Victories, Defeats, Reunions, and Reveries

Yes, it’s true. My website has not featured blogs at nearly the rate it once did. I love writing, but people don’t love reading nearly as much as listening. The numbers for the blogs versus podcasts showed that right from the beginning of this site back in 2018, but I eventually confirmed it by writing a few blogs and then making them into podcasts also. By about ten times to one people listened rather than read.. So common sense and personal bandwidth took over and I only blog occasionally, like right now, and damned if I am not going to enjoy it.

Just like I am enjoying the vacation that I am on. It is an exploration of the past combined with the joys of the present. The actual main reason for the trip is a milestone high school reunion. If you are reading this you probably have some working knowledge of yours truly, so I will let you do the math on which one it is. The event was Saturday evening, and it was a tremendous time. Somewhere around three hundred people were there and there were truths and lies and laughs and dancing and more.

I went to high school in Framingham, Massachusetts, but the reunion was in the nearby town of Milford. So, ironically enough I got to do another trip down memory lane since Milford’s WMRC radio was my first post-college radio job. The station moved locations last year, but I did visit the studios, and the old colonial house that was the location. of the oriiginal. I also went by the two apartments that I lived in during that two year stint. More wistful fun.

There was more. My wife Jayne spent a summer performing at the College Light Opera Company in Falmouth on Cape Cod. She gets to soak up the reverie for a day or two as well, as she reflects back on doing eight shows in nine weeks back in her college days. It also is just about my mother’s 90th birthday, and we have already spent two lengthy extended lunches and conversations with a truly renmarkable lady. Heck, we still have boating to Martha’s Vineyard, watching my nephew play soccer, dinners, and great friends to visit. Has been and will be fun.

But it’s Monday and that means a stuffed to the gills sports weekend to muse on as we do weekly, this time with the written word. Quite a roller coaster of emotions and highs and lows to say the least, staritng with the Kansas City Chiefs. I mean, what can you say? Every week you look at the matchups, the Chiefs are big favorites, the opposition is compromised by injury or whatever, and you think it’s time for a KC breeze. And, of course, no. The last thing long time Chiefs fans want to hear is to have their squad be the “Just Win, Baby” team, but here we are.

An ugly, really ugly, affair with the Chargers was pulled out. After an even more horrific start than usual, replete with turnovers, penalties, a potentially awful injury to Rashee Rice, and more, the Chiefs ground it out. As the Chiefs started out poorly, the Chargers offense, with offensive tackles missing, Herbert hurt , etc. lit up Steve Spagnoulo’s crew for a quarter. After that…..bubkus. If you asked a fan at the end of the first with the Chergers up 10-0 (and making multiple mistakes themselves) if seventeen points would do the job, I don’t think anyone would sign up. but it did. 17-10, 4-0, and multiple things to worry about and mull over. But…..uhhh….somehow, someway 4-0. Next up it’s the Saints on Monday night, and likely more dramatics.

With that exhale in the books, for the first time in a decade we are about to get to relish Royals playoff baseball. They have hardly thundered their way into the postseason losing nine of their last thirteen games, but you don’t pick lint when a team does something tru’ly remarkable like going from 56 wins to a wild card matchup with the Orioles. They became only the fifth team in MLB history to improve 30 games from one season to the next. The Royas offense has looked mighty flimsy down the stretch, scoring twenty runs in their last eleven games. but when you have pitching you have a chance. The Royals clinched a spot on Friday and got to line it up just right. Lugo, Ragans, amd Wacha can match up with anybody, and certainly with Baltimore.

But don’t just view it as house money with plenty on the horizon. The Royals resurgence has been fueled by a Bobby Witt (AL batting champion at .332) performance that would have been MVP stuff most years, and veteran pitching that they aquired. Sal Perez has had a great season, but he is a catcher in his mid-30’s. That’s the age range for Lugo and Michael Wacha. We can coiunt on greatness going forward for Witt, but there aren’t too many other givens. The lesson here is soak this in and relish an opportunity. The Diamondbacks rode a wave to the World Series last year. I’m not saying that’s in the cards for the Royals, but dare to dream.

If you want a real-life defininituion of dichotomy then look to the local college football weekend. Kansas State was coming off a extremely bad loss to BYU, and had a equally frustrated quality squad in Okalhoma State coming to Manhattan., and they purged the Cougar demon with a woodhed job on the :Pokes. Not so much for the Kansas Jayhawks, whose misery index is sky high after getting undressed as the game unfolded by TCU.

First, the happy Wildcats story. Oklahoma State hung in for a bit, but a breakout, perhaps breakthrough game from Avery Johnson led the way to the 42-20 win. D.J. Giddens had a monster games as well as Chris Kleiman won his tenth straight game at K-State after a loss. That’s mighty impressive as was a "‘Cats offense that went well north of five hundred yards. Johson threw for three TD’s, and for the moment quieted thoughts that he was mostly a runner. Of course, he did that, too. Now K-State gets a week off before heading to Boulder to quiet more noise about Colorado, who unfortunately (for me) have looked mighty good so far..

That’s about the opposite for Kansas. They played a back and forth game against TCU until in the third quarter things started to drift away, and It’s unfortunately very clear that by a mile the biggest problem for KU is Jaylen Daniels. You can try to dress it up any way you like, but he is completing 53 percent of his passes and has eight interceptions. He hasn’t run the ball well, or made good option decisions. This while the standard running game for Kansas has been just fine. Lance Leipold was furiois with some third quarter officiating decisions, but I think that is a reflection of where KU’s 2024 season is. On the road next at Arizona State doesn’t dound appealing, but it’s the next chance for a reset.

Team golf is fun, and when the U.S. Presidents Cup team rolled out 5-0 on Thursday it looked like they killed all that. But then the International team stunninlgly did the same on Friday it looked like a competitive and fun weekend. Not so much, the U.S. continued the dominance that has made the event a distant cousin to the Ryder Cup.

This blog gives me a tip of the cap again to the great writers I get to read. Even this passable effort ( I hope) takes at least twice as much time as a podcast, and I enjoy doing it when I can. But right now I have to get on a boat to Martha’s Vineyard for a great afternoon with my wife, my friend from childhood to now John Bridge, and his lovely wife.

That’s an ending line which is a smile.