Summertime and Golf

Well, it is hard to believe that Spring is here, or at least it feels like it now, and golf is right around the corner.  I am once again playing in a mens league at Shawnee Country Club (SCC).  This will be my second year to play in the league and I am excited.  It starts on Wednesday, April 29.  We have our team and I will be playing with a good group of guys.

 

I intend to get out to play a lot of golf this Summer, but other things always seem to take away from doing so.  I went out and played nine holes on April 8 and it was painful!  I did not start off well, but after the third hole I could finally start hitting the ball.  I had a few good shots and those that will bring me back to the course, but I also had a nagging problem of my right wrist hurting.  After playing nine holes, I could barely use my right hand with my wrist hurting so bad.  This happened last Spring too where I played in a tournament and afterwards my wrist was killing me.  It went away through the Summer where it did not hurt as bad, but it would come back at odd times while playing golf.  As soon as I hit the first drive off of tee one on April 8, my wrist immediately started hurting.  I am not sure why.  I did a Google search on it and found that I might be holding the club wrong which could be causing the problem.  I have six lessons that I got for Christmas and I hope to be able to use those next week and learn what I am doing to cause my wrist to hurt.

 

It seems so odd to be starting the Spring and not have Javier in town.  He had to go back home to Costa Rica back in February.  It just does not seem right to be going into Spring without Javier here.  I know it is difficult for him to be back home and worrying about his house, cars, etc., here in Topeka, but Carrie and I are taking good care of his things and I talk to him a few times a week.  We talk mostly on Skype, but we also chat back and forth with Yahoo and MSN Messenger.  So, we stay in touch.  He just started looking for a job back home, so he is hopeful to find something where he can earn money and still be able to tend to bills he has here.

 

As we move into full swing with Spring, and soon Summer, I will try to do a better job of posting.  With golf on my mind, I will hopefully be posting about the progress of my golf game through the Summer months.  Oh, I am very excited to be playing in the Tee-Par-Tee in June with my brother, Tim.  We will be teamed up to play in the member-guest tourney at SCC, so that will be a lot of fun!

 

NFL Sunday

It is hard to believe that the NFL season is coming to a end. It seems like just yesterday that we held our fantasy draft. The last week for fantasy football and the last regular season weekend. We move to the playoffs and once again the Chiefs are no where close to being any good.

I truly love NFL Sundays. It is fun to follow my fantasy teams on ESPN and then bragging rights with friends when something goes right. Granted, this has not been one of my better seasons.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday! Until next time...

Already December!

It is hard to believe that it is already December. College football is
almost over and we are well into the college basketball season. Wow!

Ok, this time I plan on posting more to my blog. Let's see how this goes
this month.

Happy holidays!

Long Time No Post

Well, I am back and I am going to try and post on a regular basis again. I know, you have heard this before, but this time it is true. It is so easy to fall out of the habit of writing, but it is fun and helps me to remember what happened on certain days. Kind of like a journal if you will.

Well, lets see what has been happening.... The Royals have managed to fall completely out of anything they had going. Frustrating to be a fan and follow this team. Still, I follow their games, watch their games, and hope for something to change. You might wonder if I am still excited about the new manager and my answer is still yes. Give it some time and I think he will do good things for KC.

I have been playing a lot of golf over the Summer. Carrie and I are members of the Shawnee Country Club and we are having a lot of fun there. I have played a little over 20 rounds of golf so far this Summer. I was hoping to get to at least 30 for the Summer, but with all of the rain we have been getting lately that might be a little difficult. Not to mention that it is getting colder and colder which seems earlier than normal. I hope to be able to play some during the winter months too.

What a season Kansas had last year in football and basketball. Wow! The football season is underway. KU played last night and lost to another ranked team. It was tough, but KU looked good in all except the third quarter. They were out scored in the 3rd 33 - 0. Wow! They did manage to tie up the game and had a chance for a win, but things did not go that way. Unlike my friends (i.e. Mr. Black) I think that KU will have a great season and they will continue to be fun to watch for seasons to come.

Well, that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing well. Go KU and go Chiefs!

Holly Crap!

The Kansas City Royals are on a twelve game losing streak. They started off against Boston some weeks ago just one game shy of 500 and now sit 21 for 34 (.382) and 9 & 1/2 games out of first. Wow, what will a couple of weeks of not winning do to a team? Look at the Royals and you will find out.

No one ever thought that going into this season the Royals were going to be good. But, no one ever thought that we would lose twelve games in a row either. I believe it was last season that the Royals lost 16 or 17 games in a row setting a franchise record.... well, we certainly flirting with that record this season.

The Royals sent Bill Butler to the minors yesterday to try and spark something for this young team. This is a single minded team with some of the players that cannot hit at all (look at Pena). Pena being the most troublesome of the bunch.... He apparently is not listening to the batting coach, or to Hilman. They give solid advice and it worked for a few games (i.e. he was getting hits), but then he went back to using a lighter bat, striking out, and not getting contact. Pitiful!

It is too early to tell whether the Royals will be able to come out of their slump. Right now it is difficult to watch their games. Lets Go Royals!

John Bale is a Idiot!

John Bale, LHP for Kansas City Royals, who has been on the DL the past few weeks because of a shoulder injury will remain on the DL. In frustration over his shoulder not healing as fast as he would like punched a hotel room door. Did he punch it with his non-pitching hand? No! He punched it with his pitching hand. Idiot!

John Bale is 33 years old and has been playing in the majors for 1999. This is something I would expect to see from a teenager in high school. If he was frustrated with the rate at which his shoulder was healing at least use the sense to hit the door with your non-pitching hand. Idiot!

Bale has pitched 15.1 innings and been rocked for 13 hits in only three appearances. He has a 7.63 ERA in his second year with the Royals. "They've got to think about how it's going to affect the rest of their team -- how it's going to affect their individual possibilities of being able to perform" Royals manager, Trey Hillman, said of the incident.

Brett Tomko pitches in tonights game against the Angels. The Royals swept the Cleveland Indians yesterday afternoon 2 - 0 improving their record to 14 - 16. The Angels spanked KC when we visited them back in April. Tomko needs to have a great outing tonight to help the Royals. Tomko has not been good at all in six starts. He has a 6.26 ERA and has has struggled
in all but one of those appearances.

Time will tell how Bale's actions will impact the Royals. Not being impressed with his abilities early in the season, his punching the door could be a bonus to the Royals.

Note that prior to Friday's game Trey Hillman shaved off his goat. Since that day, the Royals are 2 - 0 (Friday was rained out). I noticed in yesterdays game that Hillman had a clean shaven face. Can that be the spark that will help the Royals keep a 2 game winning streak? We can only
hope!

Tenth Win Finally Arrives for the Royals

The Kansas City Royals finally win their tenth win of the season last night. They are on a two game winning streak with both wins coming from the Toronto Blue Jays. The Royals won last night 2 - 1. Their ten win coming after a seven game losing streak. Their last win before the losing streak coming from the Angels back on April 16 (see my post from April 17). The Royals managed to from a half game out of first to dead last in the AL Central. What a streak!

The team, fans, announcers, and other teams were all in awe of the Royals starting the season on an unexpected run that placed them in first place. There does seem to be a split between fans. You have those that know what would eventually come to the Royals and those that thought we could win the division. Well, the seven game losing streak finally put things into perspective and we saw the "same old Royals".

If you did not read the article on ESPN (see Hillman adamant about changing Royals' losing ways) by Elizabeth Merrill, it is worth a read. I have said since Trey Hillman was hired and during Spring Training that there is a definitely new feel to the Kansas City team. In the article, Hillman is quoted as saying that [seven game] skids were something that he and Royals general manager, Dayton Moore, were expecting. It is good that they are finally out of the skid and have a new two game winning streak going. Kansas City has a chance for their second sweep of the season against the Blue Jays today at 1:10 PM CST.

I was one of those fans that was very excited with the start of the season. How could you help but not be excited the way they started. Still, there were some obvious problems. I still have a offensive problem with Tony Pena, Jr. He cannot bunt and he cannot hit. He is batting .156 for the season. The Royals finally scored their most runs in their first game with the Blue Jays scoring eight runs in a 8 - 4 win. Prior to that, they had scored as many as six runs, but that came in a loss to Cleveland 9 - 6.

Still, I could also feel the same feeling in my gut as I watched the seven games prior where they lost. The worst being the last of a two game series against Cleveland when the Royals played a double header on Thursday night. Along with the Oakland A's series, the Cleveland series was just about as painful to watch as a fan. Given how the team started and then to crash like that, it did feel like Royals teams of old.

For now, we will take it one game at a time. We will enjoy the wins and hope that the losses are few between. Lets get the Blue Jays for the win today! Go Royals!