Schasz

My take is many of the Goobers that follow that team kind of have the bunker metality what with the NCAA on the way. Sanctions will definitely follow.

Quickdraw, I missed going to Mt St. Helens, but my wife went before the move here to FL. Her take was the same as yours on what it looked like. The keep saying that the conditions are right for one of the volcanos to blow again. However, the thing I always worried about was a major earthquake. We experienced a couple minor ones, but they could get a devastating one at any time. Only worry here in FL is hurricanes and you always know if they are coming. Our house is far enough away and not in a flood plane so I am staying put with any hurricane.

But BRoy, you want your son playing baseball for SLU...to heck with the Harvard notion.

I guess that I have to be lumped into the old timers group, as I actually saw Stan the Man play baseball for the Cardinals. The first time that I watched him play was at the old Busch Stadium aka Sportsman Park. Stan played 1st base then moved out to LF for his final year or two. I met him a couple times at his old restauant. Heck, my wife and I had our wedding reception at that restaurant 25 years this past Tues. He was a very nice man. Before we moved from St. Louis, my wife worked at Barnes St. Peters Hospital and Stan's son in law was a Dr. at that hospital.

SLUNATE, I won't make the festivities again this year, as I will be helping my wife try and root her UT Vols with a win over the hated GA Dawgs.

First of all, I don't consider Cincy and Louisville even close to adequate replacements for VA Tech and Miami...they aren't even worth mentioning when you talk big time BCS football. Last weekend these potential Big (L)East entrants lost to S. Miss and USF. The papers and media folks here in Tampa seem to hold out some hope that USF will get a Big (L)East invite...we shall see on that one. I will say this in Jim Leavitt, USF has one of the birghtest young HC in the country. He was one of the finalists for the Alabama job last year. I would not be surprised if the Florida Gators aren't knocking on his door after they sack Ron Zook. I understand today that Leavitt has not signed a contract extension.

BRoy, Harkening back to my days of having season Mizzou football tickets back in the '70-'80's...Mizzou did have a basketball scrimmage that they encouraged folks at the football game to attend. It was held on the Saturday closet to 10/31. I have no idea if they still have that scrimmage, and you are right that they did have some catchy name for it.

I have not seen him either but I trust BRoy and 3-Star's evaluation of Kevin. The Billikens will be extremely fortunate if they can secure his services and it would be a huge coup for our program. I believe the coaching staff would say the same thing too if they could.

mws26, I'd agree that overall his career in the NBA has not met up with expectations that I had for a lottery pick. I saw him a couple times when I lived in Seattle and was disappointed. Hopefully, for his own sake, he will get it together this year. We'll just have to see what a good preseason translates into. I'm still pulling for this Larry to lift his game.

Oh! the cheesey hick Hulk Hogan look!

Geez, that bad boy does resemble the Col...chicken I said chicken!

Sure beats sniffin glue.

The putrid dairy coop that I worked for had their office at Elliott Bay and we watched the July 4th fireworks from the office rooftop a couple years. The San Juan Islands are another OK place for you to visit. I had an encounter with a bald eagle who swooped down about 10 ft. from where I sat to eat the salmon that we had used as bait for catching dungeness crab.

NM

Generally speaking I thought that Smith sucked as a pro and IMHO it had everything to do with him and no one else.

For consistency purposes, if we refer to Ian as Zorba...then Izik could be Fidler for Fidler on the Roof!

mws26, If you ever drive in the Edmonds area then go to Picnic Point and that is where we lived. Many of the houses are right on the bluff looking out onto Puget Sound. Our house was a couple blocks from the bluff. Lots of things to see in Pacific NW. Vancouver is a beautiful city. I liked Portland, OR too. The Oregon coast line is awesome and I saw the whale that was in the Free Willie movies before he got moved. For what it was worth, none of us thought Keiko (whales real name) looked very healthy so we were happy when they moved him to his original home. You will want to see Victoria, BC and be sure to do Buschart (SP?) Gardens while you are there and of course the high tea at the Empress. Nothing in the Pacific NW was more impressive to me than to see Mt Rainier on a perfectly sunny day... simply awesome sight!

If we don't get Shaw and I don't believe that we are...then we have the luxxury to play the season, see what we have, and what our top need will be for '04-'05. I'd bet that we will have at least one and possibly two options for each position.

I saw enough of that KY game while waiting at Lambert to catch a plane to realize that no one player was going to beat them that day. Even as good as the Legend was that year, he wasn't about to beat KY all by himself, so what does that prove in the grand scheme of things???

NM

I'm not the skier so I defer to my wife who has been to the Colorado resorts but not to Taos. She prefers Whistler over any of the Colorado resorts. Whistler is still a bargain with the currency difference between US and Canada. It was a steal back in the days we traveled there.

I still have a few friends who live in Seattle, so I know that they had both a dry and warm summer. Keep in mind, the majority of homes in Seattle do not have AC, so if the Temps get in the upper 80's to low 90's for any period of time, people get a little testy and start hoping for rain. True Seattlelites love the rain and think that is the way it should be...IMHO that's crazy, as we worship the sun.

Our house was in Edmonds, WA not very far from Everett. Our house had a view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mtns. when it wasn't rainy or cloudy. Our two favorite getaways were Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast and Whistler, BC for skiing. Of course Whistler is one of the top ski resorts in Canada and will be used extensively when Vancouver hosts the Winter Games. Florida was our life long goal and Tampa-St. Pete was our favorite...we knew zero about Palm Harbor in N. Pinellas county but the schools are better and that was our deciding point with two teens that had to get through school.

Yes, especially for those down here in the SE.

John did leave SLU for Michigan State.