball on them at will. Second, with all the accolades that were being thrown at Missouri coach Gary Pinkel‘s coaching staff, it didn’t seem like Missouri had a clue of what to do against Auburn’s offense. They were completely clueless. They weren’t prepared. And I’m sorry, Gary Pinkel, that falls at your footsteps. So do you blame the Missouri coach staff? I do. Continue reading →

Click Image to Watch Jeff Gordon’s Pepsi Max Test Drive

The hits just keep on coming…

When it comes to Fast & Furious star Paul Walker post death crash remembrances, the sky’s the limit. One week later and everybody still wants in.

“Gone Too Fast,” reads the headline in Entertainment Weekly. “Paul Walker was more than Hollywood’s wingman. he was one of the good guys.”

The $64 million question:

Why have virtually 100 percent of the media breathlessly covering Walker’s dangerous and deadly ride shied away from criticizing him?

“You’re right, I haven’t heard anybody take that angle,” says Roger Peugeot aka Roger the Plumber, who drives of a red Nissan Z sports car “Although some of the people I’ve had conversations with about it have said that sometimes people think they’re invincible because they’ve got so much money and they’re never going to get hurt.

“But if you do something and you don’t know better, that’s pretty ignorant. But if you do something and you know better, that’s just stupid. And Walker could have really hurt somebody. I can see where the news people don’t want to say anything bad about somebody who just died, but…” Continue reading →

One year ago the Beaumont Club in Westport was poised to bite the dust…

Go for a dirt nap. After 20 years, to disappear from the annals of Kansas City pop culture and live music history forevermore.

From its inception as a country and western dance club in 1993 to its lame battle of the local bands finale late last December, the Beaumont Club carved out its niche in local history books by introducing the Cowtown to its first ever “bubble room” experience and hosting the stickiest, glittery-est, hardest to clean up after show ever with the Insane Clown Posse.

And while the room, when crowded, was as poor a place to watch a show as it got, the Beaumont hosted some of the top talent ever to grace the small stage here; from Hank Williams III to Jane’s Addiction to Big & Rich. Continue reading →

Irascible, meet sage…

Music and entertainment pundit Bob Lefsetz takes time out from his keystroke laden life to share some long-overdue wisdoms on one of the douchiest heartthrobs of the past decade, John Mayer.

“We always had an inkling that John Mayer was a douche — ever since we heard lyrics like like, ‘You got this room for two / One thing I’ve left to do / Discover me / Discovering you,’ ” Huff Post Comedy wrote recently. “But now it seems that Mayer is not content with his lyrics doing the talking, and jumps at the chance to out-douche himself with every interview he gives.”

Take Mayer’s so-called crayon philosophy: Continue reading →

Just win, baby…

We’ve all heard that one. And so it is that deceased former Merriam Mayor Irene French‘s autobiographical-like obituary boasts of having “accomplished” the Baron BMW car complex and the Merriam Town Center shopping mall.

All of which is largely true, but at what price?

The 86 year-old French enjoyed a 20 year reign as mayor of term limitless Merriam, but she went out with a bang…and not necessarily a good one.

“Turmoil recalled as dealership holds opening,” reads the headline in the Star, announcing Baron BMW’s completion in October of 2000.

Let’s talk wrestling…

Pro wrestling, of course, which all but limits us these days to World Wrestling Entertainment, the Stamford, Ct. company that drove just about everybody else in this country in the grappling game out of biz.

Sure, sure, sure, there’s a local outfit in KCK that goes by Metro Pro Wrestling, but judging by the fact that its last known match was a “dog collar” bout last summer between two dudes named Adam Pearce and Jeremy Wyatt at Turner High School – I ask you – are they really a factor?

That was a rhetorical question; the answer obviously is no, so let’s move on.

Because since the WWE has a virtual monopoly, once again it’s raising the stakes – as in the ticket prices. Continue reading →

Anybody else do a double take when they saw that list of former Chiefs players suing the team for head injuries?

Because lo and behold, smack in the middle of that Gang of Five, stood former Chiefs star and respected attorney and man-about-town Joe Phillips.

Remember him?

Phillips is the defensive tackle that went from hero to zero and dropped from sight seven or so years ago. Here’s what Kansas City Star sports reporter Randy Covitz wrote about Phillips in July of 2006:

“Today Joe Phillips is a wanted man. Continue reading →