Starstruck 2/20

Guillen makes presence felt on first day in Royals’ camp

I can’t tell you how excited I was by this article. You all know, I’m a bit of a Royals homer (or at least the Kool Aid Drinker is)…but I spent the off-season defending Dayton and this move, just like I did last year with the Gil Meche signing. Here’s why I think this could work:

Kansas City needs a big shot and Jose Guillen needs somewhere that he can be the big shot. He can make his demands, go off on a tangent every once in a while…whatever. I think we have just the right mix of guys here to say “Okay, that’s just Jose being Jose” and laugh it off. I mean, Emil’s gone, someone has to make ridiculous statements.

From reading this article, and everything else I’ve read, it sounds like the team is really reaching out to Jose, maybe even coddling him a little…fantastic. There aren’t any egos too big on this team, which to me means there’s plenty of room for Guillen’s…kind of like how the Red Sox treat Man Ram…Yeah, I know, Guillen’s no Man Ram…the talent in our locker room isn’t the same as the Red Sox either…I really think this could work…

Progress in Allen negotiations may be problem with Peterson

Okay, a lot of you are probably thinking “Surprise, surprise another Whitlock Anti-Carl column”. Yeah, you’re right…and so is Whitlock. King Carl’s reign of terror is almost over, everyone knows that. Whether Carl decides to leave on his own or Clark Hunt finally fires him I doubt there’s anyone that expects Carl to be with the Chiefs in three years. So as a parting gift he’s going to chase off yet another great Chief? Shocking!

How much of Donnie Edwards prime did we miss? Think we’re getting ready think the same thing about Kawika Mitchell? How about John Tait? Think we could have used him this season? Now I know you can’t sign everyone, but Carl has made a habit of alienating players that we as fans really end up missing.

Bottom line, Jared Allen is bigger than Edwards, Mitchell or Tait…Jared Allen is the face of the Chiefs right now. You think fans relate to LJ? Please. Brodie? Most of them want him gone. It’s Jared Allen, and besides that, he’s a stud. If Carl blows this it’ll be a fitting black eye for him to leave on the organization.

Oops

So, yesterday was the first day with absolutely nothing added to the site. Why? First I thought blogspot's server had been shut down due to the missouritigers.com story on 810, but everyone else's seemed to be fine.
Then I thought Carl and Gretz had come up with some plan to shut me down after all I've said about them, but nope...that wasn't it either.
Turns out, when I changed the template I messed something up, so I spent yesterday trying to fix it. The good news is, everything is back up and running. The bad news is I lost all tracking info for a 48 hour span. I'm calling off my one month in blog and I'll just add it to the State of the Blog report on January 31st.
Tomorrow is the Big 12 Report, then something funny on Friday and KC Sports Report TV on Sunday. Besides that, who knows? Links will be updated this afternoon and possibly a new blog then...

Call this the Rodney blog

Rodney Dangerfield coined the phrase "I get no respect" and made several great jokes off of it. Seems like a few of them may apply to our local sports teams:

The Kansas State Wildcats- "Oh, when I was kid, I got no respect. I was kidnapped; they sent back a piece of my finger. My old man said he wanted more proof."- R.D.

I said on Saturday that I thought the Cats would be ranked in the vicinity of 21st, turns out they aren't ranked at all. Well, I think that's wrong, but that's not what really earns this quote. Last year we spent the entire year hearing about Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now, we have Michael Beasley playing as well as either one of them but because he's in Manhatten, KS we don't hear near as much about him. Beasley will have his chance on a national stage against Kansas on January 30, but ESPN should already be pumping this kid up more than they are.

Carl Peterson-" I don't get no respect. One night I fell asleep with a cigarette in my hand - my wife lit it!"- R.D.

Maybe it isn't his wife, but it seems like the entire organization is turning against Carl. Clark Hunt's statement that the team must be considerably better next year is the kiss of death for Carl. There is no way they can be considerably better next year. What irks me? Hunt has given Carl every excuse he needs to scrap the youth movement and sign a couple of aging veterans like Chad Pennington and Laverneus Coles to try and scrap together a 9-7 team. Why won't Clark just fire him now?

And wouldn't you know it, I can't find anymore good jokes...well it's not really funny anyways, the Memphis Tigers being ranked ahead of Kansas in this week's poll. Sure they're both undefeated and the Tigers played a tough non-con schedule...but we're talking about the Kansas Jayhawks and a Conference USA team...seriously. You want to find out who should be ranked higher? Call your bookie, tell him Memphis and Kansas are playing in St Louis and ask him what the spread would be...

Friday Funnies Faceoff

In a face off between drunk Chiefs "writers" who wins?

If you've followed this site at all, you know from time to time I like to reference fellow blogger Steve (pictured on the right) and if you've ever clicked on the link, chances are you've read about his anger towards Bob (pictured on the left). It seems Steve and Bob don't get along about much anything, so I thought I'd contrast the two of them.

Some of you may suspect that this will be slanted towards Steve because I once made reference to making a Christmas Pinata in Bob's likeness, or because Steve is a fellow blogger. I can't argue the pinata point, but Steve's not exactly my alter ego, for one thing he's a liberal ninny who trashes Bush, while I'm a reasonable conservative. For another he's a Herm backer...which is unbelievable...but anyways, this isn't a face off between Steve and I....on with the comparison...

Bob likes to drink (allegedly) large amounts of alcohol...Steve likes to drink large amounts of alcohol.

Bob works for a website that is anything but legitimate (see Rufus Dawes)... Steve "works" for a his own blog.

Bob defends Carl even when nobody could...Steve defends Herm even when nobody could.

They're both Chiefs homers that get drunk and trash the team and then later trash people who are trashing the team.

They both lament the 80s and fear that we're headed back in that direction.

You know what this is? This article is for Steve that moment in the cheesy movie where the father and son realize the reason they've been fighting for the last 5 years is because they're exactly the same. They hug, go have a beer and all past transgressions are forgiven. Steve is a young Bob Gretz, passionate about his Chiefs...drunk most of the time... ready to set the world on fire...but if Carl offered Steve a job paying six figures to report on the sidelines and write "articles" on the Chiefs home page? You don't think Steve would sit down with Carl, a glass of brandy and a lap top?

The Season We'd Better Remember

I'll be honest, when it came time to write this today I really didn't want to. Who really wants to think about this Chiefs season anyways? Not me...and maybe not you. Here's the problem with that line of thinking: It's exactly what Carl wants. It's a lot better for him if we all forget just how painful this last year was. Much better than being as angry as we should be about it.

It's hard to even remember that at one point the Chiefs stood 4-3, in first place in AFC West. What happened? For one, the Brodie Croyle experiment. Honestly, I'm not upset that Croyle was given the chance that he was. I've always wanted the Chiefs to develop a QB and you can't do that without seeing what you have. What's upsetting is that the Chiefs plan on starting Brodie next year as well. I don't think the kid will go winless like he did last year but it does ensure another losing season. When was the last time a reasonable Chiefs fan felt like they had no chance to win? Before Carl got here.

That's what scares me the most - Carl wanting to sell tickets. The worst thing this team can do is try to patch together a wild card team around Brodie Croyle. If we want to start Brodie next year, it needs to be a complete rebuild project. Draft a couple of lineman, a couple of corners, maybe a wide receiver or two. Then start them all year long, take another 3-13 or 4-12 and improve with draft picks again...save all of our free agent money for 2009. If by some chance Brodie improves next year then maybe we can build a playoff team around him but there are very few, if any, teams that could have won with him this year. Adding a couple of free agents to current debacle of a team will not help.

The other bonus of going 3-13 or 4-12 next year? It may give us an opportunity to go a new direction with our GM and head coach. I understand Carl rebuilt this franchise (with help from Marty), but the time has come for him to hand over personnel decisions, if he won't do it then he needs to be fired. My feelings on Herm are well documented, he needs to go.

The other major negative form this year? Larry Johnson is still a Chief. If you read my year in review, you know my thoughts on LJ. If you didn't I'll say it again...he's always been at his best when he has something to prove. At Penn State he felt jilted by not playing as underclassman, with the Chiefs it was first Priest Holmes and then working for a contract. Well, now he has a fat contract and a firm lock on a starting job...all that adds up to him being the most overpaid player in the NFL for as long as he's with the Chiefs in my estimation.

So yeah, that's how bad it is...our best player is a fraud, our quarterback of the future has no future and my plan to save the Chiefs is more losing and lots of it. Seems silly, but if one 4-12 debacle isn't enough for Clark to can Carl and Herm we can only hope that two is. If not, apathy may be the only way for this Chiefs' fan to stay sane.

On a more positive note, my list of the ten players that can help the Chiefs in the future:

1. Jared Allen
2. Dwayne Bowe
3. Tamba Hali
4. Derrick Johnson
5. Benny Sapp
6. Bernard Pollard
7. Jarrad Page
8. Kolby Smith


Okay, so I only go to eight...think I missed someone? Tell me about it in the comments section, just don't tell me I forgot LJ...

Let me try one more time to finish on a high note....Tony Gonzalez. Amidst all of the Chiefs struggles this season, I'm afraid Gonzo's accomplishments went mostly overlooked. 99 catches for 1172 yards and 5 TDs is impressive enough, but that's the least of it. This season he broke the record for all-time touchdowns by a tight end and receptions by a tight end. The one good thing you can say Carl has done is make sure this guy will retire a Chief...maybe the best one ever.