Every time I watch a MLB game these days, there always seems to be a conversation about speeding the game up.  I personally am not bothered by the length of the game, but many are.  MLB has done some things to help move the game along, to a degree.  But with replay some of this has been counterproductive.   But there are things that can be done I feel that would help too.

1/  Limit the relief pitchers to 3 warm up pitches on the mound as they enter the game.  (They've been throwing in the bullpen for 15 minutes)  Get a feel for the mound, and let's go.  (Think about it, this can happen 8-10 times in a game)

2/  Limit starting pitchers to half the warm up pitches between innings.  (This happens 18 times a game)

3/  Pitchers  - No stepping off the rubber once on it.  You must deliver the pitch, or throw to a base.

4/  Hitters  - Quit letting hitters call "time" all the time. Get in the box and let's hit.

5/  Umpires  -  Call the "high strike"  call the zone as it is designed.  The zone is to tight right now too many deep counts.

6/   Teams  -  Start games at 6PM (except for National TV games)  Part of Baseballs problem is it seems long because it goes deep in the night.  A 6PM start ends the game at about 9ish, and fans can still do more after the game.

7/   Teams   -  Stop the stupid 710 or 720 start.  Agian the appearance of long.  Things in the world start at the top of the hour.

Just a few thoughts on this ongoing subject.

There is nothing wrong with getting things done, but it’s better to make things happen”

Starting a job and finishing it is not to be minimized.  It’s a great quality to have and will serve you well always.  I do it, you do it and the world is a better place for it.  But as great as that is, many times that’s what we do as habit, and even though the job is complete, that was the only thing there that happened. 

Enter the idea of making things happen.  Those who do this as a way of life energize me, and make me want to be better.  I think they energize many who are around them if they’re watching closely.  Those who make things happen, know instinctively when something has been talked about enough, and now it’s time for action.  But not just “get it done” action.  But action to hit the throttle, to do it now, and right, and better than we talked about.  That quality lives within all of us, it just needs to be summoned maybe more often to make life better lived when we do.

When we feel very passionate about something, or we finally get that dream job, or when someone new comes into our lives.  We feel better than we did before and quietly up our game to not simply be happy with the job complete.  But when we make things happen, we want to be the one person, for the one task, that needs to be won. 

Have you been down this road? What do you do?  A couple years ago, my on-air partner Sarah Kay suggested to me that I start wearing a watch.  She said it would compliment me, so I took her advice and went to buy one.  I started off with a simple black leather banded, wrist watch for a few bucks.

Well I have been needing new batteries for both of my watches recently, and I was ticked off that replacing a watch battery can be about as expensive as a good lunch for two. So I put it off -  for a few months -   Until today!

I found this pawn shop of all places that not only put in a new battery, and set the time and date, they did it all for $5.99!  I have never been in a pawn shop before.  I didn't need a secret handshake, or code word, or anything.

Just $5.99 each and a couple of dead watches.    Thanks Nic!

I recently was given the chance to do a WQMX Ticket Stop at the Portage Lakes Career Center.  What a great time, and what great people!

We gave out some WQMX t-shirts and some tickets to the Country Fest to some lucky listeners, and I made some new friends! 

Portage Lakes Career Center

It felt great to be around a place of learning and to feel the enthusiasm that learning a trade can instill in the young people that go there. And the staff and faculty I met were all terrific and were very eager to show me the results of their dedicated work.

We were set up in horticulture area, where they are now selling beautiful plants that YOU can buy, and they are amazing.  The greenhouse is spectacular and so are the proud kids who work in it. 

So stop by and buy some beautiful plants for your yard. The kids grew them, and you need them!  Every day for the next couple weeks  8AM - 1 PM  (Except Sundays)

In a few weeks, I will have the honor again being the Honorary Chairperson for the Habitat For Humanity of Summit County Annual Golf Outing.  I am very proud of it, and proud I have been for about the last 10 years.  And the picture above, is the highly esteemed WQMX Golf Team (Well, maybe not highly esteemed LOL.  But we have fun!)  which has played in this outing the past decade. 

This incredible outing is Monday July, 29 at the amazing Hudson Country Club, and we would love to have you join us.  Click below and get all the information you need.  If you want to enter a team, or be a sponsor that would be great. This outing is everything you would imagine.  Good times, prizes, course and food.

 Habitat Link for Golf Outing

Habitat is sincerely a remarkable organization, and the cause, and the local people in it are worth supporting. I am still learning about all the fantastic services they provide to those who need it.  Click here to see all they do in our area!

Habitat Of Summit County

I look forward to meeting you and seeing you there.  Mark this on your calendar and let's support this worthwhile cause.

“When you ask someone a question, it makes them feel important. When they answer it, it makes you feel important.”

It seems like the most basic of things, but it’s really not anymore.  Asking questions.  While we communicate differently now more than ever, one thing has changed more than most.  We don’t ask each other near enough questions.  You may not realize it day to day, but being asked a question makes you feel good.  Very good in fact under the right circumstances.   When someone asks you a question, it makes you feel important, because they are showing interest, they care about what you think, or they want to know how you feel.  All three are pretty cool.

But sometimes we minimize the asked question, or forget its origin.  A question comes from someones curiosity about – you.  Some questions are harder to hear than others, and some are tough to answer.  But more likely than not, when you to answer honestly, the air is clear and a better feeling can begin.  And for the questions easy to ask, and easy to answer, the sky is the limit on how good that can make you feel. Think about the best question you have ever been asked.  Whatever it was, you answered it, and you felt very important at that moment. 

And the cool thing is, the answer you gave to whatever that amazing question was, made the one who asked, even happier.  This is how we get to know each other, how we get inside, how we connect, bond, go deep.  The power of the question can do that.  Many times, we are so focused on making statements, we forget to ask the questions.  When in fact, the only way to get the answers that can make you feel good, requires you to flatter them,  and make them feel good –  first.

There are a couple new flicks due out this weekend, and all of them will continue to sit in the back seat to the Avengers:Endgame that will mow everything in its pass again.  But John Wick may have a nice opening weekend

John Wick 3  (Preview)

This is one of the most successful franchises that came out of nowhere, and has found an audience.  This is totally an acquired taste as these movies are rampant with tons of violence and long action sequences that are spectacular, but not for everyone.  Our favorite, retired hit-man is back at it again.

This is rich with parody of course, and is almost a cartoon of itself, but for many, me included, these are so absurd they are highly entertaining.  Seeing this, it is paramount you have seen the first two. Keanu Reeves found a diamond in the rough, and has turned out to be a huge hit

A Dogs Journey   (Preview)

More dogs making humans laugh, and cry. What else do you need to know.

The Sun Is Also A Star  (Preview)

This is the latest forbidden young love story to hit the theaters, and this has the potential to be quite good as the script looks, on the surface to be fresh.

The Hustle  (Review)

Rebel Wilson is back again with another comedy. She stars in this with Anne Hathaway as a couple of con women from different backgrounds, who fleece men of their wealth. These men have all wronged women.  Simply put, there is no reason to see this 94 minutes of...whatever this is.  This may be as forgettable as any movie you will see this year.

Both of these women can be very funny, but as in most comedy's they are at the mercy of the script and direction.

Poms  (Review) 

Diane Keaton and a nice cast star in a new movie about a woman that starts a cheerleading camp in a retirement community. You heard me right. This is a comedy if you haven't figured that out.  I always try to review movies on who they are made for, and this is for a much older demo.  And I think many will like this offering.  For the rest of us, this is really off target, and you have to wonder what was really running through their minds as the pieced this thing together. 

It's a comedy that isn' really funny.  This is so absurd, that you do more eyerolling that anything else.  The main character you don't really like, and this starts off so badly, it can never really recover, fro after what I would call 25 brutal opening minutes.

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu  (Preview) 

Big opening weekend!

This is a nice week for a bunch of people that certainly deserve a week of their own. Nurses and Teachers! They are a very special bunch for more reasons than I can mention.

There are few professions that are more demanding, and more rewarding in the long run. Think about both of them. They, for the most part, spend far more time caring and tending to others than they do their own.

Nurses - You know how tough it is when someone in your own home is sick or laid up. You take care of them, because they are family, and you love them. And after a few days, your patience can wear thin. Nurses take care of countless people every single day, they don't even know. And they will do the same thing the next day, and the day after that. Many times dealing and saving people's lives that are less than decent to them.

Teachers - In a classroom with 25 or so kids, (Not theirs) teaching them, dealing with them, and spending precious time sometimes before and after school with them. And of course, dealing with their parents first in many aspects, all while their own families wait for them to come home.

We all have our things to deal with our own jobs. And yours, or mine is not being minimized here. But with all our nurses and teachers do, they have well earned our respect and our admiratoin for a job well done, and in the end, a life well lived..

Thank you!

I have heard a ton of songs over the years and lived through the ebb and flow of Country Music many times over.  I do get asked a lot, "Who are your favorites in Country?"  Truth is, I have a tendency to be a bigger fan of songs as opposed to artists.

Of course some artists resonate more with me than others, but songs are where I live mostly.  I gravitate to songs that talk to you directly.  I like songs that celebrate the lifestyle of the listener as well.  And as Country fans, we have about as wide of a range of interests as anyone.  Our music is the only one that sounds as good in a Mercedes as it does in an old F-150.

Here are few of my favorites recently.   (No Order)


Down At The Honkytonk  -  Jake Owen

Up Down -  Morgan Wallen

When It Rains It Pours  - Luke Combs 

Hotel Key -  Old Dominion

On My Way To You   -  Cody Johnson

Why?  As a format we have stretches where we can take ourselves too seriously sometimes.  There's nothing wrong with a "lovey-dovey" song, or some kind of "You're too good to be true" song. Or "If I was yours song, I'd be great to you" song.  And we certainly have no shortage of those.  But when we are the best, in my opinion, is when we have an great balance of that and what is listed above.  Music that represents our fun, our funny side, or our more than honest side.  Our music, like our fans is as versatile as any kind of music.  When we celebrate our versatility, we are the best we can be.

When we are too heavy, too serious, too dark, too pop we are much like the rest of the music scene.  Country peeps are true and fun, and like to be reminded of such.

What are yours?   (Let me know)

“When you part with someone, they should always feel better than when you greeted them.”

This may seem like a lofty goal, but in essence, treat people kindly. Or maybe beyond kindly. I heard once that kindness is uniquely human, as people are the only things that can be kind. Things, places, animals can be nice, only humans have the ability to be kind. There may be a loophole you may think of somehow, but overall I feel this to be true.

In my profession I feel it is an immense part of my charge to make people feel happy. I learned years ago that people like to hear their name in conversation. Questions make people feel important as it shows them you are interested in who they are, or what they do. That many times, quietly makes people very happy, valued. And in other cases, some can’t hold it in when you hit just the right chord with them, and they instantly let you know you made their day. A handshake, smile, eye contact, it all adds up to making people feel more important than they did 5 minutes ago as a stranger, or neighbor. And that is a gift one can give all.

And with the people we love too. We all would like to think that they look greatly forward to seeing us every time, and value the kindness that brought you together in the first place. The best way to make sure this happens, is to make sure they know that’s how you feel – about them. Kindness is inherit in all of us I feel. We long for it, and maybe we long to be kind more than we may outwardly know.

If you do – be brave. Be what you crave.

Luke Says It Well....

Might Be The Simplest Kindness Song Ever...