Tomorrow is the 21st anniversary of the George Brett pine tar game. I was out of the country when it happened. I was vacationing in England. I spent three weeks in the UK and by far very few people I talked to had heard of Kansas City, although a slightly larger percentage knew about Kansas from the Wizard of Oz.
There was no internet and no USA today. Baseball scores were hard to find. American sport was not reported on the BBC. But I turned on the hotel television on night after returning from the pubs and there was George Brett, going ballistic in the umpire's face.
"Hey, Kansas City", I said out loud to myself.
Some other local news was reported during my stay. The Christine Craft sexual harassment story got some BBC attention. They even ran the KMBC news open, featuring a view of the Kansas City skyline.
"Hey, Kansas City", I said out loud to myself again.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't spend my time watching a lot of TV, but the bars generally closed at 11pm and so I was back to the hotel soon after. The four channels of the BBC usually ran programming until midnight or 1pm. The sign-off was a rousing version of "God Save the Queen" and a gentle reminder from the BBC announcer to remember to switch off your set.
One night one of the channels featured a jazz concert with Kansas City jazz master Pat Metheny. I guess that counts as a Kansas City reference. The cool thing about that hotel was that the sound and picture used different switches. Wait a minute, that's stupid. Normally it would have been annoying, but I was able to go to bed, switch off the picture, and keep the music going.
Perhaps the most personal Kansas connection I made happened in Bath, England. Fellow traveler buddy Marc and I were shooting some pool in a pub. Mark was wearing a Kansas City Kings T-shirt and a guy approached us and asked if we were from Kansas. It turns out he was a British kid who had enrolled at KU for the fall. We exchanged info as we both were due in Lawrence too. I don't recall the guy's name, but we did meet one time after school started. There was so much happening socially for us freshman that none of us had much free time, nor did we really need to depend on each other. Still, it was nice to meet a Brit national who was heading to Kansas. By the way, Bath was one of my favorite stops on the UK tour. Furthermore, the brand of pool they shoot in the pubs is a bit different from standard U.S. tavern pool.
The pool table itself is much smaller than even the smallest bar job here. Also, they had rules where if you scratched or missed a shot when you hit the opponent's ball without calling it, they got an extra shot. Maybe they were pulling my leg, but that's how they played it. Other places had snooker tables, but those players were a much more serious lot.
There was no internet and no USA today. Baseball scores were hard to find. American sport was not reported on the BBC. But I turned on the hotel television on night after returning from the pubs and there was George Brett, going ballistic in the umpire's face.
"Hey, Kansas City", I said out loud to myself.
Some other local news was reported during my stay. The Christine Craft sexual harassment story got some BBC attention. They even ran the KMBC news open, featuring a view of the Kansas City skyline.
"Hey, Kansas City", I said out loud to myself again.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't spend my time watching a lot of TV, but the bars generally closed at 11pm and so I was back to the hotel soon after. The four channels of the BBC usually ran programming until midnight or 1pm. The sign-off was a rousing version of "God Save the Queen" and a gentle reminder from the BBC announcer to remember to switch off your set.
One night one of the channels featured a jazz concert with Kansas City jazz master Pat Metheny. I guess that counts as a Kansas City reference. The cool thing about that hotel was that the sound and picture used different switches. Wait a minute, that's stupid. Normally it would have been annoying, but I was able to go to bed, switch off the picture, and keep the music going.
Perhaps the most personal Kansas connection I made happened in Bath, England. Fellow traveler buddy Marc and I were shooting some pool in a pub. Mark was wearing a Kansas City Kings T-shirt and a guy approached us and asked if we were from Kansas. It turns out he was a British kid who had enrolled at KU for the fall. We exchanged info as we both were due in Lawrence too. I don't recall the guy's name, but we did meet one time after school started. There was so much happening socially for us freshman that none of us had much free time, nor did we really need to depend on each other. Still, it was nice to meet a Brit national who was heading to Kansas. By the way, Bath was one of my favorite stops on the UK tour. Furthermore, the brand of pool they shoot in the pubs is a bit different from standard U.S. tavern pool.
The pool table itself is much smaller than even the smallest bar job here. Also, they had rules where if you scratched or missed a shot when you hit the opponent's ball without calling it, they got an extra shot. Maybe they were pulling my leg, but that's how they played it. Other places had snooker tables, but those players were a much more serious lot.
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