THIS SEEMS APPROPRIATE FOR THIS BLOG

One of the many mistakes made by the Royals' front office over the last decade was getting rid of the old general admission sections beyond the left and right field foul poles in Kauffman Stadium.  You could always count on a bunch of college students and die-hard locals to populate the GA section, with the corresponding understanding that the standard of behavior would be a little lower than in the rest of the stadium.  After all, the few families sitting in the section could always relocate to a less-offensive area of the GA sections.  We still remember sitting out in right field GA one hot Saturday afternoon, watching Carlos Beltran climb the wall and a row of attractive coeds in bikini tops get hosed down by the Royals' bullpen crew.  Good times.

Then the Royals got rid of the GA sections and turned them into higher-priced reserved seating.  Suddenly, there was no more designated area for those fans who cut loose a little more.  As a result, families and squares throughout the stadium became offended by transplanted GA rowdies, and transplanted GA rowdies enjoyed the games a little less themselves.

The Royals announced their 2009 ticket prices a few weeks ago.  Along with this came the news that with the renovations would come a new, "fountain pavilion" seating area.  These seats will sit behind the left field fountains and surround the old JumboTron pedestal.  Better yet, they will only cost $7 and will be available day-of-game only.  

We were wondering if these might help replace the old GA section.  Well, according to this story, that's part of their purpose:

The Fountain Pavilion, a tribute to the former General Admission seating in Kauffman Stadium, with a new view between the left-field fountains and the pedestal that once held the Jumbotron board. The Fountain Pavilion seats will be the lowest-priced ticket at $7.00 and be available day-of-game only.

Good for you, Royals.  While you totally screwed up by not building a downtown ballpark, at least you may have mitigated this disaster a small amount by trying to restore one of the cool things about Kauffman Stadium (that, of course, you screwed up by eliminating in the first place).  Your incompetence appears to be lessening.

We think it's only appropriate, given our name, to try to sit in these seats, at least at the first Royals' game we attend next year.  Hopefully, we'll feel like going back to enjoy many more from the same vantage point.  

EPIC WEEKEND OF FAIL

Not a good weekend for the local teams.  To summarize:

*  Mizzou gets spanked by Texas, exposing the Tigers as being a tier below the nation's elite teams.

*  KU gives up over 600 yards of offense in a loss to OU that was worse than the final score indicated, and with Texas, Texas Tech, and Mizzou still on the schedule, who knows how ugly it will get for the Hawks.  

*  K-State loses to Colorado, 14-13, as a result of bad coaching decisions by Ron Prince and the fail of its offense.  A surefire mark of a lousy team:  finding new, different ways to lose each week.  K-State now enters a brutal three-game stretch (OU, @ KU, and @ Mizzou) before ending with Nebraska and Iowa State at home.  If last year was any indication, the team will have quit by those games, and K-State will go 0-fer from here on out.  

*  The Chiefs get blasted by the Titans at home, and Brody "Glass Man" Croyle suffers a season-ending injury in the first half of his first game back from the injury that kept him out the past 4 games.  It's hard to see how Croyle will ever be named the Chiefs' starting QB again.  Here's hoping there will be a surefire QB for the Chiefs to take with the #1 pick in next year's draft.

*  Since there was so much fail this weekend, let's see where the respective coaches fall in terms of job security:

No worries:  At this point, Gary Pinkel can breathe easy.  His Tigers still look to be the class of the Big XII North, although they are no longer realistically in the national title picture.  It would take a loss to KU and loss of the north title to KU before Pinkel would need to be concerned.

Same with Mark Mangino.  Most observers expected a falloff this year since the Jayhawks had some legitimate teams on their early/mid season schedule.  Losing to OU, Texas Tech, Texas, and Mizzou is likely.  While losing four of the last six will likely leave some of the more football-ignorant KU fans grumbling, as long as Mangino takes care of business against KSU and Nebraska he should be fine.  His modus operandi while at KU has been to beat the teams he's better than and stay competitive with the rest.  Now that he's upgraded the talent, this should translate into yearly records of at least .500, with the occasional run at 9 or 10 wins.  Hard to see how this wouldn't be enough at a school that will always embrace basketball first.

Be very concerned:  Ron Prince's team exhibits a classic characteristic of a bad team:  find new and exciting ways to lose every week.  Unfortunately for Ron, the win at aTm got some fans thinking that a win at Colorado was possible.  Since it was so close and the defense seemed to play better, there hasn't been much fallout this week.  In fact, some K-State fans seem to think that Prince might pull off a performance against OU similar to those he's delivered against Texas.  Don't count on it.  Even with their injuries, OU is better at every position than K-State.  They were a bit off their game against KU last week, probably suffering from a Texas hangover, and still managed to put up 650+ yards of offense.  700+ is a real possibility this week against K-State, and OU could put a worse hurtin' on the Cats than Tech did just a few weeks ago.  If this happens, K-State fans will be back up in arms, anticipating another late season collapse that will (they hope) lead to Ron's Bold and Daring Dismissal at the end of the season.

Herm Edwards also needs to watch his back.  Fans in Kansas City are starting to call for his head along with Carl Peterson's, and if we know one thing about Carl Peterson, he will go to any lengths, stab any backs, to avoid being the target himself.  If Carl thinks there's a way he can save his (tragically possible) future with the Chiefs by firing Herm, he will.

Should Have Been Fired 5 Years Ago:  Carl Peterson.  The man has turned the Chiefs into a national joke.  The team that has been put onto the field goes beyond embarrassment.  If there was one person you did not want to lead a "youth movement," it was Carl Peterson.  The man has turned drafting poorly into an art form.  Teams like Green Bay are showing how to win with young talent, while Carl has assembled a program that makes the Detroit Lions look like a well-run franchise.  Because there are really no words for the mockery that the Chiefs have become under Carl Peterson, I'll stop there.  Clark Hunt needs to dispose of Carl ASAP, or else permanently lose the support of thousands of some of the most passionate fans in the NFL. Chiefs tickets are going 2-for-1 around town, and we've heard multiple season-ticket holders over the past few weeks mention that they've missed games this year "because it's just not worth it."  I'm looking forward to the sight of a half-empty Arrowhead Stadium later this fall.  Perhaps Clark will be able to see that from Fiji.

TIME TO TRADE TONY

Tony Gonzalez wants out of KC.

I'm with Whitlock on this one. Just another in a long line of Carl Peterson miscalculations. Tony and LJ should have been traded last year, when the Chiefs decided on the youth movement. Now? The Chiefs will be lucky to get anywhere close to fair compensation for them. Still, the Chiefs should do anything they can to trade Tony to a contender. After Peterson's 20-year reign of bullsh*t, it's the least he can do for a guy who was prepared to spend his entire career here, if Peterson would have lived up to his empty promises.

Tony, here's hoping you get onto a contender and get to play with a team that hasn't been mismanaged for the better part of two decades and, more importantly, has a shot at making a playoff run this year. We, and almost all Chiefs' fans, will be rooting for you. If only we could be as lucky as to get to transfer our allegiance to a competent franchise.

BIG 12 MID-SEASON OUTLOOK

Almost halfway through the college football season, and things are looking about as expected.

* Mizzou's defense has been weaker than expected, but the offense is firing on all cylinders. The next two weeks, versus Oklahoma State and Texas, may derail Mizzou's national championship hopes, but they shouldn't keep Mizzou from reaching the Big 12 championship game for the second straight year. There just doesn't appear to be any other challenger in the North, because...

* ...while Kansas has a solid team, they look likely to finish at 8-4 (as predicted here) or 7-5. As expected, adding the tough South teams to the schedule looks to add a few more losses to the Jayhawks' record. They played a ranked team early this year, and...surprise!...they lost. They nearly lost again to Iowa State last Saturday before pulling it out. However, KU looks like a team that should beat the teams it's supposed to beat, and struggle against the better teams. Thus, they look to probably lose 3, if not 4, against OU, Texas, Mizzou, and Texas Tech. The key for KU will be to not let these losses lead to a loss against Colorado, Kansas State, or at Nebraska (where the Hawks haven't won since Lincoln was president).

* Although K-State was difficult to predict before the season began, it's not too difficult to predict now. Tomorrow's game against aTm looks to be the most winnable game left on the schedule. Lose this game, and the Cats don't have another winnable game until the second-to-last game of the season, against Nebraska in Manhattan. By that time, the season may already be in the tank, and an 0-fer the Big 12 may occur. If it does, don't expect to see Prince back next year. There have been lots of rumors over the past couple of weeks that the big donors are ready to buy out the rest of Prince's contract and try to go after Gary Patterson of TCU. It appears Prince has been issued some sort of ultimatum: it's probably "bowl or be fired." The main concern with Prince is not just the appalling performance of the defense, carried over from the collapse last year, but also Prince's inability to bring quality recruits or assistant coaches to Manhattan, making things look bleak for the future no matter how this season turns out.

NO TEAM FOR YOU!

Dear Tampa Bay Rays fans (all 17 of you):

I'm rooting for your team against the Red Sox. They're fun to watch.

That being said, here's hoping they get out of St. Petersburg sooner rather than later. Judging from the TV views, a good portion of your upper deck was empty for the freakin' first game of the LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES. And judging from the TV sound, at least 1/3 of the fans in attendance were cheering for the Red Sox.

Hearing "YOOOOOOUK!" loud and clear on your home field, in a championship series, is beyond embarrassing. Sorry, but your town doesn't deserve a team...especially a winning team. The sooner they're gone to a city that appreciates having a major league team, the better. Perhaps you would be willing to trade the Rays for the Royals straight up?

DAVID ECKSTEIN'S REVENGE

Frack. Jason Bartlett vs. Dustin Pedroia in the ALCS. Over/under on how many times we hear "scrappy"?

Dear National League: please send someone with a pulse to battle the Red Sox this year, ok? It'd be nice to get at least 5 games out of this thing.

I was with the Angels right up until Scioscia called for the suicide squeeze in the top of the 9th. After they fracked that up, I knew the Sox would take it in the 9th. The baseball gods are jealous gods. If you're going to call a stupid play, you better damn well make sure it works.