(CHIEFS)—The initial excitement that Patrick Mahomes is a full “go” for practice at the Chiefs training camp in St. Joseph, there is concern with news that the son of Assistant Coach Eric Bieniemy has been charged in Virginia with shooting his mother, Bieniemy’s wife, Mia.
She is reported in stable condition with multiple wounds. Their son, Elijah, is being held without bond on three felony charges in Loudon County, Virginia. Coach Andy Reid to reporters in St. Joseph, “I can’t get into details on it, but things happen sometimes, and Eric will work through it. He has a great support group here, as does his family, as needed, and we’ll just let time take care of it from there…She’s a saint, we all know that, those of you that know her. One of God’s great blessings. But things happen. And you have to work through it. That’s where we’re at right now. Time will have to be involved in this to help heal.”
Pass game coordinator Joe Bleymaier and offensive line coach Andy Heck will take over his duties for now.
The Chiefs first full workout will be tomorrow.
(MORE CHIEFS TRAGEDY)—Former Chiefs offensive lineman Jordan Devey has committed suicide at the age of 38.
ESPN reports his mother says the family “believed that he suffered from CTE,” but the nature of his death left his brain unavailable to test for the neurodegenerative disease. Devey played seven years and 44 games in the NFL, wining a Super Bowl ring with the Patriots in 2014.. He also played for the Bills, Raiders, and 49ers. He was with the Chiefs 2016-2019.
(CHIEFS FOOTBALL)—He vowed to be back by the first game of the year—and Patrick Mahomes has done more than that. He has rehabbed his double knee injury and is cleared for full activity at the Chiefs camp in St. Joseph.
But he’ll be 31 in September and we’ll see how the miles, the hits, and this injury affect his style of play. This will be his ninth season. The first chance fans will have to see how he looks is tomorrow. The team will break camp on August 20, three weeks before their regular season opened September 14 against the Broncos.
(MIZ)—We’re only a week away from the beginning of camp for this year’s Missouri Tigers. Media day will be August 2 and the serious stuff starting the next day.
Mizzou will play its 1,380th game September 3 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, seeking their 732nd win against 596 losses and 53 ties, a winning percentage that ranks 67th in college football. Their 731 wins ranks 37th.
The Southeastern Conference football experts who make pre-season predictions think Missouri will finish tenth.
(BASEBALL)—Our MLB teams have gone different directions since the All-Star break. The Cardinals have lost eight of eleven, including four of their first five after the break and the opening game of a home series against the Cubs last night that dropped them to .500..
The Royals start their week tonight against the Twins. If they win all 55 of their remaining games, they’ll finish two games above break-even.
(Motoring along)
NASCAR—In its 76-year history through last year, NASCAR had never seen a car numbered 67 win in 2,786 races. This year, it has happened twice in 22 races.
Part-time driver, Corey Heim put the car in victory lane after the road course win at the San Diego Naval Base in June and added the Brickyard 400 Sunday by hanging onto the lead despite veteran challengers waiting for him to make a mistake in the closing laps.
Heim, who is 24 and has been competing in increasingly bigger circles since he was about 16, will join 23XI Racing full time next year. One of those left in his wake Sunday was the co-owner of his team and the series points leader, Denny Hamlin.
He led the last 33 laps with Christopher Bell his major threat ahead of three-time NASCAR Cup champion Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe and Hamlin. In all, he led 58 of the 160 laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He also had the fastest lap in the race.
NASCAR is taking a week off before running at Iowa Speedway on August 9.
(INDYCAR)—IndyCar is idle until it takes to the streets of Toronto on August 19. It is the start of a five consecutive week run to the season finale at Laguna Seca on September 6.
A long-time part of IndyCAR is returning to a fulltime schedule next year. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has bought one of the charters from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. D&R has been competing in the Indianapolis 500 since pulling out of the full-time operation in 3012. Negotiations for the return already were underway when team founder and owner Dennis Reinbold died June 13 at the age of 65.
Dreyer and Reinbold fielded a car in the Indianapolis 500 for the 27th year in May. Conor Daley finished 12th, just 2.7 seconds behind winner Felix Rosenqvist. In all, the company has run 57 cars in the 500. But the team history at the 500 goes back to Floyd “Pop” Dryer, who was a mechanic for the great Duesenberg teams a century ago.
The team will announce is driver and other plans for 2027 later.
(Photo credits: (Bienemy son jpg) (Photo Credits: Bienemy–Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office via AP; Devey—cyprus-mail.com; Heim—Rick Gevers)