This past weekend’s Ryder Cup experience was a real bummer for fans of the USA like me. Winning was certainly the goal, but at least competing was a requirement.

          The best explanation the Monday Morning Quarterback crew came up with was – the Europeans wanted it way more than our boys.

          Makes me wonder if patriotism has taken a hit here?

          What I do know is I know is the ladies who played in the ECC Club Championship over the weekend were more dedicated to their task than some of the US boys!

          My wife Bobbi will serve as my model of how you plan and prepare for a golf tournament. She took this event seriously.

          This is cool because Bobbi only got serious about golf 12 years ago when we started dating.

          To watch her become a competitive golfer has been fun, but a bit unpredictable.

          Bobbi lost her mom before her fifth birthday leaving she and her 5 brothers – two older than her and three younger, all under 8 to be raised by grandparents.

          She graduated from Yates Center High School, attended Allen County Community College before transferring to Pittsburg State where she and some great roommates earned degrees in Nursing.

          She and her schoolteacher husband spent 9 years in Topeka where she taught at Washburn. She also earned a second Masters from KU. They moved to Kansas City where Bobbi became an elementary school nurse and health educator in the Blue Valley district.

          I met her about 12 years ago. We were both recent divorcees but our first date wasn’t that successful. I was clean shaven including my head and she thought she had a date with her grandpa!

          As we got serious her interest in golf grew as well. Today golf is one of her passions which also include gardening, grandkids and shopping.

          She has had to overcome several medical challenges like a knee replacement, shoulder repair on both sides and most recently a diagnosis of

Lyme Disease.

          But let’s talk golf.

          My thinking is if our Ryder Cup guys were as fired up as Bobbi the Brits would have been in trouble. She didn’t play great on Saturday but led the tournament by a stroke. Saturday night and Sunday morning she was a mess. She prepared her normal breakfast but only ate about 2 bites. She even called our neighbor, Jerrilynn seeking a “hug” for encouragement. Evidently, it worked!

          Bobbi shot the best round she’s ever recorded in a tournament and won the Club Championship. The other ladies played hard, but at the end were excited for Bobbi’s accomplishment.

          Golf is usually fun, but playing in a golf tournament can be stressful. Some thrive on that pressure. That’s my Bobbi and I am proud of her!

          I’m Steve Sauder.

            Gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach has demonstrated an ability misinform citizens at a rate unmatched in Kansas politics.

           In June, a federal judge sanctioned Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach for "a pattern and practice . . . of flaunting disclosure and discovery rules" in litigation challenging controversial election reforms Kobach had championed

          Kobach made the erroneous claim that tuition hikes at state universities and community colleges wouldn’t have been necessary if the so-called Dreamers weren’t allowed to pay lower in-state rates.

          Kobach made a bogus claim at the State Fair asserting a Kansas high school had a large number of assistant principals. Turned out his number was correct but it was for two schools, not one.

          A pillar of his platform for election as governor of Kansas is an attack on spending in public education. While the total spent has been the subject of a major disagreement between the legislature and the Kansas Supreme Court, Kobach has taken a different tact suggesting not enough of state funds end up in the classroom.

          Obviously without any fact checking this sounds good, but the truth is Kansas does well in terms of efficiency when compared to other states and our peers.

          Kobach’s suggestion that 75% of funds should go to the classroom sounds great but is very misleading.

          Here’s a look at the numbers.

          53.6% of Kansas education dollars go for “Instruction.” Teachers, paras, aides, coaches, classroom materials and books.

          4.8 goes for “Student Support.” Counselors, health, attendance, social workers, psychology, speech and hearing services.

          “Staff Support” gets 3.3% - library, technology, and assessment

          That’s 61.7% straight to instruction!

          The balance goes for these areas: Transportation, Food Services, Administration (only 4.9%), Maintenance, Construction, Debt Service, Human Resources and related services,  and Superintendents and Board of Education staff (2.1%).

          Many of these other expenses like Transportation and Food Service are mandated.

          It’s popular for Kobach to suggest spending more in the classroom, but what do you cut? The library, technology, safety, maintenance?

          I’m thinking you get the picture.

          Kris Kobach is not to be trusted. He has chased imagined voter fraud, led several cities to adopt immigration laws that ended up not being enforceable and now is misleading Kansas voters about public education.

          He is not the leader Kansas needs.  

          I’m Steve Sauder and there’s something to think about!

Today an Open Letter to Dr. John Patton my Kansas City Royals season ticket partner the past few years.

          Dear John,

          Please allow me to reconsider my earlier statement to you saying I was not interested in sharing a twenty game season ticket package for the Royals with you next year.

          This past month our guys have won more games than they’ve lost including six in a row. That cost me a steak dinner with our friend David Murphy.

          Recently I spent some time looking at the Royals roster and discovered some exciting facts.

          First, Salvador Perez is only 28 years old and will be back along with Whit Merryfield who has become a truly amazing player.

          Joining them are several other youngsters who have the ability to make the Royals much better. They are led by Adalberto Mondesi who has become a very exciting player at shortstop and with the bat. A switch-hitter he’s changed his swing to take full advantage of his unique power. Add in his fielding expertise and stolen bases and WOW is the best word to describe him.

          Others who add excitement as position players are Ryan O’Hearn who has shown big-time power, but needs to hit lefties, newcomer Rosell Herrera, Jorge Bonifacio who should benefit from playing an entire season and Hunter Dozier.

          Supposedly there are lots of talented position players in the minors waiting their chance, but the pitching at the big club level over the past two months has really blossomed.

          No less than seven pitchers stand out! Names and ages: Heath Fillmyer (24), Jakob Junis (26), Jorge Lopez (25), Jake Newberry (23), Eric Skoglund (25), Jerry Vasto (26) and Brad Keller at only 23 getting Rookie of the Year attention.

          Heck John, the Royals re-building has started. Maybe our purgatory is going to be short-lived? And, supposedly our really hot prospects are in Single “A” where they won a championship.

          Next year it appears the Royals will be devoid of old-timers like Alcides Escobar. True Alex Gordon will likely still be left field, but he’s winning another Gold Glove this season and he has upped his production.

          This season was really awful until recently, but next year looks like fun. Doubtful the Royals will win the Pennant but I think they might win half their games and I want to be there.

          How about you?

          Raised a Royal and always a fan! I’m Steve Sauder.

          Today my feelings on the New York Times Op-Ed about President Trump and the White House. Not because I support the President because I do not, but because this whole Op-Ed episode is so deplorable.

          Understand this – we do not use anonymous letters here at KVOE. When I say “do not,” I mean Do Not!

          At KVOE we have on occasion gone to the person being singled out by an anonymous letter and ask that person if they wanted to respond, but we don’t use anonymous information on air.

          It was interesting that when the Times released the Op-Ed they said they knew the person who wrote it and that this person was “credible.”

          My reaction to that is: sorry New York Times, but you don’t get to judge “credible” because you gave your credibility away when you printed the anonymous letter!

          One TV commentator said – “the New York Times has lower standards than most local radio stations.”

          With that said it is interesting to speculate who might have written the Op-Ed.

          My first thought was this letter wasn’t particularly unique suggesting anyone, including me, could have written it after reading the book Fire and Fury and Bob Woodward’s new book Fear which incidentally came out almost simultaneously with the Op-Ed.

          Heck, the thought has passed by me that it could have been written internally by people at the New York Times.

          Evidently, a committee at the Times made the decision to print the letter. Do you suppose at the newspaper there is some level of nervousness that someone might break? If CNN came calling offering a million or two you’d think someone might squeal.

          And finally, there seems to be a pretty high level of agreement that writing this anonymous letter was a cowardly act. If these things are half true – and I think they likely are – then this person should have manned up, taken credit for telling the American people the truth and been prepared to suffer the consequences.

          The intrigue as to “who done it” is higher today that when we were trying to figure out who shot JR!

          The word “deplorable” was used earlier to describe my opinion of the entire event. Printing an anonymous letter is bad journalism and remember our standards here at KVOE are higher than those of the New York Times!

          I’m Steve Sauder and these thoughts are mine!