Kansas!

We spent the weekend in Lawrence, KS with the Morgans. When we arrived it was 4 above and they had snow.

Here is a shot of Christy and Harry walking over to see Carole at work.

Here I am on Mass street downtown Lawrence.

We had to check out the William Burroughs home, it is still in great shape. Can you imagine him sitting on the front porch with a shotgun?Christy checking out the back yard and looking for something to throw at Harry and me below.
She took a good photo instead. Notice the Gnome Creek railroad in the background.
Christmas at the Morgans!

Harry in his festive hat.

Harry wrestling with his MacMurray sweatshirt.....the sweatshirt won. Carole inspecting her new crazy blue cow.
Sock monkeys riding the crazy blue cow.

Cruddy wrestling with her new scarf thing....


This one was a tie.

Introducing the "missing link sock monkey"! Very cool.

On Saturday Harry and I checked out a great fly shop in Lawrence, Yager's.

They are home to the KU fly fishing club and they have a great logo.

We also ran by Hoglund Ballpark and Bobby Allison field at KU.

Bob Allison was a Jayhawk!

Here is a shot of him in his Twins uniform.

At the University of Kansas Allison was a standout fullback, track star, and baseball player.
In 1958, Bob signed with the Washington Senators, and in 1959, his first full year with the team, he was named American League Rookie of the Year.

At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, he was known as the most feared, physical base runner in the American League.
In 13 seasons with the Washington Senators and the Minnesota Twins, Bob slugged 256 home runs, made three All-Star appearances, and was voted the greatest left fielder in the first 40 years of the Twins.

Below, a great shot of the campus at the University of Kansas.

And a closer shot of the Campanile.On Sunday we ran in to Kansas City. Here is a shot of downtown from Liberty Memorial. Union Station is in the foreground.The Western Auto building in KC.While at the Liberty Memorial we visited the WWI museum. It was great. Here is a shot of a 1917 Harley Davidson produced for the war effort.A very early American tank for WWI.Outside at the Liberty Memorial.

And finally, a shot of our old pad in Lawrence. Still looks good.

HOF Class of 2009

Congratulations to Jim Rice and Rickey Henderson!

Jim Rice:

A tremendously powerful offensive player and a solid glove. The only other players to lead their league in total bases three consecutive years are:

Ty Cobb,Honus Wagner,Rogers Hornsby Johnny Mize and Hank Aaron.

Good company to say the least. A "Deans list" of all-time offensive players.

Rice became the first AL player to accomplish the feat in 70 years when he did it in 1979.

One could make the case that Jim Rice was the best offensive player in the AL from 1975-1986.

Top Ten during that time-

Batting Average-6 times

On Base-2

Slugging-8

At Bats-7

Runs-6

Hits-8

Total Bases-9

Doubles-3

Triples-4

Home Runs-7

RBIs-9

Well Done #14

Ricky Henderson:

25 years in the Big Show, 94.8% of the vote, all-time leader in stolen bases and runs scored, drew more than 100 walks in a season 7 times. The greatest leadoff hitter of all time?



We also forget he also hit for power with 4 seasons with more than 20 home runs.

Now if we can just get Bert Blyleven the respect he deserves!

3701 strikeouts (5th all time),287 wins, 60 shutouts, 242 complete games a 2.47 ERA in the post-season and two rings.

Bert got 62% this year (needs 75%).

FYI MacGwire received 21.9%

Next years first-time candidates:

(in alphabetical order): Roberto Alomar, Kevin Appier, Andy Ashby, Ellis Burks, Andres Galarraga, Pat Hentgen, Mike Jackson, Eric Karros, Ray Lankford, Barry Larkin, Edgar Martinez, Fred McGriff, Shane Reynolds, Robin Ventura, and Todd Zeile.

Wow, not much....Larkin? Appier? Alomar (as an umpire I hope not, remember the spitting incident).

Larkin could be hurt by the fact that he played part of his career in the shadow of the great #17.

Edgar Martinez should have the offensive numbers: .312 career average and 309 home runs but no golden gloves. He was a real butcher at 3B with a range factor of 1.79 and spent most of his career as a DH and that could count against him.

Budweiser in St. Louis

This weekend we ran down to St. Louis.

We met Marc, Khara and Bri at the Budweiser plant for a tour.

I recommend doing this if you are in St. Louis, the grounds are wonderful, the tour is interesting and best of all it is free, including beer at the end.

Here are some shots while on the tour starting with the entrance to the plant.

And inside the Bud Light mini-plane.One of the first delivery trucks in perfect shape.Everybody loves the Budweiser Clydesdales.The Clydesdales are housed in a wonderful stable right on the grounds. Here we are entering the stable.Inside we caught the Budweiser Dalmatian napping in the straw on a cold winter day.Christy checking out the brew tanks.Me, Marc and Khara outside on the grounds.Christy, Khara, Marc and Bri waiting to see the labeling plant.A view of the brewing facilities.My favorite detail of the plant, this super cool fox gargoyle. He is called the "Bevo Fox" and was their marketing image during prohibition.In the gift shop they sold the coolest thing ever. A koozie that goes on your hand and not on the can!The Bud hand-koozie ready for action.

Blagojevich

With all the action right here in Springfield I feel we should comment.

I found a photo on the web that says it all.
Hot Rod and Nixon in 1980.

Water seeks its own level.

Work

Philosopher as a job.

Ever wonder if it's all worth it? Getting admitted to graduate school (two for me). Graduate school itself with all the sweat...the tears... the dissertation, student loans. The howling into the void of the job market that spits back a mountain of rejection... 4 on-campus interviews and 2 offers to show for over one hundred applications sent out.

The Tenure track..."publish or perish" ...the time lost to committee meetings...college politics....

Well, according to the wall street journal (and a survey by careercast.com) becoming a Philosopher is the 12th best job out there. 12th best! Though, I'm not entirely sure how comforting it is when Parole Officer comes in at 14, but 12/200 isn't bad.

Most of the above was stolen from another blog that I enjoy called the Philosophy Smoker.

Below are a few shots of me working.

Here I am with The Preacher and Christy at a board of trustees function.At Vespers with The Preacher.My department at MacMurray College, RJ. Stewart and Richard Palmer.KU graduation with Yancy and Tom Tuozzo. Before I knew to wear my hat off to the side like Luther. Check out photo #1 and #3.

A department meeting held on the Bitterroot River in Montana summer of 2007.

Last day of Christmas Vacation!

I thought I would post some great baseball photos I have come across in the last few months.



A great shot of Roger Maris and Sadaharu Oh. The American and Japanese home run kings.

Mantle mid-air to score a run.

Mickey Mantle, Dorris Day, Cary Grant and Roger Maris.

JFK and Roger Maris late 1961.

Shoeless Joe Jackson holding a trophy he won in the off-season between 1917-1918 for throwing a baseball the furthest (396 feet).

Love him or hate him Charlie Hustle could really fly.

Dave Parker in the dugout 1979.

Dave Parker sporting a hockey mask in 1978 after a home plate collision with Mets catcher John Stearns on June 30. The play knocked Parker out of the lineup with a fractured jaw and cheekbone and he returned with this mask.

Frank "The Big Skirt" Thomas showing that he is in fact a jerk, check out his right hand for this 1991-92 Upper-Deck baseball card.

Back to work tomorrow.

A great start to 2009

2008 ended with some great new albums that we used to usher in the New Year with style.

Sammy Hagar released Cosmic Universal Fashion

That's right, THE RED ROCKER has a new album out. I love this shot below of Sammy and his 1967 Mustang Fastback. Do you think he drives 55 in that? Go get 'em Sammy!


The album contains all new material for Hagar. He covers several songs like The Beastie Boys Fight For Your Right To Party and Dreams from his days with Van Halen. Several guests appear on the album like Michael Anthony Hall from (or formerly from, I can't keep up) Van Halen, Billy Duffy from The Cult, Matt Sorum from Guns N' Roses and Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. A very impressive guest list indeed.

Track Listing
"Cosmic Universal Fashion" (3:33)
"Psycho Vertigo" (5:03)
"Peephole" (4:20)
"Loud" (3:55)
"Fight for Your Right to Party" (3:48)
"Switch On the Light" (3:17)
"When the Sun Don't Shine" (4:15)
"24365" (3:58)
"I'm on a Roll" (2:40)
"Dreams/Cabo" (8:50)


Sammy started playing with Montrose in 1973. He then went out on his own between 1976 and 1984. In late 1984 we were introduced to the Van Hagar era and then after a split with the boys back to a very successful solo career.

And Guns N' Roses released Chinese Democracy.

This is the first studio album for Guns since 1993

The album is excellent and I especially enjoy track #6 titled "There Was a Time" as it is vintage Guns. The title track "Chinese Democracy" is well done but a different sound for G-n-R.

The G-n-R lineup has been a complete mess since 1993 and I am not going to try and document it here. The only stable factor has been Axl Rose as the front man and lead vocals. FYI, "Axl" is a Norwegian name but not his given name.

The album has been banned in China, so there is another reason to buy it!

Enjoy these albums from two of the greatest front men in Rock-n-Roll, Axl and Sammy.