Sunday, April 11, 2010

Phil Mickelson Wins The Masters for the 3rd Time at Augusta


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Just moments ago Phil Mickelson won his 3rd green jacket at The Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia.

Phil Mickelson finishes with a 16 under for the round, a 4th place overall in Masters Tournament history. Phil did not lead the Masters after 18 holes, after 36 holes, or after 54 holes but wins the Masters today regardless.

Phil had an incredible shot from out of the woods on hole 13 which landed about 5 feet from the cup. He would birdie 13 and move on. Phil's wife Amy Mickelson has been undergoing treatments for breast cancer and laid down in the hotel room during much of The Masters Tournament. She and their three children were present for the final round today as Phil and Amy had an emotional embrace at the end of the 18th hole celebrating Phil's victory.

Tiger Woods was supposed to be the headline in The Masters tournament as he returned from a long hiatus from the game of golf after his public affairs sent him to the top of every news story in the country. Tiger did not perform up to his own standards this week but he still put up a 4th place showing of 11 under par.

But it was Phil Mickelson and his wife Amy at the finish of the 18th hole that made the story today; a very emotional win for an overjoyed Phil Mickelson.

Congratulations to one of the only left handed golfers on the tour, Phil Mickelson.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Kansas City Royals Home Opener - Kauffman Stadium


Kansas City Royals Home Opener at the "K" - Kauffman Stadium

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Basically known as adult Kansas City working class "ditch day", The Kansas City Royals home opener was packed with work-ditching Kansas Citians who, like every year consider opening day a national holiday. I too, am one of those people. Opening day really should be recognized as a Kansas City holiday. I mean who actually called in sick that day and expected anyone to believe them? There were a few children out there as well who's parents must have snuck them out of school.

But, a day outside beats a day behind the old computer monitor so this is the way the Kansas City Royals' opening day turned out:

No problem getting in the gate - we got to Kauffman about 2:20pm - perfect. The parking attendants DO NOT accept credit cards which is stupid considering no one carries cash anymore. The old man let us in anyway once he figured out who I was. Good start - free parking. Lots of tailgating going on, looks like many of them had been there since lunch or before. Not much baseball throwing, mostly football throwing. I think for most this was a teaser for the upcoming Kansas City Chiefs season and the required tailgating. This was proved to be correct when during the National Anthem, the entire stadium did the "and the home, of the....CHIEFS!" chant.

Enter the madness. When they say "sold out", they mean it. There were MASSIVE lines for anything that you wanted (or needed) to take care of. The beer vendors were the slowest in the universe. Our first one was a young black girl and an older white guy. It took us about 20 minutes to move up 5 spaces in line. The old man would take someone's order, one person at a time, even if it was ONE beer or hot dog. Then he would slowly bring the item over to the counter, set it down in front of the girl and wait for her to ring the item(s) up. He would put up his hand and say "hold on" if the next person in line tried to order while she was ringing the last person up. So he had to stand there doing nothing until she was done ringing up? That inept team was getting some great comments thrown at them as you can imagine. Next was the line to the bathroom. Approximate wait, 15 minutes. Guys line longer than the girls for a change. When you get in the bathroom you find out why. Three individual urinal stalls and 2 crappers. That's going to be a problem.

Anyway, after we got our beer we found our seats which were awesome. We had Outfield Box Seats next to the new Party Deck. It was a great view and we got there right when Zach Greinke was walking towards the dugout to the cheers of enthusiastic fans. Directly to our right, the new Party Deck area did not look like a good section to be in - WAY too over-crowded, standing room only for the most part, and unless you were up against the front railing you couldn't see a thing except the back of the person's head in front of you. The beer vendor NEVER came around. We had to wait in the 30+ minute lines EVERY time. The natives were restless.

Almost like magic, the sky opened up and the sun came out just as the opening ceremonies were starting. Awesome touch. The Glass family must have more money than we think :)

They announce the lineups:

Royals Lineup

D. Dejesus – RF
S. Podsednik – LF
B. Butler – 1B
R. Ankiel – CF
J. Guillen – DH
W. Bloomquist – 3B
Y. Betancourt – SS
J. Kendall – C
S. Getz – 2B

Starting Pitcher: Zach Greinke

The Band that Stunk Up the Field...

Enter the worst bunch of clowns we have ever seen, the so called "band" that opened up for the Kansas City Royals home opener, was the most horrific thing anyone had ever seen. They were lip syncing to some terrible song on a tiny little box of a stage with no flare or fanfare. The female lead singer was wearing white trash jean shorts with high heels on - yipes. There was a super dork of a white guy trying to be "hard core" dressed like a street bum, kind of like Justin Timberlake on crack. Then there was two old guys on drums and a fake keyboard, respectively. There was an old black guy playing the fake bass and he was the only one who bothered to dress up. I can't believe that whatever band given the chance to perform at the Kansas City Royals Home Opener would do so little to make a good showing. There are way too many great Kansas City bands out there to have wasted this opportunity on these schmucks. Whoever is in charge of marketing with the Royals really should have snubbed that band out in the planning stages. Must have been some friends of someone who works at the Royals front office because this band, or whatever it was, totally sucked. NEXT!

Kansas City native David Cook sang the National Anthem. His voice was a little hoarse but he did fine. It's hard to sing outdoors and it's REALLY hard to sing the National Anthem - go ahead, try it :) Then the fighter jets did an awesome fly over.

After the stench of the opening band left the field they introduced members of past Royals organizations such as Amos Otis, George Brett, and the biggest applause was for Willie Wilson. Video montages on the scoreboard followed and then the Kansas City Royals Home Opener commenced.

Basically, the game was pretty boring as neither team had any stand-out big hitters. Single here, double there, dropped infield fly ball by the Royals in the first inning allowing Detroit to score first. Yuniesky Betancourt provided a nice distraction by homering to left field. Zach Greinke pitched an OK game until they caught on to him in the 6th inning. The Royals bullpen collectively failed miserably, and Royals tumbled to an 8-4 loss on opening day at the K. We left sometime during the 8th inning to beat the traffic.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Scott Roeder Sentence - Murder of Dr. George Tiller


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Scott Roeder Sentence - Murder of Dr. George Tiller, Late Term Abortion Clinic Doctor

Dr. George Tiller of Wichita, Kansas was one of the only abortion doctors left in the country who would perform late term abortions from his abortion clinic in Wichita. Wichita, Kansas was known as the abortion capital of the United States. This practice of performing late term abortions in the state of Kansas attracted the attention (and frustration) of an anti-abortion group lead by Scott Roeder from Merriam, Kansas near Kansas City, Missouri.

On May 31st, 2009 Scott Roeder killed Dr. George Tiller in his church by putting a gun to his head and killing him execution style. Scott Roeder had actually visited the church for several Sundays in a row, waiting for his chance to kill Dr. Tiller. He always parked his car facing out for an easy escape and sat in the back of the church. Scott Roeder is being sentenced today in the Sedgwick County Kansas District Court for the murder of Dr. George Tiller. He faces either a mandatory life sentence with possibility of parole after 25 years, OR he faces what is known as a "hard 50" - or 50 years without possibility of parole.

Scott Roeder was known among friends as a religious fanatic - and most of the friends who spoke on Scott's behalf in court were obviously religious fanatics as well, quoting Psalms 139 - "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb" to attempt to defend Scott Roeder's actions. This is yet another example of someone who took the stories and quotes in the Bible too seriously. The Bible was written thousands of years ago and it is a nice little story book, or mythology if you will, but the Bible is by no means to be taken literally in this modern day and age. Unfortunately for Dr. George Tiller, Scott Roeder and his group were brainwashed Bible freaks who took the ancient story book a little too seriously.

Dr. Warren Hern who was a close personal friend of Dr. George Tiller continues to perform late term abortions at his abortion clinic in Boulder, Colorado. He was interviewed and he stated that it was not enough for the law to find and punish criminals such as Scott Roeder AFTER they have committed a crime. Dr. Hern stressed the importance of enforcing the FACE ACT - Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances - that was passed in 1993 providing for the safe passage of women seeking abortions in abortion clinics.

What is interesting about the case of the murder of Dr. George Tiller by Scott Roeder is the persistence of the abortion doctors who perform late term abortions. It is understandable that it is completely legal to perform late term abortions, but the constant death threats from anti abortion groups would seemingly make life as one of those abortion doctors too difficult to bear. It's true that it would take a great amount of bravery to be a late term abortion doctor, but at some point the danger would become too great. These doctors need to think about their families and friends and realize that the job is just too dangerous. That is obviously the point that Scott Roeder was trying to make when he stalked and murdered Dr. George Tiller - he was sending a message to the remaining late term abortion doctors.

Scott Roeder was known among friends as a religious fanatic - and most of the friends who spoke on Scott's behalf in court were obviously religious fanatics as well, quoting Psalms 139 - For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. It's strange that in this modern day and age people still actually believe that the bible is anything but a nice little story and mythological at best. But Scott Roeder and his group were brainwashed bible freaks who took the ancient story book a little too seriously.

Scott Roeder, murderer of Dr. George Tiller Interview

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Cheap Kansas City golf courses - fun golf courses in kc



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Cheap but fun golf courses in Kansas City - fun and affordable golf in KC

Cheap golf courses in Kansas City are abundant and we're going to tell you about the best ones for skill level, fun level and of course cheap level. Kansas City golf courses are some of the best courses in the Midwest and offer many levels of challenges and prices. Cheap golf courses in Kansas City are usually some of the most fun courses to play!

Minor Park Golf Course

Probably one of the most notorious cheap golf courses in Kansas City. Minor Park is located on Holmes Road just South of Red Bridge Road in southern Kansas City. Their info is:

11215 Holmes Road Kansas City, MO 64131 - (816) 942-4033

Minor Park Golf Course is typically around $30 per round (including cart), but if you visit the website (click on title link above) they offer rates as low as $15 - it doesn't say if that includes a cart or not. Minor Park is one of the shortest golf courses in Kansas City and it tops our list of cheap golf courses in Kansas City mostly because it is a great little course. We rate it as follows:

Cheap - prices range from $15 to $45 depending on the time of day and the season.
How Crowded - Minor can definitely get crowded. Sundays are tough, be sure and make a tee time. And always call ahead during peak season as they have several leagues and a few local high school golf teams practice there.
Difficulty - Minor is one of the easiest golf courses in Kansas City. It is short (only 5700 yards) and straight. Some of the greens are very small which offers a nice challenge. There are also a couple of challenging holes including a steep uphill par 3 (hole 4) with a contact lens shaped green that does not like to hold your ball.
Condition - Minor Park is usually in pretty good shape. The fairways are zoysia and the greens are usually in good shape. The only thing to watch out for at Minor Park are what the local golfers call "the moats". Most of the greens have a swampy "moat" like ring around the outside of them, so if you hit the ball just short of the green, it will usually stick in the mud or you will get almost no bounce or roll.
Fun - Minor Park Golf Course is a great course if you just want to get out and enjoy the weather, drink a few beers and not worry so much about your golf game as you will probably play better there than most courses due to it's short length and easy holes.

Hodge Park Golf Course

Hodge Park Golf Course located at 7000 Northeast Barry Road Old Kansas City, MO 64156 - (816) 781-4152 is a great course if your timing is good. They tend to get EXTREMELY busy so please call ahead. Hodge Park is listed in our cheap golf courses in Kansas City list because their pricing is very fair (between $20 and $35) depending on the time of day / week. Hodge Park offers a good variety of holes including a massive par 5 (hole 4) that has a blind approach to an elevated green with water (that you can't see on your approach shot on your immediate left. It offers a great drivable par 4 that overlooks a beautiful lake. We rate Hodge in the following golf course categories:

Cheap - prices range from $20 to $35 depending on the time of day and the season.
How Crowded - Hodge gets VERY crowded - definitely make a tee time or call ahead.
Difficulty - Hodge is a good mix of easy and semi-difficult holes, I think that the course record there is somewhere around a 62 originally set by Shawn Cassity.
Condition - Hodge Park is usually in pretty good shape.
Fun - You can really score well at Hodge if you bring your A game. Otherwise you can relax and enjoy some of the easier holes and still land in the 80's or low 90's with minimal effort.

River Oaks Golf Course

14204 Saint Andrews Drive
Grandview, MO 64030-4128
(816) 966-8111

You want to talk about cheap golf courses in Kansas City, well - this one doesn't even have a website! River Oaks is the ultimate cheap golf course in Kansas City. Located in lower class Grandview, Missouri (just south of the Kansas City area on 71 highway), this course literally winds it's way through a lower class neighborhood - like some sort of surreal country club full of poor people. The people that live on the golf course are completely oblivious to the game of golf and will occasionally wander out onto the course walking their dogs or playing with their children. Rates run from $15 - $25 depending on the time of day / week. One of the par 3's is located next to a city park - jungle gym, swing sets and all! You've got to see it to believe it. Unmowed yards, barking ghetto dogs, BBQ grills in every yard, rap music bumping in the distance. It's a site you won't believe.

But here's the kicker - we LOVE this place! The course is actually pretty challenging - there's a par 3 that's 220 yards long! Another great thing about this course is that (when they're working) they have GPS on the golf carts :) We love this little gem and we rate it as follows:

Cheap - prices range from $15 to $25 depending on the time of day and the season.
How Crowded - River Oaks Golf Course is not usually crowded - there's no real reason to call ahead.
Difficulty - River Oaks is surprisingly difficult as you wind your way around the ghetto housing.
Condition - Part of the reason that River Oaks is surprisingly difficult is because it is not in the best shape. Fairways are a little sparse (it's better to move your ball into the rough and hit).
Fun - You just have to see this place at least once - it's really a fun treat! They offer a FULL BAR which is cool too.

More cheap Kansas City golf courses to come soon - stay tuned!

If you have specific questions, please post them as a comment - no sign up required - quick commenting - and we will try to answer your questions quickly.  Thank you!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Matt Baker murders wife Kari - Minister found guilty



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Minister found guilty of murder, receives 65 years in prison.

Matt Baker, a minister at Crossroads Baptist Church near Lorena, Texas was found guilty today of the murder of his wife Kari and was sentenced to 65 years in a Texas state prison.

Kari Baker was found dead just after midnight on April 8th, 2006 in her bedroom where a wine cooler bottle and Unisom sleeping pills were found. Her husband, Matt Baker, called 911 and reported that Kari had committed suicide because she was depressed over the death of her 16 month old daughter Kassidy who had a brain tumor. At the trial, Kari's mother testified that crushed up pills were found in Matt Baker's briefcase a couple of days before Kari's death and that he had accused Kari of being responsible for Kassidy's death.

The strangest thing about the case was that Kari's supposed suicide note was TYPED up and printed out - not the way suicide notes are usually drawn up. The defense attorneys lead by Guy James Gray tried to use this information to discredit the prosecution by claiming that the printer used to print out the suicide note came from a location not accessible to Matt Baker but only to Kari Baker.

Minister Matt Baker was allegedly sleeping with Crossroads Baptist Church member Vanessa Bulls after her divorce, abusing his power as a pastor according to friends and family members.

Matt Baker's defense attorney team asked permission from the court to withdraw from the case two weeks before sentencing and were denied this permission from the judge. Humorous comments from Baker's lead defense attorney Guy James Gray went as follows:

"Matt was kind of a sissy boy, the choices he made in school were ones like joining the choir instead of playing football, he wasn't much of a manly guy." I thought that was hysterical, as it came from his own lawyer! After the verdict In Session interviewed Guy James Gray and he then admitted that they had no respect for Matt Baker whatsoever and that they were just going through the motions in the trial. When Matt was sentenced and was being taken away by security, he reached out to try to say something to Guy James Gray and Gray stood with his back turned to Baker and completely ignored him.

When Kari's mother took the stand the court room got very heated. She pointed at Matt asking him to look her in the eyes and Baker sat with his head down the entire time she was on the stand. If that's not guilt I don't know what is. He pretty much looked guilty throughout the entire case.

The Jury deliberated for 7 and a half hours before finding Matt Baker guilty of murder. Jurors interviewed later said that they were split 8 to 4 due to shaky testimony from Vanessa Bulls. The eventually reached a verdict that would find pastor Matt Baker guilty of murder and sentenced him to 65 years in a Texas State Prison.

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