Random thoughts

Billy Butler hit a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 8th inning last night to tie the game at 6, and the Royals completed the comeback in the 12th inning when Melky Cabrera scored Chris Getz and KC moved to 4-1 with a 7-6 win over the White Sox at Kauffman Stadium.  It's the 4th win for the Royals in their last at bat also, which is probably as many as they had last season.  I still am a long way from saying they'll be a contender.  Hell, I'm quite a ways away from saying they won't lose over 90 games this year.  But right now they're fun to watch and we're seeing some things from some guys that we need to compliment the young talent that's going to start coming in later this year, or I guess now since we have 5 rookies in the bullpen and one at first base.  The starting pitching is suspect, save for Jeff Francis who looked good in his first outing.   Alcides Escobar may be the best defensive shortstop we've seen in KC since UL Washington and may allow KC to move Mike Moustakas to 3rd base since I'm fairly certain Mike Aviles isn't going to be starting next year if he's in KC at all. 

If you happen to live or travel to the Los Angeles area and you see these 2 scumbags to the left, don't turn your back on them.  These are police sketches of 2 dreamboats that attacked San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow in Dodgers Stadium parking lot last Tuesday night.   Stow, a 42 year old paramedic was taking a dream road trip to watch his Giants and was beaten by 2 assailants that resemble these drawings so badly that he's in critical condition in a coma with a brain injury.  This has nothing to do with the Dodgers or LA residents in general.  This was a cowardly attack by 2 guys that need to be caught and put away.  My biggest hope is that they haven't already reproduced.  The gene pool isn't deep enough for a couple of bottom feeders like this.

New Missouri basketball coach Frank Haith may not have wowed the entire Missouri fan base with his first press conference as the head coach of the basketball Tigers, but he hit a solid triple.  I think that MU fan is willing to give him a pass until they at least see if he can recruit some solid players at this late juncture.  And for you guys that want to see Mike Alden fired for this.  While I've disagreed that he deserves to lose his job, I agree that he's really polarizing an already and always fractured fan base, it's not going to happen most likely.  The AD appears to be 14 million dollars in the black this year; one of less than 20 athletic departments in the nation that turned a profit.  He may get spanked by the curators sometimes but very few companies fire a manager that turns a large profit.  And one thing I'll say to Mike, and by the way I did email this suggestion...Leave Haith alone and let him run his program.  The guy graduated players from Miami and kept them out of the headlines off the court.  He deserves some latitude until he proves he doesn't.

Quick hits

Lost in the shuffle of the opening day loss, 4-2 to the Los Angeles Angels, something we're probably going to see a lot of this season, was the reopening of the George Brett Bridge in time for the first pitch.  It was really remarkable to me that the contractor, Clarkson Construction was able to get this done in the time allotted.  The bridge was imploded on January 14th, following the Chiefs final game, which was later than expected following a season that included a home playoff game.  Had the bridge, with it's I 70 access not been completed in time, it would have been all that much tougher a sell to get people into Kauffman Stadium.  Realistically the Royals could struggle to avoid losing 100 games again this year.  But it does make it easier for us to make a snap decision to head out to the park on a warm summer evening.

To Missouri fan who's self loathing knows no limit seems to be uninformed as to what is what's going on with Oklahoma's search for a basketball coach.  Athletic Director Joe Castiglione has now struck out with his first 4 choices after firing Jeff Capel.  Local media guy Kevin Harlan said on the Border Patrol said that coaches seemed to be running away from the job and apparently he's correct.  At last count Bruce Weber, Dave Rose, Lon Kruger and Buzz Williams have declined offers from the Sooners.  Apparently a portion of the OU fan base is worrying that they're about to drop into obscurity in the new Big XII conference and they'll become the new Nebraska, all football.  It's odd when so many of our fans wish we had Joe C. back in CoMO instead of Alden.  OU makes between 30 and 40 million a year than the Tigers and aren't having much luck showing anymore success.  And if you want to mention how far ahead their football program is to ours, may I at least remind you of the score last season.

Speaking of football, there was nothing going on with the students out on spring break, but there's a lot of speculation that James Franklin being the starting quarterback on September 3rd at the opener against Miami of Ohio may be premature.  Tyler Gabbert has continued to look good leading the offense and has moved into pretty much a co-number 1 right now.  Brad Madison, while not making people forget about Aldon Smith appears to be developing into a dominant pass rusher, and Kony Ealy may well move into the 3rd spot in the rotation.  Despite losing 3 starters the defensive backfield looks to have more talent than ever.  If Dominique Hamilton comes back from an injury and Sheldon Richardson makes it on campus this could be a very formidable defense.  Some questions still on the offensive side of the ball, including the young receivers moving up and threatening for jobs and whether one of the running backs will be able to stake a claim as the premier back.