Julie said:

 

Glad to know the mediocrity of MM's current health crisis merits a post on your blog Trace! (tee hee) :)

He had a restful night last night and the nurse says he looks rested not sedated. A friend is up there now sitting with him and waiting for his knee doctor to do rounds.
As always - I'll send an email tonight.

 

Danny said:

 

Tracy,

My mother in law was happy with the outcome of the Chiefs game. Myself, I'm a Steelers fan. :D KSU still can't buy a win late in the season and in reading the Collegian the student body is getting "upset" with the coach. Personally, I'm of the thought, that Prince needs about 3 or 4 years to build his program and if by then winning doesn't seem to be in sight, then look around. Brent Vennables(spelling is way off on this I'm sure) would be my candidate of choice to pursue.

Congrats to KU going 10-0 so far. Oklahoma I think will be their biggest challenge, assuming of course they do beat Mizzou.

Julie,

I'll continue to keep you and your husband in my thoughts and prayers.

 

Vaughn Tolle said:

 

Julie, good to hear that MM is improving. Hang in there, it's going to be a long process.

All, this was a hectic weekend, what with getting the rest of the sets built, etc. We went to about 4:30 Saturday, all is at least "built", still needs some paint, etc., but is looking good for performance this next weekend.

Got called by the doc about 30 minutes ago, want to move the wife's appointment up, so will be MIA most of the day. She seems to be doing well, so I'm encouraged overall.

Danny, KSU has me puzzled; this two game tail spin isn't good. KU needs to keep winning, of course; I think that ISU game this weekend is one that should be won, and then Mizzou, which will be extremely difficult to win. Then, if KU wins that one, the Big XII championship game with OU looks very daunting. Speaking of winning, the Sunday basketball games for both were wins. Let's leave it at that.

Prince needs another two years minimum before anyone gets antsy. I know the current students are too young to recall the state of the program at KSU before Snyder came, and likely have no recollection of his early struggles.

 

lindainks55 said:

 

Danny, I think you're right on the time Prince needs -- look at KU and how little success Mangino (sp?) had until this year. I think they've had GREAT success even if they don't win another game!

Doesn't Julie sound better every day and isn't that inspiring? Someone going through her life who sounds upbeat and inspiring should be an inspiration to each of us.

Wichita might get a drop or two of rain today and boy do we need it! It's cloudy and the air has "that" feel. It stayed warmer during last night than we should expect day time highs to reach - yeah, I love this kind of weather. If we could add some needed rain it would be about perfect!

 

Rox said:

 

Julie, good to see you here! I haven't emailed you because I figure you have more than enough to handle right now. Just know that prayers will continue until MM is healthy again and home with his family.

Tracy, congrats to PHS (is that correct?) on what sounds like a fabulous weekend! Just goes to show that the arts can attract an audience.

VT, good to know the missus seems to be doing well.

Linda, I'll take this weather over hot or cold any day!

Now a trivia question for all. Is the name Dave Madden familiar to any of you? (Hint: Telvision in the late 60's and early 70's.) I'll let you know why later. :)

 

Tracy Phillips said:

 

OK Rox, without a google, I'll take a shot.
I think Dave Madden played the part of the manager for the Partridge Family?

 

Rox said:

 

Very good, Tracy!

Dave's wife is a writer and the friend of a friend of mine. She contacted me last week about doing a website for the book she's written about him, Reuben on Wry, which is coming out in January...or maybe December. Since I'm old enough to remember the Partridge Family and seeing him on Laugh-In before that, I'm sure you can imagine how tickled I am. I spoke to them both on the phone last Friday, and he's just as funny "in person" as he was on TV. The first thing he said was, "I was in Wichita once, but nobody lived there." I agreed. LOL

 

Hank said:

 

I tried to watch the Chiefs, couldn't really get interested.

The boy and I have tickets to the Chiefs/Raiders game on the 25th. Going up on Saturday and coming home Sunday after the game.

I'd like to see the Raiders play, they are about my third favorite team. My favorite team is anyone beating the Cowboys.

Hank

 

Rox said:

 

LOL It figures, Hank. The Cowboys are my favorite team and have been since I was in high school. They're doing a great job this year, too! I guess you're cheering against them hasn't worked to far this year. >evil grin<

I saw the Chiefs play the Oilers (back when they were the Houston Oilers) and the Broncs. Seems like there was another team, too, but my brain (and butt) were frozen by the end of the games. That is one COLD stadium on a windy December night! Joe Montana was QBing at the time, but he was injured for at least one game and didn't play.

We met up with Mike (or was it Mark?) Bell once in the hotel where we were staying. He sat and talked with us for quite a while in the hotel bar. I think he was part of the Chiefs office management at the time. Not that I'm impressed. Both were involved in drug stuff.---along with the guy I went to my senior prom with (anybody ever go to Charlie's on G. Washington Blvd back in 70/80?)---back in the 70's. :(

 

Tracy Phillips said:

 

Rox, COINCIDENCE OF THE CENTURY.
I know for a fact that Mr. Madden was in Wichita once.
I MET HIM THERE!
That's how I remembered him.
I was with the Parsons High School Marching Band.
We spent the day at WSU for "Band Day", and stayed for a football game.
On the way out of the stadium, I encountered a group of teen-agers surrounding him for autographs.
I got one too. Not being an autograph collector, I remember sticking in my stamp collection somewhere.
I must say that I remember him being very kind and patient with a bunch of rude and rowdy kids.

So.....I'm a cyber-friend of a friend of a friend of Dave Madden's.

At least I've got that goin' for me. HA!

 

Tracy Phillips said:

 

Oh, and he's right, nobody lives there.
I moved in and back out.

 

Hank said:

 

Hey Rox,

My favorite team really is the Packers. I don't dislike the Cowboys enough to actually cheer against them but I will cheer for the Redskins when they play each other.

Hank

 

Rox said:

 

Hank, we all have our favorites and not favorites. If we didn't, there'd only be a need for one team. And just how much fun (and how many games!) would that be?

Tracy, I remember WSU band day. Oh, how I wish I didn't. The year before, we garndered first at Ft. Hays State marching band competition. The next year (different band director), we were nearly laughed off the field at WSU. There was a football game after? I must've been too embarrassed to watch. LOL Good on you for getting the autograph! Yes, he seemed very nice and friendly on the phone. How weird to hear that voice though.

 

Vaughn Tolle said:

 

Hank, the Packers have been and continue to be my favorite professional football team. My wife is also a Packers' fan as well, so it is always a good day at home when Green Bay wins.

My second favorite team is the Raiders; can't help it, just the way I am. My third favorite team is whomever is playing the Steelers that week.

Never have been a Chiefs fan. Took quite a bit of grief about this while in high school (tough being the only Raiders fan in the entire student body), which I suspect has colored my opinion a bit.

The wife is, after the Pack, a Cowboys fan; she cannot tolerate the Steelers either, and is at best lukewarm on the Chiefs. Her interest in the NFL is not all that high. As I think you know, her main "sports interest" is college basketball, especially KU. I think that has something to do with her being the last president of the "pep club" (Jay Janes?) at KU, before it was disbanded due to lack of interest and lack of relevancy to the students in 1970 or so. Anyway, the final year of the Frosh Hawks and Jay Janes was when we began to date, and they had primo seats; under the basket, lowest level, North end of AFH. At the time, the basketball pep band was seated above in the first "balcony" level, and we got to know Jim Barnes quite well then, as Dr. Foster had assigned him the job of being the director of the pep band.

Ah, the memories; watching the game under the basket was a new experience, but one which I came to enjoy greatly. The final two years of the undergrad days and my first year of law school we still managed to sit in the same section, the difference being that we had to arrive early (not nearly as early as the students do now) to secure them, as there was no longer a reserved section of student seating for the pep club.

 

Vaughn Tolle said:

 

Other memories from "back in the day"; listening to the pep band after the game play Barnes' latest arrangements of a variety of songs as they worked through them. The arrangement of "Home on the Range" which has become the staple of the post-game performances by the marching band at the home football games was first "tried out" by the basketball band the winter before its debut by the marching band; there were others, but that's the one which left its mark.

 

Wendy said:

 

Vaughn and Danny -

I completely agree, Prince needs a few more years. One thing I think the student body keeps forgetting is that when Prince came in, we were no longer the team of the late 90's and very early 200's winning status. Snyder had very mediocre showings his last few seasons, and so far Prince has at least held steady with that... Another big reason why he needs several years to get in there and be able to make a difference is that Ron Prince plays an entirely different game of football than what the Big 12 and current KSU players are used to. That is going to affect your wins. I think in a few years, when he has "his" team in place and isn't dealing with residual players (Jordy Nelson and Marcus Watts being exceptions to this rule) we will see great things out of Prince. I have to admit I like him - and one of the reasons is his no-nonsense stance on if you break the rules you get benched, no questions asked. And he sticks to it. I think that is why he lost a lot of players last year - they wanted a coach who was going to play them regardless of the circumstances, and honestly, that is not what we need right now. We have to maintain the integrity of this program to keep up with anything at all :)

 

Vaughn Tolle said:

 

Wendy, a big reason Prince needs to be given more time is that if a "coaching carousel" starts in Manhattan, it isn't too big a slide for KSU to return to the historic lows of its football program. The KSU administration needs to adopt the position taken by KU with Mangino; so long as improvement in the program is shown (not necessarily with numbers of wins/losses) then stick with the coach.

It has taken Mangino six years to arrive at where the KU program is this year; while I, as a KU alum, hope this is not an aberration, I also recognize that next year's schedule is significantly more difficult than this year's. KSU, next year, gets the "lesser" South opponents in football for two years, while KU gets OU and UT. If there is still no improvement, then the time for discussion should arise, not now.

Other thoughts on the current state of the KSU program: for better or worse, Prince is a young, inexperienced coach. I think this is best illustrated by the lack of in-game adjustments by the coaching staff. This year, with a new defensive coordinator, the decision was made to change the base defense to a 3-4 look, from the 4-3. There weren't, IMO, the appropriate personnel available to make that switch successfully this year; then, when Mr. Cline (the nose tackle) became injured, this allowed teams who wanted to do so to run even more successfully against the defense, which had shown, beginning in the Texas game a bit, and really highlighted in the KU game, that it wasn't too good against the run, especially running "up the middle". There are some other issues with the KSU team, namely both lines, which would bother me if I was a coach, but that takes time for recruiting and implementation to overcome.

As for the offensive side of the ball, if I was a KSU fan, I'd be troubled by the apparent reluctance to use a running game more to balance the passing attack. Speaking of the passing attack, it appears Freeman can throw the ball deep; but, for the most part, the offensive scheme is one of short passes, with the receivers expected, I guess, to break away once the catch is made. Mr. Freeman is only a Sophomore, but he hasn't seemed to progress much this year; he still stares at his receivers to whom he will throw much too much, not looking off, etc.

As far as the Nebraska game is concerned; the dumbest call made by the KSU staff was to go for it on 4th and 24 at the end of the first half. They didn't make it, and gave Nebraska a short field, which resulted in a "cheap" touchdown right before halftime, which enhanced the momentum already on the side of NU. I know Prince has admitted this, and I hope he has learned from it.

As a KU fan, the last thing I want to see is for the annual KU-KSU football game to return to the status it once had, which was the only game either team might win in the season. That is a bigger probability than most of us would want to admit. While it is difficult to get "to the top", it is even more difficult to stay there, and thus the chance of backsliding is ever present.

Speaking of programs, Nebraska, at one time, was not very good; it may be hard to believe now, but the period of the 40s and 50s was a very bad one for the Huskers in football. Starting with Bob Devaney in 1961, and continuing to the recent past, Nebraska built a very successful football program. It will be interesting to see whether, given the changes in the limits on scholarships, walkons, etc., whether NU can regain its prior position.

 

Wendy said:

 

Vaughn,

I agree completely. One thing is, Freeman is so large, he simply can't run with the ball. He just isn't very fast (remember, he is 6'5" and I believe around 220 lbs. he is very large for a college quarterback especially) and with our weak offensive line, they defend better on a throw than a run... Plus, add to that the fact that there is no back-up QB this year, so if Freeman gets hurt, KSU is SOL, and I think that has the offensive coordinators playing it a little bit safe...