Sunday Potpourri No. 16

Today's post comes with the Standard Sunday Disclaimer: "The post title is using the term 'potpourri' in the second of the two senses listed here. The post may also be rather short, although not necessarily so."

Aches and Pains

When you get to be my age, aches and pains are pretty much constant. Some days are better than others, of course, but over the years I've become something of a lay expert on over-the-counter pain medications.

At the moment, I've been getting good results taking Bayer's "Back & Body" formulation when I get up in the morning.

Most mornings it's just a precautionary measure, to keep the pain from becoming obtrusive as I go about my day. Today, however, I woke up in pain, so I'm hobbling around now waiting for the medicine to kick in. Not big fun...

Things That Make Me Happy: Pigskin Edition

My beloved Missouri Tigers hit the road yesterday for a game with the Arkansas State Red Wolves at Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro. It was a tense, hard-fought game throughout, but the Tigers came from behind to prevail 27-20. QB Maty Mauk accounted for 223 total yards of offense and threw for three touchdowns to lead the Tigers to victory.

Mauk shaking free from a defender on the way to a first down.

The No. 21 Tigers improved to 2-0, and will play the Connecticut Huskies (also 2-0) next Saturday in Columbia.

Other than Missouri's win, the day was a mixed bag for me: Iowa State lost to Iowa, and Nebraska won, which bummed me out, but Kansas lost and Notre Dame won, which boosted my spirits...

"How did UC Irvine do?"

For the millionth time, they don't play football there...

Things That Make Me Happy: Resilience Edition

After completing a disappointing 3-6 homestand with a 3-2 loss in 12 innings to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night, my beloved Kansas City Royals began a 10-game road road trip on Friday night against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. On their previous visit to this park in 2014, of course, the Royals won the first two games of the American League Championship Series. The ALCS never returned to Baltimore, as the Royals swept both games in Kansas City as well. You might say the Baltimore fans were unusually hopeful of seeing a Royals defeat.

Well, they certainly got what they wished for. The Royals entered the bottom of the 8th inning with a 6-4 lead and All-Star reliever Kelvin Herrera on the mound. The Orioles exploded for 10 runs, including hitting two grand slam home runs, and the Royals fell 14-8. Orioles fans loved every minute of the Royals collapse, of course. It was KC's second straight loss, and their sixth loss in seven games.

One of the things that has made this season memorable, though, has been Kansas City's ability to bounce back from gut-wrenching defeats. They did that in spades on Saturday afternoon, beating the Orioles 14-6. The Royals were down 4-1 heading into the top of the 6th, but they erupted for 5 runs to take a 6-4 lead. In the 7th inning, the scored 5 more runs to put the game away.

The batting star was All-Star 3B Mike Moustakas, who went 3-for-5 with two home runs (a grand slam in the 7th and a 3-run shot in the 9th) and a franchise-record 9 RBIs...

"Boom BOOM, baby!"

The series concludes tonight as Johnny Cueto (9-11, 3.24 ERA) tries to regain his form for the Royals against the Orioles' Wei-Yin Chen (8-7, 3.48) on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball telecast.

I Disagree, But I Understand...

From the excellent webcomic xkcd, by Randall Munroe, which you should read every day, as I do.

Until Next Time...

As part of a weeklong celebration of the University of Missouri's 175th birthday, the Marching Mizzou band put on a remarkable halftime show at the game between the Tigers and Indiana University at Faurot Field on September 20, 2014.

The Tigers lost that game 31-27 on an Indiana TD run with only :22 to play, so my best memory of the game was the halftime show! Enjoy...