KU Offense in Red Before you read deep into this story expecting me to convincingly argue the 6-3 football loss to North Dakota State was the worst in school history, I want to make sure you realize that this post can never satisfactorily answer that question. It can, however, cast light upon it. If you simply want to gnash some teeth, I can give you some things to chew on.
I’m sure many of you are saying that if this mystery player played in any of the four major sports, you’ve heard of him… or if you haven’t, he isn’t “great”. Maybe. I’m not saying he’s a Gretzky or a Ruth or a Chamberlain or a Montana, but only because of an injury. For awhile, he was every bit of those players.
Well, it’s that time again, if not past that time. I may be the last person to make my predictions for this upcoming season, but I’m not really sure what the point of doing it before now would be unless you were first. The later a person waits, the better the odds they will be more accurate. Also, unless a person picks a couple upsets, what’s the point?
There are two reasons I’m doing this post… 1) I already included MLS, NBA, and MLB in my “improve” series. The NFL is next. So, how can I forget the most popular sport in America? I mean, after the Indy 500, five of the next six most attended sporting events in US history are NASCAR!
NFL: Can't see the forest for the trees! This morning USA Today has an article on why more and more fans are staying away from going to NFL games and, instead, watching them at home. If you read UFR religiously, then you know I’ve discussed this in passing several times. USA Today put a shot across the bow of the National football League whether they know it or not.
Wilson Betemit It’s been a couple months since I did anything of this nature with the Royals’ players, but I thought it was about time again to revisit it. There’s not much season left and probably not a lot will change between now and then. So, this ought to give you a good idea as to how they will end. This post is dedicated to offense. I’ll do pitching later.
sPOrTs POURRI One of the risks columnists (at least the edgy ones) run is that whenever they do something wrong, they get little mercy. After all, if they spend their days criticizing others, why should they get a pass on the other end? Would it really bother anybody if Jim Gray got in trouble for something he wrote or something he said when he makes a living off making athletes uncomfortable? Certainly, in his case, it wouldn’t bother me, but what about Jay Mariotti?
The OriginalThere never has been, nor will there ever be IMO, another Dream Team. That 1992 collection of basketball superstars was the greatest organized team in any sport ever. I’ve spent a lot of years looking at a huge picture (left) above my desk at home – an artist’s rendition of the team. So, although I want to talk about the 2010 version, make no mistake about it, I’m not comparing them to the original. Even so…
Where is Roy Branch today? The best picks can hide a lot of draft sins so I’m going to try to put a different slant on things. Yesterday, I posted a story about Albert Pujols and what makes him potentially the most consistent player in MLB history. As part of the lead-in I mentioned that which we all know. He was drafted in the 13th round by St. Louis. I’ve always pondered one thing. If St. Louis got the best player in the game today in the 13th round, does it mean they were brilliant or just incredibly short-sighted for the first 12 rounds? And, if they were bad for 12 rounds, but great for one round, is that a net good job or net poor job?
The Machine I think everyone knows the story. Pujols was a star high school player at Fort Osage in Independence. Even so, he was overlooked by the Royals and wasn’t drafted until the 13th round, number 402 by St. Louis in 1999. Every major league team had plenty of opportunities to take him before the Cardinals. Heck, even St. Louis ignored him in favor of a list of nobodies (Coco Crisp being the only meaningful exception). I’m not going to revisit history – especially that which is painful to Royals’ fans. Instead I want to talk about something that Pujols is the best at in MLB history – consistency.
If Myers were a car! Two days ago, I posted Part I of this article. There were a number of responses to it that I want to deal with initially, but later in the post I’m going to attempt to extrapolate what to expect from Myers at the plate in future years at KC. I’m going to do that by looking at other MLB players and how they did in the minors.
Fan Behavior That headline is slightly exaggerated, but I wanted to get your attention. You remember back when the Philly stadium officer tased the kid running around the outfield. That was in late April and I threw my support behind it 100%. Nothing that egregious has happened lately, but there was one instance that I think warrants discussion.
With KC playing three consecutive extra-inning games recently and another last night, I thought it was about time I addressed the extra-inning issue. How is KC doing with respect to the rest of the league? How many wins do they have in extras compared to any season in the past? You know what I mean – the same things you are wondering.
William Myers If you don’t know who Wil Myers is, you should. He was drafted last year by the Royals in the third round out of Wesleyan Christian Academy in North Carolina. He’s a catcher – 6’3”, 190lbs. He’s doing very well in the minors. It’s difficult to extrapolate what someone will do in the majors based upon what they did in the minors. Nevertheless, I’m going to give it a shot. If you are a Royals fan and you are tired of getting so little plate production from the catcher position, I think you will like what the future holds.
Nolan RyanCompletely ignoring last night’s fiasco (a 12-3 loss to Detroit), and jumping back in time a day to Sunday, the Royals beat the White Sox 3-2 in 10 innings. That’s good on the surface, but the victory isn’t the reason I bring it up. It’s the fact that Zack Greinke pitched eight solid innings (Game Score of 64) and still could not get the win.
I was reminded last night about the Panera Bread promotion for the Royals in 2007. That had to be the biggest corporate screw-up in, well, in at least three years – at least around these parts. Some things are funny three years after the fact, but I’m pretty sure PB execs were freaking out on April 20, 2007.
If you repeat it often enough...I’ve attempted to prove or disprove a lot of theories on UFR over the last (almost) two years. “Good pitching always beats good hitting” is one that is espoused as though it were the synonymous with “Cows eat grass.” But, is it the truth? I’m sure this will ultimately be a subject that I will deal with for some time to come, but at least for today, I’m going to make the first argument that good pitching doesn’t beat good hitting any more than good hitting beats good pitching.
I’ve got a few tasty morsels to crunch on, but they don’t fit nicely into a single post, so it’s Pot Pourri time. I’d like to do a whole article on Betancourt considering his heroics last night, but there is only so much to say. Let’s start with a really cool factoid.
Roger ClemensAs you surely know, Roger Clemens was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for allegedly lying to congress. His testimony in 2008 to a congressional committee included this now famous declaration “Let me be clear. I have never taken steroids or HGH.” Obviously, the government not only thinks he has, but is going so far as to punish him for it – something baseball has not yet done. Denial into the Hall of Fame would be appropriate if found guilty.
When Brandon Phillips of Cincinnati made his comments about the St. Louis Cardinals last week, it reminded me of something I have never understood. I’ve mentioned it a time or two in passing, but I’ve never posted about it. Since I can’t identify with that mindset, I thought I would at least throw it out there and see if anyone else can explain it rationally.