Category Archives: Sports

OTC: Players & Media Turn To Twits On Whether Cutler Quit

 

Jay Cutler“I’m sorry. I don’t need an MRI to confirm King Cutler quit. FOX cameras provided all the evidence I need. … Despite all their strong words defending Cutler, I bet you couldn’t pay Brian Urlacher and Lovie Smith to start Cutler’s car for the next month. Cutler is the new Steve Bartman, the interfering Cubs fan.”
Jason Whitlock, who compares Cutler to Lebron James quitting on the Cavs, FoxSports.com
GH: Whitlock isn’t alone in crucifying Cutler on a subject he admits having no facts. Whitlock doesn’t need an MRI to defame Cutler to the masses. It is why today’s media is more powerful than ever and more wrong than ever. Read on.
“Read all the tweets from current and former players that defended Jay Cutler. Yeah, there weren’t any. … Hey, if I’m wrong I’ll apologize.”
Mike Golic, on the numerous people in the NFL and media (himself included) who condemned the Bears’ QB for quitting on his team, ESPN Radio
GH: The one thing in common with all those current and former players, Whitlock, Golic is that just like you and I, they weren’t there. They watched on television like you and I and then made maybe career-damaging comments about a player’s courage, heart and competitiveness that they could not have known. It is simply too high a price for Cutler to have to pay so these people can be controversial or add another twit to their Twitter account.

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OTC: Texas Stabs Big 12’s Future With A $300-Million TV Deal

 

 

“The rich didn’t just get richer. The richer just got richest, if they weren’t already. … The announcement of the new 24-hour, every-day-of-the-year network that pays Texas $300 million over the next 20 years comes at a steep cost to the rest of the Big 12 Conference. The final score of Wednesday’s historic, ground-breaking news that sets Texas further apart from the huddled masses was thus: Texas 1, Big 12 0.”
Kirk Bohls, columnist, Austin American-Statesman
GH: The jaw-dropping news hit this week – and the money was far more than any of us imagined. So what does this mean to the other nine schools in the new Big 12? Read on.
“Texas’ deal with ESPN is longer and more lucrative – 20 years, $300 million – than what I originally heard but it doesn’t change my feeling. Good for the Longhorns…and the Big 12.”
Blair Kerkhoff, columnist, Kansas City Star
GH: I read Kerkhoff’s comments in The Star on Thursday morning and then revisited them Thursday evening. He could not have meant what he wrote, could he? Obviously, Kerkhoff is either delusional or poorly informed – or maybe just Pollyanna. This ain’t gonna work out well for anyone except Texas – and maybe not even the haughty Horns. Read on.

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OTC: KK Makes Meche Of Pitcher’s Retirement

 

“To watch Gil Meche just completely turn his back on the Royals’ organization for the final two-and-a-half years of a five-year contract to me is unacceptable.”
Kevin Kietzman, after the Royals announced Tuesday that their former ace will retire from MLB immediately, 810 AM
GH: Kietzman began his rant on Meche by saying his comments were not personal. That is not how they came off to this listener. KK sounded bitter, jealous and flat angry that Meche would choose to end his career instead of struggling through another season or two. Almost no one else in the media whom I read or heard agreed with Kietzman. Read on.
“I respect that he did it at this time of year.”
Jeff Montgomery, former Royals’ reliever, 810 AM
“I’m not gonna knock Meche for this. I’m gonna give him credit for not just wanting the money. Kudos to him. He doesn’t think he can be an effective player so he’s moving on.”
Nick Wright, 610 AM

“I don’t think he walked away cheap. I don’t think you’re owed $12.4 million and you’re three weeks away from spring training and you walk away with (only) a million.”
Kevin Kietzman, 810 AM
GH: This is where KK screwed up. He did no research or reporting on this topic. He simply went KK on it – which can be defined as passionately making a point that uses copious amounts of bitterness and untruths. It makes for good radio but it’s damn hard on your credibility. He was quickly corrected by members of his staff. Read on.

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OTC: Mizzou Pressleys K-State Into Panic Mode / KU Rocks Baylor

 

Phil Pressey spurs MU's rout of K-State  “We know Kansas State just had a bad game. We know they’re better than that.”
Gary Link, after Mizzou’s 75-59 win over the Wildcats, 810 AM
GH: That is a very, very large question. Is K-State better than what this or simply not nearly as good as was expected? Read on.
 
“They just flat out don’t have the players. … That was painful to watch. This is not a basketball team. This is a collection of athletes. Maybe we should stop talking about Frank’s coaching and start talking about his recruiting.”
Shan Shariff, 610 AM
 

“Losing (at Mizzou) is no bad mark. But playing this way is. They looked soft. They gave up offensive rebounds on free throws, let the ball be ripped out of their hands, and only Jordan Henriquez-Roberts played with consistent energy. … At least four times (Martin) called his team young or otherwise referred to a need for the players to get tougher. For a team that starts two seniors in a program built on toughness, there aren’t many bigger insults.”
Sam Mellinger, Kansas City Star

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OTC: Is Nick Right For KC Or Simply Niche Wright?

 

“First of all, (Jamaal Charles) has come an amazing way in interviews. An amazing way! He’s still not great but he’s much better.”
Nick Wright, 610 AM
GH: Some would say Wright might want to put in the same effort as Charles at improving his interview technique. I would be one of those. Wright’s radio work comes off at times as lazy. He meanders from topic to topic, even in midsentence. He often relishes dissing his 610 cohorts or faceless production crew in place of humor. It’s train-wreck radio that draws a niche audience but is sliding into irrelevance in the Kansas City market.

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OTC: Is K-State Hoops Ready To Rebound?

 

Colorado Kansas St Basketball“This is rock bottom. Kansas State is 0-2 (in the Big 12). My guess is the last two days, which have been a feeding frenzy for fans, media, The Star today’s got a thing (on Martin and K-State), my guess is this is the worst it will be for K-State this year.”
Kevin Kietzman, 810 AM
GH: That is a mighty bold prediction when you consider KSU has shown almost no awareness of the hole they are digging for themselves. Read on.
 

“Now come five games that the college basketball world will use to judge their talent, resiliency and potential. Respond well, and nothing is out of reach. But continue to fail, and this could be the beginning of an awfully ugly ending. …Things are bad right now, but what if K-State is 2-6 halfway through the league season? … His teams have always played better when they felt doubted, so it would be in character to start winning now. The alternative could get ugly. There’s a lot more than one season’s results depending on it.”
Sam Mellinger, as K-State prepares to play Texas Tech, @ Mizzou, @TAMU, Baylor and @KU, Kansas City Star
GH: KK predicts a 25-point win over hapless Texas Tech this Saturday in Manhattan. It would be a nice respite from the plunge.

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OTC: Is K-State’s Swoon Pullen Wildcats Toward NIT?

 

“This is my last go around. I’m not going to the NIT. I won’t play basketball in the NIT. I’m saying that now. If we lose and we have to go to the NIT, I will not play.”
Jacob Pullen, when asked if playing in the NIT is creeping into his once third-ranked Wildcats’ thoughts now that his club is 0-2 and soon to be out of the top 25, 610 AM
GH: Pullen’s comments came shortly after K-State’s home loss to Colorado. It would not be a stretch to say emotion played a role in his head-jerking words. But Pullen is the senior leader on this team…or should be. To say he’ll quit on his team and school if they don’t make the NCAA sounds ridiculous to me. Especially since his off-court actions (and those of fellow senior Curtis Kelly) have contributed greatly to the team’s poor play.
 
“I would rather he said, ‘We’re not going to the NIT.’”
Josh Klingler, 610 AM
GH: But that’s not what Pullen said. I’ve heard a couple different spins on Pullen’s words but the only one that rings true is Pullen’s adamant stance that he’s not playing in the NIT. Spin it how you want but that is about as far from a team player and leader as you can get. Especially one who just came off an NCAA suspension.

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OTC: Mario Little Returns In Selfish Move

 

“I tried to look at it as if he was my own child and also let the legal system play out.”
Bill Self, on his decision to reinstate Mario Little onto the Kansas basketball team, Kansas City Star
GH: At a minimum, Little was guilty of forcing his way into a residence and physically engaging with two females and one male. He was the only person arrested for this incident. Little is not a “child” as Self describes. He is a fifth-year senior who tracked down a woman at 2:00 AM and assaulted her and her friends. I would find it difficult to cheer for Mario if I were inside Allen Fieldhouse this season. KU fans have far more in common with his victims than with Mario. They too are just average Janes and Joes who do not have KU’s powerful athletic department and fan base defending their criminal acts.
 

"It’s not as though Lawrence (Phillips) is an angry young man all the time and a threat to society. I don’t believe that. But there are occasions every four to five months when he becomes a little explosive.”
Tom Osborne, in 1995 when he defended his star Nebraska running back after he was charged with assaulting his girlfriend at her residence, Lincoln Star Journal

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OTC: Pizza Bob Fescoe’s Reporting Is Thin Crusted

 

“610 Sports Radio’s Bob Fescoe is reporting that Chiefs Head Coach Todd Haley took play calling duties away from Offensive Coordinator Charlie Weis in the second half of yesterday’s playoff loss to Baltimore.  Hear more on this story on 610 Sports Radio and 610sports.com.”
Press Release from 610 Sports Radio following the Chiefs loss to the Ravens
GH: I first saw this “story” Sunday afternoon when Fescoe began tweeting that he had evidence that Weis was seen at a local pizza joint shortly after the game where he was telling local pizza patrons Haley stripped him of his play-calling duties in the second half. I was not at all shocked at Fescoe’s goofy tweet. But I was stunned that 610 Sports then went public with the story as if it was legit. The radio station went with this story despite the fact Fescoe had no firsthand confirmation from Weis, the Chiefs or anyone besides a “source” in a pizza parlor. Read on.
 
“Bob Fescoe of 610 Sports in Kansas City reports that Haley stripped Weis of the play-calling duties during the second half of the game.  Which means that the horrendous showing is on the shoulders not of the guy who left the team, but of the guy who’ll still be there.”
Mike Florio, ProFootballTalk.com
GH: Once 610 Sports sent out their email to media sources, the story was reported by others as factual. This is how rumors and secondhand comments get reported by legitimate news services. There exists an over-eagerness by too many newshounds to make a name for themselves by being first rather than being correct. Florio was burned by Fescoe’s pizza reporting and he torched Fescoe once he discovered how thin the crust was on his reporting. Read on.

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OTC: Ravens Slap Chiefs Back To Reality

 

“We’re going to do something really special here and I think it’s going to happen sooner rather than later. … Again, our goal is to be great and we’re going to do that.”
Todd Haley, in a postgame interview with Len Dawson after the Chiefs were drilled 30-7 by the Ravens, Chiefs Radio Network
GH: Haley was maybe the only upbeat voice following yet another embarrassing Chiefs’ opening-round playoff loss. On the heels of the Oakland beating last week inside Arrowhead, not everyone was as optimistic. Read on.
 
“Really, this was just a distasteful and disgusting performance where really the entire season just imploded on the Chiefs.”
Kevin Kietzman, 810 AM
 

“This sure isn’t the way you want to end up.”
Len Dawson, after listening to Holthus praise the way the Chiefs played the final two months of the season, Chiefs Radio Network

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Take 1993: The Last Time The Chiefs Won A Playoff Game…

 

It has been 17 long years since the Chiefs won a playoff game. Much has changed since the season of 1993. Here are a few thoughts of what life was like here in Kansas City back then. My wife of ten years at the time was seven-months pregnant with our now almost 17-year-old son. Please add your own in the Comments section below.
George Brett made $2.75 million as the Royals DH that season. We had both Brett and Joe Montana in Kansas City uniforms. Not too shabby.
Mark Gubicza, David Cone, Kevin Appier and Brian McRae were also on that Royals’ roster. Think we could use those three pitchers in this season’s starting rotation and B-Mac in center?
Lee’s Summit had one high school not three.

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OTC: Is Haley Hated? Can Gabbert Be Replaced? Is Sheahon For Real?

 

“I think a lot of these (Chiefs) players still don’t like playing for Todd Haley. He’s an abrasive guy but winning is a nice salve…. I think this – if this team was losing games, I think this is the kind of locker room the way they operate that could fall apart quickly.”
Todd Leabo, 810 AM
GH: A lot of successful football coaches do not have a friendly or even civil relationship with their players. Watch Lombardi’s documentary on HBO and you get the feeling his players feared him but didn’t love him while they played for him. That kind of respect comes well after the winning. Some of my favorite coaches were bastards when I played for them. Football cannot be compared to real life.  
 
“I don’t think Todd Haley is ever going to win some kind of poll in the league that people like to play for him. But that’s not going to matter if you continue to win games.”
Danny Clinkscale, 810 AM

“This (AFC West) division next year could be amongst the best in football.”
Kevin Harlan, 810 AM

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OTC: National & Local Media Weigh In On Chiefs’ Playoff Chances

 

“After watching them (Sunday), I’m concerned.”
Len Dawson, on the Chiefs chances in the playoffs against Baltimore this Sunday at noon, 810 AM
“If you’re the Kansas City team you really have to be concerned because you just got mauled at home (by the Raiders). I mean mauled! They physically beat them up and that sticks with you.”
Howie Long, NFL studio analyst for Fox, Jim Rome
“I think the perception nationally is that the Chiefs are a cute little story.”
Soren Petro, 810 AM
GH: Not even all that cute to some…more of a charity act. Read on.

 

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OTC: Whitlock Calls Haley A Fraud & Exposes Himself

 

“(Todd) Haley — not his Kansas City Chiefs — is quite possibly the biggest fraud in football. I say that without malice or pleasure. Personally, I like Todd Haley. It’s true.”
Jason Whitlock, FoxSports.com
GH: There are few things quite like the love Whitlock showers on his subjects. Who else can call an NFL head coach “quite possibly the biggest fraud in football” and yet state he personally likes the guy? You just know that personally, Haley appreciates the nod.

“Unfortunately, he’s a fatally flawed head football coach. He’s insecure, mean-spirited, emotional and irrational.”
Jason Whitlock, FoxSports.com

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OTC: Raiders Dominate Chiefs / Weis Bolts To Florida

 

“Kansas City got humbled at home by the Oakland Raiders.”
Dan Patrick, after the Raiders ended KC’s 7-game unbeaten streak at Arrowhead with a 31-10 thumping, NBC
 
“If even though we not in the playoffs we pulled the chiefs pants down and spanked they ass today.”
Michael Bush, Raiders’ running back, Twitter
 
“Would the real AFC West champ please stand up….O yea we did!!!”
Quentin Groves, Oakland Linebacker, Twitter
 
“Shoutouts to the REAL die hard Chiefs fans who support us no matter what,not just when we win.Y’all know who u are and I luv y’all for that.”
Glenn Dorsey, Twitter
GH: I am sure you do, Glenn. But don’t bag on the fair-weather Chiefs fans. Those are typically the only ones who can afford those cushy suite seats.

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OTC: KSU’s Salute Will Become Famous For Right Reasons

 

Syracuse’s Da’Mon Merkerson (above) prevented Kansas State receiver Aubrey Quarles from catching the ball on a two-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter.“All I saw (Adrian Hilburn) do was do sort of a little salute toward the dugout on the third-base side. I really didn’t see much more than that.”
Wyatt Thompson, play-by-play voice for K-State’s radio broadcast, on why K-State was being penalized 15-yards for excessive celebration following Hilburn’s touchdown to pull the Cats within two points of Syracuse, K-State Sports Network
GH: With that penalty flag – and two different referees tossed flags on Hilburn’s salute – we have a controversy that I believe will become bigger than anyone imagines. This will prove to be far more than just whether or not K-State got jobbed out of a realistic two-point conversation attempt. This one is going Tea-Party viral. Read on.

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OTC: Gabbert’s Pick 6 Deep Sixes Mizzou Against Iowa

 

 

“Worst pass in history of organized football. Thought Croyle threw a worse pass but I was wrong.”
Kevin Kietzman, on the Pick 6 Blaine Gabbert tossed to Iowa’s Micah Hyde late in the fourth quarter to give the Hawkeyes a 27-24 lead, Twitter
GH: We have all witnessed Old Man Momentum turn around a game. But I do not recall OMM ever jamming his tranny into reverse with more ferocity than during Mizzou’s seemingly game-clinching fourth-quarter drive. Tyus-Edney devastating is not too strong of a description for what we witnessed.
 
“Ill-advised is a tremendous understatement.”
Todd Leabo, Twitter
 
 
"I just got greedy."
Blaine Gabbert, via @Dave_Matter on Twitter

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OTC: Chiefs Conquer Doubt & AFC West

 

David Climer: Titans' early wins defy belief “Kansas City deserves this. You deserve this. We deserve this. Sports has meant so much anguish over the years here, so much disappointment, so who cares if we still can’t be sure how this will end?”
Sam Mellinger, columnist, Kansas City Star
GH: There was a time when winning the AFC West was routine for our Kansas City Chiefs. That "time" was almost a generation ago. My 16-year-old son (and yours) has never known the Chiefs or Royals to be anything more than a disappointment. This triumph too may prove to be nothing more than a blip caused by fortuitous scheduling and a putrid division. But not today. Not this week. Not this year. Today we breathe the winter winds as champions. Champions of the NFL’s American Football Conference West. Champions do not apologize. Champions simply reign.
 “K.C. goes from chumps to champs.”
Headline, Omaha World Herald

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OTC: NFL Agains Threatens Backward Blackout For Chiefs

 

“The NFL releases a list of teams each week that are in jeopardy of a blackout because of tickets sold and unfortunately we’re on that list this week for the Tennessee game.”
Mark Donovan, Chiefs COO, 810 AM
GH: The NFL was supposed to announce Thursday at noon (or grant an extension) whether or not the Titans/Chiefs game would be blacked out on television in the Kansas City viewing area. It appears the Chiefs have been granted another 24 hours to sell enough tix to avoid Sunday’s game being blacked out. Read on.
 

“I just think it’s really important that the Chiefs’ fans come out. If we all get to the stadium together, those guys will stick their chests out a little further and play a little harder. If you’re a Chiefs’ fan at all, come on out! Jump on board! Something great could come out of this.”
Bill Maas, 610 AM
GH: I am uneasy with the members of the media who use their voice to influence fans to buying tickets. Maas is an ex-Chief but he doesn’t get a pass on this sin. Being a fan has nothing – NOTHING – to do with buying a ticket.

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OTC: Frank Martin Acting More Clown Than Coach

 

Frank Martin Head coach Frank Martin of the Kansas State Wildcats yells toward players during the second half of the game against the Kansas Jayhawks on March 1, 2008 at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas.“These young men have worked hard to represent themselves and Kansas State in a positive manner. Having said that, they made a mistake in judgment and have to pay a price for that decision.”
Frank Martin, in official statement regarding the suspensions of Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly
GH: This bombshell hit the news only an hour before the game. No media outlets I know of had even a whiff that there were any issues with K-State’s best two players. This is a story that should have been broken earlier by good reporting but was not. It appears everyone in the media got caught overlooking what is going on in Manhattan, KS yet again.

“These two young men did not make a ‘mistake.’ They knew what the rules are and they did what they did. I think too often people try to use that word to get out of what they did. … Don’t try to pretend that it happened by accident.”
Mike DeCourcy, in an interview with Steven St. John on Wednesday morning, 810 AM

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