Nobody knows how Andrew Wiggins’ time at Kansas will play out, and for now that’s precisely the point. Wiggins is a 6-foot-8 bundle of athleticism and possibility that challenges the imagination.
If we can get away from jokes about candy wrappers and the “Right 53,” we can see what is happening here. Scott Pioli is making the predictable career move by joining NBC’s Sunday night NFL studio show after being fired as Chiefs general manager in January. But to really prepare for another NFL job, Pioli needs to focus on the problems that surfaced in his four years running the Chiefs.
This is a Fathers’ Day story, but this is not about fathers. Not actual fathers, anyway. Not the kind you might have. Not like the one I’m lucky to have. This is a story about men doing what fathers do in those unfortunate times fathers aren’t around. This is a story about one act of fatherly generosity turning into two, of two hopefully turning into three.
Brett began this new life two weeks ago. He is exactly halfway through a one-month commitment as hitting coach, and this road trip may be the most important time he has with the team. Not just for the coaching, either. But for himself. To figure out not just whether he can do this job, but whether he wants to.
A home stand that began with the team tracking what would be the most disappointing season in franchise history — a significant accomplishment — ends with the Royals believing in themselves again, and why not? Baseball can be funny like this.
This isn’t a long-term solution, but a week of bailing water and praying has the Royals at least holding off the angriest mob for a few days. The alarm on what would be an inexcusably disappointing season has been downgraded from code red to orange.
The second-biggest sports league in North America is waist-deep in what could be the biggest performance-enhancing drug bust in history, and thank goodness for it. But we’re supposed to believe that busts like this can bring about change? The cheaters are more sophisticated and well-funded than ever.
Rather than rushing headlong into the task of putting some punch in the Royals’ offense, new hitting coach George Brett is thinking about how to be a teacher. In his mind, the fear of failure shares space with the visions of success.
George Brett’s new job as Royals hitting coach is a clear message that Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer need to grow up. Take the training wheels off. Scholarships are over. The Royals know the inconvenient truth. Nothing else matters if these two continue to flounder.
Looking for a reason for Kansas City’s pro-sports malaise when it comes to the Royals and Chiefs? This piece from 2008 seems just as fitting today.
The Royals stink, and that’s not all Ned Yost’s fault. This is a team that can’t get on base, and that’s not all Jeff Francoeur’s fault. They can’t hit, and it’s not fair to put all of that on the new hitting coaches. Sal Perez is the only part of the newest wave of homegrown talent making a major impact, and that’s not all Dayton Moore’s fault. The Royals are tracking toward what would be The Most Disappointing Season in Franchise History, and that’s not all Mike Moustakas’ fault.
The least popular man in Kansas City sports, manager Ned Yost says he isn’t panicking about the Royals’ recent slide because that approach got him fired in Milwaukee. And while fans may feel his response is aloof or out of touch, Yost says he’s trying to keep his young players calm. “There’s nothing I can do personally to turn it around except stay positive and stay supportive,” he says.
Belying its reputation as a pitcher’s park, the math shows a trend toward the hitters at Kauffman Stadium. That ought to be good news for the home team, which has labored at the plate for much of this season. The Royals are scoring and allowing slightly fewer runs at home than on the road, but the advanced metrics indicate that Kauffman shouldn’t take the blame, or credit.
Hooty Wade, who is the bullpen catcher for the Kansas City T-Bones, has long felt things would be all right if he could keep playing baseball.
Like the man who opened the door to the major leagues for black players, “42,” the new film about Jackie Robinson, will honor the memories of so many of them at Kansas City’s Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
“An infant girl wakes up this morning without parents, both dead, dad killing mom and then turning the gun on himself,” The Star’s Sam Mellinger writes of the murder-suicide in which Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot his longtime girlfriend Kasandra Perkins then himself. “There are no answers. None that make sense, anyway.”
My 11th birthday came in the spring of 1989, which means I wore striped socks up to my knees and had a huge crush on the lead singer of the Bangles and will fight anyone who disrespects Back to the Future.
This was one way to make a first impression. In the opening seconds of Wednesday’s camp scrimmage, KU freshman Andrew Wiggins found himself on a breakaway with only former Jayhawk center Cole Aldrich in the picture.
