Natanya Ruth

We are joined in this episode by Natanya Ruth, a health and wellness specialist, yoga instructor, and author.

Check out her work at natanyaruth.com

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Unofficial Fan Lounge-2026 Season Week 8

7 down, 3 to go.

Shoutout to the BattleHawks for honoring the Greatest Show on Turf Rams!!

Week 7:

St. Louis 31, Columbus 20
Louisville 30, DC 13
Birmingham 21, Dallas 17 (OT)
Orlando 24, Houston 23

Week 8:

Friday, May 15 - Orlando vs. Dallas at Fort Hood, TX
Saturday, May 16 - DC at Louisville; Houston at St. Louis
Sunday, May 17 - Columbus at Birmingham

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Chris Eveland

We are joined in today's episode by Canadian guitarist and musician Chris Eveland.

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Unofficial Fan Lounge - 2026 Season Week 7

Welcome to Week 7!  We're back to a more detailed episode this week, with a review of Week 6, some season stats, news on United Bowl 3, and a preview of Week 7

Week 6:

St. Louis 16, Louisville 3
Columbus 24, Houston 17
DC 24, Dallas 6
Birmingham 20, Orlando 17

Week 7:

Friday, May 8 - Columbus at St. Louis
Saturday, May 9 - Louisville at DC; Dallas at Birmingham
Sunday, May 10 - Orlando at Houston

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First Steps to Downtown Baseball

It's finally happening!!

Part 1 is about the Kansas City city council okaying $600 million to develop Washington Square Park and Crown Center as a ballpark district for the Royals.

Part 2 is about the official team announcement that the Royals are, indeed, moving Downtown - to Crown Center!

Expect the new ballpark to be open by 2031.

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Mandy Alexis

Mandy Alexis is a Canadian expat living in Nicaragua at the time of this recording.  She was on to talk about her story with addiction and finding ways to recover and being human.  Truly interesting discussion.

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Unofficial Fan Lounge - 2026 Season Week 6

Welcome to Week 6!  We're halfway there!  Let's quickly review Week 5 and preview Week 6.

Week 5:

DC 45, Birmingham 28
St. Louis 25, Orlando 17
Houston 17, Columbus 13
Louisville 47, Dallas 25

Week 6:

Thursday, April 30 - St. Louis at Louisville
Friday, May 1 - Houston at Columbus
Saturday, May 2 - Dallas at DC
Sunday, May 3 - Birmingham at Orlando

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Main Street Extension Opening

Yes, Mike was at the opening for the KC Streetcar's Main Street extension.  Not only did he get the audio from the festivities, he got to ride one of the first streetcars on the extension.  And he's here to talk about it.

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Unofficial Fan Lounge - 2026 Season Week 5

Welcome to Week 5!  Major overtime rule change in the past week.  Let's quickly review Week 4 and preview Week 5.

Week 4:

Louisville 24, Houston 22 (OT)
Columbus 28, Dallas 14
DC 28, St. Louis 22
Orlando 16, Birmingham 0

Week 5:

Friday, April 24 - DC at Birmingham
Saturday, April 25 - St. Louis at Orlando
Sunday, April 26 - Columbus at Houston; Louisville at Dallas

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The Networks Solo Playthrough

Today we play the solo rules of the board game The Networks, in which players try their best to run a TV station.

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Unofficial Fan Lounge - 2026 Season Week 4

Welcome to Week 4!  Yes, we heard about the news about expansion to Oklahoma City.  Let's review Week 3 and preview Week 4.

Week 3:

Orlando 29, Louisville 27 (OT)
DC 45, Houston 7
Dallas 28, Columbus 23
St. Louis 34, Birmingham 30

Week 4:

Thursday, April 16 - Louisville at Houston
Friday, April 17 - Dallas at Columbus
Saturday, April 18 - St. Louis at DC; Orlando at Birmingham

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Emily E. Finke

Today we interview opera singer and songwriter Emily E. Finke.  She was joining us from Florida, and was kind enough to talk about her work and music in general.

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Unofficial Fan Lounge - UFL 2026 Week 3

Welcome to Week 3!  Sorry for the delay (stupid TUESDAY night game).  Let's review Week 2 and preview Week 3.

Week 2:

DC 44, Columbus 26
Orlando 19, Louisville 9
Houston 22, Birmingham 20
Dallas 31, St. Louis 15

Week 3:

Friday, April 10 - Orlando at Louisville
Saturday, April 11 - Houston at DC
Sunday, April 12 - Columbus at Dallas; Birmingham at St. Louis

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Tamara Usman

Mike is pleased to be joined today by his dear friend Tamara Usman.  Tamara is a massage therapist and energy healer, and is currently based in Honduras.

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Unofficial Fan Lounge - UFL 2026 Week 2

Week 2 of the UFL season is upon us!  We look at the teams' new unis, go over some of the new rules for 2026 (No Tush Push allowed!), review Week 1 and preview Week 2

Week 1:

Birmingham 15, Louisville 13
St. Louis 16, DC 10
Dallas 36, Houston 17
Orlando 23, Columbus 16

Week 2:

Friday, April 3 - DC at Columbus
Saturday, April 4 - Louisville at Orlando
Sunday, April 5 - Birmingham at Houston
TUESDAY, April 7 - St. Louis at Dallas

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My Friend Drew

When your co-host pitches a musical idea about the very thing you yourself need - but it's about his friend.

From our episode with Sam Tady

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7 Part Long-form Challenge

We're doing a scaled-down version of the Fortnight Challenge we attempted earlier.  This time it's 7 parts and not 14.

Part 1 - Royals Ballpark Options (Kauffman Ain't One, So Stop Already)

Part 2 - Tour of KC (Ted Lasso Version) and KC BBQ Reviews

Part 3 - Sumimasen, High Society!  (Afternoon Coffee)

Part 4 - Mike's List of DoorDashing Requests

Part 5 - Tylenol Does Not Cause Autism!!!

Part 6 - Seafood Dining Experiences (Red Lobster and Kura Sushi)

Part 7 - The Right-Wing Origins of the ACA

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Unofficial Fan Lounge - UFL 2026 Season Week 1

Welcome to Week 1 of the 2026 UFL season!

We have new teams (Columbus, Louisville, and Orlando), a new league owner, and new coaches for most of the teams.

Week 1
Friday, March 27 - Birmingham at Louisville
Saturday, March 28 - DC at St. Louis; Houston at Dallas
Sunday, March 29 - Columbus at Orlando

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Fast Food Ain't It

When you talk about diet and confess to eating a lot of fast food.

From our episode with Robin O'Grady

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Discussion on Political Violence with Terrence Hayes

Friend of the Podcast and co-host Terrence Hayes returns to discuss political violence in the wake of the Charlie Kirk situation.

Remember, political violence is never the answer.

Check out Terrence's work at the Petty Murphy Project.

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Not on Instagram

When your guest asks if you're on Instagram - and neither you nor the podcast have ever been on that platform.

From our episode with Hanna Rogers

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Thoughts on Political Violence

Political violence is never okay.  We need to be better than that.

Yes, we're going to talk about political violence today - from a fact based prospective, and in light of the assassination of a certain right-wing influencer (who, it should be pointed out, our intrepid host does not agree with but he did not deserve what happened to him - no one does).

We will try our best to dive further into this subject in future episodes because it deserves exploration.

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Lou Ferrigno as the Black Power Ranger?

When you rattle off the names of celebrities so fast your guest thinks he's hearing one actor played a role he really has nothing to do with.

From our first episode with Chris Hurt

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Matthew Adams

Today our guest is Matthew Adams, who is a progressive Democratic candidate for California General Assembly (their state House) District 9, which covers a big part of California's Central Valley south of Sacramento.  We talk about our experiences with running for office as progressive Democrats, and the issues we have in common.

Matthew's website: https://sites.google.com/view/adams4assembly/home

Matthew is a candidate for the 2026 election cycle.

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Filmmaking Ghetto

When your guest talks about the perception of the Kansas City independent film scene and the need to step up.

From our Virtual Fringe episode with Jason Turner and Andrea Dover

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Deepti M. Kannapan

Our guest today is Deepti M. Kannapan, who is a public transit advocate from Los Angeles.  We talk about how to improve transit in communities that currently don't have good transit.

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Dolly Parton Stampede

When your guest talks about doing a commercial shoot and not being able to check out a dinner show - with horses.

From our episode with Jamie Morrow

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Prager U Test for Oklahoma Teachers

As the uncle of school children in the State of Oklahoma, Mike is quite offended by what the powers-that-be in that state are forcing on the kids in their public schools - that the Bible be taught in public school; that the lies of J6 be taught as fact; and that teachers coming to the Sooner State from elsewhere (specifically New York or California) take a test from an unaccredited right-wing YouTube channel posing as a "university."

As a public service, and in the interest of torturing himself, Mike takes the test - and you get to hear his reaction in real time.

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Country Grammar

When your guest talks about being from St. Louis and encountering difficulties with Kansas City people because of his dialect.

From our Virtual Fringe episode with Omega Edwards

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The Return of the Falafel Fatwa (Mackris v. O'Reilly)

It's one of Mike's favorite all-time political media stories - Bill O'Reilly sexually harassing one of his producers and confusing loofahs with falafels.  Well, it resurfaced in recent years, and you better believe "We'll do it LIVE!"

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Do vs. Jutsu

When your guest explains the difference between a do (way) martial art and a jutsu (art).

From our Virtual Fringe episode with Dan Handley

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Ethnic Fest

Mike attended the annual Ethnic Enrichment Festival in Kansas City - on a day that proves Ichiro Suzuki's favorite English expression is indeed true.  He describes his experience there, including a run-in with a Friend of the Podcast.

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Dread Gazebo

When you talk about learning the classic D&D story of the Dread Gazebo.

From our episode with Ty Gephardt

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Monica McKitterick

Today we talk with Monica McKitterick, a health and wellness expert in central Texas.  Our discussion includes the health benefits of getting enough sleep, reducing stress, and our shared love of Duke basketball (she's a Duke grad).

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Suggesting Mike Watch Tarantino is a Fireable Offense

When your co-host gives his Celebrity Mount Rushmore and number two is a pop culture junkie hack with too much time on his hands and no good sense of story telling.

From our episode Discussion on Celebrity Mount Rushmores

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Linda Eastburn

Today we interview Linda Eastburn, a real estate investor and intuitive from Springfield, MO.  We have an interesting discussion on intuition.

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Best BBQ in KC

When you're asked what the best barbecue place in Kansas City is.

From our episode with Carl Fletcher

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Thoughts on the Defunding of Public Media

Congress recently voted to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the umbrella funding apparatus for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) - the primary public media outlets in the United States.

Mike, who interned at Kansas City's PBS station, has some thoughts on this.

Support your local public media outlets!

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Which Billionaire Really Ruined Football?

When you compare the behavior of two billionaires involved with the sport of American football and legitimately ask which one has done more harm to the game: the singer supporting her football playing boyfriend, or the owner who lied a team out of town for no good reason.

From our episode Discussion on Taylor Swift

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Thoughts on Climate Change and Green Energy (with Sunflower Brew Revisited - Zack Pistora)

Conservatives clearly have it out for efforts to fix climate change and transitioning to green energy (think wind and solar).  Mike reads a few articles on the subject, then revisits a Sunflower Brew episode on environmental issues.  (This in response to Google recently and intentionally taking down the Blogspot post on this specific episode - and only this specific episode.)

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NaPodPoMo Part 6

This is the sixth and final of six episodes compiling materials from our participation in National Podcast Post Month (NaPodPoMo) in November 2025.

Included in this episode:

Gotta Get Gas
DoorDash Comedy of Errors
Becoming a Monty Python Gumby
Children of the Circle
QuikTrip Thanksgiving Complete with Square Pie
Libsyn 5 Orientation Call Summary
Easily the Most Expensive DoorDash Item Ever (Crab Legs)
Pre-Tournament Check-In
Hospital Anniversary Part 1
Hospital Anniversary Part 2
Final Thank You

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Before City or PSG Won the European Cup

When your guest guesses that both Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have won the European Cup/UEFA Champions League - before either team made the Champions League Final!  

This episode was recorded in 2020, just before PSG made their first Champions League Final appearance (they finally won it in 2025) and a year before City's first Final appearance (they won in 2023).

From our second episode with Lucas Stoneking and Daniel Rains, which was also a Fringe Festival episode.

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25k Download Special

We did it!!  25,000 Unique Downloads for the entire podcast!  Let's keep up the good work!!!

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