Nothing like Springtime in the Ozarks when blooming redbuds and flowering dogwoods spring to life in the shadow of a rugged forest of cedar, hickory and oak. The ornamentals’ larger hardwood kin follow thereafter, their leafy sprouts sporting varying hues of virgin green. April rains quench Spring’s voracious thirst required to sustain renewed […]
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A Plea to Lee Enterprises
He who wins the race to the bottom loses. In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s race to cut costs—and the newspaper’s size and breadth—the Post, its dwindling readership, and the St. Louis area lose. The Post-Dispatch’s Sunday issue has eroded to a modicum compared to when the Sunday paper was a three-inch slab of print. Back […]
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Mahomes, Gretzky and Greatness
The Kansas City Chiefs run for a third straight Super Bowl title has many proclaiming Patrick Mahomes as the “greatest” player in NFL history. Suffice to say that as the ‘latest of the greatest’, the Chiefs’ Quarterback stands on par with the short list of the NFL’s best ever. The Greeks after all erected a […]
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Return of Prodigal Winter
Mother Nature’s polar express blew into St. Louis bringing with it the return of Old Man Winter’s Prodigal Son. A nine-inch drop of snow and sleet elicited cries of anguish from naysayers as they shivered and shoveled the winter mix from their driveways and scraped clear their car windshields. Conversely, the young and the young […]
“Geography is destiny.” Abraham Verghese. The Missouri and Mississippi Rivers determined our state’s course and marked much of its border. The Rivers determined not only our destiny, but our nation’s as well. The Smithsonian Bureau of American Ethnology notes that the Sioux word Missouri means town of the large canoes, which accurately describes […]
………. “Just because you are a Character doesn’t mean you have Character.” The Wolf (Harvey Keitel), in Pulp Fiction. Pete Rose certainly performed as a memorable character on the fields of Major League Baseball. He rose to the highest level of stardom; his descent after his playing career proved just as dramatic. […]
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The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals
1964 World Champion Cardinals “The 1964 Cardinals never won a game that they could afford to lose; and never lost a game that they had to win.” Bob Broeg, the late Post-Dispatch sportswriter. Broeg’s quote serves as fitting epitaph for the 1964 world championship team that started that season as probable contenders, and ended the […]
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Myopic Destiny
Missouri officials announced plans to sell two Missouri state office buildings located in downtown St. Louis—including the historic Wainwright Building—and to move many of the effected 600 state employees to Chesterfield. The ostensible reason for the move was explained as ‘primarily financial’. However, the underlying motivation for the move appears vindictive at worst, narrow-minded at […]
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Jack and Harry Chat with Lou Brock
Hello again, everybody. Jack Buck here along with Harry Caray up at his heavenly restaurant noshing on some angel food cake. We’re here to tell everyone that the reports of our death were not exaggerated, but the rumored death of the Redbirds earlier this season was indeed an exaggeration. That’s right Jack, for when […]
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Moon Shadows
“When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that’s amore.” Two local yokels witness the full moon rising. The one asks: “What’s closer, the moon or Florida?” The other replies: “Duh. Can you see Florida?” “That lunatic just cut me off!” We make jokes and sing of love in conjunction with the […]