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.

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(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.

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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)

Sports: A Runaway in Columbia; A Toasting in Denver; Other Teams AND Suppose Every Quarter or Inning Started at Zero

Posted on November 19, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CHIEFS)—A Chiefs dynasty was kicked to the curb Sunday evening in Denver when the Bronco’s Wil Lutz drilled a 34-yard field goal on the last play of the game. Denver 22, Kansas City 19. It’s the eighth straight win for Denver and runs their record to 9-2. The Chiefs are 5-5, their first time they’ve lost five games in the regular season since 2017.

Each team scored only one touchdown. Denver had five field goal. Kansas City four.

Bo Nix and Wil Lutz showed off their clutch genes again, and the Broncos are now firmly in control of the AFC West — a division the Chiefs have won nine straight times — after a 22-19 win over Kansas City. It’s Denver’s eighth consecutive win.

Kansas City had taken a 19-16 lead halfway through the quarter but Lutz hit a field goal from 54 yards to tie it and then the 34-yarder to win.

Denver QB Bo Nix outplayed Chiefs QB Patrick Mahome, especially in the final drive. He converted a 3^rd and 15 with a 20 yard completion, completed another pass on 3^rd and 5 for another first down and hit Troy Franklin for 32 yards to set up the winning field goal

Denver is 7-2 in one-score games this year and lead the NFL in that category. The Chiefs are winless in five one-score games after going 12-0 last year in that category.

The Chiefs are now third in the AFC West behind Denver (9-2) and the Chargers (7-4.) They are 9^th in the playoff standings, two games on the outside. They’re one game behind the Jaguars and do not have them on the schedule for a second game this year.

One bright spot for the Chiefs: Mahomes and Travis Kelce combined for a touchdown that gave the Chiefs their only lead for the day in the fourth quarter. Kelce now has 84 TDs, one more than Priest Holmes had in his career.

(THICKER)—The Los Angeles Rams activated former Tiger Harrison Mevis from the practice squad for the second weekend in a row for their game against the Seattle Seahawks and he was perfect again—three for three on points after touchdowns. He’s now 9 for 9.

(MIZZFB)—Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy ran over, around, and through Mississippi State in the Tigers 49-27 win that has returned the Tigers to the top 25 in the ratings. Theyu’re 23^rd in the AP poll. Coaches have them 21^st. They’ll get another stiff test next weekend against Oklahoma, ranked 8^th in both polls.

Hardy’s 300 yards gives him 1,346 for the season, fifth on the all-time list but with a chance to break Cody Schrader’s record of 1,627.

Speaking of Schrader, where is he? Still in the NFL, now on the Jacksonville Jaguars roster but not good enough to get in any games. He was considered healthy inactive for last week’s game against the Chargers. The Jags resigned him October 8. He’s about fourth on the running back depth chart, important enough to be on the regular roster rather than the practice squad but buried in the sideline crowd and inactivated for weekend games.

(SECPOTW)—Two Tigers have made the SEC Player of the Week list after the 49-27 win over Mississippi State. But they have to share their honors with players from other teams.

Ahmad Hardy’s 300-yards on 25 carries and three touchdowns earned him co-offensive POTW with Ole Miss running back Kewon Lacy. It was a game of superlatives for Hardy:

The seventh 300-yard game in all of the SEC history, the second-best in Tiger history, less than twenty yards behind Devin West’s 318 in 1995. Forty-six of his yards came after contact. He forced eight missed tackles. Ten of his runs on third-down plays became first down. He had five gains of 20 or more yards including touchdowns of 72 and 43 yards. His third TD was a run of “only” ten yards. He now has seven 100-yard rushing games this year.

Lacy had a career-best 224 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-24 win over Florida. He also set a new team record with his 19^th touchdown of the year.

Cornerback Toriano Pride Jr., had an interception that turned into a touchdown and a picked up fumbled field goal placement that he almost took back for a score. He shares this week’s award with Oklahoma Cornerback Eli Bowen whose 87-yard touchdown return of an intercepted pass.

(BEAUBACK.)—Pribula ready to return? CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reports Beau Pribula might be back for Oklahoma. If so, it’s a quick return for a guy whose season was thought to be endangered just three weeks ago with a non-fracture dislocated ankle. The report characterizes it as “early optimism.”

Pribula was on the field before the game throwing some light passes, sanding on both feet with leverage enough to throw the ball.

True Freshman Matt Zollars is still listed as the starter early in the preparation week. Pribula’s mobility gave Missouri an important dimension while he was playing. Zollars has not shown that kind of mobility in either of the games he has started in Pribula’s place; Ahmad Hardy pretty well eliminated that as an issue.

(MIZBB)—Mizzou’s basketball squad made Prairie View its latest tune-up victim last night, 91-73, the second game the Tigers have gotten to 90 or better. Six players were in double figures with Jacob Crews hanging up 20 points in 24 minutes on 7-of-10 shooting, including four of five from outside.

Missouri is 5-0 going into its next game—against South Dakota on Thursday night at the Mizzou arena. The Tigers have three straight wins of 15 points or more.

(MIZRECRUITS)—Looks as if the hits are going to keep on coming for Missouri basketball. Recruiting season has wrapped up and Missouri has the nation’s #1 class for 2026 that includes three of the nation’s top 100 prospects—Jason Crowe Jr., the number five recruit in the country, toni Bryant, who was 14^th, and Aidan Chronister, who comes in at 83. Coach Dennis Gates says, “His work ethic is unmatched, his discipline is unmatched and his performance on the court is unmatched…On the court, J2 is as smooth as a player as there is. He is extremely crafty with a high basketball IQ that allows him to score in any situation.”

Bryant is a 6-9 power forward from North Tampa Christian High School in Florida. He’s considered the fourth-best player at his position who hit two-thirds of his field goal attempts (43% from three land), and had an average double-double last year—21 points and almost 12 rebounds. Gates compares his skills to those of Kobe Brown and Mark Mitchell and says he’s a “top shot blocker and can rebound the ball with the best of them.”

Chronister is a small forward at 6-6 and 175 pounds from Rogers Arkansas. Gates had his eyes on Chronister early on and thinks he is “a seamless fit” to the Tiger system with “elite shooting skills.” (ZOU)

(MOSTATE)—The Missouri football team is not the only 7-3 top-drawer team in the state. The Missouri State Bears bounced back from a bad third quarter to dominated the fourth quarter against UTEP and come away with a 38-24 victory, their sixth straight win. The Bears are now 5-1 in Conference USA and next meet Kenesaw State, which has the same record.

Quarterback Jason Clark’s school-record 30 completions Saturday (in 39 attempts) to ten receivers earned recognition as the conference’s Offensive Player of the Week. His passing was good for 330 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. It was his tenth 300-yard game and his 19^th game with more than 200 yards, tying a school record.

It’s Clark’s second POTW this year.

(BEARCATS)—The football Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State has made the NCAA Division II playoffs for the 27^th time. They’re an at-large team and will play their first round game at Searcy, Arkansas next weekend against undefeated Hardin University’s Bisons.

Harding is 11-0. Northwest Missouri is 9-2 and is the MIAA champion for the 32^nd time. Harding hopes to make the Bearcats their 22^nd straight home-field victim. Northwest Missouri has won all four of the games they’ve played against each other.

The 27 playoff appearances is an NCAA record for Division II. Their 53 playoff victories also is a DII record. Their playoff record is 53-20. Their six national championships are a Division II record. They have won repeat championships twice, 1998-99 and 2015-16.

Some wheel thoughts—.

(NASCAR)—NASCAR is expected to make some changes in the off=season in how it crowns its 2926 Cup champion. The twelve-driver playoff system has been attacked on various fronts and one of the biggest criticisms is that it does not guarantee the best driver during the entire season gets the big prize.

Another part of the NASCAR racing system that draws mixed reviews is stage racing. Although it was added to encourage more racing throughout each event, particularly through the long mid-race laps that seemed to lack excitement, there are those who never have been fans of the system.

Back when Columbia’s Carl Edwards was one of the top drivers on the circuit, he was not a fan of stage racing.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Wiidmmf9dZk

His criticism is similar to other comments by competitors comparing racing to other sports. For instance, suppose a baseball game were divided into nine segments, each segment beginning scoreless, with only the ninth segment determining the winner of the game based on the number of runs scored in that inning or overtime innings although teams could score points for innings won. Suppose your team won the first inning 5-1, lost the third inning 0-2, the fifth inning 2-3 and the ninth inning 0-1. Instead of your team winning the game 7-6, it would lose because the other team got a run in the ninth and it would finish with one point in the standings while the other team emerged with three plus a bonus point for winning.

Theoretically, at the end of the season, a team with a mediocre win-loss record could become the champion because it won more innings.

And that’s a problem for NASCAR. A driver who would not even be in the top five, or in the top ten in total points for the year might finish no higher than 13^th in the final standings because he made the playoffs but did not win one of the three races in the first playoff round.

But one widely-recognized part of racing is “the show.” Are they putting on a good show? Is there a reason for the entire season to be entertaining if a driver has enough points to clinch the championship with three races to go?

Should the NCAA championship be given to the only undefeated team left after the regular season or should there be a 69-team tournament that gives a team with a losing record a chance to play for a national championship? The big tournament is the answer, in no small part being the ability to get more television money by playing more games.

Let’s face it, one reason we love sports is because there are underdogs. And sometimes underdogs pull upsets

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.

Sports (and the cruelties thereof)

Posted on November 4, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.”

The truth in that observation by newspaper humor columnist Erma Bombeck many years ago was carried out in our sports venues in the past several days.

In baseball, the World Series ended in laughter for the Dodgers and great pain for the Blue Jays, an underdog team that carried a dream of baseball superiority into the into the final two outs of the seventh game when the Dodgers’ Miguel Rojas hit a game-tying homer in the ninth inning, the first such blast World Series history. Scintillating defensive plays forced the game into the eleventh when the Dodgers got the winning run and the silent Toronto crowd realized their hopes for their first championship in 32 years were dead.

In football, the Chiefs played their way out of the playoff picture, for now, falling once more to the Buffalo Bills in Bufalo 28-21, dropping to 5-4. There was a time when Patrick Mahomes was unique and a unique offense generated points by the hands full. But the game has caught up with them. Joe Burrows at Cincinnati and Josh Allen at Buffalo also started displaying magic. Last year it was clear the rest of the league had caught up to the Chiefs in terms of talent and innovation. Last year’s run to the Super Bowl for the Chiefs was a matter of breaks. This year the breaks aren’t coming but opponents have adapted to the KC style and have gathered talent to be a stronger match for Kansas City. Burrows still is out with a turf tow problem but Allen was the superior quarterback with a better team last Sunday.

The thin line between laughter and pain was no better carried out in sports last weekend than in the NASCAR race at Phoenix Sunday. Denny Hamlin, desperate to win his first NASCAR Cup championship in his 22-year career, wanting to win it for his dying father, had command of the race with only a couple of laps to go when a flat tire by one of his competitors for the title, William Byron, that sent his car into the wall and brought out a caution flag. While several drivers hit the pits for two tires, Hamlin’s crew gave him four—-a decision that put him eighth for the restart, with several cars between him and rival Kyle Larson—-too many to work around in those last two laps.

Larson finished third in the race and won the championship without leading a single lap in the final race, a circumstance that might emphasize the demands for NASCAR to change its playoff system after Joey Logano’s championship last year in which he got into the playoff field on a tecnicalty.

Hamlin, who started on the pole and led 208 of the 319 laps, got back to fifth. “We were 40 seconds from a championship. It’s just unfortunate,” Hamlin said. “…It’s just, gosh, you work so hard. It’s just this sport can drive you absolutely crazy because it’s just that sometimes speed, talent, all that stuff just does not matter.”

Someone who can appreciate Hamlin’s situation is Carl Ewards, who saw his championship hopes vanish in a late-final race collision, and left racing, feeling that he had accomplished all of his personal goals in driving a race car at its maximum level, and realizing he wanted to live a fully life after racing with all of his physical and mental faculties intact.

Hamlin earlier this year signed a two-year contract extension that he says will be his last contract, motivated by some of the same things that Edwards cites—-wanting to leave the sport on his terms.

Ryan Blaney won the race but he wasn’t among the final four that fought for the title in the last race of the year. Blaney won his championship in 2023.

And finally, this week brought an end to the Andretti family’s hopes that one of them would win another Indianapolis 500. Marco Andretti, grandson of 1969 winner Mario, announced that he would not be back for a 21^st 500 and would retire from racing at age 38 to spend time with his daughter, his outside-racing ventures, and writing a memoir he’ll call “Defending the Dynasty.”

Marco (on the right) with father Michael and grandfather Mario, finished second once and third three times in the 500. Father Michael, in fifteen 500s as a driver was second once, third twice. Mario ran twenty-nine 500s was the runner up twice and crossed the finish line in another race.

In 1992, when Marco was five, the Andrettis were the first family to have four drivers competing in the same racing series.

Jeff, John, Michael and Mario. Michael and Jeff were Mario’s boys. John, who died in 2020, was the son of Mario’s brother, Aldo.

Next years race will be the first 500 since 1954 without an Andretti in it. The four Andrettis combined for 79 starts in the Indianapolis 500. They finished in the top ten 32 times, in the top five 16 times, ran second four times and third six times. John also competed in NASCAR for seventeen seasons.

John was the first driver to try to do “the double,” competing at the Indianapolis 500 and then running the 600-mile race at Charlotte that night. He was tenth at Indianapolis and was 36^th at Charlotte after dropping out with engine trouble just past the halfway point.

Michael hold the record for the driver leading the most laps (431) in the 500 without ever winning. However, as a team owner, his drivers won six 500s.

(MIZFB)—The football Tigers had the weekend off, an important bye for their new starting quarterback, true freshman Matt Zollars, who finished the Vanderbilt game after the ankle injury to beau Pribula. His backup will be reshirt junior Brett Brown, who came back to Missouri in September.

Zollars showed outstanding composure in finishing the game 14 of 23 for 138 passing yards. One of the passe was for a game-tying touchdown. His last one, as time ran out, was compoete to the six-inch line. It would have sent the game into overtime.

The Tigers are at home against third-ranked Texas A&M Saturday afternoon. They’re now 6-2 with four regular season games and a bowl game left as they try to win ten games in a season for an unprecedented third straight time. They’ll go into the game ranked 17^th and 19^th in the polls.

(MIZBB)—Missouri’s basketball season opened with a win on the road, 88-67, against Howard University.

Seven-foot Center Shawn Phillips dominated on the inside with a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds—Missouri outrebounded the Bison 47-28.

Freshman Guard Jayden Stone came off the bench for 13. Transfers Luke Norweather and Jevon Porter combined to match Phillips’ totals. Anthony Robinson II had eight points, four assists, and three steals.

The women’s team opened at the Hearnes Center with a 78-71 win over Central Arkansas. Shannon Dowell had 21 points and a dozen rebounds. Jordana Reisman also had a double-double for Missouri with a dozen points and ten rebounds.

(MORE BASEBAL)—The best-fielding shortstops in major league baseball are from Missouri. The Cadinals Masyn Wynn and the Royals Bobby Witt Jr., have been awarded gold gloves, the first of the off-season awards presented.

Wynn is the youngest gold-glove winner in Cardinals history at 23 years and 191 days. That breaks the record of third baseman Ken Reitz, who was 24 years, 96 days in (can it be so long ago?) 1975. He is the 100^th GG winner in Cardinals history. He’s the fourth shortstop to win it (Edgar Reneteria, Ozzie Smith, and Dal Maxwell). He had only three errors in 501 chances this year.

Witt has won two of the gloves. Also winning a Gold Glove teammate and third baseman Maikel Garcia, who joins George Brett as the only Third Basement gold glovers in Royals history.

(FREE AGENTS)—The end of the World Series is the beginning of the free agent and trade season. Royals outfielder, and former Cardinals outfielder, Randal Grichuk declined a $5 million mutual option yesterday and is in the market for a new team. The Royals also have exercised their $1.5 million buyout option for pitcher Michael Lorenzen, another mid-season addition who made 26 starts and one relief appearance and posted a 4.64 ERA.

The Cardinals and Mike Mikolas are parting ways. He is the only free agent listed in the first batch out.

(Photo credits: Chiefs vs. Bills—Paramount Plus; Three Andrettis—USA Today; Four Andrettis—RACER; Kyle Larson—Bob Priddy at Indianapolis)

Sports: Chiefs Roll; Tough Losses for MU Football; A Glimpse at Basketball; A Speedy Final Four

Posted on October 28, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CHIEFS)—-The Kansas City Chiefs’ offense sputtered in the first half against the Washington Commanders last night but outran them with three touchdowns in the second half. The 28-7 win moves them to 5-3 for the year. Washington drops to 3-5, equaling last year’s loss total when the Commanders made it to the playoffs.

Patrick Mahomes, who had only two interceptions in the first seven games this year threw two picks in the first half against Washington. Mahomes, who turned 31 on September 17 after breaking Peyton Manning’s record for young quarterbacks, connected for two touchdown passes in the second half.

One of those touchdown passes went to Travis Kelce, giving him 83 TDs to tie Priest Holmes for mot all-purpose touchdowns. Kelce finished with 99 yards receiving. Rashee Rice had nine catches for 93 yards and rushed for twelve more as Mahomes came up one yard short of 300.

Kareem Hunt has the other two touchdowns for Kansas City.

The Chiefs are one game behind Denver in the division standings. They’re at Buffalo next weekend. They’ll play the Broncos two weeks later.

(MIZFB)—The Missouri Tigers have the next weekend off before facing Texas A&M, ranked third in both major polls this week. When they take the field against the Aggies they will be without Beau Pribula and likely will not have him back for the rest of the regular season. Pribula tore three ligaments in his left ankle when it was dislocated during a tackle in last weekend’s game against Vanderbilt. In most cases, such injuries result in broken bones but not in Pribula’s case. No surgical repairs are needed.

Recovery from the ligament injury generally comes after six weeks of being in a cast and/or a boot to immobilize the injured area and then rehabilitation sessions. The Tigers play their last game before that recovery period is over. After being off this week, Missouri has five games left, making his return more likely for a bowl game than for a regular season game.

Before exiting, Pribula had passed for eleven touchdowns and 1,685 yards and had run for five more TDS.

His replacement, true freshman Matt Zollers, has played impressively in the limited time he has had, most of it in the closing minutes of the Vanderbilt loss. He has two weeks to take snaps as the number one quarterback. His performance in the last five games could determine how deeply into December the Tigers will go in the bowl schedule—and whether Coach Drinkwitz will have a difficult decision to make on who will start the bowl game.

Missouri is 19^th and 20^th after the tough loss to then-number 10 Vanderbilt, one of those games that often hinges on which team gets The Big Play. Vanderbilt got it with the 80 yard touchdown run by Makhilyn Young that put the Commodores up 10-3 in the third quarter. Mizzou tied the game before Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia got the winning score on a one-yard plunge.

The win moved Vanderbilt up to ninth in one poll and dropped it to 11^th in the other.

(MIZ BIG QUESTION)—-With Mizzoui’s third-string quarterback now number one, who slots in as his backup. None of the other four quarterbacks listed on the pre-season roster have ever played a down in college. The two most likely number one backup to the number three quarterback are Tommy Lock, cousin Drew and nephew of Andy, who is 6-feet-3 and from Lee’s Summit, and Brett Brown, a Tennessee native who is 6-1, 185. Both Lock and Brown are graduate students who got their degrees in August.

(MIZBB)—The game didn’t count but it was hardly the typical pre-season game we often see teams play as exhibition contests. Missouri’s basketball exhibition against Kansas State had the look and the feel of a regular season game built on the rivalry intensified by Missouri’s defection to the SEC a long time ago.

It had a familiar feel—a full tilt race to get more points at the end that the other team got. The two teams combined for 105 points in the last twenty minutes.

The point total should not have been a surprise. Missouri has three returning starters and seven lettermen back from last year’s team that was ninth nationally in scoring (83.6 ppg).

The tendency in a 100-91 game is to wonder who was playing defense. In this game, Missouri played enough defense to keep Kansas State down by double figures most of the way and it looked pretty impressive offensively doing it. Missouri shot 54.8% from the field, scored 54 points in the paint and got 29 points off of fast breaks. Missouri was also good at the free throw line, going 26 of 34.

The game was the 238^th between the Missouri and K-Sate but the first one that doesn’t count in the season standings. Missouri and Kansas State were rivals through the Missouri Valley, Big Six, Big Seven, Big Eight and finally the Big 12. They’ll play another exhibition game against each other in Manhattan next year. (ZOU)

(THE BASEBALL)—a phrase used by Hemingway in The Old Man and the Sea. By this time next week, the season will be over and players and money will be moving. Until then, the Royals and the Cardinals are watching prospects in the Arizona Fall League. Anne Rogers with her Royals Beat newsletter has been keeping tabs on KC’s seven players.

Right-handed pitcher A. J. Causey, impressive in his first season out of the Universitys of Tennessee in High-A has found the AFL more challenging. Four appearances, seven runs in 4.2 innings, but with seven strikeouts.

Righty Dennis Colleran, who moved up three levels to Double A this year, pitching 66.1 innings with a combined 2.85 ERA has three scoreless AFL innings with four K’s and two walks in three games.

L. P. Langevin, a product of Louisiana-Lafayette missed part of the minor league season with a right lat strain has yet to allow a hit in limited action in the AFL, three and three in the strikeout-walk department and one unearned run.

Pitcher Logan Martin, a righty out of the University of Kentucky, started 22 games in High A this year and put up a 3.45 ERA in 91.1 innings. In Arizona he has pitched 5.2 innings, given up four runs with four walks and one strikeout.

Lefty Hunter Owens, a Vanderbilt product, spent this year in Double A, had nineteen starts and three relief appearances in which he gave up 3.8 runs per nine innings. He missed parts of the year with shoulder tenderness but struck out 107 batters in 94.2 innings. In Arizona he’s had some problems in his two appearances. Six runs, 11 hits, four strikeouts and a walk in 4.1 innings.

Catcher Blake Mitchell, who signed out of Sinton Texas High School had surgery on a broken wrist but got into 49 High-A games. He struggled after coming back from the injury and hit only .209 with one home run. In Arizona he also has struggled and is hitting .167 but has taken a dozen walks. Defensively, he’s fine behind the plate.

Shortstop Daniel Vazquez, a 2021 International Free Agent, is making up for missed time in the regular season by hitting .357 in Arizona with five stolen baes and eleven RBIs in eleven games.

Center Fielder Carson Roccaforte has hit .294 in his first nine games of the AFL after posting an .862 OPA in High A. Bottom of Form

(SLUGGER)—Louisville Slugger has announced its finalists for its annual American League Silver Slugger Awards. National League winners will be announced on November 6, with American League winners announced the next day. Managers and coaches cast the ballots for the best hitters at each position.

Two Cardinals are on the National League nominees list, both listed as utility players: Alex Burleson and Brendan Donovan.

The Royals have first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., Catcher Salvador Perez, and utility man Maikel Garcia.

(ROONEY and BUCK)—-There’s a personal angle to a wonderful recognition for a kid who once asked the Missourinet for a job. And I told our boss, Clyde Lear, we needed to hire him as our first sports director when we got ready to have one. Somewhere in the company files now at the State Historical Society in Columbia is the pencil-written job application for John Rooney.

John is one of the ten finalists for the highest honor a baseball broadcaster can have—the Ford Frick Award at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

And there’s Joe Buck who has done baseball games on FOX Spors for 26 years. He also called 17 years of Cardinals games and has broadcast a couple-dozen World Series.

That kid has just finished his 39^th year broadcasting major league baseball games for the Twins, the White Sox, and now for the Cardinals. He’s also called some games for FOX Sports and in his younger days he was a CBS radio voice for the NCAA Tournament and for other games.

Also on the list is Skip Caray, son Harry, who was going sportscasts on Columbia radio station KFRU when this correspondent was in college.

The winner will be announced December 10 during the winter baseball meetings. Induction will take place in late July when the Hall announces its latest honored players.

One of those who nominated this year’s slate is another familiar name to Missouri sports fans: Bob Costas. Among those who will make the selection is longtime Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews.

Another sport has a final four—

(NASCAR)—NASCAR has narrowed the number of drivers with a change at the NASCAR Cup to four. The big difference in this sport when compared to stick and ball sports is that the racing field remains full throughout the run-off. As many as forty drivers might be on the track at Phoenix next Sunday when the championship will go to one of those four who is highest in the finishing order.

Actually, eight of the biggest names in NASCAR will decide whose driver will be this year’s NASCAR Cup Champion:

Joe Gibbs Racing

Hendrick Motorsports

Chevrolet

Toyota

Byron

Briscoe

Hamlin

Larson

Three of the four drivers want their first Cup. Kyle Larson won the Cup in 2021. William Byron, Chase Briscoe, and Denny Hamlin are looking for their first. Briscoe and Hamlin drive for Gibbs. Larson and Byron run for Hendrick. Hendrick uses Chevrolet engines. Briscoe and Hamlin drive for Toyota.

Byron raced his way into the final four with a dominating rim on the tight half-mile flat track at Martinsville, starting from the pole and leading 304 of the 500 laps, the last 44 after getting past Ryan Blaney, who had to win to make the final four.

Christopher Bell became the odd man out when Larson claimed the fourth and final slot, seven points ahead of Bell. But with Hamlin, Byron, and Briscoe guaranteed in the final four by winning the three final cutdown races, Bell, seven points behind Larson in the regular points standings, was out of the finale.

(Photo Credits: Mahomes—NFL; Byron—Bob Priddy, Indianapolis 2025; Logo—Louisville Slugger; Zollars—Reddit; Rooney and Buck–St. Louis Cardinals)

Sports: Tigers Gut One Out; Chiefs Showing What a Healthy Team Can Do; And a Cinderfella Story in NASCAR)

Posted on October 21, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor;

(CHIEFS—-We seldom see one NFL team dominate another one as completely as the Kansas City Chiefs overwhelmed the Las Vegas Raiders Sunday. The final score of 31-0 with five minutes left in the third quarter was enough for Coach Andy Reid to pull many of his starters.

By then, Patrick Mahomes had throw for 286 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to the newly-returned Rashee Rice. He completed passes to nine different receivers.

The Chiefs scored on their first five possessions and racked up 434 total yards. The Raiders ran only thirty plays, the fewest in more than two daces by an NFL team. They had only two first downs by plays and one on a penalty, and totaled only 91 yards of total offense.

The Chiefs had a 21-2 advantage in first downs. They had a 275-51 edge in yards, and that includes six meaningless yards that Jeanty gained on the final run of the half. And the Chiefs became the first team since at least 2000 to start a game with three TD drives of at least 80 yards, allowing them to consume nearly 21 minutes of the first half. At the end of the game, they had controlled the ball for more than 42 minutes.

The shutout was the first by the Chiefs’ defense in ten years.

(MIZFB)—The Missouri Tigers played one of those games where both teams had a chance to put a dagger in the other team’s hopes but neither team could put the other one away.

So they played an overtime. And then they played another one before, at last, Missouri got the first big break, and the winning touchdown on a three-yard run by quarter back Bo Pribula and a second break with a sack of Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold to end the second overtime and let Missouri walk wearily away with a 23-17 win. Missouri goes to 6-1 and is now eligible for an early December bowl. How late in December they will play depends on their next five games. Auburn lost its fourth straight game after three season-opening wins.

For the second straight week, the other guys’ defense stopped Ahmad Hardy from any ground-gobbling runs, holding him to an average of less than three yards a carry although he did power his way to two short-yardage touchdowns.

Things don’t get any easier next week when the Tigers are on the road against Vanderbilt. The Commodores are no longer the conference door mat. They beat then 10^th ranked LSU Saturday to also reach 5-1. It will be another match of ranked teams. Vanderbilt has climbed to 10^th in the AP sportswriters poll. Missouri is up two slots to 15^th. In the Coaches poll, Vanderbilt is 12^th and Missouri is 14th.

(MIZEAST)—Former Tiger standout guard Sean East has signed with the Utah Jazz after spending a year with the Edmonton Stingers in the Canadian Elite Basketball Leag. He started 25 games, average more than 23 points a game, almost five assists and more than 4 rebounds each game.

East was a Tiger for two years and averaged 17.6 points per game in his second year, 2023-24, a down year for Missouri but a solid year for East, who led the team in scoring and assists and was the team leader from outside the arc. (ZOU)

(BASEBALL)—Until the World Series is over and the big time wheeling and dealing starts, the Arizona Fall League is offering a chance to see into the long-term future. The Cardinals have nine players considered among their best in the minors: Five are right-handed pitchers: Chen-Wei Lin, Randel Clemente, Darlin Saladin, Tyler Bradt, and D. J. Carpenter. There are two outfielders: Travis Honeyman and Miguel Ugueto. Catcher Graysen Tarlow rounds out the group.

There might be some guys with better shots next spring to come north with the team, but the Fall League is giving the front office a chance to evaluate others with possibilities—

Some observers put Lin near the top of the field although he had a mediocre season at Springfield (AA). He made 15 starts but gave up more than six earned runs a game. He walked 37 batters in 46 innings but had 61 strikeouts. He’s from Taiwan, stands 6-7 and

Another one high on the evaluation list is Darlin Saladin, a starter/reliever this year who split his starts and his relief appearances equally through 26 games with High-A Peoria. 94.2 innings, 4.85 ERA. But they like his live arm.

Travis Honeyman missed all of the 2024 season but came back to hit .284 in 289 at-bats. The Fall League will give him mor at-bats to build on those numbers. He played in both LowA and High A ball last summer.

Then there’s Randel Clemente, right-hander from the Dominican Republic. He’ll be 24 soon who climbed through three levels of the minor leagues before finish the year at Springfield.

(ROYALS)—The AFL will give Royals catcher prospect Blake Mitchell is a non-roster invitee. He suffered broken wrist bone that shortened his minor league season. He missed spring training and had a setback that lasted until July 8. But in 2024 he was the George Brett Hitter of the year for the Royals farm system. He struggled in the batter’s box this year but the team liked his place discipline that saw his chase low and away pitchers only 20 percent of the a time. He walked almost 22 percent of the time although he had a 34% swing and miss percentage.

The Royals also will be watching shortstop prospect Daniel Vazquez who hit .260 for the Quad Cities last summer.

Outfielder Carson Roccaforte was the Frank White Defensive Player of the Year for the Royals. He hit .290 for Double-A Arkansas this year.

Four pitchers are in the fall league for Kansas City. Left-hander Hunter Owens had some injury problems this year but when hew as healthy he had a 3.80 ERA for Nothwest Arkansas (AA) with 107 Ks in 94 2/3 innings. He’s 6-6.

A.J. Causey throws from the right side, a former University of Tennessee reliever who looked awfully good in High A ball—73 1/3 innings, 75 strikeouts. He had a whiff rate of better than 40%.

Right hander Dennis Colelran already has had Tommy John Surgery. He was a reliever for the first time this year who went 66.1 innings with 72 strikeouts and a 2.,85 ERA in three levels of work this year.

Right hander Dennis Langevin started the season on the injured list and only made 14 apperances but they were impressive enough to get him an invited for baseball in the desert.

And righty Logan Martin, who was a starter in High A Quad cities this year. 78 strikeouts in 91.1 innings. 3.45 ERA.

Now, from fastballs to fast cars:

(NASCAR)—A year ago at this time, Chase Briscoe was with a dying team and uncertain about his future. Today he’s with one of the premier teams in the sport and in two weeks will be one of four drivers running for the NASCAR Cup.

Briscoe’s survival of Talladega and his last-lap pass that brought him the win that puts him in the final four, along with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin. In the usual Talladega Superspeedway last turn scramble for the finish line, Briscoe beat Todd Gilliland to the checkered flag by .145 of a second.

The leaders coming into the green-white-checker two lap shootout began with William Byron and Kyle Larson on the lead row. Larson ran out of fuel on the final lap after Bubba Wallace had grabbed the lead but Briscoe got to the front and took Gilliland and Ty Gibbs with him to the finish line ahead of Wallace.

The win is his third this year, the fifth of his career.

Next weekend is the last race to set the four-driver final championship field. More than 35 drivers will crowd the small Martinsville track with six drivers fighting for the last two spots in the Championship race at Phoenix in a couple of weeks.

Briscoe drives one of the two cars on the circuit sponsored by Misouri businesses. Johnny Morris’s Bass Pro Shops sponsors his car. Anheuser-Busch backs the car driven by Clay Chastain.

(INDIANAPOLIS)—2018 Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power made his first race at Indianapolis since losing his ride with Roger Penske and moving over to Andretti Global for the 2026 IndyCar season. But his return was in a Mercedes-AMG competing in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, an eight-hour endurance race on the Speedway road course. He was one of three drivers in the car, joined by fellow Australians Kenny Habul and Chaz Mostert. It was Power’s first sports car race in 22 years.

“I have been meaning to do, and wanting to do, some GT racing for some time,” Power said ina pre-race interview.”It’s different, and I’ve wanted to feel it and see how I go. This is a good start at a track I know, and if I do a good job and if I like it, I’d like to do some more.”

The race was stopped for two hours by lightning in the area. Power and his teammates were running fourth at the end but wound up sixth after taking a 30-second time penalty for unauthorized work being done in the pits during the stoppage.

Another IndyCar veteran, Connor Daly, was part of the team that finished fourth

(Photo credits: Missouri vs. Auburn t-shirt: JNJ Apparel Store; Briscoe: Bob Priddy; Power at Indianapolis; Richard S. James, RACER Magazine.)

Bob Priddy

A journalist's random observations

Category Archives: basketball

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

Sports: A Runaway in Columbia; A Toasting in Denver; Other Teams AND Suppose Every Quarter or Inning Started at Zero

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

Sports (and the cruelties thereof)

Sports: Chiefs Roll; Tough Losses for MU Football; A Glimpse at Basketball; A Speedy Final Four

Sports: Tigers Gut One Out; Chiefs Showing What a Healthy Team Can Do; And a Cinderfella Story in NASCAR)

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