One of the bigger games of the week happened the previous night with KU narrowly losing out to South Florida in an exciting game.  Too bad I didn’t pop out to see it because I was holed in waiting for the tornado sirens to blare down for the evening.  So strolling into Maloney’s Saturday morning, I figured that the much of the severe weather was over.  After watching the games, however, the natural disasters were all over the place.  At least Maloney’s was a tiny comfort riding the day out.
Maloney’s is about a hail toss away from the The Other Place and I was worried that it might be dead because of the Iowa vs Iowa State game going on.  But I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was packed pretty nicely.  It is a rather small place, but flat screens covered the place with a variety of regular and HD types.  The wood table finishes are really nice and very nostalgic.  I didn’t get a chance to see much of the patio but driving by it I could see that it was also pretty well put together.

For the game fare, the standard set populated their corner of the bar with darts, bowling, golf, and bags (blech) waiting to suck in quarters.  What really blew me away was the pool table with a felt finish of a jagermeister bottle printed on it.  That’s ridicigenious!  If I were ever to have a pool table, I think it would either have a felt finish of a Powercat or perhaps Mr. T.  What would you get?

All four of the waitresses I had for the day rated pretty average on the scale and the main reason was that by the end the Yeti was confused as to who was bringing him his drink.  At least when I got the signature Maloney Stromboli (nope I did not ride any Maloney Pony), it was d double licious and well worth the wait.   You know you ate a good meal when you have to use the restroom to wash your hands after eating.

Much of the football available to watch was washed over with the always entertaining Iowa vs Iowa State to start out the day.  Once again it was a tight one until Iowa blew away in the 4th quarter with a touchdown and a put return for a touchdown.  Windy and wet was the word for the Michigan vs Notre Dame as the vaunte, Charlie Weiss led University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish drowned out the Wolverines 35 – 17 (with the help of 6 turnovers).  USC dominated Ohio State (and proving the Big 10 is still overrated) as the only real threat from the Buckeyes ended up out for the game.  If you don’t Beanie today there will be no tomorrow.  Those Georgie Bulldogs are just waiting to be upset as they barely got by the Cocks of South Carolina.

The only Big 12 game I watched was the rout of Nevada as the Tiger train kept on rolling in Missouri.  Chase Daniels and Jeremy Maclin made like jungle fever and showed the world that they’re living out loud together.  I’m still saying that the Mac Attack will pick up the trophy over Chase.  Plus, he’s NFL bound after this season.  It sucks that KU lost, but I feel good for former K-Stater Jim Leavitt.  Speaking of KSU,  they have Louisville Wednesday and I’m already getting tingly all over for it.

So Maloney’s in all of its wonder actually ended up a decent place to watch ball.  It’s no Other Place, but more of the smaller, Other Other Place in downtown Overland Park.  Sure it’s small, but it has a divey touch to it that separates itself around there.  I wouldn’t expect the top notch service there, but you can watch some games and go home content.   The games themselves were divey as much of what I watched was sloppy and mistake filled.  Sometimes football needs to be that way.  It’s an all weather sport.