Tour of Missouri comes to the Ozarks

/0 Comments/in /by

tourofmo1.jpgThe Tour of Missouri cycling race across Missouri is making its way from Kansas City to St. Louis with several stages in between. They raced in Kansas City in Stage 1 today and then they will race from Clinton to Springfield in Stage 2 on Wednesday. They will then have Stage 3 Time Trials in Branson on Thursday. I am hoping to see a little bit of the race tomorrow in Springfield.

This isn’t a little race, but is quite a bit deal. Actually, this year?s Tour de France winner Alberto Contador of Spain and U.S. Professional Champion and third-place Tour de Francealbertocontador.jpg finisher Levi Leipheimer of Santa Rosa, Calif. are amongst the field of competitors. I have never seen a cycling race up close, but would like to add it to my list of sports events I have attended. From what I can tell and have read, these guys are some of the best athletes in the world. You can check out the Tour website and see how many miles in each stage and it is amazing. 600 miles in 6 days–bad enough in a car, let alone on a bike. Talk about some serious saddle sore behinds!

Are you Ready for some football??

/0 Comments/in , /by

stones.jpgWell, the official kickoff of the NFL season was last night and the Colts smoked the Saints. Sure looks like all of the hype about the Saints “not being that bad” this year might not be all that it is cracked up to be. They did however keep up with the Colts the first half with a 10-10 tie at halftime.

Our fantasy draft was this past Sunday. I got to pick the 19th round guy–all by myself. I made it late to the “live” draft and the computer picked for me.

Here is the “probable” starting roster for the 07-08 Rolling Stones.

  • Matt Hasselback-QB
  • Anquan Boldin–WR Ari
  • Marvin, already got me 14 points last night, Harrison-WR Ind
  • Lee Evans–WR Buf
  • Steven Jackson–RB Stl
  • Ronnie Brown–RB Mia
  • Kellen”I am a soldier,” not even close to as good as your dad, Winslow-TE Cle
  • Plus the kickers, defense (Oakland & Miami) and defensive position players to round out the 19 spots.

We’ll see how it goes, I made it to the final game last year and lost by a very short margin in the final game. Dan has an awesome trophy to go in his office at Ball Supply–the golden football made by Gary “too much free time” Daily with “Chumpions” on the placard. Wish I would have taken a picture of it! Can’t wait to get my hands on that beauty!!

Who would you rather be??

/0 Comments/in /by

It is a sad day indeed when the top 3 of 5 stories on SportCenter are concerning major controversies in three different professional sport leagues. NBA Commissioner, David Stern, has his hands full with a Chicago “Black Sox” controversy with an official betting on games he was calling. MLB commissioner, Bud Selig is dealing with the most cherished record in arguably all of sports . . . 755 home runs . . . being broken by a guy that is suspected to use steroids. Pay me now or pay me later, Bud. But the problem is we are all paying. Alex Rodriguez can’t get to 755 or more fast enough!! And finally, NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, has Michael Vick, QB of the Atlanta Falcons caught up in a dog fighting ring that is probably going to end up in serious jail time!

So the questions is . . . Who would you rather be? David Stern, Bud Selig, or Roger Goodell. Better get some antacid boys, it’s going to be a long fall!

Pujols Snubbed . . . LaRussa’s Managing Skills Questioned–again

/0 Comments/in , /by

Taylor and I were excited to watch the All-Star Game the other night. I’m pretty much an NL guy, so I am pretty bummed for the AL to win again. But at least there WAS a winner this year unlike the fiasco in Milwaukee that brought about this goofy “this time it counts, winner gets home field” for the World Series.

It is fun to view the great game through Taylor’s eyes. Read more

Little Yadi

/0 Comments/in , , /by

One of Taylor’s favorite players on the Cardinals is catcher, Yadier Molina. It seems that on our baseball team, everyone wants to play catcher. I don’t know if it is the gear, the action of a ball coming all of the time, getting to stand by a guy like me. . . don’t know. In our hurry back from our maiden voyage of the ol’ RV, Taylor failed to put his glove in his bag. taylor-yadi.jpgSo he had to play catcher back there with no glove. (Don’t worry DFS, it is coach pitch and he was “catching” them off the bounce.) I think he really did learn (is learning) a lesson about taking care of your stuff.

Here he is in action. Don’t know who that fat guy is next to him, though.

Oh, Did I mention . . . ?

/0 Comments/in , /by

Close upOh, did I mention that the St. Louis Cardinals World Series Trophy from 2006 was on display to look at and have your picture taken with?? Well, it was and Taylor and I got our picture taken by the trophy. The Springfield Cardinals really do a great job! They had their staff photographer there to take professional photographs that you could buy on the web. They also had some other staff there to take pictures with individual’s cameras. That dude probably handled 3000 different cameras that night. I will post the professional photo when I get it. But for now, here are a few from the game and the trophy.

dsc00100.JPG

Redbird Roost

/0 Comments/in , /by

Hammons Field, Springfield, MOWe got a call after work yesterday from Jenny’s brother, Tad. He acquired some Springfield Cardinals tickets and asked Taylor and I to come with he and his son, Andrew. We immediately said “yes” and were off to the game. These weren’t just any tickets, but they were tickets to the “Redbird Roost.” The Redbird Roost is a special deck that has an all you can eat buffet included with your seat. Needless to say. . . it was an AWESOME night of way too much food and minor league baseball. Thanks Tad for the tickets! We had a blast!

Overcoming Adversity Illustrated

/0 Comments/in , , /by

This past Sunday’s sermon was on “overcoming adversity.” There is no better illustration than the the Nixa Lady Eagles basketball team this season. nixasectionalcelebrate.jpgThere was a really great article in the News-Leader on Tuesday that says it all. The varsity girls started the season with 6 fewer girls than planned, so the “youngsters” had to step up and play on the varsity! And stepped up they have done! They beat my alma mater Kickapoo in Nixa on Friday night to win the District Championship. . . something they were not “supposed” to do!
We took a family road trip to see them play last night in Bolivar and all I can say is “unbelievable!” They have really defied a TON of odds and overcome a TON oflukodrive.jpg adversity to be one step away from going to Columbia to take part in a Final Four! Congratulations to coach Randy Towe and the Nixa Lady Eagles. Good luck on Saturday!

Free Throws, Free Throws, Free Throws

/3 Comments/in /by

frustratedbears.jpegIt’s 15 feet from the basket . . . on basketball courts all over the planet. We shoot them from the time you begin playing basketball as a kid (although it might be from the bottom of the circle for the little ones!). In the end, you have to make your free throws in big games. Missouri State ended the game last night against Southern Illinois 15 of 25 from the line. The final score was 51-47 SIU.You can’t miss free throws and expect to win in the MVC or any other conference for that matter! The difference it seems in the game last night from my seat way up in the blue seats–poise. Southern Illinois looked and acted like they had been there before at the two minute mark . . . sadly, the Bears didn’t. Missed free throws, poor execution by the Bears. . . made free throws, poise in execution by the Salukis equals a win for SIU.

Sure the officiating was AWFUL (and seems to be worse every year), but it was awful for both teams. It depends how you are going to react to the horrible calls. Making or missing free throws doesn’t depend on the officials! They called their share of fouls on Southern Illinois, we just didn’t make our free throws!!

ladies.jpeg

I really hope we can learn from this loss. We are probably going to have to win out the rest of the season and go deep or win the Valley Tournament to get to the NCAA Tournament. Missed free throws=Missed opportunities.

The pictures in the News-Leader say it all.

Five of the Best Words in Sports

/0 Comments/in /by

St-Louis-Cardinals-CelebrationPitchers and catchers report tomorrow! For the WORLD CHAMPION St. Louis Cardinals anyway. For the Cardinals, it could almost be “catchers report tomorrow” as there are many question marks about the pitching staff. With many injuries, trades, free agents, etc. it should be an interesting Spring Training in Florida for the Redbirds. It is good to have the great game back on the radar.