Is football the real winner here?
We have roughly 6-8 weeks before school officially begins. We discussed Colorado and Nebraska leaving the Big 12 Conference but you might ask which sport benefits the most from this move? In both instances it would appear the move is far better for football. Colorado and Nebraska have only been average basketball programs over the last several years, no criticism of the coaching staffs just the facts. It might be pointed out with Cory Higgins and Alec Burks the Buffs have been a little better than the Huskers. For the immediate time being Colorado might be in better shape than Nebraska, the Pac 10 is not as competitive in basketball. Traditional powers UCLA and USC have declined over the last several years. As for the Big 10 a much different story exists, Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin and even Penn State have played competitive basketball. There might be several sleepless nights in Lincoln Nebraska this upcoming basketball season.

The great Carnac
For those too young to remember Johnny Carson had a comedy routine he performed regularly on The Tonight Show. Carson would come out with a cape and a turban on his head. He would begin his skit by providing Ed McMahon the answer to a question contained in the envelopes McMahon held. The great Carnac used mental telepathy to see into the envelope. I'm going to do my best Carnac so here goes, the answer is Darius Morris. We open the sealed envelope (use your imagination please) the card inside reads starting Laker point guard. This 6'4" 190 pound point guard played collegiality at the University of Michigan although he's a Los Angeles native. We should assume the Lakers had plenty of opportunities to scout him during summers. For the Carnac part of the story, if there is an NBA season he will be starting in place of Derek Fisher. Okay you say big deal anybody can start over the 37-year old Fisher, the difference Morris has true point guard skills something the triangle offense didn't really require of Fisher.

Diamonds in the rough
Next week I will journey to Okum Gym in Shawnee to see my fourth AAU tournament this year. You might ask why my increased interest in AAU ball, several weeks back I mentioned the road trip to Hutchinson Kansas to see our grandson's team from Dallas play. I was excited by the brand of basketball I saw, several weeks later in Dallas we had an opportunity to see more AAU ball. Once we returned to Kansas City I begin checking the sports calendar and discovered Metro Sports was a sponsor for two area tournaments. Last week I had an opportunity to see Kansas City's Pump n Run's 15 year old team and two additional teams from Oklahoma play. The tournament involved 50 teams from 11 different states around the nation. Next weeks tournament is The 9th Annual KC Prep Invitational/Metro Sports, July 28-31. The information from the website indicate this tournament is probably going to be larger than last weeks. If you are reading this locally check for game times, Mid America Sports Complex West Okum Gym, 20200 Johnson Dr, Shawnee Kansas.

What should the city do?
This could be considered part II of Monday's blog, it was prompted by another Kansas City Star article. What do we do with Kemper Arena? The American Royal announced their annual rodeo would be moved to Sprint Center this year. On the surface this certainly is not a big story but it is a story. After driving past American Airlines Center in Dallas I was curious what happened to Reunion Arena the former home of the Mavs. Although we have no NBA or NHL team Dallas faced many of the same issues facing Kansas City today. The Mavs and several other events moved to the new American Airlines Center in 2001 while Reunion remained open for arena football, concerts and other events. Back to Kansas City, AEG petitioned the city council to take over operations of Kemper but that would appear to be an issue in itself, managing both AEG would appear to be competing with itself. Location, location, location the rodeo was moved to Sprint because of ticket sales. According the to the Kansas City Star "the Royal sold 3,000-4,000 tickets last season but anticipates sales of 12,000 in Sprint." (Aleese Kopf, Kansas City Star July 18, 2011) Folks are still unwilling en masse to venture to the West Bottoms and Kemper, traffic is much easier at the downtown Sprint Center. How did Dallas resolve the dilemma of two arenas, in July 2008 the Dallas City Council voted to close Reunion and demolition was completed in November 2009.

I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.
Anne Frank