By the end of this week, St. Louis will learn its fate in regard to the National Geospatial – Intelligence Agency’s Western Headquarters. Will it stay in the city or move to the Metro East near Scott Air Force Base?
The city is bracing for bad news and a significant loss after the NFL franchise bolted for the Los Angeles area.
The last thing the city needs is more bad news, but the state Legislature – primarily its Republican members – is about to send another a major setback our way.
Senate Joint Resolution 39 would allow a statewide vote to change the state constitution to allow bakers, photographers and printers to refuse services to gay people who want to use their commercial services for a wedding.
We might as well as put up a sign saying “Hey, NCAA. Don’t bring athletic events here any longer. Major League Soccer? Move along to the next expansion city.”
The NCAA men’s basketball Midwest and South regional was on display here earlier this month. During the past 15 years, the Final Four, NCAA regional rounds, Frozen Four of men’s college hockey and men’s wrestling championships have been held in St. Louis. Hosting them again will be in serious jeopardy if SJR 39 progresses to a vote.
The women’s Frozen Four is scheduled for March 17-19, 2017 at the Family Arena in St. Charles. Hopefully, this discriminatory effort will not cause it to move to another city. But the NCAA is probably already aware of what is going on here.
When Indiana passed similar nonsense two years ago, the Indianapolis-based NCAA was quick to use its leverage to pressure politicians into revising the bill.
On Monday, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal – a Republican – vetoed a bill that would have allowed open discrimination against gay people based on “religious freedom.” Disney had threatened to never film another movie in the state and Coca-Cola, which has its international headquarters in Atlanta, was adamantly opposed to the bill.
The Atlanta Falcons’ hope of holding a Super Bowl in a future new stadium would be in question because of the bill, according to the NFL.
North Carolina now has a law on the books dictating where transgendered Americans can and can’t use the bathroom. The NCAA is reviewing it, and the NBA All-Star is scheduled to be held there in 2017. No word yet what actions – if any – will be taken.
I doubt Major League Soccer (MLS), which was the first major sporting league in the U.S. to take a stand against anti-gay behavior by players and fans, is happy to hear of Missouri’s rush to discriminate.
Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs need to refute this legislation immediately and in no uncertain terms – especially the Cardinals. If there is one business in this region that can change the dynamic of this situation, it is the Cardinals.
Maybe the people of the state would reject this nonsense at the ballot box. However, if the people of Missouri could vote to bring slavery back, my family will be moving long before election day.
Coach K lies big time
With Oregon comfortably ahead of Duke last Thursday in a Sweet 16 showdown, the shot clock was going to expire seconds before the game ended. Ducks coach Dana Altman told his team to shoot and not take a violation. Star guard Dillon Brooks hit a 35-foot three-pointer, which obviously didn’t sit well with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
As the players and coaches exchanged handshakes, Coach K told Brooks, “You’re too good of a player to do that. You’re too good of a player.”
When asked about the incident during a postgame interview, Brooks said, “He just told me that I’m too good of a player to be showing out at the end. And he’s right. I’ve got to respect Duke.”
Coach K then threw Brooks under a bus and lied on national TV. He copped an attitude and flat-out denied that he said that to Brooks when questioned by reporters.
Oops, the comments were caught on tape and quite audible. Krzyzewski was caught in a lie. He apologized in a written statement, but had he not been busted it’s obvious his lie would have lived on.
I’m still awaiting the national outrage that should go with a coach behaving in this manner, but it has not happened. Of course, this is Coach K and Duke basketball.
Former Detroit News columnist and WXYT-FM The Ticket radio host said it best: “Coach K overstepped his bounds and only apologized after getting caught red-handed. Sometimes you wonder how many tall tales high profile coaches have told over the years when the cameras were not on them.”
Check out ‘The Kansas City Swing’
You don’t have to be a big fan of baseball to enjoy “Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing.” The entertaining play at The Repertory Theater in Webster focuses on the relationship between Hall of Fame pitcher Paige and his friend Buck O’Neil, who would become one of MLB’s first black coaches and scouts.
Paige, in his 40s at the time, scoffs at trying out for the Majors and bristled that Jackie Robinson has broken the color barrier.
O’Neil and Bob Feller, who Paige also considered a good friend, both think he should still try, and I won’t spoil any more of the story than that. Good acting, good music good story. A highlight is Paige telling the story of how he gave O’Neil he lifelong nickname of “Nancy.”
Not always nice Feller
In August 2005, Feller and former KFNS radio host Mike Claiborne found themselves in a heated debate concerning players from Caribbean nations. Feller’s comments included “they don’t even know the rules.” Claiborne offered him several chances to explain himself. The conversation ended with Feller hanging up and the respected Claiborne calling him a racist.
Claiborne would later tell the Post-Dispatch, “For the most part, I understood where he was coming from regarding how the game is being marketed and things of that nature, but when he says the Caribbean players don’t even know the rules, that raises a flag. … So I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He didn’t want to address it. I tried to politely ask him, I wasn’t trying to hang him out to dry. That’s not how I do business. He got offended by it, but I said what I said and I stand by it.”
Alvin A. Reid is a panelist on the Nine Network program, Donnybrook and appears on ABC’s The Allman Report and several sports radio shows. His Twitter handle is #aareid1
