This Podcast Is... Uncalled For - The Uncalled For Fortnight Challenge

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

What would Taylor Swift's Fortnight Challenge look like in podcast form?  That's what today's episode is all about - 14 different topics recorded at different times to form one long episode (likely our longest ever!). Part 1 - Challenge Intro and Spotify Stats Part 2 - Addressing the LA Sports Idiots Part 3 - Driving Through Slippery Winter Conditions Part 4 - Dead Poets Society Article Part 5 - UFL Fan Opinions Part 6 - Heather's New Year's Card Part 7 - 3,000 Hit Club Members Not in Cooperstown Part 8 - Naturist Quiz Part 9 - Kansas City Chess Scene Article Part 10 - NASL v. USSF Lawsuit Verdict (It's Not Good) Part 11 - James Woodrow In Memoriam Part 12 - App Nebula Quiz and Results (That I'm Not Paying For) Part 13 - Conference Alignments Among Kansas City Area High Schools (Is Blue Valley in the Sunflower League?) Part 14 - Possible Future Streetcar/Rail Transit Routes in the Kansas City Metro Area

Check the mic, we're going live. Stories told their eyes and dive. Topics fresh with every spin. You won't guess what's coming in. Every week a new surprise. Mind's awake and never lies. Conversations bold and free. Tune in now, just wait and see this podcast is uncarned for.

Can't you see there's so much more? Laughs and tales you can't ignore a journey that will leave you floor. In the night or in the day, just press And hello everybody, welcome to the podcast. I'm going to do something a little experimental for this episode. So, as you probably know, Taylor Swift is everywhere and has found a way to influence my podcast. Not in a bad way or anything, but this episode is kind of sort of Taylor influenced.

So, uh, 2024, she releases her latest album, the Tortured Poets Department. And the same time it released, she released the first single from that, a very catchy song by the name of a Fortnite. And along with it, she did a video challenge, the Fortnite challenge where we see 14 different clips of things. going on including a clip of her making dinner and Travis Kelsey comes in for a quick kiss in the cheek

while she's cooking which was pretty funny and one clip in particular that definitively tells me if it weren't Travis dating here would not be me doing some sort of needlepoint

project while wearing a chicken hawks shirt. So, yeah, not my... But I will go and do a version of the Fortnite Challenge on this podcast, which would be this episode will string together 14, basically 14 thoughts on certain subjects.

And what better way to start this challenge than reading the, if I can find it, of course. Yeah, we're going to start with talking about the Spotify thing that was since, to me just one second here all right here we go yeah this is the spotify list from

24 spotfi.com slash wrapped top artists and top songs of 24 I kind of alluded to this during the Christmas episode at that I realized

y'all can I can't see what I'm talking about, because this is an audio podcast. So it says I listened to Spotify in 2024 for 5,920 minutes. None of it for podcasts. By the way, I listen to my podcasts on different apps, especially the I-Heart app. And yes, I do listen to my own. podcasts. So,

so, yeah, so we've got the top five artists. Thank you, Swifty's. Number one is Taylor Swift. Number two would be Tiffany. Any 80s

music fans out there? Yeah, I think we're alone now, which, by the way, is a cover. Probably her most favorite famous song my favorite songs of hers from that same album by the way include spanish eyes feelings of forever and promises made in fact tales from the interim net episode delta was called promises made promises broken which derives directly from that song song, the actress who plays La An Lunian Sing in Star Trek's Strange New Worlds,

but is also a very good singer. I was, I concerned myself one of the lucky ones to have gotten an autograph CD of her EP, so Fort Trek EP. I stayed by my association. No Blame is my favorite song on that EP, but Twin Flames. That is Mi Sexy Hente

song. But I highly recommend all four of the songs on that will be. Number four, anything but Joey. Of course, we had Jeff Plachek, their drummer on the podcasts. I'd go back and listen to his episode a little

bit um anything with joey uh when i brian on for our 100th episode he brought up their song that girl roommates yeah that's the uh song that got lots of uh play here in the uh k c area but uh really the signature song is marcy too when i might have ruined it just by going through with it more their signature song than uh girl roommate so apologies to matt for uh butchering this song like that so uh anything but joey uh you can definitely find them on spotify and anywhere you can get music um it might be a little hard to uh find but you might be able to find uh some of their stuff under name thulium which again was uh their original name and number five of course is a sweet Caroline

Caroline's been on the podcast too and her stuff is on Spotify and all the other platforms I would recommend Reformation with Caroline and as far as her music the song Love Affection

and bad hesitation those songs I made music videos for so do check those out now let's get to the top five songs on this graphic and they're all Taylor

songs so thanks again so if these number one love story Taylor's version very important we include the Taylor's version and that's I'm pretty sure everyone knows why the Taylor's version exists.

But for those I don't, she had a bit of disputes over the master copies for her first six albums. The guy who went purchasing those masters would not give them back, at least in a way that would be. been fair to everyone so he held on them and Taylor decided you know screw it I'm going to re-record all my all those six albums which I will warn you if you are not fan of country music they are mostly her country stuff so of those six four at the time I'm recording this have been re-recorded and re-released it one of them was her second album, Fairless, Taylor's version.

On which is a love story. And that was what's notable about that song. Is that the song that there's great video post-Super Bowl of Taylor and Travis dancing to a remix of this song? And then pan over to Jason. in the luchador mask just doing uh whatever so so uh that's number one number two is uh off the tortured boats department's uh but daddy i love him uh two notes about this song number one there's a great youtube clip uh just search for uh but daddy i love him You can find it.

But Charles Kelsey doing new heights. He's got the headphones on. He's listening to his guest who is to his left. Listen along and then at one point his eyebrows go up. He turns and faces the camera. And it's kind of funny. Well, someone dubbed this to the chorus. but daddy I love him

which is I'm running with my dress on blend scream but daddy I love him and it's at this line that the eyebrows go up I'm having his baby turns and looks at the camera

eyes with him no I'm not but you should see your faces really funny little clip but the funniest line in the song for me is a little later, about midway through the song, Seconds, rendition of the chorus.

It goes, I'll tell you something right now. I'd rather burn my whole life down than listen to one more second of all this bitching him on it. And this line's interpreted as she's going after the fans who, I don't know, I guess, telling her, trying to tell her what to do with her life so there's that one number three is I can see you Taylor's version which has a kick-ass

beat to it and even equally kick-ass music video that I believe she directed herself so going on you number four is a blank space Taylor's version And number five is afterglow, which is funny because it's my favorite Taylor's song I stated on the podcast was Endgame, and which I love the way it sounds. I love that it's basically a rap song, you know, and everything but doesn't appear on my top five, so that's interesting to note. And, yeah, that's the way we are kicking off the uncalled-for Fortnite challenge. All right, so this would be parts two of our Fortnite challenge, and this one goes to the L.A. It's, you know who I'm talking about, the trolls online, who claim to be L.A. sports fans. that's

you know the types oh the Rams are just coming home no they're not or they shouldn't have left L.A. in the first place okay so let's address that first part that part there 19994

1995 where was Los Angeles's plan to keep the team I don't recall one existing So So unless there's a Secret's plan that We didn't know about She kind of shut the fuck up about it

And shut the fuck up about Georgia She's dead And She, unlike Stan Follows the NFL Relocation Guidelines Because there was no plan in Los Angeles just as there really wasn't much of a plan in St. Louis to keep the Cardinals.

All right. And let's face it, heading up in for those relocation rules, and the fact that St. Louis actually did have a plan, the National Football League would not be at $790 million right now. And as for his notion that they returned home, Well, that's also not Los Angeles. You know where that team originally came from? Yeah, Cleveland, Ohio.

They left right at the end. They started in 1937 in Cleveland and got the name Rams because their original owner was a big fan of Fordham University. See, you just learned something there. they took one year off during World War II obviously needed soldiers and all that

and I'll talk about a couple of other teams here in a sec that could that wartime affected them but they took a year off during World War II and then came back and then their very last game in Cleveland was an NFL championship which oh yeah they won before

and out to LA the first time around as far as I'm concerned the term Los Angeles Rams should have died in 1995 when they

moved back moved to San Luis they should still be in St. Louis as far as I'm concerned they Stan

broke the NFL's relocation rules and as why the NFL's the NFL had to sell for $790 million,

most of which is coming out of Stan's pocket. So fuck you, Stan. And fuck your little professional lying butt monkey, Kevin Demoff as well. And fuck Jerry Jones. And on a similar tangents, these same idiots are saying, well, the Cardinals,

the Arizona Cardinals in this case, should move back to St. Louis. Again, not their original home. Their original home was Chicago. And, yeah, Chicago, Illinois, they started in 1898. So they predate the National Football League by at least a couple decades. And are the only NFL team to have started in the 1898. hundreds there are one of two charter teams in the NFL I'll get to the second one

a little bit one of three that's been around as long as the NFL I'll get the third one in a little bit too but they are originally a Chicago team they didn't come to St. Louis till 1960 because they were like in behind one of those other two teams that I mentioned and And the NFL wanted to keep the AFL out of St. Louis. So there you go. They became the St. Louis football cardinals. No relation to the St. Louis baseball cardinals,

although I am aware that there was once a trend, especially in the early parts of the 20th century, where the baseball and the football team would, share the same name. That's why they're the New York football giants. Because they used to occupy the same city as the New York baseball giants. Before the baseball giants, move to San Francisco. So, so there you go.

Your NFC West, if everyone went back home to use your terminology, would be Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco in Seattle. NFC North, well, you're looking at an FC North that would have a team in Decatur, Illinois, and they wouldn't be the Bears, they would be the Staley's, and that's the other founding member

of the NFL that's still around. We don't call them to Takeda Stalies anymore. We call them the Chicago Bears. But they're the other team that's been around from the start of the National Football League. The Amsterdam North House says the other team,

that's been along as long as the NFL, started in 1919, but weren't allowed to join the NFL until 1921. I'm, of course, referring to the Green Bay Packers. But this division would also have a team in Port Smith, Ohio, a little small town just east of Cincinnati along the Ohio River. That's because that's the original home of the Detroit Lions. who, as of this recording, are poised to probably make the Super Bowl for the first time ever. And it would be the last NFC team to do so. And, of course, the Vikings have been in MSS since they started. NFC South would be largely untouched because none of those teams have ever moved.

NFC East, well, by by washington commanders say hello to the boston braves that was they're originally in boston and they were originally once again named her to the baseball team the baseball team now populating alana but they've been the braves ever since then in boston is when they picked up their racist name that they eventually did away with And it could be argued that the eagles are a resurrection of the Frankfurt Yellow Jackets in. I think that's also Eastern PA, but I'm not 100% sure. So just trying to throw that little note out there.

Now, AFC, a little more straightforward, let's start, AFC West. Denver would be the only team really staying home and the Chargers because a lot of these L.A. idiots tend to ignore the fact that gear one of the Charter's existence

as an AFL team was in Los Angeles. So yeah, the Chargers are actually back home. The Raiders, of course, they're home. would be Oakland and through the reminder of their progression was Oakland to Los

Angeles that's what spurred the relocation policy for the league was the Oakland to LA thing in the 80s then back to Oakland and now Las Vegas even though I think they and the and the Chargers for that matter actually earned to the rights to be in LA because let's face it St. Louis did more to keep their team than either San Diego

or Oakland. So that's why St. Louis got a huge sum of of money in Oakland and San Diego. Well, to quote Caddy Shack, they'll get nothing like it. Of course,

we would not have any professional football team here in KC. back in Dallas, and they would be known as the Texans. Well, let's be honest, you can't have a team in Missouri called the Texans. So changing the name was kind of a needed one. But to name it the Chiefs, yeah, named after A. A.R. Bartle, yes, but where did A. A.R. A.R. Bartle get the nickname, chief.

Well, he got it from starting the tribe of Mika Se, which full of sculpture I am a member of. And his tribal name was Chief Lone Bear. For those who heard, nuts in Kansas City scouting. It is a honors camping society, only two spots in the entire nation that host this program, one of which is the Atro Bartle Scow Reservation just outside of Ocelain Missouri

and and and borrows very heavily on Native American culture so it is

textbook Native American appropriation so is the order of the arrow by the way but we're talking about we're talking about the tribe here and

the most senior paint position is chief and it is in fact red paint. I could go on for a long time about that.

But we're talking about football here. So all right, so there's your refamped AFC West with everyone going back to where they came from. Dallas, Denver. L.A.N. Oakland.

NFC. North? That's a tricky one because it doesn't matter. We had the, in the same vein as Cronky outs. You had way before that's our Modell. Moving the then-Browns to Baltimore, being sued to keep the Brown's name in Cleveland. And that's how the Baltimore Ravens were born.

Of course, that named after the Edgar Island Poe, boom. So the Browns were resurrected. The Bengals? I'll guess who started the Bengals. It was Paul Brown. The same Paul Brown, whose name is on the Cleveland Browns. And then the Steelers would still be a steeleys. input, but the original name was the Pirates, yes, after the baseball team.

And now we can talk World War II again, because of those World War II, they needed men to fight in World War II, rosters were reduced, and the Steelers, who were, by the way, did not really become the Steelers. today until the 70s. Before that, they were a joke. They had emerged a couple of times with other teams. So one year, they merged with the Eagles. They're known as Phil Pitts during that one year, nicknamed the Steele's.

Steelers, Eagles, again. And then, that lasted a year. Then the next year, they had to merge with another team this time. It was the I've got your Cardinals, and they were known that year as Card Pit, or Carpits, because that team finished with no wins. So there's your AFC North, AFC South, while the Colts would be back in Baltimore. So Baltimore, congratulations, has two teams under your argument. Houston has two teams.

the Titans would be back in Houston and would be the Oilers and then of course you have Jacksonville so two Houston teams Baltimore and Jacksonville and the south end the east would be largely untouched except they'd still be the Boston Patriots not taking on the New England team

and the Jets would be the Titans. So, so yeah. L.A. people know what you're talking about before you try to debate someone on the merits of whether our team should have moved back to L.A. or not.

And don't you dare say they're coming home because they ain't. if they were coming home, they would be in Cleveland. Okay, so this is part three of a fortnight challenge. Context is being recorded on January 9th, 2025. If you were paying attention to the current events at the time this was recorded, we had a pretty big snow and ice storm. last weekend, so bad that I had to come off work early on Saturday night and cancel a couple of things.

The roads were pretty slick on the drive home. You may have seen a bit of viral video going around of a girl. driving in the Northland, not too far from the office, by the way, decided when she's going to, she's on an off ramp and she started slipping and sliding a woman. She made the decision of bailing out of the car and we'll see what happens with the car, which is now driverless and sliding. and sliding and probably still in drive. It's insane, but I guess she got away with minor bumps and bruises in the car. Turned out mostly undamaged, so that's good. And other thing, so yeah, I did have a few slips and slides.

evening took me over an hour to get from the office to my house and that's close to an hour in the best of circumstances just because of the route I usually take so yeah but I wanted to include this particularly because there is a myth that needs a need needs to die. All right, and this comes, based on the experiences with this particular snowstorm. That is the idea that Kansas roads are bare plowed than Missouri roads. I am calling bullshit. Exhibits A is my street.

And the other side streets throughout, overall on board. park apparently. The main streets, yeah, they're doing okay, but yeah, I was, this storm had me stuck at home for two whole days. Granted, one of those days was

being productive with the podcast. You will probably have already heard all those episodes, but basically I knew that we were likely going be snowed in, so I

opened it up opened up my Zoom for anyone who wanted to jump in and contribute sadly no takers but I was able to fill those three

slots in and by time you're hearing this you will probably already have listened to those episodes if you haven't well they're available under the snowed in tag

As well, it's the two interviews that we were able to sneak in as well. Yeah. But, yeah, it wasn't until Tuesday that our streak was finally plowed, and that's it. And the plow did not do a very good job of plowing. Because the road is still mostly covered. in snow and shows no signs of improvement. Fortunately, I'm recording this on a day that finally hit just above freezing, 32 degrees Fahrenheit, just above freezing, but no appreciable snow melts as of yet,

and still plenty of ice underneath all that snow, and we're talking a shitload of snow. I think we got close to 10 inches in my neighborhood. And it's put a halt to my door dashing activities until it's finally safe to get in it out of the street without having to worry about slipping and sliding. So, and on top of this, if you're a regular listener to the podcast, you know that I am the oldest of four and I live with two of my siblings, the youngest of which is at some, I'm just going to say medical issues. I'm going to protect his privacy the best I can, but medical issues over the past a year and a half. particular thing. And I've had to take him to doctor's appointments each of the last couple of days with the third coming up here very soon. And we're going to go another month and a half. He's going to do some daily treatments. I'm not going to take him. Not going to be able to take him every day,

but most days I will be taking them. But this leads me to the point. Whoever is running the snow plows in the phone park needs to be fired. And a good way to do that is we got to have a new city council. All right, half the mayor and half the city council is up for re-election this year, including, yeah, our favorite person. I don't think I need to go into much more detail about Mr. Healy, but he's got to go. He's got to go, and this is the chance to do so.

And I invite you to go back and listen to particularly our political episodes. He has no business being in the office. He has no business calling himself a Democrat. And he's a got-to-go situation. So hopefully this gets people's ears before the election. We'll see. This is a long-term podcast episode project. It might not be at by then, but we'll see.

We'll see, but he's got to go. All right, so this is part four of our Fortnite challenge. As you probably know, Fortnite comes from Taylor's album, The Tortured Poets Department. and I take a moment to read an article this is upworthy.com I'm convinced my Gen Z kids to watch Dead Poets Society

and their angry reactions surprise me Gen X and Gen Z apparently leave you inspiring very differently Actually, actually the music video for Fortnite included cast members of the Dead Poets Society. So, let's read this article. Credits to the article goes to Annie Renaud. As a Gen X parents of Gen Z teens and young adults,

Old Disclosure, I am Gen X, myself. I'm used to cringing at things from 80s and 90s movies that haven't aged well. However, a beloved movie from my youth, I didn't expect to be problematic, the Dead Poets Society, sparked some unexpected negative responses in my kids, shining a spotlight on generational differences I didn't even know existed. I probably watched Dead Poets a dozen or more times as a teen and a young adult. Always finding it aesthetically beautiful,

tragically sad, and profoundly inspiring. That film was one of the reasons I decided to become an English teacher, inspired as I was by Robin Williams portrayal of the passionately, unconventional English teacher, John Keating. And then it includes a tweet from strong fan. The tweet reads,

Bangor Line from Dead Poet Society. Medicine, law, business, engineering. These are all noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance love these are what we stay alive for there's truth to that the way

Mr. Keating shared his love of beauty and poetry with a class of high school boys and a stuffy prep school encouraging them to seize the day Carpe Diem and suck

all the marrow out of life hit me right in my idealistic youthful heart and when those boys stood up on their desks for him at the end of the film

did not defying the headmaster who held their feature in his hands what a moving moments of triumph and support now also included in this

movie we will read the rest of the article in the site, but it's included a little bit from Shakespeare's Mitzham Night's Dream. The speech at the end by a puck. If we shout us, I'll have offended think with this as all this men did, that you've been slumbered here

while these fission is to appear in this weekendinal theme, no more reeling about a dream. Gentiles do not wrap her hand. If we pardon, we'll win, and I'll probably have to read the rest of that. later, but that stuck to me

to the point that I did that very scene as Shakespeare Festival in high school. So, my Gen Z Kids, back to the article. I saw the ending differently. They loved the feel of the film,

which I expected with its warm, cozy, comforting vibes, at least up until the last 20 minutes, or so. They loved Mr. Keating because how could you not? But when the movie ended, I was taken

back here and, that was terrible. And why would you traumatize me like that before they admitted? But it was so good. The traumatized part, I get that movie gets very heavy. All of a sudden

right after the Shakespeare quotes I just shared it with you where the young actor being paraded by his father played by Red Foreman was told, yeah, I'm going to pull you out of that school and put you in military school, you dumbass. I accept a little more eloquently. and the kid winds up killing himself

and and it gets reincarnated as Dr. Wilson for all those house fans that might be listening all right so the traumatized portion I get

that film gets very heavy all of a sudden but in discussing it further I understood I undercover three main generational differences and impacted their dead poets society viewing experience and what they took away from it. Number one, Gen Z seems, sees inspiring change through a systemic lens on an individual one. The first thing my 20-year-old son said when the credits rolled was, what, that's terrible, nothing changed. He got fired. And the school still running.

by a bunch of stodgy, old white men forcing everyone to conform. My immediate response was, yeah, but he changed those boys' individual lives, didn't he? He helped broaden their minds and see the world differently. I realized that Gen X youth valued individuals going against the old, outdated system and doing their own thing. whereas Gen Z values this dismantling of the system itself. For Gen X, Mr. Keating and the boys taking a stand was inspiring, but the fact that didn't actually change anything outside of their own individual experiences stuck like a needle in my Gen Z kids crawl.

Okay. I would agree with that, actually. All right. Number two, Gen Z isn't accustomed to being blindsided by tragic storylines with no warning. To be fair, I did tell them there was a sad part before the movie started, but I'd forgotten how deeply devastated in the last part of the movie was. so my daughters why would you do that to me

was somehow warranted I thought maybe a dog would die or something she said no one really expected one of the main characters to die by suicide and the beloved teacher pretending this to be playing for it

but somehow minimized the tragedy of it all in my memory and some Anna included tweets Dead Boat Society is the perfect autumn comfort film

if you know when to turn it off but also to be fair Gen X never got any such warnings we were just blindsided by tragic plots twist all the time as kids we cheered when Atreou we cheered on Atreou

trying to save his horse from the swamp in the never-ending story. Only watch him drown. Adults showed us watershed ship down thinking it would be a cute little animated film about bunnies. We were slapped in the face by the tragic child's death in My Girl, which was marketed as a sweet coming-of-age movie. Gen C was raised in the era of trigger warnings and trauma-informed practices while Gen X kids watched a teacher die on live TV in our classrooms I'll link to that oh she is referring to the Challenger explosion

so let me finish the paragraph and I'll talk about that a little bit But, yeah, Jenner, yeah, watch the teacher die on live TV in our classrooms with zero follow-up on how we were processing it. Those differences became apparent really quick at the end of this film. So the Challenger incident, so Challenger was a space show. In the mid-80s, they were getting ready to do a space launch. people on board one of them was a school teacher

Krista McCullough and for everyone in Lenoxa that's how the school got its name because it opens shortly after that incident

so shortly after takeoff it blows up finds out there was something wrong with the launching mechanism

and all seven people on that shuttle died. So, yeah, that's the backstory. I find that. Moving on to the article. Number three, Gen Z fixates on battery crossing behavior that Gen X overlooked. The other reaction I wasn't expecting

was the other disdain my girls showed for Knox. Overstreet, played by Josh Charles, who was A, one of the actors in Taylor's music video, B, would let her play basically Keith Alberman on

a sports night. So, Knox Overstreet, the sweet but over-eager character who fell for the football player's cheerleader girlfriend. I've been there. Recall the whole game

death threats thing. So yeah, parallel experience for me. His banter crossing attempts to woo-hur were always cringe, but for Gen X, cringe behavior in the name of love was generally either overlooked, tolerated, or sometimes even celebrated.

Standing on the girls' lawn in the middle of the nights, holding a full volume stereo over your head was peak for romance for Gen X, remember. Yeah, and I believe that was Peter Gabriel.

And no, Stan Marsh, not shock the monkey. For Gen Z, the only thing worse than cringe is predatory behavior, which Knox's obsessiveness and pushiness could be seen

as. My young Gen X lens saw him and said, But that's a bit much, dude, take it down a notch or three. My Gen Z daughter's lens, and that dude's a creepo. He needs to run far the other way. On one hand, I was proud of them for recognizing red flag behaviors. On the other hand, I saw how little room there is for nuance in their perception.

in their perceptions which is interesting but Gen Z kids reactions aren't wrong they're just different from mine and mine weren't at that age we're usually on the same page

so seeing them have a drastically different reaction to something I loved at their age was really something. Now, I'm wondering what other favorite movies from my youth I should

show them to see if they view those differently as well, hopefully without them being traumatized by the experience. Okay. Fair enough. That is a very heavy movie if you've not

seen it and I recommend that you do. So, you know, I'm going to be able to be. So, you know, I'm going to be able to be. Okay, so this is part five now of our Fortnite challenge. Yeah, let's talk a little NFL, United Football League,

seamless bellhawks, cacao's low. Going into the second year post-merger, and things are really looking up. They just, they just announced they read some office space for the long term, and they've also announced that they will be expanding a couple times, so up to 10 for year 3 and 2026, and up to 12 for year 4.

in 2027 and I would think we're the battlehawks are a favorite to do well this year and especially since we have six home games let's play Antonio twice at home and and uh let's face it's no one is beating the battlehawks in attendance crunky. But my eyes came upon this article at uFL board.com the fan

voice survey results and analysis. So they took a poll they asked a few questions on fan attitudes towards a certain topics

related to the league and here are those results so number one how would you grade ownership on their overall performance for the first year of the UFO

I think I said it was an A but 57.4% said B so it's still passing 21.8% said a 19.3% said C and not very many people 1.5% gave it a D or an F so that tells me

they're done they're doing good job so that's that's good question two how was you assess the on-field play during the past season of the ufl 53.2% said better than i expected um and uh yeah i agree with that's because because uh granted it not quite NFL quality but but uh still really damn good football and uh really exciting football too so so these are guys that know they are playing for possibly a shot the NFL whether they'll actually get there or not who knows

but there have been some a couple good stories that relate to UFO players making the jump to the NFL, most notably Jake Bates the Michigan

kicker who is now kicking for the Detroit Lions so you didn't have to leave that building so I thought that so I think it's pretty cool 4.6.3 percent percent about

what I expected and only point five percent worse than I expected so yeah they are doing a good job on the field too question three taking into account all aspects of production which network do you believe has a better presentation of VFL games I thought both Fox and A.B.C. ESPN did all right. So I probably would be in the no significant difference, which came in second at 36.9%. But Fox is the clear winner of 46.3%. And ABC ESPN only at 16.7%. do want to read the analysis so in order to be seen as a major league product the networks need to treat the ufl like a major league products and fox and abc is being both did that for the most parts uh of course fox owns half the league and abc is a uh stakeholder in the other half

so both these leagues have a stake in this league and yeah they did that for the most part while the broadcasts were similar in a lot of ways each provides some distinction as well to the point that voters very clearly felt Fox offered the better presentation ABC and ESPN tend to lean more heavily on the betting aspects Okay, I did notice that, yeah.

As though Pat McAfee were doing the thing, I don't think he did, but it kind of fell on that because he does a lot of batting stuff on his show. May I have played a role here for fans tired of hearing about the over-under. After each touchdown or a vehicle, a year-on-expectations will be that both networks continue honing their in-game production since TV

presentation is such a critical piece of the EFL's success going forward. And, yeah, year one, yeah, they did excellent as far as TV.

So be excited to see what happens here in year two, especially with Friday nights. They're going to play a game every Friday night this season. I was just the live experience of a UFL game while I then go on virtue of the cost of this UFL city to me is four hours away in St. Louis. So that puts me in the 30.3.2% did not 10 and 37.6 percent so better than I expected 27.7 about what I expected and 3.5 percent worse than I expected so I know where'd you go for for the again said if we went to

St. Louis or DC answer you probably had a good time it's a those two teams in particular I've done a really good job in cultivating their fan culture, whether it's in the NFL to fuck off in San Luis or building the Bear Snake in D.C.

I get some props to San Antonio, Birmingham for their attempts at fan culture as well. So, With Birmingham involves pretending your Jason Kelsey, turning the Buffalo Chiefs game, and taking a shirt off. For the Brahmus, it's embracing the Hispanic culture of the city.

And granted, each team has done a good job, but the other four. near gear the least 10K into 10,000 butts per game

into their stadiums I think that's a question later on in the

pull to number five how would you assess the UFO's merchandise selection on Yafel shop

taking intercom variety price, quality, et cetera. By the way, I would love to get one of their windbreakers with all the team logos on them. But that is a very expensive jacket. So I may have to hold off and consider my other options. About what I expected, it got to 46%.

Better than I expected, got 13. Worse than I expected, it's 28%. no opinion, 13%. So they need to do a better job. That is wondering if they need to do a better job with, I agree. Number six, what is the most important thing the UFO needs to improve for season two? So this is a coming season. 48% more advertising of the league in the teams.

cities. They use the M word here, so knock that shit off. So 48% more advertising in the cities. Then we have 13.5%

more advertising of the league nationally. Also 13.5% more competitive pay to attract quality players. Okay 10.5% Higher quality of on-field play

So I'm really there 8.5% Better communication of League information like depth charts injury reports, etc. with fans I don't know if the average fan is interested in all that

Maybe if you're doing fantasy and I would not recommend doing fantasy for any league other than the NFL 5% said other 1% stronger social media presence I don't know about that's

at least with the Yeah the league does a pretty decent job with social media And the Battlehawks do a pretty decent job with social media The other teams I can't tell you And have games on more Consistent time slots and networks Zero percent

So, yeah, scheduling. I think they have a scheduling down to a science. But, yeah, they need to do a better job of marketing these teams in their home cities. I'll think it'll be an issue in St. Louis, but still, got to get butts in those seats. And this one, I will read the analysis. So despite offering eight options. for this question, fans didn't take the bait. The overwhelming

they overwhelmingly felt more advertising is needed in team home cities for season two. It was a similar story last year in the XFL with 39.7% thought the same. For Springleys looking to operate on

budgets and the balancing act of doing so, while also finding enough money to find And such advertising in Team Cities has proven challenging. Is very close to the end of the offseason? I'm recording this in mid-January. There does seem to have been some traction in proving this aspect of the UFO. Will be enough to make a difference, time will tell. Curiously, also 11% for it in higher quality.

of on-field play is the most important, even as only one-half of one percent cited as a weakness in the previous question. A couple of open responses suggested expansion off the table for season two at this point, so it will be the eight, Arlington, Birmingham, D.C., Houston, Memphis, Michigan, St. Louis and San Antonio. A few mentions that the league should embrace fantasy football more as a way of potentially reaching new fans. Okay. So that goes hand in hand with those updated depth charts and stats and everything.

Someone who turned themselves as a previous employee of the league opines a full-time social media departments needed to be hired. rather than that aspect beyond the umbrella of seasonal employers of notes this person also gave ownership a D slash F grade relevant since this is a former employee okay number seven was your biggest concern about the UFO moving forward attendance 33 percent so so attendance was not an issue in St. Louis, and it really wasn't an issue in D.C. either. Those are, yeah, St. Louis, 33K a game. D.C. about 18, but that was close to sound out because their stay only holds 20K. But everyone else, well, Birmingham and San Antonio averaged over 10K.

Arlington, which did not play well at all, was at 10K. Michigan, Houston, and Memphis was at last. Those three were under 10K, and Michigan was a playoff team. So I would say at least get to 10K in attendance league-wise. I think Memphis's average was all over 6K. Yeah, you got to do better than that. but do that and I hope they do better than that. Very close behind and number two was long-term financial backing from ownership.

Fox, ESPN, Redbird, Danny Garcia, it's Wayne Rock Johnson. Viability of certain teams in current cities. 13.3%, so it's not that big, yeah, that's not that big issue. Like of teams in key regions, 11.8%. I'm guessing these are West Coast people or northeastern people because all the teams were in the Midwest or South. TV ratings 5.9% TV ratings were awesome

and other 3.9 I'll read the analysis here too so. Spring football fans are inherently pessimistic and roughly so given the history in this space. So what concerns fans the most? It's almost an equal split between attendance and long-term financial backing from ownership. attendance won't make or break the UFL

It'll certainly be a contributing factor But long-term financial backing from ownership is something That could make it break the league And there are more factors That will go into that decision than just attendance TV ratings were Topps in this question last year for the XFL, the combination of Fox and ESPN, having an ownership stake in the league,

as well as the positive rating numbers for the UFL initial season, seems to have lessened that worry hanging in the year two. In the comment section of this question, multiple people mentioned the schedule, from San Antonio's one last home game, to the concerns surrounding Friday night games specifically one person noting that their work schedule

prevents them from attending these games after they had already purchased season tickets you know how you fake stats give the tickets to the games you can't go to to a friend all right other concerns have to do with engaging the local fan

as well as casual football fans and yeah number eight what was your favorites gameplay role unique to the ufl so so before so for this one I'm going to read them all in order otherwise the final one makes sense so kickoff from the 20 8.9%. Tiered extra points 14.8%. The 4th and 15 option in the fourth quarter

when trailing or tied, 17.2%. Coaches can challenge any play. 22.2%. Clock rules meant to speed of the game, 3%. Light them all.

33%. That's your winner. And other got 1%. 1%. And the flip side of that is what is your least favorites

gameplay rule unique to the UFL. Kickout from the 20 got 31%. Tehrerx Sports 18.7 the 4th and 15 got 9.8.

Coaches being able to challenge any play 7.8 clock rules meant to speed of the game 19.2 and

the other got 13.5 Oh yeah I think about the clock rules real quick. The average UFL game, this is once I watched take less than

about just about three hours to play NFL games tend to last slightly longer in three hours so that's pretty cool that's pretty cool

but yeah the kickoff that brings us to question 10 should the UFL adopts the XFL's style kickoff for 2025 and 58.1% said yes 32.5%

said no and 9.4% said no pain the XFL kickoff roll this was adopted by the NFL in the 24 you just have the teams lined up like 10 yards from each other the kicker is alone in the at the 20 or the 30 wherever they choose to kick it and does the kick in and goes from there. The idea is to lessen the impact from the collisions that do happen on special teams and can cause concussions. So it, yeah, I would like to see the XFL kickoff back in.

in the UFO but we shall we shall see on number 11 should the UFO have expanded in some of our teams in year two about plurality of this so 45.3 percent said no 44.3 said yes 10.3 no opinion i'm camp yes simply because when news of the merger got out they uh myers says

Congress wanted them to expand as quickly as possible to get back up to 12 or 16

from their initial eights because remember this is two leagues merging into one and going from

16 total teams jended just eight so that's a lot of jobs that were lost in this merger so it does sound like they will be expanding for 26 and 27

so that's good and I'm fine with these teams that stay around I would not be fine with any of them moving that is a uniquely American thing that's frankly I'm sick of

seeing teams move because who's that help who does that help and number 12 if the ufl expands in the future what should be its first new city again knock that shit off with the M word and they have a list of um they have a list of nine cities

and the other please specify so the others please specify one out with 26.9% of the Next on the list is Seattle at 18.4%. Seattle was in XFL city pre-merger. They had the Sea Dragons or because of their ridiculous-looking logo, let's call them where they are, Troggdor. Trogdor was a man, he was a dragon man, maybe he was just a dragon. and

hey you draw them you draw them with an S and we're different S and he used that to consummate Vs that's what their logo looks like number two

is San Diego 16.4% a couple of notes there one I'm pretty sure the league said they didn't want to do business in California or New York because of taxes but it'd be much like

San Luis, San Diego lost an NFL team but the circumstances were completely different Spanos had well over decades to address stadium concerns in San Diego

Giant Murphy was aging right the house was built in the 60s it was aging needed a beer place and something did ultimately get on the balance

in 2016 and it needed it needed two-thirds of the votes to pass it didn't even get half of the votes passed so

so so there you go that's why the chargers are rightfully back we're back home unlike that other team

and I get St. Eagans anger towards Spanos but he did a lot more to try to say than Stanton. That's just the fact. Now

that was for well they can't play in Jerry Murphy anymore because that was torn down but built in his place was the Snapdragon stadium which is a lot smaller

could probably better host a UFO crowd and is currently used by among others

San Diego State University one of the newest members of the revamped Pact 12 so that

that being intriguing in San Diego number three is Canton Ohio just outside

of Cleveland home of the Pro Football Hall Fame, the birthplace of the National Football League. And important for our discussion here, they were a USFL Hub City pre-merger. They hosted the Pittsburgh team and the New Jersey team. So they then actually host a team with Cannon on their own.

on the front of their jerseys and I could see that I could see that definitely be impossibility with this I believe the league bought the rights to the Canaan Bulldogs a very old NFL team

so all right it's on the other seas that didn't get 10% We have Phoenix, 2.5%, Chicago, 4%, L.A., 2%, New York, 4.5%, Orlando, 5.5%, and Oakland, 6.5%. And I'll need to read the analysis here. I tried to provide a comprehensive list of potential expansion locations. but over a quarter of respondents cited a location not among the nine listed here.

Clearly, UFL fans believe a presence out west is important for the league with the top two results of those offered being Seattle and San Diego. like I said Seattle has two years of XFL history in 2020 and 23 doing very well attendance-wise in 20 before trailing alphabets in 23 San Diego drew some solid numbers with the Alliance for America football in 19

We know That success years ago Doesn't necessarily translate to success today Plus California It's an expensive place to field a team Cannon Also got respectful now Now folks that city was a hub

For the USFL in 2023 And also the place the championship game was played that season while it's part of the Cleveland area

that's why it's not a large media market yeah it's combined with Cleveland and Akron for the 19th largest in the country so among other cities that got

the plurality of those ones New Orleans was the clubhouse leader with a dozen right-ins. Columbus, Ohio had 11, well, Philly, Oklahoma, and Hartford each received three. So in total about 20 locations were suggested outside of those listed. A few people mentioned no specific city, but rather expanding to locations in which the NFL did not already. have a presence so yeah that's pretty cool all right so yeah I think I'm not sure about San Diego but certainly Seattle and Ken I would keep an eye on and all as New Orleans so I am excited for season two idea

and the cars alone so this is part so this is part six of our fortnight challenge this one uh yeah uh from the podcast and our co-host, Heather.

All right, Christmas time, sent out a post asking people for their addresses. I'm like, okay, I'm not sure what this is about, but all right. Yesterday in the mail, I received a card from Heather, and I'm going to read it to you now. So, Happy New Year, Michael. Sending so many well wishes your way for an amazing 2025. Thank you for letting me participate in your podcast, and I hope we get the chance to record more. I agree. As friends, I am very thankful to know you and work with you.

Cheers to the new year, and may you find so much success in all your endeavors to sign, Heather Marie. Well, thank you, Heather. Yeah, it's just been, it is difficult to get people, even co-hosts who you expect to be working with more than once to come on the podcast, especially if they're busy people. And I knew from our first meeting that Heather was a very, is a very busy, individual between selling real estate and being a substitute teacher and being a parent I totally get it and we're and yeah just try to get our schedules working in a way that's going to have been benefits both of us and and and all that's and yeah

I I yeah we'll see we'll see we'll see try my best to get Heather back on because there's a lot

more that we can talk about you know you all right so we're now it's part seven of our fortnight uh series it will um i thought it'd be a good idea to look at the uh three thousand hit club any baseball fans out there yep simple as that just get 3,000 hits. Only 33 guys have ever done it in the over 100 years of Major League Baseball. And the most recent guy to get in from the 3,000 hit club was Yerosuzuki.

He of August in Kansas City, infamy. I'll explain. You can look this up on YouTube. if you want, but he did interview with Bob Costas early in his major early career, so he first came here from Japan. He was asked what his favorite American expression was. He said, August in Kansas City is hotter than two rats and a fucking wolf sock. It's still funny to this day. with only a few exceptions everyone in

the 3,000 hit club is in Cooperstown, which is pretty cool so why are these guys not in? And who would be next active player-wise to join them? Okay, let's take a look at both questions right now, so the all-time hitch leader

4,256 is Pete Rose, who recently passed away. There is a very simple reason why Pete Rose is not in the Hall of Fame, and that is because he broke the Cardinal sin of baseball and gambled on the game. And he never truly apologized for it. So, yeah, he's out.

next up Albert Pujols went to high school at Fort O'Sage, which is just north of Blue Springs in eastern Jackson County. He played his

college ball at Maple Woods, which is in our north line. So, so guy with local ties. He is not, he retired in 2022.

So he is not eligible for another couple of years. But I think he will get in eventually. The most recent guy to join the 3,000 head club was Miguel Cabrera. And he retired just a little over a year ago. So he's not eligible just yet. But I think he'll get in. Alex Rodriguez Arad

was caught using steroids he's still gone pair on the writers ballots but we'll see if he gets in and the last one

Raphael Pomero also a steroid's guy in his case he lied to Congress about not taking steroids and failed to get even 5% of the votes so he is not

vulnerable so those are the only guys in the 3,000 hit club that are not in Cooperstown. Now active guys who could get there

the closest is Freddie Freeman 2267 Hits, but he's got ways away. Ichiro, by the way, has the single season record,

I believe it's 262, so it will still take him a couple of years to get to 3,000, even if he were to keep

Yotros' pace. I think he can do it. Then next closest is Jose Altoouet, 2,232. And I think these are the two best cases for getting a 3,000 hit guy among active players because they're still fairly young as opposed to as opposed to the next couple of guys on this list Andrew McCutcheon 2152 he's up there age wise as is Paul Goldschmidt's 2000 and

56. So, so I would, so I would bet on a Freeman and Altuve joining the 3000 hit club. It will not be this coming season or the season after that, but I'd say check back in about four or five years and we're probably talking about these guys. Good to a thousand. All right, it's part eight of our Fortnite challenge. And let's talk about the subject we have talked about on the podcast, but not a whole lot. And that's the subject of natureism, nudism. And I was reminded that there's a quiz here.

The nudist quiz, how much do you know about nudism? So, while nudism may seem like a new and modern concept, the practice of nudism has been around for centuries and has a rich history and cultural significance. Whether you're a seasoned nudist, just exploring this lifestyle choice or simply curious about nudism. Take this quiz to see how much you know about this fascinating and liberty movement. Okay. Okay, so here we go. What's the difference between nudism and natureism? A.

There is no difference the two terms are used interchangeably. B, nudism is a much more modern turn for natureism, or C, natureism is a more traditional term for nudism. The correct answer is A, they are interchangeable. number two how long has the practice of nudism been around a few decades be a few centuries c a few millennium we will go with c because we're all born naked but the idea of organized nudism as exists today that's been around for a couple of centuries um starting in the 1890s Germany

but I'll stay with C as my answer number three was the main goal of nudism A to promote Bobby positive self-expression B to promote sexual behavior

C to challenge societal norms and values A is the best possible answer B good luck doing that at Any established club unless they explicitly say sexual behavior is okay. That's a good way to get yourself kicked out.

So don't do that. Number four, what is the role of clothing in nudism? A, clothing is optional and individuals can choose to wear or not wear clothes. B, clothing is required. and individuals must wear clothes at all times. C, clothing is discouraged, and individuals are encouraged to wear as low clothing as possible. The answer is A.

Clothing is optional. Number five, how do nudist communities maintain a safe and respectful environments? A, by following strict codes of conduct and etiquette. B, probably promoting sexual behavior. C, by ignoring personal behavior. boundaries and privacy. The correct answer is A. Again, B is a good way to get yourself kicked out of most clubs. Number six, was the impact of nudism on relationships and social

interactions? A, it promotes greater understanding of respects for cultural differences. B, it promotes greater isolation and discrimination. C, it promotes greater sexual behavior. Correct answer is A. Number seven, what's the impact of nudism on mental and physical health? A, it promotes improved mental and physical health. B, it promotes decreased mental and physical health. C, it has no impact on mental and fiscal health.

The correct answer is A. Number eight, what is the impact of nudism on the environment? A, it promotes environmental awareness and conservation. B, it promotes environmental degradation. C, it has no impact on the environments. The correct answer is A, it promotes environmental awareness and conservation. Number nine, what is the typical demographic of nudists? A, young adults,

B, elderly people see people of all ages and backgrounds. Ideally, the answer should be C, but I will tell you, you see a lot of B at a lot of these clubs, but you do

still see young people there, so the correct answers closest to C. Number 10 was the most common reason for individuals to embrace nudism. A, to improve mental and fiscal health, B, to challenge societal norms and values,

C, to engage in sexual behavior. The answer is A, C will get you kicked out. Number 11 was the impact of nudism on body image and self-esteem. A, it promotes body positivity and acceptance. B, it promotes body shaming and. low self-esteem or C it has no impact on body image and self-esteem. Ideally the answer is A but for me it's more of a C. Number 12 was the proper etiquette's for visiting a nudist beach A there is no etiquette anything goes B follow strict

rules of conduct and etiquettes to respect personal space and boundaries C, ignore personal space and privacy. Now, the correct answer is B, follow the rules and respects people's space.

Number 13. What are the benefits of nudism for the environments? I believe we just answered this question, but A promotes environmental awareness and conservation B, it promotes environmental degradation, see it has no impacts

on the environment. The correct answer is A. Number 14. What do nudists do for fun? A, play beach volleyball. B, play board games in their birthday suits, or C, wear clothing, engage in traditional activities. A and B are both good

responses, actually. 15. Can notice wear accessories while they're naked? A, no, they must be completely naked. B, yes, they could wear jewelry and sunglasses, C, only on special occasions. It's closer B or C? Yeah, B or C are the best answers there. 16 was the best way to avoid sunburn while at a nudist beach. Oh, boy. A, wear sunscreen, B, wear a hat and sunglasses, C, wear a full-body swimsuit. I think they're going with a A.

which I have been guilty of quite a few times. That is not fun to have an all-body sunburn. That B is successful to hadn't sunglasses. 17. What is the appropriate response when encountering a nudist for the first time? A, run away as fast as possible. B, gawk and stare. C, respect their choice and maintain a safe and respectful distance.

correct answer is C 18 What is the most common food served at a nudist potluck? A. grilled vegetables B, bake beans and hot dogs or C

clothing optional casseroles You like them? More like it was the A or B because I've never seen a casserole at an event. So that's my answer. 19 19 What is the most popular

activity at a nudist Campground A hiking B Naked Yoga C Traditional Camp Pinging activities like roasting marshmallows

and tell the ghost stories How about D all the above Those are all Popular activities And one that is not on here That should be Swimming

and 20 What's the most challenging aspect of nudism for first-timers? A. Overcoming their fear of being seen naked. B. Finding the perfect picnic blankets. C. avoiding sunburn in sensitive areas. I think it has to be A. Overcoming the fear of being seen naked.

And here are the answers. They provide answers for this. two so the answers are for number one a there's no difference the two terms are using interchangement b a few centuries so the time I'm an organized nudism there a to promote bi-positivity and self-expression a clothing is optional and individuals can choose to wear or not wear clothing a follow strict codes of conduct and etiquette. A. promotes greater understanding and respect for cultural differences. A. promotes improved mental and physical health. A. promotes environmental awareness and conservation. C. People of all

ages of backgrounds. A. To improve mental and fiscal health. A. Promote body acceptance and by positivity B, follow strict codes of conduct and etiquettes in respect to personal space and boundaries

A promotes environmental awareness and conservation A play beach volleyball B, yes they can wear jewelry and sunglasses A wear sunscreen C, C

respect their choice and maintain a safe and respectful distance a grilled vegetables so I'm partially right there B naked yoga and a overcoming their fear of being seen naked so cool we need you at least one more one or two more episodes on this subject It's an interesting subject and one that I feel is very underreporting, under explored. All right, so we're ready for part nine of our challenge. And this one, a little bit of backstory. So, of course, we run the free play and tournaments on

Saturdays at our new office. So that got me thinking, yeah, a couple weeks ago, we had a reporter come in in to write about chess in Kansas City. And we talked for a little bit. Yeah, it was all good, gave him a lot of useful information for his reporting, and next thing you know, we get the article. So the article was actually sent to be by Regina Neumann, who is a retired plastic surgeon here in Kansas City, and I happen to know her through the podcasting community. Do check out her podcasts on plastic surgery. So here's the article.

I unfortunately have to read it from the email because I cannot find this. Actually, you know, a website. But check out Kansas City's chest scene through KCURR our local NPR station. So the game of chess started over 500 years ago

in India and was based on a game called Chaturanga played on an 8x8 gridded board. There are still elements that today's chess players would recognize such as the king infantry, ponds

and cavalry knights although it also had elephants. The rules and history of Chaturanga are debated but the game

essentially turned into the chess people are familiar with now. It really took off as it became a stand-in for the Cold War. American Bobby Fisher faced off against Russian Boris Spaski

in 1972 and what was known as the match of the century Fisher 1. Another explosion of chess interest took place during COVID as people strode to find a way to pass

the time with activities like a thousand piece puzzles and chess. Current's chess superstars became household names such as Norwegian Magnus Carlson who holds the world

record for the highest chess rate. at 2882. Missouri and Kansas City have their own claims to fame when it comes to chess as well. The Chess Hall of Fame is in St. Louis and in front is the world's largest chess piece a king that measures over 20 feet. It's all. St. Louis also serves as the headquarters for the United States Chess Federation. I shall also point out that that's also where you'll find the St. Louis Chess Club and

you'll see a lot of grandmasters there and one of the few times I will shout out Rex Sinkfield for getting that set up. I strongly disagree with his political spending but he is

a big time name in chess so I will give him props for that Kansas City native Well, she's not native But Jessica Losser Who is a friend of mine

She's been mentioned on the podcast before Because I've had to give her rights on the accounts That she is blind So And she's listened enough to the podcast As it is I'd be open to having Jessica on on, but don't want to force it on her.

But she is a six-time-ranking U.S. blind champion having to be in tournaments all over the world. But she don't need to be a champion or even know anything about the game in the first place to get involved in KC's chess scene will help you find local clubs, tournaments, and casual matches around the metro. And then it shows a photo of a friend of the podcast

Nick Manley playing chess with a young man whose parents were from Russia and his father was talking about how Gary Kasparov helped him get into the United States. So that's pretty cool. And I think I've said this before on the podcast. But I'll say again, I've actually been in the same room as Guy Kasparov. In fact, he stood next to me. Some of the 23 at the German Library. And I got a photo of him. Sandin autograph for one of our former students. So that's pretty cool. So chess clubs in Kansas City, so the Kansas State Chess Club, my employer. Founded in 1895, making one of the more established chess clubs in the country. Originally, it was known as the Kansas City Chess

Checkers and Whist Club, according to Canfee, who has run the organization since 1997. You'll also be able to find a game when the KC Chess Club meets up. Their schedule is chock full of weekly, in-person, and online events. For starters, the KC Chess Club offers a merit badge class for Boy Scouts, summer youth camps. and lessons for players of all ages. They have a few levels of membership starting at 70 bucks for six months for an individual, 100 for a family, or a yearly membership at 120, 175 for a family. And now we'll go ahead and interject family up to four people.

advice on your game from some of their instructors like Mike Chernevsky. This is where I get quoted, folks. In your first 10 moves, get out your two knights, two bishops and castle. Chernevsky advises new

players. Castling is a chess move with the king and the rook switch spots. Not exactly, but still, as long as they are, unobstructed. For middle-level players, Chernevsky advises not to bring your queen

out too early. You'll get punished on the board for it. Also, Wheaton's Law comes in mind. I'm not sure to mention that, but Wheaton's Law, don't be a dick. Taking the queen out early is the ultimate

dick move in chess. A membership is not required to enjoy a game at some of these events. They're casual events. just take a $10 fee for visitors and there's no needs to bring your own board clocks or pieces because we provide them start with their casual play events every Saturday from 2 to 5 at their main location and it gives our current address every tuesday at the gladstone community center from 6 to 9 p.m.

And the first Monday of the month in Ovalon Park at Kansas Christian College. Their Oakland Park chapter offers all the benefits that you can find at their main branch. Casual play games are unranked. And it's more about learning and the camaraderie of the community. This is a great place for a beginner in the chess scene. the ropes and maybe some of the less well-known chess moves such as an en passant

all players of all ages are welcome to attend and play all right not bad but see he talked about the entire chess scene there's more than just us he talks about the Westport Chess Club and the next part

this article so the westport chess club started in 1986 and meets at the westport flea market barn grill every tuesday from 630 to 10 if we want to eat like a king while protecting your king you can also grab their famous super flea five burger five patty burger excuse me and uh and of course uh Westport Fleet Markets, a long-time home of the IFC in Penn Filmmakers Coalition, and has been used as a KC fringe festival venue. So, yeah, I know the Westport Fleet Market quite well, but I've never gone to Westport Chess Club. Probably because I'm running the event in Gladstone. Every week.

But the Westport Chess Club also meets virtually on Chess.com. Perhaps the largest online chess platform in the world every Wednesday at 7 p.m. to get a few games in. We're talking about the most recent drama, such as Magnus wearing jeans in a recent tournament. Magnus was kicked out of a feed-a tournament for wearing jeans, which is ridiculous and full disclosure

the KC Chess Club also runs a group on chess.com but you do have to be a member to be in that group there is no fee to become a member of

the Westport Club their first visit is free but they do ask for $2 for subsequent visits kids and students pay $1, which is one of the cheapest nights out of town you'll find. Kids age 6 and up are always welcome to 10 with their parents. No need for a babysitter. Teach your kid how to play chess and bond over a smashing fool's mate,

the fastest checkmate in chess. Don't worry, everyone has fallen for at least once. okay so foolsmate actually there's a faster checkmate called a scholar's man no no you're right fools mate fool's mate so uh so foolsmates i'm going to go over the notation for foolsmate and uh i do not expect you to uh follow this but if you do be warned it'll be over in two terms so white always starts white goes F4 this is the birds opening

everybody knows that the bird is the word black responds E5 or E6 I'll go E6 with this one then white

on his next turn will go G4 then black goes Queen H4 and that is

checkmates these are ABC's a check so if can I avoid the check that's the A

no I can't avoid the check because I can't move my king to F2 because that spots in check

and you have to get your king have check I can't move to E2 because I got a pawn there and I can't move

to F1 because I got a bishop there can I block? No, I just moved the last piece it could have blocked when I went G4. Can I capture?

No, because I've got nothing that can I capture that queen at this time. So that is checkmate. That is the fool's mate. The Westport Chess Club is also a great place to learn the game. As the old

chess saying goes, I'm good enough at Chess to realize how bad I am. The club holds a teaching session on the third Tuesday of each month where their instructor picks a chess theme and gives a demonstration. In other words, what we pretty much do on a weekly basis, either our chess school or at the after-school clubs that we run. For example, you might learn about endgames and Zugzweig, a term in chess that means you must move and cannot take a pass. That is correct.

There's no passing in chess. All right. Everyone must make a move. And I just lost my space there. But yeah, that's interesting stuff on the Westport Club. I don't know if it's my thing, but, oh, well. Now we get to fun stuff, tournaments. Tournaments are where you can start to receive an official chess ranking.

And if you must know, I'm professionally at 1054 with the United States Chess Federation. that ceases to be professional if I play 25 games I've only got six on record so I'm more interested in running tournaments that I am playing in them so the number will also allow you

to get more competitive matchups in America rankings are government are governed by the U.S. Chess Federation based in St. Louis. To get your own starting number, you must play 25 games in U.S. chess-rated tournaments and submit the results, which is part of my job. It is submitting the results. Now, all tournaments are U.S. chess rated, but we don't need to deal with international level competitions just yet. And that's where you're grandmasters come in and it's Fide is the international body of a chess and yes we have run fee day tournaments at our club we have to have a special fee day tournament director

who's a nice guy I will go and say that there are a few general tournament rules It's good to know. If you touch a piece, you must move that piece. If there's a legal move possible, also known as touch move. You'll also be playing with a chess clock that can stand the time you're given. Every time you make a move, you stop your clock with the same hand that you move the pieces with. So if I move right-handed, I also hit the clock right-handed. I don't care if I have to reach across the body or not.

I still have to use that right hand. Finally, there are multiple types of tournaments, and many are determined by the clock. Classical chess games are 60 minutes or longer per side, but playing with bullets, time controls, means that each player has less than three minutes or sometimes only one to get through their entire game. Bloods games are five-minute time controls, and Rapid is normally 10 minutes.

The Kansas Chess Club holds a USCF-rated tournament the first Saturday of each month at 5 p.m. It's open to all U.S. chess players with a $30 entry fee. Guess who runs those tournaments, folks? Yeah, you're talking to them. You can find their yearly calendar, our yearly calendar, there can see Chess Club.com. On May 10, 2025, they're holding both the Blitz and Rapid Championship tournaments. Youth tournaments are also available for kids, grades K through 12,

where players will be grouped based on grade and rating. The next youth tournament is, the Grand Hog Youth Tournaments on Saturday February 15 from 930 to noon guess who's running that yeah

here's truly and that will be out in Grain Valley which is right next to Blue Springs on the way going away from the big city right next to everything

they have a small occupancy center, which I really like, and they're a very nice player, people, and I look forward to returning. The Westport Chess Club also holds tournaments the second Tuesday of the month. They host an unrated tournament at 7 p.m. On the last Tuesday of the month, they host a U.S. chess rated tournament also at 7 p.m. where each player will have 29 minutes on the clock

check out their schedule to find others that might be added throughout the year chess, schools, and coaching when you are ready to get better at learning about

forks, skewers, and pins then it's trying to bring in the experts these terms aren't about your next barbecue but rather tactical descriptions used in chess before I continue a fork is when the piece is attacking two or more pieces at the same time and I attack him they can on the next turn they can capture a piece a skewer is a basically the reverse of a pen so so let's say let's say you've got a brook putting my king into check and i choose skewers can be a little yeah skeers can be a little confusing

I don't think about it but pens that's a little more why I was trying to describe moving a piece between your king and a piece putting your king in check so the block part of your ABC is a check

that's more related to pens the skewers are skeir would actually be the opposite of it, not anything bad. So let's say you put my king in check and behind the king is a available

piece like a queen or a rook forcing me to move my king out of check and you could just take the piece that my king is blocking. So there you are. The dummies version

of a skee in chess. So both Regal Chess School and the Knights School can help. The Regal Chess School is us. The Regal Chess School, which is run through the Kansas City Chess Club, offers classes for both in-person and online learning. They teach both adults and children. Trial classes start at $20. They're a list of instructors is impressive, and includes players such as Alien Meda, who is a World Fide Master, six-time national champion, and an Olympian. I'm pretty sure you meant to say Alejandro Garcia and a Miami, but it is what it is.

If you want individual coaching, they have options for that as well. The night school, our big comparer, is the youth program for kids age 3 to 16. There are a plethora of options to choose from, that included in person and virtual sessions, plus they have a parent tutorial so you can learn and teach your kids making chess a family activity. And nice rooftop photo of the downtown line. library, where they have a giant human-sized chess board. I've never seen it, but I know it's there.

Where to find a game? Sometimes you want to leave all in the organizations behind and just find a board, a stranger, and a good game. Although KC doesn't have anything like the famous Washington Square in New York City. There are places where you can. have a little fun. If you're ready to head out to the real world, try

Afterword Tavern and Shelves Which has a chessboard Ready for you at a friend or a new friend Grab a cocktail from their bar, a book to read when the match is over, enjoy the vibe. The Alatha Public Library

hosts a chess night Once a month from 530 to 7. Bring your family and see who is up for a game or search for a new match with no stakes. For truly unique chess experience, the fifth floor roof of the KC Central Library in downtown is a must visit for the streetcar fans. That's the library at the library stop.

There you can. find an enormous chest board with pieces that come up to your chest. It's a bit of workout to move them, which makes it all the more fun. Or for a fancier time, headouts to the Kansas City Museum in the Northeast, and find your way to the billard room where you can play chess in the opulence of Kansas City's first million dollar home. Finally, the area's best tabletop gaming stores and cafes, such as Cardboard Corner in New Orleans Park or Ponton-Pinetown, Downtown. Also offer a place to play.

You can likely find some fellow chess lovers or novices who are willing to face you. And today's adventure email was written by Shannon Carpenter. So that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. And learn a little bit about the chess scene outside of our little insulated club bubble. And yeah, plenty of opportunity to play the thinking man's game. And I will also point out that a lot of interest came from the Queen's game.

scampets and I will say I saw the queen's gametes all the way through and yeah that's pretty much how tournaments are run with one noticeable exception nowadays we have never used this in any of our tournaments but I am aware of it now and it's the idea of adjournments within adjournments it's late you decide yeah let's resume this game in the morning so what the what they'll do is whoever's turn is he'll write his move inside an envelope give to the TD and the next morning the TV opens, that envelope makes that next move and play continues. I learned about this from watching the Queen's Gambits.

All right. But it's something we really don't do anymore, at least not with our club. So anyway, that's this part of our Fortnite. And on the next one. This is part of part 10 of our Fortnite Challenge. In regards to the North American Soccer League versus the United States Soccer Federation Lawsuit. For this one, I am going to read the article on this by Cardi Karnik Krznar. Kardik is a fellow soccer, Twitter, refugee, and, oh, by the way, worked for the NASO.

so so his article I think is the better article of the to again because he worked for the question the working title it is anti-trust lawsuits

U.S. soccer and MLS win but consumers and the sport lose you can find this on his substack by the way beyond the 90 as always if there's no need interject with i will and we'll go from here so u.s soccer and mls have triumphed in an antitrust lawsuit that took seven and a half years to litigate a jury found that nsl failed to prove that u.s soccer and mls had conspired against

it after less than two hours of deliberation. The verdict isn't surprising, given the uneven nature, the U.S. judicial system, as well as the complexity of the issues in this case. So before I continue, this is why the World Cup should not be here. Okay. this is another example of the U.S. trying to follow its own rules to the world's game to hell with the rest of the world let's just do whatever we want no that that's not going to fly here all right soccer is not our sport is the world's sport we bear

fucking treated as such Moving on. So Chris Yates of Latham and Watkins, represented USSF, said to the Atlantic, he was, quote, pleased with the jury's verdict. Moments after the decision was read to the courtroom. There is no conspiracy here. He said U.S. soccer wants good relationships with all its members.

I call bullshit on that. I call bullshit 110% because of the way you people treated the NASL and the way you people are treating NISA. So, yeah, it's good to be a soccer league, but you better follow our rules. Fuck you if you decide to be independent. So,

continuing on with the article, what the verdict means is instead of having a competitive business environment, where upstarts and innovators can succeed in Japan Soccer, MLS and U.S. soccer can continue to collude with one another subtly and restrict access to the marketplace. That's bad news for everyone who isn't associated with these two entities. It also means that the U.S. will continue to lag behind where it should be in areas like player development,

deepening the player pool, opening new metropolitaners, or creating competitive derbies within large urban areas. So what is it meant by that? It is quite rare to see more than one team perform in a metropolitan area outside of New York and L.A., Chicago. was an exception with two baseball teams. But outside, I usually only see one team per city. That's not the case in Europe. I think of the big derbies, I think Arsenal, Tottenham, both in North London. London has at least 14 clubs that are professional right now.

Manchester City, Manchester United, both within the same city. Liverpool, Everton. both within the same city. A.C. Milan, inter Milan, around Madrid. Atlico, Madrid. All right. Should I keep going? So, here are the

takeaways from Cardic. New information we learned. MLS apparently charged USL for management of the reserve clubs. in the two USL professional divisions during the period from 2013 to 2021 when USL and MLS had a formal business relationship. For years, we believed the opposite was the case. I regularly defended MLS in recent years claiming they had invested in the pyramid rather via their relationship with USL. In fact, it was

USL that peers have been given been giving money to MLS per a courtroom leak I received. Proving once again U.S. soccer loves

bottom-up economics even when the rest of the world practices top-down solidarity. So not only a sick joke, of a league but they're paying the big

dogs to let them participate that's just wrong that's just wrong and completely in the violation of the spirits of what soccer

is supposed to be about we also learned Rocco Miso those non need know he owned the Cosmos and currently owns Fianzina in Italy when Iraqo had a burner accounts on Twitter

big deal those promoting this as some sort of evidence of NASL's misdeeds can now safely crawl back into their dark corners of the internet as opposed to the oh dozens of hundreds of burner accounts

for U.S.L. Sycophants? You know, on just one guy versus how may doing the dirty work for the other side? That's why I thought.

Moving on. Complexity of issues. Too much to comprehend too quickly for a jury. Where have we seen this before lately? it's difficult to have worked in lower division soccer and to not believe the deck is either somewhat or firmly stacked against your club or your league I have no doubt in mind this is a guy who worked with the NASL

I have no doubt NASL made repeated mistakes and how they conducted their business in the 2014 to 2017 time period I was at the forefront of critiquing NSL for bad business decisions and some pretty awful public rhetoric. However, much of this analysis was done within the context of understanding the deck was in fact stacked and that the only way NASL could survive was to play ball with MLS and USSF rather than openly rocking the boat. but never at any points after the New York Cosmos joined NSL in summer of 2012 the turning points in the USSF-MLS-N-SL relationship in my opinion I tend to agree here was NSL given the sorts of rope MLS had been given in its infancy

and NASL was given from splitting with U.S.L. That's the important thing to remember here, that they split from U.S.L because they recognize how big of a fucking joke the U.S.L is. In fall of 2009 until mid-2012. I maintain to this day the need to kill off the Cosmos brand-motivated USSF and MLS to turn the screws on NASL. hmm that there we're getting somewhere a conspiratorial here and that's fine that's his piece I'm just reading it so because the cosmos the biggest name from the old 80s um NASL decided they wanted to join this current NSL and who can blame them

that they had to be that's what happened with for a lot of strikers by the way who I said

earlier that that situation was fucked up the strikers were put out of business and

their assets bought by another team that turns to the alliance the Tampa Bay Rowdies

so the rowdies hold the trend marks on all things for Lardale Strikers with the sole intention that the strikers never field another team. Okay, tell me that's not fucked up. The complexity of business issues that impact lower division soccer in the U.S.

is hard enough to explain the soccer fans in this country over the course of many years, so I will not expect a jury to get it in just a few short weeks, but something often not talked about is the relationship between Soccer United Marketing, SUM, and USSF, which allowed USSF to effectively subsidize MLS via SUM during the period in question, 2011 to 2017. Shockingly, the formal relationship wasn't properly papered in terms of contracts until after the NISL filed its litigation in 2017, though has long been in place. Character assassination works. Traffic got what deserved, but Rocco Comisa did not.

so I kind of left this off when I reading the article for our Snowden episode but I'm again trusting Cardick on his judgment here having works in the league so and character assassination we've been seeing that a lot

lately politically and I've been the victim of character's destination too. But here we go. Continuing with the article. Traffic sports certainly deserves every critique they elicit. USSF and MLS attorney realized by bringing the issue of traffic into the conversation, they could impugn NASL's motives and very existence. once again

the very existence came about because the USL is fucking incompetent all right smart for the USSF and MLS attorneys and I also believe

former Cosmos owner CLS Sports were very much at the forefront of NSL's downfall by pushing a rhetorical campaign that couldn't match on or off the pitch in terms of quality. SELA and his foreign-based Cosmos management team

also could not generate enough revenue even on the backs of the Cosmo's name to make the club a viable business from 2012 to 2016. But what I am not liked at all the last eight years since Rocco Miso saved the cosmos from folding is the attacks he had endured. Comiso is most certainly a polarizing figure and one whose personality lends itself to easy caricatures.

But he's also a man who put his money where his mouth was and maintained one of the most powerful brands in the history of U.S. soccer. While he was doing this, a whisper campaign ensued, rather, that defined Camisa, leading to unfavorable press coverage of NSL's claims and to the league in general. By all accounts, this continued in the courtroom, albeit in a settler fashion. my view has been if given the runway commisa we've been able to make the cosmos brand

and it's affiliated entities NASL and or MPSL Pro very visible and viable business entities I would throw up NISA into that too so but the runway was never granted, and U.S.S.S. have made it difficult for the league to get to first base after Comiso bought the club, which

was complicated by the bad business practices of his predecessors' stewardship of the Cosmos. If Comiso is to blame for anything, it's not doing his proper due diligence about both U.S. soccer and CLS sports ownership

of the Cosmos. But recall in December 2016, Camisa only had days to save the club and had to pull the trigger quickly or walk away. For those who think Camisa's burner Twitter accounts, global soccer fan is some sort of revelation. Social media has long been filled with apparent bots or perhaps MLS employees running burners, parroting MLS and U.S. soccer talking points. I believe I just said something like that. I'm sure many of our readers and loyal subscribers

have experienced the lynch mob mentality treatment from those who take any critique of MLS online as some sort of personal attack on themselves. The very tone of the pushback of MLS fans on Twitter has always indicated to me that these posters are so personally invested in MLS they must somehow

be connected to the league impact on USAL now before I continue here a couple of notes one I mentioned this in the initial episode on this

in the snowed out but how many waivers did USL needs to buy their way up to Division 2 status compared to only two that the NSL needed and yet they were

allowed to survive yeah fuck you for that also USL was Division 3 during this entire time and yet they allowed a Division 3 club Orlando City

to buy their way to the first division bypassing the second division all together fuck you for that too. Imagine, I'll use an example for the 2004-25 English season. Birmingham City or Rexham. Both are doing pretty well in League 1, but under no circumstances would they just

jump the championship directly into the Premier League? That's effectively what Orlando City did. And a special fuck you to Phil Rollins the Orlando City owner who made this bullshit happen if there's any that's why I

say to this day if there's any one club that businesses everything that is wrong with MLS and US soccer period it's fucking Orlando City

so fuck them may they burn in hell but continue on with this article, so impact on USL. USL's league structure is currently in a much stronger position than NASL ever was, but I wouldn't be feeling too comfortable with this verdict if I were the Papadakis family. It's pretty clear. MLS is trying to push USL out of the way,

while MLS Next Pro hasn't yet gained the traction I expected in its battle with USL. It feels like USL cannot make any mistakes going forward in terms of expansion or vetting of ownership groups. Now that MLS has taken the unprecedented step of launching its own lower division infrastructure. And one last notes, I know the USL's sick of fans are saying, Oh, they're staying up for promotion and relegation. Okay, prove it. Prove it. All right.

The time for talk is over. And while we're on this subject, if different business models are what's keeping MLS from participant paying in promotion of relegation, then fucking buy out the USL and set it up as a promotion of relegation. system all right the time for talk on this is over okay um so thank you uh cardic for writing this and uh yeah keep up the good work and uh yeah a sad day for independent soccer period All right, we are now at parts 11 of our Fortnite challenge and a We've only done

In Memorium once on the podcast, even though we've commemorated a ton of stuff to the deceased. But this one, I just needed to get something out there for this one.

Reading from our local CBS station, Channel 5, victim identified after deadly motorcycle crash shuts down a portion of Olathe Interstate. So dated February 3rd, 2025. So happens a couple days ago, looks like.

So, yeah. All right, I'm just going to read the article and tell you what's going on from there. So, well, the Nexamman is dead. after his motorcycle went off the highway on the early morning hours Monday, February 3rd. I'm recording this February 5th, and I found out about today on a day where classes were canceled because of ice on the roadways. Spoiler alerts, I was already in Blue Springs. I had already driven all the way across town to try to get to work. why I got the news that could class have been canceled.

So let's continue. So the call came into Aletha PD about 120 a.m. Her crash at Interstate 35151st Street in Aletha responding, officers found a male motorcyclist who was perhaps dead at the scene. So for those of you who aren't in the case of the area, Let me explain that particular interchange. You have 151st streets. Yeah, Interstate 35, NEF, K-7, which I think either 69 or 169,

runs along with all interchanging together at that site. And there are a couple bridges going over each other. It is a cluster fucking. of a intersection in the best of circumstances and it's very near the former side of the Great Mall of the Great Plains

but we're coming to the important thing in the Interim Memorial part of it so the man was later identified as 46-year-old James R. Woodrow of Lanexa, Kansas. Investigators are still working

to determine what caused the crash anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the lithePD or the tips hotline. The accident led to the closure of northbound I-35 at

169 for several hours. Seen investigators cleared the area and the interstate reopened at about 5 a.m. So, yeah, rest and peace, James. James was another high school buddy and mine.

He was, we were in ROTC together all four years. In fact, during our senior year, he was our battalion commander. Our unit was large enough that it was battalion size. Two companies, Alpha and Bravo company. And each company had three platoons. And each platoon had three squats and so on. And James was our leader. Good guy.

I remember when we weren't hard to see his dream was to join the Marines. but he was not eligible to, I believe, was asthma, is what kept him out. We'd been Facebook friends for quite a few years, but this gets to the impetus of, well, one of the impetuses of me starting this podcast in the first place was to reconnect with guys like James Woodrow. I might be Facebook friends with them, but odds are I haven't seen a lot of these guys in years. And just wants to reach that and reconnect with them. And that's one of the reasons I do this podcast. So sadly, rest in peace, James, you will be missed. and

and and I'll say when I see ya brother respects and uh uh

Okay, so our part 12 now of our Fortnite challenge, it is the Saturday before St. Arshletta's day. I go ahead and go back and listen to that episode real quick. But in the spirit of that holiday, I found this on the the Facebook nebula loneliness archetype reading why aren't you single take test discover what's holding you back and unlock your path to live today and this is a link app nebula dot CO so let's do this and y'all get to hear me as I take this well it says so why are you single women says I am male how can you best describe your

love life right now I'm not in the relationship in between relationships and an unhappy relationship stuck in a situation it's stuck in a situation I can't get over my ex and I'm seeking the first relationship I am not in one Okay, set you go. Come on. What is your goal right now? Feel loved and desired to understand why I am single. Find out my love timing.

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other because if I knew I wouldn't be taking this test now would I we get you your perspective on loneliness shapes your archetype shifting your perspective can power you to cultivate deeper more meaningful relationships what's your favorite activity at being physically active expressing my creativity trying new hobbies reading or watching a movie eating a favorite meal spending time with

pets or other let's go with expressing my creativity probably the best one of the munch I'm expressing it right now. Do you wish you could share it with someone? Yes. How often do you go on dates? A few times a week, a few times a month, a few times a year. Never. Currently, never.

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I distance myself I felt disgustive I show interest in return I don't react in any way I was this is a good one this is one where you people have stumped me um Let's say show interest in return.

Show interest in return. Come on, okay. Here we go, come on. Come on. Come on. We'll have to put me in this part here because it did not want to work right now. Not the way I wanted to. Okay.

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Come on, you piece of crap. Amarshala is responsible for doing this site, clearly. Can you take care of someone else's needs? I would think so, yeah. It's tough thing on your own. There isn't a perfect person, but there's a perfect person for you. If that were true, I probably wouldn't matter by now. 46 years old, come on.

He's also the blame for the greenhouse effect, Feral Deficits, San Jaya, Romanian-American Isle, Long Island's at the drug through, and me who lives in even more. hair that I already have what kind of roads do you mention yourself on right now busy city streets a twisting mountain trail a forest path or a desert path on the city what kind of life partner do you wish you had by your sign loyal respectful communicative intelligence six Resilient, sensual, attentive, empathetic, ambitious, affectionate, attractive.

Those are the options of Omo. This thing is fucking slow, I tell you. What statements best describes your life of last week? I want partners to share my goals, passion, excitement to keep me going personal growth is my focus i feel deep i prefer deep inspiring connections independence of my priority love is that fun adventure fun adventure and trust and loyalty are crucial uh due to life circumstances we go with the independence one you can be happier finally to determine your archetype we need to

in your loneliness level 30% emotional stability has been mindful time alone boosts emotional balance and stress resilience if that were true I would not be a I'd be less of a wreck than I am I want in common with the people around me do you agree with this statement neither agree nor disagree I feel that others always look at my Agree. I feel empty even when I'm engaged in something. Strongly agree. I'm happy about who I am. Neither agree nor disagree. I feel alone even in a group. Strongly agree. We've taken 35,986 people to fight loneliness, understand their destiny, and make their lives unburdened by low confidence and doubt.

Determining your archetype, determined. Congratulations. You've completed the archetype section. Continue. Continue. Continue. Okay.

Day at birth. Time of birth, that's highly specific, but, okay. Place you're born. Miriam. What element resonates with you must fire, earth, water, and air. I have a fire redeper. I'll go fire. Color of my eyes are brown.

Let our AI scan your hand. So palm reading. Take a picture now, this time. Allow? Got it? Take a picture now. Allow weapons in the second. What the fuck, dude?

Camera access requires. Please make sure. Okay. I've... All right. Take a picture. Allow. take a picture oh god damn it

closing those are always for other amps well what the fuck am i supposed to do i'm recording i'm recording for a fucking podcast here so okay well you know what you know what you know what uh fuck you too that's why i got to say to this site so yeah there we go part 12 in the books I don't know. I'm going to be able to be. POMPEO, uh,

BOR, uh, BOR, uh, I'm going to be I'm going to be. I'm going to

I'm I'm I'm going to be able to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to be. I'm going to I'm going to

We're going to be able to be. I guess we'll continue now with part 12. I had to take a photo of my hand, and I'm going to be uploading it to this site. Okay. Still on the same site. Okay, do you feel, do you like me on? No, I really don't. So, suffering the life.

Do you self-reflect? Well, isn't that the point of this podcast? Yes, that's self-reflect. Are you an empathetic person? I'd like to think so. Okay. And, uh, analyzing the thumb

index. So basically it's doing a palm reading type deal. And, uh, uh, uh, I'm not really the biggest fan of palm reading. Oh.

Okay. We are preparing a detailed poem reading crafted exclusively for you. Based on what we can discern, we will Okay Email Entress Okay, I will Go ahead and do that

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answers and your loneliness level we created your loneliest archetype reading to help you feel love and desired begin your new life away from loneliness today

and now they want money so so yeah that's where we're going to end this and uh yeah i'm not giving you my money so we will wrap up

part 12 of the fortnight uh right now so on to part 13 So, you know, I'm going to be able to be. I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to

Okay, so we're at part 13, we're almost done with this. devote this portion of our four nights to high school alignments in the Kansas City area sorry to all the small schools

were just focused on the big schools today. This came about because of what GA and I discussed when I had him on and which schools actually make up the Sunflower League and so on.

So, here we go. These are schools in the Sunflower League, which is basically most John Scandney schools plus Lawrence. No, this is not an excuse to include Lawrence as part of the Gary Casey area. That will never happen. And, no, Leavenworth is no longer in our league. so whoever did the Wikipedia you can cross out to Leavenworth County

because Leavenworth is in no longer part of the league so here it is as of February 2025 the Sunflower League and we start with our good friends at Gardner

Edgerton High School the Trailblazers shot to them and once again congrats on being Class 6A football champions shout to Bubba

and his son the Star quarterback for the Trailblazers and that was a great I had a great time at the substate semi-file and

well then I wish you guys nothing of success until unless and until you're playing the Vikings of course. We have the Chesty Lyons of Lawrence High School in Lawrence, Kansas. And the other Lawrence School, Lawrence Free States, they're called the Firebirds, and they're in northwestern Lawrence. Where's the University of Lawrence?

I'm sorry, scratch that. Lawrence High School is, like, within walking distance of the University of Kansas, specifically within walking distance of Allen Field House. So then we have Mill Valley High School, which is in the DeSoto District, but DeSoto High is not in the league with us. It's just a thing.

It's in Western Shawnee. It's in part of Western Shawnee, Western Lanexa that we collect will be called. called Monticello and they are the Jaguars. What's no more about them, I guess Nate Dogg has his kids going here. But what's not about Mill Valley is that when I was doing Merbage Forum, we did some MarraBedge Form at this specific high school. And I distinctly recall this is, it was doing MarraBedge Form at this.

high school that we had to come up with our list of things that the Scouts could and could not put in our films. So, here's the short list. No weapons of any kind. No gay marriage. That was insisted upon by the Scoutmasters. This was during time when gays were still not fully allowed in scouting. And the language had to be PG-13. all right so yeah now i'm going to move on to the aletha schools so alethe east the hawks i still have nightmares about them alaith north the eagles um for a long time the class one of the class teams in uh kansas high school football this is where darn sproles and all those great guys that went to to high school.

Olitha Northwest's, the Ravens. I was there within the past year to run chess tournaments. But a very nice, very nice set up. And at one time, the principal was Tadain.

Alitha South, the Falcons. Been there for some sort of Indian, and I mean India Indian festival doing probably the worst video of work in my life.

Never again. And the newest Alatha's school, Aletha West, the owls. So they're the shift for the Wednesday. And of the set up.

And of course, got our Shine Mission District. So we have East, the Lancers. then we have North who recently changed their name they wore the Indians for the longest time they are now known as the bison

Northwest as the Cougars and Northwest's we held We were holding Maripatch Farms and Northwest when I was in scouts So That's pretty cool

Our big rivals On Mission South, the Raiders You can see this school from the interstate, namely 435, like literally on the boundary between Shoney Mission and Blue Valley. And, of course, my Shawnee Wish Mission, oh, can't talk. Shiny Mission West, Vikings. All right. West is the best to screw all the rest. Well, wait.

By the way, I didn't mention Blue Valley at all. So where's Blue Valley? Well, there's another league called the Eastern Kansas League, which is all the Blue Valley School, so Blue Valley, Blue Valley North, Blue Valley Northwest, Blue Valley Southwest, and Blue Valley West. And I think this is where GA got confused. Because I don't remember Campbell going to O.A.

I do remember going to Blue Valley West when the first open. There you go. And writing off this particular league, the Eastern Kansas League, joining all the Blue Valley Schools. We have St. Thomas Aquinas, Bishop Meage, and St. James Academy, all three of which are Catholic schools. Bishop Meage in Roland Park, Fairway. area near the old Shani Indian Mission site, which you can still visit to this day.

Aquinas is right next to Johnson County Community College. And St. James is Western Lanexa in the Manassell region along. Once across A.S. at a certain point, it ceases being 95th Street and becomes, Prairie Star Parkway But Ski, where did Leavenworth go? Well, here's your answer.

Shout out to 810, varsity.com for getting this getting their website set up, but Leavenworth now playing in the United Kansas Conference along with DeSoto High School.

Basar, Linwood, Seaman, there are Topeka, Lansing, Piper, that's Western K.C.K. Shawnee Heights, that is Topeka. Topeka, West, and Turner. Turner is South KC.K. And then, I do have to give a shout to the Meadowlark. League as well, because that's local KC. Schools Highland Park, I have no idea where that

is. I can look at it. Washington, that's K.C.K. Acheson, Harmon. Also, K.K. Schlegel, Schlegel, this is where Santa Fe played home games in UPSL. Sumner Academy and

Wyandotte High School. Make up the metal arc. I might as well bring up the Frontier. as well because there are a couple of local schools here here. So we have Spring Hill that's right on the Johnson, Miami County line. Lewisburg,

Tunganaxie, Ottawa, Udora, Peola, Baldwin, and Bonner Springs. Fun fact, Byer Springs High sits right on the county line between Wyndots and Lleworth counties. I think that really does

do it for local schools in the main Kansas City area so I got that's and let's I'm more happy to turn

some attention to the Missouri side of things a because I fucking work there and B why not just get the entire metro taking

care of so with the with the metro we have the big Greater Kansas City Suburban Association which covers schools in five different counties

which is set up in they have four divisions and there's a a bit of promotional relegation based on enrollment. So here we go, the member schools of the Greater Kansas City Suburban Association and Boys at Mouthful. We have Belton,

where our co-host, Heather, occasionally does substitute teaching. We have Blue Springs High, go Wildcats, until recently they had a freshman center where I would teach, and I still teach in that school district. To this day, Blue Springs South, the Jaguars. We have Excelsior Springs. We have Forte O. Sage. If that name brings a belt to anyone, that is the school that Albert Pujols graduated from just to you. north of Blue Springs.

Then we have Grand Valley to the east of Blue Springs. We have Grandview at the infamous triangle. We have Kearney. There we have Lee Summit, North, Leith Summit West, Liberty, Liberty North. We have North K.C. We have Oak Park, which is North.

KC District and is actually in Gladstone in fact not too far from where you'll find me on most Tuesday nights right now we have a Park Hill um shout to the Park Hill Districts Park Hill High not too far from Zonarosa actually then Park Hill South kind of overlooks the Missouri River there in Plack County and Platt County High Go Pirates Then we have Raymore peculiar Back on South

And we have Raytown, right down south Ruskin The Seoul High School And the Hickman Mills District And there's no Hickman Mills High It's just Ruskin

They have Smithville They have Staley North Casey District and out of the middle of goddamn nowhere. We have St. Joseph Central. So, chat to St. Joe. I didn't know a Kansas City-centric conference would go that far. But, oh, well, we have Lawrence in the Summit Sunfire League.

So there you go. They have Truman High and, uh, William Christman, hi, both Independence School District, both along Nolan Road. And we have Wantanka, which was the closest

school to our old office and is also North Kansas City school district. We've got the Missouri River Valley West Conference.

This has Center High School, which South Casey, along with Warnesburg, Pleasant Hill, Odessa, Oak Grove, Harrisonville, and Clinton. And we have the Interscholastic League that's all inner city schools. So we have east, northeast, central, southeast, and Lincoln Prep.

Lincoln Prep, I'll go on. And is right next door to the former site of Municipal Stadium the precursor to what we have today for the pro teams and of course that itself has since been

torn down and replaced with housing we have Middle and Empire Districts a Middle Empire Conference rather with St. Pies of which is a Northland Catholic school

about the Marifil Savannah Chilgothi Cameron St. Joe Benson and St. Joe Lafayette All right. We have a bunch of independent schools, the ones I know locally include

Penbrook Hill. Well, we teach at the larger school at Pembourg. We don't teach at the high school. Rocker not to be confused with Rock Christian University St. Michael's and

Hogan Prep I think that might actually do it for which is our local our way there's a crossroads conference which is Van Horn

which is Independence School District now but it's located within Kansas City proper So that's interesting We have a summit Christian I never heard of that one In the UFSA Academy

That's a charter school run by UMKC So that's pretty cool And then it has others Which include a lot of schools Out of St. Louis There's a KCI conference

but all these as schools are outside if i would consider the kansas city metro proper but uh oh well so there we go g a yeah uh yeah uh blue valley difference conference than us all together there yeah Okay, so this is it. This is the end of our 4-9 challenge. So, as you know, I'm in Kansas City, and I'm proud of our street car. we got two extensions been well one is completely built and should be open in the

in just a few months that'd be the main street extension going from Union Station down to the UMKC campus so that's done in fact they had a had a big party after they had all the track, but at the plaza stop at the extension in December, which you could imagine was a pretty damn cold. Just this past week, the week I'm recording this, they did a construction to tie in the riverfront extension,

which should be done in the next couple months. So that's pretty cool, too. And hopefully it doesn't stop there because we do know that there are a couple of plans in the works right now, at least in terms of studies. I've got to have those studies to justify. gaining

matching government dollars although I don't know how likely it is right now with Donnie dumb fuck ruining everything but the

studies will continue and there are two that we've talked about on the podcast before the North Rail which they

just they hired an outside firm to look at that plan for a little while longer, but that would be the one going from the river markets up to North KC, so over the Missouri River. And most likely it would, they would run it down Swift Street, which is to blocks east of Burlington, which is the main street there.

And then, of course, the east-west route we've talked about running up from Main Street going west along 39th to KU Med, so it would actually cross the state line a little bit. And then the other part would be going east from Maine down Linwood all the way to Van Brun. 40 stadium drive and that one east-west I feel is a little further along just because they already have plans works out and determined that yeah you'll need a second depot to handle all these all these all these new street cars and we have to double the size of

the fleet so that was another part of all this is it went from six street cars up to 14 and then it and uh for to satisfy the east-west route it'd have to double again

right why stop there um and uh what would future routes look like which

for that I consulted the KC Area Transit's authority websites and as was MIRC, the Mid-MAC Regional Council, which

is a multi-government body that looks at the local local issues like transits do they do a good job

I don't know I don't know but we yeah so I looked at some of those and came up with the following

for future street car routes number one I can start with max lines so this is our bus rapid transit

service which This result But the streetcar line does Go along the The original route for the Main Street Max line

Which I guess now Has shifted Using mostly Grand and Broadway Now, but it continues further south and where the streetcar goes. The streetcar is going to stop at UMKC, but the max line goes all the way out to Waldo. So that's a possibility you can just pick up from UMKC and go from there. Reutilize that Trelly Trail, which I believe is still owned by the HCA.

and I get her down to Waldo That's a possibility Troust Another possibility Because that's also a max line And that one would

Service Rockhurst And Trust is the divine line Not only the Unfortunately the racial Divine line But the city but also the divine line between UMKC to the west and Rockhurst to the east. So why not surface both?

And my understanding, the truce line for the bus actually goes out to a site I'm going to bring up a little later on. And the third one is along prospects, basically the main streets of the African-American portion of our city. Yeah, that I could use the help it could get, but that's just me. We consult with the smart moves. They identified a few more. routes for or they termed its high-frequency

transits. These are basically the major streets throughout the Metro 1. They've already done a study on and they, and I continue and insist they put rail on it, whether and I'm not just talking to streetcars at this point time I was including heavier rail like a mirror rail that sort of thing as the green corridor

that's basically um there's u.s. 24 and uh or as we call it's uh state avenue in KCK and independence avenue in uh KC Mo into independence uh there is absolutely no reason they can't put rail on this especially if they're touting this as a green transit corridor so

let's stop being cheapos and look at getting rail on this thing then we have a then we have another idea cousin of North Rail

and that's North Oak so a little dirty secrets is that I mentioned Burlington Street earlier

at the at the end at the end of at the sea line of North KC

when it becomes Casey North it's there's a fork in the road so one way

is I think is Highway 9 going to Riverside and Parkville taking the time

in Breyerclove on the way And the other, it becomes a North Oak, which is a significant thoroughfare in the Northland. And, uh, well, this goes here, our offices are on North Oak now. So, so, yeah, that is a possibility, running some form of rail down North Oak, either picking up. from North Rail or branching off from North Rail

taking Burlington and all that stuff so that's that's not only for civic engineers to fear out but but yeah that would be a possible too and of course

my neck of the woods Johnson County from the plaza you could easily run down War Parkway into Sharm Mission Parkway and have a stop in a mission before it could branch it onto

two roads. One going down Metcalf, basically the main street of Johnson County. And the other going down Guevira, which hits I'd say three sites of significant importance to people in

JC Oak Park Mall, Johnson County Community College and the KU Regents Center or whatever anyone I want to call it now. So that's in, those are other possibilities for our lines, but let's

get real. They also need it find ways to connect these transit centers all over the metro and here they are so so three trails this is a banister in the blue ridge boulevard so southeastern kansas city almost raytown area my understanding is that the truce bus line surfaces this so good so I think it goes down toroost and then go east along Bannister all the way

out to Blue Ridge so passing the former Bandsman Mall sites and so on so so yeah that's

that's one another one is Well, I was just talking about Third and Grants a little bit ago, because that's where the tie-in was recently built for the riverfront extension at the intersection of Third and Grand, or as it appears on the streetcar map now, River Market North. but is it going to be called River Market North for much longer because the most recently updated map

for the streetcar identifies that buys just River Market and they're putting in a second platform to serve as North Band for the Riverfront extension

and the existing platform would continue with South Bend travelers so so yeah so yeah it's a say I got one transit

center attached to this the technical union station is classed as a transit center and the plaza stop is built as a transit center and when

E.S.'s Belt van Brunner will be Class of Transit Center. Seventyth and Prospects This is Southside Casey Long Prospect. There's a

outfit there right now called Alpha Points, which does work with the blinds, with and for the blind people especially if you're especially you're going to follow my

suggestion and puts a line on prospect yeah there you go then we've got boardwalk square this is in the Northland

29 M. Barry look if you're going to eventually run rail to the airport and I severely suggest that you do so. My one thing about doing two sets of rail one, the express route between downtown and the airport and the other, a little slower with a few stops and this has to be one of them. This would service all the developments around the I-29 and that Barry, including, but not limited to Zona Rosa. Downtown KCCK, it's southern Minnesota. Let's see who I said about the green corridor I mentioned earlier.

This needs to be included. East Village Whereas There's currently nothing You can But you can still Run stuff down To East

Village And of course I would hope that The East Village is still being looked at By the Royals Other than that that transit center is the only thing that's really there. Going back to that green corridor,

there's the Independence Transit Center at Nolan Road and Truman Road, near old Independence Square. That should be considered. And then for these last four, we have Midtown KCC, so 47th in states, I think, I'm going to have to look this up, but I think, I see old Indian Springs Mall sites near 635. Oh, another connector that could be looked at, which is currently nothing, except for Praia Police Station. And so if they never bothered refilling that a lot. But trust me, there used to be them all at that side.

So, yeah, you could Yeah, you could Especially, yeah, green corridor once again Put some fucking rail on that thing Right, and then the last three are On Johnson County, so we start with Mission Transit, right on Johnson Drive And on the subject of depots,

The old mission mall Sites just down the street, That would be an excellent place to put a depot for Johnson County based streetcars. All right. And the other two are along the

would both be along the Quivera Corridor. They are Oak Park Mall and Johnson County Community College specifically when I was gone there was the Carlson Center not the big building with the theaters at the front of the campus yeah that's where

that's where they should put as well and then I have to address other routes I know I know there's been talk about getting stuff to the airport I know there's been talk about so doing some inner city that was also a surface St. Joe Lawrence and Topeka Paranthetically that would have to service the airport

certainly at St. Joe Ratt would have to service the airport in Platt City just outside the airport you just and you'd have to take a look at the Rock Island Corridor

which is currently owned by Jackson County basically running from where the stadium are to Lee's summit is currently being used as a hiking trail but they can use that

for transits in the I hope they do and the other extremities of the metro they need to get some far of a route out to like Blue Springs Green Valley area they need to service

Liberty the airport I already mentioned they need a service Gardner so one thing that was made clear to me at that open house for the riverfront extensions they want to do a better job of servicing Gardner southeast southwestern corner of Johnson County and that would in turn also service Aletha which is absence from our list here but they need to service and the I-29 no I-49 excuse me or I-29 is in the Northland

going up to the airport I-49 is the one that goes south that would need to be needed to service Grandview Belt and those southern

suburbs so I understand that funding is an issue I get it but let's just like with

all this other stuff let's get some plans going and then you can go for here but I think that's the most basic that will need to be required and of course if we were starts planning now we would

be looking at 10 years down the road for all this to be implemented start planning now that's all and especially if we want to be serious about coming down on our

carbon outputs because let's be honest transportation is a big reason for all that stuff so yeah let's get done and uh that will end our fortnight challenge so yeah 14 different recordings on different subjects and uh yeah we'll just end it with that so i want to thank you all for listening and keep supporting the podcast and uh we'll talk

Soon. Mike Chernevsky. Our opening music is the this podcast is uncalled for theme courtesy of suno.com, s-un-o-com. Throughout this episode,

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