The Low and High Times of Missouri Basketball

The last time I wrote about Missouri Tigers basketball, was twice in a couple weeks span in 2014, with an end of season review and then with the news of the Kim Anderson era happening after Frank Haith's escaping the posse out of town. Then between starting college classes and not having the free days off  I used to have from work, my overall blogging slipped and well, Missouri basketball under Kim Anderson didn't exact inspire much to write about....The last three seasons of Missouri basketball produced less than 30 wins combined. As many point out, Frank Haith won that many in his first year at Missouri...

Then the official word, what many of us fans expected sooner, happened after the final regular season game of the season, was that Kim Anderson wasn't coming back for next season. I had decent hopes for Kim Anderson at Mizzou, but he was in over his head, inheriting not the best of situations; a young inexperienced team, as well as a horrendous APR score and the beginnings of an NCAA investigation, that Anderson didn't even get told about until the took the job.

But it wasn't as horrible a situation as his defenders made it out to be. He had quite a bit of talent on his first roster with Jonathan Williams III(who's now starting for the possible NCAA Champion Gonzaga Bulldogs) and several other four stars, recruiting and rerecruiting  some back on board. The biggest knock on Anderson was that people didn't think he'd be able to recruit at a Division I Power 5 conference level, but he'd be good with the x's and o's and developing his players.

Except it turned out to be more the opposite. His first season he had a talented young roster, that seemed on the cusp of getting over their humps, but an injury to their best scorer, Montaque Gill-Caesar , derailed what progress was being made on a team that struggled to make 60 points. And then the transfers started, with multiple players leaving on a yearly basis. This wasn't what people meant by bringing back the years of Norm, specifically the mid-90s version of Norm.

And there seemed to be no progress among players, no continuity, no development and no sense that things were going to get better. Many felt he was lucky to get a third year. His tenure started with an embarrassing home loss to UMKC and this season featured three more home losses to low majors at home that probably sealed his fate for good.

As the lows started to wear off, with the excitement of a coaching search(which happens too frequently with MU for my tastes), things seemed to be on the right track. Early signs seemed to be that Tom Crean, who was running out of favor, with a cutthroat fan base at Indiana that's stuck in the 1980s, was the man for the job. I was totally on board for this. He's a great coach that's proven he can build up a major conference team, take a team to the Final Four and bring in major talent. Hell, he's recruited Missouri better than Missouri has.

Alas the behind the scenes wrangling didn't pan out and it was soon announced that Cuonzo Martin was offered the job and sources early on indicated he was going to take it. I'd rather have still had Tom Crean, but Martin has shown he can recruit high level talent and build decent teams, where down years are NIT years. The biggest concern is whether he can get over the hump of hovering around 20 wins and not be perceived as a job jumper. I really think he'd still be at Tennessee if not for sort of being Frank Haithed out of town. We want a guy that wants to be here for the long haul and at least in the press conference that's what Martin alluded to too. 

Of course that same day or the day after, it was announced that Washington was parting ways with Lorenzo Romar, for six straight years of missing the NCAA Tournament, while having stellar talent and recruiting classes. And he happened to have the number one recruit by many services coming in, whose father happened to be an assistant coach for Romar. When that axe fell, Michael Porter Sr. started making plans and rumors of a job offer to be an assistant at Missouri, where he previously coached on the women's team(His sister-in-law is the coach) started swirling.

When that became official, it was pretty clear that Michael Porter Jr. was coming to the Tigers. The number one player in the country was coming back home and going to play for Ol' Mizzou. For a MU fan, the 180° turnaround in a matter of weeks has been something out of our wildest dreams. Good things don't happent ot Missouri.  Martin has gotten interest drummed up, all while he's still not even done recruiting  and not even coached a game for us yet!

All I know, is that I'm ready for next fall.

A 2016 Collegiate Men's Olympic Basketball Team

Has it really been four years, since I first did this during the 2012 Olympics? Why, yes it has. I did manage to go back and fill in all of the other years Olympics team with college stars and wanted to for the World Championship teams as well, but life and wasting time have taken hold.

So, while I intended to get to this a while back, I figured I'd better get to it now. And I'll continue the trend of picking the guys that were in college last year, even if they've signed pro contracts and played in the Summer League or whatever it's called.
My coach this time out, is the great(I have to grudgingly admit this as a MU fan. Oh what could have been in 1999...) Bill Self, the head coach of Kansas.

Starters

• PF/C Brice Johnson (North Carolina)
• PF Perry Ellis (Kansas)
• SF/SG Denzel Valentine (Michigan State) 
• SG Malcolm Brogdon (Virginia)
• PG Tyler Ulis (Kentucky)

Bench

• C A.J. Hammons (Purdue)
• C Kaleb Tarczewski (Arizona) 
• F Georges Niang (Iowa State)
• F Brandon Ingram (Duke)
• SG/SF Wayne Selden (Kansas)
• SG Grayson Allen (Duke) 
• PG Frank Mason III (Kansas) 

 Similar to what he did, by taking his whole KU team for the World University Games in 2015, I think Self takes at least three of his Jayhawks. Even though he likes to play with two point guards on the floor, I think he only chooses two true point guards, due to the amazing Denzel Valentine, as well as Grayson Allen who did a lot of the running the show for Duke in 2015-16.
Overall I think the team is pretty versatile. I probably picked one too many big guys, instead of another guard(Marcus Paige, Kris Dunn, Ron Baker, Fred Van Vleet), but having extra size and height is always a good thing. The forwards are the same way, being leaner and more athletic, which helps match the style du jour of the Golden State Warriors. Again, there were several that probably should be on this team (Nigel Hayes, Alex Poythress come to mind) from that spot. There were just a lot of of talented and upperclass players which made these choices hard.

 Now, maybe I'll get to filling in the teams for the World Championships....

Meet Me in Kansas City; 4/7 Bruce Springsteen Sprint Center Concert Review

I almost didn't get to see the Boss this time out. St. Louis was announced as getting one of the original dates for his The River 2016 Tour. The day they went on sale, I didn't get up early and by the time I checked only nosebleeds were left. And it was "sold out" by the late afternoon.(I use that term loosely because the day of the March 6 show or a day before, I could have gotten tickets off Ticketmaster. Though nosebleeds again).

There were several reasons for this, one he was playing in Chaifetz Arena, instead of Scottrade Center, due to them having the Arch Madness tournament going on that weekend and Chaifetz holds half of what Scottrade does. That and St. Louis has increasingly seen a lot of quick "sell-outs" recently, which to me means the legal scalpers and secondary sites are getting most of  them right-away.

Another key factor was there was only sixteen or so dates originally announced, which meant people all over the country might be planning a trip to see it. Not to mention people from Kansas City.

Lo and behold, a month of two later, more dates were added and K.C. got a date. The night before they went onsale, I made sure I knew my passwords for the AXS ticket site and my internal clock got me up in time. I played around for forty minutes or so until I got seats 17 rows up on the side and in the closest or next closest section towards the stage. I was gonna see the Boss and the E Street Band in 2016 after all.

Me and dad arrived about an hour before the actual start time, mainly because he couldn't find Popeye's. He passed up one in Oak Grove and then had to settle for a hot dog and soda at the Sprint Center. He's still trying to get to pay the $11 for that. Not gonna happen.
We also failed to find the proper exit, even though we'd been there three times previous. It's a quick short exit, but we missed it and had to do some back and forths. We did the same thing leaving, though more from not having a proper exit to I-70, and I wound up in Kansas, leaving the state for the first time in at least five years. The last time I can for sure remember leaving Missouri, was in similar fashion after me and my brother saw Pearl Jam in St. Louis. We didn't make a good exit and wound up taking a detour into Illinois.


Bruce and the band hit the stage a few minutes after 8. Their entrance two by two(sans Patty, who's never been at the four shows I've seen) until Bruce comes out with house lights up, is not quite as powerful as the past, with the house lights getting turned out all at once and the stage lights not coming on until after the first notes are played. The opening song and The River outtake Meet Me in the City is a strong opener, up tempo and catchy. He also threw in some ad libs to Kansas City, about "where the crazy little women were at."  Then, Bruce gave us the standard intro to the album about being about, "love, marriage, sex...I wanted to write about everything.

I'll admit, though I got the River Deluxe Box Set, I haven't given the album a proper listen, though know most of the songs. It's a challenge playing a 20 song double album in concert, which clocked in close to two hours. Overall it was a great experience, but with so many ballads and lesser known material it can be a struggle for audiences.

And at the Sprint Center it was no different, which with previous Kansas City concerts, I've been they've been pretty laconic and mellow. The crowd was into it with the faster paced and rocking numbers and would sit down and take in the ballads and slower numbers. Crush on You, You Can Look, Out in the Street, Cadillac Ranch,(Which, he sing, "...in the Kansas night." Wrong state) and Ramrod were kick ass and he had the crowd's full attention.
The middle part of the album performance, seemed to sag down the show. With the opening songs, it felt like it breezed by, until around I Wanna Marry You. The funny thing was by the time the last five, four of which were slower ballads, came around I felt they came off better. Fade Away and the Price You Pay, were two of the stronger parts. Maybe, I just knew the album portion was about down.

But as soon the River portion, was done, it was an apparent audible into Badlands, which got the crowd pumped again and kept them up the rest of the show.  There was another audible to Candy's Room, but no real surprises the rest of the way, save for The Rising not being played. The first time out of four that he hasn't played it. But She's the One has made it all four times.

By the time he hit Thunder Road, I knew it was pretty close to E-Street auto pilot the rest of the way. I discussed with my dad, that he might play a Merle Haggard tribute song, but alas it didn't come to pass. I was mostly hoping for a surprise or song or two I've never seen. He did do Bobby Jean along with Shout, which fulfilled that. Well, in addition to the 17 on the River I'd never seen, plus the opener.

Overall, I'd say the last Kansas City show was better and probably my favorite of the four shows I've seen.(If I'd been a bigger fan at the time, the St. Louis 2008 show would have probably blown me away.) The album while good and gave me two of my favorites, in Two Hearts and Cadillac Ranch, which I'd never seen live, lose some of the randomness and uniqueness of a Bruce show. He didn't play any sign requests. Then again, I think I saw just a handful, Crush on You, Lucky Town, Death to My Hometown and something else that I can't remember. Also, apart from a few intros during the River, there wasn't much rapport with the audience, save for the band intros during Shout and the foodbank shout out before Born to Run.
One cool sign that did get rewarded, was one that read, 'Weinberg's a Badass! Max after the band lineup walked over and gave that person his drumsticks. I've think I've said it every time I've seen him, but Max is well...a Badass. He's probably the hardest working man in show business, when playing with the Boss.

It was a good show and definitely worth it. And I'm sure if I wasn't a set list watcher and reader on Backstreets, I'd have enjoyed everything a lot more. And I'm hoping of course for one more run of shows in the future....

Set List

Meet Me in the City
The Ties That Bind
Sherry Darling
Jackson Cage
Two Hearts
Independence Day
Hungry Heart
Out in the Street
Crush On You
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
I Wanna Marry You
The River
Point Blank
Cadillac Ranch
I'm a Rocker
Fade Away
Stolen Car
Ramrod
The Price You Pay
Drive All Night
Wreck on the Highway
Badlands
No Surrender
Candy's Room
Because the Night
She's the One
Backstreets
Thunder Road
Born to Run
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
Shout
Bobby Jean 


KC Star Review and Backstreets Review

Who Made It? Yes They Did; 3/26 The Who Concert Review

The Who, like many adolescent males, became my band when I was 16. My dad had a Greatest Hits album, that truly wasn't, that as I started playing more songs from, the more each captivated me. While there was only 13 songs(and it didn't have Baba O'Riley, I Can't Explain, among others), each seemed unique and versatile. From the years of 2000-2005 they were close to my end all tastes in music, until I started sliding toward Bob Dylan.

While it's now down to the Two really, I've always wanted to see them in concert. In 2002, they had announced a date in St. Louis, but never went through with it and did a Chicago charity show instead. On the Endless Wire Tour in 2006-07, they skipped over Missouri again, yet played Des Moines and Little Rock. The same thing with the 2012-13 Quadrophenia Tour and other mini tours they've done in the last sixteen years.

However, the Who announced their The Who Hits 50! Tour in 2014, as their last big tour. And it really might be this time, given their ages. And there were St. Louis and Kansas City dates, early on in the tour. I got St. Louis tickets and was as excited as could be. I was finally going to see my teenage heroes, May 7, 2015.
Then a few days before the concert, they postponed both Missouri dates and Louisville, due to Roger Daltrey's cold. They soon announced a new date of December 7 as the makeup date, during the second American leg. Only then, a few months later, they announced that entire leg was postponed due to Daltrey contacting viral meningitis.

The third date, was eventually announced as March 26, which meant my dad would get to go with me on his birthday. And since it was a holiday weekend, I haven't worked in five years, I didn't need to take a vacation. Or so I thought. Great management, led us to having to work Good Friday and then announcing Monday that we were being scheduled for Saturday and wouldn't honor any new vacations. So, I wound up losing my holiday pay.

And to be honest, I was still checking throughout the day, to make sure it wasn't canceled. Me and dad arrived with thirty minutes to start time, which wound up being pretty close to 7:30, with opening act Tal Wilkenfeld, a female bass player and her band. Her group was decent, but as dad said, 'seemed out of place, opening for the Who," even though she's played with other legends. She played eight songs over 45 minutes. Me and my dad discussed that people are too polite and how in the past, opening acts for the Who, would get booed off stage, if not up to par. 

This was supposed to have been Joan Jett and the Blackhearts as the opening act if we would have got either date last year. But she had other commitments and we got a lesser act. This was the biggest loss of the postponed dates, even more so than my lost holiday pay.

I got good seats, 13 rows off to the stage. And the people  in front of us were of fairly large size, so we didn't stand up Won't Get Fooled Again.

One of the neat things in before the shoe and in-between the sets, the large video screen behind the group, showed the history of the band in various aspects, from memoriams to fashion to current band members. They also showed a history of the Who in St. Louis, mentioning opening for Herman's Hermits in 1967, playing Tommy at Kiel Auditorium in 1969, the Quadrophenia Tour at the Arena in 1973, as well as stops their in 1980 and 1982, the Tommy anniversary tour in 1989 at Busch Stadium and the 1997 Quadrophenia Tour at Riverport.

After a 30 minute set change, The Who took the stage to Who Are You? There was a bit of muddiness in Daltrey's voice in the second song, The Seeker, but that was it. The rest of the night his voice was really strong, compared to previous concert reviews I've read the past 15 years.

I've tried avoiding reading set lists, over the past year or two, though I got a glance in my Facebook newsfeed a week or two ago. But looking now, they've stayed pretty static since last summer and if they would have played the original date, we would have gotten I Can't Explain, Magic Bus and Squeeze Box among others.

Townshend has seemed to gotten mellower with old age. He was plagued by monitor issues, as well as a cold, and during his vocals on Bargain, he could be seen spitting something out between lines. Yet, he remained in high spirits all night, laughing and trading barbs with Daltrey all night. When Daltrey was trying to fill a gap during an ear monitor issue, with thoughts on age and still doing this, Townshend said, "We're fucking old pussies."  Yet both men were spry for seventy year-olds. Townshend jumping around and doing his trademark windmill guitar strums full of action. Daltrey as well running around stage and doing his microphone twirl and catch, though missing it a few times. After all "We're a boy band...Just an ugly one," according to Daltrey.
And Daltrey introduced The Kids Are Alright with an anecdote about getting married and divorced after having a child in 1963. Townshend next introduced I Can See For Miles as their first U.S. hit, when most of us weren't born, in 1967. Someone in the front row said they were born in 1963, or Townshend just used it as a setup, saying, "O.K., you were. That's about the same time Rog was having his child. You're his poor bastard child."

My highlight, was probably Join Together, which had everybody bouncing. One of my very favorite songs I'm One, was dampened  by Pete's cold, which made him sound like "Kermit the Frog." As he started singing with his high voice, Pete was sort of right on.

We got nice suites from both Quadrophenia and Tommy, as well as most of their hits. ("Well, none of them were really hits."). The closing was the one two punch of Baba O'Riley and the piece de resistance Won't Get Fooled Again. Afterwards, Townshend introduced the band, which was comprised of three keyboardists, his brother Simon on rhythm guitar, Pino Palladino on bass and Zak Starkey on drums, who was introduced "This poor fucker had Keith Moon as a babysitter...and turned out completely normal. Surprisingly." He is a stellar drummer, who definitely learned a lot from his baby sitter and is more similar to him than his own famous father.

After a few more words and thanks they left the stage, with no encore. Townshend claimed to want to return see everybody and "take at trip down on that river, before I fucking die!" And it was well worth the wait. The set list and show would have probably better if the concert happened last May, but it was still an amazing journey. And totally worth the lost holiday pay.

Setlist

 

Who Are You
The Seeker
The Kids Are Alright
I Can See For Miles
My Generation
The Real Me
Pictures Of Lily
Behind Blue Eyes
Bargain
Join Together
You Better You Bet
I'm One
The Rock
Love Reign O'er Me
Eminence Front
Amazing Journey>Sparks
Pinball Wizard
See Me Feel Me
Baba O'Riley
Won't Get Fooled Again

Post Dispatch Review

Is Star Wars that great?

I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens today and like 99% of the population, I enjoyed the film. But like this years, Jurassic World, it seems to be a love fest towards the original. The plot reminded me of almost every element of A New Hope. Lucas added elements of his left-wing ideology during the prequels and Abrams adds more characterization but still with simple plots and beliefs. 

And if you break down Star Wars, which doesn't take much breaking down, it's really made up of simple themes. Black and white themes of good vs evil. Bad guys in black Add some special effects and that's Star Wars. Am I wrong?

The biggest question I had, was the how the Republic, after rising again from defeating a sizable portion of the Empire, would allow an army like the First Order to rise? And the only questionable plot device, was Rylo's lack of ability in defeating two individuals who'd never used a light saber and those character's ability to use a light saber so well. About like Stormtrooper's shooting abilities...

But seeing those old characters back on the big screen, brought a smile every time they showed up....

My First Blog of 2015...On December 28?!

I noticed a few months ago, that I've horribly neglected this blog during 2015 and hadn't made a single post. Going by my past, this odd numbered year, should have seen and uptick from last year...

But there have been several factors. Like last year, when I only went to one concert, this year I didn't go to any. I should have seen the Who, but they postponed their St. Louis show twice, from May to December to now in March 2016 (If they don't cancel again). And I balked at going to see the Stones at Arrowhead. In hindsight, I wish I would have, I took that weekend off, but the astronomical ticket prices, plus parking and a long drive to K.C. made me hesitate.

The other key factor that started taking up a lot of my time, was I finally decided to return to college in June. I started doing online classes going for my Bachelor's in Business Management. While I've had free time, after spending copious amounts of time behind a computer typing, spending more time didn't seem as fun of  a way to spend leisure time. If I did any online stuff, it was helping do work on Herocopia, the Astro City wiki. Which I've still slacked off there too...

Not to mention just being on Facebook, a) lets me vent issues of the day and b) tires me out of talking about issues. And there's that whole professionalism thing and wanting to grow up...Maybe...

 And I didn't even do my follow up thoughts to the Missouri Tigers Basketball season, because they were horrible in 2014-15. And they're not looking too good this year as well. I'm hoping the recent game against Illinois, even though a loss, can be a springboard to a more competitive team....

I've already have one concert lined up, and Springsteen is always tempting. Though my classload will start getting worse; upper level classes that will require more writing and research. Something I haven't had to really do in over ten years. So, hopefully 2016 will be a better year for me in general and give me something to post or at least rant about...

Still the Same (Almost); Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band12/13 Concert Review

This year has been quite an anomaly, or maybe it's the new norm as I've hit 30 and become even more frugal and cynical. But this was the first and likely only concert I went to this year. It kept a streak going of me going to at least one concert every year since 2004, but this is the first year since 2005 that I've only been to one. I don't know if it was just not that many good acts I wanted to see or I've just lost a lot of interest. I didn't go see Jamey Johnson at the Blue Note this Spring, like I have the past two years.  But other than that off the top of my head, there weren't really any shows I even remotely thought about going to see. Well, I take that back, I was tempted to go to the Roots N Blues Fest in Columbia to see John Prine and Roseanne Cash, but didn't.
Anyhow, I'd seen Bob Seger, who I previously saw at Scottrade Center in 2011, was returning to St. Louis a couple of months back and sort of thought about it. I had it planned where I was off every weekend from work the last two months anyway, so I just played the waiting game if I could get decent seats and wound up with seats about 13 rows up directly stage left.

Upon arriving an hour early for the 8 PM start time, we were subjected to a waiting in line outside due to the Scottrade Center doing wand checks, no doubt to Ferguson bullshit. But it's a bunch of rich old white people. Thankfully we're in a heatwave for December. Once we got in and settled, the seats were pretty good view, though slightly behind the stage front.
At about 8:15, the opening act the J. Geils Band(sans J. Geils who doesn't play with them) hit the stage, for a ten song 50 minute or so set. They opened with an instrumental before their wild frontman, Peter Wolf hopped out front. For a near seventy year old man, he can rival Mick Jagger for still being in wiry good shape, dancing and jumping around the stage. Not to mention, talking so fast it's unintelligible. 
Overall they were good for an opening act. I knew them mainly from the songs Freeze Frame(which they didn't play), Love Stinks and Centerfold, but think I've heard a couple of their others at some point.

Set List

Sno-cone

Hard Drivin' Man

Give It to Me

Centerfold

Detroit Breakdown

Must of Got Lost

Love Stinks

Lookin' for a Love

Whammer Jammer

Ain't Nothin' But a House Party

After the set change Bob and the Silver Bullet Band hit the stage at around 9:20 and played 20 songs for almost two hours. Bob doesn't change a whole lot about his shows. He opened with the same three song salvo and does the same four songs in  two encores. The encores were funny, as my dad noted that they were setting up his stool for Against the Wind and Night Moves each time before he was even off the stage.
I so wish every artist would stop doing the fake bull shit encores. We know you're coming back, you've held back several of your biggest songs and the house lights are still off. Just play all your set and leave. If the crowd really wants it and stays, play a true encore.
The only other set list complaint was the fact that I wish he would have played the acoustic guitar numbers in a row, instead of alternating almost every time during the mid point of the show. Bring the stool out, take it back for song, then bring it out.
Seger is out in support of his new album Ride Out, which we got five songs from. My dad was super impressed with them and believes it's the whole reason people came out to see him(Sarcasm if you can't tell). The only decent sounding one was All of the Roads, which he preformed acoustically. Another aspect this time, was that he used video screens, which he didn't used to do. From our seats though, it was a slight strain to turn around, but still good to have.

Seger's voice was in decent form, though nowhere near his contemporaries, Springsteen or Neil Young. Mainly due to the fact he could never give up smokes. From our seats, when he left the stage during encores, we could see him lighting up before he got backstage.
But in some faster paced songs, he missed a word. The more acoustic and slower numbers at the piano sounded the strongest. It doesn't help that he has a wall of sound with a horn section and backup singers, plus the rest of the band for the heavier songs.
The highlights for me was Mainstreet and Like a Rock. Mainstreet for whatever reason sounded better here live, especially Alto Reed's sax playing. And part of me hoped he would break out Like A Rock. Last time we saw him, he didn't play it(he'd had it retired since the 90s), but he played it the last time he played St. Louis in Spring 2013. I try to avoid looking at set lists, in order to be surprised, so I wasn't for sure whether he would play it this time or not. It's one of his iconic songs and I'm glad he broke it out.
Overall it was a good time. You know a lot of what to expect with Seger, he plays his big seven hits or so, plus a sprinkling of other songs from his mid to late 70s heyday. Though he didn't play Sunspot Baby this time, Like A Rock might have made this concert a little bit better.

Set List

Roll Me Away
Tryin' To Live My Life Without You
The Fire Down Below
The Devils Right Hand
Mainstreet
Old Time Rock and Roll
The Fireman's Talkin
Come to Poppa
Her Strut
Like A Rock
Traveling Man>Beautiful Loser
All of the Roads
Hey Gypsy
We've Got Tonight
Turn the Page
Detroit Made
-------------
Against the Wind
Hollywood Nights
-------------
Night Moves
Rock and Roll Never Forgets


Looking to the future of my concert going, I'm pretty sure 2015 will rebound slightly. The Who are on their 50th Anniversary Tour with a stop in St. Louis and Kansas City. They have been my overall favorite artist since I was 16, so, that's a pretty much gimme, even if it's just Daltrey and Townshend.