Sam Mellinger

The Kansas City Star

I left last week for Buffalo a man who writes about a talented NFL team, and came back this week feeling more like a walking chicken wing who writes about a disaster in the making. That was disgusting, guys, so let’s just get to it here at the top.

This week’s reading recommendation is a bit late, but Thomas Lake’s story of “The Boy They Couldn’t Kill” from a week or two ago is just drop-jawing remarkable. Might be the best thing I’ve read in 2012. There is no full digital (legal) version online, but here’s a tease and a link to buy the whole version.

This week’s food recommendation is a bit sentimental: wings at the Peanut, still the king even after heading to my own personal Graceland this weekend.

Let’s get started, and as always, thanks for your help.

@KCBoyDust I don’t know whether to be excited about this or terrified. #twittertuesday #chiefs pic.twitter.com/d3erBUsk

There’s a lot of this going on out there, obviously. Kent and I each went strong after the game, and the feedback from those columns was surprising in a way that helped crystallize this morning’s column, which says the Chiefs have bigger problems than even losing a few games.

It’s not just us liberal media elite, either. Check out some of the frustration of fans.

I usually feel like I have a pretty good idea what most fans are feeling in this town, it’s a critical part of my “job,” and maybe I’m misreading this or just hearing from a very angry and vocal minority but the lack of trust and faith fans have in this organization right now is stunning.

And it’s not misplaced, either.

Even if things went according to script, the Chiefs are built in a way that doesn’t provide a safety net — tough defense, good special teams, Corolla offense, winning the little things and winning games 24-20. There’s just such little margin for error.

And if you look forward, the future doesn’t look too much better, either.

@MettaWorldMark the losses are more on coaching than Pioli, correct?

In a very technical sense, you’re right because this team is FAR too talented to be playing like the worst-most-awful-most-above-its-head team in the NFL. It’s also a bad look for Romeo to shovel blame onto the players. There is no credible argument that he’s not doing the worst coaching job in the league after two weeks, and there should be some accountability there.

So, yes. In a very technical sense, these two losses (particularly the one in Buffalo, because we could all see the one against Atlanta coming) are on Crennel.

But who hired Crennel?

Who pushed out the old coach to make it happen?

And who constructed a roster top-heavy with talent but shallow on depth?

The other point to remember is that as Romeo succeeds or fails, so too does Pioli. Right now, Pioli is in his fourth year and second coach with one (fortunate) playoff appearance. GMs with one (fortunate) playoff appearance in four years do not get to hire three head coaches.

Or, at least, they shouldn’t.

Which brings up this question…

@clevnation Assuming the Chiefs continue this way…does Clark really have the balls to fire him? #TT

Yes, I believe so.

Sometimes I think people look at Clark’s last name and think he’s Lamar 2.0. But he’s a very different man, and that should be obvious by now after he fired Carl Peterson after two years and oversaw a major turnover in administration.

Clark doesn’t like to get embarrassed, and right now — one-eighth of the way through the season, so make of it what you will — the Chiefs are getting embarrassed.

@mmMOUF does Arrowhead get blacked out this season? #TT

I don’t think so, both because the NFL lowered the blackout threshold and because Chiefs games are such a ratings (and therefore revenue) bonanza that it will always make good sense for KCTV to buy up enough tickets to show the game.

Now, I do think that if the Chiefs lose in New Orleans — worth noting the Saints have big problems of their own that stretch beyond an interim coach to the interim coach — it’s going to be an ugly homecoming for the Chargers game Sept. 30 and the Ravens the week after that.

I do believe Matt Cassel will earn the distinction of perhaps being the only athlete in sports to be booed in both his town’s major stadiums in the same calendar year.

Speaking of Cassel…

@clung99 despite end game stats, cassel is clearly a bottom five qb in nfl. Immobile, no zip, poor under pressure name 5 Ud take him over

He’s not THAT bad, people. I’ve been pretty consistent that he’s somewhere between the 18th and 24th best starting quarterback in the NFL, but because I think we all agree the Chiefs need to do better to take their winning a Super Bowl seriously, it brings to mind the line Joe Posnanski sometimes uses: distinctions at that level are not worth making.

But since you asked, I’d take Cassel, right now, over Brandon Weeden, Carson Palmer, whoever’s starting for the Cardinals, Jake Locker and, yes, Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Though I will say, the influx of promising rookie quarterbacks has made that exercise more difficult than it used to be and I might have to rethink that 18-to-24 number.

So let’s pause for some optimism…

@DMBelew We’ll be fine once we get Kendrick Lewis back….right? #TwitterTuesday #OptimisticChiefsFan

Eeesh. We can do better than that.

@BBall138 in the past 2 years, the chiefs have gone on winning streaks beginning with their 1st game after Rosh Hashanna… Just sayin #TT

Well, that’s gonna have to qualify for now, because…

@FSOhioZJackson This KC Star Chiefs column by @mellinger will sound eerily familiar to Browns fans http://www.kansascity.com/2012/09/17/3820542/disastrous-start-exposes-disconnect.html …

Oh gawd…

@TotallyKidding Haven’t lived in KC in 20 years. Pick new teams, quit baseball/football, or age miserably? #twittertuesday

Please…

@TylerDreiling Toss up: Who has the higher win percentage at the end of the season, Royals or Chiefs? #TwitterTuesday

Make it stop…

@BobbyCave When was the last time KC Sports fans collectively, and in one accord, turned to a Royals game for relief from the Chiefs?

Actually, maybe that’s a good idea for the moment. We’ve angst-ed enough for one morning so let’s turn to something more encouraging like, ahem, the Royals.

@PhatNat Saturday - best game #Royals have played all season? Big hitters came through when we needed…#TwitterTuesday #itwasmybday

I have to admit I was stuffing my fat face with wings in Buffalo that night, so I didn’t see the game live, just read about it and watched the condensed game on the iPad^, and, yeah, that was a hell of a thing.

^ That thing saved my @$$, by the way. My laptop died a hero on Saturday, so I had to buy a bluetooth keyboard and do all my work on the iPad. #firstworldproblems.

I couldn’t get away from this thought, though: that would’ve been the sports highlight of the year (at least for people who don’t cheer for KU basketball) in Kansas City if the game meant anything. Think about that. The game was thrilling on its own, but ultimately, you celebrate, fall asleep, wake up, and there’s another baseball game that doesn’t mean anything.

They listed attendance at 23,027. On a Saturday night, if the Royals were in first place or within a few games of a playoff spot, that number would be closer to 40,000 and can you imagine what that stadium would’ve felt like after Zack Greinke leaves and back-to-back homers win it?

Meaningful baseball is unlike just about anything else in sports, because it transforms an endless series of irrelevant outcomes into one in which every minute detail could be the major difference, and it doesn’t stop, day after day after day.

The fans here deserve to feel what that’s like again.

@KingLenz11 #TT how do you think Odorizzi will do in his few starts with the royals?

I have no credible answer for this, and I’m also not sure it really matters in the grand scheme unless his confidence is effected by either a run of dominance or incompetence and I don’t expect either of those to happen.

I do think that, if nothing else, it gives the team and its fans a much-welcomed glimpse at the future. And I say this without knowing Jake from anything more than a couple very short conversations and what baseball folk tell me, but there is going to be a lot of expectation on him.

The Royals need to hope that doesn’t matter, that he can either block out or feed on an organization and fan base desperate for pitching help turning to him with a starving eye.

@anglescott It apppears Balboni’s club HR record will survive another year. Is the guy who breaks it currently on the roster?

I think Mike Moustakas might do it — he has the power and mentality.

I think Billy Butler can do it — but he doesn’t pull the ball enough.

I think Wil Myers will do it — along with a lot of strikeouts.

@thillsman Did you get Babb a going-away present?

A bucket full of Laffy Taffy, to both ruin his ridiculous braces and give him some material to improve a broke bank of jokes.

@st_vockrodt For Twitter Tuesday I’m curious how often you personally watch SKC games. If so, what do you think their chances are in playoffs?

Not as many as I’d like, but I did go to Friday’s game against the flopping Dynamo with my wife and brother-in-law. I’d guess I watch maybe half of them, total, and I’m actually thinking of getting tickets for next season with a friend.

Anyway, they’re clearly among the favorites, though a sport like soccer is more like baseball than football when it comes to upsets. Their inability to beat Houston is a concern, as is Teal Bunbury’s injury, but there’s no reason they shouldn’t have expectations at least as high as last year.

Selfishly, I’m looking forward on the schedule and noticing the MLS Cup final is the same day as Texas at Kansas State…

@ojohnson1 If Optimus Klein leads my boys to victory on Saturday, I think we’ll be the favorite for the Big XII. What do you think?

You could look at it that way, but they’d still probably need to win at West Virginia next month to make that a reality.

But it sure would change the way a lot of people think, both about the Wildcats and (assuming he’d have to play well to beat OU) ol’ boy Optimus. Either way, I’m really excited about that game this weekend, I’m flying down (sort of) on the way to New Orleans.

@nsobba29 Score prediction for #KState vs #OU this weekend?

Well, Vegas has the ‘Cats as a 14-point underdog so I don’t think this qualifies as going against my never-doubt-Snyder policy:

Oklahoma 34, K-State 27.

@rock_schaller do you ever participate in ‘griffining’ after you write a really good column? #TT

I like to celebrate with a Tank 7, and in certain extreme cases, a cigar. I know, I’m a cliche. Don’t judge me.

@RoyalsFreeOut Other than the game, how was your stay in the beautiful city of Buffalo?

Buffalo just isn’t much. It’s just not. It’s a lot of nice people in a cold place where they make snow jokes but, of course, for me personally it was all about the wings.

We went to Anchor Bar and Duff’s, which seem to be the consensus of best wings in town. Both are very, very good, but it must be something about the town because both VASTLY overrate how hot their wings are.

At Duff’s, the waitresses wear shirts that, I’m paraphrasing here, say “Medium is hot, medium-hot is VERY HOT and hot might blow your skull right off your neck.”

‘Cept medium is actually mild, medium-hot has a hint of spice, and hot is actually closer to medium-hot. Same thing at Anchor Bar. They have a sauce called “suicidal” that’s the perfect amount of spice.

But, anyway, the wings are about what you’d expect from the place that invented them. Traditional, (thankfully) not battered, lots of sauce, and served in large quantities with buckets.

Both were really good. I’d give Duff’s a slight edge because it’s able to sneak in just the right amount of subtle sweet with everything else, but both would be among the best five wings I’ve ever had and both are a bit short of the Peanut — still the undisputed champion of the world.

@bmd473 How do you justify getting paid to watch the crap that the Chiefs put on the field while the rest of us pay to watch? #TT

Look man, it’s my “job.” I have to. You can change the channel.

Or at least self-medicate.

@gamartin My 12 & 14 year old sons prefer Manilow to The Black Keys. Is the bigger failure me or the Chief’s front office? #TT

Yep. It’s been that kind of week around here.

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