2007

From the second I decided to do this I've struggled with it. I couldn't decide whether to do it on a team-by-team basis, chronologically or just completely random. Random seemed like the best plan since that's pretty much the direction of the Sports Report, but then I tried to write it and it sucked.

*sidebar* I'm sure at least one of you just said to yourself "Wait don't they all suck?" To you I say, "Thanks for reading!" *end of sidebar*

So instead, I decided go with the awards format...now I just need a name for the awards... Herbstreit calls his the Herbie's but I don't think the Cummi's are near as catchy...then it hit me, I'll just individually name each award...Brilliant!


George Brett Award (Best Performance by a Professional Athlete)


Nominees
Gil Meche
Eddie Johnson
Brian Bannister
Jared Allen

...and the #5 goes to....
Jared Allen. This was by far the easiest choice of all the awards. Gil Meche and Brian Bannister had nice years for the Royals. Eddie Johnson was MLS comeback player of the year for the Wizards. But no one can compare to the kind of year Jared Allen had on an atrociously bad Chiefs team. Like everyone else I was not very enamored with Allen coming into the season. I can never understand how rich professional athletes continue to get DUIs but that's another article. Besides, articles like this one from Joe Posnanski have been around all year talking about how Allen has cleaned up his act. That coupled with an amazing season (Leading the league with 15.5 sacks in only 14 games) and an even more amazing mullet gives him the award.

Danny Manning Award (Best Performance by a College Athlete)

Nominees
Chase Daniel
Todd Reesing
Michael Beasley
Jeremy Maclin



I know I'll probably catch a lot of crap for someone I missed, and for putting Beasley in there...but he's been pretty amazing so far averaging 25 and 13 as a freshman. Maclin, also a freshman was the most electric of the players but I think it has to come down to the quarterbacks. If this were an MVP award I think it goes to Reesing, in fact I think he'd be the MVP nationally, but there is no MVP award in college football and this won't be the first. You can't argue with Chase Daniel here, he was a Heisman finalist as a QB at Mizzou. He's made people almost completely forget what an amazing athlete Brad Smith was, and he led the Tigers to the Big 12 Championship game. For that he wins the award.



Dick Howser Award (Coach of the Year)

Nominees
Mark Mangino
Gary Pinkel
Kevin Ross
Curt Onalfo

Everyone knows what the top two on this list did, but let's not forget Onalfo and Ross. Onalfo led a sub .500 Wizards team to the brink of an MLS title (more on this later). Ross led the Brigade to a 7 game turnaround and their first playoff appearance. He was also named Coach of the Year in the AFL. But we all know this award comes down to Pinkel and The Fat Man. Like everyone else, I have to go with Mangino here simply because he did it with less talent. Pinkel gets his props later in the article, but Mangino gets the award.

Team of the Year

Nominees
Kansas City Wizards
Kansas Jayhawks Football
Missouri Tigers Football
Kansas Jayhawks Basketball

It may seem odd to have a team that went 11-12-7 in this argument, but the Wizards came just one game shy of a Championship, closer than any other KC team. Not even that is enough to upstage the season had by Gary Pinkel and his Tigers. There was no bigger story this year (maybe this decade) than MU/KU at Arrowhead and the Tigers won that game with relative ease. Honorable mention to the Kansas basketball team who has gone 35-3 in the calendar year with a Big 12 regular season and tournament title. A win vs. UCLA in the elite 8 probably wins them this award.


The rest of these are really pretty easy, so we'll skip the big introduction.
The OJ Simpson Biggest Story of the Year Award goes to KU/MU at Arrowhead for the Big 12 North. I'm amazed we didn't jinx this one with all of the hype...Game Day at Arrowhead for KU/MU football? This story may never be matched. The Isiah Thomas Worst Job in an Executive Role goes to King Carl hands down...which is nice in a way. Remember when Carl was the good executive in town? The Britney Spears Trainwreck Award goes to the entire Kansas City Chiefs organization, and I don't even think I need to elaborate. The Milli Vanilli Worst Impersonation Award goes to Brodie Croyle for his impersonation of an NFL quarterback. The Foot-in-Mouth Disease Award goes to Gil Meche for shutting up the national media and pitching like a pitcher that gets paid $11 Million a year. Don't let the win loss record fool you, Meche is worth it.

And finally, the Ice Cube Biggest Letdown in a Starring Role Award goes to Larry Johnson. Johnson laid such a turd this year that I wrote a rap song for him...since he bombed at that as well...

LJ LJ gotta get paid
But now LJ don't wanna play
Hangin out at the clubs with Jay-Z
You know big pimpin ain't easy
I ain't half as good as LT
Didn't stop Carl from payin me
Now I can make clothes with Jay-Z
Don't care if you call me lazy

Yeah, that may be awful...which makes it the perfect ode to piece crap year put together by LJ.

Quickie

Most of my attention today is going to the Year In Review which will be up late this afternoon, but there were a couple of things on my mind this morning...

1. I still say Tiger fans have nothing to be upset about. To quote Dennis Green "They are who we thought they were!" The early season success in KC should be viewed as a bonus but doesn't really change who this team is. Next year will be a much better year for the Tigers, and this year could involve a deep run in the NIT.

2. One thing I don't need to mention in the year in review is how far the Chiefs have fallen. Want to know why? It's reasons like this: At the beginning of the year LJ held out and got a fat new contract while Jared Allen came to work and played for peanuts(compared to his production). Now we have LJ locked up and may have to franchise Allen just to keep him. Can't wait to see how Carl botches this pick, you know the last time we picked this high right? Yeah, Ryan Sims.

3. We're less than 2 months from Spring Training!

Old News and New Features

The Chiefs finish their miserable season today and any reasonable fan is cheering for a loss. The problem? They're facing the equally miserable J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets. Both teams would benefit with a loss and so I got to thinking, what could the Chiefs do to ensure a loss?

Resting their starters wouldn't really work since their starters are responsible for their last 8 losses...

Herm could make some really bad coaching decisions...but I'm afraid if he thought they were bad they may actually work out...

They could put in old washed up corners and let them get burnt by receivers...but again, they've done that all year...

Yeah, it seems the Chiefs don't really need to worry about throwing this game. Maybe the only way they could win is if they tried to lose. For some reason Steve has decided to do a running blog of today's game...I'd say he'll be drunk, so it should be entertaining. You can follow it here starting at approximately 3 PM.

I promised new features starting today, and we've got them. I'll go in order of how excited I am about them...

1. The newest member of KC Sports Report is Sarah, from Shutters Photography, our new Photobloggrapher...That's right Photobloggrapher...How cool is that? Obviously, anyone who wears the aviators while taking pictures is someone that belongs on the KC Sports Report team.

2. KC Sports Report has invaded My Space. Check us out here, send us a friend request and you'll be notified every time a new article is posted. We've also got a photo album up with pictures of the staff, pictures from Sarah, and other cool stuff.

3. Polls! Surveys! Whatever you want to call them, we've got them. Like everything else, I want your input....both in voting and determining what the polls are about.

State of the Blog- Week 1

Sure, I know there may be a lot of you that don't care to hear the stats for a blog that's only just begun. I also know the whole "State of the Blog Address" may seem a little too bloggish for some of you. But it's my blog, and I'm pretty excited by the week one numbers... so let's get to them.

289 people visited the site in it's first week of existence. Sure, this isn't a huge number, but considering Christmas Eve and Christmas brought me a combined 15 visitors, I don't think it's that bad. It's about 285 more than read my everyday blatherings before I had a blog...now we just need to figure out if that's a good thing.

I had two days with 85 or more different people checking in. Again, considering it's only week one and what our advertising budget is, I don't think it's anything to laugh at. This is something to laugh at.

This is where I think it gets at least a little exciting to me. 36% of the people that visited came back at least once. Of those people, 45% came back more than 7 times to check back. That means at least some of you liked what you read, and I like that a lot.

For those of you wondering where the people came from; Almost 60% came from Tigerboard, another 18% came from Chiefs Planet, and the rest came from a variety of sources including my new Blogger Email and Herm's Homie. If you'd like to get on the mailer, just email me at heath.cummings@gmail.com.

The one thing I'd like to improve the most is reader participation. I was really excited to finally get a few comments from the Christmas Pinatas Article but I apparently need to do a better job encouraging comments. With that, my goals for the month of January:

1,000 unique visitors
100 comments
55 blog postings
Increase the blogger mailer to 50 members
10 return links from semi reputable sites

KC Sports Report Headed to the Cotton Bowl

In what is really an exciting development, famed message boarder Jay Caesar has agreed to be a correspondent of sorts for KC Sports Report at the Cotton Bowl next week. His report will be part trip diary, part game report but all of it will be entertaining. Assuming we don't have any technical difficulties I expect to receive reports straight from Dallas and I'll be posting them as soon as I do. In other words, check back frequently early next week for what could be very interesting.

Later today I'll give my state of the blog address as the numbers have just come in from our first week back. For now I'll just say I'm very pleased with week 1.

Christmas Pinatas

Let me preface this by saying Fridays around here are going to be off-the-wall, from-the-hip, often irrelevant, but hopefully entertaining. For the today's inspiration I have to thank my brother's lovely girlfriend. Her family has a tradition that got me thinking. Yes, that's right, the Christmas Pinata.

What does this have to do with sports? Or even this blog? Well, I would never advocate violence, but it does seem kind of therapeutic to hang something from the ceiling and beat the crap out of it with a stick...which got me thinking...Who would I like to hang from the ceiling and beat...er...whose likeness would I like to hang from the ceiling and beat the crap out of with a stick?

Because he's fresh on my mind, my first thought was Bob Gretz. Why? His mailbag today just about made me puke. Check out Steve's blog later today for more thoughts on this, but I'm not so sure Carl didn't offer Gretzy a handle of Beam to let him write the mailbag for him this week. The downside to a Bob Gretz pinata is that the only appropriate filling would be booze and I'm afraid all of the bottles would break when they hit the ground.

Along those same lines, King Carl seems like a good candidate, but I'm not sure you could ever get a clean blow at him with his personal bodyguard and all. Besides, who's going to be excited when hair gel and false hope fall from the ceiling?

Thinking historically Lin Elliott, Steve Bono, Herk Robinson, Rickey Blownsavico, JR Giddens and Neifi Perez all seemed like good options. I also thought about trying to build a pinata for the entire Cardinals fan base, but I couldn't find enough hot air...then it hit me...the obvious choice...The Rocket.

A little background here, Roger Clemens just about struck me with an automobile in the mid 80s when I was just a young kid looking for an autograph. So I've never really been a huge fan. Then he went and played for the Evil Empire. Then came all of this prima dona "play half a season, don't travel with the team" crap...and now...finally...he's implicated in the Mitchell Report. Who was really surprised? He's the only player besides Bill Romanowski and Milton Bradley I've ever seen have Roid Rage on the field. Allegedly he was surprised, and his attorney is doing an "independent investigation" into the alleged steroid abuse. Question, how can his attorney do an independent investigation?

So the only question left was what to put inside of the pinata? Syringes? Seems unsafe. Sharded baseball bats? Again, maybe dangerous. I got it! Nothing. The same thing that the last ten years of his career are worth. The same thing, apparently, he has in place of dignity.

Who would you like for a Christmas Pinata? Post your suggestions below in the comments.

Fat = Phat?

Before I get too far into the Orange Bowl match up between the Jayhawks and Hokies, an observation. When Mark Mangino was first hired everyone worried about his weight and how he could motivate young men being in that condition. When he showed he was an excellent motivator, people blamed his weight for the lack of big time recruits he was landing. This was comical indeed since Kansas has never landed big name recruits. Now that he's Coach of the Year and leading his team to a BCS game I think it's time his weight get a little bit of the credit.

Mangino is becoming somewhat of a cult legend. On Sportscenter they refer to the Fighting Mangino's, there are shirts in the crowd at every home game referring to his weight, announcers struggle not to laugh when he's shown on TV. Some people may think this is embarrassing to the school, but when searching for reasons that Kansas received an Orange Bowl bid and not Mizzou how can you not consider the celebrity of their coach? That's right, dollar signs.

Now on to the game, Kansas has caught a lot of flack for not deserving to be here and I think that plays right into the Fighting Mangino's hands. All year long they've heard how they aren't for real and they'll continue to hear it until game time. I think they'll struggle offensively early and expect Va Tech to have the edge in special teams. However, I don't see the Hokies moving the ball at all. When I looked at the line for this game the Hokies being favored by 4 didn't surprise me but the over/under of 54 certainly did. The only way this game can get to 54 is if Kansas scores 30 I believe.

In the end, I think this is a low scoring close game that's probably decided by one or two really huge plays. A Va Tech special teams TD, an Aqib Talib pick six, something like that will determine the winner. Considering the stature of the programs, you'd have to guess the Hokies are more likely to have that big play go their way....but they've won just as many BCS games as the Jayhawks, zero. Still, it's hard not to go with Va Tech

Hokies 19, Jayhawks 17

Brodie fragile? Does it matter?

All of the recent talk about whether or not Brodie Croyle is tough to be an NFL quarterback baffles me. First it was the sports radio guys and now even Herm has questioned Brodie's ability to be "available". Herm even went as far as to say that Croyle couldn't be the quarterback of the future if he can't be available. Here's the part I missed...Why does it matter? No one is questioning whether I'm tough enough to be an NFL quarterback, why not? Because I'm not talented enough to be an NFL quarterback. Sadly, neither is Brodie.

The Chiefs tried to hand the job to Croyle in the preseason and he bombed so horribly that the "quarterback of the future" actually got booed off the field in preseason. Has this ever happened before? Then, halfway through the season he gets another shot and so far he's completed 59% of his passes with 5 TDs and 6 INTs. He's averaging right around 200 yards passing a game. Sure, the Chiefs offense has been bad all year, but across the board those number are worse than Damon Huard, a career backup.

Bottom line, Brodie Croyle could be UFC tough and it wouldn't matter, he's not an NFL quarterback. This is like debating whether Jeremy Case has the body to hold up to an 82 game NBA season. It doesn't matter because Case isn't good enough to play at the next level, and neither is Croyle.

Wake up!

Maybe it's appropriate that the Cotton Bowl is played at 10:30 AM on New Year's Day. It seems a lot of people need a wake up call, myself included. I'll admit it, when I heard that Mizzou was facing Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl my initial reaction was that the Razorbacks would emerge victorious. I thought Darren McFadden and Felix Jones would run wild, keeping the Tigers offense off the field just enough.

But what sense does that really make? About as much sense as Mizzou being in this game in the first place. This is an 11-2 Mizzou team that has only lost to Oklahoma playing against an Arkansas team that went 4-4 in the SEC. The fact that these two teams even meet in a bowl game shows you how skewered the system itself is. The Big 12 North Champs vs. the 6th place team in the SEC? And there's only a 3 point spread? Wake up!

Mizzou may give up a couple of long touchdown runs but there is no reason to believe Arkansas can stop them even a little. They've given up 36, 34, 31 and 48 points in their last 4 games and none of those offenses were as proficient as the Tigers. Their non-con includes victories against Troy, North Texas, Chattanooga and FIU. There's no other way to say it; The Hogs are frauds and they have no business in this game.

A lot of teams in the past have felt wronged by the BCS and then come out to lay an egg in their bowl game. That's the only way the Tigers lose this game. Assuming Gary Pinkel can outcoach an interim and an ill prepared Bobby Petrino.... Assuming Chase Daniel can throw more TDs than picks...Assuming Tony Temple and the rest of the Tigers don't continually put it on the turf... I don't see this game being in doubt in the second half.

The Big 12 North has been doubted all year long while the entire country goes on and on about the strength of the SEC....it's time for the Tigers to prove them wrong. Four years in a row now the Big 12 has sent a representative to the Cotton Bowl to battle the SEC, four in a row have come back losers, this year that changes...

Mizzou 51, Arkansas 31

Grand Re-Opening

The Cotton Bowl Preview will be up at noon, as will most articles/blogs. For those that are checking in on 12/26 to see the return of KC Sports Report, here it is. You can read my introductory blog below to see what it's all about, but chance are you already know.

I did feel that I should address one question that's been asked to me numerous times in the last week:

"Where was KC Sports Report for the last two years?"

In all honesty, a little bit of everywhere is the right answer so I thought I'd make a list...

- In and out of the car business and the insurance industry
- In and out of marriage
- St Petersburg, Florida on a Pirate ship
- Morillton, Arkansas underneath a waterfall
- Las Vegas Nevada in a pool 22 stories off the strip
- Palms Springs, California on an Indian reservation
- Columbia, Missouri
- Lawrence, Kansas
- Chicago, Illinois recording a CD
- Front row at Willie Nelson
- Top row at Arrowhead
- Seeing Hank Williams son and Waylon Jennings son in the same summer
- Coaching T Ball and Soccer
- Taking 18 hours a semester going back to school

So it wasn't so much a vacation or a sabbatical as me being too out of balance to keep up with this. Now, I have the new Dick Vermeil plan (see blog #1), I feel confident I can keep up with it, and I've got a cheerleader telling me I can when I don't feel that way. With that, I'm back....

Ransburg named KC Star All Metro Player of the Year

Harrisonville's Sean Ransburg was named the All Metro Player of the Year after leading the Wildcats to a third straight state title this season. This is big news on this site for three reasons:

1. Ransburg is Wildcat, and so was I. I've seen him several times in person and he was maybe the best high school player I've ever seen. A great choice for the award.

2. He'll be a Jayhawk this fall. No one has speculated on what position he'll play in Lawrence but I'd guess DB. He's got the frame and the arm strength to play QB, but will have to learn to set his feet when he throws if he wants to succeed at the next level.

3. His numbers were simply astounding. Over 2500 passing yards, over 1600 rushing yards and 58 total touchdowns....simply absurd. To put that in perspective, he was the leading passer in the metro and the 3rd leading rusher, simply amazing.

So congrats to Ransburg and to the Jayhawks for landing him, maybe it won't be the last award he wins as a football player.

Apathy Reigns

I always thought Kansas City could be a baseball town again, I just thought the Royals would have to win to make it happen. However, it's the middle of December and fans in Kansas City are already pining for the Royals. Is it because of the optimism over the job Dayton Moore has done? Maybe. More likely though it's complete apathy over a Chiefs franchise that right now does not look salvageable. "King Carl " and Herm have led us to this place and must go, but I don't think anyone really believes they will. Thus we're left with apathy. I predicted 4-12 for the Chiefs at the beginning of the year and was laughed at pretty hard when the Chiefs stood 4-3. Now, it's not really funny at all. I think the Chiefs win today or next week and finish at 5-11, if only to mess up their draft position and my prediction but I'm not sure anyone in Kansas City will notice.

Tiger fans upset?

I want to preface this article by saying two things:

1. I don't think the Tigers or Illini are legitimate NCAA Tourney caliber teams. After watching tonight's game I think it's feasible that either could sneak in as an 11 or 12 seed, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see both of them on the outside of the bubble.

2. Both teams choked tonight. Mizzou, not even getting a shot off is unacceptable, but not as unacceptable as missing both free throws up by one with 10 seconds left. Mizzou fans have every right to be upset that their team blew a chance at a victory tonight.

Those things being said, I was astonished to hear Tiger fans calling in upset with head coach Mike Anderson after tonight's loss. What I saw tonight was a Tiger team that was outmanned by an Illinois team that is not very good. Sure, both programs are in less than desirable situations, but I'd much rather be a Tiger fan right now. In fact, I think recent history gives us a good parallel to the Tigers situation.

Just six years ago Mark Mangino took over a bad Kansas football program that had little to no talent and a horrible reputation. He spent five years losing close games to programs with more talent, and taking heat because of his poor record, especially in close games. Most KU fans accepted how bad of a situation Mangino was put in and appreciated how he had the team playing.

As I watched the Tigers tonight all I could think of was how much more enjoyable this team was too watch than previous Tiger teams that had much more talent. Gone are the days of teams playing frustratingly below their potential. This team overachieves and plays the right way. I would think Mizzou fans would appreciate this if anyone would. On the other side of the coin Illinois has gone from a team playing for the National Championship to losing to Miami (OH) and squeaking out a win vs. a down Missouri team. I thought it was apparent watching these two teams that Mike Anderson is doing a much better job than Coach Weber.

Everyone seems to acknowledge that Mike Anderson still doesn't have "his players," but I don't think that fully explains the situation. Anderson doesn't really even have "good players". Neither did Mangino his first several years. The fact that Mizzou basketball has always had a better program than KU football makes me think that Anderson's turn around will happen sooner than Mangino's as well. While I don't expect the Tigers to make huge strides this year, I'd say Mizzou fans have a lot to look forward to over the next few years. A lot more than the Illini at least.

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.