Winners and losers

The induction of Derrick Thomas into the Pro Football Hall of Fame brought forth a lot of memories and the reminder of how quickly time passes. The images and videos of past games and players and times have been very much in view the last week. The NFL Network replayed the 1990 home game against Seattle in which DT had a career day yet the Chiefs lost the game. I was there that day. I didn't go to games often then as I had a young family and as everyone who ever went to games knows in those days it was an all day affair with the tailgating and everything.

I am the same age as the Chiefs, we both turn 50 in early September. My Father took me to my first game during the 1965 season against the then Boston Patriots, I had just turned six years old a month earlier. I don't remember much other than KC won the game and I was not able to see much for obvious reasons. I do remember the next season as the Chiefs won their second AFL title (the first was in 1962 as the Dallas Texans) and went to the first Super Bowl. By the time Super Bowl IV came around I was ten years of age and have vivid and wonderful memories as I was a football freak at that point and continued to be.
As I grew into my teens my beloved Chiefs started to turn south and things got rough, for a long time actually. I of course still followed them closely and the NFL as well. I have watched every Super Bowl ever. On TV of course but none the less every single one. League at first and later Conference Championships I have watched as well.

By the time 1989 rolled around the Chiefs had done a lot of losing and I wondered if I would ever see and enjoy the success that I did as a child with them. The team did go to the playoffs in 1986 but even then you had the sense that it was a season of many breaks and lucky bounces for the team. There were some good players that would contribute down the road especially in the secondary, Deron Cherry, Albert Lewis and Kevin Ross. Getting back to 1989 the Chiefs hired a new GM and new Head Coach in Carl Peterson and Marty Schottenheimer who turned the #4 pick in the draft into Derrick Thomas. It was truly the start of something wonderful for long suffering Chiefs fans.

Those early 90's years the Schottenheimer Chiefs played exceptional Defense and had a fine running game, Martyball they called it. The team was an event a happening, they were winning again. Derrick Thomas along with Neil Smith, Dan Saleaumua, Dale Carter and James Hasty among others formed a solid defense just as I enjoyed as a child growing up in the 60's and early 70's. On offense they built a solid line and had great running backs and some fine, and one great veteran quarterbacks coming through the system. Mostly what they did was win and go to the playoffs. Once with Joe Montana and Marcus Allen both near the end of HOF careers but still with plenty left, they went to the AFC Championship game. Unfortunately this game was at Buffalo who was in the midst of a phenomenal four straight trips to the Super Bowl run. In later years some were critical of Martyball and wanted change, careful what you wish for, it may come true, and eventually it did.

Those ten years of Peterson and Schottenheimer were truly magical in my mind though and it is hard for me to comprehend but that era is starting to seem as distant as the first great era of the team. Some say that Derrick Thomas going into the HOF was the reward for fans of those great teams of the 90's. Since there was no Super Bowl. No winning it all. I think there are some fans and certainly some media who place too much emphasis on this aspect. There are a few media members today that can't talk about Carl Peterson without every comment just dripping with hatred for the man. I don't know, I don't get it and frankly I don't want to get it. I don't look at that era as any kind of failure on anyones part. Those were fine Chiefs teams that were unbelievably exciting and a wonderful time to live in KC and be a part of it. Seeing DT go into the HOF brings back many good memories. Those Chiefs were winners in my mind and never losers.

Still reasons to watch the Royals

There are two months left for the Royals to stagger and stumble to the finish line. Every now and then they will surprise and yesterday was one of those games. This game seemed like so many others in this disappointment of a season. The Royals appeared to be on the verge of being no-hit after seven innings by James Shields who had struggled of late. He had a 7.36 ERA in his previous 3 starts, but nothing like the Royals bats to bring a struggling pitcher out of the doldrums. Brian Bannister was pitching magnificently himself. He pitched 7 full innings giving up 5 hits while not issuing a walk and striking out 7.

When John Buck hit a single to RF in the 8th the Rays started to unravel. Ryan Freel came in to PR for Buck which turned out to be a nice move as Freel is a much better base runner. Alex Gordon sacrificed Freel to 2nd but both were safe on a bad throw to 2nd by the Rays catcher and Freel going on to 3rd. Mitch Maier who enjoyed what might be his best day in MLB drove in Freel for 1-0 lead. Maier ended the day 2 for 3 with a walk 3 RBI's and even threw out BJ Upton at home for an assist. Back to 8th as this next turn of events was not the usual for the Royals. The Rays detecting the hit and run being on called a pitch out and had Maier caught between 1st and 2nd with Gordon dancing off of 3rd. This is the type of situation the Royals generally end up in some poor decision making panicky double play disaster. Instead Maier stays alive and keeps the Rays occupied long enough for Gordon to steal home so to speak and he ends up at 2nd on the late throw trying to get Gordon at home. The Rays messed this up but credit needs to be given to Maier and Gordon for not panicking and playing heads up ball and giving the Royals a 2-0 lead.

Low and behold but out comes Joakim Soria to pitch in the bottom of the 8th with the Royals having just gotten the lead. This makes two weekends in a row that Soria is put in a situation to get a 2 inning save for his team and I could not be happier at this development. Nine days spanned the duo of six out saves for Soria and he had two more traditional one inning saves in back to back games at Baltimore in between. I don't know if it is Trey Hillman finally coming to the realization that it is ok to use your best relief pitcher in this fashion or if it is Hillman finally convincing Joakim that it is ok for him to pitch this way, but for a team such as the Royals it is a good thing. Wins are hard to come by for this team and you have to use the few quality players you have to your best advantage. This is not the way in today's game for your 'closer' to be used but it sure used to be and who says you can't go back once in a while and try methods that once worked well. I remember Dan Quisenberry being used for 3 innings of relief at times and 2 innings on many occasions.

The Royals scored two more in the 9th as Maier's single drove in Mike Jacobs and Ryan Freel. The Rays got a single run in the 9th and the Royals won a very entertaining game 4-1.

Latest exercise device

All this needs is to squirt out some liquid protein drink for the thirsty excerciser after the 6 minute workout is complete.

2009 KC Chiefs a new era

As this franchise looks to close out the first decade of the 2000's and enters its fiftieth season in 2009 it might be something like it was way back when. The Chiefs after going 6-26 the previous two seasons are starting over. Owner Clark Hunt has stepped forward from the giant shadow cast by his father and hired a new GM in Scott Pioli who in turn hired a new head coach in Todd Haley. The 2000's have not been a complete bust for the Chiefs but in today's NFL just 3 winning seasons and 2 playoff seasons per decade are not enough to keep most fans content and happy. Since the bottom fell out the last 2 years many have been screaming for change.

The new regime has come in with a take no prisoners, our way or the highway attitude and many fans and members of the media seem to be fine with that for now. Of course going 4-12 in 2007 followed by 2-14 last year makes people desperate for change and a new attitude. The 2009 roster will look quite different from the previous couple of years and obviously this is a good thing. Coaching and front office changes only go so far however, you still have to have talent to turn it around. I have heard a few fans and media members suggest that in today's NFL rapid turnarounds are quite possible and that this new regime may be able to pull that off. Miami and Atlanta the most recent examples given by those with this view.

At this point in time the AFC West is pretty weak and that will help this years team. None of the Chiefs long time divisional rivals finished above .500 last season. Only San Diego looks to be a threat to have a real good year. Denver and Oakland both have numerous holes to fill as do the Chiefs. Based on last years records the Chiefs schedule this season projects to be middle of the road as to difficulty.

Some are celebrating the arrival of Matt Cassel as the long awaited franchise QB the team has lacked. I am hopeful, but am reserving judgement as there just is not any history of him being that yet. His only experience to this point college or pro is stepping in for an injured Tom Brady and going 11-5 last year. As I have stated before, he was handed the keys to a recent NFL dynasty, and to his credit did well. Honestly though I don't have trouble seeing most NFL backups succeeding with that quality of talent around them. Obviously he will not enjoy that same amount of talent this year. He tended to hang on to the ball too long last season and was sacked 47 times behind the same line that gave up just 21 the previous year. The Chiefs line while showing signs of getting better still is a big weakness and is far inferior to what the Patriots have. He needs to change that or he will not last any where close to a full season in KC. It has been pointed out that 12 years ago the Chiefs gave a big contract to Elvis Grbac hoping he would duplicate the type of performance he had in limited time with another NFL powerhouse that being the 49ers of the mid 90's. Lets all hope that KC enjoys better success with Matt Cassel.

Big XII North vs. South

One of my favorite times of the year is fast approaching. The beginning of College Football will soon be here. The Big XII is having their media days this week and the 2009 season kicks off 5 weeks from this Thursday. The conference enters its 14th season since it began in 1996. I thought I would take a look back at its brief history and compare the North and South divisions and how they have compared against one another and as a whole as well.

The perception in recent seasons is that the South is superior to the North and that is certainly the case. The two divisions play a total of 18 regular season games against one another on a two year home and home rotating schedule. There is of course a conference championship game as well at the end of the regular season. The South leads the all time regular season 132-102. The first two years of conference play 1996 and 1997 had the North with a 12-6 advantage each year, since that time they have only won the season series twice and those were by a 10-8 margin. The South has dominated of late as they have won the season series 6 of the last 7 years and two of those including last year was by a whopping 15-3 margin.

Things don't get much better for the North regarding the conference title game either. The South holds a 9-4 advantage with a current five game win streak in that annual game. The conference championship has to this point been dominated by seven of the twelve league members as far as participants are concerned. Oklahoma almost owns it going 6-1. Nebraska and Texas have each gone 2-2, Colorado was North champ in four out of five years stand 1-3, followed by Kansas State 1-2, Texas A&M 1-1 and Missouri representing the North the last two years stands at 0-2.

The conference can be proud that is has been in six of the eleven BCS championship games since the Bowl Chanpionship Series began in 1998. Oklahoma and Texas have each won that game once with Nebraska being the other team to play in it from the Big XII. The conference is 6-9 overall in BCS bowl games. The Big XII stands 45-47 in all bowl games since their conference inception in 1996.

At the end of last season ESPN rated an historic top 25 based on a multitude of data and accomplishments since 1936 which was the first season of the AP poll. The Big XII was well represented placing five teams in the overall top 25. Colorado was tied for 22nd, Texas A&M was 20th, Texas finished 7th, Nebraska 5th and Oklahoma finished as the number one team in historical context.

The curious case of Joakim Soria

Saturday evening the Royals had a rare win and to me even more amazing was Trey Hillman had a lead going into the 8th inning and put relief ace Joakim Soria in the game. Actually Trey had gotten the boot earlier in the game but he said it was discussed beforehand to perhaps finally use Soria in this way. Especially due to a recent bullpen implosion of blowing late inning leads I and others have been pushing for an earlier usage of our best relief pitcher Joakim Soria. My thinking that the ultimate point in playing the games are to win, why not use your players in a manner to do so. Manager Hillman has been adamant about not using him in this way as he did not want to injure him by using him more than in today's manner of only one inning and only in the traditional save situations. The Royals being a bad team, are so infrequently in today's strict requirements for closers in save situations, our best reliever is subsequently rarely used.
So Joakim pitches two innings and gets his team a much needed win. He did throw 37 pitches in doing so but looked a strong as he ever has in the 9th.
On WHB this morning Soren Petro is reporting that people close to the situation are telling him that it is Joakim Soria who has been reluctant to go more than an inning at a time. Now thinking is that Manager Hillman has just been covering for "Jack" by his earlier arguments of not using him more. On a side note, am I the only one who is somewhat put off by Joakim being called Jack by his manager? It just kind of reminds me of Roberto Clemente being called "Bob" at the beginning of his career. Perhaps this is what Joakim wants and asks to be called.
I have often questioned those who say Soria should be considered untouchable as far trade bait. I frankly have a hard time with anyone on the Royals being considered in this way, Zack Greinke perhaps but if the offer is ridiculously good I think you have to be open minded no matter who it is. This is a bad team with lots of dollars tied up for next season as well. If these reports are true I think the Royals should be receptive to inquiries about Joakim. I like Soria and think he is a real asset but again this is a bad team and an ace closer is almost a waste on this team. Especially if he is unable or unwilling to pitch in a manner that this team needs.

Dr. Kietzman

I am not able to listen to WHB sports radio as often as I might like. I enjoy Soren Petro the most of those with a daily show. He is very well informed on a wide variety of topics, comes to intelligent and reasonable conclusions and has a fine sense of humor. I probably listen to Kevin Kietzman the least. He just seems angry and irritated much of the time. Listening can be humorous as he can occasionally come up with gems like yesterday though. He was going on about how awful the Royals are and how he doesn't really want to watch or pay attention to them at this point. He then went on to point out that when the Royals were 18-11 he told everyone that it was all an illusion and that they were not a good team. He said he was universally blasted by his audience during this time.
Again I am not a regular listener so I can't verify as to him being universally blasted by that opinion, but he was certainly correct in his long term assessment. He then goes to say he doesn't know why the listeners would question his opinions on sports because this is what he does for a living and has done for quite some time. OK he lost me on that one but then he asks the listeners whether you would question the diagnosis that you get from your doctor. I don't know, maybe its just me but his comparing himself and his opinions on what will take place in the sports world to that of a doctors diagnosis really struck me as odd and just slightly pompous. I realize our health care system needs fixing but really. Just saying......