Woodling: Notes in the Northwest

By Chuck Woodling     Jan 4, 1988

SEATTLE – A little of this and a little of that while awaiting tonight’s latest Late Night with Larry Brown…

It’s true the Kansas-Washington basketball tipoff isn’t until 10:40 p.m., Lawrence time. That’s even a little late here (8:40 p.m.), but it’s the price that sometimes has to be paid for a national television date. ESPN is carrying this one…

Often we in Kansas take Danny Manning for granted, only to rediscover the fame in his name when we hit the road.

For instance, Seattle’s Sunday paper had a Manning feature story prominently displayed at the bottom of the front sports page, and simply because he was coming to the Pacific Northwest to perform the next day.

In that story, the 6-10 All-American is portrayed by staff writer Sarah Smith as a diamond stranded in a field of zircons, “…a majestic team player on a sub-majestic team.”

Be that as it may – and I’m not sure sub-majestic is the right word to describe Manning’s teammates – you can always count on one thing in Manning stories written from all non-Kansas points on the map.

You may have already guessed, but the Seattle Times story also describes Manning as the “…biggest thing to happen to Kansas since the Wizard of Oz.” Arrggh…

Speaking of Oz and arrggh, Seattle is the new home, of course, of Brian Bosworth and, I must sheepishly admit, I plunked down five bucks and change for a “Land of Boz” poster – a real hot item, they tell me, in these parts.

Suffice to say, Dorothy, Toto, the cowardly lion, the scarecrow and the tinman are all pictured with the fearsome former Oklahoma linebacker, although with some little Bosworth clones known as Bozkins. Get it?

I’m not sure how popular Bosworth is around here, though, because 12-year-old Heather Woodling, a junior high student in suburban Redmond, says only about three boys in her whole school wear one of those wacko Boz haircuts.

And how many of her friends have Land of Boz posters?

“Uh, I don’t know,” Heather told me. “I think Angela, and…”

I hope this doesn’t mean my Land of Boz poster was worth less than I paid for it minutes after I bought it…

Buying that poster may have been a mistake, but not as big a one as I reported in Sunday’s column when I annointed new football coach Glen Mason as the highest paid member of the KU athletic department. He isn’t.

KU athletic director Bob Frederick quickly informed me that Larry Brown received a pay hike from $76,000 to $79,000 a year last July. That means Brown makes $1,000 more a year than Mason. Meanwhile, Frederick still earns close to $74,000…

What a beautiful area this is – vistas of lakes and ocean, soaring trees, majestic mountains like Mount Rainier (and some sub-majestic ones) and ferry boats and quaint wharf shops and…Boeing airplane plants.

OK, so the airplane plants aren’t that pretty, but they sure help green the economy, adn they’ve lured many a Kansas grad to the Pacific Northwest over the years.

One of them, a guy named Bob Woodling, came here in the late 60s to do some aerodynamic work on those 7-whatever-7’s, while leaving his older brother behind to write about Jayhawk sports.

Once I asked him what he would do if Boeing ever transferred him from the Seattle area to its Wichita plant. HE said he’s prefer to stay here, thank you, or words to that effect…

Another KU grad doing all right out here is former Jayhawk football standout Mike McCormack, now general manager of the Seahawks. I know Mike’s doing fine because I heard him on a radio commercial during Sunday’s playoff game with the Oilers.

Sure, a lot of NFL coaches do commercials, but how many general managers?

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