Hampton Stevens

Contributor

Hampton Stevens has written for The Atlantic, ESPN the Magazine, Playboy, Maxim, and many other regional and national publications. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri with his pit bull, Ginger.

Stories by Hampton Stevens

Sounding Smarter

The Pentagon is confident that “Jihadi John” a British member of the Islamic State militant group, has been killed today in an air-strike. If nothing else, the strike demonstrates that it’s always a bad idea to use a nickname that starts with “Jihadi.” France’s RTL Radio reports that a formal dinner with French President Francois Hollande and…

Funnyman Chris Hardwick, who won an interactive media award for “@midnight with Chris Hardwick" at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards in September, will geek out at the Midland on Friday. (Photo: Phil McCarten | Invision for the Television Academy | AP Images)

The Weekender

This might be the last normal weekend of 2015. Soon, the holidays will be upon us. That means heavily-scheduled merriment and occasionally forced gaiety. While your schedule is still your own, and mercifully absent of Yuletide cheer, why not explore all the non-holiday stuff around town? CLEANING First, though, clean up. The holidays mean all…

Sounding Smarter

It was a big week for weed news. Oregon’s legalization laws went into effect with shops racking up roughly $11 million in sales in the first week. Meanwhile in Ohio, a weed legalization effort failed at the polls, at least partially due to concerns about a monopoly on distribution of the drug. (Similar concerns have been raised in Missouri.) Then…

The Weekender

Have you recovered yet? We’re all a little hungover, emotionally and physically, from winning the World Series. Nevertheless, the weekend approaches. It’s time to get out and about. Personally, I’m excited for the chance to wear green. Or burgundy. Or almost any color other than blue, really. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a massive Royals…

Kansas City Royals' Johnny Cueto celebrates after Game 5 of the Major League Baseball World Series on Monday. The Royals won 7-2 to win the series. (Photo: David J. Phillip | AP)

Love, Reign O’er Me

Amor vincit omnia, et nos cedamus amori. ― Virgil, Eclogues X Love conquers all things, so we too shall yield to love. The Royals are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I’ve been to the Louvre, seen a sunrise over the Grand Canyon, and witnessed things involving Angie Everhart and a bedsheet that…

Sounding Smarter

According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, China has decided to end its decades-old one-child per couple policy. The change comes to counter a shortage of young people in the Chinese workforce. Gee, who could have possibly seen that coming? The extinction of big animals including whales and elephants is creating environmental problems, new research finds. According to…

Royals halloween fan

The Weekender | Halloween Edition

If you hate fun, this will be a terrible weekend. Kansas City is in rare form right now. The weather is crisp. The leaves are changing. And – oh, yeah – our favorite local baseball team is playing in some kind of postseason contest. World Series games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) are Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, respectively….

Face paint is okay, but what's with the shoulder pads, dude? (Photo: Pat Sullivan | AP)

The Eight Most Annoying Things Fans Do 

We all know the Royals have some of the most passionate and knowledgeable fans in baseball. But even the best can go overboard. “Fan,” after all, is short for “fanatic,” and the level of crazy rises as a team gets deeper into the postseason. We all start acting like lunatics. Myself included. Nevertheless, it’s best…

Democratic presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives to resume testimony before the House Benghazi Committee, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Photo: Evan Vucci | AP)

Sounding Smarter

According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, the Chinese Communist Party has banned its members from joining golf clubs. Additional rules were announced against “extravagant eating and drinking” and “improper sexual relationships,” proving there ain’t no party like a communist party. Because a communist party is lame. The golf clubs in China, however, sound like…

Ira Glass, host and producer for NPR's “This American Life,” brings the show to the Kauffman Center for “Reinventing Radio: An Evening With Ira Glass,” on Saturday. (Credit: Stuart Mullenberg)

The Weekender

Let’s hope the Royals clinch the pennant in Game 6. The team would avoid the stress and peril of a Game 7, plus get an extra day of rest. Frankly, fans could use the break, too. We’d get an extra night to enjoy all the fabulous, non-baseball-centric stuff to do around town. Here’s a few…