This had me laughing very VERY hard. Kristin Wiig is a genius.
Just kidding, just kidding, just kidding…
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Monthly Archives: April 2008
On trading Jared Allen
The scuttlebutt around the media is that the Chiefs are considering trading away the NFL’s 2007 leader in sacks. To be honest, I’m surprised that it’s taken this long for the rumors to start. Allen has long been tired of the front office (as we all are) and wants to be paid what he is worth. He has well out-performed his initial draft position and contract and stands to make a chunk of change next year as the Chiefs franchise player.
Unfortunately, the Chiefs have about 15 players on their roster right now. After the off-season cuts and very little free agency action, the Chiefs are desperately short of players. Draft picks are at a premium for Herm and Carl and so you have to understand their logic in dangling a very attractive player who doesn’t really want to be in Kansas City anyway.
I really like Jared Allen. I like how hard he plays and I think that he has elevated the play of the defensive players around him. Keep in mind that he led the NFL in sacks last year while still missing the first two games. Now, granted, he deserved the suspension, but he proved that he’d cleaned up his act by performing at a very high level on a terrible, terrible team.
I guess I can see both sides of the argument here. Allen doesn’t like the front office and wants to get paid, so he wants out. The Chiefs have painted themselves into a corner where they need TONS of draft picks so they’re making the best out of a bad situation (which they put themselves in, but what else is new?). I don’t know if anything will happen before next weekend’s draft, but we’ll see. As much as I’d love to see Allen at Arrowhead again next year, this situation may be beyond repair.
Even for football geniuses like Carl Peterson and Herm Edwards. (*tongue inserted firmly in cheek*)
Feast on this
Appetizer
Name a color you find soothing.
Blue – a slate grayish-blue
Soup
Using 20 or less words, describe your first driving experience.
I was 13, in a small town, driving a Ford Aerostar. No parents.
Salad
What material is your favorite item of clothing made out of?
Cotton
Main Course
Who is a great singer or musician who, if they were to come to your town for a concert, you would spend the night outside waiting for tickets to see?
I’ve done it before. Alive or dead? I’d wait outside for several days to see The Beatles. Living? I’d wait outside to see Counting Crows, but only if I could be guaranteed front row seats so I could touch Adam Duritz’ dreads.
Dessert
What is the most frequent letter of the alphabet in your whole name (first, middle, maiden, last, etc.)?
A
One month left
Back in January, I challenged my readers to help me raise enough money to purchase a dairy cow from Heifer International. If I raised the money by the end of January, I promised to not eat any red meat until Memorial Day.
This may have been a bit over-zealous, but I’ve stuck with it for the last 106 days. 42 days left.
I’m excited because next week, I’m going to the doctor for a physical and I’m planning on getting my cholesterol checked. Prior to the Red Meat Experiment, I had received a note from my doctor that my cholesterol was too high and I needed to keep an eye on it. For the past several months, we’ve been diligent about eating food that should help with my cholesterol, specifically eating natural steel cut oats for breakfast.
With the decrease in red meat as well as other changes I’ve made, I’m looking forward to seeing the progress I’ve made. And while my weight hasn’t necessarily decreased, I am confident that my cholesterol has.
Thanks again to those of you who helped make it happen. My cholesterol thanks you, my heart thanks you, and my wife thanks you for helping me cut down my red meat intake.
The Great Debate
Tomorrow night is the next of the cavalcade of Democratic debates that we’ve endured over the last several months, this time in Pennsylvania, which is this week’s “most important state!” to host a primary. Since the last primaries in Mississippi (which I had to look back to CNN’s political page for – BTW, Barack Obama TROUNCED Hillary Clinton in those 61% to 39%), a lot has happened in the campaigns. We’ve had major gaffes on both sides (“sniper fire” vs. “bitter”) and some serious questions about the people these candidates surround themselves with (Mark Penn vs. Jeremiah Wright).
Previous debates have been extremely short on fireworks as the Democrats have been cordial to each other’s faces, choosing to do their back biting at events and stump speeches.
KC Joke Blogster Tony Botello opined today on the Democratic race and it is an example of the truthiness that can come out of a blog that generally just tries to make people mad.
Both he and I agreed that the outright hypocrisy of Hillary on this issue was utterly mind boggling. A woman with $109 million expects to be taken seriously when she casts stones about elitism?
Hillary has truly pulled the wool over the eyes of her supporters. I can’t figure out how her “beer and shots and my daddy took me huntin’ by the lake” doesn’t get her called for BS every time. It’s fascinating, really, because I think it is THE CLINTONS who are elitist and they take advantage of the ignorance of those less fortunate with their “we’re just like you” schtick.
Barack Obama has his flaws. We all do. Some of his recent errors in judgment have kept this race alive longer than it should, but one thing I won’t call Obama is elitist. He knows that he’s been blessed in his life and he knows that his politics aren’t favorable to everyone. But he doesn’t change his stripes depending on where he is in the country, changing his story depending on his audience.
The people that continue to vote for Hillary Clinton are being duped. In a blog post on Anderson Cooper 360′s blog, Hillary Clinton biographer Carl Bernstein stated:
What will a Hillary Clinton presidency look like?
The answer by now seems obvious: It will look like her presidential campaign, which in turn looks increasingly like the first Clinton presidency.
Which is to say, high-minded ideals, lowered execution, half truths, outright lies (and imaginary flights), take-no prisoners politics, some very good policy ideas, a presidential spouse given to wallowing in anger and self-pity, and a succession of aides and surrogates pushed under the bus when things don’t go right. Which is to say, often.
This is what we would be in for if Hillary Clinton were to become the next president of the United States. Anyone who doesn’t make that same assessment hasn’t been watching the campaign closely enough. That’s why I’m going to continue to support Obama. The thought of another Clinton White House is too much for me to bear.
Prayer Request
My good friends Brenna and Rebecca have both blogged this, but I know there are several people who read here that have not seen their posts. Whether or not you are a spiritual person, this is an important story for me to tell about a friend.
One of the members of our church is currently suffering very badly from the effects of cancer. Kelli is a wonderful mother of two small boys, loving wife, and devoted congregant of the church. She is only 36 and requires a ton of care so she is spending her final days with her family surrounding her at the Hospice House in Kansas City.
Kelli, along her husband Jeff, her kids Elijah and Zack, her parents Sharon and George and her brother John could all use any amount of prayers that you would be willing to send. These are good people who are in this horrible, terrible situation and they need God to bless them indeed.
I’ll leave you this morning with a section from her mom’s e-mail yesterday:
Her vital signs continue to be strong. We’ll take every little bit we can get. Kelli says that she is not afraid to die, she just doesn’t want to. She is a determined young lady. I know that all of your prayers are helping as all of us are able to cope during this scary time.
Thanks,
Shane
Reflections on the Big Easy
I wrote the following while I was on my way to New Orleans last Thursday and thought I’d throw it out to the Internets to see how you like it. It’s been edited, but mostly it was my gut reaction as we flew toward the Crescent City…
I oftentimes forget that people travel to New Orleans because of its history. And it is a city very rich with history. Unfortunately, that’s been tainted by years and years of poverty piled on top of the effects of Hurricane Katrina.
The first time was in 1993. I remember the year because we went for the Final Four. Kansas was playing in one of the most stacked final weekends of the tournament ever, with Michigan, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Kansas lost their semifinal game to the Tarheels, who were led by Eric Montross.
North Carolina went on to win the National Championship, defeating Michigan in a game that would go down in infamy as the one where Chris Webber called a timeout at the end of the game that the Wolverines didn’t have, resulting in a game-sealing technical foul.
What I remember of New Orleans from when I was 16 was really more the spectacle than anything. I remember traveling to the Tulane campus with David Rowe and visiting Frankie & Johnny’s for my first experience with crawfish. We saw Bourbon Street and the debauchery in all its glory on the first night, the streets packed with fans from all four schools milling around from bar to bar, from strip club to strip club, drinking and generally just making asses out of themselves.
We toured the French quarter during the day, which is really when people should see it. Bourbon Street is too much to take, but the rest of the quarter is intriguing, filled with art shops and tarot card readers along the streets.
I was reminded of this New Orleans today as I sat on the plane returning to the city that I’ve grown to dislike very much. It is rich with history, sure, but the smell of sewage in the city casts an overwhelming. I’ve not been back since Hurricane Katrina hit and I’m interested to see what’s been done to overcome that tragedy.
The woman across the small plane from me was sifting through her “Walking Tour Guide” and other assorted New Orleans tourism maps and such. She reminded me that some people (myself not included) still visit this city at the mouth of the Mississippi because it’s fascinating. There really is a lot to see if you want to find it. You just have to ignore the smells and the other negative things that go along with a city that has endured what New Orleans has.
This is my fifth trip to the city. While my first experience was amazing, being led around by a former native, going to the Final Four, etc., my following experiences (outside of the amazing food) have been less than stellar. There’s no reason I could point to particularly…I just remember the city being dirty and less impressive with each additional viewing.
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Now I realize that like I said earlier, what I don’t like about New Orleans is that it seems like a city with a lot of potential, but it just can’t get it together. Something horrible happened to the city, but the government has thrown TONS of money there, but it still is a ways from being right again and I don’t know if it ever will be because the people in charge have about as much of a clue as to how to run a city as those running Kansas City, Missouri proper.
Either way, I just don’t see myself ever going back there to visit. I’ll go when I absolutely have to for a conference or whatever, but I’m not going to voluntarily go back. It would take some serious motivation for me to do so.
Back from The Big Easy
I’ve was in New Orleans Thursday through Saturday for a conference. As we drove back to the airport, I summed up the trip as such:
“I just can’t understand why anyone would want to live in New Orleans. I barely ever want to even visit here.”
And it’s the truth. Sure, the food is great (it really is) and the music is good, but the negatives vastly outweigh the positives there. The town has been very slow to recover from Hurricane Katrina, but frankly, I didn’t think it was that great before the disaster. Any major city that situates itself 2 to 6 meters below sea level isn’t making good decisions, if you ask me.
Add that to the overwhelming smell of sewage, the high violent crime rate (4 times the homicides of Kansas City), and the vast poverty and you’re looking at a city that isn’t really appealing to me.
The food is pretty darn good though.
The first night, we ate at Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House, an upscale seafood place right on Bourbon Street. I ate raw oysters (teetering on the edge between gross and intriguing) and an absolutely amazing entree of crawfish-crusted Gulf fish (see below). That meal was by far the best I had, although the Shrimp Po-Boy I had at Landry’s for lunch the next day was pretty tasty too.
I’m glad to be home. We flew ExpressJet and had to actually walk out on the Tarmac to get on our plane. To call it small is an understatement. One seat, aisle, two seats. That’s it. The Bose QC2 Noise-Cancelling Headphones made the flight a lot easier. It was weird getting back from the 80 degree weather of Louisiana to the high 30 degree weather in KC. You gotta love the midwest.
Alli’s Got a Brand New Blog
My wonderful wife, who I love dearly (after all, she did name her blog after me), has a brand new home on the Web. The other day, she let me know that she had an idea for a website and wanted to know how to set it up. She was planning on registering a free WordPress blog and all that, but I did a quick domain search and saw that the domain was available. Since I had some money with GoDaddy, I went ahead and registered it for her.
I spent last night setting it up and today, she put up her first post. So, I’d like to introduce:
Today’s Favorites
Alli’s new blog is a place where she’s planning on putting up her favorite stuff of every day. I know there are several that read both her and I and I wanted to make sure that those of you out there knew that she’s got a new place. She hasn’t decided what to do with The Shane Fan Club yet, but let’s hope it sticks around, too.