Here's your daily Kansas City sports news...
Wizards are trying to stick in Kansas City
Now that the World Cup is over, and the Wizards marketing department has seen that this is a city that could love soccer, they're going to strike while the iron's hot.
“As interested as your readers were in soccer two to three weeks ago, they are already talking about the Kansas City Chiefs and what’s going to happen in the Big 12 this fall," said Lee Berke, sports media consultant. "There is this ongoing merry-go-round of sports that divides a lot of attention. Soccer is going to have to compete against all these other sports to keep people’s attention during that four-year cycle (between World Cups).”
Not going to happen. We've seen this happen before. In 2006, the ratings for the World Cup were very high and then dropped to nearly nothing when MLS came on.
It's just as about what else is going on as it is the Wizards. For a few weeks in June, the only thing to compete with the World Cup is baseball. Once you start moving to July and August, you're messing with the Chiefs season and Wizards can't win that battle. We'll see how it all shakes out.
Royals' Soria takes the stage tonight
Will he or won't he? Kansas City wants to know if Joakim Soria can close out the All-Star game tonight. If the opportunity presents itself...
Tonight should be his national stage, finally his, the ball and three outs in the ninth inning in front of a worldwide audience to close out baseball’s summer showcase. Except Yankees manager Joe Girardi doesn’t see it that way, a mistake that will keep Soria hidden a little while longer.
Soria is fine with this. He isn’t driven by fame, so remaining Kansas City’s best-kept secret is good enough. He says he’ll be ready tonight no matter what, whether he’s needed or not.
If the rest of the world knows about Kansas City's secret, his value probably goes up and becomes more attractive because he's talented and marketable to other teams. So...why not?
More Royals news at Royals Review.
NCAA '11 Football comes out today
Rock M Nation and Rock Chalk Talk have both been doing a campaign for NCAA '11 Football (video game). Here is their latest entry on expectations for the 2010 season.
My take is this, Kansas football is definitely in a better position now than they were when the last coaching change took place. With that in mind, I'm not expecting the team to tank. Kansas has a higher caliber of talent on the roster, the energy in the program has seen a resurgence with a fresh start and it's quite simply a matter of whether or not a team pulling in the same direction is enough to overcome some major losses and some serious question marks.
- I expect to either be thrilled about Blaine Gabbert's senior season in 2011 or thrilled that he put up good enough numbers/led Missouri to a good enough 2010 to warrant entering the NFL Draft.
- I expect Missouri fans to undervalue Derrick Washington during the season and overvalue him after the season.
- I expect to sigh loudly when playcalling is inevitability whined about at some point.
More Jayhawks and Tigers news at Rock Chalk Talk and Rock M Nation.
Supplemental draft is coming
The Chiefs supplemental draft is coming on July 15 and it sounds like the Chiefs could play a role. They're reportedly interested in Harvey Unga, a running back out of BYU. The rumor is he could go as high as the third round and as low as not being drafted at all.
He's a big back in the mold of someone to complement Jamaal Charles, the faster back.
Will the Chiefs snag him? There seems to be a decent amount of interest and considering the Chiefs are generally conservative, I would say no, they are not going to get him.