Category Archives: people

Bigots are People, Too

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And don’t they deserve to be represented in our Congress just as the rest of are?  Those of us who are saints?

One person’s bigot is another person’s saint.  But which one is which?

The question has been played out in our dysfunctional Congress where easy name-calling has taken the place of hard work and consensus.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia might have grounds to complain about bigot-abuse after Vermont Congresswoman Becca Balint of Vermont went off on her a few days ago on the floor of the House of Representatives.  And Representative Rashida Tlaib of Minnesota might complain of bigot-abuse from Greene. In fact she has. We’ll get to that later.

Greene had introduced a resolution to censure Representative Tlaib, a Muslim, for participating in a pro-Palestine rally that Greene claims is “an anti-American and anti-Semitic Insurrection.” She also claimed that Tlaib “followed Hezbollah’s orders to carry out a day of unprecedented anger.”  It took her five minutes to explain her resolution.

Video: Marjorie Taylor Greene Introduces Resolution to Censure Rashida Tlaib | C-SPAN.org

Balint was on the floor hours later with her counter-resolution that took her eleven minutes to sum up what she sees as Green’s sins.

Video: Rep. Balint Offers Resolution Censuring Marjorie Taylor Greene | C-SPAN.org

Tlaib has called Greene’s resolution “unhinged” and has said it is “deeply Islamaphobic and attacks peaceful Jewish anti-war advocates” who want a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza. “I will not be bullied, I will not be dehumanized, and I will not be silenced,” she said. “I will continue to call for ceasefire, for the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid, for the release of hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every American to be brought home. I will continue to work for a just and lasting peace that upholds the human rights and dignity of all people, and ensures that no person, no child has to suffer or live in fear of violence.”

This exchange puts us in mind of a song from the motion picture South Pacific.

(Video) You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught – Song from South Pacific by Rodgers & Hammerstein (rodgersandhammerstein.com)

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were attacked, especially in the South, for putting the song in the musical.  James Michener, who wrote the story in his book Tales of the South Pacific on which the play was based, told Hammerstein biographer, “The authors replied stubbornly that this number represented why they had wanted to do this play, and even if it meant the failure of the production, it was going to stay in.”

When the play was presented in Georgia, State Representative David C. Jones considered the son a threat to the American way of life because it sanctioned interracial marriage. Some suggested the song was inspired by Communists.

Hammerstein wrote to one critic, “I am most anxious to make the point not only that prejudice exists and is a problem, but that its birth in teaching and not in the fallacious belief that there are basic biological and psychological and mental differences between the races.”

The play came out in 1949.  The movie came out in 1958. The song was kept for the film. It has been recorded many times since in various forms.  And the lyrics are still powerful.  And accurate.

You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught

In today’s world we see the accuracy of this song being played out in so many places, even in the halls of our national government and in some of our statehouses.  We see blatant efforts being made to make sure our children—and even we adults—are “carefully taught,” and we are seeing some places, including some of our pulpits, where edicts and laws are being issued to make sure  our children and our grandchildren are “carefully taught” to “hate and fear.”

Maintaining silence in the face of those who profit personally or politically by that careful teaching should never be an option. Let us be  unafraid to learn our history, warts and all as Tom Benton would put it.

Sports: Denver Plays Trick, no Treat; Tigers Under the Dog; Final 4 in NASCAR

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

This one is probably going to be pretty short.

(CHIEFS)—It seemed to be inevitable.  The malaise that has infected major league sports in Missouri this year finally caught up with the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that has not lived up to the expectations of their fans or themselves this year.

The Denver Broncos, who never let the Chiefs get away from them in their first game together this year, never let the Chiefs get off the mat in Mile High Stadium Sunday.  Five (count ‘em, FIVE) turnovers, failures on fourth down, and the inability to make their usual big plays doomed Kansas City, which didn’t even get a touchdown during the game, something that last happened almost two years to the day.

“I saw things that I haven’t seen before,” said Coach Andy Reid in his news conference yesterday. “They did a better job than we did.”

It was a team loss.  The next game is in Germany against the Miami Dolphins and their fleet of fleet=footed receivers led by Chiefs expatriate Tyreek Hill who already has more than 1,000 yards receiving and is averaging almost 17 yards per catch.

The Dolphins’ field goal kicker, Jason Sanders, has only had to kick nine times, hitting seven  of them.  The Chiefs have 18 field goals and only 19 touchdowns. The Dolphins have 36 touchdowns.

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers will have had two weeks to heal and work up some new plays and get some ideas how to stop the nation’s number one team by the time they play Georgia next weekend.  Oddsmakers have installed Georgia as almost-three touchdown favorites.

Last year, Georgia had to score two touchdowns in the last quarter to squeeze out a 26-22 win in Columbia as Missouri held George to its second-lowest total of the year.  This is the first time since the 1960 Orange Bowl that Missouri and Georgia have met with both teams inside the top 20.  Missouri will go  into the game ranked 14th in both major polls.

For what it’s worth, Georgia was a FOUR touchdown favorite last year. (ZOU)

A baseball note:

(XCARD)—Former Cardinals second baseman Tommy Pham didn’t know what he was doing Saturday night when he told teammate Jace Peterson to bat for him in Arizona’s 9-1 blowout of the Texas Rangers.  Pham was 4 for 4 on the night and had a chance to be the third player to get five hits in a World Series game and the first to do it in five at-bats.  Peterson ran the count to 3-2 before grounding out.

The only players in World Series history with five hits in one game are Albert Pujols in 2011 and Paul Molitor of the Twins in 1982.  But they batted six times.

Now for the zoom stuff:

(NASCAR)—Ryan Blaney raced his way into the NASCAR final four who will run for the 2023 championship next weekend in Phoenix.  He’ll be joined by 2021 champion Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell (who won races previously in the cut-down round) and William Byron, who struggled to a 13th place finish Sunday at Martinsville and squeezed in on points.

(L-R:  Byron, Bell, Larson, Blaney)

These four are the top young guns of the sport, at least for this year.  Their average age is 28 (Larson is 31, the oldest, and Byron is 25, the youngest. Larson has been in the Cup series for a decade, Blaney for eight years, Byron for six, and Bell for only four.

Denny Hamlin is still without a NASCAR championship in his 18-year career that has seen him record 51 victories, finishing in the top ten in the standings 15 times, and in the top five nine times. Hamlin appeared on the way to the top four until the final pit stops that dropped him and Blaney behind several cars that didn’t stop.  Hamlin got back to third, behind Byron, but came up four points short of the final four.

Martin Truex Jr., was one of the top three finishers in the first stage but later was caught speeding when he left pit road and had to start at the end of the line of cars on the leader’s lap.  He got as high as 12th at the finish, but the speeding penalty torpedoed his chance for the final four.

Next weekend’s race will be the final Cup appearances for Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola. Harvick will be stepping away after 23 years in NASCAR’s top series, with 60 wins (so far), a championship in 2014 and 17 years finishing in the top 10 in the standings.

Almirola has been in the Cup series for 16 years. His best finish in the standings was fifth in 2016.

(Formula 1)—Max Verstappen broke his own record by winning his 16th race of the year during the weekend. It’s his 51st career win, tied for fourth on the all-time list. Lewis Hamilton, who finished second in the Mexico Grand Prix, is the all-time leader with 103 victories. Hamilton finished second in the race, 14 seconds back.

(Photo credits: Kansas City Chiefs, NASCAR)

 

 

OMG!!!

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While our Congress has been acting like children who should be spanked and sent to bed without dinner—

While the Israel and Hamas are blowing each other up===

While Ukraine is hoping to hold on somehow to its own survival—

While hurricanes are growing more severe, water shortages are getting more serious, millions of people are still starving in Africa, China is building islands in the South Pacific to extend its reach, gas prices are as difficult to understand as airline fares, and Covid is on the rise again—

It is news that baseball great Alex Rodriguez has

Ta-dah!!!!

Gum disease!

Oh, the horror.

“I just recently went to see my dentist and not thinking anything about any gum disease and the dentist tells me the news, and then I come to find out over 65 million Americans have this gum disease.”

He made the heart-stopping announcement on the “CBS Mornings show a few days ago.

But it’s only early-stage gum disease.

Whew…..we were really concerned until we learned it’s been caught early and is treatable.

As sometimes happens when big star people contract some dreaded disease, A-Rod, as he’s called, is becoming a mouthpiece for a cause.  He has “partnered” with OraPharma, a  health products company to increase public knowledge about this ailment.

(We wonder if he knew he had gum disease before OraPharma contacted his agent.)

His advice:

See your dentist for regular checks.  And take care of your teeth.

You bet, A-Rod.  I’ve already made my next dental appointment. It will be in December.

But there are other major ailments that require celebrity spokespeople with courage enough to go public with their problem so the public will be more aware and seek proper medical attention.

Hangnails.

Ingrown toenails

Dandruff

Think of the possibilities for TV commercials with your favorite sports stars or has-been sports stars elbowing their way between insurance, patent medicine, and medicare commercials.  We need the variety.  Flo and Doug and their associates are getting so monotonous.

In A-Rod’s case, be watching for him telling you that Arestin and Ossix are essential fighters for good oral health.

But until that happens, we hope you’ll send your thoughts and prayers to A-Rod as he enters a long fight against his early stage gum disease.

 

The Team Player

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Being a team player means placing greater value on a team’s success than on individual achievement.

In sports it might mean passing up a chance to hit a home run when a sacrifice bunt is necessary.  In business it might mean supporting the competitor who got the job you wanted because the company is more important than one job, more important than one individual.

Sometimes being a team player means figure out what your team is.

The issue came up recently when Congresswoman Ann Wagner, who represents a district in eastern Missouri, announced she would support Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, who had the backing of former President Trump, for Speaker of the House just days after she said she would “absolutely not” support him.  She complained that when Jordan lost the original caucus vote to Congressman Steve Scalise, “He gave the most disgraceful, ungracious—I can’t call it a concession speech—of all time.”

Talk about a turnaround!

She justified her change by saying it is because she is a team player.

In baseball terms, she tore off her Cardinals uniform and put on one for the Cubs. Instantly.

More and more, though, it appears we don’t have teams in Washington.  We have tribes.  At least four of them: the extreme right tribe, the center right tribe, the center left tribe, and the extreme left tribe.

Jordan, whose record of getting bills passed is so thin it is, well, non-eixtent*, got the Republican conference’s majority vote as its candidate for Speaker—-but with substantial opposition, casting doubt on whether he could get the 217 Republican votes he needed to take the gavel. He came out of the conference caucus 65 votes short of what he needed in a floor vote. He and his supporters spent the days getting people like Wagner to turn around. But 65 votes was a whole lot of turning. And Jordan couldn’t do it.

Some of his opponents had the temerity to suggest that the Republican minority within the Republican majority might align with Democrats to pick a Speaker, an impracticality at the time because a Democrat in charge of a chaotic Republican House would be unable to bring sanity to the large room that seemingly needs to add padding to its walls and to rewrite its recently-rewritten dress code to include canvas blazers with long sleeves that tie in the back.

But give credit to those who have had the courage to suggest that the other side is not the enemy; they’re just friends who have different ideas.  And if they can find areas of agreement and move forward, it sure beats focusing on differences that stand in the way of service.

We do not mean to target Wagner in this entry because there are others who have misunderstood the concept of team when they proclaim in word and deed that they, too, are team players, an observation that applies to both of our political parties.  She just happened to use the phrase.

Minority Democrats, who have seemingly been inessential to the slim-majority Republicans and therefore beneath respect by them, have had the luxury of sitting back and watching the GOP House fall into a state of extreme disarray without addressing the possibly troublesome fringe of their own party and the mischief it might cause if Democrats regain control of the House—which a lot of pundits think the Republicans are proving should be the case.

It appears the only teams that matter in that climate are Republican and Democrat.  Anyone who has spent a lot of time inside the political system at the national or state level can understand how consuming that world becomes, so consuming that the real team is forgotten.

As we said earlier, there are four tribes in the House, not two teams.

Who IS the team?

Look in your mirrors.

Somebody in Washington or Jefferson City wants to be a team player?  The first step is to get rid of tribes. The second step is remembering who the team really is.

WE are the team.

Reaching across the aisle in a way that benefits the team more than it benefits any one tribe isn’t a crucifiable offense.

Was Jim Jordan interested in taking one for the team?  No, he was in it for Jim Jordan (and his big booster at the time).  And he lost three times, each time with fewer members of his own party supporting him.

So what is the team’s responsibility for straightening out the whole mess? Simple. Pay attention to what our congressional delegation is saying and doing and make sure that whomever we send to Washington next November is more loyal to country than to tribe and certainly more loyal to country than to a disgraceful former leader.

*The New Republic, an unabashedly liberal publication, said in its October 17 webpage entry,  “Jordan stands out among his predecessors and colleagues because he is not a real lawmaker… The Center for Effective Lawmaking, a project by Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia, rates House members based on their legislative performance. In the 117th Congress, Jordan was tied for fourth place among the least effective lawmakers.

Jordan sponsored only a single bill in the last Congress—on social media censorship, a perennial issue among some conservatives—and it did not advance out of committee. He has never successfully drafted a bill that became law…Meredith Lee Hill, who covers all agriculture-related goings-on on Capitol Hill for Politico, reported that Jordan’s supporters pitched his speakership to agriculture-minded Republicans as the “best way to get the huge [Farm] bill to the floor” in what remains of this Congress’s term. As Hill noted, Jordan has never himself voted for a farm bill at any time in his career.”

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The Team Player 

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Being a team player means placing greater value on a team’s success than on individual achievement.

In sports it might mean passing up a chance to hit a home run when a sacrifice bunt is necessary.  In business it might mean supporting the competitor who got the job you wanted because the company is more important than one job, more important than one individual.

Sometimes being a team player means figure out what your team is.

The issue came up recently when Congresswoman Ann Wagner, who represents a district in eastern Missouri, announced she would support Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan, who had the backing of former President Trump, for Speaker of the House just days after she said she would “absolutely not” support him.  She complained that when Jordan lost the original caucus vote to Congressman Steve Scalise, “He gave the most disgraceful, ungracious—I can’t call it a concession speech—of all time.”

Talk about a turnaround!

She justified her change by saying it is because she is a team player.

In baseball terms, she tore off her Cardinals uniform and put on one for the Cubs. Instantly.

More and more, though, it appears we don’t have teams in Washington.  We have tribes.  At least four of them: the extreme right tribe, the center right tribe, the center left tribe, and the extreme left tribe.

Jordan, whose record of getting bills passed is so thin it is, well, non-existent,* got the Republican conference’s majority vote as its candidate for Speaker—-but with substantial opposition, casting doubt on whether he could get the 217 Republican votes he needed to take the gavel. He came out of the conference caucus 65 votes short of what he needed in a floor vote. He and his supporters spent the days getting people like Wagner to turn around. But 65 votes was a whole lot of turning. And Jordan couldn’t do it.

Some of his opponents had the temerity to suggest that the Republican minority within the Republican majority might align with Democrats to pick a Speaker, an impracticality at the time because a Democrat in charge of a chaotic Republican House would be unable to bring sanity to the large room that seemingly needs to add padding to its walls and to rewrite its recently-rewritten dress code to include canvas blazers with long sleeves that tie in the back.

But give credit to those who have had the courage to suggest that the other side is not the enemy; they’re just friends who have different ideas.  And if they can find areas of agreement and move forward, it sure beats focusing on differences that stand in the way of service.

We do not mean to target Wagner in this entry because there are others who have misunderstood the concept of team when they proclaim in word and deed that they, too, are team players, an observation that applies to both of our political parties.  She just happened to use the phrase.

Minority Democrats, who have seemingly been inessential to the slim-majority Republicans and therefore beneath respect by them, have had the luxury of sitting back and watching the GOP House fall into a state of extreme disarray without addressing the possibly troublesome fringe of their own party and the mischief it might cause if Democrats regain control of the House—which a lot of pundits think the Republicans are proving should be the case.

It appears the only teams that matter in that climate are Republican and Democrat.  Anyone who has spent a lot of time inside the political system at the national or state level can understand how consuming that world becomes, so consuming that the real team is forgotten.

As we said earlier, there are four tribes in the House, not two teams.

Who IS the team?

Look in your mirrors.

Somebody in Washington or Jefferson City wants to be a team player?  The first step is to get rid of tribes. The second step is remembering who the team really is.

WE are the team.

Reaching across the aisle in a way that benefits the team more than it benefits any one tribe isn’t a crucifiable offense.

Was Jim Jordan interested in taking one for the team?  No, he was in it for Jim Jordan (and his big booster at the time).  And he lost three times, each time with fewer members of his own party supporting him.

So what is the team’s responsibility for straightening out the whole mess? Simple. Pay attention to what our congressional delegation is saying and doing and make sure that whomever we send to Washington next November is more loyal to country than to tribe and certainly more loyal to country than to a disgraceful former leader.

*The New Republic, an unabashedly liberal publication, said in its October 17 webpage entry,  “Jordan stands out among his predecessors and colleagues because he is not a real lawmaker… The Center for Effective Lawmaking, a project by Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia, rates House members based on their legislative performance. In the 117th Congress, Jordan was tied for fourth place among the least effective lawmakers.

Jordan sponsored only a single bill in the last Congress—on social media censorship, a perennial issue among some conservatives—and it did not advance out of committee. He has never successfully drafted a bill that became law…Meredith Lee Hill, who covers all agriculture-related goings-on on Capitol Hill for Politico, reported that Jordan’s supporters pitched his speakership to agriculture-minded Republicans as the “best way to get the huge [Farm] bill to the floor” in what remains of this Congress’s term. As Hill noted, Jordan has never himself voted for a farm bill at any time in his career.”

Sports—Homecomings in Columbia and Kansas City; Cooperstown Finalists  

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(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers are having their best season in a decade and the crowds are responding .  Saturday’s Homecoming 34-12 win over South Carolina produced the third straight sellout, the first time Missouri has sold out three games in a row since 2008.  The Tigers are 7-1 for the first time since 2013.

The Tigers defense held South Carolina to four field goals, sacked the Gamecock’s quarterback Spencer Rattler six times, and stopped them ten of thirteen times on third down converstions.  The Tigers have allowed only one touchdown in the last seven quarters.

Brady Cook threw for “only” 198 yards. But Corey Schrader ran for 159 and Cook picked up 64 more.

And the Tigers showed some killer instinct.  When South Carolina closed to 24-12, Schrader led the Tigers on a drive that culminated in an 11-yard run to the end zone with 2:46 left.

Missouri scored led 24-3 at the half but only outscored the Gamecocks 10-9 the rest of the way with all of the scoring coming in the fourth quarter.  Afterwards, Coach Eli Drinkwitz said Missouri has yet to play a compete game.  “We’ve seen flashes of it. But we haven’t put it all together for four quarters. And I think that’s why this team is so hungry and coachable: because they’re wanting to prove it to each other. We can keep playing better,” he said.

Missouri hits its bye week at just the right time.   The next game is against the nation’s number one team, Georgia, on November 4.

The AP and the USA Today Coaches’  polls have Missouri at 16th this week, the highest the Tigers have been since reaching 14th in 2014.

—Harrison Mevis picked up four PATs and two field goals to move within 16 points of becoming the most prolific scorer in Missouri football history.  He has 73 field goals and 128 extra points for 347 points.  The record was set by Jeff Wolfert, 362 points on 59 field goals and 185 extra points from 2006-2008.

—The Associated Press mid-season All-American team was released this week.  Missouri’s Kris Abrams-Draine is one of four SEC cornerbacks on the list.

—The win was a landmark one for Missouri, which became the 31st Division 1 collegiate program to record 700 victories. Missouri is 700-586-53 for a .544 winning percentage. Eight D1 schools have more than 900 victories.  Michigan could win its 1,000th game this year. (ZOU)

(CHIEFS)—Sunday was National Tight Ends Day.  No, really.  It’s the fourth weekend of October every year.  And Travis Kelce celebrated it in style.

He was the star of a first half was a shootout between two old AFL rivals, a game that—among other things was a solid homecoming for a former team member coming home from a disappointing sojourn to New York. The second half was time for the Kansas City City Chiefs’ defense to shine as they beat The San Diego—oops, the LOS ANGELES Chargers 31-17 in a game closer than the score appears.

The Chiefs pulled ahead 24-17 with a touchdown with 2:36 to play in the first half but didn’t lock down the game until 2:36 was left on the clock with the only points either team scored in the second half.  The two teams combined for 841 yards, with Patrick Mahomes throwing for 424 of them, 321 in the first half, the fourth time in his career he’s had 300 or more yards in the first half of a game. Travis Kelce was unstoppable in the first half with 9 catches for 143 yards (he finished with 12/179 and is more than halfway to his eighth straight 1,000 yard receiving season (48/525) although he missed the first game.

The game was a homecoming for Mecole Hardman, who went to the New York Jets in a trade last year and came back last week after seeing little action.  He returned a late-game punt 50 yards, a play that Mahomes said “put the game away” and he kept the Chiefs’ final scoring drive alive with a key third-and-six catch that gave his team a first down.  The Chiefs scored the dagger touchdown on the next play.

The only casualty for the Chiefs was linebacker (and former Mizzou All-American) Nick Bolton.  His team-leading ninth tackle, of Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen, left him with a dislocated wrist. Last night, it was reported that Bolton will need surgery and will be out for about two months. It’s the second setback Bolton has had this year. Earlier, he missed three games with a high ankle sprain.  If he can’t go next week, Drue Tranquill is expected to fill in for him again. Tranquill had a key nine-yard sack of Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert in the fourth quarter. Tranquill signed with the Chiefs in March, after three seasons with the Chargers.

Now, to mix the sports:

We normally include Formula 1 automobile racing at the end of these Tuesday posts, but we are moving part of it closer to the top because, well—

(CHIEFS/FORMULA 1)—Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce have become part owners of a Formula 1 racing team.  They are among several sports stars who have joined Otro Capital investment group in buying 25% interest in the Alpine Formula 1 racing team.

The amount the two have invested has not been made public although Otro Capital has put 200-million euros ($211.7 million US) into the team. Several other sports stars including pro-golfer Rory McElroy, two-time heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua, and others.

It’s not the first venture into sports team ownership Mahomes has made. He also has minority shares of the Kansas City Royals, the Sporting Kansas City major league soccer team, and the Kansas City Current of the national women’s soccer league.

Alpine used to be known as Renault F1 Team but changed its name to promote the Alpine, a Renault sports car. The team has been competing in F1 since 1981 under various names. Michael Schumacher won two of his record seven championships driving for the team and Fernando Alonso won both of his titles with the team.  But that was a long time ago.

Formula 1 has only 13 teams of two drivers each competing.  With five races left in the season, Alpine is sixth in the constructors points standings. In a combined 34 races, the team’s two drivers have only two top-five finishes and 18 top tens.

(BASEBALL)—-The official trading season won’t start until the end of the World Series sometime before Thanksgiving but the air is full of potential signings or trades involving the Cardinals. The Royals aren’t generating comparable headlines, perhaps because so little was expected of the them this year and because they haven’t had the traditional of excellence the Cardinals have had.

However, both teams are part of the recommendations from the Hall of Fame Contemporary Baseball Era Committee for Managers/Executives/Umpires. Eight people have made the commtittee’s short list of possible enshrinement at Cooperstown and one each comes from the Cardinals and the Royals. The eight finalists this year are Bill White, Lou Pinella, Cito Gaston, Davey Johnson, Jim Leyland, Ed Montague, Hank Peters, and Joe West. All candidates except Peters are living. The committee will announce its winners December 3.

Lou Pinella had 1,835-1713 (.517 winning percentage) in his 23 years as a manager for the Yankees, Reds, Mariners, Rays, and Cubs.  The led the Cincinnati Reds to the 1990 World Series championship, and managed the 1001 Seattle Mariners to an American League record 116 wins. He was the Manager of the Year in his league three times. As a player, four games for Baltimore in 1964 and six games for the Cleveland Indians in 1968  before being traded to the Kansas City Royals in 1969.  He he hit .282 and was American League Rookie of the Year.  He moved to the Yankees in 1974, got World Series rings in 1977 and 1978, retiring after an 18-year playing  career. He hd been a candidate for enshrinement by the Veterans Committee twice, in 2016 and 2018.  He came closest to being elected in 2018 when he received 11 votes. Twelve were necessary to gain admittance.

Bill White played for 13 seasons, starting with the San Francisco  Giants before joining the Cardinals in 1959.  He won a World Series ring with the Cardinals in 1964. He was with the Phillies from 1966-68 before finishing his career back in St. Louis in 1969. He had a career batting average of .286. White was an eight-time all star and seven-time gold glove winner. .  He was the first African-American President of the National League 1989-1994, years in which the Marlins and the Rockies entered the league. He was a key player in getting both leagues to operate under the same umbrella of Major League Baseball.

Okay, time for racing:

(NASCAR)—Christopher Bell rallied from 22nd place to win at Homestead Sunday and guarantee he will be one of four drivers running for the NASCAR Cup next month.  Kyle Larson locked in his position last week, leaving only one race left to determine the other two finalists, with six drivers competing for those slots.

He ran down Ryan Blaney and beat him to the line by about 1.7 seconds. Bell described the race as a “whirlwind” that saw 25 lead changes before he pulled in front with 29 laps left. Denny Hamlin, who was in the top four in points going into the race, crashed with 31 laps to go while running for the lead, and is now seventh in the points, sixteen below the cut line.  Martin Truex, Jr., the regular season points champion, dropped out one lap later with a blown engine.

Larson and William Byron have the remaining two finals positions based on points.  Next week’s race on the half-mile at Martinsville will be the last chance for Hamlin, Truex, Tyler Reddick, and Chris Buescher to run for the 2023 title. Buescher is in a must-win situation although, technically, all of the six who haven’t won a race in this elimination round are, too.

(FORMULA 1)—Max Verstappen’s 50th grand prix win tied his record of 15 races won in a single season.  He had to work a little harder than usual to claim it, starting sixth instead of his standard P1. But it turned out his closest competitor wasn’t that close after all.

Second-place finisher Lewis Hamilton, along with sixth-place finisher Charles Leclerc were disqualified after post-race inspections found unapproved parts on the undersides of their cars.

(Photo Credits: Bell, Bob Priddy; Mevis, Missouri Athletics; Pinella, Baseball Hall of Fame; White, Baseball Almanac)

 

Has it Really Been 25 Years? 

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For those who do not read our Tuesday entries on sports, please bear with us today because we’re going to talk about integrity today.  But we have to set up the discussion with some sports talk.

A few days ago I picked up a book by ESPN commentator Mike Greenberg and his associate Paul Hembekides, Got Your Number; the Greatest Sports Legends and the Numbers They Own.  It’s one of thoe “list” books—such as a thousand this or that’s to do before you die stuff.  This one lists 100 people and events in sports that are the greatest moments in the broad world of athletic competition.

Number 98 references the year 1998.  Those old enough need to think back 25 years to the dominating sports story of that year.  Let’s pause while you close your eyes and look for an answer, which I will give you after the (pause) but don’t peek.

(PAUSE)

The year 1998 was the year two men dominated baseball—Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.  The fact that they played for the Cardinals and the Cubs—two long-time baseball antagoinists—made the competition even more significant.  Throughout that long season, these two men battled to see who would set a new major league home run record.

There was McGwire, who was under incredible pressure from the beginning. It was expected he would break Roger Maris’ record of 61 homers.  McGwire had come to the Cardinals year earlier after starting the season with the Oakland Athletics.  He hit 34 home runs for the A’s and 24 more when he reached St.Louis.  58, and from the first day of the 1998 season the  Post-Dispatch headlined each home run he hit.

In Chicago there was Sosa, a power-hitter for the Cubs who had hit 33-40 home runs a year since 1993. But there was no reason to exepect what would happen in 1998.  In fact, the biggest challenge to McGwire was expected to come from Ken Griffey Jr., who had 56 home runs in ’97.

Griffey had his second-straight 56-homer year.  Sosa briefly held the record at 66 before McGwire swept past him on the way to a 70-home run season.

Many say that those two years, particularly 1998, restored the faith of baseball fans who had been resentful of the 1994-95 player’s strike and owners’ lockout.  Greenburg isn’t buying any of that, writing, “That magical season turned out to be an illusion, unworthy of being celebrated though steadfastly impossible to forget. I have heard it said that the best way to gauge whether or not a player belongs in the Hall of Fame is by asking the question: Can you tell the story of the history of the sport without him?”

Neither McGwire nor Sosa is in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. The reason the two are outside is because, as Greenburg puts it, “McGwire and Sosa dishonored the game.”  But, he says, what they did is unforgettable.  He finds it “a tad insulting” when people say these two “saved” baseball.  He argues that such statements preclude the idea that nobody else could have saved the game because baseball is so much part of the American spirit to have gone unrescued by somebody. These two men, he says, “were in the right place at the right time.”

McGwire and Sosa, and Roger Clemens—the most dominant pitcher of his time—and Barry Bonds, who holds the career and single-season home run records—have joined Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose in the mist of fame/infamy that keeps them from having plaques in Cooperstown because their greatness cannot overcome their violations of the integrity of the game, the first three because they are suspected of using, or have admitted using, performance-enhancing drugs, the fourth because of gambling on the sport.

The integrity of the game.

Whatever the game might be.

For many years I have been invited to speak to the incoming freshman class of the House of Representatives, who gather at the capitol a few days after their elections to begin learning how to be state representatives.  I usually tell them near the end of my remarks, “Never lie to a reporter because the first time to you lie to me is the last time I believe anything you say.  Never lie to your colleagues because your integrity is really the only thing you have going for you here.”

This is a time when we must measure those in the game of politics for their integrity for if we dismiss it as the primary qualification for public office we are dismissing it for ourselves. Our public integrity must not be sold to those who would mislead us in their search for power.

There are plenty of those who dishonor that great game of politics. Integrity to them is meaningless as they place power over us ahead of service to us.  It is up to us to exercise our integrity to save ourselves and our country from those who, as Greenburg would put it, “dishonor” the game.

We must never lie to ourselves.

Because our integrity is all that we have if we are to have, or save, our state and our nation.

(Photo credit: ESPN)

 

Notes from a Quiet Street (Cranky, colorful edition)

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(Notes from a Quiet Street consists of observations that aren’t worth all the words for a full-fledged blog post.  On the other hand, some blog posts don’t merit all those words, either.)

In these chaotic times dominated by demagogues, I suggest all of us learn to play bridge, or learn to play it better.  For in playing bridge we may find relief from current controversies and fears because Bridge is a land of no-trump.

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Wife Nancy got a new car the other day.  If I drive it, it recognizes my face and moves the seat and mirrors where I like to have them.  And then it puts them back in her positions when she gets back in.

It’s white, the most visible color except in a blizzard, and it doesn’t show dirt as much as darker cars do.

The quick guide to it is 150 pages.  The full owner’s manual runs to 537 pages. We’ll probably finish reading about all the bells,whistles, and foghorns sometime in February. We might learn the rudiments of the touch screen by Thanksgiving.

How odd that in these days of concern about distracted driving, new cars have touch screens that the driver has to look at to do everything but serve hot coffee and so many buttons on the steering wheel that the driver has to look down to make sure their finger is touching the right one. No wonder the thing has systems to keep the car in the right lane and to keep it from shortening the car ahead.

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My first car had three on the tree, the headlight dimmer button on the floor for the left foot to work, an AM radio, and hand-wound windows.  I turned a key to start it, turned a key to lock and unlock it, had bumpers, a bumper jack in case of a flat tire (and tires that did go flat), and a full-sized spare that had to be checked for its air levels from time to time.  It alsos had a steel dashboard, real glass windows that were deadly to go through, no seat belts to keep you from hitting your head on the metal dashboard or going through the glass window in a crash, a rigid steering column that would be deadly, and an odometer that was all zeroes after 100,000 miles.

Air conditioning was the wind coming through the window that evaporated the sweat on hot days.

And the car didn’t recognize my face.

No, it did not have a crank to start it.

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The baseball playoffs are underway. I have no idea who is playing.  Sometimes I wish I cared.  Not often, though. I’m probably not alone.  It’s football season, after all.  I remember a lot of years when the World Series was over by now—back in the days when television didn’t run the sport.

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That first car was dark green on top and light green on the body.  Cars came in white, black, blue, green, or red.  Nowadays they’re pearlescent snow white, metallic Mediterranean blue, mocha, Sequoia Green, Arrow Gray, Purple Sector,  Thundernight Metallic—

How much do the geniuses get paid to come up with these names?

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Speaking of colors:

Did you know that Crayola makes an Ultimate Crayola Collection that includes 152 colors?  Among the more recent are crayellow, timber wolf, cool mint, oatmeal, jazzberry jam, purple mountains’ majesty, manatee, outer space, aspa

ragus, and Granny Smith Apple.

That would be a great question:  “Where will you find—?”  A Crayola box.

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And finally, a story that fell out of the blue—

We want to pay tribute to Dorothy Hoffner who died last Monday at the age of 104. Only a week earlier she had set a new record by being the oldest parachutist in the world. Guiness hasn’t certified the record yet, but she did it.

The Chicago newspapers reported she left her walker on the ground so she could walk away from her landing site.

It wasn’t her first time.  When she was only 100, she was strapped to the back of a professional jumper and had to be pushed out of the plane. This time she insisted on being the jump leader, strapped to the front of a certified parachute instructor. She jumped from 13,500 feet and floated to earth seven minutes later. “Delightful, wonderful, couldn’t have been better,” she said.

She died before her next great adventure could be accomplished.

She wanted to go up in a hot air balloon.

Some people live a life. Other people devour it.

 

Sports: Baseballs Says Goodbye to the Season; Two Great Pitchers Remembered; Football Leagues Merge; And Other Sports

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

Before we delve into tributes to two pitchers who left their marks on the game, two football games that merit comment, and a race, there is one thing we want you to understand.

TRAVIS KELCE AND WHAT’S HER NAME ARE NOT SPORTS.

And this is the only time you will read about them in this column.

(FOND FAREWELLS)—–

When Will We See Players Like TheseAgain?

Every year about this time, those of us who live for the next baseball season and live for the first day a spiked foot steps across a baseline in Florida or in Arizona bid farewell to some young men who are too old to play our game anymore.

We’re going to forego our usual appraisal of the Cardinals and the Royals today. Both have seasons best left in the quickly descending night of the 2023 baseball season. Instead, we want to say some things about two guys whose careers will far overshadow their final successful days in struggling seasons.

We Missouri baseball fans have been blessed by two remarkable pitchers who are leaving, or likely to leave, the game with memorable performances and memorable careers.

(WAINWRIGHT)—Adam Wainwright struggled all year He wanted to to reach a goal, to realize a dream, to accomplish something rare in today’s game.  He finally won his 200th game.

Remember that night.  It will be years before we see something like that again.

It wasn’t just a personal goal.  It was a professional goal.  He has known that in today’s game, 200 wins is a Hall of Fame credential.

Two-hundred baseball wins seems to be a modest amount for those who have watched the greats of the past.  But in today’s game of 100 pitch limits, five-man rotations and parades of pitchers to the operating room for Tommy John or other surgeries, 200 wins is remarkable. This year, for example, only five pitchers threw more than 200 innings. And there were only 35 complete games pitched.

When did the last THREE-hundred game winner throw his final pitch?  Fourteen seasons ago, when Randy Johnson retired with 303 victories.  Since 1990, only four pitchers have reached 300—Johnson, Tom Glavin, Greg Maddux, and Roger Clemens.  All are in Cooperstown but Clemens, a victim of the performance enhancing drugs era.

Only five pitchers ended this year with 200 victories.  Justin Verlander, 40, has 257.  The Royals’ Zack Greinke has 225.  Former Missouri Tiger Max Scherzer is in at 214 and is 38.  35-year old Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers has 210 and Wainwright with his 200. All of them are in the twilight of their careers or at the end.

Are all of these guys, even Wainwright, bound for Cooperstown some day?  Yes, although most of them are unlikely to be first-ballot selections.

Brady Farkas, writing on FanNation a few days ago, pointed out that Wainwright’s 200th win makes him unique. He is the only player (not just pitchers) whose career has been within the divisional era (there have been 10,331 of them) to hit ten or more home runs in their careers (2,395) AND win 200 games as a pitcher (36).

He also has 75 RBI and a career .193 batting average.

The first pitch he saw as a major league hitterr turned into a home run.

He is a three-time All-Star. He has two Golden Gloves and a Silver Slugger bat and a World Series Ring. He never won the Cy Young Award (runnerup a couple of times), but he led the league in wins twice, led the league in innings pitched two times, and was a 20-game winner in 2014.

And, from all accounts, he’s been a class act.

When will someone else win number 200? It might be quite a while.

Cole Hamels has 163 wins and he’s 39.  Johnny Cueto is next at 144. He’s 37.  Gerrit Cole seems to have the best chance. He’s only 32 but has 145 wins. If he has three more years such as the last three years, he could be within 10-15 wins of 200.  Aaron Nole is 30 with 90 wins. The biggest winner for pitchers less than 30 is Jose Berria, who is 29 and has 83 victories.

Wainwright’s final game was a seven-inning masterpiece. He was given only one run and he tenaciously battled to keep that lead. It was a final curve, to Milwaukee’s Josh Donaldson that induced him to fly out to end the seventh.  He had gone into the game with back spasms and struggles during his pre-game warmup and he knew he had to make one more pitch, get one more out, before leaving the mound after the 7th inning.

“I know its gonna hurt. I’ve gotta go one more time over the top and get this ball to have a little more depth to it.  I think I can do one more of those,” he recalled in an interview with Post-Dispatch reporter Derrick Gould and others a few days later. “I knew in that moment, from up on top, that I had one more pitch.”

His discussion of his last pitch is a masterpiece in describing, in real not Hollywood dramatics, all that went into it—the curve to Milwaukees’s Josh Donaldson that induced Donaldson to fly out.  “I literally left everything I had out there,” he said a few days later.  Watch this rare insight we fans don’t usually get to hear.

(screenshot  from Gould’s article, Sept. 27, 2023)

With a curve, Adam Wainwright’s pitching career ends. So, what about an at-bat? Cardinals Extra (stltoday.com)

He thought he might have another start or two before the end, but when tried to play catch a couple of days after the Milwaukee game, he hurt badly enough that he decided he had thrown his last pitch.

He has herniated discs that will need repair and says his shoulder needs looking-at because he can’t lift his arm over his shoulder without pain.

He goes out with others recognizing his uniqueness, competitors who appreciate not only what he has done but what he is.  Cincinnati’s Joey Votto presented Wainwright with a bouquet before the game and eloquently explained the respect the game has for Wainwright later in the locker room—

“This game gets harder not only the older you get but as your tools fade. To be able to stay put and still be a contributor at you know, 30, 35, 40 and beyond, which Adam has done, and to be steady with it, is admirable. There’s a reason why the St. Louis fanbase is celebrating this weekend, because it’s rare, rare is the pitcher who can compete this deep into their career, can stay with one organization, can be a productive player, productive member of the community, and to me that’s what I admire the most. Game recognizes game.”

Votto knows what he’s talking about because he is a Wainwright kind of guy—17 years with one team, almost 40, finishing a disappointing   season after having surgery on his shoulder, an aging veteran on a team that has seen a good crop of promising young talent come up from the minors. An extended standing ovation that prompted the umpire to delay the last game of year in Cincinnati so he could enjoy it showed the affection for Votto in Cincinnati that Wainwright has gotten in St. Louis. The crowd seemed to realize it was seeing a great player for the last time although Votto hasn’t said yet that he’s retiring.

And Votto has a sort-of connection to St. Louis. A Canadian native, now a naturalized American citizen, he and former Cardinal Larry Walker are the only Canadians in major league history to have 2,000 hits, 1,000 runs batted in, and 300 homers.

Game recognizes game.

So Wainwright has reached his goal and has come to the end of the line as a major league pitcher, the last of a generation of Redbirds that included last year’s retirees, Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina.

The torch has now fully been passed to the next generation. We wonder who among them in what has become a game for contract gypsies will be as beloved fifteen, twenty years from now as Adam Wainwright is to this generation of fans.

There’s a red jacket in his future when he joins the Cardinals Hall of Fame. And eventually, we think, a bronze plaque on the wall of a building in a picturesque little upper New York town.

(GREINKE)—We might have seen the last of Zack Greinke of the Royals Sunday.   As was the case with Adam Wainwright, he finished with a season that was far less than he hoped it would be. But in his last game, he was young again.

Greinke went five innings, gave up only one run on four hits and struck out two. He finishes the season 2-15—and a standing ovation from the crowd.

He’s a free agent seemingly with limited possibilities for another season in the majors. We don’t know if he has, or had, some goals he wanted to reach this year—as Wainwright wanted to get his 200th win.  He did reach 225 wins with the outing Sunday, putting him ahead of Hall of Famers Jim Bunning and Catfish Hunter on the all-time win list. But he finished about twenty strikeouts short of 3,000.

But there is a significant strikeout milestone he DID get.  On May 13th, he fanned Brewers rookie Joey Weimer to become only the fifth pitcher ever to strike out 1,000 different batters.

(The Royals created a special commemorative image for the accomplishment.)

That night, he joined Nolan Ryan (1182), Randy Johnson (1123), Greg Maddux (1049) and Roger Clemens (1022).  He finished with two more than Clemens.

The one thing that has eluded him is a World Series ring.

He started with the Royals, but battled depression and social anxiety and almost gave up the game after leading the league in losses (17) in 2005. He left spring training early in 2006 but returned late in the season to make three relief appearances.  He returned to starting pitcher status in 2008 and the next year won the Cy Young Award by going 16-8 and leading the majors with a 1.66 ERA.

His best years were eight seasons with the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks when he went 134-49, a .732 winning percentage.

And he was a pretty good hitter for a pitcher. He finished with a .225 batting average and won two Silver Slugger Awards.  As with Wainwright, his first major league hit was a home run. He also succeeded in nine out of ten stolen base attempts.  He pinch hit in the 2021 world series and became the first pitcher to have a pinch hit since Jack Bentley of the New York Giants in 1923.

He is, as of today, the last pitcher to get a hit in a postseason baseball game.

Greinke admitted after signing with the Royals that he had hoped to stay in the National League for a couple more years because he hoped for more chances to hit.  But when the NL adopted the designated hitter, he looked to returning to the Royals.  He hoped there might be a chance to pitch AND be a designated hitter some time when the team was short at that position. But he never got the chance.  He cited Kansas City’s fan enthusiasm and his relationship with former Royals official Dayton Moore, for signing with the team in March, 2022.  He pitched the last two opening days for the team. His 2022 start was the first time he’d pitched for the Royals on opening day since 2010.  It set one of those arcane records baseball is so full of—the largest gap between opening day starts for the same team.  He finished his career by starting the first and the last games of the 2023 season for the Royals.

Cooperstown for him, too?  Wouldn’t it be nice if both Greinke and Wainwright could go in on the same day?

(CARDS/ROYALS)—The Cardinals had their first losing season since 2007 when they were 78-84. The Royals tied their record for losses with 106.  The last year the Royals had a winning record was their World Series-winning year of 2015.

The Royals finished on a hopeful note, going 14-12 in September—their only winning month of the year (well, they were 1-0 in October).  The Cardinals had only two winning months, going 15-13 in May and 14-13 in July. The Royals finished the year going 12-5.

The Cardinals’ Miles Mikolas was one of the five pitchers to throw 200 innings this year—201.1.  No MLB pitcher gave up more hits than he did—226. He faced 860 batters, the most in the major leagues. His 35 starts were the most of any pitcher in the majors.  He finished 9-13 with a 4.78 ERA.

Relief pitching was a sore point all year. Cardinals relievers saved 36 of 64 games, 56%.  Royals relievers held on 53% of the time. Neither was anywhere close to the top in the final rankings.  The Royals pitchers had a 5.17 ERA. Cardinals pitchers were at 4.79.

And get this:  There were 4,840 games this year.  There were only 35 complete games by pitchers.  The Royals had three of them.  No pitcher went the distance this year for St. Louis.

But both showed a lot of young talent, particularly the Royals’ Bobby Witt who joined the 3030 club with thirty home runs and 49 stolen bases. The Cardinals promise a busy off-season. Several of the Royals’ young hopefuls didn’t pan out, leaving fans to speculate on whether the team will invest in the free agent market or be active traders.

(MIZ)—Missouri’s win against Vanderbilt 38-21 in its SEC season opener has set up a match between two ranked SEC teams next Saturday in Columbia. The Tigers, 5-0 now in their best start in a decade are 21st in the weekly AP poll and 22 in the USA Coaches Poll.  LSU, which is 3-2 with three of its games being in the conference already, is 23rd in the polls , a ten-place drop after losing to Old Miss 55-49 last weekend.

Missouri’s ranking is its highest since the fifth week of the 2015 season, the year they won their first seven games of the season. Quarterback Brady Cook will be looking to extend his conference record consecutive passes without an interception, now standing at 347.

The Mizzou offense chewed up Vanderbilt’s defense to the tune of 532 yards, 395 of them by Cook, a personal best.   (ZOU)

(CHIEFS)—The chiefs beat the Jets Sunday night but nobody is happy about it including the winners.  A late field goal, a fumble by the Jets’ quarterback, and a clock-sapping final drive that ended with Patrick Mahomes sliding to a stop at the New York one-yard line so the clock could run out salvaged a 23-20 win.

The win is number 250 for Coach Andy Reid. That puts him into a tie with Dallas coach Tom Landry for fourth all time. He has won 120 of those games while with the Chiefs and trails Hank Stram for the team record by only four.

The Chiefs seemed to be on the road to a blowout with an early 17-0 lead before rookie quarterback Zack Wilson, filling in as Aaron Rogers and his repaired achilles tendon watched from the owner’s suite, found his rhythm and led the Jets to a 20-20 tie.  But he lost a snap with his team on the move in the fourth quarter; the chiefs recovered and picked up a field goal and then held on the rest of the way.

Patrick Mahomes had an off-game with two interceptions. But Isaiah Pacheco’s running kept the chains moving at key moments. He picked up 115 yards on 20 carries and scored one of the two Chiefs’ touchdowns. He also caught three passesfor 43 yards.  He was responsible for 158 of the Chiefs’ 401 total yards.

(BATTLEHAWKS)—We’re waiting to learn if the St. Louis Battlehawks of the XFL will survive the merger of the XFL and the USFL, announced last week.  The merged league plans to begin play next spring.

The XFL has been resurrected twice. The last couple of years there have been eight teams in eight cities—St. Louis; Arlington, San Antonio, and Houston Texas; Las Vegas; Orlando, Florida; Seattle, Washington; and Washington, D. C.

The USFL was reincarnated a couple of years ago with all games played in Birmingham, Alabama. Last season, the eight teams were located in four “hub” cities—Detroit, Memhis, Birmingham and in Canton, Ohio, the home of the NFL Hall of Fame.

The Battlehawks have played in the domed stadium abandoned by the Rams. The team drew a record 38,310 fans for the fourth game last year. They have compiled seven of the biggest crowd numbers in theleague’s short history.

Officials will announce late rif all 16 teams will have home cities when play starts after the NFL’s Super Bowl in February.

Now, on to the crash-and-turn sports.

(NASCAR)—Ryan Blaney has survived 500 tense miles on the Talladega high banks to pick up his ninth career win and second of the year.

Blaney finished .012 seconds ahead of Kevin Harvick, the biggest margin he has enjoyed in his three wins at Talladega. He beat Ryan Newman and Ricky Stenhouse, respectfully, in  2019 and 2020 by 0.007 of a second.

He only led eight laps in a race that featured 70 lead changes during its 188 laps with the field running two and three wide in a tight pack for most of its running.

Harvick’s second-place car was disqualified after the race because some windshield fasteners were found to be loose.  He was moved to last place.  Crew Chief Rodney Childers says some windshield bolts loosened and vibrated out because of buffeting caused by the close running.

The win locks Blaney into the semifinal field of eight drivers who will compete for the final four spots in the last race shootout of the season. The field of 12 will be cut to eight at next weekend’s race on the Charlotte “Roval,” a road race course that uses part of the tri-oval track and a road course on the track’s interior.

(NASCAR—IOWA)—Missouri NASCAR fans have another Cup race within driving distance.  Iowa Speedway has been added to the schedule next year. The track has featured IndyCar races for the past several years.  It’s a .875 track designed by former NASCAR Cup winner Rusty Wallace, a St. Louis native. The track is at Newton, Iowa, about 30 miles east of Des Moines.

Actually, NASCAR’s  first choice for a new track on its schedule had been Montreal, Canada but that deal never came together, opening the door for Newton. The race is set for next June 16.

Sports:  On a Roll:  Tigers, Chiefs, Royals, Byron, Verstappen.  Clunking Along: Cardinals

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZ)—James Franklin and Henry Josey were leading the Missouri Tigers to a 12-2 campaign and Odelle Green-Beckham was starting to waste a possibly great football career the last time the Missouri Tigers started a year 4-0.  That was a decade ago.

The Tigers were under pressure throughout the game Saturday but this team didn’t fold, seized control late and didn’t let it slip aay.

The Tigers 34-27 win over Memphis State has moved them into the national polls, 23rd.  They’re 22nd in the Coaches Poll. It’s the first time since 2019 that Missouri has been in the top 25.  That’s the year they started 5-1 but stumbled to a 6-6 season. (ZOU)

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On a day when the Miami Dolphins ran up 70 points on the Denver Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs indicated they could have done the same thing with the Chicago Bears.

Before we get to the Chiefs, a note or two about Miami’s demolition of the Broncos.

It’s only the fourth 70-point game in NFL history. The first was the 1940 NFL championship game the Bears won over the Washington Redskins, 73-0.  The Redskins scored 71 in 1966. And the Los Angeles Rams hit the 70 mark in 1950.  Only the 1951 Rams had more yards (735) than the Dolphins (726).  No other team has ever had five passing touchdowns and five rushing TDs. THE CHIEFS are the only other team with multiple players scoring four touchdowns in a game. Since 1950, only the 49ers in 2012 have had 300 yards passing and 300 yards rushing in a single came.

(CHIEFS)—The Chiefs beat the Bears 41=10, had 34 of those points at the half, and appeared unstoppable by the Bears.  Patrick Mahomes twisted an ankle late in the first half and sat out most of the second half. His backup, former Missouri Tiger Blaine Gabbert, was unimpressive, throwing for only 40 yards and two interceptions.

Mahomes, even playing only part of the game, set an NFL Record for getting to 25,000 yards faster than any quarterback in NFL history. Matthew Stafford set the record with the Detroit Lions in 2015 at 90 games.  Mahomes did it in 83 starts.

(ROYALS)—The phrase “hot streak” has not been linked to the Kansas City Royals much in the last couple of years.  But they head into the last week of the regular season on one.

The Royals have won ten of their last eleven games and for the first time since 2019 they have racked up four straight series wins. Manager Matt Quartraro says the team has grown throughout the year.  One sign is that eight of the ten wins have been decided by two runs or fewer.

“We’ve had a lot of close games this year that haven’t gone our way. And early on, we were using that as kind of a, ‘They’re learning. They’re learning to be in close games.’ And maybe this is the byproduct of that,”‘ Quintraro observed after Sunday’s 6-5 win against the Astros Sunday.

The Royals were 29-75 at the start of August.  They have gone 24-27 since, not a pennant-winning pace by any means but enough to get Royals fans’ flowing a little faster in the off-season.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals’ underwhelming season is slouching toward its end.  Their Sunday loss to San Diego ended a three-game winning streak.  Those were the only wins in the most recent 10-game string.

The biggest question for the rest of the season is whether Adam Wainwright will ever be seen on the mound in a big league game again.

The Cardinals, once considered likely to win at least 90 back in the chilly days of Spring, have put themselves into position to LOSE that many.  68-88 heading into the last days of the regular season.

Motoring along—-

(NASCAR)—William Byron posted his sixth win this year and the 300th in the Cup Series for team oner Rick Hendrick at the Texas Speedway Sunday. He got past Denny Hamlin and pole-winner Bubba Wallace on the last restart, which was necessary because Kyle Larson crashed while racing Wallace for the lead with twenty laps to go.  Larson’s car got loose as he and Wallace raced side-by-side.  His sliding car narrowly missed the back end of Wallace’s car as it swung to the right and took him into the wall.

NASCAR’s next race in its championship playoff will be at Talladega.

(FORMULA 1)—After an off-week that ended his consecutive wins record run, Max Verstappen went pole to pole in the Japanese Grand Prix. It’s his 13th win this year.  He appears to have an insurmountable points lead with six races left.  His closest contender, Lando Norris with McLaren, was more than 19 seconds back.