The Sporting News

The pop culture take is a little more involved than I thought. I want to do it right, so it may take me an additional day or two. Fret not, though; I will have something soon. In the meantime, I wanted to comment on recent and timely sporting news:

** The Royals have reportedly targeted Reggie Sanders as a free agent solution to their abysmal outfield production. I think Reggie Sanders is a stand-up guy, but he's 37-years old and has an extensive injury history. How this fits into our youth plan is beyond me. Additionally, GM Allard Baird is interested in Elmer Dessens as a middle reliever. The same Elmer Dessens with the 4.40 career ERA. Of course, he had a 3.56 ERA last year for the Dodgers. But Baird obviously isn't aware of the existence of park effects which give Dodger pitchers shinier resumes because they pitch half their games in Dodger Stadium. Think of Dodger stadium as the opposite of Coors Field in Colorado: pitchers thrive in L.A. and die in Denver. Jose Lima reminded us of that when he was re-signed by the Royals a year after posting a 4.07 ERA for the Dodgers. His 6.99 ERA for the Royals last year was the worst in baseball history by a pitcher who started at least 30 games. All of this is to reiterate that Allard Baird has absolutely no idea how to acquire proven major league talent.

** The NCAA suspended KU forward Darnell Jackson for nine games. The suspension came as a result of Jackson's friendship with KU football alumnus and booster Don Davis. Davis met Jackson when Jackson was in high school and had yet to even be recruited by KU. Davis befriended Jackson and his family, becoming a mentor and spiritual leader to the boy who had previously lost his father.

I realize that the NCAA has to have strict guidelines in place to avoid unfair treatment of athletes and universities, but this just doesn't seem appropriate. How can you punish a kid for a sincere relationship he had with someone before he was even a college recruit? On top of that, Davis, who is one of the few successful KU football players currently in the NFL, has been disassociated from the university, revoking his ticket privileges and ability to donate to the Williams Fund. All I can say is that this is all very unfortunate.

** The NFL announced that Kansas City is eligible to host a Super Bowl, assuming they make renovations to Arrowhead Stadium that include a roof and climate control. This should have been a happy day, but the $500 million estimate to renovate and add a roof has dampened enthusiasm. Since Lamar Hunt tried earlier this year to bilk Kansas City taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars (and was voted down), it seems he's been holed up, trying to figure out how to leverage his enormous clout into getting these renovation dollars. And he seems to have found the perfect plan: Throw your weight around with the NFL offices and owners ("I founded the AFL, after all!") to ensure an opportunity to host the Super Bowl and then pawn off the ever-increasing costs to the Kansas City taxpayer. That way, if the taxpayers vote it down, they'll be stuck with the stigma of not doing enough to help attract a Super Bowl and improve Kansas City while Hunt sits back and says, "Hey, I did my part." I'm tired of this crap. Maybe if we had won more than one Super Bowl since 1970 I'd be more willing to pony up some dough for this ridiculous proposal.