Guns are Out of Control!

With the latest shooting of a Planned Parenthood, we get the usual tripe from the left side of the aisle about the prevalence of guns.  There are just too many guns!  If they just went away, we'd all be OK.

Funny.  The libs never want to talk about mental health as a public safety issue.  And did mental health play a role in the latest shooting?  You be the judge:

I rest my case.

World's Tallest Flagpole

If you're ever driving from Green Bay to Milwaukee (or vice versa), you're in for a treat.  In the wonderful little town of Sheboygan (and do yourself a favor - a stop in the town is well worth your time), you will see something quite amazing.  

Rising over 400 feet in the air, and hoisting an American flag that is, itself, over four stories tall, is one company's salute to our country.  

Acuity Insurance built the following, and it truly is an awesome sight to see:



Next time you're in the neighborhood, it is worth a look-see.

Saturday Song Share: Mindy Smith - Come to Jesus

Worry not my daughter
Worry not my son
Child, when life don't seem worth livin'
Come to Jesus and let Him hold you in His arms

Family Dysfunction the Rule?

It seems that one of the more popular memes this holiday season is the traditional holiday dinner as a dysfunctional nightmare.  From articles written on advice on how to "survive" Thanksgiving with the family, to commercials which are supposed to be so true that they're funny:



Is this really how most of the world views their families?  Holy cow.

My family is my oasis.  They're the people that love me.  When the rest of the world spins in abject insanity and hatred, they're the one place that I can go to recharge and feel optimistic again.  I don't need advice on how to survive with them - I need advice on how to survive without them.

Perhaps I'm just uniquely fortunate.  Regardless, when I see and hear folks implore such disdain for their own flesh and blood, I'm rendered so very, very sad.

I hope your Thanksgiving was spent with those that recharge you.

For me, that's these folks:

Happy Thanksgiving

Ralph Waldo Emerson said it very well:

For each new morning with its light, 
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, 
For love and friends, 
For everything Thy goodness sends.

Happy Thanksgiving, eveyone

Millennials Want to Ban Your Free Speech

What we're seeing on college campuses these days borders on the shocking.  Bully tactics, disguised under the protective umbrella of "political correctness" are being used to stifle all discussion that doesn't jive with the liberal meme of the day.  Instead of being places of higher learning, colleges are quickly devolving into concentration camps that demand a hive mind mentality.

From where did all of this come?  It surely appears that this is the offshoot of a dedicated and purposeful effort to liberalize education.  For decades now, we've seen a move by liberals to co-opt the educational systems and push their brand of politics into the young skulls of mush.  

The result is a Frankenstein's monster that now feels quite comfortable ignoring one of the primary foundations of our Constitution: the practice of free speech.  Oh, you can talk alright.  You just better not say anything that they consider offensive:

40% of Millennials think it is OK for the "government" to block offensive comments.  This is our future, folks.  It's bad now, and only going to get worse.

Anonymous Attacks Isis

Having spent most of my career in ecommerce, one simple rule that one learns very early on is to not piss off the nerds.  

Hacker group Anonymous has been actively hacking Isis, sharing what they're learning with authorities, and shutting down known Isis Twitter accounts.

They're also RickRolling Isis.  Check it out:

Our upcoming action: spamming verified ISIS hashtags with rickrolls. Will release the list as soon as it's compiled.

— #OpParis (@OpParisOfficial) November 18, 2015

Not sure what RickRolling is?  Let's go to Wikipedia:

Rickrolling is an Internet meme involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The meme is a bait and switch; a person provides a hyperlink which is seemingly relevant to the topic at hand, but actually leads to Astley's video. The link can be masked or obfuscated in some manner so that the user cannot determine the true destination of the link without clicking. People led to the music video are said to have been rickrolled. 

Why is this relevant?  Because that Rick Astley song sucks.  I mean it really sucks:



I love it that some idiot in a dung hut somewhere is clicking on some hashtag like #DeathToInfidels and is immediately served up this.  

As stated earlier, don't piss off the nerds.

Thornberry Creek to Host LPGA Tour Stop in 2017

In a shocking development last week, our home golf course of Thornberry Creek was announced as the site of a LPGA tour event in the 2017 season.  It's not some rinky dink stop either; the purse for the event will be $2 million.

As residents, all we can say is "WOW!"  We've been concerned about the course for a while now.  Golf is in a free fall from a participation standpoint.  When our house was on the market all of last year, our area was ignored by buyers.  Indeed, this area has suffered for years in its inability to turn over real estate for sale.  Frankly, with each subsequent reduction we made to our home's price, it had us incredibly worried.  We had no idea what it would take to sell our home, and how much of a hit we'd have to take.

Now, in one fell swoop, we're on the map.  The prestige the event will bring to the course and the surrounding community is a life saver.  

Beyond that, Thornberry will have to up its game.  The course grounds will need to be upgraded, as will the club house and restaurant.  We stand to the be the beneficiaries of all of that spit and polish that will occur over the next two years.  Likewise, the agreement the LPGA reached with the Oneida Nation is a three year deal, so we should be able to enjoy this environment well into 2020 and beyond.

The only bad part of all of this is what we do when the tournament is in town.  Do we rent the house (hopefully to one of the 144 players) or do we stick around and enjoy the event in person?  Both are excellent options, and we'll see how it shakes out.

Regardless, it felt like we were drowning with our home, and the Oneida Nation and the LPGA just threw us a giant lifeline.

Bill Maher Takes Liberals to Task on Islam

Finally a liberal points out the truth of Islam's values and how that doesn't reconcile with our values.  

His female guest's opinion highlight mainstream liberal thought on the subject, and that is damn scary.

Kudos to Maher for speaking the truth, and not just politically correct garbage:

Saturday Song Share: Whenever God Shines His Light - Van Morrison and Cliff Richard

Van is one of the few mainstream artists that isn't afraid to sing of his faith.  In fact, his wildly popular song "Have I Told You Lately that I Love You" was penned as a prayer.

Here he is with Cliff Richard (yes, for you The Young Ones fans, that same Cliff Richard) with a nice inspiration.

He lifts you up and turns you around
Puts your feet back on higher ground

Freedom is Not Free

A couple of years ago, my employer produced the following.  I'd like to say I could take some credit for it, but it was all done before I got there.

This is what our brand stands for and thinks important.

Man, I'm lucky.

In the meantime, listen to the stories and realize how lucky we all are:

Refugee Crisis Has No Equal

There is a very popular meme out there on social media which states that by not allowing Syrian refugees into this country right now, we're basically repeating history.  You see, in 1938 and 1939 in this country we refused Jewish refugees trying to escape Hitler's tyranny.  We did so because we are an evil country, filled with fear and hate.

This is a remarkable comparison.  It is notable from the standpoint that it actually uses mistreatment of Jews to push a leftist agenda (usually the agenda IS the mistreatment of Jews, especially Israeli Jews, but I digress...).  Beyond that, let's look at the comparisons at their face:

• Did the Jews come from a culture that regularly chanted "Death to America" and actively celebrated our tragedies in their streets?
• Did the Jews have a sect that went around beheading Christians?
• Did they push homosexuals off of buildings?
• Did they fly planes into buildings, or blow them out of the sky?
• Did they go about randomly killing innocent people?
• And so on

The difference is obvious.  The reason the Left uses the comparison is equally obvious: They hate our country.  They are convinced that we're solely motivated by racist desires, so much so that, to paraphrase our esteemed President, we're "afraid of orphans and widows."

So the Left swings the door wide open.  Come to America, poor, poor refugees.  Even though we can't find Hillary Clinton's or the IRS' emails, we can certainly find the terrorists among you, and protect all of our citizens.

Sure we can.

When the inevitable happens, President Obama needs to be arrested and tried.
  

Moschino Barbie Ad - Have We Hit Bottom Yet?

Here's the latest Barbie ad.  Thankfully for society, it features a little boy who just drips with gay stereotypes:


Think of the hundreds of adults that worked on this ad - from conceptualization, to production, to distribution.  Now think of the boy's parents that felt it just fine that he be used (and, oh boy, I do mean USED) is such a way.  All along the line, everyone felt this was just OK.  I'm sure they were all so proud of themselves of how progressive they all are.

It's not fine.  To tart some poor kid up as a flaming fashionista serves no other purpose than to damage the kid (trust me on that - this kid is doomed) and to continue to purposefully shove the gay lifestyle into corners of the world where it just doesn't belong.

It is a toy ad.  For children.  Unfortunately, that's not what got produced.  What got produced is absolutely for adults.  If kids get hurt along the way, so be it.  There's an agenda to shove in America's face.

Where does this end?

Million Student March Leader Fails Economics on Live TV

This precious little co-ed has never, in her life, been asked hard questions.  During her limited time here on the globe she's been patted on the head, told how wonderful she is, and fed talking points that she dutifully regurgitates.  

Unfortunately, she finally met an adult, and the results are as one would expect:


This is our future.  Good luck.

VIKINGS!

It has been an interesting couple of weeks living here in Green Bay, aka The Belly of the Beast.  The Packers were sputtering after losing two in a row.  But confidence reigned here in the land of beer and big BMIs as the lowly Lions were coming to town, and the Lions had never won at Lambeau since 1991.

1991.  I still had hair then.

Ah, but things didn't start too well.  Before the game, Aaron Rodgers got all upset at a fan's "prejudicial ideology" after the fan yelled something anti-Muslim during a moment of silence.  He they parlayed that into a stinker of a game, and despite trying multiple times to give it away, the putrid Lions ultimately came away with the victory.

As for the Vikings?  They were facing up-and-coming Oakland, in the Black Hole, and were four point underdogs.  

What happened?  Adrian Peterson got loose:

    

The Vikings now stand alone atop the NFC North, with a game in hand.  This week, they'll host the Packers at the Bank, and their timing could not be more perfect.  The Vikings are ascending, and the Packers are self-destructing.

But, hey, It's hard to play football when someone insults Muslims right before kick off...

SKOL!

Thoughts on Paris

The horrific actions of Friday night in Paris have stirred all of us.  We know we don't have secure borders.  We know we have no way of stopping people that want to come to our country to do the same to us.  We now that there are substantive, viable, and successful ISIS recruiting activity going on right now, in our very own country.

The net result?  We know what happened in Paris will happen here.  It is just a matter of time.

It will be aided by weakness, political correctness, and self hatred.  Indeed, Salon just reported that the Paris jihad massacre just goes to show that the "right wing" needs to "modify their rhetoric."  Really.

Beyond that, on the very same day that Paris was brought to its knees, President Obama had the balls to claim that ISIS is contained and not gaining strength.  See the 1:00 mark.

 

His stated goal indeed is "success."  But success to a liberal is not to fight a war and to win.  Success is to capitulate, coddle, and try and get people to like us.  And that's not working, either.

We have weak leadership.  We have weak policies (both formal and social).  The only thing we have going for us is an armed citizenry. 

That's where this thing is going.  Wow.

Saturday Song Share: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights

There will be time to talk about Paris tomorrow.  For today, let's enjoy some Sharon Jones and just be

About the Prettiest Goal You'll See

Check out this honey of a move by the Minnesota Wild's Thomas Vanek:

Modern Education

Continuing our theme from yesterday's post on how we love to hate white men, we get presented with an explanation of how we got here:



This is as gorgeous a piece of satire as it is scary.  Given what is happening at Mizzu right now, it's also damned applicable.

Men Are Stupid, Part 856

As we've covered here previously, white men are treated as stupid in commercials.  Here is our latest installment, with a hat tip to my brother:



Ah, yes.  There is nobody that everyone hates more than the stupid, white, straight male, am I right?  I mean, when his son punches his father in the nuts, it was just so hilarious.  

Can you imagine the same ad with a black dad?  A mom?  A clearly gay male?  No, you can't.  Why is that?

Unfortunately, this is not relegated just to advertising.  Here's Senator Claire McCaskill taking on those evil men in a piece that is absolute comedy gold:



Again, could you see this "comedy skit" being written to tell women to shut up?  Or gays?  Or blacks?  No, men need to shut up, because everybody knows that me are stupid.

Sorry, folks, hate is hate.  Because you direct your vitriol at a former majority doesn't get you off the hook - you still hate.  Think about that.

Those Not in the Labor Force

With the latest economic news last week, the Obama administration grandstanded its great success in running the economy.  Massive jobs were created, and unemployment hit a low not seen in years and years.

One thing they're not telling you: They're data is not counting those not participating in the economy.  Here's what that looks like:

People are simply giving up on finding a real job in this economy, to the tune of nearly 20 million since 2005.  

With all those out of work, who is going to pay all the taxes for those not working and receiving benefits?

This Happened to Me

Outdoor Life magazine has as a staple of content called "This Happened to Me," where readers would send in their real life stories of how they faced a dangerous situation and what ultimately transpired.  It remains my favorite part of their magazine.

I've been fortunate that in nearly 45 years of outdoor pursuits, I only felt like I was in danger one time.  This past weekend that good fortune ran out.

My buddy Fuzzy was going deer hunting, but I was convinced of a good mallard flight on the north end of our lake.  Thus, Saturday morning I eschewed the comfort (and other hunters and dogs) of Gucci Point and headed out on my own to the north end.

I've hunted dozens and dozens of times by myself, and have never had an issue.  All of that was about to change.  While we rose very early Saturday morning, I decided to use Fuzzy's boat, as well as his motion decoys and both required some work before departing.  By the time I left the landing, I was leaving 15 minutes later than I had wanted.  That being said, I just had a small decoy spread to set, and the Yellow Dog and I should be able to work quickly.  Besides, Fuzzy's boat was equipped with a long shaft mud motor, which made quick work of the ride.  We'd be to our destination in minutes.

I found a good spot to set up in the reeds, and positioned the boat to begin setting decoys.  I'd start with the mallards, which were at the front of the boat.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of bulky Canada geese decoys between me and the mallards, so I stepped up on the gun box to tiptoe around the decoys and make my way to the front of the boat.

Unfortunately for me, the night had put a thick layer of frost on the boat, and as I was pulling myself up onto the gun box my foot slipped and I tumbled forward.  Fuzzy's boat is built for duck hunting, and sits only a little over a foot off the water.  Hence, as I spilled through space, I was aware that there'd be nothing to stop my fall over the side of the boat.

Things went into slow motion for me.  "NO, NO, NO!" is all I could think, and with my left had I was able to grab the side of the boat as I was headed over the side.  I immediately landed in water that technically was 4 feet deep, but the muck I was trying to stand it did not have a firm bottom.  I was up to my chest in frigid water, and my waders quickly filled.

While all of this what happening, the Yellow Dog became excited, and quickly jumped into the water after me.  Now we were both flailing in the cold water, looking for a way into the boat.  My thoughts now went to "this is not good, this is not good..."

I went hand over hand to the back end of the boat as there is a feature back there called "pods" which stabilizes the boat when under power.  The pods are basically at water level, and if I could pull the dog onto them, I could at least fix that portion of my mess.

My plan could not have gone any better, and I was able to get the Yellow Dog back out of the water and into the boat.  Now I just needed to get myself up.  With a quick pull, I got myself in with ease.  

I quickly dropped my waders and got the water out.  I then accessed my situation.  I was wet up to my chest, but I was safe.  I looked at the gathering daylight, and felt it was going to be a really good day for duck hunting.  Since the very best duck hunting is right at legal shooting time, and since I had already been through so much, I felt I would stay until I got too cold.  I would then take a quick 10 minute ride back to the landing, get out of my cold clothes, and consider my options.

I was able to set the decoy spread uneventfully, and settled into the boat blind to await my quarry.  I pulled out my phone from my pants, and was thrilled to see that it still worked.  Unfortunately, the remote control for Fuzzy's motion decoys that I had in another pocket was shot, and I felt lousy about ruining it for him.

I hunted for couple of hours, bagging three birds, and while I was definitely cold (it was about 40 degrees out), the blind had me out of the wind. and I was getting along.  However, by the end of my tenure, my body was shaking quite a bit, and I knew it was time to get back in.

As I was pulling out, I saw one of Fuzzy's motion decoys had a missing wing.  I was furious at myself - I had already ruined his remote, and now he'd need to order another new part.  I moved the boat toward the decoy with hope that the wing floated and was nearby.  When I arrived the decoy, I could see that the wing had indeed sunk, but it was on the frame which held the motion decoy out of the water.  If I could pull up the frame, I could grab the wing and at least salvage that.

I kneeled on the gun box and lifted the frame.  My plan was working great, but my grip on the frame was too high, and as I lifted I could not grab the wing.  Hence, I decided to lower the frame, get a better grip lower in the water, and try again.

As I lowered the frame. the friction of the water on the wing sitting upon it moved the wing, and it fluttered off the frame to the darkness below. I lunged at wing, thinking that my legs braced against the boat would hold me up.  Unfortunately, I didn't consider the impact that the cold had on them, and how much strength had been sapped.  I again had that horrible thought of "NO, NO, NO," as I tumbled over the side of the boat headfirst into the frigid lake.

I took a huge amount of water up my nose, and came up spitting out lake water.  I immediately grabbed the side of the boat and screamed "STAY!" at the Yellow Dog, who was still thankfully in the boat.  I again hand-over-hand made my way to the back of the boat to the pods, and felt like I could quickly extricate myself from the lake like I had done the last time.

My first attempt at pulling myself up went nowhere.  My legs were shaking so much that they were of very little use to me.  I tried again and again failed miserably.

I considered my options.  Calling for help vocally would not work as it was doubtful anyone would hear me, besides I was 15 minutes away from help under the best case scenario.  My  phone was in my pants, in my now water filled waders.  I could swim the boat to shore which was 200 yards away, but the mud would make things nearly impossible for me once I got close to shore.  I had to find a way to get in the boat.

I was really calm at this point.  I knew what I had to do, I just needed the strength to do it.  After one more attempt and a profanity filled pep talk, I was able to hoist myself onto a pod.  With a death grip on the boat, I attempted to move into the boat, but my legs really weren't working well.  Part of it was due to the shaking, and part of it was due to all of the water in my waders.  They were completely full of water, and puffed the waders out like MC Hammer pants.  

I made my way to the motor, started it, and made a bee line for home.

The boat goes about 15 miles an hour, and the wind I was driving into was another 15 MPH in my face.  The stinging it caused on my bare hands and head was horrible.

By the time I arrived at the landing, my shaking was really, really bad.  I quickly removed my waders, got the Yellow Dog into her crate in the back end of my truck, and drove my truck up the hill to the house above.  My breathing was in gasps, and I was in really bad shape, but I was home.  I immediately made my way inside; disrobing along the way, and hopped into the shower.

I sat in the shower about a half hour and tried to warm up.  I ultimately got out, dried off, and made my way upstairs for some warm clothes.  I put on some long underwear, a t-shirt, a sweat shirt, and some socks, but still I had the shakes.  I then took a space heater in our room, turned it on as high as it would go, and sat next to it.  While that was better, I was still shaking, so I pulled my sleeping bag off the bed and pulled it over me and the space heater.

That did the trick.  I finally started to warm up.  I told myself I wouldn't come out until I started to sweat, but I never got to that point as I got incredibly sleepy.  Figuring that I needed to remove the sleeping bag from the heater before I fell asleep and it caught fire, I rolled the bag back onto my bed, got in it, and fell asleep.

While I never felt that "I'm a goner," I did feel I was in deep trouble.  What I did was stupid, and risky beyond the pale.  I paid for it, and things could have gone a lot, lot worse.  

The lessons of all of this?  There are many:

• There isn't a duck worth being stupid.  Take your time and be safe.
• Moving around a frosty boat is stupid, especially when hunting alone
• I should have gone in IMMEDIATELY after falling in the first time.  Even though I felt OK, I was getting myself in a really bad physical situation, and had no idea how adversely it was impacting me.
• I need to get a waterproof pocket for my cell phone to allow me to call for help (and to allow me to avoid costly phone repairs). 
• Driving out by myself, setting the decoys, then driving back and getting the dog is probably the smart thing to do.
• Hunting alone should probably be relegated to safer locales (either land or shallow water with solid footing).

There are likely others as well.  

I've been hunting ducks for 40 years now.  In that time, I've never fallen out of the boat.  Ever.

Last Saturday I did it.  Twice.  I hope it never happens again.

Saturday Song Share: Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain

Not great audio or video quality, but really interesting commentary for a song that changed the course of music in the 1980s.

Good stuff

First Ever Performance of Purple Rain!
Insanely rare video of the now iconic ballad "Purple Rain" live in 1983 at First Avenue in Minneapolis. This is the first time the song Purple Rain was ever performed live and this performance was the bare bones used on the album and in the movie.
Posted by Farrelltron Graphics on Tuesday, September 1, 2015

The Eucharistic Miracle of Buenos Aires

The thing that is most unique about being Catholic is our view on the Eucharist.  Our faith holds that the bread and wine of our mass gathering is not just a symbol; it becomes the manifest body and blood of our Lord.  

It really separates us.  In fact, as I've had conversations with recent Catholic converts from other faiths of what drew them to Catholicism, the Eucharist is usually the reason that is cited.

My uncle shared this story with me, and it bears viewing here:

  

I do believe that God interacts with us.  Sometimes, that interaction comes in a form which nurtures and buttresses the faith of His people.  I'd consider this event to along those lines. 

Duck Hunting Recap

It was time last week for the annual southern invasion of family and friends from Louisiana for a hunting trip in Minnesota.  Unfortunately, somebody forgot to invite the ducks.  Despite really horrible hunting, we still found enough to keep us occupied and then some.  Ultimately, we had a ball.  It just would have been more fun with some ducks.  

 Here are the boys in the blind, not seeing anything.  At all.  Good thing they're all good conversationalists. 

 I guess this is a swamp selfie

While the hunting was horrible, the fishing was fantastic.  Here is a monster landed by our friend Joe

We had 15 people for my cousin's annual gumbo feed.  This is one of three rooms of guys.

Here's room two of three.  Note the towel hanging from the lamp.  Function, and decoration is all the rage at the duck camp.

The look on my cousin's face recapped the whole weekend.  Part disgust with hunting, part indigestion from overeating.  Part hung over.  But mostly sadness that all of this debauchery needed to come to an end.

I am so, so lucky to have all these people in my life. Can't wait to do it all again.

Mass Shootings - What's Different?

Every time there is a mass shooting, an army of pundits and talking heads takes to the air to apply their spin as to what happened and what can be done about it.  All of the usual suspects show up - those demanding outright gun banning to those that recommend that all are armed always - and everything in between.

Very little time is spent on the "why" of the situation.  These killers aren't killing because guns are easy to acquire.  Throughout American history, guns have been far easier to obtain, and much more prevalent.  And it is not even close.  Hell, kids used to take guns to school back in our history as they hunted to and from school.  And yet, during our history, we never suffered these mass shootings.

Ever.

What changed?  There are a lot of things.  The breakdown of the nuclear family, the ego-centric psychosis wrought by lack of human connection and too much social media, the glorification of violence - all of these are significant contributors.  

However, for me the answer is obvious - we've become a society that has banished God and the concept of Christian life.  In fact, being religious now is seen in many circles as being ignorant, and is something to be viewed upon as weakness.

What have we lost because of that?  We've certainly blurred the lines of "right" and "wrong."  We've also lost the perspective of where individuals stand within God's plan.  We've lost the concept of love, and for being Christ to others here on Earth.  We've flat out lost something, that at least for some, kept morality in check.

Godlessness per se does not cause violence.  Certainly, there are lots of atheists that behave morally.  I get that.  But for those on the fringe; those that just need a little shove to tilt, we've lost something.

Godlessness ultimately creates a vacuum for godless ways.  There is nothing more godless than what our society has become, and given our trajectory, we've got a long way to go.  Hence, get ready for more death and destruction by those that fail to respect life, love, and all that comes with a religious perspective.  

Evil exists, people.  It is not some nebulous concept.  It is here, and when unchecked, wreaks death and destruction.  Always.

That's what's different.  Evil is winning.

Hail, Royals

After an exciting Wold Series which included clutch plays, performances, and late-inning heroics, the Kansas City Royals stand atop Major League Baseball as World Champions.  They pretty much excelled at each aspect of the game, and won their championship on New York turf, which seemed kind of poetic given all of the struggles that the team had with the Yankees back in the 70's and 80's.

Back then, I adopted KC as my second favorite team.  I did so for two reasons:

1) It was led by George Brett; arguably the best player in the league.  He was a terror in the clutch, a gold glove winner in the field, and legitimately flirted with a .400 average.  He was a complete, all-around ballplayer, and he was my hero.  I still remember very clearly sitting on my couch in college and watching Brett take the congratulatory call from President Reagan after the '85 World Series victory.  It was the cherry on top of Brett's amazing career.

2) It was my Grandma's favorite team.  She lived in KC, and was always a sports fan, but she had a special place for her beloved Royals.  Part of it had to do with them being the hometown team.  Part of it had to be because they were really, really good in the late 70's through the mid 80's.  And part of it had to do with how they looked.

Which brings us to Clint Hurdle, pictured above.  She was one of Grandma's favorite players - not because he was good (which he most certainly was not).  It was because, in her words, "he's gooood lookin'."

Somewhere, I have to believe that Grandma is happy about this latest crop of Royals.  They play the game the right way.  They've done Kansas City proud.  They're World Champions.  And, at least some of them, they're still pretty gooood lookin'.