Monthly Archives: January 2026

Tiananmen Square in Minnesota

Posted on by
Reply

When will President Trump send in the tanks?   He has 1500 soldiers trained in Arctic warfare on alert in Alaska, ready to make an increasingly tragic confrontation in Minneapolis even worse. He’s obsessed with the Insurrection Act and is ready to pull the string on it at almost any moment—probably with an overnight eruption on his unsocial media site.

(Missouri is safe from anything like this. We have insurance.  We have a Republican Governor.)

But a little soul-searching might be good for us here in safe Missouri. Suppose the ICE goons showed up in St. Louis or Kansas City and started “maintaining order” and cleansing those cities of immigrant populations—a lot of Bosnians in St. Louis and Kansas Cityhas its own Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The situation in Minneapolis shows no signs of easing, even as to-us intolerable weather conditions prevail. When people are angry enough to take to the streets in these conditions, it is easy to fear the confrontations will become more likely.  A Kent State waiting to happen, perhaps.  Or perhaps an American Tiananmen Square.

Is Minneapolis going to be America’s Tiananmen Square, a place where courageous people stand up to blunt force authority?

Thirty-seven years ago this June, more than two months of protests took place in Beijing, China. Negotiations between protestors and the Chinese government to reach a peaceful solution broke down, leading the government to send troops to occupy the square. The occupation turned into a massacre that is reported to have taken hundreds of lives.

The next day one man refused to get out of the way of the tanks. Who he was or what happened to him is buried in the secret government files.

Courage can be one man in front of a tank and it can be many citizens in front of an American agency unmatched in modern memory for its recklessness, cruelty, and lack of respect for freedom. From day one it seems to have gone far beyond our President’s announcement that it would seek out only the “worst of the worst.”  What is happening among the protestors in Minneapolis is part of the American character.  What is happening with ICE in Minneapolis is contrary to every principle of our founders that has guided us, albeit imperfectly at times, for 250 years.

We are likely to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our free country strikingly less free as a whole than at any time in our lifetimes. The thought that we would celebrate this significant anniversary under these continuing circumstances is beyond depressing.

There are only losers in America’s Tiananmen Square in frigid Minnesota today. But this is the United States of America.  The people will win.

We turn to the words of the great author, William Faulkner and his Nobel Laureate address in 1950 in which he spoke of the lasting power of the writer, of the poet. I believe what he said, not only about poets, but about the lasting power of a free people.

“I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures but because he has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”

The defiance of the people of Minneapolis should remind all of us of “the courage, and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of (our) past.”  I believe the people of Minneapolis, and the people of this nation, will prevail against those who ignore all of those basic values that have sustained us as a nation.

A New Phase Has Begun

Posted on by
Reply

We haven’t heard anything like this since the Vietnam era protest songs.  Bruce Springsteen wrote a powerful protest song last weekend, recorded it at the start of this week, and it might be taking the Minnesota experience into a new socio-political realm.  It is hard for provocateurs to regain control when the public mood becomes part of a nation’s popular music culture, for music can be one of the greatest indicators of a generational shift in national attitude.

The song has the feel of the 60s because the momentum of the public mood in an increasing number of places is starting to be reminiscent of the early days of the Vietnam protests and the Civil Rights movement, a volatile combination that rewrote our country’s self-image. Will this song be the first of many protests songs of this generation?

Those who lived through those days can recognize that possibility. Today’s demonstrators are the children and the grandchildren of those who in the 1960s opposed military interventionism and advocated civil rights.

April will be the 61st anniversary of the first major antiwar rally, in Washington. It was there that Judy Collins sang a Bob Dylan song, “The Times They are A-Changin,’” followed by Joan Baez’s rendition of “We Shall Overcome,” the song considered the civil rights movement’s anthem.

English poet William Congreve wrote in 1697 that “Music can soothe the soul of the savage beast.”  It can. it also can motivate those standing against a savage beast.

For those who think Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” no longer fits the times, listen to Bruce Springsteen and “Streets of Minneapolis” the first major protest song or our times.

Bruce Springsteen – Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

If you want to sing along, here are the lyrics. We apologize if they do not translate from our edit page to the post in proper verse order; our computer does odd things we don’t understand.  But you will be able to follow the lyrics as you sing along

[Verse 1]
Through the winter’s ice and cold  Down Nicolett Avenue A city aflame fought fire and ice ‘Neath an occupier’s boots  King Trump’s private army from the DHS Guns belted to their coats  Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law Or so their story goes

[Verse 2]
Against smoke and rubber bullets  In the dawn’s early light  Citizens stood for Justice Their voices ringing through the night
And there were bloody footprints
Where mercy should have stood
And two dead, left to die on snow-filled streets  Alex Pretti and Renee Good

[Chorus]
Oh, our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
We’ll take our stand for this land  And the stranger in our midst  Here in our home, they killed and roamed In the winter of ’26    We’ll remember the names of those who died  On the Streets of Minneapolis

[Verse 3]
Trump’s federal thugs beat up on
His face and his chest Then we heard the gunshots   And Alex Pretti lay in the snow dead. Their claim was self-defense, sir
Just don’t believe your eyes  It’s our blood and bones   And these whistles and phones  Against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies

[Chorus]
Oh, our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Crying through the bloody mist
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

[Bridge]
Now they say they’re here to uphold the law
But they trample on our rights
If your skin is black or brown, my friend
You can be questioned or deported on sight
In our chants of “ICE out now”    Our city’s heart and soul persists  Through broken glass and bloody tears On the Streets of Minneapolis.

[Chorus]
Oh, our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
Here in our home, they killed and roamed
In the winter of ’26    We’ll take our stand for this land   And the stranger in our midst
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

[Outro]
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out (ICE out)
ICE out

(llyrics from genius.com)

From the Front Lines in Minneapolis—III

Posted on by
Reply

Our friends in Minneapolis who are among the thousands who are not on the streets, but who are deeply involved in resisting Trump’s war on the city, have shared a letter being circulated in their neighborhood from David McNally, an internationally known motivational speaker and author of six books. He’s Australian although he was bornin east end London.

This is the life we don’t see on television:

Dear Friends,

I am compelled to write to you after listening to the president of Risen Christ School, Michael Rogers, speak at the 9am mass this morning at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in South Minneapolis. The purpose of Michael being invited was to bring parishioners up to date with the impact of the unrest in Minneapolis specifically related to the behavior of federal agents. I bring this information to you fully aware that our politics may differ, but what we do have in common for many on this list, is our support over the years of Risen Christ both financially and through volunteering. On that note, if you ever attended a Risen Christ fundraiser you will never forget people paying thousands of dollars to have the inimitable Father Forliti host them for one of his famous Italian dinners.

As you know, and for those who don’t know, the school caters mostly to the poorer members of the Latino community.  96% of the student tuition is subsidized. Yet Risen Christ is an amazing success story. Historically, the school has 92% daily attendance, a100% high school graduation rate, 100% of the students speak both English and Spanish, and 81% enroll in college.

Here then are the current “conditions on the ground” if I may use that term.

  1. The approximately 300 students now live in fear. This is not an exaggeration. Let us be clear-we are talking about innocent children who are afraid.
  2. For this reason, an average of 50 students a day are now not turning up for class. This has never happened before in the history of Risen Christ.
  3. Several students have had a parent disappear with no knowledge of where they are and no resource to find out.
  4. Families are not leaving their homes even to buy food. The fear is real.
  5. Risen Christ teachers who come from Spanish speaking countries are living in fear even though their documents are in order. They do not trust the federal agents because of what they have witnessed.  They are being picked up at their homes and taken to work by their white colleagues. The statement that if you are in the United States legally you have nothing to fear is being proven wrong every day.
  6. St Joan of Arc parishioners are picking up children and taking them to Risen Christ so that they can continue their studies. They are then picked up and taken home.
  7. St Joan of Arc parishioners are also delivering food to those families who are afraid to leave their homes. This ministry is one for which I have now volunteered.

When I became an American citizen in 2019, it was with significant pride. I gave a brief speech following the ceremony in which I stated that the United States was the most amazing human experiment in history. That so many people from so many cultures could live in relative harmony was incredible. I proudly pled my allegiance. I still believe what I said. The situation at Risen Christ, however, clearly demonstrates that something is radically wrong. A child or adult who is doing no harm should not live in fear. Dignity for all is a value with which we should all be aligned.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
— Matthew 25:40 (NIV)

David McNally

E-mail: david@davidmcnally.com
http://www.davidmcnally.com

In sending me this letter from David, our friend Denny added: Most of our friends are ferrying food and supplies to our brown friends and neighbors. My cleaning team, a Mexican family of 5 (I have degenerative spinal disease), who help me once/month, will be here Wed. I’ve asked for a list of needs, especially feminine products, of which is a seriously underrated international need in times of crisis. That was first on her list…3 of her workers are teen girls…all are women. Last month when she was here she informed them they are not allowed to leave their apartments except for work.

Jeff stayed late at his church yesterday to take training guided by the Handbook for Constitutional Observers produced by the Immigrant Defense Network (www.copalm.org). His church sponsors a Latino school across their street and sits in the eye of this storm.

This is how we now roll…please tell your world.

0-0-0

To conclude, and in response to those who think these entries represent Trump Derangement Syndrome, we wonder—-as we ponder David’s Bible verse—which side do you think the Disciple Matthew would be on in Minneapolis today—the followers, or tools, of Trump or those serving and protecting his potential victims?

To which we add one our favorite verses and one that a dear friend lived by until his last day a few months ago, from the Old Testament book of Micah:

And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly[a] with your God.

If being on the side of Matthew and Micah, and the Dennys and Davids and Jeffs of Minneapolis is Trump Derangement Syndrome, I joyously plead guilty.

(We’ll have a bonus entry Friday)

An Epic Game; Kansas Questions; A Chiefs Shuffle

Posted on by
Reply

by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZBB)—When they make a list of greatest Missouri basketball games, Saturday’s 88-87 double overtime win against Oklahoma will be on a short list. Neither team could build a lead greater than six. There were ten ties and 22 lead changes.

Missouri, one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in the SEC, went 24 of 33 (73%) from the stripe. They were only 6 for 21 from the three-point line. But the last two were historic, the ball ripping through the net as the red light around the backboard flashed on to show the time left at 0:00.

Oklahoma was up by three with 5.6 seconds left when Missouri inbounded the ball in regulation and fed it to Trent Pierce, who had missed five threes in the game finally hit one from the top of the key as time expired in regulation to tie the game.

Oklahoma was up by two with four seconds left in overtime and Missouri inbounding the ball under the sooner basket. Mark Mitchell took the pass, dribbled just past half court and fired the 37-footer that will make the all-time Tiger highlight reel.

The Tigers made up for poor shooting from outside by outscoring Oklahoma 40-12 inside and outrebounding the Sooners 41=29.

Oklahoma took its sixth loss in a row. Missouri might have kept its NCAA Tournament hopes alive after a couple of tough losses. They’re now 4-3 in the conference and in the top half of the standings. But the road ahead is hard starting with a road game against 17th-ranked Alabama Tuesday night.

Three guys scored 66 of Missouri’s 88 points—Mitchell with 25 (and 10 rebounds), T. O. Barrett, making his first start, had 21 and Jayden Stone had 20.

(LOOK WHO’S IN THE TOP 25)—-The St. Louis Billikens are 19-1, lead the Atlantic 10, and are 23rd and 24th in the polls. They hammered St. Bonaventure 97-62 Saturday for their thirteenth win in a row.  Their only loss was by one point, 78=71, to Stanford. The Billikens have six players averaging 10-12.7 points per game and a seventh player who’s averaging more than nine.

(BEARS)—-Missouri State forward Michael Osei-Bonsu is the school’s first Conference USA Basketball Player of the Week.  The Bears beat UTEP and New Mexico State last week with Osei-Bonsu hitting 14 of his 22 field goals, averaging 19 points, nine rebounds and a couple of assists. He hit the game-winning shot att UTEP with 12 seconds left. Bonsu, a 6-4 forward, has the best shooting average in the conference and ranks 29th in the country. He’s majoring in psychology.

Missouri State  (12-8) is in sole possession of second place in the conference, at 6-3.  Liberty, undefeated in nine games, leads.
(CHIEFS1)—It appears the Kansas City Chiefs’ move to Kansas is hardly a done deal. The big hangup is a big question:

Who would own the stadium?

Arrowhead Stadium is owned by the Jackson County Sports Authority and is leased by the Chiefs, who want the same kind of deal with Kansas. The Chiefs made that clear in a recent Kansas legislative committee hearing.

It has to do with taxes. Abhishek Sachin Sandikar, writing for Yahoo Sports on Google, says the issue is how money from the Kansas STAR (Sales Tax Revenue) Bonds would be used for a three-billion-dollar stadium.

The Chiefs do not want to own the stadium; they want it owned by a public entity as Arrowhead Stadium is owned by the Jackson County Sports Authority and is leased to the team through 2031. The Chiefs operate and maintain the stadium. The bonds used to built both stadiums in the Jackson County Sports Complex have been financed by a 3/8 cent sales tax. But last April, Jackson County voters went 58% against a new 3/8 sales tax to pay for renovations of Arrowhead and a downtown stadium for the Royals. The Chiefs found Kansas a willing suitor and the Royals are still looking at something on this side of the border although Kansas is courting them, too.

Chiefs lawyer Korb Maxwell says the Kansas stadium proposal does not make sense for the Chiefs unless a public entity owns the stadium. He argues that providing bond money for a privately-owned stadium would mean the funding would not be on a tax-exempt status and 45 percent of those dollars would be taken in federal taxes, thereby killing the project.

While the Kansas governor and the team have announced the move, the Kansas legislature has not yet approved the issuance of the STAR bonds—and the Chiefs don’t want to be their own landlord.

The deal hasn’t fallen through but Missourians shouldn’t think that the Chiefs will stay on this side of the line after all, though.

(CHIEFS2)—The Chiefs hope Eric Bienemy can be magic again for them. He’s back as offensive coordinator, a job he held for five years when the Chiefs offense was high-powered and exciting in Patrick Mahomes’ younger days.

Bienemy was the running backs coach for the Bears in their just-finished season. The Bears were third in the NFL in rushing yards, led by D’Andre Swift’s 1,087 yards and in average yards per carry. He was the Chiefs running backs coach for five years before moving up the OC.

Bienemy’s return has Travis Kelce sound more as if he’ll come back for another year. It’s just enthusiasm without commitment right now, though.

(ROOKIES)—The elimination of the Los Angeles Rams from the NFL playoffs allow us to look at the season three Tiger NFL rookies had.

Harrison Meavis emerged halfway through the year as the Rams’ place kicker and he showed he belongs in the NFL.  He hit all 39 of his extra points and was 12 of 13 in field goals.

Luther Burden III started five of the Bears’ 15 games, caught 47 passes out of 60 targets for 652 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Brady Cook finished the New York Jets’ season as the starting quarterback after two guys ahead of him went down within injuries. In four starts (and a fifth game he finished), Cook threw for two touchdowns but seven interceptions, 738 yards and a couple of touchdowns. He had a 55.43 rating.

(ROYALS)—The Royals continue to be quiet. They’ve signed several players to minor league contracts but have yet to sign a major free agent or make anything near a blockbuster trade. Speculation that former Cardinals outfielder Harrison Bader would be a good fit for an outfield slot has been blown up by word that Bader has signed a two-year $20.5 million dollar deal with the Giants.

(CARDINALS)—The Redbird’s news is about who is still on the roster versus those who have left, those signed to minor league deals, or those who have/have not gone into arbitration.  Brendan Donovan and JoJo Romero are still on the roster although there’s more than enough speculation about St. Louis’ interest in trading them.

We’re two weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting.

Speeding along on track and in the court:

(DAYTONA)—The first major race of 2026 has lasted 24 hours at Daytona and ended with the winner just 1.5 seconds ahead of the runner up.

Roger Penske’s Porsche team has become the third team to win the race three years in a row, joining rival Chip Ganassi’s team and the Wayne Taylor team. Felipe Nasr has been the lead driver for all three of the wins. His co-drivers this year were Julien Landauer and Laurin Heinrich. Their car ran in the GTP class, the fastest of several classes in the race.

One of the drivers of the second-place Cadillac was NASCAR phenom Connor Zilisch. Indianapolis 500 winner Alex Palou was one of the drivers in the fifth place car. IndyCar driver Colton Herta was part of the team for the car in sixth. IndyCar’s Scott Dixon and NASCAR’s A. J. Allmendinger were half of the team that finished ninth.

IndyCar’s Nolan Siegel was part of the team that finished 12th overall and third in the LMP2 class. IndyCar’s Christian Rasmussen was part of the 5th place LMP2 team (14th overall). Kyffin Simpson, a driver for the Ganassi IndyCar team, was in the 17th place (8th in LMP2). Former 500 winner Will Power, driving in the GTD Pro class, helped his team to second in class and 20th overall. Former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe was in a Lamborghini that finished 24th overall, 6th in GTD.

(NASCAR)—It appears NASCAR might be losing one of its road courser races. The fall Charlotte race had been held on its “Roval” for several years—the road course that’s also part of the oval track—but NASCAR reportedly is ready to move it back to the oval.  The event would be one of the ten-race championship chase series.

(NASCARHOF)—Three new names have been added to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina—Kurt Busch, Harry Gant, and Ray Hendrick. Busch won the NASCAR Cup championship in 2004. Concussion problems after a 2022 Pocono crash sent him into retirement.

Busch ran the 2014 Indianapolis 500, a one-off event, and finished a solid sixth. His hopes of completing the 500 and the 600-mile race at Charlotte that same day ended when his car dropped out after 273 laps.

“Handsome Harry” Gant had 18 wins in the Cup series and 21 in the second tier series. He’s the oldest driver to win a Cup race (52) and the oldest driver to win his first Cup race (42). He won four in a row in 1991 and ran his last NASCAR race in 1994 at the age of 54.

Ray Hendrick only ran 17 Cup races but he raced modified stocks for 36 years and won 700 races. He was 51 when he died in 1990

(MCLAREN VS. PALOU)—The long-running breach of contract lawsuit by McLaren against IndyCar champion Alex Palou is a win for McLaren, but the company isn’t satisfied with the $12 million judgment against him. McLaren wants reimbursement of its legal expenses plus interest.

In 2022, Palou agreed to drive for the McLaren IndyCar team then backed out to rejoin Chip Ganassi Racing where he has won four IndyCar championships and last year’s Indianapolis 500. He says McLaren’s offer included a role as a reserve driver for the McLaren Formula 1 team with the possibility of moving F1 and driving for McLaren’s IndyCar team until then. But he said he later learned the Formula 1 opportunity would not materialize so he walked away from the signed contract to stay with Ganassi. Palou says he’s meeting with his advisors and is considering his options.

He will continue to drive for Ganassi in the IndyCar series.

(Photo credits:  Billikens—Amazon; Palou (shown at the Daytona 24 Hours), Michael L. Levitt/ Lumen via Getty Images; Kurt Busch at Indianapolis 2019—Bob Priddy)

 

 

What’s the Matter With Missouri? 

Posted on by
Reply

A century ago, Emporia Kansas newspaper editor William Allen White wrote an editorial called “What’s the Matter With Kansas,” a scathing column reacting to a populist takeover of Kansas government.

Here in Missouri, the pending loss of a third NFL team and the uncertainty about retention of one of our major league baseball teams, coupled with memories of other pro sports teams we’ve lost (two major league baseball teams and two NBA teams) have sparked some to think, “What’s the Matter with Missouri?

Let’s be clear at the outset of this discussion that there’s a lot that’s RIGHT about Missouri. There’s always something wrong about Missouri politically, depending on where you stand. But let’s not forget what is right as we look at what’s the matter with our state today.

One of Missouri’s biggest problem is that it’s too proud of our cheapness. Expecting the promotion that we are a low-tax state will produce steady economic development significant enough to make a major impact on our economy does not seem to be borne out by the realities.

If all of the tax cuts or eliminations we have seen in the past several years really worked, our metro areas would be economic giants in the Midwest. Our smaller cities would be centers for mid-corporate expansion and our even smallest communities might not be withering. Missouri would not be in danger of losing another seat in the U. S. House of Representatives, not because we are losing population (as is easy to say) but because other states are growing faster.

One of our biggest problems is that we are satisfied to be mediocre. But it can be argued that thinking economic growth springs from being a low tax state is questionable if low taxes are consistent with being the progressive state that excites potential investors.

US News’ most recent ranking of the states puts us 31st out of 50 in many categories. Our highest rankings are in fiscal stability and “opportunity,” where we are 11th (more on that in a minute).  We’re 18th in natural environment. Our economy ranks 25th.   After that—well…..

33rd in education

37th in infrastructure

43rd in health care

43rd in crime and corrections.

39th in teacher salaries, according to the MNEA.

World Health Review says we are among the states with the highest rates of homelessness—one dismaying factor that describes our economy, the numbers increasing 22% in the last five years, 39% more than in 2013 and 78% more than in 2018. People don’t flock to Missouri to become homeless.  This is a home-grown problem that includes many people with mental health issues. Speaking of which—

Mental Health America uses seventeen criteria to rank us 36th  in mental health and well-being—40th among adults.

Digging deeper into “opportunity,” US News ranks us 14th in equality and in affordability. But we are only 34th in economic opportunity.  And what does that mean? “It takes into account a state’s poverty rate, prevalence of food insecurity, and median household income as wellas he level of income inequality among residents… These four comprehensive metrics are indicators of more than just economic opportunity in a given state; they intersect with employment, stability and health – affecting the quality of life of a state’s population,” says the survey.

In health care, we are 28th in low obesity rate, 34th in low suicide rate, 39th in public health, 39th in low infant mortality rate and overall mortality rate and 44th in low smoking rate.

We don’t want to drag this out so we’ll let you read the 50 states report by US News and you can explore why its surveys do not rank us better.  Best States | U.S. News State Rankings and Analysis

States are far more than their sports teams. Once we look beyond the glitz and glamour of the coliseum and look at what should make us a great place to live, we find a grittier and less attractive view. To think that the things that drag us down will be improved by reducing the financial ability to lift them up seems to this layman’s eyes false economy.

We cannot escape the shortcomings that short-change ourselves if our big selling point is that we have low taxes. The exciting visuals of sports teams quickly fade when people look at the quality of real life and that quality is not improved by continued diminution of resources to improve it.

This is a campaign year and, of course, a tax cut is a favorite way of pleasing voters. Candidates, however, might want to focus on how income tax elimination will make Missouri better than 31st and how it will elevate our low standing in personal categories and whether paying sales taxes on a plumber’s visit makes us a place to which significant numbers of people and businesses want to move. Sooner or later, it will become clear that our drive to be a state known for its tight-fistedness won’t perform much economic magic.

Useless arguments about “tax and spend liberals” versus “don’t tax and can’t spend conservatives” won’t solve what’s wrong with Missouri, and as great as our state is in float streams and tourist attractions, there’s plenty the matter with it that we can overcome if all of us recognize that WE are responsible for being 31st or 43rd or—-pick a number as long as it’s in the 30s or 40s.

The first gubernatorial inauguration I covered was that of Warren Hearnes when he became the first Missouri governor elected to two consecutive four-year terms. He said on that clear but chilly January day, “To do and be better is a goal few achieve. To do it, we are required to make sacrifices—not in the sense of shedding our blood or giving our lives or the lives of those we love,  but sacrifice in the sense of giving of a part of those material things which we enjoy in abundance. A great people will sacrifice part of that with which they have been blessed in order that their children might be better educated, their less fortunate more fortunate, their health better health, their state a better state.”

What’s the matter with Missouri?  When have any of our recent leaders laid down this kind of challenge to all of us?  Would we accept it if they did?

Failure to issue that challenge….and a failure to respond to it is what’s the matter with Missouri.

Who’s the S—hole Country Now? 

Posted on by
Reply

It’s good to see ourselves through other eyes sometimes.

Newsweek reported a few days ago about a Norwegian’s response to President Trump’s plea for more immigrants from Scandinavia instead of so many from “s—hole countries” such as Somalia, his country of choice for his latest profanity-laced bowl of white supremacist sludge.

The response from Chris Lund, a Norwegian vocalist, has gone viral. We think he has some interesting points, namely that the Scandinavian countries are far superior to ours, especially Trump’s version of ours that Lund finds crude, cruel, and lacking civilized values.

One of the many puzzling things about Trump’s plea for more Scandinavians is that they come from a system he loves to pummel as socialism. But to hear Lund describe it, there are many things there more attractive there than here.

—once you get beyond the cold, dark winters.

Trump spoke last month (December 9) at Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania where he brought out his tired whine that the best people are not coming to the United States (the best people have NEVER flocked to the United States; they had and have good lives in the Old County). He appears to think his musings are humorous: “Why it is we only take people from s***hole countries…Why can’t we have some people form Norway, Sweden, just a few? Let’s have a few from Denmark…Do you mind sending us a few people? Send us some nice people. Do you mind? But we always take people from Somalia, places that are a disaster, right? Filthy, dirty, disgusting,”

Lund told Newsweek he spoke out because of the “recurring irony of being told America is the ‘land of opportunity’ by someone who doesn’t seem to realize that, for Norwegians, moving there is a massive downgrade….When you compare five weeks of vacation and a year of maternity leave to the American system, the offer is a joke. I’m not trying to be mean. I’m just looking at the benefits package.”

On December 12, Lund took to his Threads account, @chrislundartist, where he wrote in a now-viral post: “Trump said he wants more immigrants from Norway. I have reviewed the offer, and I have to decline. The benefits package is terrible. You offer two weeks of vacation if we are lucky; we get five. Your maternity leave is ‘good luck,’ while we get a year. Your healthcare plan is GoFundMe, while ours is free. And your safety plan is just ‘thoughts and prayers.’ Moving to the US right now feels like leaving a spa to go work in a burning hot dog stand. Thanks, but we will stay in the snow.”

The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority says all employees are entitled to at least 25 working days of holiday each year, and employers are duty-bound to make sure each employee uses all of their holiday allowance. The maternal leave policy there entitles new parents to a total of twelve months—or as much as three years if the parents go back part-time. The Commonwealth Fund says the country offers universal health coverage that is paid for by automatic taxes and payroll contributions.

Lund told Newsweek he has visited the States, and once thought of moving here. here. But now?

“The U.S. looks less like a dream destination and more like a cautionary tale. I’ve realized I much prefer free healthcare and a life that doesn’t revolve entirely around surviving the latest political crisis.”

Some accuse him of being “obsessed” with the United States. Not obsessed, he says, just observant. “The truth is, what happens in America affects everyone. A lot of Americans don’t seem to understand the impact their country has on the rest of the world. Your economy and your politics vibrate across the globe, so we have to pay attention.”

He suggests President Trump should be worried about what would happen if people from Norway moved here in big numbers. “If we actually moved to the U.S. and started voting, we most certainly wouldn’t be voting for him. We’d be voting for the very things he calls ‘socialism.’”

Photo Credit: Lund–//www.viberate.com/

Sports : A Glass Slipper With Spikes; A Shadow Over the Baseball Season; Tigers split two; Cardinals Move Beyond Arenado; Portal Update 

Posted on by
Reply

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MEAVIS)—Former Missouri Tiger place kicker Harrison Mevis is living kind of a Cinderella story with the Los Angeles Rams, kicking the Rams to one game away from the Super Bowl.

A year ago he was preparing for the United Football League season with the Birmingham Stallions after signing as an undrafted free agent by the Carolina Panthers for the 2024 season and being waived. He hit 20 of 21 field goals for the Stallions, a performance that drew the attention of the New York Jets who put him on the practice squad before cutting him loose in September.  Two months later he signed with the Los Angeles Rams and was activated from the practice squad two weeks after that to replace, for one game, the Rams’ regular kicker, Joshua Karty after Karty missed an extra point and a field goal. He hit all six of his extra points and all three of his field goals and joined the fulltime squad two weeks later.

Jan 18, 2026; Chicago, IL, USA; Los Angeles Rams placekicker Harrison Mevis (92) kicks the game-winning forty-two yard field goal held by punter Ethan Evans (42) against the Chicago Bears during overtime of an NFC Divisional Round game at Soldier Field. Matt Marton-Imagn Images

In the regular season, Mevis was perfect on 39 extra points and nailed 12 of 13 field goals.  He was perfect against the Bears on Sunday with two extra points and two field goals including the walk-off winner from 42 yards out to end the game in overtime, 20-17, Rams.

The Rams play the Seahawks next weekend for the NFC championship with the winner headed to the Super Bowl two weeks later.

CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs reportedly want to bring back he guy who was known for his creative offensive approach–Eric Bienemy, now he running backs coach for the Chicago Bears. Kansas City has asked permission to talk to him about replacing Steve Nagy. He was the OC for Kansas City for five years before moving on after the 2022 season.

Re-sculpting of the Chief roster has begun by saying goodbye to seven members of the practice squad whose contracts have not been renewed. The biggest name was Clyde Edwards-Hillaire who came to the Chiefs in 2020 and was impressive. In his first 33 games, he averaged 4.5 yards per carry. But injuries and other health issues including PTSD limited his role and he wound up on the practice squad, and now has been released. Others cut loose are offensive guard Nick Broeker and wide receiver Jason Brownlee, who were called up to fill roster gaps this year but didn’t make much of an impression. Also gone are defensive end Malik Herring, tackle Marlon Tuipulotu, tight end Tre Watson, and fullback Carson Steele.

The Chiefs on-roster running back situation is changing, too, with Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt entering free agency. Last year, the Chiefs averaged just 106.6 yards rushing per game, which—coupled with a porous offensive line, made things harder for Parick Mahomes and he passing game.

(MIZPORT)—Calum McAndrew at the Columbia Daily Tribune has done a fine job keeping track of who’s coming and who’s going and who is homeless in the college football portal scramble.

Here’s his list of additions since we filed our sports reports last week:

  • Naeshaun Montgomery, wide receiver, Florida (Jan. 10)
  • Jaden Jones, defensive end, Florida State (Jan. 10)
  • Donta Sampson, defensive tackle, Miami (Jan. 11)
  • Brunno Reus, punter/kicker, Florida State (Jan. 12)
  • Cavan Tuley, defensive end, Houston (Jan. 12)
  • Nick Evers, quarterback, UConn (Jan. 13)
  • Elijah Dotson, cornerback, Michigan (Jan. 13)
  • Sione Laulea, cornerback, Oregon (Jan. 14)
  • Va’aimalae Fonoti III, running back, Montana (Jan. 16)
  • Kenric Lanier II, wide receiver, Minnesota (Jan. 16)
  • Colin Sorensen, offensive lineman, Charleston Southern (Jan. 16)
  • Mark Shenouda, punter, Tennessee State (Jan. 16)
  • CJ May, defensive end, Louisville (Jan. 16)

Those who’ve decided to seek greener artificial term since our last posting.

  • Beau Pribula, graduate, quarterback (Virginia, Jan. 12)
  • Jaylen Early, redshirt senior, offensive lineman (Jaylen Early, Jan. 11)
  • Nate Johnson, senior, defensive end (Auburn, Jan. 10)
  • Justin Bodford, redshirt sophomore, defensive tackle (Middle Tennessee State, Jan. 15)
  • Daniel Blood, senior, wide receiver (Washington State, Jan. 10)

Some guys couldn’t find something better.

  • Brandon Solis, redshirt junior, offensive lineman (NA)
  • Robert Meyer, sophomore, kicker (NA)
  • Ryder Goodwin, redshirt junior, kicker (NA)
  • Tavorus Jones, redshirt senior, running back (NA)
  • Shamar McNeil, redshirt junior, cornerback (NA)
  • Damon Wilson II, senior, defensive end (NA)
  • Dakotah Terrell, redshirt freshman, tight end (NA)
  • Mose Phillips III, senior, safety (NA)

(MIZZBB)—The Tigers split a pair last week with a distressing loss to LSU on Saturday in which they once again let the game get away from them in the opening minutes and never got it back. LSU outscored Missouri 10-0 in the opening minutes…and won by ten.

Against Auburn at home, the Tigers went down by seven in the first half before T.O. Barrett’s basket put Missouri in front and they stayed there.  In Baton Rouge, LSU let the Tigers get close in the second half but always got a stop when they needed it—which Missouri didn’t do. It was LSU’s first conference win.

Missouri came into this week 3-2 in the conference. The Tigers face Georgia tonight in Columbia.

(The Baseball)—It might seem premature to be thinking of the end of the 2026 baseball season three weeks before pitchers and catchers report for spring training.  But there is a shadow over this season. This year is the last year of the collective bargaining agreement with players and concerns are growing about how smaller market teams such as those in St. Louis and Kansas City can remain competitive, especially financially, with the New Yorks and Los Angeleses.

Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch says the DeWitts, father and son, think upcoming negotiations could be the most “significant of this era” particularly because of the financial disparities that have grown in the last year.

Goold observes that four of the most prominent free agents have signed deals worth at least $100 million this winter all of them have signed with the major market teams. The DeWitts point to the seemingly bottomless checking account of the Dodgers, who signed Kyle Tucker for four years and $240 million. The Dodgers now have eight nine-figure player contracts. Goold counts only here such contracts in the entire history of the Redbirds.

The players union is unlikely to agree to any kind of a salary cap. Bill DeWitt Jr., promised, “We’ll do the best we can in terms of being competitive.”

We’re still waiting for either of our teams to bust loose with a big free agent signing. The Cardinals have finally ended the painful dragged-out departure of Nolan Arenado, who hopes to find renewal in the twilight years of his career with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

(CARDINALS)===Whether the Cardinals got any kind of return (they also sent $31 million of Arenado’s remaining $42 million contract to Arizona) for Arenado appears to be some distance away. They get Jack Martinez in return. He was an eighth round 2025 draft pick from Arizona State. He’s a righty with a 92-94 mph fastball and an above average changeup and a below-average slider. He has yet to make his professional debut but he fits in with the Cardinals focus on developing young players.  In his last college season, he made fifteen starts and fanned 110 batters in 77.1 innings but he had a 5.47 ERA.

The Cardinals signed ten free agents to minor league contracts in the last week or so.

(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals want more home runs this year and they might get them by moving the outfield walls in by eight to ten feet at the foul poles.  Center field will still be 410 feet away but they’re cutting 18 inches off of the ten-foot high wall. The changes also expand seating.  There will be 150 more fans in left field waiting to catch homers and about eight new drink rail seats in right.

0-0-0-0

The Royals have signed a dozen free agents to minor league deals. They’ve also signed an intriguing kid shortstop named Jaider Suarez, the 22nd ranked prospect by MLB’s Pipeline. He’s an international free agent that the Pipeline says “has the physical look of a potential impact talent.”  He was 13 in 2023 when he hit .355 and walked twice as often as he struck out in Cuba’s U15 National League.

(

Rolling along—

(INDYCAR)—The knights of speed have a real knight in their midst now.  New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has knighted Dixon “for services to motorsport.”  Luxon described him as “a hero to young New Zealand motorsports fans and his work fundraising for children’s charities is invaluable.”  Dixon is a six-time IndyCar champion with 59 victories—one of which is the Indianapolis 500.  He’s 45 now, moving toward senior citizen status in a sport filled with a lot of 20and 30 years olds.  Dixon finished third in the points standings last year and remains Ganassi Racing’s top driver.

(NASCAR)—NASCAR is ditching its widely criticized playoff system and returning to the Chase format.  Gone is the “win and you’re in” system that let drivers who finish far down in the standings replace driver who had much better years in the playoffs because the lower-runners managed to win a race.  Joey Logano is the poster child for that issue, taking the title in 2024 although he had an average finish of 17.1 and finished the regular season 15th in points would not have made the then twelve-driver championship field if another driver had not been disqualified in the last regular-season race. Logano had won one race that year and went on to become champion when he won the last race of the season.

The new format eliminates eliminations.  Sixteen drivers will compete. There will be no elimination rounds and the champion will be crowned from within that ten-driver field on a points basis, not on the basis of which of four final competitors finishes highest in the last race.

(Photo credits:  Mevis—Field Level Media)

Notes from the Minnesota War Zone II

Posted on by
Reply

A warning—do not rise to the bait. Unfortunately, a lot of people didn’t get the memo.  They sent their own message.

This memo was sent to at least some state employees and people at the University of Minnesota last Thursday.

The Cedar Riverside area of Minneapolis is described as a historic “point of entry for immigrants since Swedes, Germans, and Bohemians began arriving in large numbers during the late 19th century.” Today it is sometimes called “Little Mogadishu” because it has become the largest concentration of Somali-born residents in the twin cities.

A key figure in the anti-Muslim protest was Jake Lang, a January 6th participant who served four years in prison before President Trump pardoned him. Some of his rally colleagues dragged him away from the scene at Minneapolis City Hall, bleeding from the back of his head.

Reports indicate he was leading the Americans Against Islamification’s “Crusader March on ‘Little Somalia.’” One report says he intended to burn a copy of the Quran during the rally. Lang was dragged away to safety by one of his group after about ninety minutes of yelling back and forth and when the chaos that he sought to stoke went after him.

Another report says a member of the group was chased into a parking garage and struck with a flagpole. During the chaos, one of those protesting the presence of Lang’s group noticed the man was bleeding from a head wound and was heard shouting into a megaphone, “This guy needs medical help. He needs mental help. The bleeding is natural for Nazis, but he needs mental help.” When another woman, a protestor, asked the man if he needed help, he replied, “No, I’m good. Thank you, though. I appreciate you.”

It’s not clear if the two reports are referring to Lang or if there was a second man. Later, Lang texted on X from a hospital that he “was just literally LYNCHED by anti-white mob of liberal and illegal immigrants…PRESIDENT TRUMP SEND IN THE NATIONAL GUARD They are lynching White Christian Americans!!!!!”

Some will say he asked for what he got. Some who have studied contemporary accounts of lynchings will say that what happened to him is nowhere near a lynching.  And some will question whether there is anything at all Christian in his words and actions and President Trump’s roundup up of Somalis there.   .

On one hand, the worst thing that can happen is for people to give the Langs of our country the attention and reaction they provoke. On the other hand, what happened at that rally is a clear statement that good people will not stand for Trump’s ongoing ethnic cleansing campaign.

We aren’t in Minneapolis but we all should wonder how we would react if it was OUR city and OUR state being put through these experiences because they didn’t vote for Trump and don’t kiss his political ring.

Sometime the best protest is a silent, glowering presence, bristling with danger for the provocateurs but not giving them the violence they want.

But it’s easy to say that when it’s not your city and it’s not your people, your neighbors, who are endangered by someone who is really, just a petty, pitiful vengeful little man who misguidedly believes he is more than just a President of the United States.

—when he is, in fact, so much less a President and a man, and a disgrace to the office.

Obituary for a Politician

Posted on by
Reply

In 1968, Nancy and I were in Sacramento, California where our friend from college, Tracy Wood, was a United Press Reporter in the Capitol.  We went with her to a news conference with Governor Ronald Reagan.  No credentials. No security checks. We just walked with her into the room.

She took us on a tour of the Capitol which, though big with a genuine gold dome, was not nearly as impressive as ours. We went into the House of Representatives that recently had been redecorated and told us House Speaker Jesse Unruh’s first impression if it was, “It looks like a French whorehouse.”

Jesse Unruh already was something of a political legend in California, the kind of political figure I wish we had today here and in Washington. Compared to Unruh, we live in a political world where genuine almost-larger-than-life figures are replaced by bland, small and often self-important individuals who tell us they will fight for us but instead are just throwers of sand in the political sandbox.

I was looking up Unruh’s most famous quotation about lobbyists a few days ago and I came across the Washington Post’s obituary for Unruh that made us wish for an era we are old enough to remember—when politics was properly passionate in the proper places, where it seems heavyweights fought over issues in the chambers and laughed over dinner at a restaurant.

It is discourteous, it is said, to speak ill of the dead but in this era there are a number of candidates for whom we might not speak well. His is the kind of obituary for a politician we are not likely to see when the final gavel falls for too many of this generation:

Washington Post

JESSE UNRUH A ‘BIG DADDY’ WHO GAVE POLITICS AND POWER A BEAR HUG

By Lou Cannon, Washington Post  August 5, 1987

When Jesse Unruh arrived in Sacramento 32 years ago as an overweight, underpaid state assemblyman, he became part of a legislature that was largely of the lobbyists, by the lobbyists and for the lobbyists.

The history books will say that Unruh, who died of cancer Tuesday in his California home at the age of 64, took money from these lobbyists and used it to elect legislators who made him, as speaker of the Assembly, the most powerful politician in California. The historians will also say that Unruh used this power to transform a supine and dependent legislative body into one that had a decent respect for the people and sufficient resources to represent them. They will say that the Unruh era was a time when the legislature initiated action to help the needy, protect consumers, advance civil rights and save some of California’s magnificent parklands before developers could destroy them.

During the Unruh years, these achievements were overshadowed by the forceful personality and gargantuan appetites of “Big Daddy,” a nickname given him by his friends and hurled back in his face by his enemies.

He was called “Big Daddy” because of his supposed resemblance to the domineering southern father played by Burl Ives in the film version of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” But Unruh really was more Broderick Crawford than Ives, the Crawford who portrays a thinly disguised Huey Long in “All the King’s Men” and rallies the rural dispossessed to his banner by calling them “hicks” and promising them a taste of the power they have never had.

When Unruh went to the legislature, he was a real hick from the cotton fields of Swenson, Tex., by way of the Navy and a GI Bill of Rights education at the University of Southern California. He had been dirt poor, and he once said that he never wore socks before he was 12 but that no one could tell because his feet were so dirty.

” . . . They live in a steady shame and insult of discomforts, insecurities and, inferiorities, piecing these together into whatever semblance of comfortable living they can,” James Agee wrote of similar sharecroppers. This is what Unruh’s life was like as a boy and, in some inner recess, what it must always have been like. After he became, at 39, the youngest speaker of the Assembly in California’s history, he told a friend, “I’m still not sure I’m not going to wake up some day and be on a small farm out there in Texas.”

Perhaps because he knew what it was like to be truly powerless, Unruh had a keener appreciation of power than more sheltered politicians. “He was the premier politician in the state because he knew the issues and understood the uses of power,” said Stuart K. Spencer, a longtime Republican adversary and friend. “He used power to advance the causes he believed in. He was very honest and didn’t go sneaking around when he wanted money like some politicians do. But the key was that he was willing to use the power once he acquired it.”

Unruh’s Democratic candidates and Spencer’s Republican candidates competed for the legislature in campaigns of brutal intensity and misrepresentation. Afterward, they would drink together and tell stories about what they had done to each other. Unruh did not avoid his adversaries, and he valued most those who shared his understanding that politics was both a noble calling and a dirty business.

Unruh was not afraid to get his hands dirty. He despised those who disdained political detail or soared above the petty and sometimes ugly struggles by which he remade the State Assembly. Unruh boasted too much and ate too much and, for a long time, drank too much. But he did not shrink from the reality of his faults or his virtues.

Instructing freshman assemblymen on how legislators were supposed to behave in lobby-ridden Sacramento, Unruh would say, “If you can’t eat their food, drink their booze, screw their women and then vote against them, you have no business being up here.” This doctrine formed the core of Unruh’s political theology. He knew that the lobbyists were an eternal fact of life. He believed that the way to deal with them was to accept this fact and use their resources to advance his own agenda.

He did not deal as successfully with Ronald Reagan as he had with the lobbyists. Unruh was too proud of his political skills to appreciate the contempt which many Americans hold for politicians as a class. Gov. Reagan, who did not know the contents of his own legislative program, understood and shared this prejudice and exploited it at Unruh’s expense.

But it is also true that Unruh, who was at bottom an unrelenting, populist Democrat with a personal understanding of poverty, gave Reagan a tougher political race than any other Democrat has before or since. You can look it up, as Casey Stengel would have said. Without money or organization or an attractive television personality, Unruh nonetheless came much closer to defeating Reagan at the polls than did Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, President Jimmy Carter or Vice President Walter F. Mondale.

After Unruh lost to Reagan in 1970, his political life went downhill. He was strong enough to accept defeat, but he was unable to deal with powerlessness and being out of the legislature. As an elder statesman, he was a bust.

Unruh subsequently was elected state treasurer, a job whose requirements he mastered within minutes and which gave him time and freedom. But his home was no longer in the future, and he spent the rest of his life recalling the glory days when he had been “Big Daddy,” the powerful speaker of the Assembly.

He had a right to do that, a right to feel pride in his accomplishments. He did something that no else has ever done. He went to California as a Texas hick and remade its corrupt and backward-looking legislature into a modern instrument of democracy. This is not a small thing.

Oh, how I would like to see those words about eating, drinking, etc., and voting against them on the wall of every legislative office in our Capitol.  I’ll bet a craftsman in Jefferson City could sell of lot of ‘em.  Maybe they would provoke some cultural change.

 

Sports—Arbitrations; No Free Points; In With the New at Mizzou; No Arbitrations

Posted on by
Reply

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

Let’s start by thinking warm thoughts—

(BASEBALL)—Both of our teams have avoided arbitration with several players by signing several guys to one year deals.

(CARDINALS)—While many fans have been focusing on possible trades by the Cardinals or he signing of free agents, the Redbirds have been keeping players in the nest through arbitration.

MLB Trade Rumors reports reliever JoJo Romero has signed for $4.25 million. Fan favorite, outfielder Lars Nootbar, is in the fold for $5.25 million. All-Star second baseman Brendan Donovan will get $5.8 million. The Cardinals are going to pay Andre Pallante four-million for his second full-time starter season.  Utility man Nolan Gorman, who hit .205 last year, will get $2.665 million. Another utilityman, Silver Slugger winner Alec Burleson, has signed for $3.3 million after hitting .290 with 18 homers. And pitcher Mathew Liberatore gets $2.26 million.

(ROYALS)—Signing on for another year are outfielder Kyle Isbel, infielder Michael Massey, and pitchers Bailey Falter, John Schreiber, Nick Mears and Daniel Lynch IV.

(STADIUM)—Discussions about a new stadium for the Kansas City Royals have dropped into a kind of limbo. It appears both Missouri and Kansas are getting tired to trying to conclude a deal. Clay County Commissioner Jason Whitington said a few days ago he’s finished negotiating. The State of Kansas also has had enough, apparently leaving Kansas City as the only option.

Sources indicate, however, talks are ongoing with Kansas. One issue is whether the legislature will have to approve any financial deal outside the STAR bonds program.

On this side of the line, a judge has heard a lawsuit from a couple of state legislators saying Missouri’s stadium financing law is unconstitutional. He’s still studying the arguments.

Team owner John Sherman still says a downtown ballpark is what the team wants.

(MIZBB)—Missouri went 2-0 for the first time in the SEC only to blow its chance to go 3-0 for the first time since its days in the Big 12. With two top-tier wins to start the conference season, Missouri went to Oxford Mississippi to face an Ole Miss Team with a mediocre start to the season.

And the Tigers blew it.,

Coach Dennis Gates pointed to Ole Miss’ second-chance points down the stretch as a major factor.  A more frustrating one is that the worst free-throw shooting team in the Southeastern Conference put on a clunker clinic, hitting only half of its 24 free throws in a 76-69 loss. Missouri drops to 12-4 (and also dropped a chance to make a dent in the top-25 ratings).

Another major factor was the loss of their trey touch, starting 6 for 14 in the first half but getting only one in ten in the second half. (Ole Miss was 9-23).

Missouri meets Auburn at home Wednesday night. Auburn is 10-6 overall, 1-2 in the conference.

(MIZFB)—Pretty portable week.  Let’s run down the lists:

Thirteen new guys will be in black gold next year. The biggest catch is Quarterback Simmons from the University of Mississippi. He was a four-star recruit who lost his starting job at Ole Miss when an ankle injury sidelined him and Trinidad Chambliss took the ball and kept it. In 17 career games, two as a starter, he hit sixty percent of his passes for 1,076 yards and four touchdowns. He also was intercepted five times.

Incoming defensive players are Oregon cornerback Jahlil Florence, Auburn linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr., safeties JaDon Blair from Notre Dame, Kensley Louidor-Foustin from Auburn and defensive end Jaden Jones, who moves north from Florida State.

On the offensive side, Cincinnati wide receiver Caleb Goodie will face portal competition from Auburn’s Horatio Fields, and Naeshaun Montgomery from Florida State; Also picked up are running back Xai’Shaun Edwards from Houston Christian, linemen Luke Work of Mississippi State, Josh Atkins from Arizona State, and Jefferson City native Will Kemna who is returning to Missouri from Manhattan, Kansas.

Several departing players have landed new gigs—-although last we heard Beau Pribula was still shopping himself around. But K-State will get WR Joshua Manning for his senior year and redshirt freshman OL Keiton Jones while Mississippi State picks up Marquis Johnson to play wide receiver for his senior year. Redshirt senior offensive tackle Jayven Richardson heads to Boulder, Colorado; Redshirt freshman running back Marquise Davis goes from being a Tiger to being a Louisville Cardinal. Virginia Tech has signed redshirt freshman defensive end Javion Hilson. Redshirt freshman OL Henry Funuko  and redshirt junior OL Johnny Williams IV are off to North Texas; redshirt sophomore wide receiver James Madison II will play next year at UTSA; Redshirt senior Caleb Flagg heads to Central Florida. Senior WR Daniel Blood has signed with Washington State and senior safety Marvin Burks Jr., will be in Madison, Wisconsin.

One Tiger has been convinced to step back from the portal—cornerback C. J. Bass III, a four star recruit who got into a couple of games early in the season, got four tackles and a pass deflection.

(Brady & Burden)—How did the former Missouri thrower and receiver do in their first NFL season? Luther Burden’s season continues after his Bears beat the Packers last weekend 31-27. He has 47 catches in 60 targets for 652 yards and two touchdowns in his rookie year. He was 3 fr 42 against Green Bay.

Brady Cook, who was an undrafted free agent signed by Jets, over he quarterback job for the last four games of a 3-14 year.  The Jets lost all four of his starts and the other game in which he played. He hit 57.5% of his passes (88/153) and threw for two touchdowns.  But he also threw seven interceptions. His game usually was a short one—only 125 yards generated by his 88 completions.

(MOSTATEPORTAL)—Ryan Beard left Missouri State University to become head coach at Coastal Carolina.  So many of his players have moved with him that it almost might be considered Missouri State—East.

Offensive lineman Cristian Loaiza, 6-5 and 315 pounds, will have two years eligibility. Quarterback Deuce Bailey, who was one of the highest-rated high school QBs to sign with Missouri State filled in for starter Jacob Clark this year and went 23/47 for 335 yards and ran for another one.  He will have as a target WR Tristian Gardner, who was third on the MoState receiver roster but led all freshmen in Conference USA with 30 catches, 465 yards and six touchdowns. With him on the receiver corps is TE Jackson Kohl.

Another CUSA all-freshman team member, long snapper Mitch Weisenborn, has gone east.

Some guys from the defensive side also have followed Beard. DT Ahmad Poole had fifteen solo tackles among his 29 tackles this season. Three tackles were for loss. He forced two fumbles. Cornerback Ryan Grayson played in four games but preserved his redshirt.

LB Braxton Starnes, 6-3, 215 was in four games as a true freshman with four tackles, one for a loss and one pass breakup.

Nickleback Don Quist also goes to Coastal Caroline, as dones DT Dezmond Barnes, a member of the all-CUSA freshman team.

Some players who had entered the portal have changed their minds and will play for new coach Casey Woods who had been SMU Offensive coordinator.  Staying in Springfield after all are TE Jeron Askren who at 6-3, 230 is in line to become the number one tight end for the Bears, safety J. J. O’Neal, who was a team captain last season, has three interceptions and ten pass breakups to go with 68 tackles heading into his fifth and final year, and fellow safety Christian Ford who has two years of eligibility after his last season highlighted by a forced fumble, three pass breakups and 39 tackles.

(CHIEFS)—-Whoops. The Chiefs are at home.  Not at Arrowhead. Just at home. Their move in another five years has become a mini-political issue. St. Charles County Senator Nick Shroer has his undies in such a knot about the proposed move that he wants to take away the Chiefs title as Missouri’s Official Football Team that they have held since 2019. He thinks that honor should go to the St. Louis Battlehawks.  Speaking of which—-

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The St. Louis Battlehawks and the rest of the UFL teams start their third season March 27. They will have a new coach, but a familiar name to St. Louis fans—Ricky Proehl, a member of the “Greatest Show on Turf” during the Rams’ tenure in the Dome.  He’s held several coaching jobs since retiring from the NFL and was the ‘Hawks receivers coach three years ago.

Former Head Coach Anthony Becht has moved to Florida to lead the Orlando Storm, a new UFL Team.

The Battlehawks have had winning records the last two seasons but have failed to advance in the playoffs.

They’ll have a new quarterback this year. A. J. McCarron has become the head coach of the Birmingham Stallions. It’s a homecoming for him. He was a star at the University of Alabama.

The league has a new look this year. The Orlando Storm, Louisville Kings, and Columbus Aviators replace last year’s Michigan Panthers, Memphis Showboats and the San Antonio Brahmas.  Returning from last year are the Battlehawks, DC Defenders, and the Stallions.

(CARDINALS)—A lot of people are waiting for the spiked shoe to drop on a major trade or a major free agent signing.  Nothing groundbreaking has happened yet. The most recent transaction had pitcher Zak Kent designated for assignment and picked off the waiver wire by the Cleveland Guardians.

(ROYALS)—Nothing’s up to date in Kansas City.

Next: people who play with tires.

(NASCAR)—NASCAR’s rocky off-season continued this week with the resignation of NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps, a casualty of the off-season anti-trust trial that was finally settled out of court. His status was crippled during the trial by the admission evidence some inflammatory emails he sent attacking one of the sport’s icons—former driver and team owner Richard Childress.

Dodge’s return to NASCAR will be with its RAM pickup truck.  RAM is going to hold its own series in which fifteen drivers will compete for one of the five seats in the regular truck season for Kaulig Racing.  It will be, in effect, an eight-episode reality show produced by the folks with the UFC.

(INDYCAR)—Two months and two days from today, IndyCar runs its first race in Texas in three years and there’s some pretty big talk in anticipation of it.

After all, it IS in Texas. The President of the Grand Prix of Arlington, Bill Miller, has told Motorsport.com, “This could be a signature marquee event on the IndyCar calendar for years to come,” and suggests it could take the use of temporary road courses “to a higher level.”

The track will be 2.73 miles around with fourteen turns. Organizers haven’t decided yet how many miles will be run in the race.  The longest straightaway is just short of a mile, long enough for cars to reach at least 200 mph before making a hard right.

0-00-0

Off-season tire testing has given Will Power his first full taste of being part of Andretti Global, his new team after seventeen years with Penske.  He got familiar with the car, the crew, and a new engine manufacturer in tests at Phoenix. Power said  afterwards that all the new stuff wasn’t all that strange once he hit the track. “You feel very out of place but once you get in the car and you get rolling, then it’s just like, ‘Oh, it’s an IndyCar. It’s going through the same processes.”  He called his first few runs “very good.”

One thing the tire tests have focused on is the right front tire that takes a lot of cornering weight on ovals. Firstone, the tire supplier for IndyCar, has developed a wider tire for that corner that improves grip.

An open test for all teams is scheduled for next month.