Sunday Potpourri No. 26

Ballin'

So my beloved Kansas City Royals are off to an 0-4 start in spring training after yesterday's seesaw 7-6 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

New starting pitcher Ian Kennedy was a mixed bag in his two innings, giving up four hits (three doubles) and a run, but also striking out three.

LHP Danny Duffy also struggled in
his two innings of work, surrendering three runs on five hits (including a home run).


The Royals will try again to notch their first victory of the Cactus League season this afternoon when they face the Los Angeles Angels. RHP Chris Young will get the start for the Royals.

Meanwhile, the No. 21 Iowa State Cyclones visited No. 1 Kansas, and while the game was close the whole way the Jayhawks pulled away down the stretch, winning 85-78.






The loss will probably drop the Cyclones from the Top 25, and as the sixth-place team in the Big XII they will take on Oklahoma in the first round of the Big XII Championship Tournament which begins on Thursday. If they don't get by the Sooners their odds of making the NCAA tournament will diminish considerably.

"And how is MY team doing?"

The good news is, the UC Irvine Anteaters have won four straight and wound up tying Hawaii for the Big West Conference Championship...the bad news is they've lost to Hawaii twice, and so they'll begin the conference's post-season tournament as the No. 2 seed...win the tournament and the 'Eaters will be in the NCAA Tournament...

Requiescat in Pace

July 6, 1921 - March 6, 2016

This morning brings the sad news that Nancy Reagan has died at her home in Los Angeles at age 94.

As Ronald Reagan's wife of 52 years, she had a tremendous influence on the man who was the greatest president of my lifetime. She deserves ample credit for that, as well as for her many charitable works.

It is comforting to think of Ron and Nancy being together again, in God's loving embrace...

The Future Belongs to the Tech-Savvy

From the wry comic strip FoxTrot, by Bill Amend, which you should read every Sunday, as I do.

Until Next Time...

As I have mentioned many times in this space, only a handful of musical artists from the 1980s still appeal to me. It was not a good period for guitar-based music, but there were some pleasant exceptions.

One of these was The Go-Gos, an all-female band from Los Angeles that was closely associated with the so-called "new wave" movement in pop/rock. Unlike many all-girl bands that were mostly gimmicks, The Go-Gos wrote their own songs and played their own instruments.

Their debut album, Beauty and The Beat, is one of my favorite records ever, no matter the era, and several songs from it remain in various of my iTunes playlists.

On March 6, 1982 the album hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart, a position it would hold for six straight weeks.

The album eventually received two platinum certifications, making it one of the most successful debut albums ever. The Go-Gos were also the first all-female group to make to top of the Billboard albums chart writing their own songs and playing their own instruments. No all-female band has matched the feat ever since.


The second single release from the album, "We Got the Beat," reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart and became one of the iconic hits of the '80s.

Today's send-off is the official video made by I.R.S. Records to promote "We Got the Beat." It's basically footage of the band performing live, so the usual '80s music video disclaimers aren't necessary. Enjoy...