Author Archives: bpriddy

Uncertainty

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I want to talk to you today about my greatest hero and about his life and his times which resonate in these uncertain days.

I want to tell you about helping George Clooney make a movie.  But Clooney, whose work I admire, is not the hero of this story.

Back about 2005, I was wrapping up my second chairmanship of my profession’s national organization, the Radio-Television News Directors Association (now the Radio Television Digital News Association) when George Clooney’s production company reached out to us to help with some information about Edward R. Murrow.  I also was the organization’s historian so the response fell to me.

Edward R. Murrow was, and is, my hero. To be involved, even in such a minor way as I was in producing an Oscar-nominated Murrow movie produced by George Clooney—who can be as serious as a heart attack in his work although many of his movies are light-hearted—is one of the most important distinctions I have gathered.

Murrow had given his greatest speech at our convention in 1958, three months after See It Now was killed by CBS boss William S. Paley. It’s known as the “wires and lights in a box” speech.  It’s also considered his professional suicide speech because he was critical of the early network television news decisions as he warned: “This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it’s nothing but wires and lights in a box….”

Here’s the entire speech, should you choose to listen, from our convention more than 65 years ago:

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I provided the background information and a copy of the organiztion’s 1958 logo for the opening and closing segments of the movie.  You won’t see my name or that of RTNDA in any of the credits, but that was my contribution. I am not bothered by the omission. It was, after all, a minuscule part of the story.

When the movie came out, RTNDA had a reception in Washington where Clooney, Strathairn, and Grant Heslov (who played a young Don Hewitt, the creator of Sixty Minutes), attended.  I have a signed movie poster in my loft office.

Seventy-one years ago, he said:

“If we confuse dissent with disloyalty–if we deny the right of the individual to be wrong, unpopular, eccentric or unorthodox–if we deny the essence of racial equality then hundreds of millions in Asia and Africa who are shopping about for a new allegiance will conclude that we are concerned to defend a myth and our present privileged status. Every act that denies or limits the freedom of the individual in this country costs us the confidence of men and women who aspire to that freedom and independence of which we speak and for which our ancestors fought.”

McCarthyism was ramping up in America at the time.  There are those who feel we are in our greatest peril since then, perhaps greater.  Reading these words reminds us that we as a people have been where we are before and we have survived because reporters such as Murrow (and we still have some today although we are also bombarded by many on the other side) refused to back away or had no fear in confrontations with demagogues. The story of a free nation seems to be cyclical, which is one reason to study unvarnished history.

His most famous broadcast was “See it Now” on March 9, 1954 when he used McCarthy’s own words to condemn him, concluding:

“We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine; and remember that we are not descended from fearful men. Not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular.

“This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities. As a nation we have come into our full inheritance at a tender age. We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn’t create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it–and rather successfully. Cassius was right. “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

David Strathairn recreated those remarks with great effectiveness in the movie.

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I invite you, especially if you are a reporter today or a young person wanting to be a reporter in this rapidly changing world of journalism, to watch this 1975 program about Murrow, produced by the BBC.

:Bing Videos

And I invite you to read this column from constitutional lawyer John Whitehead, written in 2005 when the movie came out. It seems appropriate now:

The Rutherford Institute :: Edward R. Murrow: “We will not walk in fear, one of another.” |

I close with Murrow’s words that are a challenge to all of us when there are those who believe they can seize power because they can intimidate a nation.

“This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent, or for those who approve. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities.”

 Murrow reaches out to us seventy years after that broadcast. All we have to do is remove “Senator McCarthy” and fill in another name and we will understand the challenge we as citizens must not avoid meeting.

One of Murrow’s journalism descendents, Dan Rather, used to close his broadcasts with the word, “Courage.”

May all of us, we who are not descended from fearful men and women, find it in 2024.

 

Sports: (UPDATE: Final AP football poll; Royals, Chiefs Will Stay at Home; Kelce Forgoes a Record; Is Missouri Playing Its Way Out of the NCAA Tournament Already? And the Chiefs and Dolphins Face Daunting Weather Saturday

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

Missouri’s win over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl allows it to move up just one slot in the final AP poll of the 2023-2024 season. Here’s the top 25:

  1. Michigan (61)
    2. Washington
    3. Texas
    4. Georgia
    5. Alabama
    6. Oregon
    6. Florida State
    8. Missouri
    9.Ole Miss
    10. Ohio State
    11. Arizona
    12. LSU
    13. Penn State
    14. Notre Dame
    15. Oklahom
    16. Oklahoma State
    17. Tennessee
    18. Kansas State
    19. Louisville
    20. Clemson
    21. North Carolina State
    22. SMU
    23. Kansas
    24. Iowa
    25. Liberty

(ROYALS/CHIEFS)—The Chiefs and Royals say they will stay in Jackson County if voters extend a 3/8 cent sales tax increase in April, ending speculation Kansas might lure the Royals across the state line.

Approval of the tax extension will lead to a new 40-year lease. The teams say they’ll provide more than $200 million in new conomic benefits. The Chiefs will foot the bill for a renovation of Arrowhead Stadium. The Royals will build a new stadium downtown and privately fund a one-billiion dollar ballpark district, a Kansas City Balpark Village if you will.

(CHIEFS)—The Chiefs won a game Sunday that some pundits said was a meaningless one. The Chiefs already had locked in their third seed in the playoffs and the Chargers were wrapping up a go-nowhere (except higher on the draft list) season.  The Chiefs held out a lot of their offensive regulars and turned the offense over to former MissouriTger Blaine Gabbert who hit 50% of his passes and pulled off some timely scrambles to get the Chiefs into position for the winning field goal as time grew short.

An offensive display, it wasn’t,. The only touchdown in the game came on a 97-yard fumble recovery and runback by Mike Edwards late in the first quarter.  The Chiefs finished with two field goals. The Chargers had four field goals.

Mike Jones needed a half-sack to reach his incentive goal that would given him an additional $1.25 millon dollars.  He got it late in the game, setting off a big celebration on the sidelines. Afterwards he promised. Part of the $1.25 million performance bonus will be spent on Rolex watches for the entire defensive line. And the defensive coaches including defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will get watches too because, “It takes a collective [effort] in order to reach those types of goals.”

Travis Kelce passed up a chance to become the first tight end in NFL history to catch passes for 1,000 yards eight years in a row. He was only 16 short but told coach Andy Reid he thought it would be better to rest up for the post season and “didn’t like the way it felt” to play just to get the 16 yards and extend his record.

The Chiefs have a rematch with the Miami Dolphins Saturday. The Chiefs won the first game  21-14 in November.

(ABOUT THE WEATHER)—Saturday night’s game with the Dolphins might be the coldest game in Arrowhead Stadium history.  The National Weather Service forecasts a high temperature Satuday of 14 degrees with an overnight low of minus two. Wind gusts of 23 mph will make playing conditions worse. And it might snow.

The Chiefs-Broncos game on December 18, 1983 was played with a temperature recorded by Pro Football Reference as 0.5 degrees.  The Chiefs won 48-17.

The Dolphins have lost seven straight games that have been played in below-freezing temperatures. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is 0-4 in games with temperatures of 45 degrees or less at kickoff time.

Miami has lost two in a row. The Chiefs have won their last two regular season games.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals continue to accumulate new faces, the latest being Andrew Kittredge who will be in the bullpen. They give up outfielder Richie Palacios to get him. Kittridge is 33 and has seen limited action (31 games) in the last two years because of Tommy John survery.  When he’s healthy he has a career 3.65 ERA and a 3.68 strikeout to walk ratio.

The Tampa Bay Rays get Palacios, who is 26 and in 86 big leaguegames has posted a .244 batting average and is known as a contact hitter. Better than 87 percent of the time last year, when he swung, he connected—fair or foul.

(ROYALS)—The newest pickup for the Royals is Rangers reliever Will Smith who has signed a one-year deal for five million dollars to be a closer. He’s a lefty, 34, who could fatten his contract by $125,000 each if he pitches 25, 30, 35, 40, 50, 55, and 60 games. He started his career with the Royals before moving on.  He has three World Series rings with three different teams in the past three years. He’s been in five All-Star games.

(MIZ)—Every game you win in December is a game you don’t have win in late February and early March.  The Missouri Tigers basketball team has picked up its sixth loss in just 14 games this year,falling to Georgia 75-68 in their conference opener and sinking to 8-6 overall. The Tigers played their usual hot and cold game, trailing early, surging back to take a lead and then letting the opponent go on a run.

Georgia has won nine straight, its longest winning streak since 2010-2011. Missouri fell well behind early, nearly caught up at the half, briefly took a lead in the second half and promptly let Georgia go on a run from which Missouri never recovered.

Bench players were one key. The Bulldogs had been averaging more than 30 points with subs who scored .   Missouri had just three points, a basket by Jesus Caralero Martin.  But something’s wrong inside. Coach Dennis Gates noted that the Tiger show just seven free throws. Georgia shot 21.  However Missouri outscored Georgia 36 to Georgia’s 33.

The game was played in Columbia.

Missouri plays #6 Kentucky tonight.

(MIZFB)—-When Missouri plays LSU in football next time, it will be facing kind of defense they showed to Ohio State a few days ago.  Tiger defensive coordinator Blake Baker is bolting to Baton Rouge. Baker took Missouri from a position outside top 100 defensively and made them a top-35 team last year.

The past few days have been more Tigers plan to leave for the NFL draft. The latest to declare are place kicker Marrison Mevis and linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper. Hopper is the eighth player from this year’s defense to announce his departure for the draft. (ZOU)

 

Passive 

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Maybe it’s a case of thinking the old days were better than today.  Maybe not.

The legislature has returned to the Capitol.  Most people have no idea how quickly things move when the session starts or how intense the work is—or how contentious is can become if a partisan renegade group decides it must prevail, their minority status be damned.

For the last three years the sessions’ last week or so have become mired in political mud and the sessions have been the least productive in long, long memory because of conflicts between the legalization of those Video Lottery Machines that are pimples in our convenience stores and sports wagering legislation that seeks to give our casino a significant tax break to the detriment of our education funds and even to the further detriment of their own host cities.

But that’s a diatribe for another time.

It seems to from our high position that the baneful effects of term limits, about which we were warned in 1992, have produced another regrettable trend.

A passive legislature.

The loss of institutional memory because of term limits cannot be overstated.

One of the bigget warnings before 1992 was that term imits would transfer power from the chambers to the hallways, where lobbyists roam, because no senior members would be around to advise newcomers on the role of the General Assembly in the process of lawmaking and in the process of shaping state fiscal policy.

The transfer became obvious several years ago when, during debate, the sponsor of a bill would ask of another lawmaker proposing an amendment, “Have you checked with so-and-so out in the hall?”

Later the issue became even more egregious as I watched lawmakers during debate checking their cell phones for text messages from the paid influencers outside the chamber. Lobbyists are banned from being on the House and Senate floors. Physically.  But their electronic presence is undeniable.

As we have watched for these many years, it seems that the legislature today is more likely to accept legislation without question and without hearing the voice of the public as much as it once did. Although we don’t cover committee meetings as much as we did in our reporting days, we have been in a large number of them on the issue of sports wagering, a special interest of ours for several reasons.

The caisno industry, now unfortunately aided and abetted by our major professional sports teams that need millons of dollars a year to try to keep pace with bigger-market moneybag teams, has always presented bills that are—to be frank—terrible fiscal policy for the state and its people and especially for schools, veterans, and the casino’s home cities.

Glaringly absent is any aggressive interrogation of the industry.  I can recall only two instances in which any semi-extensive questions were asked and only one when the questions were aggressively put (and the industry’s response was hardly direct).

In the old days—and I intensely dislike using that phrase—it seemed the legislature, while heavily influenced by lobbyists (who have a place in the system) and their checkbooks, looked more critically at legislation.  And it seems that lawmakers who were more likely to be presented a problem took an initiative, now missing, to fix the problem.

Many legislative hearings where held at night so members of the public could more easily be present without missing a full day of work. Night meetings are scarce today, leaving the field more and more to those who can affort to buy representation.  The voice of the citizen is muted in today’s system and the general assembly is more susceptible to being influenced by political action committee money.

In the first year of my lobbying career (working on getting the casinos to pay to keep the Steamboat Arabia Museum in Missouri), I took some findings of casino greed to a member of the House who told me, “Oh, the casinos will be interested in this. I’ve already gotten two checks form them this year.” He apparently was totally unaware of what a self-indictment his statement was.

Some legislator’s offices are festooned with plaques from organizations thanking them for their support.  When I was running the Missorinet newsroom we had a rule that we would accept no awards from any organization we covered.

We were not their friend. Nor were we their enemy.

We are one of those in the halls again this year, raising our pitiful voice against the steamroller called the casino industry, hoping again that we will trouble the consciences of those who sit quietly while the industry presents its plans for getting richer and richer while the services that serve the people of Missouri that rely on revenue from the industry get poorer and poorer, and poorer still under proposed sports wagering legislation.

Somebody has to ask the questions.  Too bad it isn’t the people who are presented with bills the industry wants passed.

A Distinction Without a Difference

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We were intrigued by the reactions several days ago by the major Republican candidates for Governor to the Colorado Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision that Donald Trump is ineligible to be on thee Colorado primary ballot.  Intrigued but not surprised.

Jay Ashcroft said, “The State of Missouri will reject” the ruling. “The people of this state will make a decision as to who they want to be President of the United States.”  There’s a flaw in that proclamation. The ruling is not Missouri’s to reject. In fact there are Missourians who are turning handsprings and hoping it’s upheld. It’s a matter not from a Missouri Court but from a Colorado court and it is for the national justice system to decide on appeals.

Bill Eigel echoed, “Citizens pick presidents, not unelected liberal Justices.”  In November, yes.  But citizens also can bring lawsuits that might determine who’s on the Missouri ballot in November.

And Mike Kehoe sang from the same hymnal: “Voters have the right to decide who our President is, not unelected liberal judges.

How about unelected CONSERVATIVE judges?  Are they the only ones who can make decisions such as these?

Or, maybe, should only ELECTED judges have the right to rule on constitutional questions?  If they subscribe to that idea, they favor eliminating the Missouri Supreme Court, which is appointed.

What is it, gentlemen?

And while we’re at it, DID Trump engage in an insurrection on January 6, 2021 when he urged a big crowd to keep the Congress from certifying an election he lost?

Ashcroft, as the state’s top election official, is going to file a friend of the court brief supporting Trump’s candidacy when the case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, presumably a court these three would endorse because Trump made sure it tilts conservative. A lower Colorado court had ruled that Trump could not be removed from the ballot because the 14th Amendment, the central arguing point for the Keep Trump folks, is vague about whether it covers the President of the United States. The issue is whether “officers of the United States” in the amendment includes the president who is the top officer of the United States. One of the responsibilities of Supreme Courts at the state and federal level is to clarify vague language in the statutes or the constitutions.

But how can a ruling from an unelected U. S. Supreme Court be acceptable regardless of what the ruling is because none of the Justices was elected, even the conservative ones?

Those who favor the concept of originalist interpretation of the Constitution will enjoy this.

Ashcroft also argues that the amendment refers to people who take an oath to “support” the Constitution. But the presidential oath swears to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution.  It will be interesting to see how the judges in Washington D. C. split that hair.  It sounds from our high observation point like a distinction without a difference.

What does that mean?

A check of the logicallyfalacious.com website offers this explanation:

Claim X is made where the truth of the claim requires a distinct difference between A and B.

There is NO distinct difference between A and B.

Therefore, claim X is incorrectly claimed to be true.

Can one “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution without being in “support” of it?  And in the reverse, can one “support” the Constitution without taking steps to “preserve, protect and defend” it?

As far as Ashcroft’s claim that “the people of the state will make a decision as to who they want to be President of the United States,” let’s wait to see if anybody files a lawsuit to keep Trump off the Missouri primary election ballot—-and how those unelected Missouri Supreme Court judges who early in their careers as lawyers had to take this oath:

I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Missouri;
That I will maintain the respect due courts of justice, judicial officers and members of my profession and will at all times conduct myself with dignity becoming of an officer of the court in which I appear;
That I will never seek to mislead the judge or jury by any artifice or false statement of fact or law;
That I will at all times conduct myself in accordance with the Rules of Professional Conduct; and,
That I will practice law to the best of my knowledge and ability and with consideration for the defenseless and oppressed.
So help me God.

The oath allows some latitude. It’s okay to substitute “affirm” for “swear,” and it’s okay to substitute “under the pains and penalties of perjury” instead of saying, “So help me God” at the end.

Someday we’ll discuss the silly argument against “unelected” people.  After all, one of the three candidates we’ve just mentioned once was an unelected person serving in one of the state’s highest offices. That defect didn’t seem to limit his effectiveness in carrying out his sworn duties.  Just for the record, this is the oath that the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Missouri take:

I ­­­­_________ do solemnly swear and affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Missouri and I will faithfully demean myself in the office of Governor (or Lt. Governor) of the State of Missouri.”

It’s different for members of the legislature.  The first part is the same but after swearing to support the Constitutions, it continues, “and faithfully perform the duties of my office, and that I will not knowingly receive, directly or indirectly, any money or other valuable thing for the performance or nonperformance of any act or duty pertaining to my office, other than the compensation allowed by law.”

—campaign contributions from those who approve of their voting record or who would benefit from their voting record notwithstanding (that part is not included).

Well, the Colorado case is headed to a bunch of unelected Justices in Washington to interpret a Constitutional Amendment written at the end of the Civil War to keep people like Robert E. Lee or our own Confederate Governor, Thomas C. Reynolds, who had sworn loyalty to the state and federal Constitutions and then tried to wipe out the government they’d sworn to uphold and protect to keep them from ever holding public office again.

University of Maryland law professor Mark Graber provides an almost line-by-line explanation of the amendment. We’ll find out eventually if this is the kind of thinking the Supreme Court will adopt, but his references to the original purpose of the amendment might be helpful to understanding in in its totality.

Does 14th Amendment bar Trump from office? A constitutional scholar explains Colorado ruling • Missouri Independent

The unelected Justices have a special oath that actually is two oaths in one, a Judicial Oath and a Constitutional Oath:

“I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as _________ under the Constitution and laws of the United States; and that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

These judges who have sworn to “support and defend” the Constitution might decide if the oaths they took mean they also “protect and preserve” the Constitution.

(This entry was misdated for January 3, 2023 by mistake but has since been placed in its proper chronological context thanks to the eye of a long-time friend who commented on it two days before it was supposed to appear here.  let this be a reminder to all of us that it is now Twenty-twenty-FOUR).

 

 

Big D in Dallas; a W in Columbia and KC; and a Couple of Goodbyes

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZ)—The catchy lyrics are from a Broadway musical show decades ago:

Hooray for Big D
My, oh Yes
I mean Big D, little double l-a
Big D, little a, double l-a
Big D, little a, double l-a-s!

We saw a lot of Big D in the Cotton Bowl Friday night in the big stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play football.  Missouri and Ohio State waged a defensive trenth war for three quarters before Missouri broke through with two long, time-consuming scoring drives in the last twenty minues to claim a 14-3 win, their first bowl win against a top-ten team since the Tigers beat fourth-ranked Navy and Heisman Trophy winner Joe Belino in 1961.

The win was a statement victory for Missouri. The coaches and the players alike look at the win as an indication that Tiger football is back as a legitimate contending program with a solid core for 2024 that will be strengthened by new recruits and portal players.

How important a statement was this game?  For Missouri, it was a huge national story. Here’s what The New York Times senior college football writer, Ari Wasserman, said:

Mizzou was the program that walked off the field at AT&T Stadium as winners. It doesn’t matter if it wasn’t an aesthetically pleasing game, a win in a New Year’s Six Bowl over a blue-blood program was the chef’s kiss for a Tigers football program that is trying to build something special.

 

This Mizzou win was proof that there was nothing flukey about this season, not even the close loss against Georgia in which the Tigers had a chance to win in the fourth quarter.

The best part? Cook is coming back. Wide receiver Luther Burden III, who made a game-clinching touchdown catch with 5:12 remaining, is coming back. And the Tigers had a handful of big transfer portal wins in December to ensure this roster is athletically equipped to do it again next year.

Imagine that.  From The New York Times no less.

Coach Drink was over the top in the post-game interview:

“We scored 14 points in the fourth quarter! We put our fist up, and we said we’re not givin’ in! We’re faster, stronger, tougher than you in the fourth quarter! And we got an elite edge, and we’re not gonna be denied! Now we’re the Cotton Bowl champs! M-I-Z!”

And the large Missouri crowd roared, “Z-O-U!”

Missouri’s defense was so fierce that the Buckeyes never reached Missour’s red zone.  They punted eight out of the eleven times they had the ball. Missouri, the number one red-zone offense in the country with conversions 54 of 55 times there, finally reached the OSU red zone three times but waited until the fourth quarters to score twice.   The teams went six for 31 on third downs but were four for four on fourth downs.

Yes, Ohio State played most of the game with a third-string freshman quarterback and without their leading receiver. But the Buckeyes could never spring their strongest running back nor could the offensive line keep black shirts out of the backfield. Missouri, which averaged more than 400 yards a game, couldn’t do much offensively either until the last twenty minutes.  The Dallas Morning News correctly labeled the game a “slugfest.”

The two teams combined for only 104 yards in the first quarter, 188 in the first half. The defenses recorded eight tackles for losses.  At game’s end, Ohio State had only 203 yards of total offense, only 97 on the ground. Missouri got most of its yardage in the late third quarter and in the fourth, starting with an eight-play 95-yard drive culminating in Cody Schrader’s seven yard power run into the end zone, and finishing with a bullet pass from Brady Cook to to Luther Burden III after a 91-yard drive.

It is somehow appropriate that Schrader and Cook both finished with 128 yards, Schrader rushing and Cook passing. Schrader finished his career with 1627 yards, a Tiger record that broke Tyler Badie’s mark set in 2021. Cook’s passing for only 128 yards was uncharacteristically low.  But Ohio State allowed only one quarterback to throw for more than 200 yards this year and had allowed only 13 touchdowns and only 1,769 passing yards (the fewest in the nation) all season. Cook’s pass to Burden stretched his number of games with at least one TD pass to seventeen.

Missouri held Ohio State to its lowest point total in the Brian Day era—Day is 56-8 in his career at OSU but he has some fans barking about the Buckeyes’ losses to Michigan in the last game of the last two years and following disappointing bowl games.

Drinkwitz joins Warren Powers as the only two coaches in Tigers history to take their teams to bowls in their first four years, with Powers doing it 1978-1981.

(BIG DRINK)—He came into this season on the brink.  At the end of the year, MU has decided it wants to keep Drinking. The University has extended Eliah Drinkwitz’s contract through 2028. He became the first Tiger to be SEC Coach of the Year since Gary Pinkel in 2014. He finished third in balloting for the AP national coach of the year. (ZOU!!!)

(Basketball)—The pre-conference season time for sorting out the core lineup has ended for Dennis Gates and his Tigers basketball players.  Now it’s conference time. They’re 8-5. Only Vanderbilt (5-8) had a worse pre-conference record. Ole Miss was undefeated in 13 games. South Carolina went 12-1.  Eight teams scored more points than the Tigers did.  Nine teams gave up fewer points that Missourl.

The Tigers polished off Central Arkansas 92-59 Saturday. They open conference play next weekend against Georgia.

(CHIEFS)—It’s been a struggle they’re not used to, but the Chiefs have clinched their division title again with one game left—aganst the Chargers next weekend. It’s their eighth straight division title.

Again, they started slowly, trailed 17-7 at one point before scoring 18 second-half points to beat the Bengals 25-17 while a ferocious defense shut down Cincinnati. Crossing the goal line remains a problem, however. The game was won on the toe of Harrison Butker, who hit six field goals (the record is eight by Rob Bironas of the Tennessee Titans, in 2007).

We finish with a little racing.

(CHECKERED FLAGS)—NASCAR and IndyCar have lost two champions in the last week.

Cale Yarborough ran in both series.  He was a three-time NASCAR Cup champion, the first to win three titles in a row.  He was 84.

He won the Daytona 500 four times and the Southern 500 five times. His 83 career victories are tied for fifth on the all-time win list. He won 69 poles, fourth on the all-time list and holds the modern era record with fourteenof them in a row.  In his younger days he was an unusual three-sport athlete who had a football scholarship to Clemson, was a Golden Gloves boxer, and a racer.  He gave up his Clemson scholarship one weekend when a race conflcted with a football game and he decided to race.

He also competed in four Indianapolis 500s.  His first 500 was in 1966 when he qualified 24th in the 33-car field only to become one of 11 drivers eliminated in a first-lap crash and was awarded 38th place.  He was 17th the next year and did not race at Indianapolis again until 1971 when he finished 16th.  His last race at IMS was in 1972 when he started next-to-last and came home tenth.

The winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500, Gil de Ferran, died of an apparent heart attack while driving in an event in Florida with his sone.  De Ferran won the European Formula Thee title in 1992. Although he tested for the Arrows and Williams F1 teams, he was never signed.

He came to the United States and won championships in one of the IndyCar series in 2000 and 2001. In the 2003 Indianapolis 500, he outdrove Penske teammate Helio Castroneves, finishing 2.29 seconds ahead of his Brazilian countryman and denying Castroneves a chance to win three 500s in a row.

DeFerran retired from open wheel racing after that win and drove in the American LeMans’ Series for a time.

In qualifying for the California 500 in October, 2000, DeFeran set a world’s closed-course speed record of 241.428 mph. The record still stands.

de Ferran was just 56.

(Photo Credits:  Drinkwitz, The Spun; Yarborough, WRTH;; de  Ferran, IMS)

A Christmas Carol Some Christians Wouldn’t Want to Sing

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A final thought about Christmas before we focus on the challenges of 2024:

Ken Kehner, the extremely talented pianist who accompanies our great Director of Music Ministry and incredible organist, Greten Hudepohl, at the First Christian Church here in Jefferson City,played a Christmas hymn during our communion service yesterday.  I recognized it on about the second note as one of my favorites.

It’s one of the Alfred Burt carols and it’s too bad that they are not better known or more frequently performed.

Alfred Burt was the son of a Michigan Episcopal cleric who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1942 as an outstanding student in music theory, and played trumpet, primarily jazz trumpet, in orchestras and bands.  But once a year, for 15 years between 1942 and 1954, he carried on his father’s tradition of writing a Christmas carol that was sent out to friends instead of Christmas cards. He was only 34 when he died.

Actually, Burt wrote the music and Wihla Houston, the organist at the senior Burt’s Church wrote the lyrics.

In 1951, they produced “Some Children See Him:”

Some children see Him lily white
The baby Jesus born this night
Some children see Him lily white
With tresses soft and fair.

 

Some children see Him bronzed and brown
The Lord of heaven to earth come down
Some children see Him bronzed and brown
With dark and heavy hair.

 

Some children see Him almond-eyed
This Savior whom we kneel beside
Some children see Him almond-eyed
With skin of yellow hue.

Some children see Him dark as they
Sweet Mary’s Son to whom we pray
Some children see him dark as they
And they love Him, too.

 

The children each in different place
Will see the baby Jesus’s face
Like theirs, but bright with heavenly grace
And filled with holy light

 

O lay aside each earthly thing
And with thy heart as offering
Come worship now the infant King
To his love that’s born tonight. 

This should be a hymn/carol of our time, a time when some who are convinced only their interpretation of Jesus is acceptable or that skin color is a measure of humanity, opportunity, and place, or that believe origins presently or long ago define the quantity of equality to be granted.

But there will be some calling themselves Christians who will reject the idea that other faces see the face of Jesus differently.

Alfred Burt had lung cancer.  He died on February 7, 1954, just two days after he finished scoring the last of his songs, “The Star Carol.”

Ten years later, the singing group “The Voices of Jimmy Joyce, recorded Burt’s carols. It has been in my heart for all these years since.  Although Christmas already is fading from our lives and memories on this New Year’s Day, it might be worth listening to Alfred Burt’s carols that I hope stay with you, too, from Christmas to Christmas.

(58) Jimmy Joyce – This Is Christmas: The Complete Collection Of Alfred S. Burt Carols in 4k (1964) – YouTube

A grander performance was done by the Boston Boys Choir and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus accompanied by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the baton of John Willliams, the great movie theme composer.

(58) John Williams: The Carols of Alfred Burt – YouTube

Alfred Burt, who died 70 years ago this year, gave us a great and abiding gift with the carols he and Wihla Houston composed.

Would that we could see each other the way “Some Children See Him.”

Let’s See How This Plays Out 

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Your faithful observer is a Protestant who believes that a faith that is so much based on love, whether it is toward one’s enemies, or in following as much as I can Jesus’ comment record in John 13: “A new command I give youL Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” can in so many ways pas judgment on who can love who.

My congregation lost some members a few years ago when our minister announced that he was a pastor for the congregation but a minister to all of God’s people and that he would, therefore, perform same-sex marriages (he had been approached by a same-sex couple wanting a marriage ceremony several weeks earlier).

A few days ago, Pope Francis allowed priests to bless same-sex couples.  The declaration has been described by The New York Times as “his most definitive step yet to make the Roman Catholic Church more welcoming to L.G.B.T.Q Catholics and more reflective of his vision of a more pastoral, and less rigid, church.”

It seems to be a major step away from the church’s long-held doctrine that marriage is only between a man and a woman. It is not, however, a complete break from that doctrine because the new policy refers only to “blessing,” not sanctioning marriage, a sacrament, a ceremonial rite of the church. The new rule makes that clear.

The Vatican says the blessing should not be part of any formal service but instead should be done during a private meeting with a priest, during a pilgrimage, or during a visit to a shrine or during a prayer recited in a group.

Kansas city Bishop James Johnston says the declaration “recognizes that God desires the good for all persons, including those in objectively irregular same-sex or heterosexual relationships, and if one reaches out for God’s assistance, that should not be denied.”  But he emphasizes that it would be a mistake to say the Church is “now approving or validating same-sex unions or unions which are outside of marriage.” A blessing does not signify the approval of the union but “allows for ministers to bless people in these difficult situations that they may be assisted by God’s grace along the path of conversion and salvation.”

The St. Louis Archdiocese describes those who seek the blessings as sinners.   “When we seek out a blessing, we come as sinners to receive God’s grace and mercy inour lives,” says statement from the archdiocese. “Blessings serve to open one’s life to God, to ask for his help to live better and to invoke the Holy Spirit so that the values of the Gospel may be lived with greater faithfulness.”

The statement refers to the blessings as “an expression of the Church’s maternal heart…a reminder that we nurture and promote the Church’s closeness to people in every circumstance n which they might seek God’s help and grace.”

The statement is aimed at more than LGBTQ couples.  It also applies to people who have divorced and remarried without getting an annulment of the first marriage.

About the same time the Pope’s declaration was making news headlines, NBC was reporting, “Moe than 500 bills targeting LGBTQ people were introduced in state legisltures around the country in 2023.  Of those bills, 75 became law, including two in Missouri banning gender-affirming care and restricting participation in school athletics.”

One of the most potent moral forces in the Missouri Capitol for decades has been the Missouri Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm of the Catholic Church. I recall its opposition to legislation allowing the cessation of brain function to be a definition of death. And its opposition to abortion has never weakened.

Now the Vatican has softened its stance on LGBTQ issues. Will that action trigger any softening of conservative faith-based lobbyists on anti-LGBTQ legislation?

In matters of faith dictating law, will there be an emphasis more on pastoring than on rigid judging?

But then, how does rigid judging agree with loving one another?

And which should prevail in our lives and in our laws?

Let’s see how the Pope’s declaration carries out in our government halls and in the quiet rooms of our homes whether we be Catholic or Protestant.

Or even nothing at all.

Sports: Mizzou, KC Give Fans Lump of Coal for Christmas. But how about a toy car for New Year’s?

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

The weekend was full of the Christmas DIs-spirit.

(CHIEFS—It has become the Patrick Mahomes post-game litany: I’ve just gotta be better and not be making these mistakes.’

The resurgent Las Vegas Raiders capitalized on a couple of Mahomes mistakes in the first half and the Kanss City City Chiefs’ offense continued to muddle along, giving the Raiders a 20-14 win.

A botched handoff from Isaiah Pacheco to Mahomes and a pick-6 interception did in Kansas City now 9-6.  Defensive tackle Bilal Nichols returned a fumble eigtht yards for a touchdown and just seven seconds later, the Raiders’ Jack Jones took an interception back 33 yards for the next score. The Chiefs frustrated themselves and their fans with the no-longer-surprising fumbles and penalties.

The Raiders are up to 7-8 now.

The inability of the Chiefs to get their act together is leading to sideline tantrums by some team leaders. Ths time it was Travis Kelce who had a little converstion with his coach before he got back into the game.

One high note: Receiver Rashee Rice set a new record for most receptions by a rookie receiver. His six receptions give him 74, three more than Dwayne Bowe in 2007.

The Chiefs have another tough one next Sunday—Cincinnati.

(MIZ)—Missouri Tiger Coach Dennis Gates says the tigers are “very, very close. It’s very close and I’m excited about our trending because I think we’re trending in the right direction,” he said after the drubbing his Tigers took from the University of Illinois before heading out for Christmas break.

Close to what? Is the question hanging over the team after giving up 90 points or more for the second straight week and now on a three-game losing streak. Missouri outscored Illinois in the second half 49-48, hardly enough to overcome a 25-point deficit at the half.

Missouri is now 7-5.

Once again, the Tiger’s big guys had little to offer. The four of them, seven-footers Jordan Butler, Mahon Majak, Connor Vanover, and their 6-10 colleague Trent Pierce played a combined 38 minutes, twenty of them Pierce. They combined on 2-11 shooting from outside and 14 points, twelve by Pierce.  They contributed seven rebounds and three blocks.

One more game before conference play begins. (zou)

(BASEBALL)—The Cardinals and Royals seemed to take the week off—-although it doesn’t mean they weren’t talking.

Now, some off-track motoring sports:

(NASCAR)—NASCAR fans love their diecast models of their favorite drivers’ cars. And Lionel—you know, the toy train people—make a lot of them. Lionel has released its top ten list of popular diecasts.  Kevin Harvick’s farewell tour put two of his cars on the list—his #29 tribute car frm the All Star race was number one and his regular car was 10th.  Cars driven by Erik Jones, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Blaney were next.

Dale Earnhardt Sr., who was killed at Daytona in 2001, had the fifth most popular car, a 25th anniversary car honoring his 1998 win in the 500. NASCAR’s 75th anniversary commemorative car was next followed by the model of the car driven by Australiandriver Sane Van Gisbergen in the rainy Chicago street race—his only time in a Cup car, so far. He’ll be running more extensively in the series next year.  The last one was a late-model car driven by Dale Jr.

Interestingly, two of the sports’ biggest Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott were missing fromt that list even though Elliott was voted the fan’s favorite driver again.

Suppose—-(A Brief Christmas Thought)

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Suppose the only thing we know about Abraham Lincoln was written by a few of the members of his cabinet many years after his assassination.

Suppose nobody had thought him important enough to preserve the cabin in which he was born (the one on display in Kentucky has a lot of questions about its validity) and mark it as a historic site.

Suppose none of his writings survived and only a few of his speeches and only a few anecdotes of what he said were preserved.

Suppose the address of the place where he died was lost to history.

Suppose nobody got around to taking his picture.

What would we think of Abraham Lincoln today?

Would there be a Lincoln’s birthday holiday?

—-such as the person’s birth billions of people are celebrating now?

Must have been a pretty remarkable guy.

The one we’re whose birth we’re celebrating  today.

Gaining Face 

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Well, I’ve finally gone and done it.

For many years, Nancy has been on  Facebook.  When people have asked me if I am, too, my answer has been, “No, I have a life.”

But as of December 12, 2023, I have joined the 21st Century. Or at least stuck my toe in 21st Century waters. Nancy helped me put together a Facebook page.  I wudn’ta done it except she had just discovered a thing called Diabetes 101, which has a lot of information about, well, you can see the name.

We were in Kansas City to record some podcasts for the Missouri Bar (called Is it Legal to…?  They’re programs that explain the law in language you and I can understand, people who didn’t to go law school to learn all of the clever Latin words that are used to refer to something that can just as easily be explained in English but using Latin emphasizes that the speaker or writer is learn-ed.  You might check them out. I think they’re interesting.).  We had had some really mediocre barbecue at the place in Crown Center that is not Arthur Bryants’ or Gates’ for dinner on September 14 and I woke up the next morning very thirsty.  Breakfast included two glasses of orange juice and a glass of water and I consumed water all day like a camel and got rid of it like a race horse. Blood draws on two days the next week showed very high blood sugar rates and a loss of thirteen pounds in three weeks and I was told to get a finger-punching kit and a prescription for insulin filled.  Right now. I don’t know the exact hour but I do know the exact date that I became a Diabetic.

Since then I’ve met scads of people who have been dealing with this thing for decades.  I’ve learned from them and from personal experience it’s not bad.  But it does change one’s lifestyle.

For instance—-the Girl Scouts have just lost a significant customer.  I used to buy Thin Mints by the case and keep them under my desk at the Missourinet, breaking out a box to celebrate a good day or a great story or just to pep up the staff.  Goodbye Thin Mints.  And Oreos. And big cups  of Black Walnut ice cream at Central Dairy.

BUT one day last week I had two (2) Sausage-Egg McMuffins at McDonald’s—just without the muffin.  Early on, my spirits were lifted when I learned I could have chili and popcorn. I’ve been to Wendy’s a few times since and I’ve developed a tremendous desire to go see a movie but the offerings at our local theatre at this time of year have been ghastly. The closing of our favorite drug store cut off my main supply of daytime popcorn. We’ve been binge-watching a TV show about a public hospital in New York, New Amsterdam (until the next season of Grey’s Anatomy is released) and streaming programs on ACORN such as Martin Clunes’ (of Doc Martin fame) called “Man and Beast” instead of going to the movies.  But the experience is popcornless. Roku is a wonderful invention.

I’m doing fine.  Nancy has bought me several pairs of pants that will stay up (I’ve kept losing weight, 30 or 35 pounds or so).  And I’m about to become acquainted with some additional doctors of new specialties previously unencountered.  I’ve learned a lot of other people are in the same sugar-free boat I’m in and they’ve been rowing it for many, many years.  So that’s comforting.  And I don’t feel badly.  But creating a whole new diet that involves things I like to taste is an ongoing adventure.  I haven’t had real milk since September; that’s what I miss the most.  We got through Thanksgiving just fine and I wasn’t bothered too much watching other people eat dressing and mashed potatoes with gravy, and cranberry stuff out of a can.  Nancy made a pumpkin pie I could eat, as long as I didn’t eat the crust.

Peanut Butter, crunchy, has become a major part of my life.

So where was I?   Oh.  Facebook.

Well anyway, I’m there.  I’ll probably use it to tell people what’s on the blog next week and I’ll probably be a regular viewer of Diabetes 101.  Friend me if you’d like but we are not going to spend our days exchanging selfies or passing along cute cartoons or the latest editions of Wal-Martians.

I’m just showing folks a new Face. I’ll be friendly. But I have my own life and I’m going to keep living it for a good long time.