And the Heart of America Award goes to...

Okay, okay...it's me. From the tooting-my-own-horn department, I am thrilled to announce that two of my pieces for "A Fan's Notes" on KCUR's Up to Date—"Still Running" and "Under the Spell"—were honored this weekend at the annual Heart of America Awards luncheon hosted by the Kansas City Press Club in the category of "Editorial/Commentary, Radio."

Many thanks to KCUR and to Stephen Steigman and Danie Alexander for producing the pieces, inviting me back and tolerating me every month, and for nominating me for these awards in the first place...

Oh, and where, you may wonder, is the Gold Award? Next year...next year.

What's in a name? (And what's in a naming-rights deal?)

Normally, I don't post here every time I record one of my sports commentaries on KCUR (Kansas City's NPR affiliate). But today, I offer my take on how the kerfuffle (I may not be using that word completely appropriately, but it gets wide latitude) over seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong's ongoing travails and public (if you can consider OWN "public") admission of cheating has spilled over into his Livestrong foundation and specifically its naming-rights deal with Sporting KC (whose home stadium was, until last week, known as Livestrong Sporting Park). And what's a name if not a word? As with any word (except, perhaps, "kerfuffle"), when a name is used inappropriately, unintended results may...result.

If you wish, you may find the audio here.