Cardinals sponsors

Noah at his first Major League Baseball game. He's six-months-old in this picture.

Now that the baseball season is over, for the St. Louis Cardinals and their fans, it is time to thank the sponsors who helped bring Cardinal baseball to central Iowa.

KXNO was the home for the Cardinals and I want to say thank you. Thanks to the management of 1460 for helping give Redbird fans a chance to hear the team.

Thanks for bringing Mike Shannon and John Rooney into our cars and homes for some good baseball.

Even though the Cards stunk this year after the sweep of the Reds, it is good to know some central Iowa businesses anted up for the season.

Thanks to:

• Lacks Body and Paint
• Bob Oliver Heating and Air Conditioning
• American Topper & Accessories
• Right Roofing and Siding
• Es Tas Bar & Grille
• Angelo’s Pizza
• Earl’s Tire
• Iowa Soybean Association
• Iowa Soybean Promotions
• Family Tree Care
• The Ridgemont
• Schuling Hitch of Ames
• G&L Clothing
• The Batter’s Box
• Cookie’s Food Products
• Deery Brothers Chevrolet

Any Cardinal fans wanting to support businesses that support your team, here’s a place to start.

Thanks.

Andy Fales to IPTV?

Andy Fales: will public TV make him wear a hat?

My friend and former co-worker Keith Murphy says people are taking him serious when he said Andy Fales is going to IPTV.

But the joke is on all of us, Andy is not going anywhere, he’s gainfully employed at 1801 Grand Avenue in Des Moines at WHO-TV13.

Andy was on vacation during Sunday’s SoundOff program and made a comment that Andy was going to work for Iowa Public Television. That would be great for us here at IPTV, but we’re not in a position to add anyone right now.

Plus, Andy’s departed once already from WHO-TV for Kansas City. He returned a short time later, but now is happy to be back in Des Moines.

That being said, Andy has proven to be an even better story-teller and reporter than anyone thought. Since he return to Iowa, Andy’s doing some news reporting and hitting almost every story out of the park. He’s got a fresh take and approach to the traditional news story and really wants nothing to do with that way it’s always been done. Even if he doesn’t like to wear a hat during the winter.

He’s out asking questions that you and I have on our minds, but usually don’t make it into a reporter piece.

So for now, Andy and Keith can continue to do their Murph and Andy show on KXNO-AM on 1460 AM in Des Moines from 2-4 each weekday.

I hope this isn’t going to be a topic of the next What’s Bugging Andy, but you never know with Mr. Fales. Hopefully, my Cardinal fan friend will find something else to put into proper context.

One final SoundOff note. Chris Hassel filled in for Andy last night. Chris and I both worked in the Quad City market at the same time. I was at TV6 and Chris was doing Sunday night sports at Fox18 KLJB-TV. Chris was still a student at Saint Ambrose University. Here’s one of Chris’ best SoundOff bits channeling Marty Terrell.

Or there’s this bit after the UNI Panthers near win at Iowa last year in football. This clip is after the Penn State game. Fro the record, I’ll always remember the date of the game as we went to the hospital to deliver Levi about an hour after the game was done.

I’m not intentionally leaving Shawn Terrell out of this post about WHO-TV sports, it is just that Shawn was off Sunday.

Day 8 – And Now, Week 2

Day 7 was to be the end of Yeager Boys Home Alone II. Amy’s 7-day trip to Holland was to end for her boss Gary. The trip had gone smooth, very smooth, the two remarked at dinner Wednesday night while in Germany. You can do that in Europe, run to another country and come back and not think twice about it.

That changed overnight Wednesday as a volcano in Iceland created the worst air travel conditions since 9-11. Virtually every flight west from Europe has been cancelled going on 3 days.

The comments this blog has received included, “really, stuck in Europe, on the company dime?” “Ah, too bad.” Or, “I can think of worse places to be stuck than in Amsterdam.” All respect to Coffeyville, Kansas, but being stuck in Amsterdam is better than being stuck in Coffeyville.

Right now, she’s scheduled to take a flight Monday from Amsterdam. I’m not holding my breath. Her travelling party will likely go back to the factory for a few days of work if Monday doesn’t work to fly home.

That doesn’t make it any easier for Amy when she wants to be home. So do the 2 others she’s travelling with and the 3 more added today, also trying to get back to Des Moines.

Levi and Noah hanging at Grandma's.

She wants to see these two.

We are fine. We’ve survived Day 3, when blood came running out of Noah’s nose (story on Day 4), to Days 1, 2, and 5 when Levi decided sleeping wasn’t for him.

We’ve taken this show’s encore on the road. I guess Whitesnake couldn’t make the weekend show, so we’re being held over.

Sunset over Shady Grove

The travelling road show is in Shady Grove for a few days. If you’re a burglar reading this, the garage code is 1234. My address is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Oh, and the dog only took 4 arms last year. He must be getting milder since I adopted him from Michael Vick.

Levi slept the entire way north, so he was nowhere close to going to bed. Noah was just excited to be wound up by Farmer Papa. When the finally went to sleep, the boys did well.

Noah tries on Lawrence's Army hat.

Our day was full of distractions, including a trip to Aunt Eve’s place in Fairbank. The soon to be 97-year-old left the farm in the fall of 2009 and now we’re sorting through the house. Actually, my mother is sorting, pitching, burning, finding and discovering what living in the same house since 1947 looks like. Mom and Aunt Lynda think they’ve spent at least 6 weeks working in that house. Mom has done countless other things to get Eve to doctors, specialists and now her new living arrangements in Independence.

Noah and Farmer Papa talk farming. Kent gives no bull. Yeah. Right.

Dad started planting corn Friday, so he was back in the field Saturday. So Noah got to see Farmer Papa in action.

And during the afternoon we got to watch the St. Louis Cardinals play the New York Mets. We started watching and Dad came in for a bit and left about the 5th inning. He went out to plant some corn. He came back around 8 and had planted 35 acres with his little 8-row planter. The game was still not over.

The near 7 hour contest is finally done. For the record, the flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis is 9 hours. She would be almost home in that time.

Day 6 rains down volcanic ash on our fun

Who knew that a volcano in Iceland would lead to a lot more fun for us here in Ankeny?

This is what happens when you sleep, Levi.

After a great night of sleep by the smiling gentleman pictured at left, following Day 5, which didn’t happen on Day 4, I turned on the news in the morning to see that volcanic ash is shutting down airports all over Europe. Including Amsterdam. That’s where Amy was to fly out late Thursday. Emphasis on the word was.

That has changed our plans a bit. Amy will get a couple of extra days in Europe and I get a couple of extra days with the boys by myself in the YBHAII.

Now we have to make alternate plans, but that will be the fun part.

Where to go? Plenty of nice offers from friends and family to help out, but we may make another trip to Grandma Honey’s house. That was hit in the first round of fun back in February.

Noah and Levi still smiling after a few days with their dad.

After another bit of help from Wil and Paula, the boys and I will head north to Jesup and Shady Grove. Farmer Papa just had a birthday, now Noah can now say Happy Birthday in person, instead of in this video. Dad is in the field, so maybe Noah can enjoy a tractor ride or something. Today, though, it was Papa Fish and not Farmer Papa.

Another great day to be at Principal Park in Des Moines and the I-Cubs.

I declared today in the name of Ferris Bueller and took the day off. The Memphis Redbirds only come to Des Moines twice a year and today was the last game of the homestand. I enjoy seeing the future of the St. Louis Cardinals organization. The regulars were not in Section 10, so I sat next to Uncle Jerry Grady. Jerry will be retiring from IPTV in a little over a month after close to 35 years in the production department. More on Jerry as we get closer to the big day.

Before the game started, I ran into former Wartburg football player Mark Hargrafen. Harv as he was known at Wartburg is now a cardiac nurse in Des Moines. Turns out, Harv is good friends with a friend of Jerry’s, so we sat and chatted for most of the game.

It is a small world afterall.

By the way, Cardinal fans, Rich Hill, now pitching for Memphis, did not look good. Rough outing for Rich.

Time to start packing and getting ready for the trip north. We’ll see what new adventures Day 7 brings us.

Cardinals Winter Warm Up

Tony LaRussa with Cardinals radio announcer John Rooney

Last year at this time I was wandering around the halls of the Millenium Hotel in downtown St. Louis for my first Cardinals Care Winter Warm-up. It was my first experience of seeing the Cardinals operation up close off the diamond.

It was a fun time and I got to see a lot of Cardinal players and former players.

Tony LaRussa was there answering questions and later signing autographs. As was the Cards GM John Mozeliak. I went with my uncle Gordon, who helped bring me into Cardinal Nation, who had gone to this event before.

The event is a fundraiser for the Cardinals Care charity. You pay an admission fee and then get to see speakers, stand in line for free autographs (heavy hitters require a paid ticket, sometimes more than $75 for an autograph) and sessions with managements, staff and stadium operations.

Pat Parris of Fox Sports Midwest was there. Parris used to anchor at WHO-TV in Des Moines if you go back before the Keith Murphy era at 13. I try to keep in touch as I was an intern under him during my first WHO tour.

KTRS radio has a set up that allows to pick players who come to the event a chance to talk to their radio audience before or after addressing the big crowd in-house.

Does this man need a caption?

The event lasts Saturday through Monday. It is the same each day, just the names are different that are signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans. One fun thing is hanging out in the lobby to see who you can see. Here, true Cardinal fans are sitting with books and books of baseball cards waiting to see if an up and coming player walks into the lobby to chase down for an autograph. I played named that Cardinal several times with Gordon as we guessed who was whom.

My favorite was seeing back up catcher Jason LaRue walk in with his cowboy boots, camo and wild wardrobe.

Monday night is the Baseball Writers of St. Louis annual dinner. This is where the players receive season awards, Gold Gloves or MVPs. This year, Albert will be getting his MVP at this dinner. Other team awards are given away as well during this dinner.

One additional note. Like many hotels, there’s a lounge area with a bar for fans to sit in and relax. The Sunday night of the ’09 Warm Up was the Arizona Cardinals NFL playoff game. The Arizona part still bothers many in St. Louis. You can tell whenever Bill Bidwell was shown on TV, the crowd would boo. But the majority of the fans were cheering for Kurt Warner. Even though he’s no longer the QB in STL, they still love their Iowa Boy.

I would imagine they’ll be cheering again tonight for Warner.

Who gets in the Hall of Fame first?

Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids during most of his playing career, including during his historic home run race with Sammy Sosa.

As my friend Michael Graham said Monday, “John Kruk just admitted to eating pounds and pounds of bacon.”

Enough said.

I’m glad that McGwire admitted his use, but I wish it came at the time of the congressional hearings and not as he was about to head to Florida to open spring training for the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Winter Warm Up is this weekend in St. Louis. I’m sure it will be talked about a bit, but now the management staff that holds sessions with fans can start answering the questions about what happens next instead of when will MM talk to the media.

Quick poll.
Who gets into the Hall of Fame first, Pete Rose or Mark McGwire? McGwire may not have the numbers to get into the Hall, so it may be a moot question, but one you can discuss.

Who gets into the Hall of Fame first?
(polls)