vernon

Thanks but I don't want you to have to go to any extra trouble on my account. Certainly not your fault or anyone else's for that matter. darn Led Zeppelin. Tough to find places that are open and available that also provide good acoustics! I'll try watching some more and pick out what I can. Of course I could always resort to my default "hearing aid" and have my wife translate for me! I drive her nuts saying, "What'd he say?", "What was that?" and just plain ol', "Huh?"! You know, though, you're right - I am close by. Maybe I could just come over and you could recreate the entire presentation just for me! I need to pick up some Finesse heads anyway! Just kidding of course and thanks again.

Man, I was really looking forward to this. Unfortunately, my hearing is to the point that with the echo in the room, the audio is virtually indiscernible to me. I guess I shouldn't be surprised though - can hardly watch movies anymore without close captioning. Nonetheless, thanks for all of the hard work in putting this together and making it available to everyone. It should enable many people to catch lots more fish!

Better irritated than decapitated!

OOPS! Lost me there for a second. Since you were following up on Champ's post I thought when you said "spoon" you were talking 3 wood! My bad.

Holy cats! That's some good shoppin' right there! I'd love to have one but just can't justify the cost when the money could be used for so many other "vital" needs and real life necessities. Like more rods and reels and tackle. And beer. And golf balls. That's pretty much it I guess. Oh yeah, almost forgot. I'm saving up for some power poles for deep water structure fishing. I heard they will seriously slow the spin of a boat in the middle of the lake when the wind gusts. Can't wait to see some live action video of the godfather slaying big brown fish on the Ned instead of those ol' boring photographs!

Is Bazinga a verb?

You guys just don't get it. We have to respect the rights of ALL human beings - regardless of how subversive they might be! At least that's what I keep hearing on the TV. And, if you don't believe it, just try speaking up about it sometime. They'll be sure and let you know that they have the "right" to do anything that they want - regardless of how offensive you might find it to be. Just wait, once we get rid of that ol' out dated, pain in the azz Constitution thing, we'll get this stuff straightened out and America will be a better place for it! Sometimes I'm glad I'm gonna be dead soon.

Officially retired. AND tired. Didn't think you could be one without the other. In most cases, the age requirement dictates thusly. My baby brother is an exception - retired at 53. But even he complains about being tired all the time. So I guess everyone should keep working so they at least have a reason to be tired. Except me of course. I'm naturally lazy.

I say if you wanna go out of high school you should be able to go - just like baseball. But once you sign that letter of intent to attend a D1 university you're committed for either two or three years. I prefer three but anything's better than one. Most of these guys never even attend class again after the first semester's over. Ain't like they gotta take an eligibility slip to all their teachers every Friday to prove their eligible for the weekend (although that wouldn't be a bad idea either - worked for most of us in high school). Once the season's over they're off to tryout camps, combines and high dollar trainers. Student athlete alright. The NBA ain't helpin' one bit since the colleges serve as their no cost minor leagues. A full year to evaluate talent against top level competition free of charge. Why should they change their rule?

What you said. It was almost like the 2007 Orange Bowl season was a dream. And waking up has made it a nightmare. I don't go back as far as you but Bob Fredrick was my freshman basketball coach at KU and I honestly loved the guy. One of the true gentlemen and good guys that I ever knew - at least at the level that I knew him. However, you are absolutely correct in your assessment of his handling of the football program and "peripheral" sports. Most of us didn't see it or realize it at the time - or maybe just didn't care because we were so desperate to not lose the basketball success that was so important to all that KU was at the time. All we have regarding football currently is blind hope that another miracle lurks somewhere within sight around the next corner. However, I'm afraid that David Beatty is just our version of Kim Anderson. Without the history of course. Rock Chalk?

You are obviously way more connected and knowledgeable than I am regarding Odom so I shall defer to you on that subject. I honestly hope you're right. While not an "MU" fan per se, I am definitely a huge "Missouri" fan and love the state and all that it has to offer way more than my own! Having the flagship university be the subject of so much negative attention is not good for anyone involved at any level. I also totally agree with all you said about basketball. I've been a Kim Anderson fan for a long time and always pulled for him to be successful. Kind of Jon Sunvold guy. In fact, when he was hired at MU my brother and I both said it was gonna be a whole lot harder to root against them because we liked Anderson so much. I find it amazing how often guys can be so good at one level but completely overwhelmed at the next as he seems to be. It's a shame that one of the good guys can't get it done. As an alum and former invited walk on at KU (back when Allen Field House had a dirt floor. Honest!) I've seen quite a bit over the years and used to live and die with Jayhawk basketball. However, the last 6-8 yrs. have lost a lot of the emotion in me. I'm still a fan and watch most every minute and follow the recruiting trail but the losses just don't hurt like they used to. Too big of a business nowadays. I'd give anything for another run with Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison - guys that stayed all four years, graduated and played the game the right way (Sunvold-Anderson?). While I understand you can't win or even compete for that matter without the Andrew Wiggins, Josh Jackson's and all the other one and done's that doesn't mean I have to like it. When the season ends now it's not about "wait till next year" cause next year will be more one and done's that we know nothing about and a handful of returning role players. Pretty similar to free agency in baseball and football. I'm Royals and Chiefs fan and have been with them throughout all the losing and recent success but sure liked it better back when you could build success rather than buying it.

Dang it, abkeenan, I'm not accustomed to dealing with MU fans that have a sense of perspective! You done made me feel bad about my comments! I do still tend to disagree with you about the future of MU football though. Until you've lived through what we have experienced with KU football you just can't understand how it can get so bad so fast. I don't really have an opinion regarding Odom's coaching ability although I do think it's pretty evident that they "settled" for him kind of like they did for Kim Anderson and look how that's working out. Nonetheless, the saddest part of it all is that it typically has very little to do with the ability of the coach or coaches or any of the other football/basketball subject matter experts. It has to do with the know nothing, authoritative, ego driven administrators who put themselves above the overall good of any given program. In our case it was Lew Perkins. Not sure you guys can pin it on any one guy but there was a group of non football geniuses that put you guys where you're at now. I'll never believe that Pinkel would have retired if not for the meddling higher ups that decided one lousy million dollars was worth giving in to the "protesters". Forfeit the BYU game, eat the million and tell the do-gooders to find somewhere else to protest/play and y'all would have been just fine. Having the inmates running the asylum ain't no better than letting than letting the money guys make football/basketball decisions. Combine the two and oh, boy. We were just super lucky to get Bill Self after our other resident genius, Al Bohl, ran off Roy Williams. Just imagine if MU had hired Self instead of Quinn Snyder! Oh my God, I almost fainted there for a second. I'm sure with you on the 2007 season - that was some good stuff. Can't imagine it ever happening again in my lifetime but it was great at the time. Good luck to you guys - you deserve better. I have some longtime close friends that are super loyal lifetime MU fans that have just been gutted by the recent goings on and I take no satisfaction from that. Like you said, good fun and ribbing is what it's all about and ruining peoples lives ain't that. It really is sad that I don't hardly even think about MU sports anymore. Not much attention or coverage in the KC area since they left and no reason to really care one way or another these days since there's no common ground left. Wait till we get to a few 24 team super conferences and there won't be much reason to care at all about any of it. Eventually, money ruins everything. Now, back to fishing. I just ordered a Falcon swim/jig rod so this thread didn't stray all THAT far off the grid! Thanks guys.

I was responding to the film clip of the kid at the Stanford NCAA tournament game. Nonetheless, I think MU football is about to head into a similar abyss. It ain't easy to fix something that messed up. We know all about it!

Careful bout flingin' them rocks! I'm afeared y'all is about to get a taste of it your own selfs! Tis a slippery slope indeed once things start to crumble. And as for getting' run over for the last five years? Yeah, we be bawlin' all the time about 148-37, five conference titles, one national final, two number one seeds and three number two's. Pitiful as it is, it's all we got!

I love you guys! Might just have to go buy a lottery ticket I'm feeling so lucky now!

Whew. Thanks! That actually makes me feel much better. Before I replied I was considering deleting my entire account and re-registering under a new name rather than be identified as the moron that could get something so simple so wrong! Please keep in mind that I'm retired COE so that explains at least some of it!

Sorry, you'r right - mine are not the COE passes but rather the Parks and Wildlife pass that allows for access and boat launching. And I only have the Kansas one. Not sure what I was thinking (as is usually the case). Most all of my boat launching in Missouri is done from resort or marina ramps at Stockton, Truman and Table Rock. Sorry again for the (my) confusion! In the profound words of Roberto DeVincenzo, "What a stupid I am."

Most of the folks I saw seemed to think they were "go fast" buoys. Watched the water patrol sit there for over an hour a couple of weeks ago "monitoring" the situation. Must have been texting or reading a policy manual as numerous boats flew through on plane and he didn't react to a single one. Maybe just gathering statistics on the (non) effectiveness of them! I seldom fish bridge pilings but wouldn't mind seeing all of them (bridges) designated no wake. Drives me nuts to see some old couple sitting there in a small aluminum boat bobber fishing and battleships and destroyers running past them at full throttle (or worse, half throttle). Sorry for the thread jack - one of those senior moments I guess. Glad the bridge project is finally completed.

I'm 63 and have already purchased annual passes for Kansas and Missouri. Any benefit to adding the America pass at this point or better to wait till next year? Don't really travel anywhere else enough to matter. I've perused the website pretty thoroughly but can't really discern what (if anything) there might be to gain. Thanks

Yep. They is!

Dude! Ease up off the gas a little will ya? My head's spinning already! Are you seriously from around here or did you drop in from another planet?!? This is game changing stuff if you ask me. And completely exclusive as best I can tell. Thanks for all the hard work! This makes everything more interesting and should go a long ways toward eliminating wasted travel time and increasing confidence on the water.

Man, I was excited to see what "next" was but this is completely off the charts. Way to go Ben! One mind fully blown!

Wow. What an effort! Thank you so much. As a COE retiree (KC District) I can certainly relate to the "blank stare" comment. There were times I felt certain that we invented the entire concept. And, we certainly provided considerable encouragement for the "forgiveness vs. permission" approach. A lot of really good people doing a lot of really good things, but, man, the bureaucracy! Going forward I gotta think that this data will be useful to analyze and forecast fish movements and lake conditions in ways that weren't possible in the past. Can't wait for the next surprise! Thanks again Ben!

Great stuff, Donna, great stuff. Thanks.

NO, NO, NO!!! YOU ARE WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!! NED IS ALWAYS THE BEST CHOICE!!! IF THEY'RE HITTING TOPWATER JUST SPEED UP YOUR RETRIEVE!!! NED COULD CATCH FISH OUT OF MY KITCHEN SINK!!!! I am now plugging my ears with my fingers and chanting, puppies and bunny rabbits, puppies and bunny rabbits, puppies and.......... Actually, I do throw the other stuff. Spinnerbaits and jigs in particular. But it's tuff to not go back to Ned when they're not working the way I think they should sometimes. The little centipede and 1/8 oz screw in bullet sinker was my default bait for many years but Ned has about obsoleted them. BTW, I always enjoy you and Dave's exchanges - keep em' comin'!