Weekend at Gurney's

Well, that weekend sucked.

The sports portion of the weekend, anyway. KU gets a nationally televised football game for the first time in at least ten years and the game was over before we were even able to see it. Because the OU-A&M game went late, ABC didn't cut over to the KU-Texas game until it was already 14-0 in favor of the Longhorns. And it wasn't really worth watching after that anyway. In fact, spirits were so low at Chad's, Ryan busted out the 2002 KU basketball highlight video. Watching Collison/Hinrich/Gooden and Boschee and Simien/Langford/Miles helped ease the pain of watching KU's football team get loaded onto hospital gurneys and wheeled out of the State of Competitiveness. Of course, when the highlight video ended, we flipped back to the game and saw the finishing touches of the 66-14 flogging. Oh, well. At least I won a game of poker during it all.

Following that football downer was the Chiefs game on Sunday. The Chiefs were fresh off a last second victory over Oakland and looking to stay in the thick of the AFC West race. Turns out that the team was fitted with some new footwear: toe tags. Those guys were D.O.A. The offensive line played very politely. They simply stepped out of the way of oncoming Buffalo linemen, so as to not obstruct their journey. Poor Trent Green looked like the guy from the NFL Apparel commercial who zipped himself into the tackling dummy and took a beating all day just to get some NFL jerseys.

But I'm not sure what's worse: Getting beat up or getting torched. Which is what happened to Eric Warfield. Twice he was beaten deep for touchdowns.

Really, though, Larry Johnson was the only guy who seemed to show up for the game. He ripped off 130+ yards on the ground and ran with his usual angst. It just so happened that no one else was up to the challenge. And now the Chiefs playoffs hopes are dim at best. With the exception of Houston, every remaining team on the schedule has a winning record. And we would have to go 6-1 to have a reasonable shot at the division.

Chiefs fans, say hello to a long, cold winter. This team is going nowhere this year or in the near future. Coach Dick Vermeil will likely retire after the season. Priest Holmes best days are behind him, even if he is able to play again. Willie Roaf and Will Shields are beginning their trek to Canton. And Trent Green's hair just keeps getting grayer.

At least we've got basketball, though. Tonight, the Kiddie Crew takes on Pittsburgh State in what will most likely be a carbon copy of the Fort Hays State game. Tune in tomorrow for another look at the basketball Jayhawks through rose-colored glasses.