Come on Mr. President...

Obviously American people voice their displeasure with the President over many pressing issues. The economic crisis is probably the top right now. The war(s) are up there as well.

One of the things that made many people flock to President-elect Obama was the way he connected with the "common-folk." The picture I've attached of him dropping off his kids at school is a perfect example (minus the secret service).

I don't think it's appropriate to get into a discussion about politics on a blog, but I am going to give my first every blog post about the President.

NO FREAKIN WAY IS HE WEARING A WHITE SOX HAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm seriously contemplating gathering a collection pool and buying him a Royals hat and sending it to the Oval Office...let me know if you're interested.

What about this hat?! This looks like something the President would wear...

Obama

Although I've been sick this week, about the only good news was when I couldn't sleep Tuesday night I didn't have to worry about getting up early for work early on Wednesday.

Being able to stay up and watch Obama's speech at Grant Park was pretty cool.

I made sure to save the front page of the KC Star Wednesday morning.

BBall

This is the last "free" weekend that I will have until mid-March.

We're starting our basketball season on Monday, November 10th. A pretty good birthday present for me...

We're super excited about the possibilities with this team. We have veterans and youth. We have big and small. We have athletic and not athletic. We have coachable and non-coachable. We have attitudes and ego's. We darn near have it all...

I'll simply make this point, somewhat in reference to my last post about Ron Prince (style over substance).

We should have a great team. We should make a good run at a Final 4. Starting November 10th, I'm done talking about it, and ready to start doing it.

Thoughts

I'm supposed to be working on some course work for my Master's in Special Education, but instead I am stuck on all of the news about Ron Prince resigning.


Ron Prince went 16-18 to this point in his time at Kansas State. Is that worthy of being fired? Probably not. Not at a place that was deemed to have had one of the "worst football programs in history."

It is worth mentioning that K-State fans are extremely spoiled because of what Coach Snyder did. There are certainly unrealistic expectations to match Coach Snyder.

Let this be clear, I don't think that Ron Prince was fired because of his 16-18 record, I think he was fired for the right reasons.

This guy was fired because he couldn't hold onto any quality assistants.
This guy was fired because he made those same assistants run stadium's.
This guy was fired because he didn't think it was important to hold onto an equipment manager.
This guy was fired because he couldn't get his players to buy in.
This guy was fired because he made those some players run at 3:00am after flying back from a game against Louisville.
This guy was fired because he couldn't deliver the big time recruits.
This guy was fired because he couldn't develop relationships with HS coaches.
This guy was fired because he was loosing season ticket holders.
This guy was fired because he wasn't bringing in enough money into an athletic department that depends on football.
Ultimately, this guy was fired because he had a lot of style and not much substance.

I listed some of the reasons why I believe he was fired. Notice that NONE of it had to do with his record? Indirectly, sure some of that stuff plays into it. Ron Prince wasn't fired because he was 16-18, he was fired because he wasn't making any progress. I think that Ron Prince is an extremely intelligent man. I think that he probably is a terrific coordinator.

I don't know if anyone could have come in from outside the "Snyder family" and have success.

My only thought is this...it took Bill Snyder 18 years to build the program, did it take Ron Prince only 2 and 3/4 years to tear it down?

KSU - Prince - OUT

I've read numerous reports that Ron Prince is going to resign as KSU head Football coach, today.

Obviously, I have quite a lot of thoughts. I'll post soon.

Take a look!

One thing that I'm so lucky to have is great friends. I have friends who have accomplished many different things and have helped me become a better person.

This is just one example of the amazing work one of my buddies has done.

James Roberts article

Pet peeve

The more I've realized this, the better it is for my health... I have a lot of pet peeves...

One of them takes place at the high school everyday.

Kids who "share" ipod headphones. One has one in their right ear, the other has it in their left ear.

Bothers me...

Coach Wooden

Doesn't get any better than this...

Rick Reilly - John Wooden article

Coach MAC

Some people say I'm too serious and I need to smile and relax," Coach Mac says. "I'm relaxed. I think what I try to do is do things the right way. I know that hard work is a big key to being successful. And doing things the right way will pay off for me. There are certain things that I expect from my team. We're going to come in and we're going to play hard and we're going to play together and we're going to play unselfish basketball. We're going to take care of the ball. We're going to work on the defensive end of the floor."

Believe it or not, that's not what I said...that's from Nate McMillan of the Trailblazers.

Portland Trailblazers

Thanks to good friend, Erin Hart, for sending me the following article on Nate McMillan and the Trailblazers.

You thought those "team dinners" that you had in high school were pointless, right?

Check out the following link.

Nate McMillan connecting with his guys

Charles Barkley

Charles Barkley is one of my favorite sports personalities.

This is a great article about what he's doing, and what his plans are...

Charles for Governor

Obama and Sports

This is a great read I found on ESPN.com. It looks like it will be coming out in the new edition of ESPN The Magazine...

This is a short read, worth the time...

ESPN The Mag, Obama article

Davidson Basketball

Davidson was the feel good story of the NCAA BBall tournament last year.

This is a great story about their Coach, Bob McKillop.

College basketball has a uniquely identifiable culture/livelihood and it's rare to see someone break from it.

Andy Katz story on Bob McKillop

Tampa Bay

In case you were wondering...

The Tampa Bay Rays were 200-1 odds to win the World Series...

Manny

This is a great quote from Manny Ramirez about his upcoming Free Agency...you have to laugh at it.
*Does someone want to tell him that gas is going down...

"I want to see who is the highest bidder. Gas is up, and so am I."

Hard to believe Part II

My 2 posters have there questions answered here...Yes, he was re-living his playing days, and yes, the conference did do something about it...you ask, I deliver :)

If you can believe this...

Spurrier, SEC clear official in collision with South Carolina QB Garcia

collision between South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia and umpire Wilbur Hackett Jr. in Saturday's loss to LSU has drawn a lot of attention over the past two days, but Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier says Hackett did nothing wrong.

Hackett, a former linebacker at the University of Kentucky from 1967-70, ended up making contact with Garcia after the Gamecocks' QB rolled to his left and headed for the end zone in the second quarter. Hackett and Garcia collided at the 5-yard line as the LSU defense closed in.

"He was trying to get out of the way," Spurrier said of Hackett, according to The State in Columbia, S.C. "Stephen sort of cut back right into him. Sometimes that will happen."

When contacted by ESPN's Joe Schad, the Southeastern Conference office said after reviewing the play, it believes the umpire was in appropriate position. A spokesman said the umpire raised his arm to defend himself after a change of direction by the runner.

Garcia took over at the LSU 8 after a 46-yard interception return by Carlos Thomas. On first and goal, Garcia started running to his right before the hole on the line closed. He then rolled to his left and cut upfield, where he ran into Hackett.
Three plays later, Mike Davis scored on a 1-yard run to give South Carolina a 17-10 lead it would hold at halftime. LSU scored two second-half touchdowns for a 24-17 victory.

Hard to believe

I've watched this video 10 times and can't get over it!

Official video

ESPN Version

Chiefs

Everyone wants to pile on the Chiefs, and perhaps, they deserve it.

I'll simply make this point...

We keep hearing, "young team", "rookies getting experience", all of that...

The Chiefs have the same average age as the Green Bay Packers (look up their record).

It points to 2 things...
1) The need for a stable QB
2) The amount of excuses that people will make for under performing and incapable millionaires.

UT - OU

A video from the Texas - Oklahoma game this past weekend...

Make sure to check it out!

Cosby block

KC Royals

The Royals made a terrific improvement in their baseball operations yesterday. Dayton Moore and Trey Hillman went out and hired two proven Major League quality Coaches.

John Gibbons, former Toronto Blue Jays manager, and Kevin Seitzer, former D-Backs hitting coach and Royals All-Star.

Seitzer is obviously a fan favorite (my personal favorite as a kid) and brings credibility b/c of the name and proven MLB playing experience. I am hopeful that he can help the hitters with a more disciplined approach, (Something Moore and Hillman want).

With Gibbons, you get a guy who just completed 4.5 seasons as the lead man of an MLB team. This can only help Hillman's development as a manager and the credibility in the locker room. Hillman said the perfect thing in today's KC Star, “I think Gibby’s experience is going to be a big help to our team and, specifically, me as a manager,” Hillman said.

As I'm sure you can remember, I posted about Ron Prince and the arrogance and selfishness of how he put together his staff. I view this as the complete opposite. They ACKNOWLEDGED and ADDRESSED shortcomings.

This is only going to help the franchise. I am extremely happy with the moves.

I don't think it's possible, but consider me a bigger Royals fan today than I was yesterday.