By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor
(GAMBLING)—Sports wagering hasn’t been approved for the ballot yet, but Missourians appear narrowly willing to allow it if it’s on the November ballot.
A poll of more than 1800 Missourians earlier this month by Emerson College, The Hill, and Nextstar Media, shows 38.3% of prospective voters want it while 35.4% of prospective voters oppose it. That leaves more than 26% undecided.
Emerson College (in Massachusetts) Senior Polling Director Matt Taglia says, “I don’t think folks necessarily know what all it entails but a lot of them are, in principle, supportive of the idea.”
An organization supporting sports wagering—the misleadingly named Winning for Missouri Education (actually, approval of the proposal as submitted will make Missouri school losers) has submitted more than 300,000 petition signatures to put the issue on the November ballot. The Secretary of State’s office and county clerks throughout Missouri are verifying the signatures.
(CHIEFS/ROYALS; STAY OR GO?)—The same poll shows 46% of respondents think it is “very important” to keep the Kansas City Chiefs from being lured to Kansas. Another 17% say it is “somewhat important.” Twenty-two percent would not miss the Chiefs in Missouri.
Support for the Royals is a little softer. Thirty-eight percent say it’s “very important;” twenty percent say it’s “somewhat.” Two dozen percent of the respondents say they would be bothered at all if the Royals move across the state line.
(CARDINALS)—The St. Louis Cardinals have finally staggered two games above .500 thanks to their weekend sweep and the news got even better yesterday with the reactivation of catcher Wilson Contreras from the DL several says earlier than expected. He’s been out since May 7 because of a broken arm. He’s been on a minor league rehab assignment since June 18, going 3 for 21 at Memphis.
His activation has meant a trip back to Memphis for backup catcher Nick Raposo.
Before his injury, Contreras had a half dozen homers, a dozen RBIs and a .280 average through the team’s first 31 games. He will rejoin a team that is playing far better than it was before he was hurt. The Redbirds are eleven games over .500 in his absence, the best record in the National League since May 12 at 24-13.
He returns while Nolan Arenado spent his second straight game on the bench. He came out of Saturday’s game with a sore left forearm. He’s gotten an injection for the pain.
Noot News: Lars Nootbar is getting close to a rehab assignment. He’s been out since early may with a left oblique strain.
(ROYALS)—The Royals have cooled off in June but remain five games above break even. Their performance since winning eight straight and soaring to 15 games over .500 to going 8-18 since has some fans wonder if the team has turned the wrong corner as the season nears the halfway point.
Former Missouri Tiger Max Scherzer, making his first start of the year for the Texas Rangers, shut down the Royals Sunday, as the Royals were swept in a series for the first time this year.
The sagging performance has left KC nine games behind the Cleveland Guardians and worse, a game behind Boston in the wild card standings.
They got some offensive punch back yesterday with the reactivation of Michael Massey from the ten-day DL. Back problems have limited him to just 29 games this year. His back problems have been treated with recent injections to relieve the pain.
And now, some wheels:
(INDYCAR)—Nobody knows his way around Laguna Seca tese days better than Alex Palou. In his last four races on the California road course, he has had finishes of 1-3=1=2, picking up his second win of the year and moving into the IndyCar points lead.
He finished about two seconds ahead of Colton Herta in what he called “a chaotic race” that relied on a tire strategy that was “a bit risky for the position we were in.”
Former Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi was fourth, giving his Juncos Hollinger Racing team its best finish ever in the series.
The win gives Palou a 25-point lead over Will Power. Scott Dixon is running third.
(NASCAR)—The track was damp and another rain storm was threatening and NASCAR decided to finish the weekend race at New Hampshire with cars using rain tires. Christopher Bell and other competitors had to sit out a two-hour rain and lightning delay before re-starting on a damp surface. Although parts of the track were dry at the end, enough other segments remained damp that NASCAR decreed no car would switch to slicks.
Bell led almost half of the laps to become the fourth driver to have at least three wins this year.
The race was only the second one on series history to use the new kind of tires. NASCAR Senior VP for Competition, Elton Sawyer, praised the development of the tire. “We’d have been done with 82 laps to go and instead it gave us a chance to get back to green,” he said.
(NHRA)—We don’t usually comment on the folks who seek 300 mph in less than a quarter mile but John Force’s engine explosion and crash in Virginia during the weekend. Force is 75 years old but still competing at the highest levels of National Hot Rod Association competition.
His engine blew up as his car crossed the finish line, crashed into the wall and came to rest in the middle of the track. He was conscious when the safety crew got to him but was taken to a nearby hospital where he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. Daughter Brittany told reporters later, “My dad’s going to be all right…He’s one of the toughest people I know.”
(FORMULA 1)—The Spanish Grand Prix went to Max Verstappen with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton taking the other podium positions.
F1 has unveiled specifications for its 2026 cars:
It says the new cars will be “more agile” because of a weight reduction, will increase use of batteries and the use of sustainable fuels. Aerodynamics will become more active with moveable front and rear wing. F1 will have six engine manufacturers—compared to three for NASCAR and two for IndyCar.
(Photo credits: Rick Gevers, Bob Priddy, F1)