TOP OF THE MORNIN'
Soria and Royals cool with nickname, T-shirt
By JEFFREY FLANAGAN
The Kansas City Star
I f there were any questions about whether
Joakim Soria’s nickname “The Mexicutioner” might stick, all you have to do is observe the popularity of those “Mexicutioner” T-shirts being distributed by WHB (810 AM).
WHB’s Kevin Kietzman said the station will have unloaded 5,000 of them by the end of the week (they are free, though a $5 donation to charity for each one is appreciated.)
The T-shirts also are very popular in the Royals’ clubhouse. Numerous Royals wear them under their jerseys during batting practice.
The T-shirts immediately got Soria’s blessing. Though some people think the nickname is offensive or racially insensitive, Soria isn’t one of them.
Soria not only likes the nickname, he wears the T-shirt.
But another potential hurdle was José Guillen. The T-shirts display a fictional movie poster starring Soria, while below his image is a list of other names, including Guillen, who is supposedly in charge of “media relations” for the “The Mexicutioner.”
Naturally, that’s a poke at Guillen’s tendency to speak frankly, sometimes too frankly in some people’s minds.
Guillen, though, took the ribbing in the movie poster with a sense of humor, and he wears the T-shirt frequently.
And if you’re wondering why Royals officials have not commented publicly on the T-shirts, they are simply trying to be sensitive to their rights holder, Entercom.
Entercom owns KCSP, the chief sports-talk competitor of WHB, which also used to be the Royals’ radio rights holder.
All-Star rating
Baseball apparently isn’t quite dead in these parts. The Major League All-Star Game last week drew an impressive 9.0 rating in Kansas City, meaning more than 81,000 television homes here were tuned in.
The Royals-White Sox game last Saturday on FSN Kansas City drew a 3.9 rating.
Young Royals
The Royals are the seventh-youngest team in baseball with an average age of 28. The Rangers are the youngest with an average age of 27; Houston is the oldest at 31.1.
Chiefs’ goal
As the Chiefs gear up for training camp later this week, one of the points of emphasis has to be cutting down on penalties.
The Chiefs were the ninth-most penalized team in the NFL last season with 101. Not surprisingly, Arizona was tops with 137 and Oakland was second with 120.
The Giants and Patriots, last year’s Super Bowl teams, were in the top 10 of least-penalized teams.
To reach Jeffrey Flanagan call 816-234-4492 and leave a message or send e-mail to jflanagan@kcstar.com
