No subject (Part 5)

mumbo,

Both, Thank you!!
Has anyone heard from either of them?

Vince,
We have a professional soccer team in KC(Sporting KC I think) and if it weren't for my daughter I'd know nothing about them.
When I was a tiny tot my father was stationed up at the now defunct Air Force Base Glasgow, it was in the NE of the state. All I remember it is was freaking cold.You are just doing your own thing, and I think that's probably perfectly alright by all the lifers in MT.

Note: As my older players retire, assuming the team is doing better.
And by better I mean, the winning percentage has gone up significantly.
In the Royals case, after the first year, above .400 winning pct.

But back to the older players, the goal would be to have 4-6 older productive older players all the time. You need the mentorship of these guys. But also, that's because inevitably the younger guys will want to move on because they don't like KC area. What's not to like? It's one of the safer bigger cities out there and there is plenty to do in the KC Metro area.

Veterans are a stabilizing force.

The ultimate goal of course is WS appearances.
But realistically, above .500 ball and being all around competitive and competing for the Division every year.

Oh yeah, concession prices WILL go down. I want this to be a family friendly environment, and that includes economically too. $3 beers and $1.50 hot dogs.
Oh, and no more parking fees, first come first served and totally free.

Oh and more special nights, whether it's different cancer awareness day/night, kids day/night, veterans day/night, an in general FANS day/night. September will be Prostate Cancer Awareness Month for the team where all men over 35 get in at half price.

More free shirt/hat games

Double headers would be pay for one stay for the second for free.

Fireworks after home runs, wins (big FWs).

And bring in retired Royal greats, what the heck, if you retired with Royals you will be recognized.

Free concerts before or after games.

It's my expensive hobby, and if I lose some money that's just fine.

You can't take it to Heaven fellas, brighten peoples days!!

I love you guys!!
By the way, my Onco a year and a half ago told me that men in my same state had 2 to 3 years on avg.
I am proving him wrong as my meds are working and they have no sign of failing.

Be Todd, always be Todd!!

It has been awhile since I tuned into a baseball game on TV, but was watching a game earlier this week and the new rules have sped up the game in a good way. Baseball was probably past due for those changes.
Michael

Athletics?

Anyone want to buy a ticket for the Tigers winning the World Series this year? No? I didn't think so. Maybe next year.

Athletics is already taken, but I'd love that being the A's were the KC Athletics first.

Prato, get the Royals above mediocre first.

Looks like the PAC 12 is disintegrating into nothing. The "Big 12" and "Big 10" seem to be picking up most of the teams. It's all about the money, money, money.

We are all Arizona State graduates here. The Pac-12 was an absolute first class conference for many years. Then last year USC and UCLA heard that siren call of the big $$$, and they bailed to the Big-10. Last week the dam broke and everyone was trampling on everyone else to get out of Dodge and go for the big media bucks. No more PAC-12. This isn't over, it will happen again as long as the media poobahs keep pulling the money strings.

Since this has become a sports fan thread, I’m curious about have people feels about the alignment of sports watching with patriotism. As I have made clear in the past, I don’t watch sports, any sports, and never have. It is just something some people do like going to the opera, tractor truck pulls, or train spotting that had no interest for me.

However, I found that the closer association of sports with patriotism became a larger issue, for me, after I changed careers and became a high school teacher. The school culture, at least where I was, made a bigger deal about athletics than academics. But that is a different issue. That I didn’t attend the school’s sporting events became an issue and I was challenged by others teachers over the years. I simply explained that I was not a sports fan and I never watch sports, not even the World Series of the Super Bowl. The response was usually something about me not being patriotic and that I have some kind of civic responsibility to like sports. Whatever.

Full disclosure: I’m an army veteran and don’t need to be lectured on patriotism. Also, I coached cross country at the school for a decade and noticed that the only fans who showed up at our meets were family of the runners.

Vince,
Thank you very much for your service!
Anyone that says that, are idi o ts!

I will say that when attending a sporting event, the majority of the crowd tends towards pro-country, IE Patriotic.

But it says absolutely nothing about those who aren't there.
I go when I can afford to, tickets are just so ridiculously expensive, so I try to watch on TV.
But even that has gotten out of hand as it's getting more like you have to pay for a subscription.
I use my daughters subscription to ES P N, but I do not have any paid sports subscriptions myself.

That being said, my forefathers have been in every major war since this country's first, Revolutionary War.
And none of them were into sports either.

Thank you, to all you Veterans out there!!!!!!!
The real shout out should always be to America's Team, the United States Military!

We start with NAU out of Flagstaff. For many years this was a warmup game. Most of the players from NAU are players that ASU and the U of A have passed over. All of that changed when we were beaten by NAU in the first game two years ago, lesson learned. One game at a time and don’t look past the underdog. May your home teams go undefeated, unless of course you are playing the University of Arizona.
Jack

RamonV said...
Jack 64-
I went to high school several years in Flagstaff. NAU and Flagstaff are wonderful places.
I think there is way WAY too much emphasis on high school football and basketball. It is insanity. Kids are supposed to be learning academics for their future, not preparing for a pro career.
That said, I do follow college and pro football and pro basketball. I am NOT a fanatic about it, just a casual fan (except when ASU plays U of A).
Also, athletes are NOT heroes (this really bugs me). Americans who put themselves in harms way and get shot at are the heroes.

Ramon, you blaspheme. To many/most, sports is like a religion and speaking ill of it general or of “their” team specifically can, and has, led to violence.

As a high school teacher I spoke out against this frequently (but diplomatically). We had many many trophy cases with memorabilia of past athletic achievements and not a single case that celebrated academic achievement. They would interrupt/cancel classes for “pep assemblies” for one sport or another. I never saw any sport cancelled because of an academic assembly. (Full disclosure: I coached cross country.) I found out that the state athletic association tracked grade point averages by sport and awarded plaques to school based on those numbers. These plaques were not shared with the staff or students but stashed in the vault. When I discovered them I asked the administration why these weren’t celebrated. I got “the stare.” Oh, I get it, it’s not something they want made public. The highest GPAs were held by cross country, swimming, golf, and tennis. The bottom of the list was wrestling and football.

There is an excellent article about this in The Atlantic from 2013, “The Case Against High School Sports:”

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/the-case-against-high-school-sports/309447/