Me and my buddy

Spending some quality time with my godson.

Can't Handle Their Alcohol, er, I mean Success

Come on .... seriously.  As if it isnt bad enough that K-State's first win in their basketball stadium came last night (the stadium was built around 1983) it seems that the coaching staff are incapable of acting appropriately.

 

http://www.themercury.com/News/article.aspx?articleId=fb1c36793e8c40058526527e4cf08d79

Hill arrested for DUI

Staff

Kansas State associate head basketball coach Dalonte Hill was arrested for DUI early Thursday morning, authorities said.

Hill was pulled over shortly after 2 a.m. for a traffic violation on McCall Road, east of Limey Point, according to Pottawatomie County sheriff Greg Riat. The deputy who made the stop believed Hill to be under the influence of alcohol and took him into custody. He was arrested for DUI and released on $500 bond.

Seriously guys.  I will be the first to admit that, from what little of the game I was able to see, K-State was the better of the two teams on the court.  Michael Beesley was a monster and more than backed-up his victory guarantee.  But if the first thing the coaches are going to do is go get bombed and picked up for a DUI, then maybe they don't desserve a successful program.  On the other hand, think of how many lives KU has saved by beating K-State 24 straight times at K-State. 

Weekend in Vegas

Sophia and Abby Playing

My two nieces going nuts up at the Tahoe condo. I guess they had a little left over energy after a day of sledding....

Who can tolerate intolerance?

I went over to my parents house for lunch today before my mom flies off to Canada to visit her brothers and sister and took a gander at the local paper - the Reno Gazette Journal. Now the RGJ will NEVER ever EVER be mistaken for good journalism, but from time to time, if a paper is laying around I will pick one up and see what they have to say.

So today during lunch I was browsing the stories and this story caught my eye: "Anti-gay group to picket Reno soldier's memorial." I thought to myself how ridiculous it is that an "anti-gay group" would picket a fallen hero's memorial service because he is gay. I mean this guy gave up his life for this country and people have the nerve to picket his memorial service and degrade the celebration of his life. But then I actually read the story and found out the soldier is not gay!!!! That's right. This group is going to picket his memorial on an anti-gay platform and the guy is not even gay. So why are they going to do it? Glad you asked, because this is where I really start questioning people and the "tolerance" that Christianity and America is supposed to stand for. According to the article,

"Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, headquartered in Topeka, Kan., frequently picket the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan because church leaders said God is killing soldiers to punish America for condoning homosexuality."

Are you serious? Oh, but it gets better.

"According to its Web sites, the church claims that the deaths in the Iraq are God's way of punishing gay people and at the nation for "enabling" gay people."

* * *

"The group has numerous Web sites such as GodHatesFags.com, GodHatesAmerica.com and others expressing condemnation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Roman Catholics, Muslims and Jews and populations it believes are supporting those groups, including Swedes, Canadians, Irish, British and Americans."

What can any rational person say to this because really, not only are they categorizing and discriminating people for the gender and sexual identities, but they are condemning religions (Catholics, Muslims and Jews) and entire populations and cultures for what they view as supporting "those groups" (i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people).

I love Kansas, but I am continually embarrassed by the narrow minded and intolerant political and social positions which seem to consistently come from Kansas.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, headquartered in Topeka, Kan.

But wait, there's more! Who can tolerate intolerance?

As most of you know, Heath Ledger - star of one of my wife's favorite movies "A Knight's Tale" died of an apparent overdose this week. Well it seems that the folks from Topeka will be busy on both coasts as Mr. Ledger's funeral will also be picketed. The "church" "insists that Ledger, the 28-year-old movie star who was found dead in his New York apartment on Tuesday, supported homosexuality because of his highly acclaimed performance in the film 'Brokeback Mountain.'"

Disgraceful.

Shirley Phelps, of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, told a Sydney radio station that they will also picket any attempt to honour Ledger, 28, at next month's Academy Awards ceremony.
"I'm going to stand outside of any public memorial service that he has here," Ms Phelps said.
"And then the other place I'm going to picket him is when they prop him up to worship his dead, rotting carcass further at the Oscars. I'll be right outside by the red carpet."

Nothing like taking hate and wrapping it up in "christianity" to make someone feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Greatest Christmas gift

So the UPS man came by yesterday and brought a christmas gift from my father-in-law which was sent straight from Lawrence. It is a piece of the basketball floor at Allen Fieldhouse floor. This small piece of Naismith court was the playing surface in the Phog from 1995-2002, which includes the time I was at KU. I even got to play on the floor a few times, although the pick-up games comprised of a bunch of swimmers may have been the be the worst games ever played on this floor.

Anyways, here is a little photo history of the installation of the new floor.

Here is a history of Allen Fieldhouse.

And here is the history of Dr. James Naismith, the father of basketball, and Kansas' only basketball coach with a losing record. The floor at Allen Fieldhouse was named for Dr. Naismith before the start of the 1997-1998 season, the 100th year of Kansas basketball.

Back in the Saddle

After a brief hiatus, I am back in the saddle. Since my last posting, I spent Christmas morning with the Reno family, only to get on a flight that afternoon to Kansas, where I spent the rest of 2007 with the Wichita family. New Years was pretty uneventful - no crime fighting, no nothing.
But hopefully the old wive's tale about staying with the one you kiss at midnight on New Years comes true, especially with the new baby on the way!!!
Anyways, during that time, a lot happened. On the sports front, Kansas finished off their football season with a bang, the bball team is tearing it up. As far as the fam goes, the nieces and nephews are great, and #13's family is coming out to Reno/Tahoe this weekend for a gymnastics meet and ski trip. Should be fun since there is a ton of snow at Tahoe.


Anyways, as you can see from the above video, I am now armed with a digital video camera and will be able to post more content. In the meantime, enjoy the "horsey rides" Uncle Tim gave out last week.