Scattershot Thoughts (including Andy's return)

I love Christmas. There's nothing better than Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with a house full of kids. I loved every minute...

Well, except for the several hours we played Electronic Monopoly. Some games can't be improved by technology. This is one. Running a credit card through an ATM at every transaction makes an already long game unbearable...

The kids didn't want to watch A Christmas Story on the TBS marathon, but got sucked in and loved it. Who doesn't "want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!"..

We all went skating at the new outdoor place in downtown Des Moines. It's a lot of fun, although they need to rethink the inside area. It's a chaotic mess with everyone trying to pay for skates, put them on, take them off, order concession, and warm up all in the same small building. Once we cleared the scrum we had a great time, and if Murphy fell down in front of you, I apologize...

2007 Iowa Sports Story of the Year: Zach Johnson wins the Masters. I agree with our on-line voters. If Shawn Johnson wins Olympic All-Around gold, and she will, I think that's the no doubt story of 2008. Could something happen that would top that?...

Shawn is featured in Sports Illustrated this week in, what else, a cornfield. Is this the only way outsiders see us? Great picture though...

Great move by the NFL Network to put the Patriots quest for perfection on channels most people can actually watch. And boy did we watch. One of the highest rated programs of the year. I can't take my eyes off the Patriots when they're on. I'm not a fan, but I'm fascinated. The Moss drop, followed by the Brady to Moss touchdown bomb was the most electrifying sequence of the season to me. Great theater. The Patriots' coaching staff was caught cheating this season, so the Pats aren't perfect, even if their record is...

Bowl game I'm most looking forward to? Florida vs. Michigan in the Cap One. Rumor is Tebow will play without pads...

Say what you want about Jose Canseco, but the guy was right about a lot. He also played a big part in getting baseball cleaned up...

The Bourne Ultimatum is a great action movie, and the rare third movie in a trilogy that lives up to its predecessors. I don't know how Matt Damon does it, but his face seems to change when he plays Jason Bourne. He's terrific...

Balls of Fury was as silly as I thought it would be. At least I waited for the rental. The title still appeals to my juvenile sense of humor...

The Heartbreak Kid starring Ben Stiller started with a lot of laugh out loud moments. However, the final hour was not funny and Stiller plays a guy impossible to root for. Rent this one only if you love the Farrelly Brothers (There's Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber) even when they're off their game (Stuck on You). This movie is rated R for many reasons including rough sex (someone reading this just decided to rent it)...

The Des Moines Bucs are a bad hockey team this season, but 95KGGO Arena on game night is still top notch, affordable entertainment...

Jenny and I went to Las Vegas and happened to be on the same Allegiant Air flight as the entire Iowa State basketball team. The Cyclones aren't very good yet, but they are improving, and they have a first class guy running the program in Greg McDermott. He'll get it done...

How 'bout those Bulldogs?! It's just plain good for Des Moines to see this program showing some life after decades of bad basketball. I hope it continues...

And not to bury the lead, but yes, my old partner Andy Fales is coming back to SoundOFF. Andy succeeded in Kansas City, but made the wise and mature decision to follow his heart and return where he's happiest: Des Moines. Life is too short for regrets. Andy will co-host SoundOFF and tell you what's bugging him beginning January 6th. You'll also find his contributions all over our newscasts as he delivers his unique special assignments. Andy is a one-of-a-kind talent, and we're lucky to have him...

I also want to take this time to again thank Heather Burnside for doing such a good job under tough circumstances. Following Andy was not easy. Heather never tried to be anyone but herself. Heather's knowledge of sports was apparent, her sharp wit on display, and her enthusiasm for the opportunity contagious. Heather is also a fan of Andy. She steps aside with no hard feelings and has graciously agreed to make contributions to the show and fill in as guest host. Thank you, Heather...

Happy New Year.
Keith

Scattershot Thoughts

Dick Vitale out until February with a blown vocal cord? I'm sorry it happened, but it was only a matter of time. That man yells more than Al Pacino. Get well, Dick. You do a lot for college basketball...

I now understand why Elvis shot his television. Have you seen the Bud Light "Dude!" commercials? I saw the same ad 43 times during one NFL game. Dude...

The Iowa Hawkeyes need game-breakers, not law-breakers. Unfortunately, Dominique Douglas was both. He's out of second chances. I'm confident Kirk Ferentz strongly encouraged Douglas to transfer...

There's a cool new local Web site with potential, http://www.iasportsnews.com/ It allows you to "get all your Iowa sports news in one place". Great idea...

Green Bay Packer fans, cheer for Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo to take their relationship up a notch, or at the very least, stay together. I've seen that look of a man with his mind on other things. The thumb might hurt, but the heart aches...

The Mitchell Report forces all of us to be judge and jury. As more and more guys admit their guilt (always "one time" and "for an injury"), it looks worse for Roger Clemens. The timeline for his stats and alleged steroid use is damning. My verdict, with no proof, is guilty. I see Clemens and Bonds as the faces of the steroid era, but there is a far more detailed trail following Bonds (see "Game of Shadows")...

Dan Fogelberg died. That's sad. Fogelberg had that reputation for being overly sensitive and sentimental, but I always found myself singing along to those sappy songs, like the ridiculous "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". Who takes his mantel? I nominate James Taylor... (Update on 12/20: one of our smart readers points out it was Gordon Lightfoot who sang about a shipwreck, not Fogelberg. Remember Gordon and that porn 'stache? "Leader of the Band" will have to do for our Fogelberg example.)

Do you have a favorite Christmas song? Mine's "Little Drummer Boy" as sung by David Bowie and Bing Crosby. How did that ever work?! I also like Bob Seger's version. Band-Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas" never grows old either, thought it should since it's on every few minutes...

Favorite Christmas movie? I want to say "Christmas Story" or "It's a Wonderful Life", those seem like cool answers, and I do love those movies, but the truth is "Christmas Vacation". I laugh out loud every time.

Cousin Eddie: "He's(Snotz) got a little bit of Mississippi leg hound in em... He'll grab a hold of your leg and go to town. Word to the wise if he does grab a hold, just let him finish."
Clark W. Grizwald : "Thanks Eddie... I'll remember that."


Merry Christmas to you and yours,
Keith

Scattershot Thoughts

Les Miles saying LSU hasn't "lost in regulation" is true, but pointless. The Tigers lost twice in overtime; you could argue that's even worse...

The Atlanta Falcons probably quit on Bobby Petrino, but he looks far worse after definitely quitting on them, leaving a note, and sneaking off without facing his players like a man. Arkansas must not care what kind of man it hires...

Staying with the Falcons, what kind of knucklehead scores a touchdown and breaks out a "Free Mike Vick" T-shirt? Vick isn't falsely accused, wrongly jailed, or the victim of bad luck. He's in prison paying a price because of his own unthinkable crimes. Free Mike Vick?! Why? Vick's lost his job, reputation, and freedom---not to mention millions---so I think he's paying a sufficient price, but let's not make him the victim...

Michigan hired Rick Rodriguez, not Kirk Ferentz. There was never a minute I thought Ferentz would be anywhere but Iowa next season. However, I do think Michigan had legitimate interest...

Stud quarterback recruit John Wienke de-commits from Michigan and commits to Iowa? In the middle of all these "Michigan interested in Ferentz" rumors? You can't make this stuff up. It's good Iowa will open up the quarterback competition. Better play is a must next season, whether it's Jake or someone else...

As I was writing this, an e-mail just came in from Tim in Des Moines. Tim's a Hawkeye fan and in his letter, he was writing smack about Drake! That's the best sign yet the Bulldogs are for real. Usually everyone treats them like a favorite Uncle or lovable mascot. One win in Iowa City and the Dogs aren't so cute anymore...

Rick Brown's Courtside Seat in Tuesday's Des Moines Register is a must-read for me. Good stuff...

Can't believe the Dolphins blew their perfect season. And how 'bout those Ravens. Were it not for a timeout, the Ravens may have wrecked two seasons with the potential numbers 16 and 0...

Lucca Staiger must really appreciate all the love and support he's getting in Ames. He's staying, even after the NCAA's idiotic ruling that he loses a year of eligibility because someone else didn't follow the rules...

Props to the Cedar Rapids Gazette for this eye-opening nugget: The Cyclone women's basketball team is outdrawing the Hawkeye men...

If I see that Hyundai "Duh" commercial one more time, I'm going to punch the television...

Who you got in the Clash of the Choirs?....

Went to the Nova---home of the movie ticket, pop and popcorn for $6---to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. Apparently everyone in Des Moines had the same idea. We zipped across town and made it to Cobblestone, which was much less of a mob scene. Here's the shocker, I enjoyed Alvin. The kids loved it, no surprise, but Jenny and I liked it too. Big surprise. A- for kids. B- for adults...

Just saw Murderball on DVD. If you haven't rented this yet, give it a shot. It's a fascinating documentary on quad rugby. It's educational, but that makes it sound boring. It's not. You'll be on the edge of your seat at the Olympics...

Rescue Dawn is another winner on DVD. Christian Bale amazes, as usual, and the usually funny Steve Zahn proves he can play it straight. It's a true story of a POW escape during the Vietnam War...

This writer's strike is going to stink. Life and House were turning it up a notch, and Friday Night Lights found its feet after an early season stumble. At least we have American Gladiators...

Sorry 48 hours took 100. That Mitchell Report turned my world upside down. To answer a few questions on the report:

-Yes, I believe most, if not all, in the report cheated and/or used illegal performance enhancers.
-Especially Roger Clemens
-I'm surprised names were named based primarily on hearsay, but I still believe it
-I think it was the tip of the iceberg

Thank you for stopping by (San Diego)...
Keith

Mailbox

I receive hundreds of e-mails a week from viewers, and I love it. (Well, most of the time.) SoundOFF invites opinions, and I'm never without, including many about our station, newscasts, and me personally.

Here are a few recent ones I'll share:

After watching the first half of the show tonight all that you seemed to talk about was the good side of Iowa. No mention of Iowa State winning the Cy-Hawk Championship or how they beat Iowa. It seems like WHO stands for World Hawkeye Organization
Chad, Ankeny

Actually we did mention Iowa State dominating the Cy-Hawk series this year, but I wanted to show this one just because WHO, World Hawkeye Organization, always makes me laugh.

Here's another one:

You guys at whotv need to quit acting like you remotely care about the Cyclone nation--it's always been obviously that whotv is Black and Gold. Stop embarrassing us ISU grads with your silly Cyclone daily report on the 6 o'clock news that every time predicts ISU loosing. What kind of support is that? You guys need to just stick with predicting the Squakeyes loosing season. Keith you also need to take better acting classes, and just stick with ranting and rumbling about your true blood of Black and Gold. You make me sick whotv.

What? A much better writer sent this one last week:

Speaking of great people, how about Kirk Ferentz....Highest paid coach in the conference, 6-7, 6-6, 17 arrests, former player dealing cocaine in Iowa City, son lives in free housing, sexual assault about to explode = Michigan offer. Amazing, what's next, Lickliter to the Lakers? I haven't seen a guy control the media like this since Tim Floyd was writing for the Register. I know you think this is sour grapes, but why would I want Ferentz to leave...do you think there is a chance that Iowa, which is a much better job, would ever hire a coach that would lose 6 of 9 to ISU? They may even hire a great coach, like McCarney. By the way, McCarney's last two seasons = 13 losses and fired. Ferentz last two seasons, 13 losses and Michigan candidate. You can't make this stuff up. Brad Z./Ames

Wow. Brad brings it, and scores a few points.

Shane from Marshalltown has many random thoughts including:

Ok, let's figure this out so far. UNI beats Iowa State, Iowa beats UNI, Drake beats Iowa State and Iowa State beats Iowa...if the train leaves Chicago at 5:00am and travels west at 55mph and another train leaves Denver at 3:00am and travels east at....ah crap, what the hell was I talking about???

Did you guys see the eclipse this past week??? Oh wait, that was Barry Bonds getting out of his car to go into the court house...I also love the standard issue lawyer statement, "We are eager to prove "insert name here"'s innocence!" Translation: We cannot wait to plea bargain down!

Hard to believe, but it's been about 16 years since Tom Harkin was portrayed as a goofball for suggesting that if everyone switched to energy efficient lightbulbs, we'd all be better off in the long run, while running for the Democratic presidential nomination...yeah, what a goofball...

At what point did "let millions of illegal immigrants in and millions of jobs out" become a good idea for our country??? Just wondering...

When NBC got "Football Night In America" I thought "COOL!!" But now we're in our 2nd season of SoundOFF starting at 11:15 and lasting 20 minutes and it's just not cool anymore...Thanks NBC!!!

I'd like to thank Iowa and Iowa State's football and basketball teams for rekindling everyone's love of college wrestling...

To everyone who complains about not having the NFL Network, if you've ever heard Bryant Gumbel do a game, you'd realize you're not missing much...

Ryan in Clive wrote this after Hawkeye basketball player Dan Bohall was arrested for public intox:

While I always take pleasure in Hawkeye arrests, you can't call the cops on a guy who's passed out in the bathroom. You write on him, TP him, etc. but you don't call the cops. That's just lame.

Never a dull day. Keep them coming: soundoff@whotv.com

I'll be back with some scatterthoughts in the next 48 hours.

Thanks.
Keith

Scattershot thoughts:

-Bad news for Iowa State football: Bo Pelini can't be worse than Bill Callahan. You really have to work at being mediocre with all the advantages that program has in Lincoln.

-I really like what I see from UNI's Mark Farley. He choked up when talking about the fan support, and feeling like he let those fans down. He didn't. UNI gave us something to feel good about this football season.

-I think Michigan had real interest in Kirk Ferentz, but we'll never know what really happened. One thing is certain: people in other places appreciate what Ferentz has done at Iowa more than some people who live right here. It's not an easy place to win big.

-Among the big-name coaches who went 6-6 this year: Spurrier, Saban, Ferentz. It happens.

-Keeping Cael Sanderson at Iowa State is Jamie Pollard's best proven move to date. It's remarkable what Cael's done already. A win at #1 Minnesota? He's for real, and so are the Cyclones.

-It's going to be a long season for Todd Lickliter. He can coach, and I think he's a good man, but he just flat out doesn't have much to work with. In the end, it's mostly about talent. It's no coincidence the best basketball team in our state the past twenty years had 3 future NBA players. (2000 Iowa State Cyclones, and yes, I'm counting the author, Paul Shirley.)

-I can't belive Central played playoff football in the snow, ice, and sleet. Props to the fans who sat in the stands for that one. It had to be miserable. The outcome didn't help. Great season for the Dutch, who play for love of the game.

-The Heisman Trophy should go to the nation's outstanding college football player. Not the offensive MVP on the best team (see Jason White), or the guy with the eye-popping stats (see Andre Ware). It frustrates me no defensive player has any chance. I voted for Tim Tebow this season. I don't think he'll be the best pro, but I do think he was the best college football player this year. I have Darren McFadden a close second.

-Is the NFL MVP Tom Brady, Brett Favre, or maybe Randy Moss? Moss is the main reason Brady is playing video game football. I'd still vote for Tom. Without a great quarterback, Moss disappears.

-I'm not used to the Des Moines Register's new Web site yet. I miss the old one.

-Have you been to this place "Pump it Up"? It's like kids' paradise. The energy in that place could power the cars of an entire NBA team. Brilliant idea, well run and fun, so of course it work$.

-Saw "Enchanted". Loved most of it, though the ridiculous dragon bit at the end nearly ruined it for me. Still, I'll give it a B. Amy Adams is brilliant, and Dr. McDreamy does a nice job, though Patrick Dempsey careered out in Can't Buy Me Love. Love that silly movie.

-Did I just see Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in a commercial? Is nothing sacred?

Stay warm,
Keith