A Tale of Two Guests

I need to preface this by saying that I've never called out (or thrown under the bus, if you will) anyone I've interviewed during my career. And, believe me, as anyone in the media can tell you, there are plenty of times we'd like to. Sure, I've talked about a few privately -- that's just human nature.

But the more I think about this story, the more I feel I need to apologize to you, our listener.

A couple of weeks ago we were scheduled to have Clay Johnson, former Missouri Tiger basketball player, as well as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers' famed "Showtime" days, on "Behind the Stats." Dave O'Hara and I both have known Clay for a few years...nice guy who wants to help the Kansas City community with his newly formed Clay Johnson Foundation. He's also a good storyteller.

That said, we generally book guests far enough in advance that we can promote it in Brad Doolittle's "Week Ahead" column on page two of Monday's "Kansas City Star" sports section. That way, when you're reading Brad's column on Monday morning, you can plan on what to bring to Chappell's that week to get autographed and so on. Last week we got a lot of questions about Clay Johnson and why he wasn't at Chappell's, as scheduled and mentioned in The Star, on the 13th.

Basically, Clay forgot. Whether he's too busy trying to get his foundation going or he had a lot on his mind with his celebrity basketball tournament, or what, he -- as much as it pains me to admit this -- was at a fashion show. Yes, we were juked for a fashion show.

Dave and I are neither egotistical nor ignorant enough to think that any guest, even someone like Clay Johnson, should feel honored to be on "Behind the Stats," and should never have anything come up that would force them to have a change of plans on the day of the show. However, Clay asked Dave to let him come on the 13th so he could promote his event and kick off his charity.

Guests calling, sometimes at the last minute, to cancel is part of this business. It's not ideal but it happens. In Clay's case, he didn't even call. Dave, about 10 minutes into the show, after we realized you didn't want to listen to us ramble much more about traffic and the Tour of Missouri, called Clay.

We ended up doing a 25-minute phone interview with Clay, which was fine. But, again, on behalf of Dave and our sponsors, I want to apologize especially to those of you who came to Chappell's expecting to meet Mr. Johnson.

So, all of this makes me wonder about the future of his foundation. Pardon the cynicism but if attending a fashion show makes him forget about a radio appearance that he had planned to promote these things, what does the future hold for his foundation? I didn't watch any news coverage last weekend, but I understand his celebrity game went very well, at least all four stations covered it during their news. Although you shouldn't get your hopes up to hear Clay on "Behind the Stats" in the future, it will be interesting to see how his foundation works out. It really seems like a great cause for youth in the Kansas City area.

After a great time last week with Chiefs Hall of Famer Ed Budde on "Behind the Stats," we're scheduled to be joined by former KU great and another Chiefs HOFer, Curtis McClinton. When Curtis and I spoke over the weekend, he was looking forward to the show and meeting some great fans.

We hope you can join us in person this Thursday, 6-7 p.m. at Chappell's Restaurant and Sports Museum at 323 Armour Road in North Kansas City. If not, tune in to 1140-AM or 1160-AM. And, as always, you can find more info than you care to learn about the show at www.mattfulks.com.

Matt