NASA confirms Mars has limited flowing water on the surface…or as we like to call it: California.
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Madonna recently dedicated a song to the Pope at one of her recent concerts. We’re guessing “Like a Virgin” or “Papa Don’t Preach.” Possibly “Like a Prayer.” She does so many hymnals.
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For the second time in as many years, the Kansas City Royals are going to the Major League Baseball playoffs, this time as winner of the American League Central. They’d never won the Central previously, and hadn’t won their division since 1985, the very year they won their only World Series title.
These are all things you probably already know.
You’re probably also aware that they haven’t been having the best September and that a lot of people are anticipating some sort of postseason crash-and-burn. (Hopefully you’ve listened to enough people to realize that they didn’t have the best September last year, either, and neither did the eventual world champion San Francisco Giants, may they forever burn in all of Hell’s eternity. But I digress.) Continue reading
Well, its week three and for some colleges week four…
The NFL is not putting out a great product this year. There are way too many key injuries and off-field issues. And losing starting quarterbacks is major. Dallas, who otherwise would maybe be one of the NFC’s top two or three teams, loses Tony Romo and Dez Bryant.
New Orleans is done – with a wounded Drew Brees soon to be not playing at all. And the list of other key players out early seems endless.
All the new rules to protect players haven’t worked at all.
There are more injuries than ever. The other key issues leading to substandard play have to do with MONEY. A few players on each team get $10 and $20 million a year while other key players make a fraction of that big payday.
There’s just not enough go around, thus the number of holdouts. And hard feelings show up on the field. Add in off the field problems from Tom Brady to Chip Kelley and the failed Eagles and there are a ton of problems.
And the season just started.
Hell, the Chiefs may benefit from all this just by staying healthy. Continue reading
He was a team player in a world where stars dominated…
The press was all about Mickey Mantle, but it was Yogi Berra who we loved. And kept on loving long after his playing days were through, because although he was a member of the jockcracy, Yogi danced to the beat of his own drummer, he was not beyond feuding with Yankee’s owner George Steinbrenner, because winning isn’t everything, it’s how you play the game that counts.
But back then the Yankees were winning everything.
It was so different from today.
No one flew, never mind went to spring training camp. But we couldn’t wait for the season to begin. We’d camp out in damp basements watching exhibition games when the snow had already melted but it was still too cold to go outside. We flipped baseball cards. We bought books. Baseball was the National Pastime.
Before the players grew moustaches and gained free agency. Before we discovered their foibles. Sure, Joe Namath transcended the stars who preceded him, he played both on and off the field and won in both arenas. But before that athletes were two-dimensional.
And then there was Yogi. Continue reading
Yes, Donald Trump still leads in the Republican presidential polls…
However Trump’s lead has dropped a bit while others have risen. He still has 24% of the vote, but that’s down from 32% a few weeks back, prior to last week’s debate.
Carley Fiorina is the big news.
She’s in second with 15% while Ben Carson has fallen to 14%. Marco Rubio is now in the thick of things at 11% with Jeb Bush up to 9%. Scott Walker dropped out and the rest of the field is weak, with most with under 4%.
And it seems unlikely any of the other candidates will climb enough to matter.
So is Trump in trouble?
He may be. He did OK in the debate but he still has no firm plan like did Fiorna. Rubio is a young, handsome, hard-nosed man with a plan as well. Bush came off as a nice guy with lots of heart and passion but just not a powerhouse.
How crazy would that be: two women nominated for the presidency of the United States?
Hillary vs. Carley! Continue reading
Someone asked me the other day about the movie EVEREST…
He’d seen that it was playing only in IMAX and thought of it as a documentary of sorts—like something NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC might have produced.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
EVEREST is a harsh adventure drama inspired by the incredible true events surrounding a treacherous attempt to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain.
The movie follows two separate commercial expeditions which found themselves challenged beyond their limits to fulfill their mountain climbing-client’s goals of ultimate achievement.
However getting to the top of Everest was one thing.
Making it back down to their combined base camps presented an entirely different obstacle during one of the fiercest snow storms to ever hit Mount Everest. Continue reading
Remember when cutting edge Kansas City Star columnist Mary Sanchez swacked that two bagger a couple weeks back?
Where in a single column she exonerated K-State’s band for its marching penis formation, then served up a non sequitur chastising everybody for not focussing instead on a spate of on-campus robberies.Huh?
As if paying more attention to the more mundane robbery reporting should have blotted out the higher profile football fuss.
Okay…
So then where were Sanchez and the Star last week when a Lawrence news story headlined, “Police stop men taking unconscious women to KU frat houses” broke?
Um, nowhere I can find, so let’s take a look. Continue reading
It’s like there are two internets…
One of skeptical consumers doing their best to navigate their lives and the other of scumbag providers doing their best to win through subterfuge. Then again, in a world where brands are revered and Volkswagen cheats why do we expect people to bend over backwards for businesses?
We can talk about ads slowing down mobile loading times, we can reference Apple making its money on hardware, but what we’ve really got is a public that’s sick and tired of getting the short end of the stick. If Republicans were advertisers they’d tell people to just pick themselves up by their bootstraps and be just like them, winners. But is it a winning economy when we’re inundated with messages that aren’t relevant that intrude upon our everyday life?
But websites will tell us there’s no free lunch.
Which brings up the question of payment. Everyone on the corporate side believes no one will pay. But the truth is we pay all the time, when you offer convenience and a desirable product. But when you do your best to put one over on us, we get angry. And if there’s any way we can get retribution…
Kind of like Napster. Sure, tunes were free. But they were also unlocked from overpriced albums with few good tracks. Furthermore, now radio was no longer in control, we were able to sample wares based on our own desires. The irony is the major labels and music business honchos will STILL tell you radio is in control! Ain’ that a laugh. Radio is where you can reach the most people easily, but it means less than ever before. How do we know? Because most of the public is clueless as to the Top 10, they just don’t care about it. In other words, it turns out the music industry is not giving people what they want.
We’ve all got to focus on giving people what they want. That’s internet 101. The consumer is in control. Win by serving them, not by corralling them to fit your own desires. Continue reading
The Pope is coming! The Pope is coming!
Yet he’s making Cuba his first stop—AHEAD of the United States.
(Bet that won’t happen again if Trump ends up at the controls.)
But that’s not all that’s different about this week’s Papal visit.
In better days the Holy Father flew on TWA charters which had Shepherd One outfitted, complete with a luxurious Papal bed.
The aircraft was an AMERICAN built Boeing 767.
And once on the ground, Papa was ferried through the streets in the Popemobile, a modified Mercedes-Benz.
Some of the older M-B Popemobiles are still on display at the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart.
But, oh how times have changed. Continue reading
Bit by bit.. putting it together…
You have to wonder if Rep Artistic Director Eric Rosen didn’t lose more than a few night’s sleep over those lyrics. After all, he had to figure out a way to shoe-horn Stephen Sondheim‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (now thru Oct 4) into the confines of Atkins Auditorium, the part of the Nelson-Atkins Museum you’ve never been to (so that’s why it’s called that).
The good news is that Eric and his gang of artists and artisans got it done, hammering together a new production of this cerebral show to open the Rep’s 51st season. “Art isn’t easy,” Sondheim tells us; but this SUNDAY IN THE PARK rises to the challenge and finishes the hat.
I have to admit, I saw the Broadway original, wherein Mandy Patinkin, who was nominated for a Tony for his performance, tore the place down with his intense portrayal of French painter George Seurat, an artist obsessed with combining dots of color (pointillism, it’s called) to create paintings of shimmering light. When Mandy assembled the actors into a re-creation of Seurat’s masterpiece “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grand Jatte,” it was one of the most thrilling act one finales I’d ever seen– still is.
Didn’t see that at the Rep’s production– there was no room for it (and the actors didn’t really look like the painting’s characters anyway). While that was a mild disappointment, the Rep SUNDAY IN THE PARK more than made up for it in act two, in which Seurat’s great grandson has to deal with his own challenges making art in the 21st century. I actually liked the Rep’s act two –and the whole experience, over all– better than the Broadway production. Continue reading
Well, football season is well underway, and the Kansas City Chiefs are a firm 1-1…
They are, depending on which Craig Glazer article you read, either “… in the mix this season for the postseason” or they will “…lose to Green Bay and then chase our tail to be 8-8 or 9-7 season, in what will, as always, be a meaningless season. Haters.” (I added the haters for emphasis and stylistic purposes. Because it’s Glazer, you know?)
Regardless, we are civically obligated as a United Nation Under Price Chopper (is Chiefs-N-Chopper even still a thing?) to support the Chiefs in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. (Even if they now have a “national rep as jerkoffs in big games” to once again quote our good friend Glaze.) And what better way to show your support than with terrible, stained, shoddy merchandise and apparel from Craigslist.
Let’s see what we can find! Continue reading
Well, are we over the Chiefs yet?
Not quite yet, right? Well, they have 14 more games, but hey folks, with that offensive line being a different group of guys nearly every week, they’re going nowhere.
I feel like coach Andy Reid and general manager John Dorsey have had three years to fix it. They haven’t. So in my opinion, that’s not a good job.
Thus the Chiefs will not contend for much as usual.
They have other issues as well. That Thursday night game was an ugly loss. Next Monday Night at Green Bay – I don’t think so.
College area teams have no heros this season. Missouri has a solid defense but lack offensive weapons. They will go to a bowl game but I see this as a lesser year than the first two in the SEC. K State will also go bowling but not compete for a title in the Big Twelve and Kansas. Need I say anything. Outside of Ohio State the rest look like we won’t know for a couple more weeks. Alabama has a big game with Ole Miss ant that will tell us if they are big time or not this year.
WITH THE CHIEFS loss we are probably starting out behind. 3-5 overall lets get rolling. Continue reading
To think I picked them to win…
I thought this was going to be a much better year for KC. I felt the Chiefs were a post season team, based on their preseason, Jeremy Maclin, and a new beginning.
Was I ever wrong. LOSERS LOSE.
The Chiefs are for sure a loser. Again. They have no ability to win big games. None. They were a disgrace last night.
They gave away a 14 point lead in the second quarter in mere seconds to Denver’s Peyton Manning. Manning decided to take the game over from his new head coach. He went back to running the offense. And from that point forward we got our butts kicked. Continue reading
I knew going in that last night’s debate would be more than I could stomach…
Listening from my home office was as close as I wanted to be to this train wreck. I could hear it as well as I wanted to from there.
I walked by the TV a couple times to see them all lined up in front of Saint Ronald’s retired plane. I wondered if it was strategic placement with The Donald and Ben Carson dead center? Then I had a momentary nightmare envisioning the plane with the TRUMP logo emblazoned on its sides and its name changed to Hair Force One.
Half listening with one ear, while the John Prine channel played on Pandora, I had another thought. Why wasn’t there any collusion between all the buffoons on stage to agree that, at the appointed time, they would all turn to Trump and say in unison, “You’re a buffoon and don’t belong on this stage!”
Even buffoons know one when they see one. Continue reading
51431440 Actor Johnny Depp is back in costume as Whitey Bulger as filming resumes on ‘Black Mass’ in Boston, Massachusetts on May 27, 2014. Johnny and his co-stars are seen filming a violent execution style scene! FameFlynet, Inc – Beverly Hills, CA, USA – +1 (818) 307-4813
Gangster crime thrillers, I can taken ’em or leave ’em.
Who won last night’s Republican presidential debate? Answer, Carly Fiorina…
She’s now a player and likely will end up in second behind Donald Trump at some point and maybe as his VP. Although she jumped him hard on the face joke, she also was also somewhat respectful to Trump and kinda nice. She showed that she’s tough, has a plan more than anyone else, and even addressed our backward criminal justice system. She’s a winner.
Jeb Bush had some moments mostly about his wife being hispanic and Trump being a jerk for not saying he was sorry for putting her down – but he wouldn’t do it. Jeb also made his brother, George W look good. He got some nice responses. However Trump still smashed him down and Jeb is just a bit weak up there.
Overall Bush is a nice guy who just isn’t strong enough.
I think he may gain a bit not much. Continue reading
About the mysterious disappearance of both Q104 morning show main man Mike Kennedy and The Point 99.9 FM morning personality Nyki Pace…
The $64 million questionL Why, why both and why both at the exact same time?
The possibilities are endless.
Are the dynamic married duo planning to join forces on another station? In another radio market? Had they had enough of getting up at like 3 a.m. every weekday and decided to dial things back?
Or were one or both forced to consider pay cuts…or worse?
Here’s what radio insiders are saying about the twin shockers:
“That morning show became terrible, just a rambling mess of chatter and (Kennedy’s) programming decisions really waned in the last five years,” says one. “Mike is enamored with Nashville/Music Row and loves drinking with the artists. They are always flying him in on trips, to parties, the CMA’s, the ACM’s, Vegas, etc. He receives all of this attention because he agrees to break new music. (But ) in the PPM world unfamiliar music can kill ratings, and it probably killed KBEQ. There are those that might say that he put his personal interests before the interests of the station ratings.” Continue reading
Make no mistake these Kansas City Royals are a fine ball club.
They will surely win 94 games or more. The division race is over and has been since June. The hitting has improved and we have some power now. So why then the 3-8 run at a crucial time of the season?
All year long we worried what the effect of being in first place all season might have on this young team. Manager Ned Yost correctly wanted to check out some different line ups, give the starters rests and so on.
It seemed the right thing to do.
So should we worry about this cold spell, poor pitching and even the defensive melt downs? Maybe a bit more of a concern is that our formerly great relief pitching is starting to fade a bit as well.
Only Wade Davis has held up to last year’s numbers as of today.
And so far Johnny Cueto has been a bust.
He’s 2-6 with a 5.43 ERA – not too great, huh?
He looks like a batting practice pitcher. They are killing him at the plate. And as of now he can’t be a starter in the post season.
That’s a huge blow! Continue reading
One of KC’s top morning radio hosts Mike Kennedy has left the airwaves…
Kennedy will apparently stay on as the station’s program director but will no longer anchor of Q104’s morning drive. The new anchor is Zeke Montanna, Mike’s co host for years who will stay on as the lead morning voice.
Earlier this year Kennedy was elected to the Country Music Radio Hall of Fame. And he’s has been an on air personality in Kansas City for more like 20 years.
Curiously, Kennedy’s wife Nycki Pace has also left her morning show post opposite Kelly Urich on Entercom’s 99.7 The Point. She’s been an on air personality at several local stations over the past 15 years. Continue reading
These Chiefs aren’t perfect – no NFL team is these days – but they’re exciting…
Well, at least they were in the first half Sunday in defeating Houston 27-20 on the road. Big plays, lots of passing, tight end Travis Kelce was outstanding – as was new pro bowler Jeremy Maclin at wide receiver. QB Alex Smith, given time to throw in the first half, hit three TD passes – two to Kelce. Nice.
Yep, our No. 1 draft pick started things out with an interception that set up the Chiefs’ first TD and our D got 5 sacks and a couple turnovers. Not a typical Chiefs road win against a very good defense at Houston. Even super star JJ Watt was held down most of the game.
So there was lots to cheer about.
And yes, there were issues.
We had plenty of chances to score in the second half and didn’t. Jamaal Charles was held in check on most of his running attempts with less than 60 yards on the ground. Our new offensive line was hot and cold. Our pass defense was weak in the second half.
I watched a number of other games and every team had issues.
Seattle lost. Indy, the sexy pick to go to Super Bowl 50, was beaten by the Bills (a young hot team as well). Dallas had to pull off a near miracle ending to beat the Giants at home. Denver won on DEFENSE, with little offense from Manning.
It’s a new year and the NFL has no perfect teams – not yet anyways. Continue reading
