December 24, 2011

2001 Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri      March 2001

The year of “No more Northern venues

Charlie Hoopers in KC Missouri

Leo posing with our driver Alex at MCI airport.

The first NCAA Tradition Shuffleboard Tournament. Final scores are listed below:

Dave and John win the first game 7 to 6, Ken and Leo win the second game 14 to 5

Of course we had to warm up for about 1/2 hour just to be able to keep the pucks on the table.

This kind of weather is why John, Leo, and Ken left Connecticut. The weatherman reports that there will be 1 to 3 inches on our first night. The group unanimously agreed to make the 2002 venue further South.

 

 

 

 



 Welcome to Kemper Arena.  This shot was taken at the Kansas City Live Stock Exchange.

An inside view of Kemper Arena…Our seats were much better than shown in this picture.

Arizona buried Eastern Illinois and also sported
the Retro basketball look.

Between the arena and the KC Live Stock Exchange, a tent was setup that included big screen TV’s, food and beer.A great touch for a city that knows how to host a tournament.

The largest managers reception at the Quarterage hotel. There was a two drink maximum per customer per trip to the bar.

The scene outside Kelly’s on Saint Patrick’s day in the Westport section of Kansas City.
We still don’t know what everyone was looking at.

 


Our Day Off


The Harry S Truman Library in Kansas City

The library is a great tribute to a great president. The entrance of the exhibit
is shown below and above is the famous sign that Harry had on his desk.


We also visited the two landmark sporting venues in Kansas City; Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium. They were nice enough to let us in Kauffman Stadium, we had no such luck at Arrowhead.

We paid a visit to the mayors office and visited the observation deck on the 28’th floor of city hall to get thisgrand view of downtown. The insert on the right is mayor Kay Barnes.

 


One of our official membership cards from the Isle of Capri Casino, on the river in Kansas City. This place was not the Neiman Marcus of Gambling…..it was Walmart.


Other Memorable Moments

Brush with Fame
When waiting in line at Bradley Airport in Hartford, Gov John Rowland walked by to wish the group a safe and successful trip.

The Kenny Shuffle returns?
We were 1/2 hour late arriving in Pittsburgh for a 37 minute layover.  Ken, Leo and John all did the Kenny shuffle to get to their connecting flight. See 
1995 Memphis for a definition of the Kenny Shuffle.

Odd Coincidences
Both our waitresses that night at Romineli’s Grill and Charlie Hooper’s Pub were named Kelly.  Both had to hear the story of John’s wife whose name is Kelley Kelly.


The Games (Midwest Regional)

6) Notre Dame    
  Notre Dame(83-71)  
11) Xavier  
  |   Mississippi (59-56)
3) Mississippi    |
 Mississippi (72-70)  
14) Iona    
   
7) Wake Forest    
  Butler (79-63)*  
10) Butler   | |
  |    Arizona (73-52) 
2) Arizona  | |
     Arizona (101-76)                 
15) Eastern Illinois 

* upsets

Highest Final Seat: Arizona made it to the Championship Game.