Saturday, March 13, 2010

Saturday morning coffee

- In music news, Pearl Jam is coming to Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO in early May.

- Also at Sprint Center on Monday night is Bon Jovi. Rumor is that Jon Bon Jovi is already in our cowtown, likely doing work on behalf of his foundation which is linked to Habitat for Humanity.

- Researchers at Cornell found that Olympic bronze medal winners are more likely to be happier with their third place finishes than those who win silver medals. Those who finish in second place in the Olympics tend to focus on the near miss while those who finish third are thankful to win anything. Uh oh, I can hear kids across America telling their parents that it's healthier to finish third than to "go for the gold and come up short."

- Kansas won its 2,000th game in college basketball on Thursday evening at the Big 12 Tournament. And, by my calculations, I've been alive for 1,246 of those wins. I don't know whether to feel old or awed by the achievement. Only Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina have achieved the 2,000 win plateau--Kentucky now at 2,018, Kansas now at 2,001 and Carolina at 2,000.

- For those grousing about the long lines to get into Sprint Center at the Big 12 Tournament, here's a word of advice--either figure out that there's another entrance into the building, i.e., Oak Street, and/or don't have that last beer across the street at the Power & Light District prior to the games. Get your rear end over to the arena about 45 minutes prior to tip-off and you'll be fine. (Methinks there is a small town mentality in Kansas City that doesn't like any form of traffic delays and also believes that one should be able to calmly walk into an event 15 minutes prior to start with no hassles. There are 18,800 people going to the game--figure out that leaving a bit early is probably a wise idea.)

- As for the Big 12 Tournament, today's championship matchup between Kansas and Kansas State is the first time that KSU has been in the final game of the Big 12 tournament. This will be KU's eighth championship game appearance, having previously won six and lost one. In the Big Eight conference, the two teams met in the final game in 1980 and 1981, splitting the two games.

- Is it just me or do games with Big 12 refereeing crews featuring John Higgins too often devolve into chippy affairs with players barking at one another and coaches getting testy? On Friday night it was Baylor-Texas and last night it was Kansas-Texas A&M. Here's hoping that today's game does not feature Higgins. By the way, where's Steve Wellmer? He's the one who I hope does today's championship.

- The Big East Conference Tournament got Bill Clinton and Nick Lachey as celebrity attendees at midcourt. The Big 12 Tournament, not surprisingly, had a more Midwestern feel as Health & Human Services Secretary, and former Kansas governor, Kathleen Sebelius was in the crowd to cheer on the Jayhawks and the Wildcats.


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