Sports: Homer King, Draftees, Hall of Famers, and some speed

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by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(ALL-STAR GAME)—The All-Stars play tonight. But last night was reserved for the homer boys and the fourth guy from the left won it all.

(L-R: Ben Rice, Yankees; Wilson Contreras, Cardinals; Joe Caglianone, Royals; Jordan Walker, Cardinals; Murakami, White Sox; Caminero, Rays; Harper and Schwarber, Phillies.

Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker could be in line for some major endorsement money from the chewing gum company whose product he was enthusiastically working over last night when he beat one of the biggest home runs guys in baseball to become the first Redbird and the second youngest competitor  to win the All Star Game’s Home Run Derby.

Walker, watching his winning home run fly into the stands in Philadelphia, beat hometown star Kyle Schwarber 12-11 on his last swing to take home the trophy.  He had matched former Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras’ 13 home runs in the first round and won his second-round matchup 6-5 against Junior Campanero of the White Sox, setting up the final slugfest.  He cleared the fence with his last six swings to take the trophy—-and the $1 million prize, some $300,000 more than he is to earn from the Cardinals this year.

It would not be a surprise if some of that money was a tip for the guy who threw all of those fat pitches last night: Cardinals bullpen catcher Kleininger Teran.  Teran was no stranger to the job. He pitched to Albert Pujols, the last St. Louis participant in the event, in 2022.  He also has thrown a lot of batting practice to Walker in his still young career.

Walker faces real pitching tonight in the All Star game.

Royals outfielder Jac Caglianone had eight home runs in the first round, not enough to advance, but he put on an impressive power show.  He was the only competitor to hit the ball into the stadium’s upper deck with one of his shots measured at 477 feet.  His father was his pitcher.

(BABY BIRDS)—The St. Louis Cardinals have chosen two dozen futures in the MLB draft. They had the most picks—seven—in the first four rounds. None of these players is obligated to sign a contract and none is forever linked to the team. Some might want to wait another two or three years to finish their college education and improve their skills in hope of moving up in a future draft.

The first choice was Georgia high school outfielder Trevor Condon, the first high schooler taken as the number one pick by St. Louis since another Georgia player who has turned out pretty well—Jordan Walker. Condon finished his last high school season hitting .504 with nine home runs, 42 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. He has committed to playing college ball at Tennessee.

The second choice played for Tennessee this past season, Tegan Kuhns, a 6-3 righthander with a big curve and a 98 mph fastball.

The Redbirds’ third choice was Rocco Maniscalo, an Alabama high school shortstop who is only two months into his 17th year.  Scouting Director Randy Flores says he has “current” tools which puts him ahead of players drafted for their hope and projectionables.

Outfielder Andrew Williamson, was next. He played for Central Forida next year.

Other picks;

Kansas State shortstop Dee Kennedy, who hatted .357 with 10 homers in 114 college games.

Right-handed pitcher Dawson Montesa, who plans to skip his last year at West Virginia University to join the Cardinals system.

Left hander Luke Harrison from the University of Texas.

First Baseman Jack Gurevitch from San Diego State.

Southpaw Cade Crossland from Oklahoma; Righty Ethan Young from East Carolina; Hawaii outfielder Matthew Miura; Pitcher Payton Graham, a righty, from Gonzaga; Penn State shortstop ryan Weingartner; Third Baseman Michael Dattalo, who played for Dallas Baptist last season; Stetson University Ty Van Dyke, a right-handed pitcher; Texas shortstop Jalin flores; Northern Kentucky right-handed pitcher Kaden Echeman; Righty Jake Shelagowski from Saginaw Valley State.  Later choices are Iowa RHP Anthony Watts; Stanford SS Trevor Haskins, Kansas City right-handed pitcher Alex Breckheimer,  Austin Peay outfielder Cameron Nickens, right-handed pitchers Dylan Driessen from South Dakota State and Liam Best from Appalachian State and the final choice (number 624), Central Missouri catcher Chase Heath

(FUTURE ROYALTY)—Thirteen of the Kansas City Royals 16 picks are pitchers but their first choice was a surprise:

Louisville outfielder Zion Rose who is described as having “elite contact skills, speed, and power.”  He finished the recent hitting .417, two dozen stolen bases, six homers and 47 ribbies.  Rose had been listed 30th in MLB’s pipeline.

The second choice was the 40th-ranked prosect, Ole Miss right handed pitcher Taylor Rabe, who has a fastball of 96-100 mph and strong control.

Third was 17-year old Jack Slightom, who has committed to playing for Cincinnati University, followed by West Virginia lefty Maxx Yehl who is said to have an “MLB-ready arm.”  Their last pick in the first round was Oswego East High School (Illinois) left-handed hitting outfielder Dominic Battista. He missed part of his last high school season with a broken bone in his wrist but batted .242.  Scouts say he’s just coming into his own at the plate but “has defensive instincts and speed.”  He’s expected to forego his freshman year at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Kansas City started the second day with Arkansas lefty reliever Ethan McElvain, who went 6-0 this season with a 1.88 ERA and made the SEC second all conference team followed by Clemson left-handed pitcher Jack LeGuernie, who was on the national Pitcher of the Year watch list. 4.69 ERA in 19 appearances.

Others chosen by the Royals are Georgia right-hander Dylan Vigue, a junior starter for the Georgia team tied for third in the College World Series.  He was 4-1 in eighteen appearances including 16 starts—63 IP, 77K, 36BB, 4.43 ERA.

Florida Gulf Coast lefty Hunter Possehl went in the 8th round with Oklahoma third baseman Camden Johnson (.293, 9 HR, 48 RBI) picked up in the 9th round.

LSU right-hander Grant Fontenot went in the tenth round. Last year he was in 21 games (4 starts) got 42Ks in 32.1 innings. He was followed St. Mary’s outfielder Tanner Griffith who his .342 in his last season, had a .477 OBP, was an All-WCC second teamer. He plans to play his last collegiate year for TCU, though.

Others; College of Central Florida right handed pitcher Lance Hartley; Nicholls State righty dalton Hill; catcher Banks Wickersham of Fort Dorchester High School in South Carolina, a commit to the College of Charleston. In his senior year of high school he hit .459; Virginia Tech left hander Madden Clement from Virginia Tech; and Troy University Righty Dylan Alonso.

They finished up with right-handed pitcher Richie Roman of Houston; New Mexico southpaw Cooper Cockrean, who has announced he’s going to the University of Kentucky next year; Pitcher Hudson, a righty from Mooresville High School in Indiana, a commit to the University of Alabama, and—finally—Riley McDonald from the State College of Florida, a reliever.

(MIZZOUHOF)—Six former Tiger Athletes are the newest members of the MU Sports Hall of Fame—

Football players Nick Bolton of the Kansas City Chiefs and Drew Lock of the Seattle Seahawks, along with player and later coach Andy Hill as well as  softball player Ashley Fleming, wrestler Daniel Lewis and Nicki Weber Moore, who ran cross country and other track and field events. They’ll be honored during a ceremony October 9.

Now: Fast Times in Atlanta

(NASCAR)—A late, soggy nail-biter at Atlanta ended with Ryan Blaney dominating the race but needing every inch of his car’s nose to win the race that ended just before 2 a.m., Atlanta time.  Rain and lightning had stopped the race for three hours just before the halfway mark.

Blaney—who was racing to lead his 171st lap in the 263-lap race—Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, and Carson Hocevar came out of the last turn in a dogfight for the finish line and Blaney crossed the line just ahead of Wallace.

Wallace, however, saw his second place finish taken away by NASCAR, which penalized him for dropping below the yellow line marking the inside of the track on the last lap, and moved Wallace to 29th place as the official last car on the lead lap.  Wallace objected, noting he had been pushed below the line by teammate Bell and did not gain a position because of it.  But as of press time, the penalty stood.  Bell is officially second by less than seven-hundredths of a second.

Six races remain before the ten-race playoffs begin with the top 16 drivers in the points competing for the NASCAR Cup.  Wallace’s penalty, instead of solidifying his position well within the runoff field, puts him 13th in the points standings, 55 points ahead of three-time Cup champion Joey Logano, who is the first out at this point.

(INDYCAR)—The Silly Season has arrived for IndyCar in a big way with the Arrow McLaren team announcing that two of its drivers this year will be replaced by a couple of bigger names next year. Gone are Christian Lundgaard, a two-race winner this year  who is third in the points, and Nolan Siegel who is in his second year with the team. Siegel has yet to develop, never finishing higher than 23rd in the standings in his first two seasons. He is 21st in this, his third year, in IndyCar.

O’Ward won the most recent race with Lundgaard second.

Replacing them are two bigger names—this year’s Indianapolis 500 winner, Felix Rosenqvist, moving over from Meyer Shank Racing, and one of the sport’s most prominent figures—Scott Dixon.

Dixon is leaving Chip Ganassi Racing after 24 years of full-time racing, six series championships (second to A. J. Foyt’s seven), 59 wins (only Foyt has more, with 67) and the 2008 Indianapolis 500. It appears, however, that his longtime sponsor, PNC Bank, will stay with Ganassi. Team owner Chip Ganassi says he oftered Dixon a multi-year offer that would have let him finish his career with his team, but Dixon chose to go a different direction.

Dixon and Rosenqvist will be teamed with Pato O’Ward, one of the most popular drivers in the series.

(photo credits: Walker—Instagram; Condon—Condon family;  Rose—USA Network; Home Run Derby—MLB; Blaney—NASCAR; Dixon—Rick Gevers at Indianapolis)

Amendment 1 

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(We intended to post this last Friday but it didn’t make it (we don’t think it did anyway)

Missouri is one of eight states without state park admission fees. Amendment 1 maintains that distinction.

We might think Amendment One would be a no-brainer.  It extends a popular, small, sales tax for ten more years.  But those disposed to vote “No” on everything next month might add a touch of uncertainty to this issue.

Voting “no” on everything is irresponsible.  So is voting “yes.”  Government, even something so small as one-tenth of a cent, requires responsible thought.

This one-tenth of a cent sales tax is earmarked for financing state parks and programs retarding soil erosion. When it was initially approved, Missourians weren’t so sure it was a good idea.  It was a 50.1-49.9 approval, about 1700 votes..  But it was renewed with a 69% favorable vote in 1988,  renewed again eight years later with two-thirds of the vote, with a 71% majority in 2006 and most recently almost 80% in 2016.  It has won with an average of about 71.5%.

Renewal should easy. But in 1984 it was on the ballot with  a Kansas City proposal to let the city issue bonds without voter approval if two-thirds of the property owners in a special benefit district wanted them. Fifty-nine percent of the voters said “no” on that one.

The third issue seemed benign—renaming the Department of Consumer Affairs, Regulation, and Licensing (CARL) the Department of Economic Development. It passed 61-39 percent, so we know voters were discriminating in casting their ballots.

DNR observes, “Since 1984, Missouri farmers have implemented more than 295,000 structural and management conservation practices on cropland, hayland, pastureland and woodlands. Through these conservation efforts, Missouri has stopped more than 194 million tons of soil from eroding, enough to fill the lanes of I-70 from St. Louis to Kansas City over 52 feet high. These practices were supported by over $975 million from the Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax since 1984.

And what do our state parks get?  “Free admission to all state parks and historic sites,” and these other bullet points—

  • Enriches visitor experiences with improvements, such as the new Spirit Trail and playground at Knob Noster State Park, a new visitor center at Deutscheim State Historic Site and upgraded playgrounds at Bothwell Lodge, and Bennett Spring state parks.
  • Offers a variety of overnight accommodations from walk-in campsites to full service cabins and modern lodges.
  • Enhances campground amenities such as upgraded electric, showerhouses and restrooms.
  • Improves accessibility, including track chairs, 360-degree virtual tours and tram tours for senior citizens.
  • Provides ongoing maintenance and repair of more than 2,000 structures, 3,000 campsites and 1,000 miles of trail.

We are proud of our state parks.  We like not to see soil erosion providing a problem for our streams.  It’s only a tenth of one percent. We’ve gotten our money’s worth from this little tax and we should keep getting it.

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Amendment 1 

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Missouri is one of eight states without state park admission fees. Amendment 1 maintains that distinction.

We might think Amendment One would be a no-brainer.  It extends a popular, small, sales tax for ten more years.  But those disposed to vote “No” on everything in August might add a touch of uncertainty to this issue.

Voting “no” on everything is irresponsible.  So is voting “yes.”  Government, even something so small as one-tenth of a cent, requires responsible thought.

This one-tenth of a cent sales tax is earmarked for financing state parks and programs retarding soil erosion. When it was initially approved, Missourians weren’t so sure it was a good idea.  It was a 50.1-49.9 approval, about 1700 votes..  But it was renewed with a 69% favorable vote in 1988,  renewed again eight years later with two-thirds of the vote, with a 71% majority in 2006 and most recently almost 80% in 2016.  It has won with an average of about 71.5%.

Renewal should easy. But in 1984 it was on the ballot with  a Kansas City proposal to let the city issue bonds without voter approval if two-thirds of the property owners in a special benefit district wanted them. Fifty-nine percent of the voters said “no” on that one.

The third issue seemed benign—renaming the Department of Consumer Affairs, Regulation, and Licensing (CARL) the Department of Economic Development. It passed 61-39 percent, so we know voters were discriminating in casting their ballots.

DNR observes, “Since 1984, Missouri farmers have implemented more than 295,000 structural and management conservation practices on cropland, hayland, pastureland and woodlands. Through these conservation efforts, Missouri has stopped more than 194 million tons of soil from eroding, enough to fill the lanes of I-70 from St. Louis to Kansas City over 52 feet high. These practices were supported by over $975 million from the Parks, Soils and Water Sales Tax since 1984.

And what do our state parks get?  “Free admission to all state parks and historic sites,” and these other bullet points—

  • Enriches visitor experiences with improvements, such as the new Spirit Trail and playground at Knob Noster State Park, a new visitor center at Deutscheim State Historic Site and upgraded playgrounds at Bothwell Lodge, and Bennett Spring state parks.
  • Offers a variety of overnight accommodations from walk-in campsites to full service cabins and modern lodges.
  • Enhances campground amenities such as upgraded electric, showerhouses and restrooms.
  • Improves accessibility, including track chairs, 360-degree virtual tours and tram tours for senior citizens.
  • Provides ongoing maintenance and repair of more than 2,000 structures, 3,000 campsites and 1,000 miles of trail.

We are proud of our state parks.  We like not to see soil erosion providing a problem for our streams.  It’s only a tenth of one percent. We’ve gotten our money’s worth from this little tax and we should keep getting it.

Amendment 5

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We pay income taxes at our house because we know that we have to pay for the things we expect government to provide for us at various points in our lives. We’re both retired and we live on a flexible income rather than one popularly described as “fixed.”  But Amendment Five nonetheless is more ugly sister to us than it is Cinderella.

I don’t think I can count how many times our legislature has cut this or that tax with the promise that it will bring more businesses to our state, that it will create more jobs, or even that it will keep us from losing another congressman.

If all of those promises were true, our Center State would be bursting with national company headquarters and international trade offices and hundreds of new jobs. But since we aren’t, the solution to the problem might not lie in cutting taxes again.

Supporters of Amendment 5 repeat the same tired promises.  They’re bombarding us with manipulative advertising that never addresses the specifics of the proposal. We expect opponents to respond in similar fashion, reminding us again that political advertising and truth are, at best, cousins.

Governor Kehoe has trotted out the moth-eaten Republican statement that, “State government doesn’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem, and continuing to spend faster than we grow our economy is not a sustainable path forward.”

So the answer is to cut funding for services Missourians want our government to supply to them?  Or to shift the burden of taxation?

How long will we have to wait this time for the economic boom to arrive and everything comes up roses for me and for you, too?

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Sports: The Sports Society Page; The top 100 in the NFL; The Three W’s as All-Star Selections, and our weekly dose of speed.  

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

 

This has been the most famous kissing photo in New York history—Alfred Eisenstadt’s image of a sailor and a nurse celebrating in Times Square the end of WWII.  Now there’s a rival (although, not really. It’s just an image inspired by historic one.)

 

For the society-watchers, here are some details reported by various media of the wedding of the year so far, the Swift/Kelce nuptials held in a quaint little chapel called Madison Square Garden:

The officiating officer was comedian Adam Sandler whose 2025 movie sequel Happy Gilmore 2 included a cameo by Kelce, whom Sandler called “a gentle, nice guy, and funny as hell…a great actor and a real human.” He told TIME magazine Swift is “incredible” and “ridiculously nice to his children.”  They didn’t have a lot of maids of honor and male counterparts. Her brother, Ausin, was “man of honor,’ and Kelce’s brother, Jason, was the best man.

VARIETY reported Kelce’s boss, Andy Reid found the advice given the couple by Sandler to be “really touching.” (Sandler told them, “Kiss every chance you have. Every day. Whether  you’re going to bed or going to work. Whenever, go ahead and kiss her.”)

An immediate honeymoon does not appear to be on the horizon, according to knowledgeable Swift-Kelce constant observers.

So, it’s official. The All-American jock and the homecoming queen are no longer just a couple. They’re a MARRIED couple. We hope they have the strength to endure the heat of the spotlight and the expected tabloid headlines forecasting the worst.

Now we can get on with the less important stuff.

(CHIEFS)—-CBS Sports has put out a list of the 100 best players in the NFL. Kelce isn’t on it but the Chiefs have three percent of that list—Parick Mahomes, center Creed Humphrey, and Defensive Lineman Chris Jones.  Mahomes is number 7 on the list, Humphrey 23rd, and Jones is 62nd.

The list was put together by CBS’ Pete Prisco, who has covered the NFL for thirty years. He says of Mahomes, who was number one last year, “He’s still one of the best – if not the best – quarterbacks in the league.”

Humphrey, who allowed zero sacks and only seven pressures in 708 pass-blocking snaps last year “was the best center in the league again last season, displaying the ability to move people in the run game and excel in pass protection. Patrick Mahomes has to love having him as his center.”

Jones’ 63 quarterback pressures last year ranked him third in the NFL. He was 18th on last years list and Prisco comments, “He’s not the player he was a few years ago, but he’s still capable of being a force inside. The sack numbers have declined in recent years, and he hasn’t had double-digit sacks since 2023.”

His top five players are Rams Defensive End Myles Garrett (whose 23 sacks last year set a new record), Rams QB Matthew Stafford, the MVP last year, Bills QB Josh Allen, Cincinnati WR Ja’Marr Chase, and Bengals QB Joe Burrows, who, like Mahomes, missed a chunk of games las year with an injury.  The only other player rated above Mahomes is Detroit Offensive Tackle Penel Sewell

(HARDY)—The most recent report on Missouri Tiger running back from Coach Drinkwitz is that he is ahead of schedule in recovering from a gunshot wound to his leg but he still has a lot of recovering to do.

His situation has not kept him from being listed as a pre=season All-American by the Walter Camp Foundation. On the list with him is Kewan Lacey of Ole Miss, who started his college career at Mizzou before transferring in 2025.

The Tiger PR machine reminds us we are about 58 days away from the first game of the 2026 season opener with Arkansas Pine Bluff.

(UFL)—Almost two dozen players from the recently-finished United Football League season have been given a chance to make a National Football League roster.  Two of them are from the St. Louis Battlehawks—receiver Hakeem Butler, who led the league receiving yards, and Corner Back Sean Fresch Jr.  Both are going to get looks from the Denver Broncos.

Baseball—-

(ALL-STARS)—We are a week away from baseball’s All-Star team. Missouri’s teams have one position player starter, Kansas City shortstop Bobby Winn, and one reserve position player, Jordan Walker of the Cardinals.

Royals starting pitcher Michael Wacha, a former Redbird, is on the AL pitching roster. Wacha is 5-6 for one of the worst teams in baseball this year. He’d have a much better record if he had better run support from a generally punchless lineup. His ERA is a decent 3.45. He has 91 strikeouts in 114.1 innings. He leads the league in innings pitched.

As always, there are those whose absence sparks some comment. The biggest might be former Cardinals pitcher Sonny Gray, who leads the American League in wins, at 10-1 and is second in ERA (2.61) to Tampa Bay’s Nick Martinez, who also didn’t make the AL roster.

Gray’s teammate from St. Louis also with the Red Sox, first baseman Willson Contreras, might make the team after all because chosen starter Vladimir Guerrero Jr., is having back issues and says he’ll sit out.

The Cardinals’ only representative on the National League All-Star roster is outfielder Jordan Walker, who ways he was near tears when manager Oliver Marmol announced to the team in the locker room that Walker had made the squad. Marmol says, “Part of the message wasn’t so much just the fact that he’s produced over three months, it’s three years of perseverance to get to this point.”

Cardinals first baseman Alec Burleson is not on the National League roster although he started this week tied for third on the RBI list (four behind Jordan Walker’s 67). Some also think St. Louis DH Ivan Herrera should have made the team. He had ten homers and 58 RBIs at the start of this week.

The game is a week from tonight. It’s the 96th one. The American League leads 48=45 with two ties. The game will be in Philadelphia.

Moving along with those who move along—-

(NASCAR)—Joe Gibbs Racing rolled up a 1-2-3 finish at Chicagoland last weekend with Chase Briscoe outrunning Christopher Bell with Denny Hamlin getting the best view of their last lap fight.

Hamlin started from the pole

Briscoe, Bell, and Hamlin were joined by four other Toyotas in the top ten, the best 1=10 finish in Toyota’s history in NASCAR Cup races.

Briscoe’s remark in victory lane, “I feel so American winning in the Bass Pro Shop’s Red, White, and Blue car, 4th of July weekend, 250 years,” while driving a Japanese-badged car might seem a little odd to some. However, Toyota’s larges Camry manufacturing plant in the world is in Georgetown, Kentucky, where it had been producing cars for 38 years.

(INDYCAR)—The IndyCar title chase has tightened with Pato O’Ward’s win at Mid-Ohio ahead of teammate Christian Lundgaard, the first time Arrow-McLaren has finished 1-2 in its long IndyCar history.

O’Ward got past Lundgaard, who was headed for his second straight win, when Lundgaard went wide on a turn and O’Ward got under him. He stretched the lead to almost a full second at the end. At one time he had a 2.5 second lead on Lundgaard but ten laps later, with ten to go, the lead had been whittled to a second and a half.

O’Ward has ten wins in the series on nine different tracks and is only the second driver to win ten or more games for the team since Johnny Rutherford picked up 18 driving for the team 1973-79.

Kyle Kirkwood joined O’Ward and Lundgaard ont he podium. Points leader Alex Palou finished fifth and saw his lead over Kirkwood to shrink to  still-substantial 56 points after eleven of the 18 races IndyCar will run this year.

(Photo Credits: Times Square Kiss—Google Images; Wedding—JJ’s House; Walker, Witt and Wacha—MLB; Briscoe—NASCAR; O’Ward—Bob Priddy at WWTR

 

Amendment 4

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I believe in the in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Petitioning Government for the redress of grievances is a sacred right of the American people but supporters of Amendment 4 on Missouri’s August ballot say it is too easy to turn those grievances into amendment to the state constitution.  It should be harder, than it is, as it is harder to amend the U. S. Constitution than it is to pass a law.

Amendment 4, as is the case with term limits, aims at the wrong target.

Here’s what it does and doesn’t do.

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On Hypocrisy

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Let’s go on a journey as I track down an interesting internet post by the title of today’s essay.  As regular consumers of these entries know, your author is pretty critical of the evangelical blessing of Donald Trump’s actions, which has led to some surprises as I’ve followed one of those investigative strings that began with that internet post that seemed appropriate for these times.

Let us begin with:

I love cartoonist Wiley Miller and his Non Sequitur offerings. It led me to seek out some related comments from some far distant pre-internet sources.

Shakespeare wrote, “God has given you one face and you make yourself another.”

Socrates had a couple: “Be as you wish to seem,” and “The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”

Nineteenth Century social commentator and author Ambrose Bierce called Hypocrisy “prejudice with a halo.’

So we arrive at a post popular on Facebook that originated on Linked In written by “digital circuit rider” Dr. Cliff Kelly, Professor of Digital Media & Communication Arts at Liberty University in Virginia for the past twenty years.

Liberty U was founded by Jerry Fallwell Jr. and describes itself as “a private evangelical Christian University rooted in Southern Baptist Traditions” that is “deeply committed to evangelical Christian Principles.”

Kelly’s writing raised the eyebrows, given his connection to Liberty and its mission. It begins:

You can’t spend Sunday morning in church praising Jesus, talking about love, compassion, mercy, humility, honesty, and caring for the vulnerable, then spend Sunday afternoon defending an administration that does the exact opposite.

Well, that seems to fly in the face of the familiar photographs of evangelical leaders, including Baptists, placing their hands on Trump as a kind of blessing.

How, then, could Kelly write something so strongly attacking what seems to many of us to be a theological double standard that also seems to be against the moral basis of his university?  Let’s find out.

When Kelly was on the Chicago City Council (1973-1988) he sponsored the first ordinance proposed in the city to ban sexual orientation discrimination. His proposal is now part of Chicago’s Human Rights Ordinance. But Liberty hired him.

Adding to the chemistry of this situation is the Southern Baptist Convention’s election of Florida Pastor Willy Rice as its president. One of his strongest supporters was identified by Newsweek’s Shane Croucher as “a former official’s staffer in the Trump administration.” His election was considered “an ideological shift to the right in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination” that already was pretty conservative and has been criticized by Rice for being too “Woke.”

One of his influential supporters was the Center for Baptist Leadership headed by a former Trump administration employee William Wolfe who once said, “I want my boys to grow up in a country where they don’t look like they’re the foreigners here.”  Think of Bierce’s comment.

But Croucher says Rice does not seem attached at the hip to Trump. He’s not a Trump opponent in any way but he hasn’t minded differing with him—-such as Trump’s post showing him as a Christ-like figure healing the sick, which Rice said was  “wrong and should be removed,” while also saying, “I continue to be thankful for many things our President has done.”

He firmly condemned the 2021 attack on the Capitol fomented by Trump. Although saying there were “defensible reasons” for evangelicals to support Trump in his rise to power, “but there are grave concerns about what unhealthy political passions in this recent season have revealed about the state of the church in America.” Additionally, he has warned of an “unhealthy and dangerous co-mingling of religion and politics,” observing, “We don’t need Donald Trump to save us. I know this will sound hard to some, but God never called us to Make America Great Again.”

“That people who claim to follow Christ have embraced conspiracy theories like Q-Anon is to our shame. Some of the same people, who hear about other cults and conclude that they would never fall for such nonsense, are the same ones posting and sharing utter falsehoods about orphans trapped beneath cities who are being rescued by President Trump, liberals practicing cannibalism, and the mysterious Q, This is garbage!”

Now it seems a little easier to understand how Kelly was able to write his piece.  Here’s the whole thing:

You can’t spend Sunday morning in church praising Jesus, talking about love, compassion, mercy, humility, honesty, and caring for the vulnerable, then spend Sunday afternoon defending an administration that does the exact opposite.

And before someone says, “But I’m a Republican,” let me remind you of something: God doesn’t serve political parties. Jesus didn’t die for Democrats. Jesus didn’t die for Republicans. He didn’t wear a red hat or a blue one. He didn’t tell people to pick a team and hate the other side. He called people to love their neighbor, care for the poor, welcome the stranger, seek truth, show mercy, and hold the powerful accountable. You can’t praise the Good Samaritan while cheering policies that target immigrants and asylum seekers.

You can’t celebrate “love thy neighbor” while mocking the poor, cutting assistance for struggling families, and treating human suffering like a political talking point. You can’t talk about protecting children while separating families, demonizing entire communities, and creating fear as a governing strategy.

Jesus fed the hungry. He didn’t ask for their paperwork first. Jesus healed the sick. He didn’t check their political party. Jesus stood with the marginalized. He didn’t use them as campaign props. Jesus challenged the powerful. He didn’t worship them. This administration has normalized cruelty, retaliation, greed, vengeance, dishonesty, scapegoating, and the constant division of Americans against one another. It attacks journalists, demonizes opponents, mocks compassion as weakness, treats empathy as a flaw, and encourages people to view fellow Americans as enemies rather than neighbors.

The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Ask yourself honestly: are those the values being demonstrated? Or are we seeing anger, fear, revenge, hostility, insults, loyalty tests, culture wars, and endless outrage? You don’t have to be a Democrat to see it. You don’t have to be liberal to see it. You just have to compare what Jesus taught with what this administration celebrates.

If your politics require you to ignore cruelty, excuse corruption, justify lies, or abandon compassion, then politics has become your religion and your politician has become your idol. God doesn’t have a political team. Jesus doesn’t wear a campaign hat.

And no politician is important enough to place above the values you claim to believe in every Sunday morning,

Sounds pretty Socratic and pretty Wiley-ish to us.

Sports: Baseball Midseason, More Tiger Signings, More Speed

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(BASEBALL)—Major League baseball passed the midseason mark last weekend with both of our teams getting bounce-back wins.

The Cardinals seem to have played themselves out of the playoff picture with seven losses in nine game before taking a 2-1 in from the Marlins Sunday.  Kyle Leahy won for the first time since mid=May and Bryan Torres provided the offense with a  two-run homer Sunday.

The Royals, after a 22-1 mauling by the White Sox also avoided a series sweep by beating the White Sox 5-4. That gave them a split in their last ten games but still left them with the worst record in the American League. Only the National League’s Colorado Rockies are having a worse season at 33-51 while the Royals were 35-50 at week’s end.

(MOMOVESON)—Former St. Louis Cardinals executive John Mozeliak has a new job, moving on to become interim general manager of the Los Angeles Angels.

(ONTHEFARM)—Redbirdrants.com has checked on four Redbirds sent down to Memphis to find themselves.—Nolan Gorman, Yohel Pozo, Thomas Saggese, and Victor Scott II.

Scott started hot with nine hits and four steals in his first six games. In the next seven he had just three hits, stole no bases and struck out 11 times.

Gorman, who headed to Memphis via Florida after striking out half of the time in St. Louis struck out his first four times in Memphis before getting his first hit but has continued to have strikeout problems although he did hit two home runs and walking three times. Blaze Jordan is doing well enough in The Show that there appears to be little rush to get Gorman back in St. Louis.

Saggese’s batting average remans in the low 200s but has walked more times than he has fanned.

Pozo caught ten of his first fifteen games in Memphis but he has to contend with the play of Leonardo Bernal who is a catcher-first baseman and might be a victim of a numbers game.

(MIZZFB)—The Missouri Tigers continue mining home state talent with the latest commitment coming from four-star running back Kingston Miles of St. Louis, who originally committed to Auburn. He plays high school ball for St. Mary’s, the school that has produced current Mizzou running back Jamal Roberts and former Tiger wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr., who was drafated in the fifth round of this year’s NFL draft.

Six of the states ten top-ranked players in this recruiting cycle now have committed to Missouri.

Kansas City offensive lineman Kyler Kuhn, a four-star, player at St. Pius X, has joined Miles. He’s a 6-3 280 pounder.

Others who’ve committed in recent days are a pair of three-stars: Cornerback T’ari Miller from Miami and Jaylen Hill, an 6-5, 295 pound offensive tackle from the state of Louisiana.

Motoring along—

(INDYCAR)—Two Indianapolis 500 winners’ off-the-track situations might signal a significant change in the IndyCar lineup for 2027. One definitely will.

Speedcafe is reporting that the deadline has passed for Chip Ganassi Racing to have exclusive negotiating rights to keep six-time series champion Scott Dixon, leaving him free to talk to other teams. The Dixon-Ganassi combination has been a constant in IndyCar since 2003.

Ganassi’s exclusive negotiating window with Dixon recently lapsed, allowing the Indianapolis 500 winner to speak with other teams. Arrow McLaren has been mentioned as a possibility. Dixon is 45 and has one Indianapolis 500 win to his credit. He has led more laps in the Indianapolis 500 than any other driver—709. The most laps led by any other active driver is Will Power’s 145.

The winner of this year’s Indianapolis 500, Felix Rosenqvist, says he has taken an offer from a rival team, speculation suggesting the Andretti Global arm of Arrow McLaren, and will move on from Meyer-Shank racing at the end of the year.

Rosenqvist had been with Arrow McLaren before moving to Meyer Shank two years ago. Meyer Shank minority owner Helio Castroneves, a four time 500 winner, says the team has started talking with rookie Caio Collett, a Brazilian driver for A. J. Foyt’s team. Collett has had some impressive performances this year although his overall results have been poor.

Team co-owner Jim Meyer told the Indianapolis Star that a decision will come later whether to go with a newcomer or a veteran-ish driver is the correct direction to take, saying, ” Ultimately, we’re all trying to figure out how to consistently beat Alex Palou right now, to be honest with you. So however we think we can do that best is how we’re going to look at that.”

(NASCAR)—-Shane Van Gisbergen how stands just one win away from tying Jeff Gordon’s record of winning nine Cup road races.  Van Gisbergen fought off a determined late challenge from Chase Briscoe to win at Sonoma.

The race was the last on a road course this year. Van Gisbergen’s win puts him 14th in the points standings, two slots above the cutoff point for drivers wanting to be among the ten that will race  for the season championship. Two former champions, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano (a three time champion) are having less than mediocre seasons and rank 18th and 20th.

Eight races remain before the championship runoff begins.

The points standings have a new number one for the first time since Tyler Reddick won the Dahytona 500, the opening race of the season.

Denny Hamlin’s 26th place finish gave him enough points to be one ahead of Reddick, who lost four laps early that he could never get back. He finished 36th, last, in the race.

(Picture credits: Cardinals—Chris Creamer’s Sports Logo Page; Royals—Pinterest; Dixon at Indianapolis—Rick Gevers; Rosenqvist at the bricks—Bob Priddy; Van Gisbergen at WWTR-Priddy)

 

 

 

Max or Minnie

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His full name is Maximus Decimus Meridius McCatimus, General of the Felix the Cat Legions, loyal companion of the one who feeds him, brother to a curious sister, friend to the woman of the house.

We call him Max. He’s a 17-pound lovable lug.  He’s also a wimp.

Max’s favorite activity is sleeping on our bed.  Or the couch.  Or the chair next to me as I type.  Or in my recliner.   If he were an outdoor cat, he would starve.  But he and Minnie are indoor cats and Max takes the word “indoor” very seriously.

While Minne Mayhem, his sister who is into and on top of everything, does the ankle-rubbing from the first minute and wants to get up on the table when we have people over for a night of Rummikub and Five Crown and Swoop and rare times with dominoes (we lead such exciting lives), she is escorted into the laundry room for the night, we wont see Maximus.  She’s a take charge cat.

Max is a timid soul who finds something to get under or a dark shelf in the closet under which he can be concealed when we have visitors, even if they’ve been here a lot.   Eventually he will come out, carefully looking around corners to make sure it’s safe.

Minnie was lounging on our back porch the other day and I saw Max watching her.  He frequently sits in front of the door but when I open it for him to go outside, he hustles away.

I told him, “You can’t spend your life just looking out the window, Max.”

Whether it’s true for a cat or for a person, it’s true. Life isn’t to be viewed from inside. It has to be a participatory experience. Take a risk, even if it only stepping out onto a porch.

Be involved.  The only things resulting from looking at the world through a window is that those who are participating outside might create something you don’t like to see.

So do something. Don’t be afraid. Help change the view.

It is the DOING that makes life rewarding, that makes a difference. Nothing great ever happened because people just sat on a couch.

Today we have too many window people talking about how bad things are while the few—as usual just a few—who seize the opportunity and accomplish something. If it’s not good, it might be because we had too many watchers and not enough doers. Safety is not created by watchers. Danger, either.

We have elections coming up in a few weeks and various entities are spending millions of dollars to influence those on couches, those who are too timid to participate, those who look at the ballot issues for the first time when they go into their voting cubicle.

Our country won’t be better; our country can’t save itself; the human condition cannot be improved by the Maxes.

Go on.  Get out the door. Do something, don’t just watch others.

Be a Minnie, not a Max.

Take charge.  Get outside. Pay attention. Be involved.

It’s only your state and your country that we’re talking about.

Minnie wants YOU!

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The Seven Deadly (Social) Sins 

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I love discussion groups.  Sitting around and exploring issues, thoughts, events.  I recently came across something that could make for an interesting evening.

Or interesting any time, really.

Although usually credited to Mahatma Ghandi, this list apparently began with English Anglican Priest Frederick Lewis Donaldson (1860-1953).  He made his list public when he was the Canon, or Administrator, of Westminster Abbey and delivered them as part a speech on April 1, 1925.

We find his list of the Seven Deadly (social) Sins useful as we discuss political leadership at all levels in our country today:

  1. Wealth without work
  2. Pleasure without conscience
  3. Knowledge without character
  4. Commerce without morality
  5. Science without humanity
  6. Religion without sacrifice
  7.  Politics without principle.

He sent them to India to Mahatma Ghandi, who put them in his weekly newspaper, Young India, six months later.

Several books have been written that use these statements as their basis. The internet also is full of interpretations of them.  We like the summary at exploringyourmind.com.

(I gave the list to my minister who wrote about them in our weekly church newsletter.  He added an eighth one: unity without humility, commenting, “Too often people demand unity when what they really want is conformity. They want silence instead of conversation. Agreement instead of relationship. Control instead of community…Unity honors the dignity and humanity of others even when we disagree. It listens before speaking. It seeks understanding before judgment. It makes room at the table.”)

In his article a century ago, Ghandi wrote:

A Fair friend sends me “Crisp Sayings” by Dan Griffiths on crime and wants me to find room for them in these pages. Here are some extracts which a Satyagraphi  (a person who practices nonviolent resistance) can readily subscribe to:

“State law is not necessarily moral. Crime is not necessarily immoral.”

“There is a world of difference between illegality and immorality.”

“Not all illegalities are immoral and not all immoralities are illegal.”

Who can say that whilst not to crawl on one’s belly at the dictation of an officer might be an illegality it is also an immorality? Rather is it not true that refusal to crawl on one’s belly may be illegal but it would be in the highest degree moral? Another illuminating passage is the following; “Modern society is in itself a crime factory. The militarist is a relative of the murderer and the burglar is the complement of the stock jobber.” The third excerpt runs as follows;

“The thief in law is merely the person who satisfied his acquisitive in ways not sanctioned by the community. The real thief is the person who takes more out of society than he puts into it.” But “Society punishes those who annoy it,—the retail and not the wholesale offenders.”

Ghandi published the “Seven Deadly Sins” after that with the comment, “Naturally, the friend does not want the reader to know these things merely through the intellect but to know them through the heart to avoid them.”

The entire issue of Young India  can be found at: Full page photo.  The last page, under the title “Practical Vendata” offers an interesting view of Hindu philosophy (Vendata) compared to the teachings of Jesus.

We have wandered a bit because, as usual, one thing has led to another. Getting back to the beginning: Where are we as a people and as a nation on this list of deadly social sins—-and how do we move closer to becoming repentant sinners?