Category Archives: Sports

At Least We’re Not Philly

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Anyone who lives in Kansas City knows how tough it is to be a sports fan.

Sports Illustrated just ran a photo essay called “10 Cities in a Sports Slump“. Here was their list:

  1. Philadelphia
  2. Atlanta
  3. Buffalo
  4. Cleveland
  5. Minneapolis-St. Paul
  6. New York City
  7. Washington, D.C.
  8. Los Angeles
  9. Seattle
  10. Cincinnati

Look, I can appreciate how frustrating it must be for New Yorkers to have unlimited means at their disposal and to have their baseball team win the World Series only once every 3 years, but…no wait…I CAN’T. Kansas City is perennially disappointed when it comes to sports, both professional and collegiate. The Chiefs haven’t won a playoff game in almost 15 years, the Royals are…well, THE FREAKING ROYALS, and our college teams take quality basketball teams (I’m talking only THIS side of the state line here) almost there, but never all the way.

My last post was a rant about how coastal bias keeps the Midwest out of a lot of consideration and I think this is just another example of that. Why else would LA and NY be included in the list? Poor LA. Only 2 NCAA football titles, 3 Final Fours,  1 National Basketball Championship, 3 straight NBA titles (2000-2002) and that’s only since 1995. New York’s arrogance is proven by what SI had to say:

Even though there are some winning teams, the headlines are filled with the Knicks’ front-office issues and the Yankees’ bloated payroll and their recent split with Joe Torre. The Mets had a historic collapse this season, the Rangers are struggling despite spending lots of money in the offseason, and the Jets’ collapse balances out any success the Giants are having.

Apparently their successes are outweighed by their failures because they have SO MANY TEAMS. Must be rough.

And SI’s reason for including Atlanta: “The Braves made the playoffs for the last 14 years and missed them the last 2.” Really? That’s your argument? OK, I’ll let it slide because of Michael Vick and the Hawks, who have sucked since they lost Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb.

Is it comforting that we aren’t on this list or is it just another slap in the face, telling us that if you aren’t a major market, you don’t matter? You decide.

Are the Jayhawks for real?

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I’m a huge Kansas Jayhawk basketball fan. I’ve never been much of a KU football fan because, frankly, they’ve been pretty terrible for a long time. In the past couple of years, Coach Mark Mangino has managed to win some pretty big rivalry games, but overall his team has underperformed, making it to only 2 bowl games (the Mazda Tangerine and Fort Worth bowls – yikes) since he took over in 2002.

KU has started the 2007 season 6-0 and is ranked #15 in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls. They are, however, ranked #13 in the BCS rankings which could mean big dollar signs for the school that has languished near the bottom of the Big 12 football rankings ever since it went from 8 to 12 teams.

This weekend, Kansas goes out to Colorado to attempt to break a streak of 5 straight losses in Boulder. The Buffaloes are a team that is the only blemish on an otherwise pretty good season for the Sooners. Colorado lost by 27 last week to Kansas State, who we all know got beat by KU two weeks ago at home.

It is looking up for the Jayhawks, but this game at Colorado is exactly the type of game that Mangino’s teams have lost in the past. I’m cautiously optimistic, but I imagine that it will take a game like this and then beating Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium on Thanksgiving weekend for most people to actually believe that KU Football is for real.

Sprint Center Opens

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At 10:10 today (10/10…how clever!), the Sprint Center will open without an anchor tenant.

There are some people who think that’s a bad thing (*cough cough*). I’m not one of them.

Look, I realize that it sucks that people won’t have a specific team to root for over the next couple of years, but I will guarantee that there will be a basketball or hockey team (god forbid) in there before the end of 2008. The truth is that it doesn’t matter. The place is going to be wildly successful.

One of the most exciting things about it is that it all but assures the return of the Big 12 Tournament to its rightful place here in Kansas City. And while that might only be for a week in March, I’ve got an inside source that says that AEG has over 200 events lined up over the next year. Anchor tenants do not make money for facilities. They get free rent, they typically struggle through growing pains, and considering that our best bet is hockey…well…I’d rather get an Arena Football team.

I wish that folks would see the bright side of this arena. Hannah Montana, Garth Brooks, Elton John – these are acts wouldn’t come near Kansas City in the past because our facility was hopelessly outdated. They would have opted for other booming cities like Oklahoma City or Omaha who have had the foresight to actually build modern arenas. The only thing Kemper had to offer was the ghost of Owen Hart haunting the catwalks.

I recognize that you wish that you didn’t have to pay scalper prices for tickets, but you should be appreciative that we are getting those events to begin with. Would you rather have to travel to St. Louis and figure out a way to buy tickets there, travel, get a hotel room, etc.?

I am thrilled to have an arena of this caliber opening in Kansas City. Like I said, some of these events wouldn’t touch KC with a ten-foot pole until the new arena was built. And unlike the area surrounding Kemper Arena, the area surrounding the Sprint Center is already under development and will likely have some decent pull. Out of all the problems the Sprint Center has, I would imagine that there is not one that is larger than parking. And that will always be a problem until people make it a priority. I imagine that as soon as Paul Saleh or James Hance, Jr., can’t find parking, it will become quite a priority.

Roger Federer

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Roger Federer is the greatest tennis player in history. It’s not even a question.

There are many who would be in the argument – Pete Sampras, Rod Laver, Andre Agassi – but not one of them was as complete a player as the 26-year-old Swiss. It is true that he has never won the French Open – I suppose everyone should be afforded one weakness. But even then, Federer has 6 titles on clay courts and just hasn’t seemed to get over the hump on that one major championship (mostly due to the fact that Rafael Nadal has owned him at Roland Garros). I expect that he will win either next year or the year after that.

Watching Roger Federer play tennis is what I imagine it would have been like watching Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel. His precision in every aspect of the game was exemplified tonight in his highly anticipated match with Andy Roddick.

As much as you’d like to see Roddick pull an upset at home in New York, you could tell tonight that even on his best, he couldn’t hang. One of the most telling moments of the night was during the second set tiebreak and Federer had Set Point and the serve at 6-5. Roddick was fired up and knew that if he could win the point, he might have a chance. The crowd sensed it as well and got quite loud inside of Arthur Ashe Stadium. But just as quickly as they started yelling, they were silenced as Federer served a laser ace straight down the middle line and directly into Roddick’s heart. That was Roddick’s second-straight close-but-no-cigar set of the evening and you saw in his eyes that he was virtually done. After two closely fought sets in which Roddick gave his best and lost, he folded and was quickly dismissed in the third set 6-2.

I like Andy Roddick. I like his intensity, but his game just isn’t good enough. While you could tell that Roddick was giving his all through the whole match, it seemed easy for Federer to keep pace; he just paced himself, hit precision shots, and displayed why he has been the #1 player in the world since February 2, 2004. The man is unstoppable on the court.

As much as I’d like to…

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…this is not a trip update. I just haven’t had nearly the time I want to commit to giving a thorough overview of the trip and I’m still fighting with myself to get our pictures up on Flickr. I promise that trip updates are coming soon.

But not today.

We had a great weekend and just wanted to talk quickly about it. We spent Friday night at Community America Ballpark watching the T-Bones (from a suite, no less) as a celebration of Big Mike’s 31st birthday. It was fun hanging with all our friends and playing the “pass the cup” game that makes T-Bones games a lot more interesting. (It’s nothing sinister, I assure you.)

Saturday, I got a lot accomplished. I mowed our lawn for the first time since we got back into the country, which led to a small bout of dehydration. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the summer? It is the most VILE of all seasons. Too HOT. After recovering, I tackled cleaning and scrubbing the kitchen while Alli went to the baby shower for my future niece, Ireland. In 7 short weeks, I’m going to be an uncle…how cool!

After Alli returned from the shower and I finally got IN the shower, we went to the movies for the first time since we saw Shrek the Third in a French theater just off the Champs-Elysées. We caught two movies that I’ve been dying to see – Live Free or Die Hard (AWESOME) and The Bourne Ultimatum (EVEN AWESOMER). We were shocked to see one of the biggest theaters at the Olathe 30 AMC completely packed for the 9:50 PM Bourne, but after seeing the weekend box office numbers (Bourne took in over $70 million), I guess it isn’t all that surprising. That movie ROCKED.

Then yesterday, we had an early Priesthood meeting and a great church service in which we got to sit with our buddy Reece, which is always fun. He and I had a good time playing motorcycle while I tried to pay attention to his dad’s sermon.

After church, we grabbed some Chipotle with Mom (an obvious Sunday lunch choice…and every other day for that matter), then headed home for a quick nap and then back out to Lee’s Summit to hang with Jake and Kelly. Watched Stomp the Yard (pretty good), some Iron Chef America and Entourage before heading home with the 7th Harry Potter book in hand (boy, do I love my future sister-in-law for hooking me up!). I read until about 2 A.M., getting through around 300 pages. I’m determined to finish in the next couple of days so I can finally start reading all about it on the interweb. Fortunately, I’ve been able to avoid spoilers up to this point. Needless to say, it was difficult waking up this morning.

Keep an eye out…I promise a trip update soon.

P.S. If there are any generous reader-types out there, I’m totally wanting this Harry Potter set that is going to come out in a month. I only have one of the 7 books and I want the whole set. If someone out there is interested in making this boy’s day…I’m just saying.

Gator Hater

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As much as I despise Florida and its All-Ugly Forward Joakim Noah, I’m more disappointed in KU getting bounced from the tournament last weekend than in Florida’s repeat (and subsequent discussion of it being one of the best college teams ever).

I can’t figure out how a dude as ugly as Noah is being considered a first-round NBA pick…that guy is NO GOOD. He will stink in the NBA. Mark my words.

Not only that, I can’t figure out why scouts have Brandon Rush and Julian Wright both bouncing from KU to the NBA this off-season. In my opinion, Rush is the only one that could even consider it, but he stands to make a lot more money if he sticks around for a year. His stock could rise significantly (see: Corey Brewer, Florida) if he were to stay and lead the Jayhawks to their first championship in almost 20 years next year.

If both Rush and Wright return, we should be the pre-season #1. If we aren’t, I’ll be convinced that there are people voting that just don’t watch college basketball. For the first 2 rounds of the tournament, no one acted more like a #1 seed than my beloved Jayhawks. After a gritty performance against a tough Southern Illinois team, it was really a let down to see them self-destruct in a way to UCLA. And then, seeing UCLA get dominated by Florida was all the more frustrating, considering that we matched up much better against the Gators.

I think that Sherron Collins knee injury likely had a lot more to do with the loss than we thought, and I am anxious to see how he performs as a seasoned sophomore. Here’s hoping he keeps his weight down because when he lost that 20 pounds, he was KU’s X-factor.

Even if Rush and Wright both go to the NBA, Bill Self will just reload with a bunch more studs. I would just really like to see us play more together as a team than we seemed to in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8. The coming weeks will be interesting and here’s hoping that everyone sticks around to make a run at greatness.

And here’s hoping that I never have to watch Joakim Noah dance ever again. Seriously. That dude got hit by the #1 Ugly Bus when he was crossing Main Street in Uglytown.

My Two Weeks Off

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My last day at Perceptive Software was November 10. I start my new job on November 27. I think my new employer would have liked for me to start on November 13, but I really needed this time off to decompress and prepare myself for my upcoming new position.

I’m thrilled to be starting this new job. I can’t wait to get in there, but for the last 2 weeks, I’ve been really enjoying not working.

Since Alli works for herself, she has been able to schedule herself available as well. We’ve had such a blast just hanging out the two of us in the house, getting Starbucks and muffins from our Price Chopper and so many other memories that I have to list some of them here:

  • Starbucks and muffins from Price Chopper every day
  • Chipotle almost every day
  • Our annual Shopping Day
  • Our Chiefs Excursion
  • Alli punching Clay Aiken at Sam’s
  • Seeing Casino Royale and Stranger than Fiction in a span of less than 24 hours
  • Our Netflix trial and seeing Roman Holiday for the first time
  • Watching Today, Regis & Kelly, The View, and The Megan Mullaly show. Seriously.
  • Talking ourselves out of spending $3,000 at Nebraska Furniture Mart
  • Seeing Tim Gunn and Angela Keslar from Season 3 of Project Runway at the Leawood, KS Macy’s
  • Meeting little Stella Anne less than 24 hours after she was born…you guys make good-looking kids, K&S
  • Naps
  • Interviewing a new member of my new team
  • Snuggling with the dog
  • Spending Thanksgiving (and Ashley and Tom’s birthdays) with Alli’s family
  • Late night text-messaging with Jake
  • SUGAR COOKIES
  • The onset of Christmas music, including our newest Christmas CD, Wintersong
  • Finishing 2 books (Review of Fletch Reflected coming soon)
  • The Chiefs beating Denver on Thanksgiving
  • Staying up late by myself to watch the KU-Florida game go into overtime and have KU win
  • Returning home
  • Relaxing
  • Spending 2 weeks with my best friend

Some of that might mean nothing to you readers, but it has meant the world to me. I’ll try to be a more prolific poster, but with the new job starting, we’ll see.

NASCAR: Not a sport.

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I don’t care what anyone says…

NASCAR IS NOT A SPORT.

Sure, it’s tough to drive a car 200+ miles per hour around in a circle, but that is some BORING driving. I realize that it is like the NUMBER ONE spectator sport in the United States, but MAN, I just don’t get it.

Now, animated movies about NECKCAR featuring famous people’s voices from Pixar Studios…THAT IS SOME SWEET ACTION.

Alli and I are testing out Netflix while I’m on vacation between jobs and Cars was at the top of our list. (We also have checked out Roman Holiday and A Prairie Home Companion and we have Art School Confidential arriving tomorrow.)

Cars (Widescreen Edition)

I am always amazed by Pixar’s innovation and creativity. In Cars, they have a great homage to the old American roadways (Route 66 and all that), but a great message about responsibility, friendship, and…well…cars. I really enjoyed the movie, although I could have done without Owen Wilson as the main character. Bonnie Hunt wasn’t great either as Owen’s love interest. (Sidenote: this is not a criticism of them as actors, although neither is great, but more a comment on my disenchantment with their voice skills.) Larry the Cable Guy was awesome, though.

Anyway, I would recommend Cars to just about anyone. In fact, you should buy it for me at Amazon. Thanks!

It’s a Major Award!

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Tonight we went to the Royals game with the young adults from church. It was a lot of fun, but the craziest thing that happened at the game (the Royals didn’t win, nor did they get 12 hits for Krispy Kreme donuts, much to Alli’s chagrin), was that I won the Good Sport Award at the game.

Reece: Uber Cute

Steve taught me a while back that if you go to Guest Services and sign a piece of paper that says you’ll be a designated driver for your group, then you get a free small drink (a $3.75 value!). You also get entered into a drawing for the Good Sport Award. According to the guys in the Guest Services office, they had more people enter the drawing tonight than they ever had before (to the tune of like 590 people). Out of those 590 people, they pulled me, Shane Adams, out of the box. I was so pumped…my name was even on the scoreboard (although Alli was too slow with the camera to get a picture!). It must run in the family. My mom, when I was about 11 years old, won a car in a Foot Locker drawing from Adidas. It was a Cadillac and she had the option of having it customized by Run DMC. She wisely chose to just pick out her own.

Or maybe the Royals organization just knew that I am a member of the League of Awesomeness and they wanted to reward me. Who knows? Either way, here’s a picture of me triumphantly holding up my “major award” – a Royals rain jacket with a Budweiser Good Sport logo on the sleeve.

It's a Major Award!

Good stuff.

Scott Chows Down on Some Cotton Candy