The Saints Come a-Calling

NO Saints fan blog The Canal Street Chronicles has been rather quiet this week, and it would appear that the Saints are just as banged up on defense as the Chiefs are with both starting cornerbacks, Mike McKenzie and rookie Tracy Porter, on IR for the remainder of the season. Apparently many Saints fans have been calling for the job of defensive coordinator Gary Gibbs just as loudly as Chiefs fans have for the heads of Herm Edwards and Carl Peterson.
LJ appears to be back this week, but Herm Edwards would not comment if the drink-spitting misogynist powerback would start or exactly how much time he will receive. Adam Teicher speculates in the Star that Larry's introduction back into Chan Gailey's new spread offense will probably cause awkwardness. Personally I think the team should do a fair amount of substitution between Johnson and Jamaal Charles to establish a powerrun game but also to keep the Saints on their toes with Charles' flourishes of speed. I'm no offensive coordinator, but it would seem having them both out there in a split backfield would ratchet up the anxiety and suspense for an already beleaguered Saints D.
Lastly on the game, it appears that Turk McBride is back as he fully participated in Wednesday's practice; Patrick Surtain and Jarrad Page were limited in that practice, and Brandon Flowers, Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson and LB Pat Thomas did not participate at all.
BONUS -- Here is the photo shoot Ashley N. Stewart, the woman who accuses Larry Johnson of spitting a drink in her face and threatening to kill her boyfriend at the Plaza CLUB Blonde, took for the "Women of KU" calendar.

Deer Hunting Season Opens Saturday

For all of you heading to nature this weekend, be on alert because the firearm season for deer opens
Nov. 15 and extends to Nov. 25. I spoke with Ben Pryor, District Supervisor of the Protection Division
at the Missouri Department of Conservation office in Kirksville, and he advised that hikers and
nature lovers avoid forest land in Missouri during this time. If you do want to go out, he said
with a dubious tone, you should wear the hunter orange vest and hat that is mandatory for hunters.
Last year 470,557 people received firearm permits to hunt some of the one million deer that reside
in our fair state. Yes, 70% of Missourians may live in urban areas, but we rank fifth among states
for number of hunters. Pryor claimed that deer hunting generates $1.1 billion a year for the Missouri
economy when you add the fuel that hunters use to power up their trucks and ATVs to the more obvious
provisions like bullets, guns, beer, permits, lodging, food, beer, clothing, jerky, knives, beer, firewood,
muskets, blackpowder, beer.
I went to Truman State in Kirksville and believe me when I tell you that opening weekend for deer season
is like the Super Bowl, Easter, the Magna Carta, Mardi Gras, New Years Eve (again with the drinking) and
Christmas all wrapped into one for avid hunters. I was on the Missouriwhitetails.com forum today, looking at a post
asking if fellow deer hunters carry a sidearm (hand gun) while hunting. Under the member picture and name
is the mood description, and various people had moods ranging from the mundane "Hoping to get out and deer hunt" to
the anxious "1 Day Left to Stick an Arrow in a Deer" to the self deprecating "bitter and clingy" to the redneckish
"big buck ... come out come out wherever you are" to the downright perverse "rutting hard."
Deer collisions with cars pick-up during hunting season, but this could also be due to deer being much more
active in colder weather. Last season, for example, there was a drop in the number
of deer "bagged" in Missouri to 214,494 from 2006's 235,054 because 2007 was unseasonably warm.
The NYT has an article on muzzleloading hunting for deer. The muzzleloading season doesn't start
in Missouri until November 28. So when the semi-automatic rifles are put up on their racks on Nov. 25, do not
head directly out to the wilderness, hikers, because the musket balls will be flying until Dec. 8.

Unclear Power

The Utne Reader had a cover story called "Atomic Dreams" in their January/February issue about nuclear power and the environmental movement's changing attitude toward the carbon-free source of energy. Also included in this package is a short interview/sidebar with Deep Economy author Bill McKibben who stresses the unpopular solution of energy conservation over a radical changeover to nuclear power. As he correctly points out, no politicians are seriously campaigning for the 30% reduction in energy usage that many environmentalists claim is possible because there's no money to be made in slashing our energy use.

On a more local level, the state of Kansas has become a new battlefront in the environmental war versus big business. And on Thursday the Kansas "Senate passed a bill allowing Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to go forward with its plants outside Holcomb, in Finney County. The $3.6 billion project has been blocked since October by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' administration over potential carbon dioxide emissions."
The Senate bill will now go to the House for vote. This is unfortunate but in no way a surprise -- I couldn't really see Kansas taking a progressive lead when it comes to alternative energy replacing traditional carbon emitting technology, even though the Western part of the state has a tremendous resource when it comes to wind power. More updates to come on this issue.

Chan Gailey named Chiefs new OC

What struck me immediately upon reading Chan Gailey's biography was that he started out his coaching
career as a secondary coach for Troy State and later served as the defensive coordinator for Air Force. He first served as a defensive assistant and special teams coach with the Denver Broncos but later transitioned to tight ends coach, then quarterbacks coach and eventually the offensive coordinator position in 1989 where he remained for two seasons. He coached the Birmingham Fire of the World League and served as head coach of Samford University before returning to the NFL as wide receivers' coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, eventually taking over the offensive coordinator's job in 1996 and then again in 1997.

"In his four seasons with the Steelers, the team won the AFC Central Division crown each time, appeared in the AFC Championship Game on three occasions and reached the Super Bowl. Pittsburgh finished second in the NFL in rushing offense in 1996, averaging 143.7 yards per game. In Gailey's final season with the Steelers, he presided over the league's top-ranked rushing team, averaging 154.9 yards per contest." --from the Geogria Tech website. During his two seasons as offensive coordinator with Miami in 2000 and 2001, Gailey improved the scoring offense from 16th in his first year to eighth the following year, after which he took the head coaching job with Georgia Tech. He is known popularly as a offensive coordinator who builds very successful ground games -- The Bus & Company in Pittsburgh would be the prime example. .

Jason Whitlock wrote a column about how this hire is typical King Carl-- go with a "retread" rather than an exciting, up-and-coming kid with something to prove like Dallas' Jason Garrett or New England's Josh McDaniels. He mentions that there are a lot of so-called NFL experts who think Cincinnati's quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese might be the next rising son in line for NFL hot-shot greatness.

A safe pick? Sure. It would seem that he will revivie our rushing attack, which finished dead last in the NFL at a piddly 78 yards per game, by drafting and signing big boys on the O-Line. His offensive philosophy is in perfect harmony with Herm's own, so this should be a pretty unified team going forward into the rebuilding process.

Wakarusa Announces Initial 2008 Lineup

Wakarusa just released their lineup for this year's festival, which will be expanded as the winter progresses.
Here she is:
The Flaming Lips
Keller Williams
Leftover Salmon
CAKE
Galactic
Buckethead
Lotus
David Grisman Quintet
Old 97's
Alejandro Escovedo
Tea Leaf Green
Ozric Tentacles
Brett Dennen
Blackalicious
Dr. Dog
State Radio
Betty LaVette
Split Lip Rayfield
The Avett Brothers
Yard Dogs Road Show
The Gourds
Steel Train
Trombone Shorty
Chicago Afrobeat Project
The Heavy Pets

I've highlighted the bands/performers I'm particularly jazzed about, and certainly expect
others to be named in the coming weeks. I hope that Keller Williams doesn't remain the
second "biggest act" of this festival--certainly another would have to surface.

NOT PAUL HACKETT?!?!?!?

Herm Edwards has sacked four offensive coaches and is in the market for a new offensive coordinator. Mike Solari, wide receiver coach Charlie Joyner, running backs coach James Saxon and offensive line coach John Matsko were all fired yesterday by Edwards, who was not available for comment on the firings or the rampant speculation that he will replace Solari with Paul Hackett, who served as Edwards' offensive coordinator in New York.
Money Quote: "Solari indicated he would return to coach the line for another team next season." What about the Chiefs, Mike? We need an O-Line coach and you need a job.
Chiefs fans are understandably concerned about Hackett taking over the reins from Solari, especially since Hackett was once the offensive coordinator in this fair city. I found a NY Times article that pretty much lays out the argument against Solari: he's too predictable and conservative. Hmmm, that sounds a lot like another offensive coordinator I know.
Money quote: "'I've been as innovative as anyone in football,' Hackett said."
Another good quote: "He has been described as stubborn to a fault, unwilling to alter his plans as some think he should when the flow of the game may call for it, or to properly utilize all the players in the Jets' arsenal." That sounds like Mike Solari and Herm Edwards in the Colts playoff game from last season.
Carl Peterson has the habit of recycling old coaches and personnel that he has worked with in the past: Herm Edwards, Dick Vermeil, Gunther Cunningham, Al Saunders and now maybe Paul Hackett. The hiring of Hackett would be a classic example of why so many fans and sports commentators are calling for Peterson's job — he is unable or unwilling to change the course of this football team and instead relies on old cronies and band-aids to win just enough to sell-out Arrowhead Stadium. He seems unable to lead this team in a new direction, something this organization desperately needs considering this past season and the personnel questions that still need to be answered.

Chiefs Season Wraps-Up

The Chiefs 2007 season is over, thankfully, and now the organization can get down to cleaning house, whether it be in management, coaching or personnel. Carl Peterson told the media after yesterday's dismal 13-10 overtime loss to the NY Jets that he would retain his position as GM/President/CEO/Emperor of the team. Money Quote: "Clark has his thoughts and he expresses them to me, but it’s just not his way to make them public all the time." Or ever. Kevin Keitzman on WHB 810 today does not think the matter is settled just because Carl Peterson says it is, and there has been speculation that Clark Hunt will speak to the media in the coming week. Also, "Edwards indicated that if he made changes to his coaching staff, they would come this week." Two coaches that are definitely on the hot seat are offensive coordinator Mike Solari and special teams coach Mike Priefer. I wouldn't expect either to return, at least not in their present positions. The Ravens sacked Brian Billick today, leaving the former Vikings offensive coordinator available. According to Lions Insider, Mike Martz will likely not return as the offensive coordinator for the Lions. I'm mentioning these firings as food for thought, although I can't see Martz's offensive strategy gelling with Herm Edwards' ball control philosophy.

The only good that came out of Sunday's loss is a higher draft pick for the Chiefs as they surpassed the Jets in the draft order. Now the worst the Chiefs can draft is fifth, with a possibility of drafting fourth. The Chiefs, the Falcons and the Raiders are all tied at 4-12 for the season. The next tie-breaker is strength of schedule, but in this case the teams are also tied, with their opponents' records standing at 132-124. The Raiders and Chiefs split their AFC West series this season, but the Chiefs ended up having a better record against common opponents than the Raiders, so the Raiders and Falcons will flip for the third pick. In the case that Atlanta losses said coin flip, the Falcons will participate in another coin toss, this time with the Chiefs for the fourth draft pick. These coin tosses will take place at the NFL scouting combine in February.

Now the question becomes: What do we do with a possible fourth pick in the 2008 draft? Taking an offensive tackle seems to be the accepted wisdom, and Michigan's Jake Long is the highest rated player at the position according to "draft experts." Will Jake Long be available at the fourth, or fifth pick? Other players being hyped as top five picks are Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, LSU D. Tackle Glenn Dorsey, Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan and Virginia Defensive End Chris Long. In addition to his rant about Peterson in his WHB 810 "Between the Lines" monologue, Keitzman also lamented the fact that the Chiefs will not go after a top quarterback prospect out of college and develop him into an NFL franchise quarterback. Now would be the time for the Chiefs to reverse that trend, he contended. Keitzman admitted he had no confidence in Croyle and did not see anything this season to make him wait for a later draft to take a franchise quarterback. According to Keitzman's logic, this is the year to take a quarterback because it is rare to find three quarterbacks worthy of a top 10 pick -- Ryan, Louisville's Brian Bohm and Kentucky's Andre Woodson. Others complain that there is no sure-fire stand-out in this year's crop, but Keitzman would rather the Chiefs try and fail than skip over a quarterback for a offensive tackle or other position player. I agree with Keitzman that Croyle doesn't seem to be a super bowl quarterback, maybe a good back-up at some point, but definitely not an elite NFL quarterback. He's got a strong arm, no denying that, but his decision-making, accuracy and durability are too big of obstacles to get over with arm strength alone. I will analyze the Chiefs draft options as the off-season rolls on, but next, on to the Herm Edwards' apologists and their answer to critics who claim Herm doesn't care enough about offense and offensive personnel to win a super bowl.

Wakarusa Music Festival

I think it maybe a little premature to start selling tickets for a festival that is yet to have a home.
According to the Lawrence Journal World, Festival CEO Brett Moisman lobbied the Jefferson County Commisioners to host the festival on the private land of the Circle S Ranch and Country Inn but was turned down by a vote of 2-1. Those voting against the festival in Jefferson County cited security concerns over the lack of infrastructure in the case of an emergency. Jefferson County citizens in a surprise move attended and were in a tizzy about drugs and alcohol — namely the "freak factor" and how it could affect their kids.

One wonders why they don't automatically renew at Clinton Lake State Park. After all, the park is Wakarusa Music Festival. In my mind it is very difficult to separate the one from the other. I've heard rumors that Moisman and his operation are looking towards Wyandotte County now to host the festival. What has been reported is that the festival seeks a multi-year contract with the state to host the event at Clinton Lake with a few additional benefits not granted in the four previous years. First, they want to increase the capacity of the event by 3,000 people a year from last year's cap of 15,000 to 24,000 in 2010. Second, Moisman and crew wants to secure a catering license so they can upgrade from the 3.2% water schwill to more potent beers and wines. Another request would be more flexibility in determining how much law enforcement is necessary and finding the right mix of law enforcement and private security contractors. Other language in the letter sent to Governor Sebelius and the Department of Wildlife and Parks Secretary Mike Hayden calls for improvements to park infrastructure, more latitude on hosting non-musical entertainment and restriction of the public driving through the festival to use boat ramps and the lake without paying. The full text of the letter can be accessed here.

It seems obvious to me that the Wakarusa organizers are shopping other venues for the festival as a bargaining chip to get Lawrence to move forward on the new multi-year contract. Lawrence politicians probably have a lot of sway over in Topeka and don't want other counties moving in on their festival, even though no other county seems to want it at the moment. I think it is irresponsible that the website is now selling ticket packages without a definite site secured for the festival. Maybe falling back on Clinton Lake with a one-year contract that caps attendance at 15,000 is the worst case scenario, but I find it difficult to entrust my $100+ to a festival without a home. It does seem like Douglas County wants the festival to return again. I will attend next year when a location is finalized. The music lineup will be announced in January.

Winter's First Snow

Here's some news items for December 6, 2007:
* First snow of the year. We are supposed to get between 1-4 inches of snow, but I can see right now that the major roads are cleared and just saw a city plow steaming down Warwick [4PM].
* The Royals signed former Mariner outfielder Jose Guillen to a 3-year, $36 million contract, but he will not play for the first 15 games because of a suspension handed down today by Major League baseball for his purchase of human growth hormone. Royals GM Dayton Moore was in hot pursuit of a power hitting outfielder and looked closely at Guillen, Andruw Jones and Torii Hunter, but the other two signed more lucrative contracts with other teams. In Jones' case, he also signed a $36 million deal, but his contract only spans two years with his new club, the LA Dodgers. Moore has made clear that he will have no trouble spending Glass' Wal-Mart fortune to build a contender here in KC. But was Guillen a worthwhile recipient of this money considering his age--31. The suspension is unfortunate, but 15 games was obviously not a deal killer.
* Another Royals' note (is this really December?): The Royals will be sporting the old powder blue uniforms again. The most recent manifestation, however, will have them wearing the powder blues at home instead of on the road and with white pants. Why they couldn't just resurrect the full powder blue uniforms is beyond me.
* The new jamband music club, Crosstown Station, is set to open on December 14 at its McGee St. location across Truman Road from the Sprint Center. And what better band to christen the jamband junction than California Voodoo, Kansas City's very own Widespread Panic cover band. www.crosstownstation.com
* Go see some jazz tonight. The Sons of Brasil play at Jardine's, going from 8:30 PM to 12:30 AM.

Brody hurt; Chiefs sign old man

Brody Croyle is suffering from a sore back and may sit out of the San Diego game this Sunday, thus giving Huard another brief opportunity to start. This confirms one of my other major criticisms of Croyle, besides his poor decision making, which is that he doesn’t look durable enough to be an NFL quarterback. I’m not questioning his toughness. Anyone who can play nearly an entire college season with a separated left shoulder is tough. So is the fact that he finished last Sunday’s game against Oakland after taking the injuring hit on only the second offensive play of the game when he ran away from pursuit due to no open receivers. This sort of pressure will certainly continue this season with a patchwork offensive line that still struggles to create running lanes for our backs and protection for our passers. It could be Huard’s 34-year-old frame receiving the punishment from the likes of Shawne “Priest Killer” Merriman and Shuan Phillips. Imagine this headline: “Priest revered by entire city killed by homicidal Steroid Freak.” It happened…and it killed his NFL career, notwithstanding his brief flirtation with the league this season.
It’s nice to see that the Chiefs are gushing over this season’s third field goal kicker, NFL journeyman John Carney.
“But for now, we submit this scene for believe-it-or-not: the Chiefs cheering their kicker.
Yep. Happened around noon on Wednesday in their indoor practice facility, as new man John Carney was perfect on his first four kicks: from 30, 35, 38 and 40 yards.” { “Chiefs Cheer new kicker Carney” by Sam Melliinger in the Nov. 29 KC Star}
I presume Carney’s fifth attempt was beyond 40 yards and missed. Melllinger goes on to write that the longest field goal he made while filling in for Josh Scobee in Jacksonville this season was 41 yards. And we will lose field position compared to the Rayner days because of Carney’s poor range on kickoffs.
This just serves to highlight the huge whiff the Chiefs had drafting Justin Medlock instead of Packer rookie Mason Crosby. Medlock is now a basketcase sitting at home in his Southern California home wondering what could have been. Crosby on the other hand is tied for second in the NFL with 22 field goals made, although his field goal percentage is an unimpressive 26th at 79%. He is tied with Tennessee’s Rob Bironas for the most field goals attempted by a kicker this season. Crosby is 8 for 9 when kicking a 30-39 yard field goal, an improvement over Rayner’s 7 for 10. Crosby also sank a 53-yard field goal while Rayner missed his only attempt over 50 yards. Crosby has missed the bulk of his field goals in the 40-49 range, going 5-9 while Rayner is a hair better, making five out of eight attempts.
Crosby gets all the attention in KC because he was a Big 12 prospect, but the Chiefs could have also drafted the Dallas Cowboy’s Nick Folk, who along with Crosby went in the sixth round. Folk is sitting in the middle of the pack in field goal percentage at 15 with an 85%. An important note on that percentage, two of his three total misses were from beyond 50 yards.

Herm Edwards' Apologists

I was going to write this entry about the Chiefs' deplorable offense and how Herm Edwards and his coaching staff are to blame for its lack of productivity. Then I read Adam Teicher's "Chiefs' Solari takes some blame for struggles" article and learned that it's mostly the players' fault. "Our responsibility is to put them in position to make the plays. When they're called up, they've got to make the plays," Solari was quoted in Teicher's article.
Here's what I saw when I attended the Oakland Raiders loss at Arrowhead on Sunday: I saw one unimaginative series of play-calling after another. Faced with a first and 20, I saw the Chiefs run three straight draw plays. I saw the coaching staff waste two timeouts that could have been used to stop the clock during the Raiders' last drive and give the Chiefs another opportunity on offense to score. I saw them run a predictable 4th-and-1 dive play up the middle late in the fourth quarter with nine Raiders stacked in the box.
Its losses like these and the play-calls that cause them that turn fans against their coach. It's not news that Chiefs fans have been calling for Peterson's job since Schottenheimer parted ways with the franchise, but now a frenzy is growing around Herm Edwards and his future with the team. I know… blaming the coach is just fodder for sports call-in shows and drunken redneck debate, but sentiment spreads quickly in professional sports, especially considering how much emotional and psychic energy Chiefs' fans have tied up in their team. But the anti-Herm and anti-Carl rhetoric abounds on the comment boards and over the airwaves, so I thought I would address the silent authority… the Herm apologists. But I will do so by countering popular criticisms heaped upon Herm since he took over the New York Jets in 2001.
A popular Kansas City criticism of Herm Edwards is that he ruined the best offense in the league. Apologist have countered that the writing was on the wall. We had two Hall of Fame offensive linemen retire with no suitable backups waiting in the wings and an aging number one receiver with yet again no suitable backups in the stable. Apologists contend that the failure of the team is circumstantial rather than any particular coaching decision is on Herm’s part. In New York, Herm’s early success and three playoff opinions were often credited more to the strong veteran lineup Parcells left in tact when he left the organization. In fact, according to Wikipedia, the lack of player development was given as one of the reasons the New York Jets suffered a 4-12 hemorrhage after going to the playoffs the year before.
Apologists have countered that the writing was on the wall in Kansas City following the departure of Vermeil. We had two Hall of Fame offensive linemen retire and no suitable backups to take their places and an aging number one receiver with yet again no suitable backups waiting in the wings. The same apologists contend that the failure of the team is circumstantial rather than any particular coaching decision on Herm’s part.
I wouldn’t label Joe Posnanski an out-and-out Herm apologist, but he certainly blames the losses and poor offensive play this season on “a bad team.”
Posnanski: “And I think Edwards is just the right coach to build from scratch. He may drive people nuts with his defensive mindset and game planning, but the guy has a special talent for finding good young players and developing them, which is more important. All year, Edwards kept telling us that rookie running back Kolby Smith —— a fifth-round pick who did not even start at Louisville — was a special young player. Many of us didn’t see it.”
He goes on to write that the last two drafts have been the best in years and credits Herm with that success. I don’t quibble with Posnanski on these points, it certainly does appear that Herm has a knack for picking out young talent and then developing that talent into playmaking ability on Sundays. He spent six years with the Kansas City Chiefs in the pro personnel department scouting talent. Of course we never really recruited any offensive juggernaut during that period, but that might not be Herm’s fault at all, and the defense was awfully good. That might not have been Herm either.
To editorialize, I think the apologists and the detractors should all shut up and see what direction this team will take. Herm has two more years on his contract and in that duration we should have a pretty good idea where this team is headed. I agree with Posnanski that the team is rebuilding, and if Herm is allowed to rebuild the Chiefs from scratch into the team he and his staff scouted and game planned around, then let him do it. Now I sound like a Herm apologist, but is there really any other way to know whether Herm can turn this team into a contender or not?
Another criticism of Herm that goes back to his New York days is that he has poor clock management skills. I will give the apologists’ rebuttal in the next entry on this topic.

Border War

The Border War. MU vs. KU. Or Arrowhead Armageddon as Fox 4 News stupidly puts it. We here in Kansas City could never have predicted that this rivalry would have such high stakes as the game tonight does. The series is tied at 53-53-9 since the teams first faced each other in 1891. So not only will one team destroy their rival's ambitions of a national championship this season, they will also go one up in the alltime series after this historic tiebreaker game. A Wall Street Journal article and several local articles have invoked the bloddy history of the civil war skirmishes that took place just before and during the Civil War. Kansas was largely an anti-slavery territory, and Lawrence was the epicenter of the abolutionist ambitions of the state's residents. The Kansas-Nebraska Act laid the groundwork of the border war by declaring that the inhabitants of the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska would decide by vote whether the new states would allow slavery or not. Pro-slavery Missouri residents began pouring into Kansas and established pro-slavery outposts in Leavenworth and Atchison. Anti-slavery organizations from New England recruited heavily armed emigrants to settle Kansas and established free-state settlements in Topeka, Manhattan and Lawrence. The proslavery forces won, but abolitionists created a shadow government. John Brown then came to Kansas and skirmishes began. "Border ruffians", the name given to Missourians who illegally voted in the Kansas elections, would march on Kansas and burn the Free State Hotel while also ransacking businesses and homes. Brown retaliated by leading an attack on a proslavery settlement, which resulted in the hacking of five men to death with broadswords. By the time the border war ended in 1859, 59 people had been killed in the skirmishes and "mini-wars." Kansas would eventually enter the Union in 1861 as a Free State, but not after the damage had been done and resentment built up for the savage violence committed by both sides.
Flash forward to today, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article sites a Misouri man "whose great, great grandfather had been murdered on his farm, apparently by a Kansan.
"And when he was telling me this story, he said, 'And we think we know who did it,' " said Rafiner, noting that the suspected descendants lived just miles away."
KU athletic director Lew Perkins claims that the Arrowhead crowd will be 70-30 percent in favor of KU, a claim that MU associate athletic director Mark Alnutt hotly disputes. The game is technically a "home game" for KU, which means it had a greater percentage of tickets to sell to its fans than Missouri, but the Chiefs also had 29,000 tickets to sell, and MU fans claim to have taken a large percentage of those. Many media outlets are claiming that KU fans outnumber MU fans 3-1 in the Kansas City area, where the border war takes on even greater significance given the intermixing that is forced to take place here.
The jokes fly back and forth between the two schools. One KU t-shirt witnessed recently declares, "My coach can eat your coach on and off the field." Another I picked up from that same St. Louis Post-Dispatch story has Mark Mangino lost in Kansas City, so he goes to a gas station to ask how to get to 435. The attendant responds, "skip a few meals."

Naked Harassment

Naked Executives like to get, well, naked, and sexually harass employees. Click on title above for the link. I don't condone the sexual harrassment, but I'm in love with their product nonetheless. This juice maker has created such a niche that Pepsi Co. has decided to add its line to their product list, which includes Lays potato chips, Pepsi-cola, Rice-a-Roni, Tropicana juices, Quaker Oatmeal and Gatorade, all products I've consumed in the last year.

I first discovered this healthy nectar back in the summer of 2004 when I was living on my friend Amy's couch in the Broadway-Gillham neighborhood of East Westport. She went up to Wild Oats one day and came back with a strange protein shake concoction that turned out to be Naked's Protein Zone, which offers 34 grams of protein and is made from apple, pear, banana, and pineapple juices/purees with some coconut milk thrown in for good measure. My initial reaction was that the brew was hideous tasting, and I swore the stuff off. But on subsequent visits to Wild Oats, the other flavors caught my eye and pretty soon I was experimenting with the Green and Red Machines. It wasn't until I came down with a cold in the following winter that my fate of Naked Devotee was sealed. Looking for any advantage against the common cold bacteria, I purchased a Power C based on its Vitamin C content, which was 20x the RDA recommended daily dosage of 60-95 mg.

I have since moved on to other Nakeds and have liked most, and even loved some. I drink a Blue Machine every morning after
a particularly grueling night of drinking because the B Vitamins help the hangover and are essential for liver health. I have other friends who are devotees too, including one who says that he uses Nakeds as meal replacements, sometimes eating nothing else in a day besides two or three "superfood" Nakeds. As of today,I've tried 14 of their 26 total beverages. My favorite? Right now it's a toss-up between Power C, Blue Machine, Gold Machine, Mighty Mango and the Green Machine. I haven't given much attention to their Pomegranate and Acai Berry offerings mainly because their availability is limited here in Kaycee. But I imagine their distribution will be widespread once the Pepsi sale is finalized and the takeover complete. Juice lovers have been assured that there will be no change in the quality of the product we've grown to love and sometimes depend on for good nutrition and feeling good. Here's to Naked, just let the ladies be.

Arthur Bryant's BBQ

Is Henry Perry the undisputed founder of Kansas City-style barbeque? Forget Rich Davis and that KC Masterpiece sham sauce, Perry was an innovator who grew up near Memphis and took the Memphis tomato-based sauce to KC and spiced it up a bit in his 19th and Highland restaurant that used to be a trolley barn. But wasn't the subsequent sweetening of Perry's spicy sauce the groundbreaking moment when the KC-style was born? Upon Perry's death in 1940, one of Perry's employees, Charlie Bryant, took over the restaurant. Charlie's brother Arthur then inherited the business, changed the name to Arthur Bryant's and sweetened the sauce with molasses so it would be more tolerable on bread.







ARTHUR BRYANT


George Gates, another former cook of Perry's, opened up his own restaurant in the 18th and Vine neighborhood and added more molasses to the sauce to make it even sweeter than Bryant's. Thus a new movement in barbeque got rolling and nowadays we have a variety of Kansas City-style sauces, including Davis's infamous KC Masterpiece, which is now owned by the food division of Clorox. There certainly have been many innovators since Bryant and Gates sweetened Perry's original sauce, such as Jack Fiorella's unique take on hickory beans and the pungent aroma and taste of Oklahoma Joe's Night of the Living Dead BBQ sauce. But my question here is when was KC-style born? I would have to say it was when Arthur Bryant added molasses to Perry's spicy, tomato-based sauce.

Swope Park

It's deep Fall now in Kansas City, the leaves have turned brown and brittle, clogging the curbs and cluttering the sidewalks. Some trees are completely bare and a lot more are getting there. The grass is still green though as afternoon highs still linger in the upper-50's. For the urban naturalist in Kaycee, no better spot exists to monitor these changes in the seasons than the Swope Park Glades in East Kansas City. Many of you are probably familiar with Swope Park and its famous attractions: The Zoo, Starlight Theater, the huge stone shelter houses, two golf courses, the lagoons, the soccer fields, the swimming pool, the baseball diamonds, the Lakeside Nature Center and the frisbee golf course. But my favorite features of the 1,769-acre park are the glades and walking trails that traverse through them. (Although the Blue River Glade are not technically part of Swope Park, they are close enough, and for the purpose of cohesion I've lumped it together with Rocky Glade.)
It has been claimed that Swope Park is the second largest municipal park in the United States behind New York City's Central Park. I've also heard claims for third largest behind Central Park and Philadelphia's Farimount Park. Wikipedia claims that the park is actually the 29th largest municipal park in land mass, which really could wound the pride of Kaycee boosters. I know for certain that Los Angeles's Griffith Park contains 4,217 acres within its boundaries, including a zoo, a planeterium and the Greek Theater.
Size aside, Swope Park is unique for the wild ecosystems it provides urban hikers. Ecosystems like the limestone glades at Blue River and Rocky Glades, two of the northernmost occurences of such ecosystems in Missouri. Limestone glades are much more common in the Ozarks in which wildflowers like Indian Paintbrush and pale purple indigo bloom.
From the KC Wildlands' website www.kcwildlands.org:

"Gnarled chinquapin oaks nearly 300 years old sit atop slab-like outcroppings of Bethany Falls limestone. A prairie-like flora of grasses and wildflowers provides rich color and texture through most of the year. This community is managed through periodic prescribed burning. The glade is threatened by several exotic plant species, especially shrub honeysuckle."

You'll hear the name shrub honeysuckle a lot if you hang around local conservationists or take part in a Kansas City nature clean-up because these exotic plants spread quickly over and around native flora.


The shrub honeysuckle can be an unfair competitor for light as native saplings suffer under the stifling canopy of the expansive plant. The small red berries which contain the honeysuckle's seeds are eaten by mammals and birds who then transport the seeds over many miles. Other exotic species in the area like Winter creeper and Japanese honeysuckle and native invasive species such as the eastern red cedar, the mulberry and poison ivy all distribute their seeds within berries.

There are limestone cliffs and boulders for climbing and bouldering, and the cliffs offer nice vistas of the wooded creek valley below and other high points in the area, such as the landfill to the west and the cellphone tower to the southeast. If you continue on the trail past the glade areas and along the cliffs, it will eventually lead you to the edge of the Blue River Golf Academy Course and past some old farm equipment buildings. This is probably a good place to turn around because it's a signal you are leaving nature and entering the world of rust, junk and the white trash.
In addition to the glades, there are rich mesic forests and wetlands along Oldham Road which would be worthy of checking out. Rocky Glade is off of Oldham Road also, although this glade isn't as large or advanced in its restoration as the Blue River Glade. If you are heading east on Oldham Road, the Rocky Glade is on your left (North), on top of a south-facing slope after shelter house #7 but before you reach a public-denied access road which takes park employees back to parks and rec buildings and the Camp of the Woods facilities. Blue Glade is accesible off Blue River Rd. south of Oldham/Gregory but north of 85th Street. Look for a trailhead on your left (east) if you are heading south from Gregory.

StockYards

Ahhh, the KC Stockyards, what made Kansas City KC. Those and the railroads, I'm told, but I'm no old timer, I'm just a young whippersnapper who loves beef and bbq and appreciates the connection between the stockyards and our city's improvement on Memphis bbq. I've been reading a lot of Kansas City history lately and have to say that the city sounded better back in the day than it does right now. And I don't think it's because historians coat the history in a romantic gloss; I think the town was chaotic, violent, drunken, raging, open late, musical and riotous--the historians make it sound like Mardi Gras 24/7.
I know corruption is bad politics, but unless I crossed the guy or was a member of the "rabbit" political machine, Tom Pendergast appeared to be the right man at the right time. The "wide-open" Kansas City attracted con artists, no doubt, but it also attracted talented musicians who appreciated a paying audience that appreciated music. In many ways the "wide-open" Kansas City of the early 20th century sounded like the New Orleans of today, or New Orleans pre-Katrina. That town has the type of nightlife and support to pay musicians a decent wage, and there are always gigs.
There is no doubt that Kansas City is a COWtown; the stockyards built this metropolis, this outpost on the Great Plains, this crossroads between the wide-open West and the dense East Coast. They shipped a lot of cows, sheep and hogs through here on their way to the plates of East Coast diners. The stockyards have been closed since 1991 and declining since the great flood of 1951. The agricultural business model changed as stockyards moved closer to the cattle farms and feed lots. The railroad too declined as shipping changed its paradigm from trains to diesel trucks and airplanes. KC is still a thriving town, but our ties to the romantic past are only present through Disneyfied reproductions like the artistic cows on the Plaza, the 18th and Vine Jazz District and Museum, model train stores and KC Masterpiece BBQ. Of course there still are excellent bbq restaurants in Kansas City: Gates, Arthur Bryants, Oklahoma Joe's, JackStack BBQ, LC's, but the city now has really no current identity to project in this age of shameless hometown promotion. So we fall back on our past glories or romantic traditions, eating a pulled pork sandwich while listening to the Bird blow his horn. And I don't think the Power and Light District can restore that tradition or change the fact that our bars are quite dull. Sure we can see some white boy blues, an occasional jazz great, the art school hipsters have their indi rock and local noise and there still are some local musicians commited to making some great music, but I think we've lost something here. Maybe the old KC overextended itself back in the "Paris of the Plains" days, maybe we're settling down to a status of a small big town that's not really a player on the national scene. If I'm not happy I could just move to Chicago...but then again, Chicago has its own issues, great and exciting as it is.

Meskhetian Turks

My new favorite ethnic people are the Meskhetian Turks, who like the Gypsies
have been struggling to find a permanent homeland for sometime. The Russian
Empire acquired their original homeland in 1828-1829. In 1944, Stalin
forced the ethnic group, along with Kurds and Khemshils (Muslim Aremenians),
some 120,000 in all, out of Meskheti-Javakheti region of Georgia and into Central Asia
(present day countries include Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan). The only reason
I could find for Stalin's dispicable relocation program was that he questioned the Meskhetians'
loyalty to the Soviet Union in the case of a possible conflict with Turkey. 15,000 people
died en route to their new home. Until 1956 the Meskhetian Turks were placed under
special resettlement restrictions that included having to carry special ID cards designating
them inferior citizens under the law, no freedom of movement without special permits and no
choice in their work assignments. Because of their legal status and difficult conditions, many
Meskhetians suffered from inadequte medical care and nutrition. After 1956, Meskhetian Turks
launched a movement for repatriation to Georgia but this proved unsuccessful; another attempt
was made to emigrate from Russia to Turkey but this too failed. In 1989, a pogrom in the Ferghana Valley of
Uzbekistan caused more death and heartache for these people, and another relocation of the Meskhetian
Turks sent them to Krasnodar Krai region in Russia and Azerbaijan. The relocation happened so quickly that
many Meskhetians were unable to sell off their property or leave with the proper documents necessary in the former
Soviet Union for departing an area.

"The local government [in Krasnodar Krai] refused to grant permanent residency to a majority of the Meskhetian Turks and the rights to hold most jobs, attend higher education and own property that goes with such legal documentation. Their lack of legal protection exposed them to Cossack intimidation and police harassment. Officially stateless the displaced Meskhetian Turks did not qualify for refugee status according to the United Nations because they never crossed an international border. They remained in a legal limbo unable to return to Georgia, immigrate to Turkey or even go back to Uzbekistan." [from J. Otto Pohl's blog Otto's Random Thoughts]

In 2004 the U.S. government offered asylum to thousands of Meskhetian Turks from the Krasnodar
region and relocated them to over 60 American cities.There is genuine debate about the historical
roots of these people: Are they ethnic Georgians who adopted Islam or ethnic Turks who settled in Georgia
during the expansion of the Ottoman Empire?

Haven't found out yet if there are Meskhetian Turk refugees in KC or not, but I am actively on the case. These
are not your normal ethnic Muslims, the women commonly wear head scarves but it's just as common to see
men swigging vodka during weddings and parties.