Five-Orite Friday: Kansas City Chiefs take national stage for the wrong reasons

You know, it really is amazing how much can happen in just one week. I should say its amazing what can happen in one week when a NFL player calls out his home town fans for being horrible people. This has been one of the more interesting weeks in recent history for the sports world in Kansas City.

1. Cheer-Gate:

Well I might as well get right to Kansas City Chiefs right tackle Eric Winston's comments since I know you are dying to know my thoughts on it. We all know that there is something wrong about cheering when a sports athlete gets hurt. But the fans did it. They have the right to do that. I have done plenty of things in my life time that I regretted later so I am not going to hold it against someone if they cheered at that particular moment. I did find it utterly laughable that Eric Winston thought there was 70,000 people in Arrowhead stadium. The last time Arrowhead has 70,000 in it was probably the 2010 Monday Night Football home opener vs. the Chargers. I say probably because the club level still had a lot of empty yellow seats in them.

Eric Winston's and the much belated comments from Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt aside I for one was not surprised that some fans decided to cheer the injury of Matt Cassel. Look, many people go to Chiefs games on Sundays because it is the biggest and best bar in Kansas City on a Sunday afternoon. People like to go to the stadium early and drink before the game. Then they like to drink during the game. Then they like to drink in the parking lot after the game. That behavior is not special to just Chiefs fans. It happens in a majority of NFL stadiums around the country. Football games are not a family friendly atmosphere and we should now be surprised that some fans actions we less than friendly. This behavior did not shock me at all.

There is the chance that Eric Winston is right and Chiefs fans and the people of Kansas City are just a bunch of meanies who cheer an injuries to their own players. I mean we did boo Robinson Cano so bad that his dad started crying on the mound. We also made Mariano Rivera destroy his ACL while shagging fly balls during battle practice. Move over Philadelphia because Kansas City is now home of the meanest fans ever. We're the new prince, put your crown on the ground.

2. Mr. Quinn, QB Savior:

Who would have thought those words would ever be spoken again concerning Brady Quinn? Not Cleveland Brown fans I will tell you that but that is where the Chiefs now find themselves. The Chiefs now turn to Brady Quinn to get the offense on track. I shouldn't use the phrase 'turn to' because that would imply that the Chiefs did this out of their own free will. You know, that they did it because Matt Cassel's God awful play warranted a change. Nope, the Chiefs were forced by injury to turn to the former 1st round draft pick Brady Quinn.

Brady Quinn is not an elite QB. Not by a long shot. He isn't even a really good NFL. Quite frankly he might barely be an average QB but by God he has to be better than Matt Cassel. I have referred to Matt Cassel as a slightly above average QB in the past and clearly using the word average to describe him is an insult to everything else in the world that is truly average.

Last week I wrote that the change to Quinn needed to happen because change for change sake can has a positive impact on a team. My theory will be put to the test this Sunday in Tampa Bay. Brady Quinn is a better option for the Chiefs at QB simply because his last name is not Cassel. The fact that there is this much hype and excitement around the prospect of Brady Quinn starting a game for your team show you just how bad things have got in Kansas City.

I hope Quinn makes the most of his opportunity to start because it is going to be ripped away from him the millisecond that Cassel is cleared to play.

3. Asleep at the wheel:

I have been lukewarm on Romeo Crennel as the Chiefs head coach and he has not done much to change my mind this season. The teams on field results combined with the completely lack of preparation and never having anything resembling a game plan is very damming to his future with the team. Then RAC spoke to the media this week and he swayed me into the camp of believing he has no idea how to be a head coach in the NFL.

The first misstep Crennel had this week occurred at his Monday afternoon news conference. This was the first time the media had a chance to ask him about Eric Winston's tirade about how horrible the Chiefs fans are. When asked about Winston's comments Crennel said he had not heard Winston's comments. He was aware that something was said but did not listen to them.

WHAAAAAAATTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How in the Hell does that happen? When I heard that live I tweeted that either Romeo Crennel is lying or someone on the Chiefs PR staff needs to be fired. I would venture that what happened was the former. I have zero understanding why answering that question like that was thought to be the best way to handle that. It makes my head hurt. I mean there is no way he went out there without hearing those comments right?

My second beef with Mr. RAC came during Wednesday's meeting with media. The topic of Brady Quinn and RAC's familiarity with him from their Cleveland days and Quinn's career path since they parted way. Crennel quickly down played that and his reasons being that since RAC left the team and could not speak to what happened to Quinn and his career after that. Then came the really fun part of the exchange.

Kansas City Star beat writer Adam Teicher asked Crennel if he talked to Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll about Brady Quinn before they signed him. Since Daboll was Quinn OC the last time Quinn started a game in the NFL. Teicher asked this in a way and with a tone as to say surely you would have talked to someone who worked with Quinn before you signed him. Crennel's response was a simple no. Crennel did not talk to the guy who was the OC for the last game Brady Quinn started before the team signed him.

Once again...

WHHAAAAAATTTT?????

There are a few ways to take that statement. Either Crennel is a buffoon or Crennel has zero input and knowledge into what players they Chiefs decide to sign and add to their roster. Either way it speaks to the core of what kind of head coach Crennel is and that is a very poor one. His record speaks for itself and after this week's comments he just gave me more nails to use on the lid to the coffin.

4. Sweating the small stuff:

Last year former Kansas City Star writer Kent Babb wrote a column about the culture and work environment that was prevalent at Arrowhead and that was surrounding the Chiefs. The story center around the controlling nature of General Manager Scott Pioli, his need to micromanage, and worrying over minor details instead of concerning himself with the bigger picture issues. Well it looks like that behavior has moved its way west.

As if things weren't bad enough at Kansas with the play on the football field. Another beat down at the hands of their rival was quickly thrown to the back burner once news came out that KU head coach Charlie Weis was unhappy with a reporter from the student newspaper.

News started to leak that employees of the KU sports department pulled said reporter aside before Coach Weis' weekly news conference and told him it would be best if he did not ask questions of coach Weis. That if he did ask questions it could result in the reporter being called to the carpet in a matter of speaking.

I don't agree with Weis or the KU sports department's handling of this situation at all but it relates back to the Kent Babb article on Scott Pioli. There are way bigger and more important things to worry about surrounding KU football than headlines and reporters from the student newspaper. If Charlie Weis is worrying this much and wasting this much time and energy on very minor and unimportant details like this then what does that say about how much time he devotes to the actually football team and ways to help them improve?

The recent sparing match with the student newspaper has now open the flood gates to many other nation writers to share their stories about less than stellar interactions with Charlie Weis. This brings unneeded and unwanted attention to the KU program and it has nothing to do with the play on the field.

5. Playoffs?

I love watching the MLB playoffs for so many reasons. One of my least favorite things about watching the MLB playoffs is seeing the numerous former Kansas City Royals players that litter the rosters of the current playoff teams. The post season is the nice kick in the junk alerting Royals fans to the former players the Royals did not retain and how their baseball live improved about 200% since they left Kansas City.

Jeremy Affeldt, Carlos Beltran, Coco Crisp, Raul Ibanez, Jose Mijares, and Gregor Blanco are the recent batch of former Royals to grace the MLB post season scene. But don't worry Royals fans. David Glass said they are going to spend money this season and they really mean it. They are even looking at adding a starting pitcher the caliber of Kyle Lohse. So...yeah....there is that.

Follow me on twitter @craig_a_brenner and until next week peace out.