St. Louis, Paris and Paris

Tonight I find myself in St. Louis once again for the National Corn Growers Association state staff meeting.

I flew out of Lubbock this morning at 7:00am and arrived at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown St. Looey a little after noon.


Upon check-in, it occurred to me that the NCAA Women's National Championship game was being played approximately 200 yards from my hotel tonight. As I type this, UConn is whooping up on Louisville just across the street.

Also while checking in, I noticed that this hotel had been the hotel of the Oklahoma Sooners, who were eliminated from the Final Four the other night. Courtney Paris, the Sooner standout, was right behind me at the front desk. She is a large person. I despise the Sooners, but I was not going to tell her that.

I should also mention that Courtney Paris told the media before playing Louisville in the Final Four that if OU didn't win the national championship, she would donate her $60,000 scholarship back to OU.

While she was behind me today, I considered asking her about what that must feel like knowing she has to give that money back, but then a brass button popped off of her jeans. Times have been tough for Courtney, and Courtney is tougher than me.

After seeing her in the lobby, I came to my room to drop off my stuff and they were talking about her on ESPN. Crazy.

Rather than going to the game (actually, it wasn't an option), we ate dinner at the Missouri History Museum. I learned a lot about Charles Lindbergh and his heroic flight from New York to Paris in the 1920s.


Although I'd like to be able to say I have been to a national championship game (especially since I can see the arena out of my hotel window), I will settle for a history lesson.

Tomorrow, I will be in meetings and will talk a lot about spreading the good word about corn. I will end the day at a St. Louis Cardinals game. I will pretend it's the World Series or something.