KHOU Interview

So making it to 30 Final Fours is a news worthy event even in Houston!

Hey Mom! I made the front page!!!

I was in my motel in Washington, DC after an NADA dinner on the Tuesday before Final Four weekend. I got a call from   from the Mitchell Daily Republic asking me for an interview about thirty Final Four trips. The interview lasted about 45 minutes and I swear that he was having more fun than me.

He was asking about various Final Fours and whether or not I saw them - and I did - every one of them in the past thirty years. I had fun reliving different games through the years. I have to say, I was surprised how vivid my recall was.

I have commented many times before that we have seen some great basketball but as the years pass, it truly is more about renewing friendships on an annual basis more than anything else.

Cheers boys! Here's to 30 more!

Thirty Years of Madness for this Final Four Duo

Knust (left) and Korth (right) at last year's Final Four in Indianapolis.

Every avid college hoops fan has seen the replay of Michael Jordan’s game-winning jump shot to lift North Carolina to the 1982 title over Patrick Ewing and Georgetown. Houston fans have had nightmares about Dereck Whittenburg’s high-arching air ball that Lorenzo Charles grabbed for the game-winning dunk as Jim Valvano’s North Carolina State Wolfpack edged the Cougars for the 1983 championship. The image of Keith Smart's shot arching high through the air before splashing through the net to give Bob Knight’s 1987 Indiana Hoosiers a one-point title game victory over Syracuse is familiar to most college hoops fans.

Choose any of the great Final Four moments of the last thirty years, Doug Knust and Chris Korth have been there to witness them. Knust, a car dealer from Chamberlain, South Dakota and Korth, an attorney from Kansas City, Missouri will be in Houston for this year’s Final Four. It will be the thirtieth consecutive Final Four that they have attended together. It’s a streak that started when they were seniors at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

Knust and Korth were juniors at Creighton 1981. In March of that year, they were looking for a place to watch the NCAA basketball tournament. They knew that ESPN was covering early round games but, unfortunately for them, the games were only on cable TV and Omaha’s cable provider did not carry ESPN. However, ESPN was available in Council Bluffs, Iowa, which is just across the state line.

Korth called over to a bar in Council Bluffs and got the good news that yes, they have cable and yes, they have a big screen TV (those were rare in 1981). The bad news was that they did not open till 5pm. However after a little begging and pleading they agreed to let Knust and Korth bring several of their friends in for a special private basketball watch party in their basement starting at 10 am. The next day, after thirteen hours of basketball, they emerged from the basement, weary eyed but hooked on the NCAA Tournament.

During the games that day in 1981, the NCAA ran a commercial promising a "chance" to go to next year’s Final Four. Simply call a long distance phone number and for a charge of $1.50 the NCAA will send you an application to enter the "lottery" to win tickets. Knust called in and got the application. He applied for the maximum at the time of four tickets (cleaning out his checkbook in the process). Knust says he’s not sure how much money he had to send in or where he got it. Several weeks later, he got the news that his name was drawn in the lottery and that he would be receiving four tickets for the 1982 Final Four in New Orleans. Now the problem: how does a pair of college students with no money, no credit cards and no plans get to New Orleans for the Final Four?

“I didn’t know how we would be able to get to New Orleans or where we would stay if we went,” recalls Knust. “Then I had a brainstorm. I decided to give a ticket to my Dad for his birthday in October thinking that maybe he would want to take me along, since I had my own ticket!”

Well Knust’s father, Harry, thought it would be a great idea if he and his son and a couple of his friends would make the trip to college basketball’s pinnacle. Korth made plans for airfare and the motel. Harry stepped up and paid for the motel room and the rest is history.

Knust and Korth, at the age of 21, attended their first Final Four in New Orleans in 1982. The entire weekend was magical and the basketball was unbelievable.

Korth tells a story from their first trip, “One late night, in a hotel lobby, we ran into then DePaul Coach Ray Meyer, one of the deans of the coaching profession. We got to personally meet, talk with and take pictures with Meyer.” Korth says, “He treated us as long lost friends, talking about his ‘love of the game’ for several hours. In the process, he infected us with a love of the game.”

Oh yeah, some North Carolina freshman makes a last minute basket to win a thrilling game for his team. His name is Michael Jordan. Knust and Korth were hooked!

Knust and Korth have not missed a Final Four since then, taking in some 87 Final Four games, in 18 different venues in 15 states and watching 46 different teams represent their respective schools. This year Reliant Stadium will be the nineteenth venue and the 88th, 89th and 90th Final Four games.

“One of the first things people usually ask me is something about which was the best or my favorite,” commented Knust. “That’s a bit like asking a father which is his best or favorite child. I’ve enjoyed all of them. Sometimes it’s the great games. Sometimes it’s the great individual performance. Sometimes it’s a great visit with one of the great coaches in the college game. Sometimes it’s a great restaurant. Each one is unique and wonderful in its own way.”

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you!” Knust joked when asked how they get tickets. “We used to get them through the lottery but we now turn to the scalpers to get our seats.”

Knust and Korth have been accompanied by various friends and family members through the years. Their group has been as large as 25-30 people and as small as 4 people. A couple of their friends have joined them for more than fifteen Final Fours.

“Needless to say, a streak like this requires an understanding spouse. My wife’s birthday is April 1st. I have been gone for quite a few of her birthdays over the years,” commented Knust. “That might just make her birthday a bit happier!”

Knust talked about how at the beginning, it was all about the basketball. As the years have gone by, however, he appreciates the opportunity to get together with great friends each year. “The basketball is still great and a big part of it, but I really love getting together with my friends,” says Knust.

“One tradition that we started about fifteen years ago was to visit a fine steakhouse in the host city on the Sunday evening,” told Knust. “It has really become one of the highlights of the weekend. There’s nothing like washing down good steak with a few beers or a couple of glasses of bourbon!”

When the streak started, Houston’s Guy Lewis and his Phi Slamma Jamma teams were near the top of the college basketball world. There was no such thing as a three-point shot or shot clock in college basketball. The tall, skinny players wore shorts that exposed their legs to mid-thigh.

This year, their party includes five other friends who have attended over ninety Final Fours between them. Emmet Kenney (21 trips) is a psychiatrist from Fargo, ND and a classmate of Knust and Korth at Creighton University. Bren Abbott (17 trips) is an attorney from Kansas City. Calvin Rider (18 trips) and Matt Hesse (9 trips) are attorneys from Wichita, KS. Abbott, Rider and Hesse were law school classmates of Korth at Washburn University in Topeka, KS. John Pollard (3 trips) is a dentist from Fargo, ND.

Knust said he’s looking forward to going to Houston. This the first time Houston has hosted the Final Four since 1971, before Knust and Korth started attending. When asked what was on their agenda besides basketball, Korth said, “We might visit a couple of Houston’s watering holes!”

They will be eating at Vic & Anthony’s on Sunday evening. While there will be plenty of discussion about college basketball at dinner, it’s a fair bet that there will be some conversation about an upcoming trip to New Orleans, the site of next year’s Final Four.

Money and What Matters

From my November column in the South Dakota Automobile Dealers Newsletter:

I recently read a book that was very appropriate for this time of the year. The book was The Secret of Shelter Island: Money and What Matters by Alexander Green who is a financial analyst and bestselling author. In it, Green explores the complicated relationship we all have with money and reveals the road map to a rich life.

The book puts money into perspective, without in anyway downplaying its importance. It’s a very unusual combination, and very useful.

Green refers to John Templeton’s Discovering the Laws of Life in which introduces the concept of thanksliving. Thanksliving means practicing an attitude of perpetual gratitude. Templeton suggests that we’re thankful for both our blessings and our problems. It’s through dealing with our problems that we become stronger, smarter, tougher, and more valuable as spouses, parents, employers… human beings.

I really enjoyed this book. I found myself returning to the chapter on The Difference Between Getting Rich and Being Rich several times. It is not an investment book, but rather a "life" book that you will want to read over and over again. I recommend it.

Coming to a Theatre Near You!

I enjoy John Grisham books. I think he is a great storyteller and while some of his books are "brain candy" (The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Rainmaker, etc.), others have given insight into a legal subject. The King of Torts is a great look into our countries tort system.

The Confession takes a very thought provoking look at capital punishment. The storyline is believable, yet incredible at the same time. This book confirmed my own belief that we must rethink the death penalty. I have come full circle on this subject and I think I appreciated this book more because of that.

The book is very well researched. I found myself wondering who let him stand by their side to go through this experience. It is pretty obvious that Grisham has strong feelings about the death penalty.

I was sitting in the driveway finishing a chapter a couple times. Grisham has a gift for keeping you feeling so "on the edge" for so much of the book.

If you're a Grisham fan, enjoy legal thrillers or want to take another look at capital punishment, I recommend The Confession.

Well Researched Roots

I just finished reading The Roots of Obama's Rage by Dinesh D'Souza. D'Souza is breath of fresh air in today's mangled political discourse.

D'Souza offers a very unique hypothesis and different view as to why Obama has such a "chip" on his shoulder.

After reading D'Souza's well-researched book, I see Obama in a whole new light. I now understand the roots of his thinking. Now his agenda makes sense to me and is even more disturbing. When I hear Obama speak now, I know that I am really hearing his father who was a sad, bitter and wrong thinking man who held extreme resentments against western culture.

I believe this is a very insightful look at our American president and one that offers a very different perspective - he's not an African American radical, a big-government liberal or a socialist. But rather he's a a deeply hostile anticolonialist.

President Obama is not an American Negro. He is unlike the offspring of Negro slavery. He is anti-colonial, and he considers America and its close allies to be colonial exploiters of the Third World, the home of his African ancestors.

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about what makes Obama tick.

Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime

Whether or not you supported Obama in 2008 election, the election was fascinating. If you are a political junkie like I am, then this a must read! In Game Change, you get a view through the mass media lens. It is a fascinating loook through the eyes of the people that are on the bus, in the meetings, and rubbing shoulders with the candidates.

In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama.... The shocking fall of the House of Clinton - and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world.... The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin.

But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines has yet been told. In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. How did Obama convince himself that, despite the thinness of his résumé, he could somehow beat the odds to become the nation's first African-American president? How did the tumultuous relationship between the Clintons shape - and warp - Hillary's supposedly unstoppable bid? What was behind her husband's furious outbursts and devastating political miscalculations? Why did McCain make the novice governor of Alaska his running mate? And was Palin merely painfully out of her depth - or troubled in more serious ways? Is John Edwards the scum bag he is perceived to be?

The book will give a look behind the scenes of the relationship between John and Elizabeth Edwards. Behind the scenes, the Edwards fought viciously and she erupted in irrational outbursts. "There was no one on the national stage for whom the disparity between public image and private reality was vaster or more disturbing," the book says.

It's all makes for a great story. I was struck by how Bill Clinton was frustrated beyond belief that "nothing stuck" to Obama. Reagan was considered to be made of teflon, but he had nothing on Obama.

If you enjoy politics, Game Change is a must read.

Rocket Man

I am a Red Sox fan. For 37 years, I accepted the frustration that goes with being a member of the Red Sox Nation. That included several years in the nineties where Roger Clemens led my beloved team ever so close to the Promised Land. But ultimately, he went to the dark side both figuratively (Yankees), and literally (performance enhancing drugs).

Poor arrogant Roger. Exposed as a steroid user, caught lying about it (as it appears he has been) and worst of all, accused of lying to Congress. Is that a crime? It seems you have to be a pretty damn good liar just to get into Congress. Imagine going to jail for doing something that nearly every other person in the room gets paid to do.

When it comes to lying to Congress, Clemens is a minor leaguer. The big fish never get charged. Why haven't Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke been investigated for the whoppers they told the world in front of Congress in July 2008? Both of them swore that Fannie and Freddie were "sound" and "well capitalized" just months before they completely collapsed.

I'm betting Roger will be an early draft pick on the prison softball team!!!

Father's Day Traditions

Breakfast in bed or a backyard barbecue are great ways to celebrate Father's Day. I think most fathers would like to spend the day with their children.

My most memorable Fathers Days as a father have been celebrated with my family doing something fun. "Something fun" means different things to different fathers.

I can remember going to a Sioux Falls Canaries (now Pheasants) game with my family, my sister's family, my parents and my brother-in-laws parents. The kids couldn't care less about baseball. But they loved the mascot and the junk food at the ballpark.

I remember in the late nineties we went to Nebraska to float the Niobrara River with some other families several times on Fathers Day. If you've never floated the Niobrara River in north central Nebraska, you've missed a great trip. There is nothing more relaxing than tying several inner tubes together (one with the obligatory cooler!) and sitting back and watching the Nebraska countryside float by.

We would start our trip in the Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, just east of Valentine, Nebraska. We passed into the Fort Niobrara National Wilderness Area surrounded by limestone, sandstone, and chalk cliffs and countless seeps. I remember floating by Berry Falls which drops right into the Niobrara creating a spectacular site. At Smith Falls State Park (that's Rachel and Alex at Smith Falls above), about three miles past Berry Falls, we would always pull the tubes out of the water and trek up to the falls for photos.

I think we made three tubing trips and one canoeing trip down the Niobrara on Fathers Day. I have photos and memories of each of those trips to remind me of afternoons well spent with my family.

In 1999 we bought the Krawdaddy, a large former excursion boat which we converted into a family party barge. We spent the next several Fathers Days lounging on the Krawdaddy with some of our friends and their families.

If I only had the Fathers Days and the July 4ths on the Krawdaddy, it would have been worth the purchase price. There is probably no single thing that our family enjoyed together as much as that boat. While the kids swan and rode the PWC, the adults sat in the wind cooled cabin, enjoying an adult beverage and listening to Jimmy Buffett (one of only 3-4 artist to ever get the privilege of serenading the Krawdaddy passengers).

More recently, we have spent Father's Days at the College World Series in Omaha. With Creighton University (daughter Rachel and I are alums, son Alex will be a senior) acting as the annual host, we have always had a affinity for that event. I have been to many a CWS since my days as a student at CU. If you're a baseball fan and have not attended the CWS, you're missing out.

Each year in Omaha is a reunion of Creighton friends, Chamberlain baseball friends and Omaha family (Dad grew up in the Omaha area). We are headed for Omaha tomorrow where I will be celebrating this Fathers Day with two of my three children and numerous friends.

Let me take this opportunity to wish all fathers a great day. I hope you get to spend it with your kids!

What is a "10"?

Fellow blogger, Steve Miller shares his experience at a motel which was intended to entice him to give them a "10" on their customer satisfaction survey.

This is an issue that really gives me heartburn. The automobile industry places a high priority on the scores their dealers get from customers on their satisfaction surveys. I believe these surveys are fundamentally flawed.

I don't believe you can trust a survey that takes more than a few seconds to complete. People are busy and they don't want to spend a lot of time completing a survey for which they receive nothing. (Guess what dealers do - that's right - we reward our customers for completing their survey with our help!)

Secondly, I don't think it is realistic to ask people to give the best score, whether that is a "5" or a "10" or whatever it might be. It seems to me that nobody provides such exceptional service that it couldn't be improved in some way (we'll take your "10" though!). If a "10" is offered, the industry then expects one to attain that score and its system is constructed around attaining a perfect score.

It seems like a more realistic question is "Would you recommend this vendor to your friends?". That doesn't require perfection but it does require a good faith effort.

What do you think?