In Today’s America You Have To Pay Attention

by Kevin Burton    Gonna make myself a sign, and I’ll tell you why.    First, by way of explanation, a bit from my coaching days.    When I began coaching the Wichita Sonics beep baseball team, I adopted the three rules that the late John Madden, the old Oakland Raiders coach, had for his …

OKC Bombing “Surreal” 28 Years Later

by Kevin Burton    A bomb blast that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City 28 years ago today, reverberates still.    My wife Jeannette worked at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building for the department of Housing and Urban Development for 5½ years from 1983 to 1989.  Six years after she relocated to Wichita, that …

Any Day, Anytime, Anyplace

by Kevin Burton    You pays your money, you takes your chances.    If we’re being honest, is that not a suitable tagline for the post-national United States?    Isn’t that phrase a lot more indicative of the American experience than say “land of the free, home of the brave?”    Now that phrase is …

Why Do We Love March Madness So Much?

by Kevin Burton   In the bad old days, being without a girlfriend, or a date, or even a prayer, on Valentine’s Day was a sharp searing pain to the psyche.    Now by comparison, being without a basketball team for the big dance, or even the little dance, is a dull ache. March Madness is …

Hey Baseball, Get Off My Lawn!

by Kevin Burton    The seasons are changing, calendar and sports calendar; the time is changing (spring forward Saturday night, kids), too much is changing.    Any number of poets have rhapsodized about the beginning of spring and all it symbolizes. OK, I’m good with that. But as a sports guy in the man cave, …

Your Corny Marching Orders, March Forth!

by Kevin Burton    You may call it trite, or corny or worse, but people will be focused on it in three days’ time.     Some people anyway.    There will be people using the fourth day in March as motivation to begin work on that special project, the great American novel, or that great …

Russian Reporter Jailed For Telling The Truth

   Maria Ponomarenko has my respect, my admiration and full attention.     Last March the Russian Air Force bombed a Ukrainian theatre in the town of Mariupol, with 1,200 civilians inside. The Russian defense ministry denied the attack. Ponomarenko, a 44-year-old Russian journalist, told the truth about it in a social media post.  This is …

Quibbles And Bits: Chiefs An Evil Empire?

by Kevin Burton    Today, some updates, passing asides and leftovers from previous posts. When I cook these up together, I call them quibbles and bits.    Come and get it!:    From my two posts about favorite duets:     I can not overstate how much I love much of the work of Paul McCartney. …

Sweet Dreams And Super Bowl Victory For KC

by Kevin Burton    My wife Jeannette got the news late: the Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champions!    She got the news late because she left the game in the second quarter and headed to bed. Her work starts very early and so bedtime comes early too, Super Bowl or not.    She …

Love Is Growing New And She’s Still The One

by Kevin Burton    Found a lyric last week that is so cool, I want to use it to tell my happy Valentine’s Day story.    This is what happens when my usual Tuneful Tuesday post coincides with Valentine’s Day.    The song “Still The One” went to number five for Orleans in 1976.  It’s …