Rest In Peace, Kenneth Starr

One time, at the height of the President Clinton/Monica Lewinsky story, I met a liberal in Washington who was a teacher, and one of her students was one of Kenneth Starr’s children. 

The teacher was so angry about that whole investigation, thought it was an unnecessary witch hunt and pretty much lined up with all of the loud left apologists at the time. What really got her goat, though, was that she said Kenneth Starr was the absolute model parent—present for everything he should be present for, dialed in, eager to contribute money or effort to whatever the school was doing, etc. She laughed to me (also a liberal) at herself about how much she really wanted him to be a jerk. 

I remember sitting at the bar at that moment thinking how fortunate I was to live in the United States of America—and, in particular, for a little while, Washington, D.C.

Rest in peace, Kenneth Starr, who was born in 1946 in Vernon, Texas.

My 10 Favorite Songs of the Last Seven Days

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road came out in 1998, and I bought it and loved it then, but it took about two years for me to really start receiving the healing that God was delivering through Lucinda Williams and her record. The perfectest of the perfect songs on it is this one, which is written in exactly the pace and manner by which I process anything hard (no matter how hard I work to go more quickly or head on at the task):

1. "2 Kool 2 Be 4-gotten," Lucinda Williams
2. Rocketman movements 1 and 2 of four, Marching Maroons during 2022 Maroon Classic
3. “Crackers," Barbara Mandrell
4. "Get a Witness," Commodores
5. "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" Waylon Jennings live on Soundstage 1975
6. "I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool," Barbara Mandrell
7. "That’s What You Get For Loving Me," Waylon Jennings
8. "A Woman’s Kind of Man," Susan Raye
9. "Soul Train ’75," Soul Train Gang
10. “Hurricane," Bob Dylan live on PBS 1975

U.S. Open Wrap-Up: Round 1

Thanks so much to Eric, who did a great job covering the first round of the National Open from the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

This club has featured an odd collection of U.S. Opens. The first Open held here was in 1955. Ben Hogan finished with 287, and was widely believed to have won his fifth National Open. But Jack Fleck, a municipal-course pro from Iowa, played the last four holes in two under par to force a playoff. Fleck then beat Hogan 69-72 in the playoff. Hogan never won another major tournament.

The second Open here was in 1966. This time Arnold Palmer had a seven-shot lead with only nine holes left. Amazingly, Palmer blew the entire lead with bogeys on 10, 13, 15, 16, and 17, and just barely parred 18 to force a playoff with Billy Casper. In the playoff, Palmer had a two-shot lead at the turn. But he collapsed on the back nine, and lost 69-73 to Casper. Palmer never won another major tournament.

The third Open here was in 1987. This turned into a battle between Scott Simpson (who won 7 tournaments in his PGA career) and Tom Watson (who won 39). Watson had a one-shot lead with nine holes to go. But Simpson overtook him down the stretch to win by one shot. Watson never won another major tournament.

The fourth Open here was in 1998. After three holes on Sunday, Payne Stewart led Lee Janzen by seven shots. But he blew the entire lead and eventually lost to Janzen by one shot. Remarkably, Stewart came right back and won the 1999 U.S. Open. However, he died in a tragic accident a few months later.

So now, as we approach the fifth Open at Olympic, I'm a little nervous about what will happen to Tiger Woods. On the other hand, it may help that Woods is a native Californian, that he played his college golf at Stanford, and that he's already won two National Opens in California. Certainly he looked like his old self today. But it should be a great tournament. The leaderboard after the first round is filled with big names -- although I've never heard of the leader. Michael Thompson, is a virtual unknown who currently ranks 90th in the Fed Ex Cup. He did reach the final of the 2007 U.S. Amateur, which was played at Olympic, and that probably helped him today. We will see if it helps him tomorrow.

Before we do the leaderboard, here is how the World's Top Ten golfers are doing. You can write off Donald, McIlroy, Bubba, and Dustin Johnson, but the others have a good chance:

1. L. Donald (ENG): +9

2. R. McIlroy (NIR): +7

3. L. Westwood (ENG): +3

4. T. Woods: -1

5. B. Watson: +8

6. M. Kuchar: Even

7. J. Rose (ENG): -1

8. H. Mahan: +2

9. J. Dufner: +2

10. D. Johnson: +5

And here are your leaders after Round 1:

1. M. Thompson: -4 (66)

T2. G. McDowell (NIR): -1 (69)

T2. N. Watney: -1 (69)

T2. J. Rose (ENG): -1 (69)

T2. T. Woods: -1 (69)

T2. D. Toms: -1 (69)

T7. J. Furyk: Even (70)

T7. M. Kuchar: Even (70)

T7. I. Poulter (ENG): Even (70)

T7. Mr. Beau Hossler (a): Even (70)

T7. J. Bohn: Even (70)

T7. J.B. Park (KOR): Even (70)

T7. R. Karlsson (SWE): Even (70)

T7. A. Presnell (AUS): Even (70)

Note: Mr. Beau Hossler is a 17-year-old high school student from Orange County, California. He actually qualified for last year's Open at Congressional Country Club, but he missed the cut.

Oh, Kentucky

What a perfectly Bowling Green and rock-'n'-roll lead for a feature about a perfectly Bowling Green and rock-'n'-roll band: "The members of Morning Teleportation didn’t plan on moving back to Bowling Green. It just happened. But that’s how the band always operates. The transitions in their music have often been described as abrupt and unexpected, and the transitions in their life have been much the same."

KET News Quiz!

"I really prefer that they not do this at all."

Good jobs news from Franklin and the state as a whole.

Taco Bell gets its groove back.

Justice leaves Louisville, coming to Pikeville.

The NAIA baseball tournament is returning to Paducah.

Tim Tebow's in Mayfield today.

Ah, pancakes.

Drillers Den.

Rest in peace, Coach Roark--all-SEC center in 1980 and coach of the 1998 KHSAA Class A football champion.

1975: Rest in Peace, Mary Frann

I was saddened this morning to learn that Mary Frann died in September 1998. The Associated Press reported that year that an autopsy concluded Frann, who died in her sleep, suffered a heart attack associated with "an existing but undiagnosed scarring of heart-muscle tissue." She was 55. 

On Jan. 16, 1975, Suzanne Pleshette had been a Hollywood Square, and, on Jan. 18, 1975, she's in another episode of the hit Bob Newhart Show. Pleshette is a bonafide TV star as of today 1975. 

Not Mary Frann. Not yet. 

Things are looking up, however. Mary Frann turns up for a guest spot on the Jan. 17, 1975, episode of Rockford Files, much as the 1961 "America's Junior Miss" has been turning up on shows here and there for much of the last decade. Her TV career is really starting to take off, in fact. Just last year, in 1974, Frann had finally secured her first regular part--as Amanda Howard, on Days of Our Lives. Mary Frann's 15th Nerinx Hall High School reunion is coming up in 1976, and it's beginning to look like there's going to be a lot of fun stuff to talk about when the girls get back together after all those years in Webster Groves, Mo. 

If they only knew. It won't be until 1982 that Mary Frann lands the role for which she will be primarily remembered. Mary Frances Luecke is going to be bonafide Network Star in her own right (even if, after 184 episodes and eight years as Joanna Loudon, she never exactly convinced us that she was Bob Newhart's wife). 

And, then, not many years later, Mary Frann will be gone. What a sad and odd conversation that must've been when the Nerinx Hall Marker alumnae of '61 reconvened for their 50th last year.

We're Number Three

Kentucky fell to number three in the AP Poll after the loss at Indiana on Saturday. The Hoosiers entered the poll at number 18. U of L is at number 4, while Murray State cracks the poll for the first time since March 10, 1998. The Racers are number 24 -- with a bullet.

By the way, according to this web page, Murray's highest AP ranking ever is 16 -- a rank they reached in both 1951 and 1952.

UK's all-time record as the nation's number 3 team is 144-32.

Oh, and Kentucky and Louisville have never played a game when both teams were ranked in the top five.