Sports—Arbitrations; No Free Points; In With the New at Mizzou; No Arbitrations

Posted on January 13, 2026 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

Let’s start by thinking warm thoughts—

(BASEBALL)—Both of our teams have avoided arbitration with several players by signing several guys to one year deals.

(CARDINALS)—While many fans have been focusing on possible trades by the Cardinals or he signing of free agents, the Redbirds have been keeping players in the nest through arbitration.

MLB Trade Rumors reports reliever JoJo Romero has signed for $4.25 million. Fan favorite, outfielder Lars Nootbar, is in the fold for $5.25 million. All-Star second baseman Brendan Donovan will get $5.8 million. The Cardinals are going to pay Andre Pallante four-million for his second full-time starter season. Utility man Nolan Gorman, who hit .205 last year, will get $2.665 million. Another utilityman, Silver Slugger winner Alec Burleson, has signed for $3.3 million after hitting .290 with 18 homers. And pitcher Mathew Liberatore gets $2.26 million.

(ROYALS)—Signing on for another year are outfielder Kyle Isbel, infielder Michael Massey, and pitchers Bailey Falter, John Schreiber, Nick Mears and Daniel Lynch IV.

(STADIUM)—Discussions about a new stadium for the Kansas City Royals have dropped into a kind of limbo. It appears both Missouri and Kansas are getting tired to trying to conclude a deal. Clay County Commissioner Jason Whitington said a few days ago he’s finished negotiating. The State of Kansas also has had enough, apparently leaving Kansas City as the only option.

Sources indicate, however, talks are ongoing with Kansas. One issue is whether the legislature will have to approve any financial deal outside the STAR bonds program.

On this side of the line, a judge has heard a lawsuit from a couple of state legislators saying Missouri’s stadium financing law is unconstitutional. He’s still studying the arguments.

Team owner John Sherman still says a downtown ballpark is what the team wants.

(MIZBB)—Missouri went 2-0 for the first time in the SEC only to blow its chance to go 3-0 for the first time since its days in the Big 12. With two top-tier wins to start the conference season, Missouri went to Oxford Mississippi to face an Ole Miss Team with a mediocre start to the season.

And the Tigers blew it.,

Coach Dennis Gates pointed to Ole Miss’ second-chance points down the stretch as a major factor. A more frustrating one is that the worst free-throw shooting team in the Southeastern Conference put on a clunker clinic, hitting only half of its 24 free throws in a 76-69 loss. Missouri drops to 12-4 (and also dropped a chance to make a dent in the top-25 ratings).

Another major factor was the loss of their trey touch, starting 6 for 14 in the first half but getting only one in ten in the second half. (Ole Miss was 9-23).

Missouri meets Auburn at home Wednesday night. Auburn is 10-6 overall, 1-2 in the conference.

(MIZFB)—Pretty portable week. Let’s run down the lists:

Thirteen new guys will be in black gold next year. The biggest catch is Quarterback Simmons from the University of Mississippi. He was a four-star recruit who lost his starting job at Ole Miss when an ankle injury sidelined him and Trinidad Chambliss took the ball and kept it. In 17 career games, two as a starter, he hit sixty percent of his passes for 1,076 yards and four touchdowns. He also was intercepted five times.

Incoming defensive players are Oregon cornerback Jahlil Florence, Auburn linebacker Robert Woodyard Jr., safeties JaDon Blair from Notre Dame, Kensley Louidor-Foustin from Auburn and defensive end Jaden Jones, who moves north from Florida State.

On the offensive side, Cincinnati wide receiver Caleb Goodie will face portal competition from Auburn’s Horatio Fields, and Naeshaun Montgomery from Florida State; Also picked up are running back Xai’Shaun Edwards from Houston Christian, linemen Luke Work of Mississippi State, Josh Atkins from Arizona State, and Jefferson City native Will Kemna who is returning to Missouri from Manhattan, Kansas.

Several departing players have landed new gigs—-although last we heard Beau Pribula was still shopping himself around. But K-State will get WR Joshua Manning for his senior year and redshirt freshman OL Keiton Jones while Mississippi State picks up Marquis Johnson to play wide receiver for his senior year. Redshirt senior offensive tackle Jayven Richardson heads to Boulder, Colorado; Redshirt freshman running back Marquise Davis goes from being a Tiger to being a Louisville Cardinal. Virginia Tech has signed redshirt freshman defensive end Javion Hilson. Redshirt freshman OL Henry Funuko and redshirt junior OL Johnny Williams IV are off to North Texas; redshirt sophomore wide receiver James Madison II will play next year at UTSA; Redshirt senior Caleb Flagg heads to Central Florida. Senior WR Daniel Blood has signed with Washington State and senior safety Marvin Burks Jr., will be in Madison, Wisconsin.

One Tiger has been convinced to step back from the portal—cornerback C. J. Bass III, a four star recruit who got into a couple of games early in the season, got four tackles and a pass deflection.

(Brady & Burden)—How did the former Missouri thrower and receiver do in their first NFL season? Luther Burden’s season continues after his Bears beat the Packers last weekend 31-27. He has 47 catches in 60 targets for 652 yards and two touchdowns in his rookie year. He was 3 fr 42 against Green Bay.

Brady Cook, who was an undrafted free agent signed by Jets, over he quarterback job for the last four games of a 3-14 year. The Jets lost all four of his starts and the other game in which he played. He hit 57.5% of his passes (88/153) and threw for two touchdowns. But he also threw seven interceptions. His game usually was a short one—only 125 yards generated by his 88 completions.

(MOSTATEPORTAL)—Ryan Beard left Missouri State University to become head coach at Coastal Carolina. So many of his players have moved with him that it almost might be considered Missouri State—East.

Offensive lineman Cristian Loaiza, 6-5 and 315 pounds, will have two years eligibility. Quarterback Deuce Bailey, who was one of the highest-rated high school QBs to sign with Missouri State filled in for starter Jacob Clark this year and went 23/47 for 335 yards and ran for another one. He will have as a target WR Tristian Gardner, who was third on the MoState receiver roster but led all freshmen in Conference USA with 30 catches, 465 yards and six touchdowns. With him on the receiver corps is TE Jackson Kohl.

Another CUSA all-freshman team member, long snapper Mitch Weisenborn, has gone east.

Some guys from the defensive side also have followed Beard. DT Ahmad Poole had fifteen solo tackles among his 29 tackles this season. Three tackles were for loss. He forced two fumbles. Cornerback Ryan Grayson played in four games but preserved his redshirt.

LB Braxton Starnes, 6-3, 215 was in four games as a true freshman with four tackles, one for a loss and one pass breakup.

Nickleback Don Quist also goes to Coastal Caroline, as dones DT Dezmond Barnes, a member of the all-CUSA freshman team.

Some players who had entered the portal have changed their minds and will play for new coach Casey Woods who had been SMU Offensive coordinator. Staying in Springfield after all are TE Jeron Askren who at 6-3, 230 is in line to become the number one tight end for the Bears, safety J. J. O’Neal, who was a team captain last season, has three interceptions and ten pass breakups to go with 68 tackles heading into his fifth and final year, and fellow safety Christian Ford who has two years of eligibility after his last season highlighted by a forced fumble, three pass breakups and 39 tackles.

(CHIEFS)—-Whoops. The Chiefs are at home. Not at Arrowhead. Just at home. Their move in another five years has become a mini-political issue. St. Charles County Senator Nick Shroer has his undies in such a knot about the proposed move that he wants to take away the Chiefs title as Missouri’s Official Football Team that they have held since 2019. He thinks that honor should go to the St. Louis Battlehawks. Speaking of which—-

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The St. Louis Battlehawks and the rest of the UFL teams start their third season March 27. They will have a new coach, but a familiar name to St. Louis fans—Ricky Proehl, a member of the “Greatest Show on Turf” during the Rams’ tenure in the Dome. He’s held several coaching jobs since retiring from the NFL and was the ‘Hawks receivers coach three years ago.

Former Head Coach Anthony Becht has moved to Florida to lead the Orlando Storm, a new UFL Team.

The Battlehawks have had winning records the last two seasons but have failed to advance in the playoffs.

They’ll have a new quarterback this year. A. J. McCarron has become the head coach of the Birmingham Stallions. It’s a homecoming for him. He was a star at the University of Alabama.

The league has a new look this year. The Orlando Storm, Louisville Kings, and Columbus Aviators replace last year’s Michigan Panthers, Memphis Showboats and the San Antonio Brahmas. Returning from last year are the Battlehawks, DC Defenders, and the Stallions.

(CARDINALS)—A lot of people are waiting for the spiked shoe to drop on a major trade or a major free agent signing. Nothing groundbreaking has happened yet. The most recent transaction had pitcher Zak Kent designated for assignment and picked off the waiver wire by the Cleveland Guardians.

(ROYALS)—Nothing’s up to date in Kansas City.

Next: people who play with tires.

(NASCAR)—NASCAR’s rocky off-season continued this week with the resignation of NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps, a casualty of the off-season anti-trust trial that was finally settled out of court. His status was crippled during the trial by the admission evidence some inflammatory emails he sent attacking one of the sport’s icons—former driver and team owner Richard Childress.

Dodge’s return to NASCAR will be with its RAM pickup truck. RAM is going to hold its own series in which fifteen drivers will compete for one of the five seats in the regular truck season for Kaulig Racing. It will be, in effect, an eight-episode reality show produced by the folks with the UFC.

(INDYCAR)—Two months and two days from today, IndyCar runs its first race in Texas in three years and there’s some pretty big talk in anticipation of it.

After all, it IS in Texas. The President of the Grand Prix of Arlington, Bill Miller, has told Motorsport.com, “This could be a signature marquee event on the IndyCar calendar for years to come,” and suggests it could take the use of temporary road courses “to a higher level.”

The track will be 2.73 miles around with fourteen turns. Organizers haven’t decided yet how many miles will be run in the race. The longest straightaway is just short of a mile, long enough for cars to reach at least 200 mph before making a hard right.

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Off-season tire testing has given Will Power his first full taste of being part of Andretti Global, his new team after seventeen years with Penske. He got familiar with the car, the crew, and a new engine manufacturer in tests at Phoenix. Power said afterwards that all the new stuff wasn’t all that strange once he hit the track. “You feel very out of place but once you get in the car and you get rolling, then it’s just like, ‘Oh, it’s an IndyCar. It’s going through the same processes.” He called his first few runs “very good.”

One thing the tire tests have focused on is the right front tire that takes a lot of cornering weight on ovals. Firstone, the tire supplier for IndyCar, has developed a wider tire for that corner that improves grip.

An open test for all teams is scheduled for next month.

Tiger, Tiger Burning Dimly; KCK Chiefs Slouch Toward the End; Sorrow and History in the speedsports.

Posted on December 30, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

English poet William Blake wrote it:

Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright

In the forests of the night—–

(MIZFB)—The Missouri Tigers, depleted on and off the football field, have wrapped up an 8-5 season with a defensive effort against Virginia that is easily overlooked by the lackluster offense in a 13-7 loss..

Virginia dominated the clock, holding the ball for almost 39 minutes with long drives for its touchdown and two field goals. The game-deciding touchdown came at the end of a 19-play, 75 yard drive that ran ten minutes off the clock. Missouri went 0-5 against ranked teams this year. Virginia went into the game at number 20. Missouri’s win at Arkansas let them barely back in the top 25.

The departure of offensive coordinator Kirby Moore to become the head coach at Washington State left Drinkwitz in the position of calling the plays and there are those who think he showed the need for a quick Moore replacement, which Missouri has done by signing Michigan’s offensive coordinator Chip Linsey. Mizzou also has lured Jack Breske away from Tennessee to be the Tiger president of player personnel and recruiting. More important to the playing field was he exit of tight ends coach Derham Cato

Also important to the product on the field is the departure of tight ends coach Derham Cato and assistant offensive line coach Jack Abercrombie. And the guy who works with players in the weight room has left: Malcolm Hardmon, the assistant director of football athletic performance.

With the portal opening Thursday, the defection of Brad Larrondo could be the toughest loss. As the GM and CEO of Every True Tiger Brands, the marketing arm of the football program, Larrondo has been The Guy who set up Missouri’s NIL operations. He has negotiated revenue sharing and third-party NIL funding, distributing money to the moneyball athletes attracted to Missouri while also staying within the sending cap.

The portal is open for only two weeks and presumably Larrondo made plenty of arrangements to take advantage of it before he left. But his successor will have little time to put his stamp on the program.

Fortunately, Drinkwitz has some cash to buy good replacements. His new contract provides him with $54 Millon more dollars to hire assistants.

More than a dozen players were not on the game roster, four with injuries and others headed to the portal. Most of them were backups.

The defense did not wear down despite all the time on the field but the defensive scheme against Virginia’s third and fourth down plays seemed to be missing. The fact that Virginia had to convert fifteen of them indicates the Tigers had them where they wanted them but couldn’t close the deal. Missouri went into the game ranked 19^th nationally in third down stops but let Virginia converted thirteen of them on 23 attempts. Mizzou, on the other hand, made it work only three of twelve times. Missouri never converted a fourth down in three tries. Virginia did it in two out of four.

The offense, after scoring on the first drive, was shut out the rest of the way. Matt Zollars again showed promise, especially leading a desperation last -minute drive to tie the game. He was taken out with one play left after banging his head on the field during a tackle. His replacement , Brett Brown threw a pass that was intercepted in the end zone.,

One question many fans will want answer to is why Drinkwitz didn’t use Ahmad Hardy more. Hardy reeled of a 42-yard run in the first possession but carried the ball only fourteen times after than. He finished with 89 yards and the all-time single season rushing record. Some fans were displeased and there appeared to be times on the sidelines when Hardy was chafing at not being on the field. Missouri was undefeated in games this year in which Hardy carried the ball at least twenty times. One sportswriter says the social media was “off the charts” because of his absence. In all of Missouri’s losses this year, Hardy had the ball less than twenty times.

(MIZBB)—Now it’s up to Dennis Gates and the men’s basketball Tigers to do something the football Tigers couldn’t in their season—beat a good team. The Tigers have finished their nonconference schedule 10-3. They open SEC play at home Saturday against Florida with road games against Kentucky and Mississippi. Florida is 8-4; Kentucky is 9-4 and Mississippi is 7-5.

Vanderbilt is undefeated in a dozen games. Georgia and LSU are 11-1.

The Tigers will have had two weeks to improve from their performance against 91-48 performance against Illinois that set some bad records. It was the worst loss since Dannis Gates has run the program. It was the worst loss in the 93 years the two schools have played each other and the fewest points scored since Arkansas whipped Missouri 87-43 in 2012. (ZOU)

(CHIEFS)—It’s going to be a long time for Missourians’ hurt to go away after the Chiefs decision to move to Kansas. It’s probably more politically emotional hurt than fan-support emotional hurt

. The turnout for the first Chiefs game after the announcement did not appear to be noticeably less. But one politician far from the conflict has weighed in with the observation that Chiefs Owner Clark Hunt is “the biggest Welfare King in America.” Congressman Brendan Boyle from Pennsylvania—where Chiefs coach Andy Reid built the career in Philadelphia that made him a great choice for Kansas City—said on social media, “Billions of taxpayer money going to this billionaire, while working people suffer. Just a disgrace.”

We can excuse Hunt for seeing it in a different way. “The benefit to the entire region will be monumental. A stadium of this caliber will put Kansas City in the running for Super Bowls, Final Fours, and other world class events. A brand new training facility and headquarters will allow the Chiefs to continue to attract top talent. And the vision for a new mixed-use district will rival that of any sports-anchored development anywhere in the country.”

There is no doubt about that. He would have said the same thing if the Chief stayed in Missouri, but Kansas simply outbid our side.

And in a sports world where some college quarterbacks prices might be reaching for five million dollars at their next university, our games have become nothing more than horses chasing carrots.

On the playing field, the Chiefs dropped to 6-10 on Christmas night’s loss to the Broncos. The Chiefs have lost ten more games nine times. They lost 14 in 2008 and 2012; a dozen in ’77,’78 and 2009. Eleven losses be the third in team history, back to back 11 loss years came in 1987 and ‘88.

The play the Raiders next Sunday for their last game until next August hen they meet the 2-14 Raiders. For the fist time in a decade, the team will have eight months to rest, recover, and regroup before they get back to football that counts.

The end of the year is filled with speculation about what Travis Kelce will do. He has equalled Hall of Famer Jerry Rice by receiving at least 800 yards a dozen times.

He is having a solid bounce-back season this year with 73 catches for 839 yards averaging 11.5 yards per catch, close to his career average of 12.1 yards.

He has promised to let the Chiefs know if he wants to be part of the team rebuilding or if is going to step aside before the draft season begins.

The Chiefs have signed yet another backup quarterback. With two QBs on the shelf, they need someone behind Chris Olodokun just in case.

The just in case person is Shane Buechele, who has been picked off of the Buffalo Bills Practice squad. He was with the chiefs in the 2021-2023 seasons and has never played in a real game. In three pre-season games ith the Chiefs he threw for nine touchdowns and six interceptions.

While it’s been confirmed that Minshew didn’t tear his ACL, providing a beacon of hope for Reid in Mahomes’ absence, he will miss time and was placed on Injured Reserve. Hence, the Chiefs need a new quarterback to join Chris Oladokun on the depth chart.

(BASEBALL)—Both of our teams took the holiday off. There were no transactions. Still no blockbuster deals.

—–A somber world of speed—

(NASCAR)—-NASCAR world still mourns the death of retired driver Greg Biffle and his family in a pre-Christas plane crash. Investigators say they’re recovered data recording devices but it will be sometime before the cause of the crash can be determined.

Fans are familiar with his on-track record, but his off-track accomplishments weren’t widely circulated until we read his obituary (as is the case with many pro athletes—and people in general). He set up a foundation that gave grants to humane societies through America. He was a universal blood donor and after his racing career he got into hurricane relief and delivered fuel to stranded Floridians and then helping find places for animals displaced from their shelters. It is said he “risked his life” helping Norh Carolinians caught in Hurricane Helene.

A celebration of his life is being planned.

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As we go to press with this entry, we’ve gotten word that a fire that destroyed the home of Denny Hamlin’s parents in North Carolina killed his father, Dennis, and severely injured his mother, Mary Lou, who is under intensive treatment at a burn center in Winston-Salem. Officials say both had gotten out the house but had suffered “catastrophic” injuries. The damage to the house is so severe, officials say, that it might be some time before a cause is determined.

Denny, the driver, successfully pursued his 60^th NASCAR victory this year and when he got it, he emotionally discussed the importance of the win to his father Dennis, who was in poor health and remarked that 2025 was his father’s last change to see his son with the NASCAR Cup. Denny made the final four for the final race but Kyle Larson won the Cup.

Young Denny used to sit on his father’s lap watching races on television. He started racing go-kart, when he was seven, and won his first race. Dennis had a little trailer-making business that Denny worked in during high school. His father formed a family-owned race team.

The family scrimped and saved—and borrowed—to keep Denny’s young career going up until he caught the eye of Joe Gibbs Racing and signed on for the big time. Denny remembered everything his parentsdid for him on the way up. One day, Dennis Hamlin told the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Denny announce to his father, “You’re done working and you’re moving to Charlotte.” When the elder Hamlin responded that he wasn’t going anywhere, the younger Hamlin set him straight by handing him the keys to a new house and told him, “It’s finished, take your clothes, sell the business. Mom works for me now. It’s set. You’re going. You’ve retired.”

Dennis Hamlin was 75.

(INDYCAR)—A prominent color scheme will be back at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2026 and its return brings one of the most exciting days in Speedway history to mind—-and the voice of a Missourian who fed that excitement who made it part of legend.

The colors of Sunoco Oil will be on a car next year for the first time in decades—and that is another story.

His name was Tom Carnegie, who grew up as a boy named Tom Kenagy in Raytown. He was quite a high school athlete until a polio virus affected the strength of his legs and forced him to turn his thoughts to broadcasting. He went to William Jewell College and while there he went to work at KITE Radio in Kansas City. He was the public address announcer for the schools sports events. He went to Indiana, where a station manager encouraged him to change his name to Carnegie and not long after, to Indianapolis.

He was the public address announcer of the historic 1954 high school basetball championship game in which tiny Milan High School upset big Muncie Central, the game on which the movie “Hoosiers’ was based—with Tom doing a cameo.

Let’s go back to 1972 and Mark Donahue’s McLaren that is in the new Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

Somewhere in thousands of slides shot at the Speedway that I don’t have the time or the patience to unpack from one of the several boxes of slides is this car on the track.

This car represents a historic part of the Speedway story in several ways.

First: It is the first car owned by Roger Penske to win the 500. He’s had nineteen winners since.

Second: Speed. You have to be in or near middle age or beyond to remember when Indianapolis race cars did not have wings. 1972 was the first year the rules allowed wings, big ones, that led to he incredible one-day jump in speeds.

Rain washed out the first day of qualifying, but on the second day, drivers demolished Peter Revson’s track record of 178.696 mph from 1971 time after time after time, beginning when Bill Vukovich II set the new one-lap record at 185.797. But he crashed on his second lap and had to qualify later in the rebuilt car. .

Later, after another rain shower stopped running, Joe Leonard turned four laps at 185.223, a record for a four lap, ten mile run. Mario Andretti smashed that record at 187.617.

Longtime track announcer Tom Carnegie’s bass voice had exclaimed “it’s new traaack record” several times that afternoon when Bobby Unser went out with the crowd anticipating something special. And boy, was it.

The first lap crushed Andretti’s record—194.932, the first lap in track history over 190.

The second lap: “You won’t believe it!” said the great voice on the PA system. 196.036, another new track record.

Lap three: “And it’s still going up! Forty-five and 91 hundredths of a second! 196.6781

And then the third lap: 196.678. A third new track record.

Lap four was “only” 196.121.

The four lap average (“It’s new all-time speed record”) 195.940.

The seventeen-mile jump in qualifying speed remains the record these 53 years later. Many expected the 200-mile an hour barrier would fall the next year, but it five more years before Tom Sneva did it—with Carnegie fueling the crowd’s excitement as Sneva set records on each his four laps.

Unser’s speed stood up despite challenges from Revson, who put his McLaren next Unser’s Gurney Eagle at 192.885 and Donehue put his McLaren on the outside of the front row at 191.408.

Tom Carnegie died in 2011. The Indianapolis TV station where he’d become an institution put together a 20-minute tribute that included Tom remembering that historic day. It comes about 10:40 into the program.

Tom Carnegie: The Voice Remembered

One of these days I’ll dig out the interview did with him where talks about his Missouri roots.

Donahue’s Penske teammate, Gary Bettenhausen (the Bettenhausen name is part of IndyCar legend) led for 138 of the race’s 200 laps before mechanical failure took him out. Donahue took the lead with thirteen laps left and gave Roger Penske his landmark win. It also was the first time a McLaren chassis had won the 500. Al Unser Sr., finished second, coming one position short of being the first driver to win three 500s in a row—he later won two more times.

Mark Donahue and Roger Penske had a special bond. Donahue was an engineer who knew how to set up his cars and win with them. He raced everything from Porsches and Ferraris to Mustangs and American Motors Javelins in numerous serieses before stepping away from the sport’s full-time demands. But In August, 1975 he drove a Penske Porsche to a closed-course world record speed of 221.120 on the Talladega Speedway.

He was pulled back to full-time racing when Penske tried Formula 1. He ran a couple of races late in 1974 and was in the new Penske F1 car in ’75. The car didn’t work out so Penske switched to a March chassis. He went to Austria to run the new car in the Austrian Grand Prix and crashed badly but appeared to be unhurt. But he had a serious head injury and lapsed into a coma and died the next day, August 19.

Roger Penske owns the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar today. He also fields cars in NASCAR.

McLaren is a powerhouse team in Formula 1 and one of its drivers, Lando Norris, won the championship while his teammate, Oscar Piastri, was third. McLaren does not build cars for the 500 or for IndyCar but does have a team led by one of the most popular drivers in the series, Pato O’Ward, the runner-up in this year’s points chase.

The fastest qualifying run at the Brickyard still be longs to Arie Luyendyk, who had a hot lap of 239.260 and a four-lap average of 236.986 in 1996.

Now, thirty years later, Mark Donahue’s sponsor returns to Roger Penske’s track.

Chip Ganassi Racing, Penske Racing’s biggest long-term rival is bringing back the familiar colors for Kyffin Simpson. Sunoco considers itself the largest independent fuel distributor in the country. It’s the official fuel for IndyCar and NASCAR.

The front wings are bigger. The rear wing is smaller. Most important this car is far safer for Simpson hat he Donahue museum piece was in its day. The cockpit/windscreen protects drivers from flying debris in crashes and does not expose their heads to restraining fence poles or other impacts as the one that killed Donahue.

They’re a little slower but are inching closer to Luyendyk’s record. And, as was the case more than fifty years ago, they make incredible sounds and provide breathtaking racing.

And in four months they’ll be on the great track at Indianapolis. History and memory will come together with the past and its legends.

(Photo Credits: Kelce—Facbook; Donahue car—Bob Priddy; New Sunoco Car—Ganassi Racing; Dennis Hamlin—NASCAR.com)

Sports: Not a Great Recruiting Class but a Good One; A Worsening Season; A Bowl Game to Wrap Up a Season and other stuff (

Posted on December 16, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MOSTATEBOWL)—-The Missouri State Bears are wrapping up their preparations for Thursday night’s bowl game against Arkansas State Red Wolves in Frisco, Texas—the home of the Dallas Cowboys training camp. It’s the first Xbox Bowl and only the third time Missouri State has played a game in December (They were in the FCS playoffs in 1989, played in the 1948 Mo-Kan Bowl and played a cross-town game in 1910 against Dury. The game matches the Bears (7-5) against A-State (6-6). The Bears are 88^th in this week’s CBS Sports Rankings (Arkansas State is 101) and 100 in the MasseyRatings.com (Arkansas State is 108).

The game will be a week after Bears coach Ryan Beard left to become the new head coach at Coastal Carolina. Offensive coordinator Nick Petrino, Beard’s brother-in-law, will make his head coaching debut in the game. Petrino’s offense is credited with developing quarterback Jacob Clark, who set several program records as the Bears posted their first back-to-back winning seasons in thirty-five years. Clark is finishing his record-setting career in Springfield. He needs 97 yards in total offense to reach 3,000 yards this year. He also can get there with 105 passing yards. He already is the only Bears quarterback to do that—and he’s done it twice. He holds the school record for completion percentage (.671), pass efficiency (162.80) and 200-yard passing games (21 of them). He’s second on the career passing yardags (7,587) and total offense (7,671).

Running back Shomari Lawrence will become the 11^th Missouri State player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season when he get his 36^th yard in the game. He’ll be the first one to hit that milestone since Chris Douglas did it fifteen years ago. Lawrence ranks 25^th nationally with ten carries of at least twenty yards this year and his three rushing touchdowns of 50 yards or more ties him for third in the Conference USA in that category.

(CHIEFS)—It’s over for the Chiefs this year although they’ll play out the string. It appears all over for Patrick Machomes, who went down trying in another game to lead his team to a late go-ahead score against the Chargers. It’s a torn ACL and surgery is being contemplated.

Depending on the severity of the injury, Mahomes could be sidelined until well into the 2026 season, meaning the Chiefs have some serious thinking to do about a starting quarterback next year—and probably for a few games at least, a backup.

It appears Gardner Minshew will finish out the season for the Chiefs. He’s still young at 29. He was a starter in his first year, at Jacksonville where he went 6-6. Since then he’s been mostly a backup with Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and the Raiders. He was 3 for 5 for 22 yards and a game-ending interception when he replaced Mahomes for the last couple of minutes in the 16-`3 loss to the Chargers that dropped Kansas City to 6-8 and headed for a lot of playoff watching.

In this otherwise futile year, Travis Kelce is having a superb season. He leads the team with 67 receptions for 797 yards and is tied for the team lead with five touchdowns. He was 11 for 70 against the Chargers and needs just 26 more yards to equal last year’s total—which needed thirty more catches than he has now. He needs 52 yards to reach 13,000 for his career. He needs 96 yards to reach number two on the all-time yardage list for tight ends. Former Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez hold the record, 15,127.

(MIZDRINK)—It says something about college football (maybe more than something) that the name of Eliah Drinkwitz is being mentioned as the future head coach at Michigan. The conjecture goes on even after Mizzou signed him to a lucrative extension.

(MIZKIDS)—A lot of schools fared worse than the Missouri Tigers in the early signings of recruits for next year’s team. But among the real powers, Missouri appears to have been about average, ranking 34^th nationally and 13^th out of the 16 SEC teams. Five SEC teams (Alaama, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Texas AM) ranked in the top ten recruiting classes nationally—or at least 247Sports thinks so.

Missouri announced 19 commits on signing day. Six teams reported fewer with four of them ranked above Missouri.

Whether rating the commitment classes on the basis of first-day signings seems questionable, though. The whole business is a guess, a look at potential on a much bigger stage, just as the NFL draft is based on potential on the largest stage of all.

Plus, there’s the transfer portal that can reduce recruiting classes to shamble.

A better gauge of who had the best requiting class won’t be available unit until the end of the 2029 season, he fourth season for this bunch.

247Sports a few days ago ranked Missouri’s 2026 class as fifteenth in the country at the end of the traditional four-year collegiate playing career. The Tigers in 2019 had one five star, eight four star and nine three star athletes among 22 commits.

Here’s the SEC rankings (national rankings in parenthesis): Alabama (2), Georgia (5), Tennessee (7), Texas (8), Texas A&M (9), LSU (13), Oklahoma (15), Florida (16), South Carolina (20), Mississippi (22), Mississippi state 27), Vanderbilt (31), Missouri (34), Auburn (41), Arkansas (57), Kentucky (61).

The rankings can change with later signings. And the overall incoming class will be affected by portal transfers in and out before the start of the next season.

(MIZPORTAL)—The first Tiger starter to look for greater fortune elsewhere this year is wide receiver Joshua Manning. He’s been taken off the MU roster and now waits for the portal to open January 2 for two weeks. He’s the fifth Missouri player to make he portal announcement.

Manning started all but one game in 2025, caught 29 passes on 51 targets for 318 yards and two touchdowns.

(MIZMOORE)—Missouri’s offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kirby Moore has jumped ship before the Tigers’ bowl game, signing on as the head coach of the Washington State Cougars. School officials say he’ll get a five-year contract when the formal announcement is made today. School President Elizabeth Cantwell refers to Moore as “the real deal” who cares about the players being winners off the field as well as on.

Moore grew up in Washington. His father was a legendary high school coach. Washington State officials have praised him as an offensive-minded innovator and one of best young coaches in the country. Moore calls the new job “a dream come true.”

Moore is credited with developing quarterback Brady Cook and running back Cody Schraeder and wide receiver Luther Burden III at Mizzou. He came to Missouri after one season in the same job at California State-Fresno, where he earlier was the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator.

(MIZCOOK)—Speaking of Brady Cook: how did he do in his first NFL start Sunday?

To read MacGregor Walz on the Jets’ fan page, Gang Green Nation, it was a historically awful game:

The New York Jets took an early holiday break yesterday as they failed to show up for their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars steamrolled the Jets in one of the more disgraceful displays of ineptitude in a disgraceful year of ineptitude from a disgracefully inept franchise. Someday the Jets will not be a disgrace. That day is not today. It may not be in my lifetime.

But The Athletic was less sanguine about Cook, saying his debut offered “hope, not results,” and continuing, “Cook’s final numbers in his first career start weren’t particularly impressive, but Cook showed enough that it should allow the Jets to wonder if he’s a prospect worth developing as a long-term backup for whoever they add in the upcoming NFL Draft — assuming they add a rookie quarterback. Cook authored an impressive scoring in the first quarter, capped by a perfectly placed 9-yard touchdown pass to Adonai Mitchell.

The touchdown brought the score to 14-7 — making it seem, if even for a brief moment, that the Jets had a shot at keeping things close against the Jaguars. He did throw an interception before halftime, though the pick was an impressive play on the ball by Jaguars defensive back Montaric Brown. His interception in the fourth quarter was less forgivable, a ball floated to Jaguars defensive back Ventrel Miller in the end zone at the end of what should’ve been another touchdown drive. Call it a rookie mistake — a brutal one.”

MIZLUTHER)—Before Luther Burden III left Sunday’s Bear’s win 31-3 against the Browns, he was 5 for 7 targets with 84 receiving yards. His seven targets were the most of his first NFL season. He has 36 catches for 479 yards for the season.

(MIZBB)—The Missouri men’s basketball team polished off Bethune-Cookman in their last warmup game before the season turns serious, 82-60. Missouri is halfway to a 20-win season. Bethune-Cookman is 3-7. Next up is 13^th-ranked Illinois, 8-3 (the losses are to UConn, Nebraska, and Alabama).

The Missouri women’s team is 10-3 after their weekend win 82-66 over the St. Louis Billikens after a 70-62 loss to Illinois a few days earlier.

The Baseball—

The winter meetings finally got some bodies moving around. But no eye-popping huge-name free agent signings have been arranged. Our teams have had some action, though.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals have been active in the Rule 5 draft. They’ve lost pitcher Cade Windquest to he Yankees and right-hander Zane Mills to the Cubs. Righthander Sean Harney has gone to the Diamondbacks. Third baseman Matt Lloyd joins the Red Sox organization.

The Cardinals have picked up Matt Pushard from Miami. He’s a 6-4 righty with what is called a “dominating fastball.”

(A lot of baseball fans don’t know what the Rule 5 draft is (we were very fuzzy about it), so here’s what it’s all about: Teams that do not have a full 40-man roster are allowed to poach players who are not part of the 40-man rosters of other teams. Any player signed at age 18 or younger have to be exposed to the draft if they haven’t been called up to the bigs after five years. Players signed at age 19 or older become eligible for the draft after four seasons.

Teams must pay $100,000 to the team whose player was taken. The player immediately becomes part of the 26-man roster for the next season. If he can’t cut it, he can be put on waivers and if nobody claims him, he must be offered to his original team for $50,000. The player can be outrighted to the minors if the original team doesn’t want him back.)

Pushard is 28. He was 4-5 last year in Triple-A, had a 3.61 ERA in 49 appearances with 73 Ks in 62.1 innings.

The Cardinals also got right hander Ryan Murphy who was picked out of Lemoyne College by the Giants in 2020. He’s had some injury problems and finished the year on the DL. He was with the Richmond Flying Squirrels in Double-A this past season.

He has 387 career strikeouts and only 123 walks and a 3.72 ERA.

And the Cardinals picked up Zak Kent from the Guardians. He’s a 27-year old reliever who threw 17.2 innings in a dozen games last year, went 1-0 with 16 strikeouts.

(ROYALS)—The Royals have locked in third baseman Maikel Garcia for a long time. He had a breakout year last year, hitting .286 with 16 homers and 61 ribbies.

The Royals sent reliever Angel Zerpa to Milwaukee and got outfielder Isaac Collins and pitcher Nick Mears in return. Collins is mostly an outfielder but he also has time at third base and second base, showing a versatility the Royals like to see. Zerpa was in 69 games last year for Kansas City with a 4.18 ERA and a 5-2 record.

The Royals also have signed three right-handed pitchers to minor league contracts: Jose Cuas, Adrian Rumardo and Andy Sanchez.

Cuas has been with the Phillies. Two years ago the Cubs claimed him from Kansas City then put him on waivers last year. The Phillies picked him up for the rest of the season. He’s 30.

The other two guys are unknowns.

(HOCKEY)—Every now and then we check in on the St. Louis Blues, who haven’t given much reason to be checked in on this year. They are 12-24-7, next to last in their conference. They are among four teams with the fewest wins at this point in the season.

Motoring right along:

(NASCAR)—The big anti-trust lawsuit between NASCAR and two of its teams was settled out of court with NASCAR giving two teams charters they were denied last year and some money on top of that. The settlement covers the 36 charters that guarantee starting positions and prize money in all races. Two teams, 23XI—owned by NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin and retired NBA legend Michael Jordan—and Front Row Motorsports, one of the strongest second-tier teams in Cup racing get their six charters back and all teams get additional guarantees and a louder voice in determining NASCAR policy.

The Daytona 500 is now less than sixty days away.

(INDYCAR) The first INDYCAR race of the new year is less than 75 days away—and it will be run by an independent officiating system.

IndyCar had been in a somewhat awkward situation for sometime with the series owned by Penske Entertainment, an arm of the mega-corporation owned by Roger Penske, whose teams have won many series championships and Indianapolis 500s.

The new non-profit organization will be run by a three-person Independent Officiating Board. The news release announcing the new structure says it means there will be no oversight from Penske Entertainment or from INDYCAR.

The first race under the new system takes place March 1, a street race in St. Petersburg, Florida.

(Photo credit: Instagram)

A Bad Weekend in KC; Bowling for Two; NFL Debut

Posted on December 9, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(KC)—Missouri’s men’s basketball team had a disastrous game against KU in KC and the Chiefs had a disastrous game Sunday night in Arrowhead Stadium against the Texans. We’ll get to them later but first, let’s look at some better news.

(BOWLING)—-Both of our top Division I football teams have another game to play before the shoulder pads get put away until Spring.

(TIGERS AND A GATOR)—The Missouri Tigers are headed to the Gator Bowl on December 27 to play Virginia. Virgina, from the ACC, finished its season 10-3 with an upset loss to Duke, 27-20 in overtime—just two weeks after beating Duke in the regular season 34-17. The Cavaliers head into the bowl season ranked 20^th and 19^th in the polls. They were 3-1 this year in overtime games. Quarterback Chandler Morris threw for more than 2800 yards, going 257/398, sixteen touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Running back J’mari Turner ran for 1,962 yards on 222 carries and also caught 43 passes for 253 yards. Trell Haris led the receiving corps with 59 receptions and 847 yards. Two other players had more than 500 yards receiving. Defensively, the Cavaliers had 31 sacks for 211 yards in losses and 13 interceptions.

Missouri Quarterback Beau Pribula had a similar passing percentage: 182/270 after missing some action with an injury. Virginia will be the latest team to try to contain Ahmad Hardy, who finished he regular year number two in rushing with 1,569 yards. The Tigers ran for well over 2,000 yards. Kevin Coleman caught 63 passes for 715 yards, one of five players with 25 or more catches. Missouri’s defense racked up 35 sacks and seven interceptions.

Missouri crept back into the top 25 with its last game win over Arkansas. The Tigers played four top ten teams and lost all of those games, two by one score. Virginia played no to ten teams. The early line has Missouri winning by a touchdown.

(BEARS AND WOLVES)—The Missouri State Bears meet the Arkansas State Red Wolves in a borderline battle in the Xbox Bowl on the 18^th. Ark-State is 6-6. The Bears are 7-5. Both teams played Kennesaw State this year. Arkansas State lost 28-21. Missouri sate lost 41-34.

State’s Jaylon Raynor hit two-thirds of his passes this year for almost 3,100 yards, sixteen TDs and 11 interceptions. The Red Wolves’ top rusher, Devin Spencer, ran for 529 yards on 102 carries. Cary Rucker led the team in reception with 69 catches for 866 yards. The defense had 31 sacks and 33 interceptions.

Missouri State played six one score games and went 5-1, leading some to refer to them as the Cardiac Bears. Jacob Clark was 222/341 passing for 2,895 yards, 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Shomari Lawrence should go past the 1,000 yard mark in the bowl game. Jmariyea Robinson caught 40 passes for 536 yards, one of five players with at least 400 yards receiving. The defense wracked up 33 sacks and eight interceptions.

This is the first bowl game in school history for the Missouri State Bears and the prognosticators think the Bears will be a touchdown better.

(NIL SUIT)—Sooner or later, somebody was going to get nasty about this NIL stuff. The University of Georgia is going to court to recover $390,000 it invested in edge rusher Damon Wilson II. Georgia says he broke his NIL agreement when he transferred from Georgia to Missouri. The lawsuit says Wilson signed a contract a year ago that would pay him $30,000 a month with bonuses that made the whole package worth one-half million dollars. The lawsuit says Wilson informed the university a few weeks later that he was transferring to Missouri.

Wilson was in 11 games with Georgia as a freshman. He had nine sacks and an interception this year for Missouri.

(CHIEFS)—-It is increasingly likely that Kansas City Chiefs players will be watching the NFL playoffs and the Super Bowl from the comfort of their favorite chairs at home. Their dispiriting 20-10 loss to the Houston Texans—at Arrowhead—has left them 6-7, needing to win every game from here on and few observers thinking they can do it.

Injuries that made the front line more porous than usual, penalties, and (in particular) dropped passes all made for a frustrating evening. Harrison Butker continued his unaccustomed erratic season by missing his eighth kick for a field goal or extra point this year when be dinked a field goal attempt off the coal post upright.

And this final note, an update on a former Tiger—

(BRADY)—-Brady Cook got his first extended time as an NFL quarterback Sunday as the backup to the backup quarterback when both guys ahead of him were sidelined with injuries. Starter Justin Fields was inactive because of a knee injury and backup Tyrod Taylor left with a groin injury six play into the game. Cook connected on 14 of his thirty pass attempts for 163 yards. Two of his passes wound up in the wrong hands. He was sacked six times and fumbled twice, one of which was recovered. The Jets lost 34-10 to Miami to fall to 3-10 for the year.

Head coach Aaron Glenn said after the game, “He was put in a tough situation. It’s always tough for a backup quarterback to actually go in and get the rhythm that he needs from not getting as many reps as you want ot get during the week…I thought he really had true command of the huddle with the players. ..It’s a tough situation because of the score at that point. [It] put him in a situation where he had to drop back and throw the ball probably more than we wanted him to. But I thought he handled that well.”

As for Cook: “It was definitely a challenge, but a great challenge. One that comes with the job of being the backup quarterback. I felt ready to play today, and obviously I didn’t do enough to get a win, Coming in at half, talking it over, just taking a deep breath, and then coming back out there, I definitely did (settle down). I think you definitely saw flashes there in the fourth quarter of us moving the ball. So, we need more of it.”

As for whether Cook will see more action next weekend? Glenn says that depends on how the other two quarterbacks recover during the week.

(MUBB)—The last few minutes of the first half and the critical opening minutes of the second half became the dagger in the heart of the Missouri basketball Tigers Sunday. Kansas outscored the Tigers 23-3 during that span and maintained the 20-point lead at the end. The game was played in Kansas City. Turnovers (10) and 21 for 61 shooting against the number eight defense in the nation during the first half led to the deficit at the break that grew in the second half.

Alabama State and Bethune Cookman should get Missouri to the ten-win mark before their game against Illinois on the 22^nd.

(BASEBALL)—This is the week we might expect some significant news about the Royals and the Cardinals. It’s time for the Winter meetings.

The Cardinals have picked up right-handed reliever Richard Fitt from the Red Sox. Fitts’ pitching arm went numb for a couple of weeks in the last season but he’s healthy again and hopes he can make a mark in St. Louis. he’s pitched in parts of two seasons and has a 2-3 record with a 3.97 career ERA. He’s been in 15 games, all but one as a starter. He’s 25.

The Royals haven’t caused many ripples this winter as they consider ways to beef up their offense. One thing they did make clear is that pitcher Cole Ragans is not on the trading table.

As the Royals continue to search for ways to elevate their offense for 2026, the conversation usually takes a turn toward their pitching. The Royals have a lot of rotation depth and could use it to land a bat in a trade this offseason. That’s a logical connection, and one the club has continued to discuss as this week’s Winter Meetings kick off in Orlando.

But who would the Royals really be willing to part with, and does it actually include their ace, lefty Cole Ragans? Not as far as General Manager J. J. Piccollo is concerned. He says it would be “really difficult” to trade Ragans. “If we didn’t have Cole Ragans in our rotation, we’d feel like we’re missing something really big.”

On to the fast stuff:

(NASCAR)—The big antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR has dominated the automobile racing headlines for several days. Things have turned increasingly nasty in the first week with the entrance into the evidence file of internal messages, letters, and documents belittling the teams and drivers who have filed the suit. NASCAR’s franchise system is being challenged by 23XI racing (owned by Michael Jordan whose uniform number was 23) and driver Denny Hamlin (whose car number is XI—eleven).

(INDYCAR)—We are 81 days away from the first IndyCar race of 2026.

Seats are being filled for the next season. The driver with the most appropriate name in the series will return to Juncos Racing. Sting Ray Robb is considered “a key pillar” in the team efforts to improve its standing.

Kyle Kirkwood has a contract extension from Andretti Global. He’s been with the team for the last three years during which he has become serious contender with five wins, three poles and six podium finishes.

(Credits; Xbox Bowl, Gator Bowl, New York Jets)

Sports; Tigers Having a Long Drink and Wait for a Bowl; Chief Playing for Highest Draft Pick in Years; It’s Basketball Season

Posted on December 2, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZFB)—Missouri ground up Arkansas and spit it out as it wrapped up its 8-4 season that leaves fans with several “what ifs.” What if Sam Horn hadn’t lost his season in his first game of the year? What if Beau Pribula had not lost three games with his ankle injury and wasn’t mobile for a fourth? What if the team’s field goal kicker had not been hurt.

—all of which is meaningless, of course. Missouri is 29-9 in these last three seasons with a chance to win 30 games in three years for only the third time (Missouri was 30-11 twice, from 2007-09 and from 2006-2008) in school history. For the record, Missouri went 40-14 from 2007-2010, 38-16 from 2006-2009 and 36-17 from 2008-2011.

Three Tigers had more than 100 yard of offense in the game: Ahmad Hardy with 149 rushing yards, Jamal Roberts with another 100, and Pribula, who was 4-7 passing for only 25 yards but who ran for 78. It’s Hardy’s eighth 100-yard game of the year.

(POTY)—Despite Hardy’s performance, including his astonishing tackle-busting TD run, SEC Player of the Week honors went to two other Tigers.

Wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr., was named Special Teams POTW for his 67-yard punt return for a touchdown, the first return for a Missouri touchdown since 2022. Defensive tackle Chris McClellan was the defensive lineman of the week for recording two sacks and three pressures. His sack after Coleman’s return created a six-yard loss on first down, putting the Razorbacks in a hole they couldn’t get out of, forcing a three-and-out that stifled any chance for a rally.

(MIZPOLLS)—Missouri will go to its bowl game as a ranked team, but just barely. The AP sportswriters led Missouri squeak in at 25 in their poll, only a couple of votes ahead of Tennessee. The Tigers aren’t so highly regarded by coaches. Iowa and Houston are ahead of Missouri as the first teams outside the top 25 of their poll.

(DOAK)—Ahmad Hardy’s yardage against Arkansas moves him to 1,560 for the year, just 28 yards behind Jacksonville State’s Cam Cook. He is one of the three finalists for the Doak Walker Award, given to the best running back in college football for the year. It’s named for the SMU All-American who won the Maxwell Award in 1947 and the Heisman Trophy in 1948.

How do the three stack up statistically? Physically, really close. Performance-wise, close.

Ahmad Hardy Missouri 5-10 206 pounds 241 carries 1560 yds. 6.5 average 16 TD

Kewan Lacy Ole Miss 5-11 200 pounds 258 carries 1279 yds. 5.0 average 20 TD

Jeremiah Love Notre Dame 6-0 214 pounds 199 carries 1372 yds. 6.9 average 18 TD

Love is a Junior. Hardy and Lacy are Sophomores.

Here’s one stat that might give Hardy a leg-up, if you will: More than 1,000 of his yards have come after breaking at least one tackle. His 53-yard touchdown run through, it seemed, the entire Arkansas defense could be a clincher.

Instagram

(DRINKWITZ)—His team won’t win ten games this year but Tiger Coach Eli Drinkwitz has won a bid extension to his contract—six years with an average paycheck of #10.75 million. The University Board of Curators authorized the extension through the 2031 season after rumor increased that he was on the short list of coach choices in several major universities.

The six-year deal is two more years than the extension he signed earlier. It’s worth $64.5 million, putting Drinkwitz in the top-ten list of football coach salaries.

He was frustrated by all of the speculation about his possible candidacy for a job elsewhere. He said he was never interviewed for any of the high-profile positions that gossip put as a favorite to take: Penn Sate, LSU, Florida, or Auburn. He said after the Arkansas game, “We’ve got to figure this out, where we’re not putting pressure on coaches and programs and people during the middle of the week where there’s nothing but speculation…We’ve got Twitter trending with bets on who’s going to be leading or get this job… That’s annoying. That’s bullcrap. OK? And it’s just speculation, it’s just media throwing stuff on the wall, and it’s tough on everybody. It’s tough on players, it’s tough on coaches…I just felt like we weren’t done yet. That north end zone isn’t completed. And, so, my job here is not completed yet.”

In his six years at Mizzou, the Tigers are 46-28 and 26-24 in the SEC. He’s 58-29 in his career after gpomg12-1 as a first-year coach at Appalachian State. The Mountaineers finished 18^th and 19^th in the polls that year.

(MIZMBB)—The undefeated season-opening string for the Missouri Tigers has reached eight games with a Dennis Gates homecoming win at Cleveland State, the school from which Missouri hired him four years ago. The hiring became something of a swap because Cleveland hired former Missouri coach (and former Gates assistant), Rob Summers, as its head coach.

The Tigers were never challenged in their 86-59 win, running off the first 23 points of the game. The Vikings were scoreless for half of the first half. Five Tigers were in double figures with Jacob Crews finishing with 19.

Seven-foot-five center Trent Burns saw action in his second straight game as he works his way back into shape after foot surgery. Although he was in for only six minutes and didn’t score, he two rebounds, a block, and a pair of assists.

Things get more serious now. The Tigers play Notre Dame tonight before facing the Kansas Jayhawks in Kansas City on the 7^th.

Missouri got the 28^th most vote from the AP, the 29^th most from the coaches. Notre Dame did not receive any points in either poll. The Fighting Irish roundballers are 5-3.

Kansas is 21^st in both with a 6-2 record.

(MIZWBB) The women’s team is off to a 7-2 start after a big win against Northwestern in the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida. The Lady Tigers used Grace Slaughter’s 33 points to win 85-70. It was a landmark day for two people. Slaughter’s last bucket got her to 1,000 career points. It also lifted coach Kellie Harper to her 400 win.

Five players racked up double figures for Mizzou with Shanno Dowell getting her fourth double-double of the year—12 points and 13 rebounds. Northwestern drops to 6-1.

Missouri faces California in the ACC/SEC Challenge Thursday night in Columbia. The Tiger women received no votes in this week’s Ap women’s basketball poll. (ZOU)

(POST-SEASON)—Northwest Missouri State made it to the Division II playoffs but didn’t make it past Harding, losing 38-16 in the first round.

Missouri State and Delaware are the last two teams to get into the 82-team FBS post-season tournament. The Bears will learn next Sunday who their first-round opponent will be. They’re 7-5 (5-3 in Conference USA) after losing their last regular-season game, 42-30 to Louisiana Tech.

(CHIEFS)—The Chiefs continue to make it appear likely they’ll be in the best position inyears for the college draft next Spring. Their 31-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys dropped their record to 6-6.

There still is time to mess up their draft status, though. Last year the Chiefs also had split their first dozen games and wound up in the Super Bowl.

It was a familiar story against Dallas—inconsistency, a leaky offensive line, momentum-robbing penalties, and a vulnerable defense.

(BASEBALL)—Other than the Sonny Gray trade to the Red Sox for two minor league pitchers, the Cardinals have been pretty quiet. Any speculation that reliever Ryan Helsley would come back to St. Louis after his trade last season to the Mets has been killed by Halsley’s two-year $28 million dollar deal with the Orioles.

The Royals have been quiet, too.

Nineteen of the game’s top 25 free agents remain unsigned as we head to the winter meetings, starting December 10 in Dallas.

As we experience our first bitter cold and snow of the winter, here’s a warming reminder—Pitchers and catchers report for spring training on February 11. The days can’t pass fast enough.

Speaking of things that are fast—

(INDYCAR)—The 110^th Indianapolis 500 next May will have an even more patriotic mood about it than usual, as the race and the nation celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the document that created our nation, the Declaration of Independence.

The first part of the race’s promotion is the unveiling of next year’s logo.

The speedway says, “the logo colors directly match those of the American flag. The shield harkens back to the coat of arms, now called the Great Seal of the United States. The red stripes represent the stripes of the flag, as well as the wings of the IMS Wing & Wheel logo, while the four stars represent IMS’s four “founding father.”

At least one of the cars will carry the theme. A. J. Foyt Racing will have this car for Santino Ferrucci next year.

HFOT stands for Homes For Our Troops a nonprofit organization that provides custom homes for severely injured post 9/11 veterans. A team statement says, “Most of these veterans have sustained injuries, including multiple limb amputations, partial or full paralysis, blindness, severe burns, and/or severe traumatic brain injury.

(NASCAR)—The antitrust lawsuit filed by two NASCAR Cup teams against the sanctioning body (and owner of most of the tracks where the series’ major races are run has begun. The pre-trial climate has been increasingly ugly and the trial is expected to follow suit.

(FORMULA1)—The last race of the last major racing series to call it a year will be Abu Dabi next weekend. Max Verstappen’s win last weekend moves him to only 12 points behind Lado Naorris.

Sports: Frustration in Norman; Elation in KC; A Former Tiger Gets a Kick Out of Playing in LA

Posted on November 25, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZFB)—A frustrating day for the Missouri Tigers in Norman Oklahoma means Missouri must win at Arkansas next weekend to have the chance for a nine-win season when much more was anticipated.

Missouri is now 7-4 after its 17-6 loss in Norman, a game the defense saved for Missouri but the offense could not claim. Missouri took an early lead on a Robert Meyer field goal and had a chance to make it a six-point lead when Meyer’s kick from inside the red zone in the second quarter was blocked.

Oklahoma seized the lead on the only big play of the game—an 87 yard pass from John Mateer to Isaiah Sategna, who’d gotten a step ahead of Tiger safety Marvin Burks Jr. Mateer hit Javonnie Gibson for a second touchdown after Missouri went three-and=out on its next drive.

Bo Pribula was back from his ankle injury and went 20/35 for 231 yards but had two interceptions and the Sooner sacked him four times. Playing on the ankle injured a month ago, Pribula did not show the mobility that had helped open the Tiger offense in previous games.

Missouri has become a team that cannot beat a top-10 team. It’s the fourth time this year they have failed and Coach Drinkwitz drop to 0-7 against top-25 SEC teams in the last two years.

The loss drops Missouri to 29^th in the coaches poll; 28^th in the AP.

(MIZBB)—-The Missouri Tigers are undefeated through their first six games but have yet to dent the top 25 in either major poll. The Tigers are 33^rd in the top 25 rankings by the AP and in the Coaches poll. The Tigers play South Carolina State at the Mizzou Arena tonight. State has yet to win after six games this year.

(MIZTHICKER)— Jushua Karty is still on the Los Angeles Rams roster as a place kicker and former Tiger Harrison Mevis is doing his best to make sure he stays there. Mevis kicked four more extra points this weekend to run his consecutive string to 13 and then was two for two on field goals—from 42 and 50 yards—in the Rams win over Tampa Bay. (ZOU)

(CHIEFS)—They were down by eleven with only the last quarter ahead of them and the Indianapolis Colts were ready to hammer the nails into their playoff coffins. The hometown fans had been watching the Kansas City Chiefs once again with a sluggish offense, a disappointing defense, a team crippled by penalties at wrong times and unable to put a coherent offense together.

And the Chiefs stopped the Colts in their tracks and played a fourth quarter out of the past to win the game in overtime 23-20 on a Harrison Butker field goal.

Rashee Rice was a key figure in the comeback. The Chiefs were pinned close to their end zone line, Patrick Mahomes found Rice for 47 yards. His fourth and 3 grab that went for 19 yards kept the final drive going before the game-winning field goal.

If Rice was the lightning, Kareen Rush was the thunder in the second half. He finished the day with 30 carries for 104 yards, giving KC a 100-yard rusher and a 100-yard receive in a game for the first time this year.

The defense stopped Colts cold in the second half, giving up only five first downs and giving up first downs on only two of seven Colts chances. They dominated the fourth quarter, holding the ball for 10:39 of the quarter’s fifteen minutes and stopping the Indianapolis passing game as well as its rushing attack.

Patrick Mahomes set a new passing record in the game. His 352 yards (but no touchdowns) put him past the 35,000 yard mark for his career. It was his 123^rd game, breaking Matthew Stafford’s record of 126.

The Chiefs avoided falling below .500 with the win. The loss was only the third of the season for Indianapolis. They lead the AFC South by a game over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Chiefs have a short week before their Thanksgiving game in their original home town against the Cowboys, who have struggled to a 5-5-1 season. The Cowboys had won their last two games but they’re giving up a lot of points—314 so far. The Chiefs have given up only 201.

CARDINALS)—The Cardinals are laying the groundwork for free agent signings, trades, or promotions from the minors in coming weeks. They’ve decided not to offer contracts to four players, including Yohel Pozo, who finished second in all of the major leagues with seven pinch-hit runs batted in. They’ve also non-tendered reliever John King and minor league pitcher Sem Robberse. They’ve DFA’s reliever Jorge Alcala. It’s thought Pozo could come back with a minor league contracts next year.

There are three guaranteed contracts: William Contrares, Sonny Gray, and Noen Aranado. Seven more are eligible for new contracts—Nolan Gorman and Alex Burleson, Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbar, Matthew Liberatore, Andre Pallante, and JoJo Romero.

Three players have guaranteed contracts==Nolen Aranado, Sonny Gray, and Willson Contrerras. The list of players eligible for new contracts stands at seven: JoJo Romero, Brendan Donovan, Lars Nootbar, Andre Pallante, Matthew Liberatore, Nolan Gorman, and Alex Burleson. Pre-arbitration contracts have been offered to 27 other guys.

Two top minor leaguers are hoping to head north with the team after spring training next year—J. J. Wetherholt and Brycen Mautz.

Wetherholt has been named the Cardinals’ Minor LeaguePlayer of the Year. He’s considered the fifth overall prospect in the majors. A left=handed batter, he hit .306 in 109 games last year, one of six minor leaguers to exceed .300/400/510 last year with 17 homers, 28 doubles, a pair of triples, 23 steals, and 59 RBIs playing for Springfield (double A) and Memphis (triple A). The last player to do that in the Cardinals system was Ted Savage, fifty-nine years ago. Savage bounced around among eight teams in his ten-year major league career.

Mautz was a second-round draft pick in ’22 and was the Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the year this year. He was in double-A last summer, started 25 games, went 8-3 with a 2.98 ERA in 25 starts. He fanned 135 and walked only 33 in 114.2 innings as he led Springfield to a Texas League championship.

(ROYALS)—Catcher Salvador Perez has been named he captain of the Venezuelan team in the World Baseball Classic that will be played in March.

The Royals have are gambling that reliever Alex Lange can return to major league level after he missed most of last season. Lange’s deal is worth $900,000 in 2026 with $100,000 in performance bonuses, a source told MLB.com. He will make $2.5 million in his two-year contract and will be under Royals control through 2028. Lange was DFA’s by the Tigers on November 12. He was in one game for the Tigers last season before going on the injured last season after surgery on a right lat injury. When he returned, he was sent to Toledo in triple-A. He was released after posting a 4.64 ERA.

With the Tigers in 2022-23 when he was in 138 games with a 3.55 ERA, and rang up 26 saves in 32 opportunities. He’s a home town boy who went to Lee’s Summit West High School before going to LSU and becoming a first-round pick by the Cubs.

The Royals have signed infielder Jonathan India to a new deal after his first season with the team. He came over from the Reds. He’d been considered a possible non-tender player after hitting .233 last season. His deal is worth $8 million, a million dollar raise from 2025.

But the Royals are cutting loose J. J. Melendez and pitcher Taylor Clarke. Melendez didn’t seem to match his promise although showing good power. He was a second-round pick in 2017 who made his major league debut in 2022. Last year, he was in just 23 games and hit .083 with five hits in sixty at-bats before being sent down to Omaha. He had 20 homers and 64 RBIs at Omaha and hit .261 last season.

Clarke was in 51 games for Kansas City last year, posted a 3.25 ERA, had one save, and was 1-1. He’ll be 33 next year.

The Royals have offered contracts to their arbitration-eligible players: outfielder Kyle Isbel, infielders Vinnie Pasquantino, Maikel Garcia, and Michael Massey, and pitchers Kris Bubic, Angel Zerpa, John Schrieber, Daniel Lynch IV, and Bailey Falter.

Now, the speedy stuff:

(INDYCAR)—Immortality, at least as long as sterling silver lasts, has come to Alex Palou, the winner of this year’s Indianapolis 500 as well as his fourth IndyCar championship. His image joins the images of all of other 500 winners of the race on the Borg-Warner Trophy.

He had never won a race on an oval until last May when he got past former winner Marcus Ericsson and led the last thirteen laps. He’s the first driver from Spain to make it to the trophy.

Seeing his image on the big trophy provoke emotions that other winners have felt when they saw their images for the first time. “I know that it’s always going to be there forever, if I race one more year or if I race 50 more years. And whatever the history of INDYCAR is going to be, it’s always going to be there. So, it’s great to be part of all those amazing drivers. And, yeah, I feel that now. I want to get that face again on that trophy. Try and be part again of the history of our sport.”

Palou’s image joins that of 2024 winner Josef Newgarden and 110 other images on the trophy created in 1936.

(Roger Penske and Josef Newgarden with their Baby Borgs after Newgarden’s 2024 win)

The trophy has the image of only one non-winner of the race. Long-time track owner Tony Hulman, who rescued the Indianapolis Speedway from destruction after World War II, and owned it until his death in 1977, is portrayed by a gold image.

-0-

Another former Formula One driver is moving to IndyCar—Mick Schumacher, who has signed with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. He’s the son of Michael Schumacher, a seven-time world champion. He’s part of a team that includes veteran Graham Rahal and IndyCar Rookie of the Year Louis Foster.

It’s a new chapter in Schumacher’s life after a career in F1 and in endurance races. He’s never raced on an oval. Six of next year’s races are on ovals. He’ll run his first race for RLL on the St. Petersburg, Florida street circuit on March 1.

(FORMULA 1)—Max Verstappen repeated his victory on the glitzy streets of Las Vegas, taking a first lap lead over points-leader Lando Norris and running away from any challenges. It was the third F1 race in the States this year as the series hopes to build its constituency in this country.

Norris crossed the finish line in second place twenty seconds behind Verstappen with George Russell third and Norris teammate Oliver Piastri fourth.

But Norris and Piastri were disqualified because the skid plates under their car were short of specifications, relegating them top 19^th and 20^th place in the race and allowing Verstappen to take a bite out of Norris’ points lead.

The results put Verstappen and Piastri 24 points behind Norris with two races to go.

(Photo Credits: Mahomes—KC Chiefs; Mevis: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images © Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images; Palou—Indycar; Penske and New Garden—Detroit News)

The Border War

Posted on November 21, 2025 by bpriddy

I might not be considered a loyal Missourian—

because I don’t give a hoot on which side of the state line the Royals and the Chiefs play. If I’m going to drive three hours to get to a game in Kansas City, what’s another ten or fifteen minutes on Interstate 70? A game is a game wherever it’s played.

I long ago thought the Missouri-Kansas sports rivalry thing was stupid. The pre-war Civil War ended more than 150 years ago and to liken two teams of big guys trying stomp on each other, or two teams of tall guys jamming a ball into a metal circle has any significance to the universe is insane.

The great sports columnist Heywood Hale Broun wrote in the forward to his wonderful book, Tumultuous Merriment;

“The actual importance of the contest is immaterial to both spectators and players once the period of magic has begun. The level of excitement is subconsciously chosen by those present and after a time exists beyond their control. It is only harmful when, like some lingering germ from a tropical paradise, it darkens the future. All of us should play as if life and honor depended on it, and all of us should cheer as if it were Lucifer State versus Angel U. in the arena; but at game’s end all of us should recognize that paradise was neither won nor lost. None of us should emulate those middle-aged men who stare glumly into the bottom of a highball glass when they think of a shot that failed to drop in the last second of some long-ago basketball game.”

In other words, the game is what is important and it is important only within the time of the game. Attaching any importance outside that period is a waste of time.

So, then, is all of the anguish about economic advantage of one place over another unimportant within the entirety of an economic area. And that should be what we are talking about here because the metropolitan cities and counties form their own economic area regardless of rivers and streets. Why there continues to be a counterproductive economic civil war within that area is beyond my understanding.

It’s not a case of whether the teams play on one side of the Missouri River or the other. The river as a boundary is a manmade abstraction as are state lines. The grass is the same color on both sides. Drive down Stateline Road. One side is in Jackson County, Missouri. The other is in Wyandotte County, Kansas. If you drive north, you’re in Missouri. Drive south and you’re in Kansas. The difference is a white line about six inches wide in the pavement..

The Chiefs and the Royals are still going to be “The Kansas City Whatevers” regardless of which side of a manmade line on which they hold their contests.

Get over it.

For years, Missouri and Kansas have waged an economic war, giving tax breaks to snatch this or that business from the other side only to have the other side a few years later offer tax breaks to get the company back.

If one state or the other is economically ahead, it can’t be by very much.

This silliness almost became—and maybe should have become—academic in 1855, the days of the pre-war border war, when pro-slavery Westport resident Mobillion McGee decided the chances of Kansas entering the Union as a slave state would be improved if the Missouri boundary line was shifted to the east a few miles, thereby putting more pro-slavery voters in Kansas. He and newspaper publisher Robet T. Van Horn convinced the legislatures of both states to agree to the scheme. But a young man they hired to seek congressional approval went to Washington, fell in love, married and left on an extended honeymoon, during which time enthusiasm for the plan cooled and it was never carried out.

Their idea has some validity today, not in redrawing the boundary lines for slavery but in considering territory on both sides of the lines as a single economic entity. Such a move would take, as happened in 1855, legislative approval from both states to form an economic district that would jointly pursue economic development mutually beneficial to the broader area.

Call it the McGee Enterprise Zone in which rivalries would not be recognized and the economic power of two states will be combined for greater development, the value of which would be shared by both.

It won’t be simple to organize such an entity. But doing so could end decades of unproductive rivalry resulting from unnecessary adherence to manmade lines. A battle between Lucifer State and Angel U is okay in the three hours of a game. But the game does not last for more than 150 years and neither should the parochial man-made rivalry between Kansas and Missouri.

Build stadiums wherever negotiations lead them to be built. It’s all still the Kansas City area and in the end we should be glad they don’t move to Nashville.

Sports: Mizzou Can’t Stop A&M; Tiger Basketball Faces Toughest Opponent; Royals & Cardinals at the Start of Free Agency; Blues are Blue

Posted on November 11, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MUFB)—The Missouri Tigers are barely clinging to a top-25 ranking in one of the polls after Saturday’s disheartening loss to third-ranked Texas A&M. They’ve fallen out of the coaches poll but the AP sportswriters gave Missouri four votes, letting them stay at 25^th.

Missouri was able to stay in the game for most of the first half before quarterback Matt Zollers fumbled the ball in the air when he was hit while preparing to pass with one minute left in the half. The ball went straight into the arms of A&M defensive back Dalton Brooks. Brooks took it to the two=yard line and A&M got a touchdown just before halftime to go up 14-0.

Zollers hand was “banged up” on the play and he was seen on the sideline afterwards flexing it. He later did some throwing on the sidelines and stayed in the game.

Missouri’s offensive line could have been stouter in protecting Zollers in his first collegiate start and in opening running space for Jamal Roberts and Ahmad Haley, both of whom topped 100 yards rushing, but not until well into the second half when Missouri was two or three scores down.

Missouri also was caught flat-footed in the third quarter by a fake punt turned into a touchdown for A&M.

Missouri’s offense missed the versatility of Beau Pribula, out indefinitely with hia ankle injury, who had added a running dimension to his position.. Zollars was 7 of 22 passing for just 77 yards and had negative yards on three rushing attempts.

The loss ended any hopes, although they were slim to begin with, of making the playoffs. The Tigers have lost three of their last four games with Saturday’s loss marking the first time Missouri has lost two in a row since 2022.

The last game of the year on Faurot Field is next Saturday against Mississippi State. They close on the road with games against Oklahoma and Arkansas. They have to win all three plus their bowl game to hit the ten-win mark for an unprecedent third straight year.

(MIZBB)—-The basketball Tigers are 3-0 in their first week on the court, hanging on for a win against Southeast Missouri State and a dominating victory over VMI.

The Tigers let the Southeast Red Hawks stay uncomfortably close because they couldn’t hit a free throw in the 89-84 win. They were just 19 of 31, a concerning figure because they were 10 of 21 in the season opener against Howard.

Mark Mitchell got his first double-double Sunday with 24 points and ten rebounds in the 106-68 win against VMI. The Tigers outscored the Kaydets 56-28 in the second half, showing a significantly tighter defense than they had displayed in their earlier games.

Ant Robinson’s versatility showed in his stat line—20 points (4 of 5 from the arc), four steals and four assists.

Missouri faces its first big-time test tomorrow night against Minnesota. One of those teams will lose its undefeated season.

(XMU)—Former Tiger place kicker Harrison Mevis has landed with one of the top teams in the NFL and hasn’t missed the chance to be around for a while. Mevis was signed to the Los Angeles Rams practice squad last week and was activated for Sunday’s game against the 49ers. He was six for six in extra points as the Rams won 42-26.

(BASEBALL)—The talent pool for teams looking for a free agent is falling into place. The Cardinals have a dozen minor league guys who want to play for somebody else. Michael Siani, who spent part of last season in the bigs, has been signed by Atlanta. Roddery Munoz has been claimed off of waiver by the Reds. Miles Mikolas has cut ties with the team by becoming a free agent. Mikolas was 18-4 when he joined the Redbirds after three years in Japan. He was 40-65 in the other six years in St. Louis.

The Royals have signed their first free agent, a guy they drafted in 2016. Outfielder Kameron Misner decided to play ball for the University of Missouri instead of signing with the Royals. He was designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays after hitting .213 in 217 plate appearances. When he hit the ball, he hit it hard—nine doubles and five home runs. He also stole eight bases. But 69 of the 217 times he stepped into the batter’s box, he struck out.

He made history with his walk-off home run on opening day, the first player ever to make his first homer a walk-off on an opening day. Kansas City gives up a player or cash to be decided later.

They have guaranteed that Salvatore Perez will retire a Royal. He has signed a two-year extension. They have several players eligible for free agency. Sports Illustrated is reporting that the Tampa Bay Rays are strongly interested in signing Mike Yastrzemski, who joined the Royals in mis-season.

The Royals have lost Randal Grichuk, who has declined a five-million dollar deal to go into free agency. The Royals also have cut Michael Lorenzen loose

The Royals have moved to strengthen their hitting coaching staff by offering a job to Connor Dawson, who at 32 years old already has four years as the Milwaukee Brewers’ hitting coach and time spent as the minor league hitting coordinator for the Seattle Mariners.

(HOCKEY)—The St. Louis Blues got their season off on the wrong skate and find themselves winners of only five of their first sixteen games (5-8-3) and last in their division. They are averaging 2.3 goals per game. They’re giving up almost four goals.

Only the Calgary Flames have fewer wins, at 4-11-1. The Buffalo Sabers also have only five wins. But they have four ties—-5-6-4.

An Open and Shut Case

Posted on November 11, 2025 by bpriddy

The Associated Press reported earlier this week that Governor Kehoe’s latest pitch to keep the Kansas City Chiefs in Missouri goes back to the original plans for the Truman Sports Complex, as the area that contains Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadiums on the eastern edge of Kansas City.

Kehoe told the AP there’s no talk of building an ultra-expensive completely domed stadium, but there might be another way to enclose the present Arrowhead Stadium. The leases the Royals and Chiefs have on the Jackson County Sports Complex expire in about five years, a pretty short time in stadium-building scenarios.

His concept has assumed immediate importance with a report by Pete Mundo of KCMO radio that the Chiefs have put out a request for proposals to design a new stadium near the Kansas Speedway. Mundo says the move does not mean the Chiefs have decided to move to the Kansas side. In fact he says his “gut” tells him they’ll stay on our side.

Kansas officials are not commenting and Chiefs owner Clark Hunt says the team is still negotiating with both sides.

But the story raises the stakes in the discussions.

Missouri officials well remember the failure of the legislature in the late 1990s to react favorably to a proposal to put a major automobile race track near Kansas City International Airport. The Kansas Speedway opened just across the state line in Wyandotte County Kansas and opened in 2001, triggering considerable development in the area.

World Sports Network estimated seven years later that the track already had generated $243 million a year in economic benefits to the area.

The idea of a covering for Arrowhead is not new. The original designs for the complex in the 1960s included a covering for both stadiums.

The rolling roof system would be on tracks that could move a covering over the playing fields for inclement weather. The stadiums would not be heated or air conditioned under that system but rain and snow would not be a factor.

The idea came from architect Charles U. Deaton, an innovative thinker born in New Mexico who never got a college degree. He became a certified architectural engineer after personal studies of industrial design, structural engineering, and architecture. He designed board games in addition to structures and held several patents for furniture and interior lighting designs—and for designing board games. He worked in St. Louis for a time before moving to Denver, where practiced until his death in 1996.

The original plans were for a facility much like Busch Stadium II in St. Louis, where both baseball and football games could be played. But Deaton convinced Chiefs GM Jack Steadman the dual stadium concept would be better.

If you want a more detailed description of the philosophy behind his designs, go to the KC Yesterday web page.

Deaton’s idea of the rolling roof was scrapped during the construction process—practicality time, and cost were factors. The Chiefs played their first game in Arrowhead in 1972. The Royals played their first game in their new home on April 10, 1973. Twenty years later it was renamed for Royals’ owner Ewing Kauffman.

Kehoe is not recommending a return to Deaton’s original but now outdated design. He cites more modern stadium architecture that he think would work at far less cost—-and the incredible costs of new stadiums is a huge factor. Jackson County voters rejected the extension of a local sales tax to finance an $800 million overhaul of Arrowhead and construction of a two-billion dollar ballpark and ballpark village (as it’s called in St. Louis) downtown.

Missouri and Kansas now are in a heated competition for the two teams and legislatures in both states have authorized millions of dollars in one form or another to provide the new facilities.

What Kehoe is suggesting is something similar to what he saw in Frankfurt, Germany when he attended a Chiefs-Dolphis game in 2023 at Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park, a 100-year old soccer stadium that has been overhauled many times and now sports a cable-supported flexible, translucent fabric covering that can be opened or closed.

The Governor plans to meet today with the new Jackson County Executive, Phil LeVota, who also is talking to the Chiefs. The Chiefs aren’t reacting yet to the Kehoe suggestion but they have said they’d invest $1.l5 billion into the project if they decide to stay on our side of the state line. Another Kansas City (Missouri) election could be held next year.

For what it is worth, the view of the situation from the height of our hill is that this entire decades-long war for economic development in the Kansas City area has gone on too long. Somebody needs to develop a solution to it.

And we are as qualified as anyone to do that….and we will, on Monday.

(Photo credit: KC Yesterday/Jackson County Historical Society, Stadiowelt, Trip Advisor)

Brent

Posted on November 5, 2025 by bpriddy

Last weekend, Nancy and I drove to St. Joseph for the retirement party of my longtime Missourinet managing editor, Brent Martin. Brent and I sat about four feet apart in the Missourinet newsroom for fifteen years before the company sent him to Lincoln, Nebraska to breathe new life into the Nebraska News Network.

He built the organization into a respected part of the Nebraska Capitol Press Corps before our parent company decided there just wasn’t enough money in Nebraska to continue support of the NRNs and abruptly shut it down.

We had hired Brent from our affiliate in St. Joseph, KFEQ, a historic station serving northwest Missouri, northeast Kansas, southwest Nebraska, and southeast Iowa. But we had known Brent since he was a student at Central Missouri State (now the University of Central Missouri) in Warrensburg where he did the news on affiliate KOKO.

Brent wrapped up a 45-year career in broadcast journalism last week, having returned to his St. Joseph roots at KFEQ after the abrupt shutdown in Nebraska.

Brent was on top of a number of major stories in St. Jo and in Jefferson City and in Lincoln. CBS relied on him to cover the 1993 flood and its impact on northwest Missouri’s biggest city. I trusted him implicitly to maintain the quality of the Missourinet operations when I was out of town.

That included the night 25 years ago when we lost Governor Carnahan. Nancy and I were in Albuquerque, having just come down from our annual archaeological work in southwest Colorado, and watching the 10 .p.m. news on KOB-TV when the anchor reported that the airplane carrying Missour Governor and senatorial candidate Mel Carnahan was missing. We immediately switched to CNN and got the updated information that the plane had crashed.

I knew that Brent would be in the newsroom along with the other members of our staff and other staffers who would be drawn there by the events, and I knew he would have things well in hand.

And he did. I told him to send someone to the Capitol and find Lieutenant Govenror Roger Wilson, who would become the new governor at almost any time. One of the people who had rushed to the newsroom that night was my former assistant news director at KLIK, a Jefferson City Station that no longer exists—Clyde Lear, now the owner of Learfield Communications.

Brent gave Clyde a recorder and sent him to the Capitol to stick to Wilson. When Wilson was sworn in and, understandably under the circumstances, said he didn’t have anything to say, Clyde—ever the journalist—asked him one and got an answer.

Brent told me that as the a time grew closer to our first newscast of the day, at 5:55 a.m., he paused and collected himself after the intensive hours that had passed, and reminded himself that in a few minutes, thousands of Missourians would learn from him that Mel Carnahan was dead.

Throughout that long day, as Nancy and I drove almost 1,000 miles back to Jefferson City, the Missourinet, led by Brent, told Missourians about what things were developing in the wake of the tragedy.

Less than a year later, I was in Nashville for the opening of the national convention of radio and television news directors, due to start on September 12. Just as we were to start our pre-convention board meeting, the first airplane crashed into the first of the World Trade Center towers in Washington. Again, it was Brent in charge of the Missourinet newsroom, running our coverage of state events that were affected by those two crashes.

Fortunately, I had driven to Nashville so I was not trapped as were several other news directors because all airline flights had been grounded indefinitely. When I got back to the newsroom, our operation hadn’t missed a beat.

I missed him when he went to Nebraska—-more because he was a dear friend more than anything else. We talked about all kinds of stuff in our years together; politics, government, religion, families, cars—-Brent bled blue and white during the Kansas City Royals seasons and he bled red and yellow during the NFL season. Our sports director, Bill Pollack, once confided to me, tongue in cheek, that he was always glad to see me back in the newsroom so he could get his sports business done because Brent always wanted to talk about the Royals or the Chiefs or the Tigers.

Being a journalist requires enduring energy for a long number of years. It’s exciting to be on the front row of history, whether it’s in city hall or a state capitol. Sometimes it is frustrating. Sometimes it is boring. But it is always human and the role of a reporter is vitally necessary to our state and country. Brent spent his fifteen years as Missourinet Managing Editor covering the House while I camped out in the Senate trying to make the complicated process of making laws simple enough to explain to Missourians who need to know what their government does to, with, and for them.

Sometimes, it wasn’t fun at all—the Carnahan crash, the floods, the twin towers attacks. And executions. Brent and I covered 34 of them; he covered twelve before going to Nebraska where he became not only a reporter but also a source for other reporters when Nebraska had its first execution by lethal injection in 2018. We felt that the state should not exact its most serious penalty against someone without witnesses from the two statewide media organizations as witnesses.

Brent’s wife and daughter planned the retirement party at the church the family attends in St. Joseph. One of the gifts he was given was a Chiefs jacket. And there was a special guest:

Brent is looking forward to time to read and to write poetry and to spoil his two granddaughters. The big retirement gift from his family and friends is a trip to England next year. I gave him a small gift, something a baseball fan might appreciate—an official 1994 World Series baseball. The Royals weren’t in it but a baseball fan such as Brent Martin would appreciate it because nobody was in the World Series that year because of a players strike.

He’ll have plenty of time for Royals games after missing so many because he had to be up early the next morning to tell the people of St. Joseph, and for a few years the people Missouri and Nebraska what was going on around them.

I wrote a little poem in the card we gave him that began something like:

Guilt-free naps

With a cat on the lap

And the Chiefs on the TV….

And it went downhill from there.

I reminded him and Tammi of something Christopher Bond told me after he had retired from the U.S. Senate—that his wife said she married him for better or worse, but not for lunch.

We hope the Martins have better luck at figuring out the lunch thing that we have had. We’re okay with Monday through Wednesday and the weekends. But after eleven years, we still havne’t figured out Thursday and Friday.

I hope my friend Brent is more successful than I have been about lunch.

Bob Priddy

A journalist's random observations

Category Archives: baseball

Sports—Arbitrations; No Free Points; In With the New at Mizzou; No Arbitrations

Tiger, Tiger Burning Dimly; KCK Chiefs Slouch Toward the End; Sorrow and History in the speedsports.

Sports: Not a Great Recruiting Class but a Good One; A Worsening Season; A Bowl Game to Wrap Up a Season and other stuff (

A Bad Weekend in KC; Bowling for Two; NFL Debut

Sports; Tigers Having a Long Drink and Wait for a Bowl; Chief Playing for Highest Draft Pick in Years; It’s Basketball Season

Sports: Frustration in Norman; Elation in KC; A Former Tiger Gets a Kick Out of Playing in LA

The Border War

Sports: Mizzou Can’t Stop A&M; Tiger Basketball Faces Toughest Opponent; Royals & Cardinals at the Start of Free Agency; Blues are Blue

An Open and Shut Case

Brent

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