Weekend Cup O’Chiefs

We are now three months and change away from the start of the 2009 NFL regular season.

If you are interested in purchasing tickets to see the Chiefs at Arrowhead this coming season, a phone call to the team’s ticket department will provide this information: plenty of good seats are available for all 10 home games.

And I mean plenty.

The Chiefs are going to struggle to sellout Arrowhead this season. It was a struggle last season and while nobody will provide any real numbers, season ticket renewals were at their lowest levels in the last 20 years.

None of this comes as much of a surprise given the team’s 6-26 record the last two seasons. The one thing I’ve learned in 28 years of living in Kansas City is that sports fans here answer with their wallets. Places like New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, those towns will buy tickets no matter whether their teams are contenders, pretenders or also rans. They will pay to cheer success and pay to boo failure

Kansas City fans won’t do that. If there’s no belief the team can be successful, they answer by keeping their bankroll.

There’s another factor the Chiefs are fighting this year when it comes to selling tickets, and his name is Zack Greinke. Read More..

Bottom of the Bird Cage 5/29

On the 149th day of the year we celebrate the birthday of the state of Wisconsin, which became the 30th of the United States in 1848.

On May 29, 1903, Bob Hope was born in England. On this day in 1917, President John F. Kennedy was born. It was on May 29, 1942 that Bing Crosby went into a studio and recorded “White Christmas” one of the best selling and most played songs in American history.

And on May 29, 1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, the tallest point on Earth at 29,028 feet. The 33-year old New Zealander and the Sherpa guide reached the top of the world at 11:30 that morning, after camping that night on the side of the mountain at 27,900 feet. When Hillary woke up that morning, he found his boots frozen solid outside the tent and it took two hours to thaw them out.

The pair carried 30-pound packs as they made their final ascent. Once they got there, they spent just 15 minutes, taking pictures like the one at the right of Norgay. Then they came back down the mountain. One of the first people to greet them was a lifelong friend of Hillary. “Well, George,” Hillary said. “We knocked the bastard off.”

From the Philadelphia Daily News:
What Lisa McHale would like you to know is the way it once was, not the way it ended. Because it is vital to her that you know her husband Tom as she will always remember him – the intelligent, principled, fun-loving man she fell for so long ago back in college.

Away from the violence that unfolded each Sunday on the football field, where he played on the offensive line for 9 years in the NFL for the Eagles and two other teams, the 6-4, 290-pound Tom McHale could fill up a room with his presence. Good guy: Loved his wife, doted on his three boys, and remained loyal to his old pals from childhood. Lisa remembers she was “instantaneously crazy about him” and that would never change, even as she now catches herself saying: “I just wish you could have known Tom when he was Tom.”

Gradually, he became a stranger to her. In the years that followed his departure from the league in 1995, during which he opened some restaurants and worked in real estate in the Tampa area, McHale began taking OxyContin and other drugs to quell the pain that had settled in his joints.

Read More..

Friday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

In a ruling that surprised no one, the Delaware Supreme Court on Thursday said that a potential sports betting lottery in the state does not violate Delaware’s state constitution.

That takes the Blue Hen state one step closer to having legalized gambling on sporting events.

“What we anticipate having is a sport (book) similar to what you see in Las Vegas, that would be football and basketball,” Lottery Director Wayne Lemons told Reuters news service. “We intend to have it up and running by the time the football season starts in the fall.”

Delaware wants to have three kinds of bets: single-game using a point spread; over-under bets on the total number of points scored, and parlay games.

The five justices ruled that parlay games, in which a bettor picks the winner or more than one game, met constitutional muster. But the judges chose not to rule on whether betting on a single game would constitute a lottery.

The NFL is not happy. Heaven knows why professional football wants a say in the activities of a state where it does not have a team, but the league is pondering legal action to stop the lottery. The league says it violates the Delaware constitution and also violates a 1992 Federal law that banned sports betting.

The only states that can offer sports lotteries are those grandfathered under that law. That would be Nevada, Montana and Delaware, where they had a failed sports lottery back in 1976.

The league’s legal issue is that the Delaware constitution bans games of skill and that betting on pro football is skill, not chance. Read More..

Bottom of Bird Cage 5/28

It’s the 148th day of the year.

On Mary 28, 1774, the first Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. In 1892, John Muir organized the Sierra Club in San Francisco. On May 28, 1938, Jerry West was born in Cheylan, West Virginia and on this day in 1940, Belgium surrendered to the German forces of Adolph Hitler.

And on May 28, 1888 quite possibly the greatest athlete in American history was born in Oklahoma. His given name was Wa-Tho-Huk, which translated from the language of the Sac-Fox Indians to “Bright Path.” His baptismal certificate read Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe.

Jim Thorpe played both professional baseball and football. At one point he barnstormed around the country with a traveling basketball team. He won Olympic gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon at the 1912 Summer Games in Stockholm. He was voted the best athlete of the first half-century by a panel of voters selected by the Associated Press.

Thorpe came out of the Indian lands of Oklahoma, spent time at Haskell in Lawrence, but then ended up at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There he performed in track and football for the legendary Pop Warner and that was the launching pad for his athletic career.

As much success as Thorpe experienced on the field, his life off the field was a struggle due largely to his abuse of alcohol. He was married three different times and lost every dime he ever made along the way. Thorpe worked as a movie extra, construction worker, security guard, bouncer, ditch digger and even joined the U.S. Merchant Marine at one point.

He died penniless of a heart attack in his trailer home in Lomita, California in 1953.

Now, a trip around the AFC West. Read More..

Thursday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

With apologies to Agatha Christie, here’s a version of her children’s poem Ten Little Indians.

Call it the 12 Little Chiefs:

Twelve Little Chiefs taken in the draft,

One smoked a toke and eleven were left.

Eleven Little Chiefs, taken in the draft,

One showed up heavy and ten were still left.

Ten Little Chiefs, taken in the draft,

One never got a chance and now nine were left.

Nine Little Chiefs taken in the draft,

One was a tweener and eight are now left.

The Chiefs 2008 NFL Draft class was going to be the foundation for the future of the franchise. It still may be, but its numbers are dwindling as 33 percent of the 12-man group has been sent packing by the Pioli/Haley regime. Michael Merritt, Will Franklin, Kevin Robinson and Brian Johnston (right) are gone.

The newest departure came on Wednesday when Johnston was waived by the Chiefs.

So what does that say about the ‘08 Class?

Nothing really. Read More..

Chiefs Waive Brian Johnston

The purge of the 2008 Chiefs draft class continued on Wednesday as the team released DE Brian Johnston.

He becomes the fourth member of the 12-player class of 2008 to be released since the new regime took over the franchise.

Johnston was a seventh-round pick last year, the 210th player selected.  He appeared in nine games last year and was credtied with three  tackleson defense and one on special teams.  A calf injury pushed him to the injured-reserve list on November 12 and he missed the season’s final seven games.

At 6-4, 269 pounds Johnston was too light to play defensive end in the new Chiefs defensive scheme.  He had been working a bit at outside linebacker, although he was not taking part in full team work during last week’s OTA sessions.

Johnston was drafted out of Gardner-Webb.  Don’t be surprised if he’s claimed on waivers by the Detroit Lions and former Chiefs defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham.

Also released were fourth-round choice WR Will Franklin, sixth-round pick PR-KR Kevin Robinson and seventh-round selection TE Michael Merritt.

Bottom of the Bird Cage 5/27

We reached the 147th day of the year.

On May 27, 1930 in New York, the Chrysler Building opened to the public for the first time. It was the talents building in the world when it was completed at 1,046 feet. On this day in 1937 the Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrian traffic for the first time.

Born on May 27, 1912 in Ashwood, Virginia was golfer “Slammin’” Sam Snead. One of the greatest golfers in history, he won 165 tournaments and three Masters titles. He had one of the sweetest swings in golf and many players at all levels tried to copy his tempo and rhythm. Snead passed away a few days short of his 90th birthday.

And on May 27, 2000 one of the greatest athletes in North America history passed away in Montreal. Maurice “Rocket” Richard died of complications from stomach cancer. He was 78 years old. A native of Montreal, Richard would play 19 seasons of hockey with the Canadians, and was the first NHL player to score 50 goals in 50 games and the first to reach 500 goals in his career. While he was with the Canadians, the team won eight Stanley Cups.

So dominant was he as a player that the Hockey Hall of Fame waived its waiting period for induction and took him in the year after he retired. When he passed away nine years ago, he had a state funeral that was broadcast live on television throughout Canada. Thousands paid respects to him as he lay in state at the Molson Centre before the services.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Peria Jerry almost died one day on the practice field. That was the major hurdle he overcame on his way to starring at Mississippi and becoming the Falcons’ first-round pick (24th overall) in the NFL’s 2009 draft.

There were other hurdles, including weight problems, lack of interest and alleged laziness as he followed a family tradition, climbing the football ladder out of rural Mississippi to the NFL. But for a fast-acting coaching staff, none of this would have happened. Back on a sweltering hot day in 2004, Jerry was on the practice field at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va.

“He got dehydrated, and his whole body locked up,” Hargrave coach Robert Prunty said. “We had to rush him to the hospital. His potassium was so low. Man, I thought I was going to lose that kid.”

Read More..

Wednesday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

For awhile there it seemed like the only quarterbacks that were making headlines this spring in pro football were a guy who wants to find a new place to play (Mike Vick) and a guy who isn’t quite sure what he wants to do (Brett Favre).

That changed on Tuesday when the game’s biggest stars got into the headlines: Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

For the first time since his knee injury against the Chiefs back on September 7, 2008, Tom Brady was on the field with his football team. He took part in a Patriots OTA session in Foxboro on Tuesday and he spoke at length for the first time about his injury, his rehab and what he expects.

More on him later.

Manning was on the field Tuesday morning as well for an OTA with the Colts on Tuesday. When it was done, it spoke to the media and he wasn’t very happy. Manning is miffed at the loss of assistant coaches Tom Moore and Howard Mudd and he’s unhappy with the lack of communication within the Colts about the entire situation.

“I can’t tell you what’s going on,” Manning told the Indy media on Tuesday. “I will say I don’t think it’s been the most properly communicated scenario around here.

“I think the communication has been pretty poor in my opinion. Somebody says one thing then somebody else says another thing. I’m not sure everybody’s on the same page in this building. I’m just trying to focus on playing quarterback well.” Read More..

More Training Camp Info

The Chiefs announced on Tuesday that they will head off to training camp on Thursday, July 30, with their first practice session set for Saturday, August 1 in River Falls, Wisconsin.

The annual Family Fun Night practice will go down on Saturday, August 8 at Ramer Field on the UW-RF campus.

The  Chiefs will return home on Friday, August 14 to play their pre-season opener the next day against Houston at Arrowhead.   They’ll go back to Wisconsin for the next week of work, breaking camp on Thursday, August 20 when they bus over to Minneapolis to play the Vikings in pre-season game No. 2 on Friday, August 21.

They’ll finish up the pre-season working out of their facilities at the Truman Sports Complex.

More details on practices and times in River falls will come in the future.

Bottom of the Bird Cage 5/26

It is the 146th day of the year.

On May 26, 1868 the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson ends with a vote of 35-19 against the President, but that was one vote short of the needed two-thirds total to remove him from office. Johnson had removed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and that set off a political and constitutional hurricane that led to the articles of impeachment.

It was on this day in 1959 the word Frisbee became a registered trademark of Wham-O. On May 26, 1978, the first legal casino opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Born on May 26, 1939 in Portland, Oregon was sportscaster Brent Musburger. Hank Williams, Jr. arrived on this day in 1949 in Shreveport and on May 26, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa came the arrival of Marion Robert Morrison. He became better known as John Wayne, and went on to become a Hollywood icon, winning an Oscar and becoming America’s No. 1 box office draw for more than a decade.

And on May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois was born a musical genius, Miles Davis (left). He would go on to become one of the great figures in American Jazz, playing his trumpet and changing the way people listened to music. He said it best one day:

I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning… Every day I find something creative to do with my life.”

From the Indianapolis Star:
The on-going uncertainty surrounding the Indianapolis Colts offensive coaching staff, coupled with a lack of communication regarding that uncertainty, isn’t setting well with quarterback Peyton Manning. “I can’t tell you what’s going on,” Manning said during a break for one of the team’s organized team activity sessions today at its Westside complex.”I will say I don’t think it’s been the most properly communicated scenario around here.”

Moore, coordinator since 1998, and Mudd, the offensive line coach since ‘98, each retired earlier this month because of concerns with the NFL’s pension plan. Owner Jim Irsay plans to bring them back as consultants, ideally for the start of training camp on Aug. 2.

Not knowing the details during the process irritated Manning, who faced losing his two most trusted coaches. “It’s not a situation that I’m just thrilled about,” he said.

Read More..

Tuesday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

Like most everybody else, the Chiefs will return to work on Tuesday after enjoying a three-day Memorial Day holiday.

After going through four OTA sessions last week, the players will get back into the strength and conditioning program for this week. They will not get back on the field as a team until a week from today. Starting with that workout on June 1, the Chiefs are scheduled to have 15 practices in 18 days. It all wraps up on June 18th; that’s when the OTA sessions end.

The Chiefs will then go off on vacation until July 30th, when they are currently scheduled to travel to River Falls, Wisconsin for the start of training camp.

As important as those practice sessions will be, Todd Haley has really been focused on the strength and conditioning program for his team and the gains that his players have made since it began back in March.

“These guys have bought into what we are trying to do and you can see it on some of these guys already,” Haley said. “Bigger, stronger, in better condition, it all helps you play the game and it keeps you healthy.”

It can also help you win in the fourth quarter. Haley hasn’t said so, but more than likely he watched the tape of last year’s Chiefs team and saw fourth quarter performances that were seriously lacking. In the last 10 games of the 2008 season, the Chiefs had the lead, were tied, or trailed by less than a touchdown seven times.

The Chiefs record in those games: 1-6. Read More..

Honoring History

It began as Decoration Day, a moment to honor the military men who gave their life in defense of our country.

It’s grown into Memorial Day, a time to honor all of those who came before us, the people who helped create the life we enjoy today.

First we honor those who represented the United States of America around the world. Then, we salute those family members and friends who paved the way.

And then we remember those who entertained us over the years, who gave us something to cheer and celebrate.

Here’s a red and gold salute on this Memorial Day to those men who were big parts of the history of the Kansas City Chiefs.

How could we start with anyone but the founder, Lamar Hunt (1932-2006.) His naivete some 50 years ago, combined with his desire to own a professional football team, helped create a new landscape in the world of American sports.

Then, his decision to do what was best for his football team and its survival brought his franchise to Kansas City where they became the Chiefs. People have forgotten how hard that decision was for Lamar. Here he had a championship team, playing in his hometown. The rival Dallas Cowboys were still struggling after three years, putting up a 9-28-3 record. Another year in Big D and it could have been the Texans chasing the Cowboys out of the Cotton Bowl.

But Hunt knew it would be better for the future of the AFL and better for his franchise to find somewhere else to play. He considered New Orleans and Atlanta, but it was ultimately Kansas City that got the team.

Over the years, his decisions or indecisions were not always what Chiefs fans wanted to see. But there’s no doubt Lamar always ran the team in a manner he was most comfortable with. If you didn’t agree with him, that was OK; everyone was entitled to an opinion. He was an original and any time they leave the scene they are missed.

One of the men that Lamar cast his lot with early on was Hank Stram (1923-2005). For 15 seasons, Stram was the head football man for the Texans-Chiefs and he led them to their only championships (1962-66-69). He too was an original, a man with brains, talent and ego far bigger than his diminutive physical dimensions. Hank was a football innovator and one of the most competitive people to ever walk the earth. His spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is well deserved and when you watch the game of football today, there are bits of Stram that are visible every Sunday.

Remarkably in 49 years of existence, only one other head coach has passed, and that happened just recently with Frank Gansz (1938-2009.) In the history of the game, few men were able to coach the kicking game as well as Gansz and few were as beloved by players and fellow coaches as this Naval Academy graduate. Read More..

Memorial Day Weekend Cup O’Chiefs

ENJOY YOUR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!

As we head into the first big holiday weekend of the summer, be safe. As Herm would say, we don’t want to see any of you ending up on “da-da-da … da-da-da.”

The Chiefs got through their first four OTA sessions, wrapping up on Friday with a little levity as Todd Haley had the offensive and defensive line catch punts off the jugs machine. The side that caught the most punts got a few gassers taken off their total. The happy side was the offense.

Near as we could tell the team got through the workouts without any injuries, major or minor. That’s always a good sign at this time of the year. There were eight players who were there but did not take part in all of the practice work. The good thing is all of those players were doing rehab, so all are on the way back. Some rode stationary bikes, while others were running sprints and pushing a weighted sled under the direction of conditioning coaches Cedric Smith and Brent Salazar.

As always, there was attention on those who were not there, led by the duo of Brian Waters and Mike Vrabel (right), who have not taken part in any of the off-season work with the team. Neither has returned calls to the media to explain why they are absent. But both have apparently talked with Haley about their absences. “Nothing was a surprise and we are aware of what was going on,” Haley said of the absent players, which on Friday included RB Larry Johnson and OLB Tamba Hali.

But Haley did address the Vrabel situation a bit.

“I would say that Mike is excited to get here and I’m excited to see him in action and see where he is at,” said Haley. “We have been giving him the information and he has been working, calling and checking in. We will see when he gets here where we stand just like any of the guys who haven’t been here.”

Reportedly Vrabel played most of last season with a bum shoulder, not that the information has ever been confirmed by the Patriots. Quite possibly, Vrabel has stayed away rehabbing the shoulder and might not be able to take part in the strength program, or even get on the field to work with the defense. Like most NFL teams these days, the Chiefs are closed-mouth on the injury situation of their players. Read More..

OTA Update 5/22

From the Truman Sports Complex

“There were  some encouraging signs.”

That was Todd Haley’s assessment of his team’s first week of OTA practices that ended on Friday with a 90-minute workout in the muggy outdoors.

There were 81 players on the field for the workout, with 74 participating.  Joining G Brian Waters, LB Mike Vrabel and CB Donald Washington among the  missing were DE Tamba Hali and RB Larry Johnson.  Haley would not comment on any of the missing, other than to say none were a surprise.  Washington is unable to attend due to NFL regulations.

Haley did comment briefly on Vrabel, who has not been part any activities with the Chiefs since he came over in the trade with New England.

“Mike  is excited to get here and I’m excited to see  him in action and see where he’s at,” said Haley. “We’ve been giving him the information, he’s been working, calling and checking in.  When he gets here, we’ll  know where we stand.”

The head coach also spoke about L.J. and what he saw from the veteran running back during the first three OTA sessions this week.

“He’s made some runs in the last practices that I thought were pretty special,” Haley said.  “I was very encouraged by a couple of those.  A couple of those flashed at me and the coaches, where you say ‘Woo, that was pretty good!’ 

“If Larry continues to work, and stay on point, and do the things asked of him, he definitely has a chance to help us.” Read More..

Bottom of the Bird Cage 5/22

Friday is Day No. 142 on the year. It’s National Maritime Day, a celebration of the American shipping industry.

On May 22, 1809 a grand jury indicted former vice-president Aaron Burr on charges of treason. Almost one hundred years later in 1906, the Wright Brothers were granted a U.S. patent (#821,393) for their flying machine. On May 22, 1928 T. Boone Pickens was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma. Born on this day in 1942 was Theodre Kaczynski. You know him better as the Unabomber.

And on May 22, 1843, thousands of people left Independence, Missouri in a wagon train that would follow and eventually complete the Oregon Trail. Called “The Great Migration of 1843, these people made their way west out of Independence along the Missouri River. They were led by John Gantt, a former Army captain and fur trader who was paid $1 a person to lead this wagon train to Ft. Hall, Idaho.

After cutting a new trail through the Blue Mountains of Oregon, nearly all of the travelers arrived in Oregon by early October – five months later – finishing their trip by settling in the Willamette Valley. It also established a passable wagon trail from Independence to The Dalles, Oregon.

Our forefathers and mothers were one tough group of people. I wonder what people will say in 160 years about us? Read More..