KC Confidential

The following is a rhetorical question and requires no response from inhabitors of the Comments Section…

Like they give a darn about what I think, but here goes.

In what amounts to another confusing turn of events, it appears that American Century has green-lighted its leasing agents to open the bidding for the closed-since-last fall jazz club known as Jardine’s.

Giving the appearance that the dudes who leapt into the media spotlight last fall – Messrs. Robert McCain and Joseph FulgenzI – have failed to do what they reportedly told the Pitch and Fox 4 three months back; that they’d they secured and finalized a deal to buy the fabled Plaza area jazz club.

The latest?

According to Jardine’s suitor Paul Wilson the leasing agent for Jardine’s space got the "first proactive call" from leasing agent Scott Padon late last week, saying, "He just got (the) green light from the attorneys to market the space."

Prior to that Wilson was having a hard time getting any answers from the landlord’s reps, who according to several sources had done its due diligence on McCain and Fulgenzi’s "backers" and were hoping to see the sale of the business and other details with beleaguered Jardine’s owner Beena Raja and founder Greg Halstead.

You may recall that McCain and Fulgenzi made Raja’s $1,200 monthly January payment on Raja’s note to Halstead in order to keep their buying game afoot. However they – along with Raja – missed the February and March payments, appearing to give Halstead the right to foreclose on Raja’s note and to sell off the remaining physical assets of Jardine’s.

However several sources say that as late as last week McCain and Fulgenzi continued to try and work something out with Raja’s attorney.

Raja and McCain could not be reached for this column and Halstead declined to comment.

So what’s next?

"I have no idea," says former Jardine’s co-owner Pat Hanrahan, who has been in ongoing discussions with McCain, Raja and Halstead. Discussions that seemed to indicate that once a deal was struck Hanrahan would help manage and/or operate the new Jardine’s.

"I know Paul Wilson is still interested," Hanrahan says. "And I know other people are still interested."

Including McCain and Fulgenzi?

"From what I hear yes," Hanrahan says. "But I haven’t talked to them (lately)."

Hanrahan’s best guess on the current status of the two dude’s efforts to procure Jardine’s:

"I think American Century got tired of waiting on them. I think everybody got tired of waiting on them. You know, they’d go weeks at a time without anybody being able to reach them. I’ve been trying to get ahold of them since last Monday and they haven’t returned my calls.

"And I know they had a long conversation with Beena’s attorney late last Monday afternoon. And I thought – and what most people thought – was that the attorneys were working out the wording for a final agreement."

And that’s the name of this weary tune…for now.

With a pair of Kansas teams in the Sweet Sixteen and Missouri on the ropes, it’s time to check in with Brett Mosiman, one of KU’s staunchest supporters and local promoter of Crossroads and Wakarusa fame…

First a little handicapping.

The surprising KU women’s basketball team – its ranks depleted by crippling injuries to frontline stars – faces perennial powerhouse Tennessee Saturday.

"They lose by 30 to Tennessee," Mosiman predicts.

And KU’s mens team tonight against North Carolina State?

"The mens team skates into the Elite Eight against North Carolina."

The $64 million question: Do KU tried and true still hate Carolina coach Roy Williams for leaving them for NC?

"No," Mosiman says. "The vast minority maybe, but the average fan is way over it. It wouldn’t hurt any more to lose at the hands of Roy than it would anybody else. I think by beating him in the Final Four in 2008 the fans got over it. And the day after that when we were in the championship game Roy was very cool about it. He showed up in the stands with a KU sticker on. And he took a lot of shit for that with the Carolina fans and I think that was pretty cool of him. And I think that healed it for KU and he’s doing the same thing this week. He’s saying, ‘If we can’t win it, I want KU to win it."

All of that said, won’t there be a little bit of extra joy in Mudville – I mean Lawrence – if KU can beat NC?

"I don’t think so," Mosiman says. "Not for me. I don’t care who it is we beat."

His  take on Missouri’s choking to nobody school Norfolk State… Mosiman get any joy out of that one?

"Oh, yes," he says. "Best day ever for KU fans – that was huge.

"I had MU going to the Final Four and I was shocked because I thought they were for real. But they did have a pretty thin schedule and they were just horribly prepared for the tournament."

As for going forward in the SEC, "If Missouri didn’t go to the Final Four this year, they’re never going," Mosiman says.  "For one thing, they’re never going to be able to recruit in the SEC. I think they’re about to go into a dark period."

Meaning Missouri will have a hard time recruiting from the Big 12 because area kids friends and families won’t be able to go see them play anymore for one thing, Mosiman says.

"They left the Big 12 because there’s only one revenue sport, football," Mosiman says. "But there are 13 to 15 other sports and do you know how much it’s going to cost Missouri to take their golf and tennis and softball and volleyball teams to Florida?" Mosiman asks. "Do you know how much it’s going to cost to do that? It’s never going to pay off overall – it was totally shortsighted of them to leave the Big 12."

Go figure…

In a curiouser and curiouser unfolding of events, the head of the Kansas City Star‘s parent company McClatchy is stepping down to take the top spot at The Associated Press.

Which comes as a bit of a head scratcher.

Because prestigious as heading up "one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering" as the AP describes itself may be, it’s hard to imagine Gary Pruitt taking down the kind of coin he has at McClatchy at a not-for-profit.

For example Forbes pegged Pruitt’s "total compensation" for 2009 at $3,753,229.00.

Now add to that the value of Pruitt’s 2009 "unexercised options, currently exercisable at $6,788,500.00" and it’s clear that the one time McClatchy Golden Boy has been in the chips big time, despite spearheading the most disastrous financial move in his company’s 155 year history.

That being, of course, the purchase of then Star parent Knight Ridder in 2006.

Pruitt bet McClatchy’s farm on Knight Ridder and the Star at exactly the wrong time, paying $40 a share before riding the stock down last year to just over a buck. McClatchy’s stock has since rebounded to around $3 a share, but bear in mind it was trading as high as $63 in 2005.

Last October I sorted through how bad things were at McClatchy under Pruitt in a story headlined, "How Long Can Star Czar Keep Job With News Company in Six Year Freefall?"

Speaking of the Associated Press, on March 12 it reported that, "McClatchy Co. says advertising revenue declined nearly 6 percent from a year ago, an improvement from a drop of about 10 percent during the first nine months of the year. However, ad revenue in January was down about 8 percent from the same month in 2011."

Which undoubtedly explains the unexpected recent round of layoffs, furloughs and cutbacks at the Star.

If Pruitt wasn’t on thin ice at McClatchy, it’s hard to imagine who was. And if he wasn’t feeling the heat from management, it wouldn’t be surprising if he’d pretty much had about as much fun sorting out the nightmare he created as he could stand and was looking for an out.

As for McClatchy, it appears the company’s had enough of golden boys and has fingered a bean counter to take Pruitt’s job. Patrick Talamantes, McClatchy’s vice president of finance and CFO will succeed Pruit in July.

Which brings us back to the curious side, given Talamantes pedigree was in broadcasting.

In other words, he was a radio dude in St. Louis.

One last thing; in the AP’s release describing Pruitt’s qualifications they cite his "acute business sense."

Right…

Don’t look now but KU‘s basketball team is headed to the Sweet Sixteen…

And no, I’m not talking about the lucky devils on the KU mens team that squeaked past Purdue the other day.

Nope.

I’m referring to the AMAZING KU womens basketball squad who have been playing the best basketball in the state of Kansas the past two weeks since entering the NCAA Tourney.

That’s right, bring on the hyperbole because these ladies deserve it.

Check out what former Star sports scribe Mechelle Voepel wrote about the Lady Jayhawks for ESPN:

"Coaches always say that every bit of adversity for a team brings an opportunity for under-the-radar players to emerge That’s the optimist’s way of looking at a pessimistic situation. But a lot of the time it’s just wishful thinking," Voepel begins.

"Teams usually don’t have one potentially rising star (Keena Mays) transfer and another established star (Carolyn Davis) get hurt during a season, yet still come back to earn an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament. And even if they do, they don’t make the Sweet 16. But Kansas did."

Kansas did indeed.

And here’s the headline to prove it from last night in the Lawrence Journal World:

"KU women advance to Sweet 16 with upset over third-seeded Delaware."

In other words, after losing its two brightest stars – instead of choking to a nobody like Missouri’s mens team or barely beating a lower seeded team like KU did Purdue – the 11th seeded KU women have been engaged in a game of Giant Killer.

And speaking of giants…

They did it on the coatails of KU’s 5-foot-4 captain, junior point guard Angel Goodrich.

Which reminds me, James Brown sang, It’s a man’s, man’s, man’s, man’s world, "but it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl."

So get over yourselves, dudes; don’t sell these women short.

Check out the game story on the Journal World here and be sure to watch when KU plays all-powerful Tennessee Saturday morning at 11 on ESPN.

May the force be with them.

They’re back and they’re black…

Much has been said of how bustling Westport was on St. Patrick’s Day. To which I can add, ditto for  Waldo. The Well, Quinton’s and Kennedy’s were on fire.

Which brings us to KC’s other prominent people magnet, the Plaza.

After spending several hours there Saturday afternoon and evening, I can report that comparably, outside of O’Dowd’s and maybe the sports bars the Plaza was a St. Patrick’s Day bust.

Don’t get me wrong.

There were plenty of locals out and about, shopping, dining, enjoying the weather and beautiful day. They just weren’t – for the most part – adorned in tacky green getups and stumbling around drunk.

Which by Plaza standards is a good thing.

However the day also marked the notable return of a crowd the Plaza’s been loath to welcome.

That being the huddled masses of African-American youth the white bread entertainment and shopping district has so disdained the past 10 years. The Plaza has made it abundantly clear that it’s a demographic it would just as soon do without.

In 2002, for example, I reported in the Star, the Plaza installed four large floodlights atop Seville glaring down on the hundreds of black youths that had begun to hang on the sidewalks outside Cinemark on Saturday nights. It was a painfully obvious attempt to discourage the kid’s presence.

Which was further hammered home by the positioning of a formidable force of security and police.

More recently there was the Plaza youth wilding two years back followed by last summer’s shooting spree that caused new KC mayor Sly James to eat dirt to dodge whizzing bullets.

A kiddie curfew was quickly implemented, calm restored and the summer drew to a close.

Until Saturday when the kids were back and not surprisingly Plaza Security was all over them.

However the kiddie groupings I observed were largely well behaved. Plaza Security hovered close by, moving in frequently to break up groups and order them to move along.

As in year’s past the main gathering point Saturday was the Seville block that houses Cinemark, Urban Outfitters and Brio. Continuously being routed, the kids fanned out aimlessly to nearby blocks and to the north and east towards H&M and Barnes & Noble.

It was basically a cat and mouse game.

The $64 million question being, was this a preview of things to come this summer?

Here’s the deal…

Like their white suburban brethren, urban kids enjoy hanging in upscale shopping and entertainment areas where the vibe is upbeat and the streets and sidewalks are safe. They want to see and be seen just like the flocks of teens that roam Oak Park Mall and Zona Rosa.

Yet even though the majority of the urban teen interlopers were nicely dressed and largely well-behaved, Plaza Security did its best to make it clear to the kids they were unwelcome.

Since the security dudes couldn’t bust the kids for rowdiness or curfew violations, they hassled them instead for hanging to long in one place. Or for leaning – heaven forbid – against a rail or building.

Funny, nobody rousted any of the white dudes I saw leaning against buildings.

Frankly, it was kind of sad to watch.

I spoke with a couple kids right after a Plaza Security dude rousted them and they simply shrugged and let it go. They knew how the game was played.

The difference between the Plaza kids and kids in the burbs?

Where my 15 year-old daughters and their friends seldom leave home without ten or twenty bucks – sometimes more – these kids don’t appear to be long on green. So odds are they’re far less likely to duck into Urban and drop $30 or $50.  Or Noodles & Company even.

So not only do the kids present an awkward and uncomfortable presence for white bread Plaza habitues, there’s little to be harvested moneywise by merchants. Merchants who fear the kids presence may scare off paying customers or erupt in violence as they have on the rare but sensationally reported occasions.

And that’s the way this year’s St. Patrick’s went down on the Plaza as I saw it.