Small balls

I made my annual visit to the NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament. I remember going down to Kemper Arena w/ my dad when ever his Alma Mater (Fort Hays State) would play. The NAIA moved out of town in 1993, only to return a few years later in 2001. Since the return, we have managed to make it to at least one session every year.

Monday night was the Final Four. Rocky Mountain (Montana) vs. Robert Morris (Illinois). It was a fun game that went down to the wire, before Rocky Mountain pulled out a 5 point win. There was a quiet buzz during the game, as fans were settling in for the second game. Columbia College vs. MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kansas). Municipal Auditorium was a sea of red, as fans came out in droves to support the local team.

It was kind of exciting, because there is rarely much energy in the crowd for these games, other than family members that make the sometimes long trip to KC. The other folks that make up the crowd are local basketball junkies. An interesting breed to say the least.

But tonight was different. At least it was until 3 seconds after the opening tip off. MidAmerica Nazarene University Super Fan Asshole #1 was seated directly behind me and proceeded to scream for the next 90 minutes. If I had to guess, the guy was in his late 40's or early 50's. It's possible he had a kid on the team, but judging from how quickly he bolted as soon as the clock hit :00, I doubt it. The clown spent the entire game screaming at the refs and harassing the opposing teams players. On more than a few occasions, his wife had to tell him to calm down.

I remember in high school there were a few dads like that. The funny thing is, we all felt sorry for the kid. You know the kid was embarrassed as Hell when he could hear his old man screaming that Johnny should be in the game or the refs were blind. Obviously, the guy had issues starting with his own athletic inabilities and ending with a small dick. If he was such a blowhard at a JV basketball game, imagine what he was like when Johnny brought home a report card full of C's? I bet there was a belt or a whiskey bottle involved.

I have one rule when I go to the NAIA every year... cheer for, but never against. This isn't Big Time College Basketball. No flat screens in the locker rooms and no chartered flights. Most of the teams probably spent 10 hours on a bus , driving in from god knows where to play in this tourney. To make it deep in to the tourney, you have to win 4 or 5 games in as many days. So I imagine they are all banged up, tired and frankly a little bored with the bright lights of Kansas City. The least we as fans can do, is cheer them on.

I'm sorry to report, that once I had a handle on what MidAmerica Nazarene University Super Fan Asshole #1 was going to be like, I cheered for the visitors from Columbia MO (no easy task as a KU guy).

Every time MidAmerica Nazarene University Super Fan Asshole #1 thought a foul went against his team and he asked me what I thought, I made sure to let him know I thought it was a good call. It's like the guy was simply daring me to point out what a douche bag he was.

As for the game itself, it was pretty close. Seemed as though every time a team made a run, the other team made it up and took the lead. Back and forth all night. Finally, Columbia College grabbed the lead and held on despite some last minute heroics from MNU. Fun game and a great ending. Hate to admit it, but the fact that MidAmerica Nazarene University Super Fan Asshole #1's team lost, made it just a little bit better.

Lew'sers

I think I am pretty much done w/ Lew's Bar and Grill in Waldo. I've been there twice in the last week, and both times the service has been lousy. I guess sitting at a table and holding a menu must be some sort of code for "do not acknowledge presence". I counted that our waitress walked by our table 13 times, while there were empty glasses sitting on our table. Wasn't just the waitress either. The day manager was equally guilty. I guess an empty glass isn't as effective as a flare bun. I think most folks would let it slide if a bar were busy, but the place was half empty. I can't believe I gave that broad a tip. Too bad, it's a fun place to watch a game. It's also one of the stops on the annual Waldo/Brookside Pubcrawl... going forward, looks like I'll be visiting Lew's annually from now on.

The speed loader

• Alex Rodriguez has admitted using steroids. Who cares? Baseball has always said that cheating was bad, but then quick to wink and smile when someone corks a bat. MLB should be more worried about a massive lawsuit against them and the labs that handled the testing. The only way that the players agreed to the testing, was because they were guaranteed it would be anonymous. Sooooo... how did Rodriguez's name come out? Somewhere, that confidentiality was violated... and I'm stunned the "Players Union" hasn't threatened to sue all involved parties all the way back to the Stone Age.

• Michael Phelps smoked pot! You know, when you take teen age kids and put them in a training regime that is comparable to a full time job, is it any surprise they try to catch up on what he missed out?

• I didn't watch it, but I heard some grumbling that Obama's press conference ran long the other night. How quickly people forget that Change (with a capital "C") is a 2 way street. Complaining that 24 is going to be late, while we are in the midst of some serious issues is pretty shallow. Critics might snort that Obama has already given in to politics as usual. Maybe the same thing can be said about the voters? (Full disclosure, I voted for Obama. I didn't know the press conference was even on tv.)

• The Chiefs finally hired a head coach. Who knows... he could be a total bust. I think fans are excited simply because it's been a total regime change w/ an infusion of young blood. Did you know that he and his family sued McDonald's after finding a dead rat in a salad?
  

The guy that was hired to be fired, has been fired

Herm Edwards was finally fired today. Herm's a good and decent man, but his track record as a head coach is pretty dismal.

I think he would be a good fit on another staff, because he's a no nonsense guy. As we saw with the Larry Johnson 2008 campaign, Herm's not intimidated by punk kids w/ outlandish contracts (or the GM that drafted them...). I bet he honestly thought he was doing the right thing by benching Johnson in mid-season. The results are still in the air, but the intent was to show Johnson that team comes first and assaulting women and being an overall bitch, comes second. I hope Johnson is the next to go, and can go about embarrassing the NFL in another city.

In addition to tire marks on his back, courtesy Gunther Cunningham, Herm takes with him his dignity. Some may argue that he talks too much when in front of the media (agreed), but I have no doubt that he will say all the rights things on his way out of town. Herm is a "League Guy" and I don't doubt that he would run the risk of tarnishing the league, by talking shit about the Chiefs, Carl Peterson or the Hunt family.

The always ranting Jack Harry broke the story earlier this week that Mike Shanahan, formerly of the Denver Broncos, is in line to be the 11th head coach of the once proud Chiefs. I suppose it's possible. But since Elway retired, Shanahan hasn't been much better than Edwards. Jake Plummer, Brian Griese and Jay Cutler (and others I would assume) were all brought in on Shanahan's watch, and despite a few pro bowl appearances, haven't fared much better than Damon Huard, Brody Croyle or Tyler Thigpin. The conspiracy theorist in me, is hoping that Carl Peterson, as one final "fuck you" to Jack Harry, planted the story to embarrass the fool. That would be sweet.

There's also talk about former Oakland & Tampa coach Jon Gruden coming in to save the day. He did win a Super Bowl with the Bucs, but it was in his first year, with Tony Dungy's players and Brad Johnson, a journeyman QB. Gruden's track record of developing a young, franchise QB is even worse than Herm's.

The other hot name out there, is the offensive coordinator from the Super Bowl bound Arizona Cardinals (damn, feels strange to type that). He's 42 years old and his name is Todd. Do we really care about the rest? Maybe it's time to go with young coaches to match the young players? If they are going to stand on the sidelines bungling clock management, when to go for two points and just look lost & overwhelmed, why not let a few young pups take their lumps and learn with the rest of the team?

Don't go in there!

I caught My Bloody Valentine the other night. There's a lot of blood, almost as much skin, quite a few laughs (although not sure all were intentional) and loads of fun. If you have seen the original, you will even recognize the nice homage to what was one of the "wickedest" killings put on film in 1981.

Presenting the movie in 3D made for even more fun. Yes, you have to wear the silly glasses... but it works. Plenty of mayhem flying directly at you. Although the much ballyhooed nude scene, doesn't really benefit from 3D.

All in all, lots of fun. But make no mistake, this isn't for kids.

You are probably asking yourself "Who in the world would bring their kids to a movie like that?" I'll tell you who... the idiots posing as parents to the 3 families that were in attendance, that's who!

I wish I was making this up, but there were indeed three families in the theater. If I had to guess, I would say that some of the kids were as young as 5 years old, along w/ an infant that cried during the previews.

I don't have kids, but in a case like this, I reserve the right to tell others how to raise theirs... The nudity and sex don't really bother me... but as a parent, at what point do you decide it's ok to take your children to a horror movie where the bad guy puts down his foes with a pick axe??? I made an effort to track the body count, but lost track after the first 6 minutes. The bodies and body parts pile up fast and they pile up high.

I was so surprised to see little children at the movie, that I emailed AMC this morning. Asking them why they don't follow Cinemark's lead, and not allow anyone under 10 in an R rated movie at 6 PM. No response yet.

I have to assume that these kids have all seen the Saw movies as well as all the Eli Roth torture porn clones... and just have to scratch my head wondering what kind of adults they will grow up to be.

I've had some pretty lousy days before, butt...

Lazy Friday

Someone that sits down the aisle from me at work...