Sam Mellinger

The Kansas City Star

Go ahead and mark this down: the Chiefs go 10-6, K-State 9-4, Mizzou 8-5, and KU 4-8.

Also: Jeremy Guthrie will not continue his Bob Gibson impersonation.

And: David Glass will open his wallet and allow Dayton Moore to sign two expensive pitchers.

Last one: if he doesn’t, I’m going to very much enjoy writing that column.

This week’s food recommendation is the Italian steak sandwich at the Cigar Box, which never disappoints, and the book recommendation is the amazing Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. I don’t know if it’s the best book I’ve ever read in my life — this, this, this and this are all strong contenders — but it’s in the team photo.

And I’m working on Posnanski’s Paterno book. Glad to finally be able to make up my mind instead of hearing preemptive and definitive opinions about a book nobody’d read.

Anyway, as always, thanks for your help and let’s just get to it.

@Thuettenmueller Just started college this last week. Any advice based on your experiences?

Enjoy it, man, and know that most everyone else is jealous.

You’re in school at a really interesting point in this country’s history, and it’s important you make good grades and the right connections and progress toward whatever career it is you end up going into, but don’t let this be four years of work. Have fun. Study abroad. Do new things, and make sure at least some of those things you wouldn’t want to tell your mom about.

Volunteer. It doesn’t feel like you have a lot of free time, because you can always be doing something, but try to do something at least once a week that’s completely selfless. Work at a hospital. Do Meals on Wheels. Call Big Brothers Big Sisters, if there is one where you are. Go to a soup kitchen. Just make sure you do something that keeps you grounded, reminds you that it’s not all intellectuals and literature out there.

Take advantage of the freedom, but stay out of major trouble, like jail and academic probation. Meet new people. Find grown adults who do what you want to do and ask them questions. If you get one or two of them to serve as something like casual mentors, you’ll be better for it. I know I was.

But, above all: enjoy it, man.

@billybkc If you could pick two women to join Augusta National, who would they be? #twittertuesday

Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj, because Augusta could use some don’t-give-an-F.

@RoyalsFreeOut Have you tried Boulevard’s 80 Acre Hoppy Wheat yet? It’s not Tank 7, but it’s pretty damn good. #TT

I haven’t, and I am definitely intrigued, but there’s also an important point to be made here. I feel a little about this beer the way I did the first time I used Coke as a mixer.

Now, this was back in college, and I LOVED me some Coke. Probably drank, conservative guess here, eight a day. Coke was my water, my Gatorade, my coffee, my everything. So I was hesitant to use it as a vehicle for alcohol because, let’s be honest, that’s a worlds colliding situation.

Turned out I didn’t love it. Didn’t make me hate alcohol or, more importantly, hate Coke. But it just didn’t take.

I’m wondering if the Hoppy Wheat might have the same affect. I do like hops — not too much, but the right amount — and I do like Wheat beer. I just think there’s the potential for some overlap, like spaghetti and ice cream.

@ericulrich Could you go an entire season without watching your favorite team, if it guaranteed a Super Bowl/World Series/Nat Champ? #asshat

The answer is not only no, but: you should look upon anyone who says yes with a skeptical eye.

Because what fun would that be? Your team wins, but you didn’t experience it? You didn’t watch it? You didn’t scream and cuss and punch the air (or a wall) at every twist and turn of the season? The end is no fun without the journey.

I mean, what you’re essentially asking is whether you’d take the best date of your life with the hottest woman (or man) you’ve ever seen, but you’d only find out about later, like on a blog or something.

I guess that beats being stood up or finding yourself at dinner with someone who won’t shut up about their fantasy football team, but it’s not exactly the goal, either.

@Winterburg what’s more important for this season: Cassel to perform well to remain #1 2014-15 or Stanzi to show ability QBOTF?

Cassel, and it’s not even close, perhaps because I’ve essentially given up on Stanzi already. Don’t get me wrong, I think Stanzi is a strong American and I admire his patriotic spirit. It’s just that, no offense, I’d rather have a French guy at quarterback if he could play.

The Chiefs’ real window to win a championship is starting to open, and they don’t have time to hope for a miracle with Stanzi. Cassel has at least shown the ability to navigate a team into the playoffs, which is at least three levels above anything Stanzi has proven so far. Until Scott Pioli makes a real upgrade at quarterback, Cassel is by far the best they’ve got, and he’s a much better option than a lot of people in town give him credit for.

It’s weird that a year after he was replaced by the Tricycle — I tried to warn you — so many Chiefs fans are still under the impression that Cassel is the equivalent of expired milk.

@caleboverman it sounds crazy but could the #Royals win the central (even if it’s remote)? #TwitterTuesday

Absolutely they can.

You’re talking about 2013, with enough additions to the rotation and the ideal amount of luck, right?

@TbobSmith Will Mizzou be more talented than Kansas on the hardwood this year? #Imthinkinso #byalot

I’m not sure how to answer this. I think both will be very good teams, but I’m not sure either has a first-round pick. Jeff Withey is probably the most likely candidate, but Ben McLemore, Alex Oriakhi, Elijah Johnson, Perry Ellis, Phil Pressey, maybe a few others could play their way into that.

I know the early indications are that outside Ellis, KU’s freshman class is very underwhelming, and MU has a lot coming back. But these are still both two very good teams. Whichever is more talented — if you forced me to pick one, I’d pick KU — it’s not by a lot.

@Speck60 The #Chiefs went from best team ever to worst team ever in 8 days. Do KC sports fans ever overreact? #TwitterTuesday

Yes. Which makes them just like sports fans everywhere.

@kent_swanson Can we start a campaign to ruin Chris Perez’ life on Twitter if we place higher than the Indians this year? Seems fair.

Here’s the thing about this NSFW video: there are no winners.

They both look like a-holes, both come across entitled, both playing to their own stupid audiences.

I’m not sure if Perez is trying to make his career into John Rocker 2.0, but that path didn’t end well the first time. I’m all for personality. Sports, and baseball most especially, could use more of that — not less. But Perez is stretching himself into some dangerous places. He’s either a genius with terrific self-control or he’s a ticking time bomb and, ya-know, I don’t think he’s a genius with terrific self-control.

@Photogbrett Royals obviously need starting pitching. FA market sucks. Untouchables this winter? Mine are: Butler.Moose.Escobar.Perez. #TT

Perez, and that’s it. The Royals aren’t good enough to have (m)any untouchables, and in theory, I wouldn’t make Perez untouchable. I just don’t think another team is going to offer enough to make it smart for the Royals to get rid of such an undeniable stud with such an amazingly club-friendly contract^.

^ Even Roger Goodell thinks that deal favors the player.

And I don’t think the free agent market sucks. Anibal Sanchez is a guy the Royals should go after with all guns blazing, and if you get that done and a two-year deal for Jeremy Guthrie, that’s a pretty damn good start. But if it’s a trade that has to happen, you’re going to have to give up something good to get something good and, yeah, there’s a chance we end up talking about Wil Myers.

@informedblackmn What sports at Olympics gave you temporary delusions-of-grandeur that you could train for, until you went to get some fast food?

Two answers. The first is archery or any of the shooting sports because, let’s be honest, I can pull a trigger, too. I really don’t think those sports are all that hard, especially since a many who may or may not be blind set a world record in archery. I think all you need is a steady hand and a lot of time.

The second answer is handball. Because first, it looks so badass. Really, it’s the one sport I always see during the Olympics and find it hard to figure out why it’s not more popular. And shouldn’t America be the biggest handball power in the world? We have athletes, we like to throw things hard, I mean, why can’t this be for us what ping-pong is to the Chinese?

Instead — and this is ridiculous — America has NEVER medaled in team handball. Men or women.

If it mattered, and I was (more of) a jackass, this is where I’d go off on a rant demanding that America’s handball czar be fired.

@Turnksu Rank these coaches for best to worst: Prince, Haley, Gill, Quinn Snyder. Go!

Todd Haley (because he made the playoffs and I still think can be a good coach in the right situation), then Ron Prince (because he got paid and owned Texas), then Quin Snyder (because he at least had a few nice moments) and then Turner Gill (because he’s just the worst).

@BAP_KC who are your FF sleeper picks? #TT

A few facts about me and fantasy football…

• My team is badass.

• That’s as much as I’ll share because you couldn’t care less.

• I’m in a weird and very nerdy keeper league, so sleepers in my fantasy football world are different than in most people’s.

• If you knew my fantasy football history, I wouldn’t be the one you’d ask.

@thillsman If you were ever offered the job of NFL commissioner, would you take the job? (Would you prefer another league?)

Of course I’d take it. You kidding me? Get paid an enormous salary to do — literally, by all appearances — whatever the hell I wanted? Get my own self-worth pumped artificially thick because I was in charge of the most powerful sports league in the country? Get to make bizarre and over-reaching decisions that people would have no other choice but to go along with?

What’s not to like?

@mmMOUF clarification: so do u think Goodell should have not done anything, or was too soft, or just shouldn’t do it case by case period?

This question is from yesterday’s blog post on the Tamba Hali situation , of course.

In most instances that rely on personal discretion, Goodell has shown himself to be the type of man who could use more discretion. He inserts his power where it’s not needed, and his judge-and-jury-plus-the-guy-who-decides-on-appeals style is patently ridiculous.

There’s an old saying in baseball circles that you know it’s a great sport because it continues to grow in spite of the people running it. It’s a good line, but in most ways that matter, outdated in major league baseball. But it’s a great fit for Goodell’s NFL.

I’d prefer my commissioner work on doing more than just the bare minimum lip service to player safety, retired players’ benefits and fixing the mess with officials than worry about a one-game suspension for a player who — by the league’s own admission — did nothing specifically covered by the CBA.

@grackers If Akin played in the NFL, how many games would he be suspended for saying something really, really stupid? #LifetimeBan

Roger Goodell sleeps at night, dreaming of the opportunity to ban someone for saying something that idiotic.

@BrianMcGannon best Tony Scott movie?

Top Gun, and it says a hell of a lot about the guy that he’s been so damn successful a lot of people forgot he did that one.

@TylerDreiling Which move would be more Royals-esque: Signing Guthrie to a 2-yr deal and he falls apart, or let him walk and be a 2013 All Star?

Well, if we’re being honest, the most Royals move would be for Guthrie to walk, become a Cy Young candidate and All-Star MVP, then get busted in an embarrassing drug scandal where his buddy made up a fake website and drug to get out of the suspension.

@Jayhawk432 More wins this year? KU in conference games or the Chiefs in playoff games?

Brilliant question.

I’m going to say the Jayhawks, because they’ll have more chances. They get nine tries at it, and even if Iowa State at home is the most obvious or realistic, that’s eight other games where they catch the other team’s D-effort.

I’m high on the Chiefs, even after the Tamba suspension, and even after the Lewis injury and the continuing (and growing) uncertainty around Brandon Flowers. But there are more things that have to go right for them to make the playoffs and win a game there — which the franchise hasn’t done since 1993, of course — than KU getting one conference win.

@Grant4MU If Mizzou and K-State were to play a non-conference game at Arrowhead this year, who wins and by what score?

Well, hell. There’s another terrific question. I can’t get these stats out of my head:

K-State was outgained in every conference game it played last year except the one against the incompetent coach at KU, by an aggregate average of more than 100 yards per game in conference play and almost 60 overall.

I know K-State will be better than they were last year. I know this. I also know that may not mean they match last year’s 10-3 record.

At the end of it, I guess I wouldn’t see it going much different than last year. The Tigers would leave you thinking they’re the more powerful team, but I’m just done betting against Bill Snyder if it’s close.

I’d say 27-24 K-State.

@RoyalsFreeOut After the events of last week, people are saying that the Royals won or broke even on the Melky trade.That’s insane, right? #TT

Ohmygod. It’s ridiculous. Bothers me more than it should, too. But it’s absolutely insane. Completely insane. Not even a sliver of it is sane.

I’ll accept: trade looks better now than it did two weeks ago.

I’ll accept: getting Jeremy Guthrie dulls some of the sting.

I will not, even under the threat of being forced to hand-pick Starburst from Babb’s braces, accept: Royals made even on the Sanchez trade.

Is major league baseball taking away the games Melky Cabrera won for the Giants? Are the Royals being reimbursed for the games Jonathan Sanchez lost for them (not just the ones where he sucked, but the ones after he sucked, when the bullpen was depleted because he sucked so bad, plus the ones where his teammates played not being sure whether Sanchez gave a damn)?

If either of those things happen, then maybe we’ll have a different conversation. But it’s still a trade that — more than any injury — sunk the Royals’ season.

And this isn’t me bashing Dayton Moore. He’s the GM, so he wears the consequences of the deal, but I loved the trade when it happened so I can’t really crush the guy now. I thought he was selling high on Cabrera (turns out he was, though in a different way) and thought he was plugging a big hole in the rotation by buying low on a guy I never imagined could’ve sunk so much lower (while giving Lorenzo Cain a regular chance).

But more than anything else, the way that trade played out ruined the Royals’ season and clouds some other positives, like the fact that they’re 51-53 since the 12-game turd.

I’m telling you, this thing is a mess, but it’s more solvable than it appears right now.

But, and maybe this should go in capital letters with the hyperlink now: DAVID GLASS MUST SPEND.

@jlmacn913 #TT ever swim nude in the Sea of Galilee?

No comment.

Comments

1. 

   Toten Kopf

   9 months ago

   “DAVID GLASS MUST SPEND.”

   You mean like the Marlins?

   That situation gives him plenty of reason to throw money at the team.

   I think you mean:

   “DAVID GLASS MUST SPEND ON THE RIGHT PLAYERS AND THEREIN IS THE REASON DM IS GM AND I’M WRITING ARTICLES FOR THE KC STAR BECAUSE ‘SPENDING MONEY’ IS ONLY PART OF THE ANSWER.”

2. 

   Sam Mellinger

   9 months ago

   If there are people reading this who don’t understand that spending money on the right players is important, then I hope they step away from the computer because their preschool teacher is probably looking for them.

3. 

   Amanda Mellinger Glasgow

   9 months ago

   Sam. I think you eat too much red meat. Just because you aren’t a fat sportswriter, doesn’t mean you can just eat like one then work it off. Next week I would like to see a vegetarian food recommendation. And gravy fries and cheese pizza do not count.

4. 

   Sam Mellinger

   8 months, 3 weeks ago

   Amanda: not a chance.

Sign in with Facebook to comment.