I’ll bet you were expecting a World Series report. Sorry, not done yet. I have a good excuse. I had a bad seat for Games 6 and 7. A bed at KU Hospital. Photo by Managing Editor Rita.
I’ll try and be brief on why. Last Thursday morning, after a 911 ambulance ride to the ER at KU in a KCFD ambulance (terrific 2-man crew), the doctors found that I had an “angry” pancreas being invaded by gallstones. An emergency operation took care of the immediate issue, and on Sunday, a second surgery removed the culprit, my gallbladder. It took a while, about two hours, to extract this old man’s “shriveled” gallbladder.
The folks at KU could not have been more skillful, professional and friendly. Kudos to all of them. And of course, Rita.
I came home this morning with the right to eat almost any food I wanted but can’t lift over 10 pounds for SIX weeks (won’t be positive for my workout routine). I can still walk but can tell it will take some time to get back to our three miles a day (four days a week). Rita and I gave that a test drive today with an abbreviated walk around the pond at Loose Park. The day was just too nice to not get out. I can’t drive until off pain meds, but luckily, I’m only at Tylenol level, so hopefully that ends within a week.
I’ll get around to the World Series, but it will take a while to collect my thoughts. Maybe a week or so away. You all know the ending, but I’m adding some parallels with our 2015 Royals.
I’m now tired of typing (and thinking), so will finish this post mostly with material written by others.
Rita and I planned to attend an event tomorrow night, but not ready to jostle in a crowd. So maybe some of you will go instead. Rainy Day Books is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an event at Unity Temple on the Plaza. Info and tickets here. It is also a “Tru Community Event” sponsored by the Truman Library Institute.
The interview of Rainy Day founder Vivien Jennings will be conducted by David Von Drehle. You may remember the coverage of David two years ago in Hot Stove on his bestseller The Book of Charlie (Hot Stove #224). David has recently written a couple of pieces I think Hot Stove readers will enjoy. First, from the Truman Library Institute on October 17. To quote Mike White, this piece is a “perfect combination of pith and elegance” I agree.
In the Washington Post last week, nine writers plugged their respective cities as sports meccas. David’s excerpt on KC below:
What is America’s best sports city? Nine compete for the crown.
Grit, glamour and green energy define the nation’s top sports towns.
Kansas City
It’s easy to argue for a major metropolis as America’s best sports city. New York, Los Angeles and Chicago have so many big-time franchises they can’t keep them straight. The Jets used to play in Queens and the Nets used to play in New Jersey, but now the Nets are in Brooklyn and the Jets are in Jersey.
Dizzying.
Good for them, I guess. I prefer a town where the folks share sporting passions unanimously, not neighborhood by neighborhood. Where new sports find a warm welcome, and sports history has a place of honor. I speak of Kansas City.
Start with this: The NFL rules the nation, and the Kansas City Chiefs rule the NFL. Kansas City — ranked No. 31 in metro-area population but punching way above its weight — has played in five of the last six Super Bowls. Won three. Finished second in the others.
Kansas City also has a baseball team with a couple of World Series trophies and history’s best third baseman: George Brett. He is one of only five players with 3,000 hits, 300 home runs and a .300 lifetime batting average.
As for stars of newer vintage: In Patrick Mahomes, a rare three-time Super Bowl MVP, and all-star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City boasts a dazzling still-in-their-prime sports duo.
Wanna ding K.C. for lacking an NBA franchise? The city has something better: University of Kansas basketball. KU is the cradle of the sport. An overtime game in the historic Phog Allen Fieldhouse is the best college athletic vibe in America.
Speaking of college athletics: Kansas City is rekindling one of the oldest and fiercest college rivalries in America. That stuff about harmonious neighborhoods does not apply to Kansas versus the University of Missouri, a tradition busted up by conference realignments but coming back to life.
Kansas City cherishes the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Nowhere is the role of athletes as engines of culture and social progress so delightfully explained and celebrated. As for the future of sport, Kansas City is the first place on the planet to build a stadium just for women’s professional soccer.
K.C. is Soccer City. Has been for decades: The same Lamar Hunt who conceived of what is now the American Football Conference and its dominant Chiefs was also the visionary behind European football in the U.S. Next year, the World Cup will pay homage to Kansas City’s long history at the forefront of North American soccer by staging multiple matches here.
The entire World Cup tournament will have Kansas City fingerprints. Games in Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida, New Jersey, California and Washington will all be played in stadiums designed by architects in Kansas City — the world capital of sports stadium design.
David Von Drehle is a former Washington Post columnist and editor.
That’s all for today. The World Series and a new Lonnie’s Jukebox coming relatively soon.