Josh Kingsley

 T h e . r o a d . w a r r i o r . w a y s . c o n t i n u e ! !

My week began Saturday with a prom celebration. Misty and my kids’ school had it’s annual fundraiser, and the theme was prom. It was perfectly over-the-top side show dress-up and totally awesome. I bring this up only for the photo – enjoy!!

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The turn-around to activity two was swift and included an immediate departure to Chicago for a 2-hour nap and flight to KC to speak at a Complete rally. I bring that up only to mention the new Kansas City airport. Man, that place is beautiful.

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The landing was mid morning, which gave me perfect timing for a coffee before rental car pickup. I did take the time to look around a bit, and here are my quick impressions:

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•  Very KC. Many of the shops and restaurants sit aptly named or direct mirrors or KC icons. Wonderful touches.

•  Well facilitated. I have made my stance on this point clear: no such thing as too many beer and bathroom stops. New KCI (MCI for all the fellow airport code aficionados) hits every possible mark.

•  Special additional note for the gender neutral bathrooms i.e. many enclosed stalls and communal sinks. Cites should reject any construction plan not employing this method moving forward for public spaces.

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My flight out was very early the next morning, so I did not enjoy any of the F&B stuff. However, I do not dread the next time I have to spend time in the terminal. I look forward to it. On a final note to the old airport: it was real, it was fun, but it wasn’t real fun. I still hope they sell tickets to the B & C terminal implosions. Sign me up cost unseen.

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Important Update

One more quick travel note: my long term soapbox subscribers (willing or not – haha) know I have strong opinions on certain places. My long standing list of worst airports runs two deep: Orlando (MCO) and LaGuardia (LGA). I passed through LGA on the way to Boston. Mad props to NYC for cleaning that place up with the recent renovations. Here is my previous review: LGA is a toilet that happens to also have flights.

That no longer applies.

The layout is odd, but it’s also in the middle of the biggest city in the country. It currently nails the option provided, and I will no longer avoid the place. Why the Orlando hate? The place is simply too busy. I like crowds more than most, but that place is too much. All the resorts and vacation spots stress it beyond repair. I’m not sure 3X is big enough. I am an early TSA-pre/Global Entry adopter as in since 2013 when it started. An hour from departure is acceptable arrival time for me about anywhere and that includes places like O’Hare (ORD) and Atlanta (ATL). I add time for Orlando. The TSA line there was 30 minutes at 5:30am a couple weeks ago on a Thursday.

Who joins MCO moving forward? Maybe no one, but I am considering Denver for the same reasons Orlando makes the cut. Time will tell. Thank you all for joining me on my angsty, emo, first world problem Ted Talk.

All About the Fish

This is how I feel most days. My day job in pumping has me focused on growth in the aquaculture space. Aquaculture is a formal term for fish farming. I cannot say I ever pictured myself in this space, but I feel oddly comfortable. This last point got me thinking and ultimately realizing something. I grew up on a farm. We produced beef cattle, chickens, wheat and milo (looks like a red BB, can feed to cows and make ethanol). I worked on a dairy farm in college. Aquaculture is a legitimate, if not logical, step for me. It’s a learning process and I am enjoying myself. The biggest lesson that has already sunk: a farmer is a farmer is a farmer. Farmers of a walks of life have the same task/plight: produce tons of food and sell it for cheap. Oh, and don’t expect many thanks.

It’s similar to teachers in many ways: integral, scientific, requiring touch, underappreciated. Education and food are both inherently invaluable, but over time came to carry little value in people’s minds. Where am I going with this soap box speech? Our global and national populations are growing, which means more mouths to feed. Space, water and other resources are dwindling. All well documented and obvious trends. Aquaculture comes in many iterations, but the growing trend is construction of RAS (recirculating aquaculture systems). The short description of a RAS system: fully contained, water recycling, element controlled fish farm. More food from less water in a controlled, be anywhere space. Our coastlines are tourist playgrounds, not farms, and it’s past the point of changing that. Wild fishing is not sustainable and hasn’t been for a while. Land is open and available in places like KS, Dakotas, etc.

RAS systems in places like that are the future.

The Case for Shrimp

I didn’t really close the loop regarding the why for the above. My trip culminated in Boston (actually writing from Boston now) for a seafood trade show. This show covered everything from RAS, to fishermen, to processors, to wholesalers. All fascinating stuff. The most interesting part of the show was a panel discussion from a few different shrimp farmers. I will throw out this nugget first: salmon is the go to species for most America aqua farms. Salmon gets the highest dollar amount per yield. I believe shrimp is the fastest growing. Shrimp require less space and appear to have a clearer set of focus factors for farmers to control. The primary factors are water cleanliness, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. One of the presenters is working on technology to turn something that looks like shipping containers into a shrimp RAS system.

His fully contained system can sit virtually anywhere and start raising shrimp immediately. That qualifies as useful innovation in my mind. Another, more traditional farmer on the Gulf coast in Florida made some interesting comments regarding the shrimp industry. He views shrimp as the true American protein of the future. Many are moving away from red meats for various reasons. His pitch included a couple interesting projections:

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•  Given the choice of chicken or shrimp, most pick shrimp for more flavor.

•  Lobster is currently 5X the cost per pound of shrimp, but the taste profiles are much closer.

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I’m a farm kid from Kansas, so beef is in my DNA. However, as I get older I do look at seafood closer as it is more lean. I’m not sure how much I align with the above two comments, but only because I’ve never considered them. The wheels in my head are certainly turning.

Rodgers’ Curve Balls

The stuff this far is what I roughly had in mind for this week’s column. Now for the new details. The biggest news of the week is the biggest news of the offseason, and it finally came. Aaron Rodgers is leaving the Packers for the Jets. This is no more surprising than it is complete. We all saw this coming for a few weeks. Living in Packer country I’ve seen this coming for years. That doesn’t make it easier to react or analyze when the shoe finally drops. I’ll start with my main reaction: finally. As in finally a resolution to the biggest soap opera in the league. The Packers are currently, and probably for the next couple weeks, arguing with the Jets over compensation. I hope they have tons of fun doing that. My most major prediction is history remembering this as a fight between two 10 win max teams.

What I really mean is… none of this matters. Neither the AFC nor NFC landscapes change with this move. So what is the purpose of analysis? Fault and blame, of course. Who is the to blame for the demise of the Rodgers-Packers union? I am generally pro business, pro accountability, and owner sympathetic. Heck, my presentation at the Complete Rally was about professionalism and accountability. I ride with Rodgers here. This dude sat worshiped and propped by the State of Wisconsin for years. It’s insane to assume he never forms a minor ego.

Messing Up A-a-ron

My bigger gripe is the transparency side of things. I listened to his interview on the Pat M. show. His main premise was simple: tell me it’s over. I understand 2 things:

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1. This was Rodger’s side only.

2. The NFL is a business and things don’t often or have to work that way.

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This is a Hall of Fame player and the Packers’ front office is a joke. The fan owners — also a joke — should have fired fake owner Mark Murphy years ago. I side with Rodgers.

As for the Jets. Rodgers is past his prime, only doing this for $60M, and y’all are a fringe playoff team. Enjoy the playoffs and prime time sugar high coming this season, and then embrace the crash after. It is coming.

CHIEFS Departures

In the course of a normal week the CHIEFS lost three key Super Bowl LVII players: Khalen Saunders, JuJu Smith-Schuster, OBJr., and Juan Thornhill. On top of that list it appears CEH and Mecole are on the way out too. I will start by saying this: I wish all of them the best and take joy in their paydays.

Then, I continue with applause for Brett Veach. Each player clearly got more money than the CHIEFS were ready to pay. Good for both parties. We as CHIEFS fans live in a wonderful, yet frustrating, time. The wonder comes from a pair of Super Bowl victories in less than five years. The frustration comes from the expectations: winning a title no matter how hard the contest is. Wins breed expectations.

This is a short way of saying the CHIEFS have a new breed of expectant fans melting down with every loss. A good crop of haters prods this along. All this causes this weird situation of over and under valuing players constantly. I recall countless situations all season where fans  called the contributions of all listed above players called into question. Today the sky is falling over their departures. I get it… and… I like consistency as well. My thoughts at this point are this:

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•  Veach rebuilt the O-line in 2021 because he had to

•  He rebuilt the D in 2022 because he needed to

•  The CHIEFS won a Super Bowl in 2023 because he did those things

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We as fans owe it to Veach to allow more team rebuilds because he wants to. In Veach I trust.

Final Take

The NCAA men’s tournament — AKA March Madness — is upon us. I am excited to watch the Kansas Jayhawks defend their title. Their chances are solid. However, I have to devolve into hater mode for a moment. I cannot stand the K-State Wildcats, Texas Longhorns, Baylor Bears, etc. I hate the Mizzou Tigers, and I despise the North Carolina Tarheels. Their demise from NCAA title game loser – to KU – followed by #1 pre-season ranking to missing the tourney field was poetry. The decline of the NIT was loser nonsense, unintentional comedy gold. Thanks for the memories UNC!!

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Josh Kingsley — ArrowheadOne and Arrowhead Kingdom

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