By KEVIN HASKIN
TopSports.news
Musings at the mid-month:
• Just finished a trip to the D.C. area to visit our month-old grandaughter.
• Took in an Orioles victory, killed no one at Top Golf, walked the National Mall, saw the Eisenhower Memorial, marveled at the mountainous landscape of a Virginia winery, and didn’t seem to infuriate my in-laws.
• Quite the vacation.
• The highlight? Well, I did mention baby Gwyneth, right? Good. I didn’t bury the lead.
• Small world, though.
• As usual when visiting Baltimore, I ate the crab cakes at Faidley’s Seafood in Lexington Market, which will soon move across the street after being in the same downtown location since 1793.
• When I noticed a sign for raccoon (in season), I asked how many customers consumed that critter.
• Turns out that more patrons find muskrat appealing. “Tastes like beef; better than beef,” said a long-time employee. So there’s that.
• While speaking with Damie, the fourth-generation family member who now manages Faidley’s, I learned that her father’s hometown is Parsons.
• While stationed in the Navy, Bill Devine met his bride, Nancy, and eventually married into the Faidley family.
• Bill is in his 90s and going strong. Both he and Nancy still work at Faidley’s, a business that will soon have to take down, but hopefully re-hang, aged pictures of Brooks Robinson and Johnny Unitas.
• Thanks for indulging me just now. A reporter’s hat may fade, but it never gets discarded.
• Happened to drive back east, roughly 1,300 miles one way, to retrieve my wife Kris, who couldn’t contain her grandmotherly instincts and flew out earlier.
• Driving the 1,300 miles back home, Louisville was a reasonable halfway stop.
• Why look, the Arlington Million moved to Churchill Downs for a special race card. Let’s go!
• It marked just the fifth time in the track’s history for August racing.
• My first visit to Churchill and I found it to be a stately venue that continues to grow.
• New suites and grandstands are going up between turns one and two … or what would be one of the end zones if a football game broke out among thoroughbreds.
• Won a few wagers, but chalk ruled the day, so the payouts were nominal.
• Receiving exact change on a winning ticket was a new experience and rather silly, it seemed, in the year 2022.
• Coins are more a nuisance than a necessity anymore.
• We found a limb dangling from our power line when we returned home. Kris convinced me not to touch it, so we called Evergy.
• A technician arrived and did what I would have done, nudging the branch over the pole.
• The next bill will reveal the price of exercising caution over daring to DIY.
• Didn’t make it to Heartland Motorsports Park for the recent NHRA event, but I still marveled at one constant.
• At 73, John Force still thrives on nitro. The ageless legend climbed into his Funny Car and finished second.
• The drags aren’t for everyone and have perhaps run their course in Topeka, but Force and his family do everything possible to accommodate fans.
• Same goes for most of the NHRA pros.
• Football will soon be here and I am eager to track two ambitious projections I keep seeing:
• KU will win more than three games, including more than one in Big 12 play.
• Wearing a K-State uniform, transfer Adrian Martinez will forget he ever fumbled.•
• Now let’s apply the smelling salts:
• You must go back to 2008 to find the last time the Jayhawks won more than a single Big 12 game.
• Martinez’s inability to value the ball while quarterbacking Nebraska inspires little confidence.
• But hey, the beauty of the preseason is that confidence abounds.
• Key September game for K-State: at Oklahoma on Sept. 24.
• Yes, I know Missouri visits Manhattan for a Sept. 10 sellout, but if the Wildcats are to fulfill the role of Big 12 sleeper, a strong showing at OU affirms those hopes.
• Key September game for KU: against West Virginia on Sept. 10.
• If the Jayhawks are to serve notice to the Big 12, it might as well come early at home against the Mountaineers, who stand 44-45 in league play since joining in 2012.
• Developments worth tracking:
• At K-State, the promotion of Collin Klein to offensive coordinator and the changes he implements.
• At KU, a complete offseason for Lance Leipold and what that does to solidify his systematic approach.
• The payoff: K-State should improve in the passing game; KU should be more physical.
•Friday night lights beam for real on Sept. 2 for the season-openers.
• Hayden at Silver Lake on Sept. 9 intrigues me.
• So too does sports wagering in Kansas.
• Amazingly, auto-correct did not erase that last sentence.
