Ode to Kansas Highway 10

There's a fascinating little stretch of highway between Kansas City and Lawrence called K-10. Johnson county sons and daughters who enrolled at K.U. were acquainted with the divided roadway that connected the southwest side of Lawrence with the outskirts of Olathe and Overland Park. It may surprise you that the 45 minute ride inspired a number of musical efforts. Chuck Mead's band The Homestead Grays sang about 285 Desoto, a highway exit back in the 1980s that has since disappeared. A few years later, a local band went one better when they named themselves after a similar sign on K-10, henceforth known as Kill Creek. Ditto for The Eudoras, who adopted the name of an entire town six miles east of Lawrence on the well travelled roadway. Most recently, Lawrence/Kansas City trio OK Jones released a song called, well, K-10.

Love the Hawks

They Jayhawks lost today. It was hard to watch. I bit my hat. But what a season. They won more than 30 times, clinched the conference and the conference tourney title. Came back twice from double digits to defeat Texas. And they won three games in the big dance. That's much better than no wins at all. I'm spoiled like most KU fans, but I can't complain about this season. It was great. (Wished it was better, like the previous 19 years), but I'll take it. Thank you.

50 Years Ago Today

Today marks the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest college basketball games in history. Story by Tom Keegan.

April 2nd: Birthday Alert

A college professor steeped in the media arts once remarked, "If you threw a party and didn't send out invitations, would you expect anyone to show up?" Professors are always steeped in something; pipe tobacco, tweed jackets, or Socratic irony, if you're lucky.

This bearded lecture hall veteran used the analogy to point out the importance of advertising or perhaps underscore a fundamental flaw in my social skills. I owned a pickup truck so I was good with keg transport, but not as handy with the invitations.

And so it is with birthdays, especially mine. I have to advertise to get a return on my special day. Oh, Mrs. Jones always comes through with a kiss and a gift. And Mom, God bless her, is quick with homemade chocolate cake, hand delivered. Grandma sends a card with a generous check, and Dad phones with recollections of waiting in the hospital with sweaty palms for the joyous news, it's a boy! Cigars were lit, people smoked everywhere in 1965, backs were slapped, and relatives drove in from farm and field to get a look at my freshly pressed mug.

Touting your own birthday as an adult is a cagey affair. You gotta weave it into conversation subtly. Force the birthday comment and one seems desperate, as the boy who sacked my groceries last night at Price Chopper reminded me. But if you're too proud to mention it, if you put your friends to the test by keeping mum, your birthday passes unnoticed, much like Arbor Day. Nobody stays home from work, but somewhere a tree is planted in your honor.

This year I'm setting aside any pride I had left before I started this web log and I'm letting you know in advance, it's three weeks and five days until my 42nd birthday. Submit those vacation requests soon, I understand tree planting takes the better part of an afternoon.

A.P. Posts Correction

I know you'll be relieved that the Associated Press issued a correction to their report about the K.U. / Texas basketball game yesterday. Thank you. Good night.

Durant's Ankle and Other Basketball Myths

My son and I drove to Lawrence and watched K.U. win against Texas at Allen Field House today, 90 - 86. I might write more about our fantastic trip later (Thanks, Kurt W), but I wanted to correct some inaccurate reporting by ESPN and the Associated Press here.

I scratched my head after I turned on the TV tonight and ESPN reported that the game turned when Texas star Kevin Durant twisted his ankle in the second half. (K.U. trailed by as many as 16 points earlier in the game) I blew it off to a producer trying to create extra drama, as if the game needed it.

I think ESPN got their bad information from the Associated Press. Here's a quote from their article posted on USA today.com:

Kansas put together a 24-7 run after he got hurt, taking a 59-58 lead on Wright's basket.

The score was actually K.U. 71 Texas 65 when Durant limped off the court and went to the locker room, presumably to get his ankle taped. Our come back was already under way. The same AP article contradicted itself later, albeit this time with correct information:

Kansas was ahead 71-65 when Durant left the game, and held an 81-72 lead when he returned at the 7:19 mark.

That's more like it. This was a great K.U. victory and Texas was a worthy foe, but let's not take away from the excellent Jayhawk second half by linking Durant's injury to K.U.'s run.

Funtime

Earlier I linked to the Embarrassment doing a cover of Funtime at YouTube. Now here's Iggy Pop and David Bowie doing that song on the Dinah Shore daytime talk show. Thanks to the Embarrassment Discussion Group for both links.

Keep the Axles Spinning Easy

The cub scout pinewood derby fanfare is over and I can finally unbutton my woodcrafting collar and loosen my proverbial toolshoop tie. You see, I'm not a handy guy. I admit this to you but not to my seven year-old son, Skyler. He's in that stage where he thinks I'm somewhere between Jesus and Boog Powell. While Boog Powell never walked on water he was pretty handy on the baseball diamond, though his record in cub scout car races is unknown.

The boy and I bought the official kit, fashioned the classic wedge shape, attached weights to bring it up to the five ounce limit, and lubricated the axles. I fretted about the wheels. Those wheels did not roll straight on our kitchen floor. They did not rest level on our countertop. Girly requests for time and attention from the family females were rebuffed while wheels were leveled and straightened.

One wheel didn't touch the ground every time I made necessary adjustments - a violation. I tired different axle approaches: tapping in from the side, pounding in from the bottom, all with the same result. I realized there were too many variables. I glued in the back wheels without a road test and waited a day to add the front wheels to the mix. That helped my sanity if nothing else.

Skyler painted the car. I visualized a Jackson Pollock drip masterpiece, but we goofed when we dripped multiple colors before the first one dried. They mixed together on their own when we weren't looking. Pollock cub-scout blue and yellow drip car turned space green car. Skyler added star and planet stickers and we glued extra weight on top. I lubed the axles with the sanctioned graphite dust, turned it in, heaved a sigh of relief and smiled all the way to the car. This was uncharted water for me, the son of a psychologist, where household tools weren't in the garage, but were kept in the file cabinet; ink blots and cartoons of deer holding enema bags. I shit you not!

Race night got underway after work Friday and I told my son that I didn't know if we'd finish first, but we wouldn't finish last. We stood in the cafetorium at the local Middle School and recited the pledge of allegiance before racing night commenced. We finished first and second place in our qualifying heats. Our grade level featured sixteen racers and we didn't medal, but we were competitive.

The 2nd half of the evening was open pack racing, all ages against each other. 60 cars competed for the pack trophy and a chance to compete at a future district race. The green space machine qualified for the quarter finals and then the semi-finals with some fortunate matchups and solid performances. We didn't advance to district but we finished in a tie for 8th place out of 60 cars and that was pretty good considering I'm the son of the man with the inkblots in the garage. The deer with the enema bag retired.

I trotted out the Desiderata speech about there being those who were greater and lesser than you in many of life's trials in the minivan on the way home. Don't know if that sunk in. We only lived five minutes away from the race site.

P.S. Our neighbor won the whole thing and I must say he also has the best lawn too. I hope they win district. Good Luck. Maybe this summer I'll trade him some ink blots for tips on keeping the axles spinning easy.

More Embarrassment Video

My favorite all-time band doing Funtime. Thanks to the Embo discussion group at yahoo for this youtube link. And after you're doing viewing it, check out the iggy pop/david bowie version from the Dinah Shore show. It will be over on the related links tab on the right hand pane.

Trivia Alert for 1-24-07

I will appear on the Wednesday edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire on GSN. The original ABC broadcast aired 12/13/00. See if I make it into the hot seat with Regis. Airs at 7pm central time. Check your local cable listings.