Spoon-Balls

Definitely recommend spending a decent chunk of time in Kyoto to see the temples. Recommend the bamboo forest there as well in Arashiyama, the western side of the city. While the big cities are still great, Kyoto is such a special and unique place. A day trip to Nara is just a hour train ride from Kyoto/Osaka, the Buddha temple there is a sight to behold. The park surrounding the temple is filled with sacred deer (神聖な鹿) who, if you bow to them, will bow in response. Pretty surreal place. A hike up Mount Fuji in the summer time would be well worth it.

I was in Osaka Japan this week and stopped by the Billiken shrine here. If you’ve ever been to Osaka, the city is actually filled with Billikens, mostly in the main food market near Namba station. Pretty neat that the Billiken was adopted as the city’s mascot of sorts after the symbol was brought all the way here from Kansas City in the early 1900’s. I left some coins with a traditional veneration to bring good fortune to our SLU Billikens this year. Here’s to the Spirit of the Billiken bringing us better fortune and “Things as they Ought to Be” in 2025!

I always felt that parking lot was ripe for placement of an upgraded 40-50 meter pool/aquatics facility. If MICDS can remodel their pool and build a collegiate level aquatics facility, there's no reason SLU can't do the same (by the way, if anyone hasn't seen pictures of the MICDS aquatics facility, it is absolutely stunning after they redid the whole thing back in like 2016). The SLU swim/dive team (and student body in general) desperately need an upgrade on aquatics amenities.

"The FOLKS over at Billikens.com all agree (except Billiken Roy and Hoosier Pal)" "Gibson JYME-erson"

I'm sure most here would LOVE to have Chris May's job security. End of an era. Feels like the program is right back to where good ol' Jimmy Crews left it.

FIFY

May was always a colossal a**hole to the pep band during my time at SLU. Athletics department was always disorganized, chaotic, and when sh*t happened that put the band in a tough spot, it was never a culture of taking responsibility and simply saying "oh we're sorry, allow us to make amends." They'd blame the band for their own f ups. That is just the kind of person May is. I've worked with plenty of others over the years in my profession to know his type. He is a snake. If anything, Janet was always the one doing the heavy lifting around there and cleaning up the messes. As others have said, all of his schtick would be forgivable if the basketball program wasn't in shambles and could have something to show over the past decade other than just a single NCAA appearance.

Great news all around, really hope alumni can return and provide support for Grant and the next era of the World's Greatest Pep Band. It will take time and effort to recruit new student musicians. It always felt like the number of actual students joining the band really fell off a cliff around 2014-2015, by 2019-2020 it was primarily alumni carrying the entire brass section (bones, tubas, trumpets)...

He might not fully understand what he's getting himself into. I'm sure he was told all sorts of things by the AD to sell the position, but probably has no idea what kind of stuff transpired this past year that led to the position being open in the first place. Hopefully someone in the know can get him up to speed, otherwise I fear things could be somewhat ugly if he shows up to the first rehearsal in August and there's only like 10-20 undergrads present....

Hoping for the best in this regard, but the athletic department doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to micromanaging the band...

The realistic side of me believes this is how Chris May and many of the boosters/donors feel about Ford.... ... which is precisely why my desire to support this program will continue to wane. And I imagine many other casual fans throughout the St. Louis region and across the country. I suppose the status quo is the norm for Billiken basketball. Anyone who is fine with this shite can keep on living in their own world but the rest of us are fed up. It's "Show Me" time for Chris May, and if he can't then, well, I can't continue to follow this program or recommend it to anyone else. If Chris doesn't even have a short/medium term plan for Ford's replacement, then maybe he isn't the best person to be leading Billiken Basketball to the promised land....

If I were the good Doc I'd be making some phone calls, but I think he easily ends up at another Power school

Ford has no game plan in these situations.