Big 12 Bubble Watch

I think it's safe to say that Oklahoma and A&M are off the Bubble Watch for good. The Aggies played inspired basketball last night in their defeat of K-State, looking like the team we expected at the beginning of the season. That was essentially a road game against the #3 team in the conference (who throttled them earlier in the year) without their starting center. Is it possible that Mark Turgeon has turned this team around just in time? I don't feel near as confident about Kansas winning this game today as I did on Thursday.

Oklahoma didn't exactly play inspired, and I don't really expect them to keep it close against Texas, but I think they've done enough to wrap up at least an 8/9 seed. What that means to me is that today's game is huge for them. Winning today probably means they avoid a #1 seed in the second round...I still don't think they can.

As for the teams that lost? K-State fans have to be exceptionally nervous right now. Their resume is eerily similar to last year (other than the 3rd place finish). Surely they don't get left out in the could two years in a row, right? Remember how mad Mizzou fans were when the conference allowed Kansas to get the BCS birth even though the Tigers won the North? K-State fans would have an even bigger gripe if the 4th, 5th and 6th place teams went dancing while they stayed home. I've got the Cats penciled in as a 10 seed.

The Bears still look good to me as well, although they could use some help today. Memphis is destroying Tulsa, so that helps. Other games the Bears and Cats should watch today?
-They need Georgia to lose either this afternoon or tonight, which is very likely
-Carolina embarrassing Va Tech wouldn't hurt anything
-They really need the winner of Michigan State and Wisconsin to win the Big 10. The other side of the bracket features Illinois vs. Minnesota, both teams that need to win the tournament to get in.

Like I said, I think they're both in good shape. But if all of those things went against them? I wouldn't want to be a Wildcat or Bear fan tomorrow evening.

I'd also like to say that I'm pretty irritated with the Missouri Tigers and Kansas State Wildcats...and all of KC should be. The bracket set up perfectly for the first Big 12 Tourney at the Sprint Center to be an incredible atmosphere. Kansas vs. Missouri on Friday night, the winner vs. Kansas State on Saturday...can you imagine what downtown would have been like? Worse yet, the Tigers and Cats needed only to beat teams they'd already beaten this year....but neither one did, and they did it in remarkably similar fashion throwing away any chance at the end with sketchy play calling and sketchier execution.

What a start!

So I was all pumped up to write my 2008 Crystal Ball Report, probably as excited as I've been yet, then Tony Temple and the Tigers gave me something else to write about. So, tomorrow afternoon I'll write my ode to Tony and his career at Mizzou, for now I'll stick to fearless prognostication...my specialty. Notice I didn't say on-target prognostication was my specialty. Without further ado, my 2008 Crystal Ball...

• The Jayhawks fall 19-17 in a very tight battle with the Hokies, but it's the last time this month the Jayhawks will have anything to be sad about. That's right, the basketball Hawks go 8-0 in January getting a great head start to the Big 12 season. The Jayhawks sit at 13-0 now and I predict they'll end up with 3 or less losses, a number one seed, and a Final Four appearance. Contrary to popular opinion, Mark Mangino will not eat the Orange Bowl mascot at halftime.
  
• January won't be as kind to the Tigers who start with a gimme against UMKC but will struggle in Big 12 play this year. As I've said over and over this year, don't expect Mike Anderson to turn this team into something it's not. I predict 9-7 for the Tigers this season with a nice run in the NIT.
• Despite an embarrassing loss to Xavier yesterday, I think K-State basketball finishes 10-6 and sneaks into the tourney on only because everyone wants to see if Michael Beasley can pull a Carmelo Anthony. He can't, but I bet the Wildcats make a Sweet 16 run.
• One final college not for the Spring, the Tigers make a return appearance in the College Word Series after winning the Big 12.
• Jose Guillen "Guillen" makes Dayton look smart again, breaking Bye Bye Balboni's home run record with 38 in 140 games.
• Gil "Monster" Meche, "Wacky" Zack Greinke and Brian Bannister "Mall" combine for 42 wins and a sub 4.00 era.
• The Royals win 84 games and finish in 3rd in the best division in baseball. (Disclaimer: These predictions are subject to change once the Kool Aid Drinker takes over in March, sometimes he's a little more optimistic.)
• Michael Beasley and Bill Walker leave KSU early, Beasley looks smart and goes top 5 while Walker falls to the second round behind Brandon Rush and Darrel Arthur.
  
• Albert Pujols suffers a major injury, retires and admits that he's really 43.
  
• The Chiefs pick up Chad Pennington and Laverneus Coles as King Carl tries to convince us that adding two turds to a bowl of turds makes it stop stinking.
• The Chiefs 1st round pick holds out until the third preseason game and then doesn't start more than 3 games all season.
  
• Kevin Ross leads the Brigade to the AFL Championship game, falling one win shy of the title.
  
• Brodie Croyle starts the season as the Chiefs quarterback and proves to everyone for once and for all that he is not an NFL caliber QB.
• Herm Edwards has a Hal McRae-like breakdown in a press conference.
• KU/MU at Arrowhead is once again a battle of ranked teams vying for the North title. This time Mizzou is undefeated, and this time the Jayhawks win.
• Neither Kansas or Missouri makes a BCS game, and the Wildcats miss out on the bowls all together again. Ron Prince finds himself squarely on the hot seat.
• The Chiefs miss the playoffs again at 5-11 as Carl and Herm end their reign of terror in Kansas City.
• Missouri and Kansas both start off 10-2, with Kansas State starting 7-6, losing at least three embarrassing games. Bob Huggins continues to receive hate mail from Manhatten.

As I said before, the Kool Aid Drinker will have more in depth Royals predictions this spring.

So, I Couldn't Wait

I'd told everyone that KC Sports Report was coming back on 12/26, and that really was the plan. But if you know me even a little you know patience is not a trait I possess in great quantities. Chances are no one else will see this until 12/26 anyways, but just in case someone gets antsy like me, here it is.

A little background to start things off, kcsportsreport.com is a site that I maintained (and I use that term loosely) back in 2005. It was everything Kansas City sports with links blogs and *ahem* articles from yours truly. I mostly marketed it on message boards (thanks Nick) and probably enjoyed it as much as I could have. Unfortunately I couldn't maintain a web page the way I desired and I got frustrated. Eventually, like so many local teams' recent championship dreams, it died. I've regretted it ever since and so I'm making another run at it, Dick Vermeil style. No longer will I work around the clock maintaining a site, links, etc. I've got blogspot to take care of the site for me, and hopefully you to help with the links. This leads me to what I want out of this blog.

Essentially, I want everything, but I need help. I plan on blogging as often as I can, posting links to interesting information whenever I find it, and keeping this site as fresh as I can. I hope to contributions from a lot more people, that's the only way this can work. That's the only way this can truly become a portal for Kansas City sports. The only way this can become the first place people look for news, opinions and interesting stories about the Royals, Chiefs, Tigers, Jayhawks and everyone else.

Maybe it seems a little far-fetched, but I'd rather call it ambitious. Regardless, if you have a KC sports blog, email me...if you want to contribute to the site, email me....if you just have an interesting link or story, email me. I'm counting on help from a lot of different places to turn this into all it can be.

As for me, if you want a sampling of what you'll be reading, here's an article I wrote from tigerboard.com about Quin Snyder, and here's another on Alex Gordon that was posted on Chiefs Planet. I hope to have at least one article out a day, with several other posts and links from other sources, more than that I hope to have feedback and lots of it.

So there it is, the triumphant (or not so) return of KC Sports Report. Check back daily and you'll see something new for sure, and please contact me, even if it's only to tell me I'm dead wrong (I hear that plenty anyways) or to offer a suggestion.