Fire Coach Stinkle, Coach Q, and The Man!

Does anyone remember why Mizzou Athletic Director Mike Alden fired head football coach Larry Smith? Remember Smith leading the Tigers to their first winning season in over 10 years? He led them to two bowl games. He led them to their first bowl win in almost 20 years. And then he lost the Homecoming game in 2000 to Kansas. He was fired at the end of the season. Many felt like Alden used losing to KU as an excuse to fire Smith so that he could hire his own man, Gary Pinkel. Smith may have only won 26 games in his five years here, but his predecessor Bob Stull only managed 15 wins in five years. In fact, he won more games than the previous two coaches. Prior to coming to Missouri, Smith was the head coach of the USC Trojans and led them to a victory in the Rose Bowl. That's not a bad resume. Gary Pinkel has accumulated only 22 wins in his five years here. If MU wins against Colorado, K-State, Baylor, and a bowl opponent he will only manage to tie Larry Smith statistically. He has never won a bowl game, much less the Grandaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl. So, to be fair to Coach Smith and the Mizzou fans, if Gary Pinkel loses one more game this year he should be fired. Pinkel's teams have lost three straight years to archrival Kansas. That is enough of an excuse to get rid of him. The following link is to a story that sums up the MU-KU story nicely. http://http://www.810whb.com/scripts/archives/getStory.asp?article=11160 Its hard to find a less inventive offense than Gary Pinkel's. Yes, he has won against Nebraska twice, but if you watched those games you know that Brad Smith played two of the greatest games in Mizzou history to win those games. Little credit can go to Pinkel for calling "Quarterback Scramble" 50 times a game.

As far as basketball is concerned, this will be the 100th year of MU hoops. Let the celebration begin. It will be another nightmare year for Coach Snyder. He has a team of nobodys, lingering effects from being placed on NCAA probation for rules violations, and a knack for missing the NCAA Tournement. As soon as this season is over, he will be fired. Alden forced legendary coach Norm Stewart out in order to bring in his own man. That strategy just doesn't seem to be working for the athletic director. If the MU Board of Curators is interested in improving the althletic department while raising ticket prices, parking pass prices, and tuition every year, then they will have to make a radical change. Mike Alden will have to pack his bags while helping Pinkel and Snyder pack theirs, too. Winning isn't everything, but when it costs more each year to attend the University and watch Mizzou sports, AND the University is in the middle of a fund-raising initiative to raise ONE BILLION DOLLARS from private contributions to improve the school, is it too much to ask for a winning program with real leadership?

Happy Halloween

The 2005 holiday season officially begins Monday night with Halloween. "Is Halloween really a part of the Holidays?" you ask. Just go to Wal-mart for your answer. When we looked at costumes for Alex, we found Christmas decorations FIRST! But I'm not complaining. I would keep our house decorated for Christmas all year if Bethany would let me. In our society, people wait for an excuse to act concerned for one another. Whether its reaction to a hurricane or the arrival of Christmas, we act nicer to each other and let our guard down a little during designated times of goodwill toward man. I include Halloween in that category. Parents go trick-or-treating with their kids, people have parties, mass quantities of seasonal treats are consumed. Most people consider Thanksgiving the official start of the holiday season. Not me. Its Halloween for sure. This year, Alex is going to be Batman. Last year he was a Spiderman Cowboy. He got a lot of points for originality. Because he toned it down this year, I will be taking up the slack for him. I will be Garth Raider (Darth Vader). Black cowboy hat, belt, and boots; Darth Vader mask, light saber, and cape; and Oakland Raiders shirt, pants, and jacket. Bethany will be masquerading as an embarrassed wife. We'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

Flying Pigs

Forgive me Father, it has been five days since my last blog entry. (I'm not Catholic, so that is as close to a confessional as I will get.) Since I last blogged, the Tigers beat Nebraska, the White Sox won the World Series, and pigs began to fly. Who would have bet that in back-to-back years, a "cursed" baseball team that hasn't won a World Series in decades and who has the word "Sox" in its name would sweep a team from the National League Central? What are the odds? What are the odds that the Missouri Tigers would beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers 41 to 24 the past two times the teams played at Faurot Field (the only two wins Mizzou has posted against the Huskers in decades)? Have we stepped into the Twilight Zone? What's next? Will the Chiefs win the Superbowl? Will the Democrats win the White House? Will I ever get a job?! Not likely, but it is the prospect of doing the improbable that makes life interesting. Afterall, if we know who will win or what the outcome will be, why would we bother to watch? Isn't that why you keep reading this blog?!

"The Journal" Resurrected

Bill "Mr. Technology" Herrin has done it! He has published The Journal of our 1993 road trip to Vegas on a weblog for all the world to enjoy. It is 47 pages long, so you may want to read a page or two per day, or you may become so enthralled by the drama that you will want to read it from start to finish. Just click on the link to the right of this blog called "Bill and Trav's Excellent Adventure". Click a page to enlarge the photo. Once it is loaded you can move the pointer to it and click on the enlarging tool that pops up to make it appear in its original size (much easier to read). Feel free to post comments and forward the link to everyone you know. "Wait'll they get a load of us...Wait'll!"

Bill and Trav's Excellent Adventure

For those of you who have followed "The Life and Times of Travis Naughton and Bill Herrin" over the past 20 or so years, you may remember an epic road trip that Bill and I went on back in 1993. We chronicled our adventures in a notebook that we called "The Journal". Over the years, the Journal has deteriorated (as have Bill and I), so we decided to preserve it in a permanent format. In the next few days, Bill will have scanned and published all 47 pages of the Journal to a new blog for all the world to enjoy. You will be able to click a link on my blog to access the site. So stay tuned for the launch of the "Virtual Journal" and be sure to tell your friends. They'll be glad you did.

MVP

Last night, Albert Pujols proved to the baseball world that he is beyond a shadow of a doubt, the greatest player in the game today. Down by two runs with two outs in the ninth inning and his team facing elimination from the playoffs, Pujols hit a 3-run home run off of the best relief pitcher in baseball to give the Cardinals a miraculous victory and momentum that will hopefully carry them to the World Series. To call the hit a "blast" is an understatement as the ball hit the windows of the facade of the stadium and then bounced around in the rafters supporting the roof. The official distance was "only" 418 feet, but it went a full 100 feet farther than the 3-run homer that Lance Berkman hit to give the Astros a 2-run lead in the 7th inning. Drama is nothing new to Albert. Pujols has been the most productive hitter over the first five seasons of a career than anyone in the history of the game. His post season performances are making him a legend before our very eyes. Albert Pujols is the MVP.

Wait Till Your Mother Gets Home!

"What kind of dad are you?!" That's what Alex says that Mommy will say when she sees this picture. You gotta ask yourself, "Are the inmates running the asylum or what?" Most definitely.

Home Sweet Home

Its amazing what a little elbow grease can do...

The Fruits of Our Labor

What a difference...

Before and After

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Six Years of Work in One Week

We have lived in our home for over six years now. It was only a year or two old when we bought it, so it didn't need a lot of work to "fix it up." That fact would prove to be our downfall. We got lazy over the next few years and since the house needed very little attention, we gave it very little attention. Our eight year old decks had not received a single drop of stain or water-seal until this week. Our gutters had NEVER been cleaned out. Our siding had only been de-mildewed once. The house was in a sad state of affairs. So Bethany took a week off from work to spend some quality time with Alex and me and to help take on these projects. We powerwashed the decks and the siding, scrubbed and bleached the siding, cleaned out the gutters, stained the decks, installed shutters, mowed the yard, added 480 lbs of mulch to the landscaped areas, and put up a 96' long white pickett fence along the yard. Who knew you could do six years worth of home improvements in one week? (I will post before and after pictures soon.) Special thanks to my Mommy for her help with the decks and shutters! I just hope it will be another six years before Bethany decides to take another "vacation."

You Can't Pick Your Friends

My Momma always says, "Everything happens for a reason." Does this mean she believes in fate? In philosophical terms is she a determinist? Are we determined or are we free? I don't know the answers to any of these questions, but every now and then an odd series of coincidences gets me thinking. A few weeks ago at a Mizzou tailgate party, my friend John Briscoe played a Robert Earl Keen CD while we were hanging out waiting for kickoff. It was a great CD of good ol', southern-fried, beer and blues country. The next week another good friend Doug Hurt invited me to my first Wilco concert in downtown Columbia. It was sort of southern fried rock-a-billy with a good dose of rock and blues. It was great. These two friends are old buddies from growing up in Hannibal. It is cool the way distance and time have not been able to stop us from getting together to listen to a good band or drink a few beers. Of course I have made new friends since moving to Columbia including a fun group of guys I lose money to while playing poker. Thanks to my friend Jerry Putting, I met Paul Shields and Roger Phillips. In the world of strange coincidences, fate, or just sheer accidents, Paul just saw Wilco in concert in Texas at the Austin City Limits Festival within a week of me seeing them and wrote about the experience on his blog (Click "Paul's Blog" link). Roger commented that he hoped Paul had been able to catch the Robert Earl Keen concert as well. Weird, huh? It gets weirder.

Paul and Rog have been friends for years, as have John and Doug. Although the two pairs of friends have never met, they have more in common than they could imagine. They all enjoy good music. All but John are accomplished guitar players. They all enjoy drinking a few beers with their buddies. They all lived in Warrensburg in the 1990's. And of course, they all are friends with me. (Lucky them.) Is it coincidence that in three weeks time, all four of these guys mentioned their affection for these two bands? Is it dumb luck that all four have similar political views as well as taste in music? Is it just plain freaky that they all went to CMSU? Is it fate that they have become my friends? It may be. Could it be true that you really can't pick your friends? It seems that fate may have done the picking in this case. If Mom is right that everything happens for a reason, then what reason could there be for us to be brought together and unleashed upon the world? What more does fate have in store? As Briscoe likes to say, "Wait'll they get a load of us... Wait'll."

Big Boy Turns Five

Yesterday was Alex's 5th birthday. It doesn't seem possible that its been half a decade since he was born. He has grown into a funny, smart, and ornery little guy. (Just like his dad.) For his birthday he received Star Wars toys, a guitar, a truck, and more. (These all could have worked as presents for my birthday as well.) His party was at Cici's Pizza (per his request) and a good time was had by all.