Sports: Tigers Get Expected Win; Chiefs Off, Stunning NASCAR Announcement

Posted on October 15, 2024 by bpriddy

(MIZ)—-Mizzou whomped Massachusetts last weekend. It would be news if they hadn’t, so let’s look ahead to a real-world game against Auburn next Saturday.

Auburn is 2-4 with a 31-13 loss to Georgia before their bye week. They come into the game against Missouri with three single-score losses to Cal, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

It’s Tigers against Tigers on Saturday, Aubie against Truman in the mascot matchup. Missouri has won seven straight games at Faurot Field.

Missouri started rehabilitating itself against Massachusetts and gaining back two of the 12 slots it lost because of the Texas A&M debacle and heads into the game this weekend 19^th and 16^th in the polls.

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze says he “couldn’t be more pleased” with the hard work of his defensive staff. But the Auburn Tigers have given up increasing numbers of points in four straight games with scores of 21-14, 24-14, 27-24, and 31-13.

Freeze says he and Missouri Coach Eli Drinkwitz are “made of a similar mindset of what coaching should be about.” Both were were assistance under Gus Malzahn during Malzahn’s eight-season stretch as head coach at Auburn. He says Missouri has “veteran guys that have proven to be some of the best in this lea whether they’re going against the top-tiered corners and safeties or not…It’s going to be a great test for us.” Freeze says Auburn has to keep Missouri from making “explosive plays..” noting the matchup of Missouri’s receivers “is not one that you get overjoyed about” when you have a young secondary.

It’s Homecoming in Columbia, where the Tigers are undefeated. But they are 1-3 against Auburn, including a loss in the 2013 SEC championship game. The last time the two teams met, Auburn and Freeze beat Drinkwitz and Missouri 17-14 in overtime. Missouri has not beaten Auburn since 1973.

Missouri has been quiet about the apparent shoulder injury that forced Luther Burden III out of the game Saturday. Drinkwitz has said he will wait until the SEC injury report tomorrow to have more information.

(TIGER BASETBALL)—The media has pretty low expectations for Missouri basketball this season. The conference basketball writers poll slots the Tigers men at 13^th in the SEC this year. Missouri has been shut out in the pre-season list of the top three all-conference player list.

Statistician Kem Pomeroy’s KenPom rankings also puts Missouri 13^th in the SEC and 53^rd in the nation despite the Tigers having a top-13 transfer class and a top-five recruiting class.

Missouri will start trying to prove the raters wrong on November 4^th when they open at Memphis.

The sports writers don’t expect much more from the Missouri women. They are picked to finish 15^th in the SEC, with only Arkansas getting less respect in the pre-season outlook. Tiger women were 2-14 in the conference last year which is two more wins than the men’s team got. The lady Tigers have no players on the first or second pre-season all-conference teams.

Tiger women tip off the season against Vermont, in Burlington. They start the season with two true freshmen and four new transfers. (ZOU)

(CHIEFS)—Rashee Rice has had surgery on his injured knee. The good news is that it’s not a torn ACL. The bad news, according to coach Andy Reid, is that it’s the posterolateral corner that was hurt. “It’s probably the same result you’d get time-wise ,” says Reid. “It takes a while for that to come back.

Latest word on wide receiver Hollywood Brown: Don’t look for him this year. He’ll remain on the Il with his shoulder injury until the end of 2024.

And Isiah Pacheco: He has no timeline as he recovers from a broken fibula.

(BASEBALL)—The Royals finished off a gratifying season with a loss in the second round of the American League playoffs. The Cardinals packed it in after the regular 162 games.

Now will come weeks of speculation about trades, losses, desertions, free agent movements, and what the team should do and what trades it should make and so on and so forth.

When the teams DO something, it will appear in this column.

(SPORTS WAGERING)—Missourians will vote next month on whether to make betting on sports legal in this state. Regular readers of bobpriddy.net know that your observer of the sports scene doesn’t mind people voting on the issue but they realize he considers the casino proposal disingenuous at best and filled with lies at the worst.

Do what you want, but don’t vote for sports wagering with the idea that you’ll be doing anything noble for education—or for anybody else but the casinos and the teams. And watch for whether any of the teams expecting taxpayers to build them billion-dollar stadia or making millions of dollars in improvements on existing playing fields indicate they’ll spend any of the betting profits on those projects, thus lessening the investments they expect Missourians far from those playing fields to pay for.

So much for the stick and ball stuff. Motorsports is in some turmoil as this article goes to press this week.

(NASCAR)—Is he in or is he out? The answer for Alex Bowman is “out.” How can a car pass a technical inspection before a race and then lose so much weight during the race that it is ruled out of the playoffs after apparently making it to the semi-final round of eight?

It’s because Bowman’s car DID lose weight during the race. Bowman was running 18^th at the end of the race and would have been among the eight remaining drivers for the next three races before a final four drivers are decided. But the disqualification of his car cost him 28 standing points and dropped him from sixth to ninth in the standings. Some of the points had been given him as the winner of the second stage of the race. His demotion to last place, officially, means the stage winner was A. J. Almendinger, who is 46^th in overall points.

A dash cam video from a competitor’s car saw Bowman’s car hitting a curb on the infield section of the Charlotte Roval, and a piece of the car’s underbelly flew off. The piece appeared to be a rub block, a piece of hard rubber on the underside of the car that keeps the underbelly from hitting the pavement when the car becomes briefly airborne.

After reviewing events of the race, Hendrick Motorsports announced yesterday that it would not appeal the ruling.

Bowman’s disqualification puts two-time Cup champion Joey Logano back in the playoffs by four points. Dropping out besides Bowman are Austin Cindric, Ty Gibbs, and Chase Briscoe.

Kyle Larson’s sixth victory of the year puts him back in the points lead by twenty points over Christopher Bell. They are trailed by Tyler Reddick, whose car was damaged in an early race crash that left him 26^th in the late stages and below the cut line. Reddick ran a relentless final stage of the race and finished high enough to make the round of eight by three points over Logano. The Bowman disqualification and Reddick’s run left Reddick third in the points standings heading to Vegas. He is trailed by William Byron, defending champion Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, and Logano. Elliott won the championship in 2020. Logano was the series champion in 2018 and 2022. Larson got the Cup in 2021. Hamlin has made the final four four times without winning a championship and is spoken of as a latter-day Mark Martin who finished second in the standings five times but never won the big trophy.

The next round of races that will see the field cut from eight to four begins next Sunday at Las Vegas.

(INDYCAR)—The season is over but preparations for 2025 put eleven drivers back at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for more testing of the hybrid powerplant the teams used for the second half of the season. Each team in IndyCar was represented by one of its drivers.

Series champion Alex Palou had the hot lap at 224.342 mph, slightly faster than defending Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden’s 223.973.

IndyCar returns March 2^nd at St. Petersburg, Florida, a street race.

“Winning for Education” Makes Losers of Teachers, Veterans

Posted on October 14, 2024 by bpriddy

If you are a teacher, know a teacher, and/or are part of a teacher’s organization, you need to read what we are going to tell you about the sports betting proposal on the November ballot, Amendment 2, which is deceptive and hardly moves the financial needle for teacher’s salaries.

If you are a veteran, know a veteran, and/or are part of a veterans group, you need to read what we are going to tell you on Wednesday about the sports betting proposal on the November ballot, Amendment 2. It makes veterans even bigger losers than they have been.

Today we’re going to talk about the casino industry’s manipulation of voters with its campaign that will not deliver, by far, the great benefits to public education system the casino industry wants voters to think it will.

We are going to throw a lot of numbers your way today. The numbers are based on the casino industry’s own statistics as reported annually to the Missouri Gaming Commission and a couple of other sources.

They again suggest the casino industry is not shooting straight with us. But that’s not unusual.

We do not mind if you favor sports wagering. But if you vote for it on the basis of the advertising by “Winning for Education,” the front organization for the casinos and their sports team bedmates, you need to know what you are doing TO our teachers, not for our teachers.

First: some basic information. Missouri’s thirteen casinos generate revenue for state programs and services from two sources: a 21% tax on casino adjusted gross revenues (what’s left after all successful bettors are paid off) and admission fees ($2 per admission; we won’t distract you with the process of determining admissions; that’s for our next post about making veterans bigger losers than they have been for more than a decade).

Missouri had 521 school districts in fiscal year 2023. We will use that number in our calculations. It had 88,669 classroom teachers and 18,097 administrators and supervisors (including people such as guidance counselors, school nurses, and librarians), in 2,355 buildings. The enrollment for the 2022-23 school year was 861,494.

The legislature approved a budget for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education of $10,394,092,704 for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

Gaming consultant Chris Krafcik estimates total state revenue from the 10% tax on sports wagering will produce $4.7 million in the first year and $38.7 million in the fifth year of sports betting.

If we divide those figures by 521, the number of school districts, we find that sports wagering will produce an average of only $9,021 per district in the first year. In year five, the number rises to $74,280 per district.

If we divide those numbers by 88,669 (the number of classroom teachers listed above) we find the average teacher could get a raise of $53.00 in the first year and a raise of $436 in the fifth year. Not even close to keep up with the cost of living.

If we spread those amounts among teachers AND administrators, all 106,756 of them, the average wage increase in the first year is $44 and in year five, it is $369.

That’s less than a tank of gas in the first year and not many groceries in the fifth one.

If, after looking at these numbers, that you still believe the industry commercials saying sports wagering will make any significant difference in the Missouri teacher salaries, I will sell you the Gateway Arch. The attractive teachers in the commercials who talk of sports wagering generating more than $100 million dollars in five years are blowing smoke. While the statement might be true in terms of raising that amount of money, the suggestion that it will produce anything meaningful for teachers is cattle byproduct.

Let’s assume the elementary and secondary education budget does not increase in the next five years. Simple division indicates $38.7 million for education in the fifth year of sports wagering would add .00037% to that budget. Four ten-thousandths of one percent, to round things up.

It’s even worse. These numbers only involve elementary and secondary education. The proposed amendment says funds will go to higher education, too.

Missouri has SIXTY-SEVEN institutions that are accredited as degree-granting post-secondary education institutions. There are thirteen public universities. There are 39 private universities (which are not excluded. The language of the amendment says only “higher education.”), and thirteen community colleges. There also are some schools from other states that offer programs or degrees in Missouri. The amendment contains no language limiting the funding to public post-secondary schools, not does it address in any way those out-of=state institutions with degree programs here.

We haven’t come up with how many faculty, staff, and administrative employees those higher education institutions would add to the pie.

But the school won’t get all of that money to begin with, assuming there is money from casino taxes.

Money for education will not be used for education until amounts are taken out for:

—Regulation. The Missouri Gaming Commission can have some of that money if the various licensing fees casinos will pay do not fully pay the costs of regulation, and

—“the greater of 10% of such annual tax revenues or $5,000,000 to the Compulsive Gamblers Fund.”

Those paltry raises we’ve calculated for our elementary and secondary school folks might wind up being measured in pennies, or pocket change.

And that doesn’t even calculate how much MORE education would get if sports wagering would be taxed at the same rate as other forms of Missouri gambling, 21%. But Amendment 2 sets a rate at less than half of that and then has provisions that can significantly lower taxable revenue or even make it a deficit, meaning there will be some months when the casinos put NO money into the education fund.

The amendment also allows casinos to carry over the loss to the next month’s calculations, lowering tax revenue for that month too—or increasing the possibility that a casino can calculate another zero-revenue/zero tax month.

In the 2023 legislative session, a Senate bill proposed boosting the minimum teacher’s salary from $25,000 to $38,000 and increasing the salary for a teacher with a master’s degree and at least ten years of experience from $33,000 to $46,000. The bill never came to a vote because of internal dissension within the Senate, thanks to the Freedom Caucus.

The National Education Association April 24, 2023 released a report showing Missouri ranks 50^th in starting teacher pay with an average of $34,502 with only 43 districts paying started new teachers $40,000 or more. The report calculated a minimum living wage was $46,944.

A World Population Review study of 2024 salaries lists Missouri as one of seven states starting teachers at less than $50,000 with only Montana paying less. The overall Missouri average teacher salary in this study is $53,999, ranking Missouri 46^th ahead of Mississippi, South Dakota, Florida, and West Virginia.

Yeah, sports wagering will solve a lot of problems with our teacher salaries and other education system problems.. Suuuure it will.

Don’t bet on sports wagering because it will do wonderful things for our schools. It won’t. Amendment 2 just makes the drop in the bucket even smaller, thanks to the sweetheart tax rate and the deductions that now will allow a reduction of taxable revenue.

We aren’t sure why any dubious proposition that appears on our ballots thinks it can succeed by telling you it will do great things for education. They don’t. And this one surely won’t.

Governor Joe Teasdale once told me, “I’ll never lie to you but there will be times when I won’t tell you the truth.” I interpreted the second half of that sentence to contradict the first. But that’s the kind of disinformation campaign being waged by the casino industry and its bedmates, our major league sports teams.

But what do you expect from an industry that is built on the concept that you will be a loser more often than you will be a winner?

Give your local education leaders these numbers and see how many of your teachers would make commercials endorsing this proposal.

Amendment 2 will be a loser for our schools. You can bet on it.

Sports: 7-Come-11 for Mizzou; Chiefs Escape Again; Royals in Danger; Cardinals Fans Send Message; and other stuff.

Posted on September 27, 2024 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(For the few who follow these sports musings, my computer seems to have become confused about posting sports entries. So before the weeks is out, and for the historical record, this post is finally being posted, albeit several hours late).

(WANNA BET?)—-Before we dive into our weekly sports talk today, we want to call your attention to the first of a series of posts on your editor’s blog about the upcoming statewide vote on Sports Wagering. If you go to bobpriddy.net and look for the entry for September 16, you will read about why sports betting might be fun for you but it will not be what the casino industry and our pro sports teams are telling you in their commercials. We take no position on the issue itself but our pro sports teams have hitched their wagons to the casino industry and the casino industry is not shooting straight with Missouri voters. In later posts, we’ll tell you why Amendment Two is not only NOT good for our schools, it’s terrible for our veterans and even for the host cities of our casinos.

Now, on with our regular show.

(MIZZ)—Missouri’s attempt to avoid a defeat from traditional SEC doormat Vanderbilt cost it some early-season esteem. The Tigers dropped from 7^th to 11^th in the AP poll after slipping past the Commodores 30-27 in an overtime game more notable for what didn’t happen than what did.

Missouri won the statistical battle with 442 yards of offense to Vanderbilt’s 324, but erratic field goal kicking and the inability to cross the goal line once they reached the red zone left a lot of fans frustrated. While the 442 yards might seem impressive, the 188 yards gained that did result in any scores is a telling statistic.

Missouri’s offense never seemed to find a rhythm while Vanderbilt’s quarterback Diego Pavia harassed the defense, beginning with a 60-yard TD pass that put Missouri into a 7-0 hole early. When Missouri was able to go up 20-13 in the third quarter, Pavia led Vanderbilt on an 80-yard touchdown drive to tie.

The fourth quarter provided a touchdown apiece but neither team could find the traction to take control.

Both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime. In the second overtime, Missouri field goal kicker Blake Craig, who had an uneven day, got a field goal and when Vanderbilt stalled, its kicker, who had a slightly less uneven day, made his day, and his teams day, even worse by hooking the ball to the left.

Coach Drinkwitz, his staff, and his players have two weeks to figure out why the coffee hasn’t perked in the last two games. They’ll play their first road game against Texas A&M on October 5. (ZOU)

(CONNOR WHO?)—Remember Connor Bazelack, who bolted from Missouri to become a high-expectation quarterback at Indiana? He fled there for Bowling Green last year and decided to stay this year. Last Saturday, Bowling Green played Missouri’s next opponent, Texas A&M and lost 26-20. Bazelak gave his team a chance to take a late lead when he threw a 65-yard touchdown pass but A&M recovered an onside kick with 38-seconds left to kill the Falcons’ chances.

Bowling Green is 1-2 with losses to then-eighth ranked Penn State, and then-25^th ranked A&M by a total of 13 points.

Bazelak had two seasons at Missouri before one year at Indiana, where he set a school record with 66 pass attempts in one game. He threw for 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions before heading to Bowling Green for 2023. He led the Falcons to the Quick Lane Bowl against Minnesota. His team led 10-9 at the half but lost 3024. Bazelak passed for one touchdown and ran for another. Afterward, he said he would stay at Bowling Green in hopes of winning a MAC championship.

(LOOKING AHEAD)—We are only six weeks away from the first Missouri Tiger basketball game. November 4, against Memphis, in Memphis. Missouri will have a chance to win its first SEC game since 2022 when it plays Auburn on January 4. Missouri has a 20-game SEC losing streak going, including a tournament loss in 2023, and all 19 games (including the tournament) last year.

On to pro sports—-

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs played just well enough to win against the Atlanta Falcons although Falcons fans think the refs were the 12^th player in red Sunday night.
The Chiefs survived 22-17, thanks to two stout late-game efforts by the defense, one of which appeared to have some officiating help (at least, to hear Atlanta fans and players speak).

Falcons QB Kirk Cousins, with 4:12 left in the game, had receiver Kyle Pitts in the Chiefs’ end zone, with smaller Chiefs safety Bryan Cook covering him. Cook appeared to be face-guarding Pitts, not following the flight of the ball, and appeared to hit Pitts early. After the game, referee Tra Blank told the Atlanta Constitution why no red flag was thrown—because the officials in the moment and from their positions “did not feel that there was a foul committed.” Pass interference calls are not reviewable, so officials could not check other views in the video system.

After the game, Atlanta coach Raheem Morris refused to comment, perhaps fearing a fine frmthe NFL for criticizing the referees: “I like my money. I’m smart enough to be aware not to dunk on the officials. They made the call, or didn’t make the call, it is what it is.” He also noted the Falcons had another chance to win it, on the final play but failed.

The Chiefs have gone fourteen games without scoring thirty points. They are 9-5 in those games.

Travis Kelce against was not much of a factor, with four catches for 30 yards. After the game, Patrick Mahomes told Sports Illustrated after the game that a lot of plays are being called for Kelse but “it’s like two or three (defenders) are going to him…I’m going to do my best to keep feeding him the ball whenever he’s there, whenever he’s open.” Mahomes thinks things will open up for Kelce as Rashee Rice and speedster Xavier Worthy, joined by a robust run game, get more involved.

(CARDINALS)—Only three questions remain for the Cardinals: whether they will finish at .500 or a little bit better, who won’t be back next year, and whether Ollie Marmol one of those who won’t be.

Last Friday’s loss to the Cleveland Guardians put the final nail in the playoff hopes coffin. This season is only the third time this Century the Cardinals haven’t had any postseason opportunities.

The ‘Birds started the week 79-77. If they play .500 ball in their last two series, they’ll finish above break even.

Cardinal fans have sent a message that they’re not attracted to mediocrity or worse for a second straight year. The end of the last homestand of the year left total attendance for 2024 at 2,869,783, the first time it’s been less than three-million since the latest Busch Stadium opened in 2006.

(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals are in danger of playing themselves out of the playoffs after a season that has brought a lot of hope and expectation from the fans. But a disastrous week that has resulted in seven straight losses six to the Tigers and the Giants, have them on the brink of failure to make the playoffs for the first time since their World Series championship year of 2015. They started the week at 82-74, tied with Detroit for the second wild card spot. Minnesota is only one game back with six games left.

Sports Illustrated reports the Royals are at the bottom of the statistics in home runs, slugging percentage ad OPS and they have missed repeated chances to get a runner home from second base.

They have six games this week against the Washington Nationals (69-87) and the Atlanta Braves (85-71 and hoping to make the NL playoffs), all on the road.

Minnesota dropped out of a possible three-way tie for a playoff spot by losing a doubleheader to Boston Sunday. If Kansas City and Detroit finish with the same records next weekend, Kansas City gets in because it has a winning record against Detroit this year.

Motoring on:

(NASCAR)—The field of playoff drivers eligible for the NASCAR Cup this year was winnowed from sixteen to twelve Saturday night at Bristol won by Kyle Larson in the most dominating performance in track history. He took the lead on lap 35 and led 462 of the remaining 465 laps, giving up the lead only during pit stops. It’s his fifth win of the year, the most of any driver.

The race eliminated Ty Gibbs, who finished 15^th; Martin Truex Jr., who was 24^th; Brad Keselowski, finishing 26^th; and Harrison Burton, who was 35^th. Larson leads the points for the remaining twelve drivers: Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Willliam Byron, defending champion Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, and Chase Briscoe.

Both Gibbs and Truex, who are teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing, were fast enough to contend for a slot in the second round. But they were TOO fast at a couple of critical points. Truex was .09 mph too fast leaving his pit stall and Gibbs was too fast coming into the pits. The penalties put both at the back of the pack. Keselowski, who owns part of the Roush Fenway Keselowski racing team never found the speed he needed, starting 23^rd but never running in the top tier and finishing three laps off the pace. Burton, who entered the playoffs 34^th in regular season points but eligible because he won a race, was 78 laps behind but still running at the end, when he finished 35^th in the 37-car field.

The first race in the next round will be Sunday at the Kansas Speedway. The playoff field will be narrowed to eight after the next three races.

(INDYCAR)—IndyCar has established its charter system, seen as an underpinning of the future stability of the series. Ten teams have accepted charters for 25 cars that will be guaranteed starting positions in all races in the series except the Indianapolis 500. Penske Entertainment President Mark Miles calls the system “an aligned and optimistic vision” that “provides greater value for our ownership and the entries they field.”

The charter system guarantees 25 cars will compete for 22 positions in the series Leaders Circle program, a system that provides more than one-million dollars per car, based on a points schedule, to qualifying teams. A team also has to make the field in the Indianapolis 500 to be eligible for the funds.

Several teams will have three regular-season entrants: Andretti Global, Arrow McLaren, Chip Ganassi Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, and Team Penske. With two are A. J. Foyt Enterprises, Dale Coyne, Ed Carpenter,, Juncos Hollinger, and Meyer Shank Racing.

The first race for the new system will be March 2 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

(FORMULA 1)—McLaren’s Lando Norris led from the start to a 30-second lead at the finish to win the Singapore Grant Prix and take another bite out of the big points lead Max Verstappen built up in the first half of the Formula 1 season. But F1 numbers-crunchers say that there aren’t enough races for Norris to overtake Verstappen even if he wins all seven remaining races and Norris finishes second in all of them, a highly-unlikely event.

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Sports: Missouri Olympians and other sports

Posted on August 13, 2024 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(Our travels have kept us from posting our weekly roundup by about 21½ hours. But we wanted to pay tribute to our Missouri athletes who were in Paris and had to wait until now to find time to go through the posting process.)

(PARIS)—A few won medals. More will come home to tell their grandchildren they participated. Let’s run down how Missourians of one sort or another did in Paris during the last couple of weeks:

Rajindra Campbell, who was part of the Missouri Southern track team for three years, 2018-2021, won the bronze medal in the shotput, representing Jamaica. He’s the first Jamaican to win a shotput medal and the first former Missouri Southern athlete to win a medal in the Olympics.

Napheesa Collier of St. Louis, a member of the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA, was a member of the gold medal-winning women’s basketball team.

Jayson Tatum of St. Louis, a member of the Boston Celtics, won gold with the men’s basketball team.

Another gold medal went to Kansas City’s Quincy Hall won gold in he 400 meters.

Kansas City’s Chris Nilsen, a silver medalist in 2020, was 11^th in the pole vault in Paris.

Freddie Crittenden II, a St. Louis native, was 6^th in the 110-meter hurdles.b/

Tyler Downs of Ballwin was 8^th in the three-meter springboard.

St. Louis native Brendan Miller was 17^th in the 800 meter run.

Patrick Schulte of St Charles was a member of the men’s soccer team that lost to Morocco in the quarter-finals. He’s with the Columbus Crew of the MLS.

Emily Sisson of St. Louis County was 23^rd in the women’s marathon.

MU alum Karissa Schweitzer was 10^th in the 5000 meters and 9^th in the 10,000.

Another MU alum, Mikel Schreuders, competing for Aruba, was 26^th in both the 50 and 100 meters. He was the country’s flag bearer in the opening ceremony.

Another MU alum, Clement Secchi, competing for France in swimming events, won bronze in the 4×100 relay and was 14^th in the 100 meter butterfly.

Staff Sgt. Rachel Tozier of Pattonsburg was 18^th in the women’s trap shooting.—

(BASEBALL)—Both of our teams started the week with losses. But the Royals are still in the playoff standings, two games upon Seattle. The Cardinals are now only one game above break-even and are not a playoff team, a game and a half behind the Mets.

(FOOTBALL)—Ready or not, here it comes. Football. The Chiefs have played their first exhibition game, losing to Jacksonville 26-13.

We are 16 days away from the first Missouri Tiger game. The AP’s preseason poll has the Tigers 11^th.

Sports with motors:

(NASCAR)—Austin Dillon won the 400-miler at Richmond but he and owner Richard Childress might be the only people happy about it. Dillon Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the last lap of the first overtime session to take the win. NASCAR says it is reviewing the whole scenario. Normally, it announces penalties on Tuesdays but it delayed any announcement this week.

(INDYCAR)===IndyCar will run is first post-Olympics race within driving distance of a lot of Missouri fans—-at Worldwide Technology Raceway just across the river from St. Louis. It’s a Saturday evening race. Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden have won six of the eight races at WWTR since IndyCar returned to the track after a long absence. Pato O’Ward has been a bridesmaid but never a bride in his five career starts there, with top five finishes in all of the races and runnerups three times in the last four years.

(FORMULA 1)—F1 is enjoying its mid-year break—which coincided with the Pris Olympics. The season has surprised some observers by how competitive it has become, especially in the last half-dozen races or do.

Four different teams have racked up wins this year, seven of them by Red Bull, the long-dominant team in the sport. But Red Bull has not been the dominant force recently, with McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes moving to the front. Red Bull drivers have seven wins. Mercedes has three (in the last four races) with McLaren and Ferrari posting two wins apiece. It is the first time since 2021 that four different teams have won races in a season. Seven drivers have posted wins this year.

Sports: Sophie’s Choices, All-Star Break, the Draft, and other stuff

Posted on July 16, 2024 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

Guy sports are so…..oh, we don’t know…..routine…..just a bunch of statistics….Not glamorous.

Who cares about MLB when we have the WNBA ?

(XMIZ)—Former Missouri Lady Tiger Sophie Cunningham is turning out to be quite the glamour figure among WNBA players and quite a quotable source for sports broadcasters.

Cunnigham, who was taken by the Phoenix Mercury in the 2018 draft after an all-star career at Mizzou, got a good look at Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark last Friday—-the Fever won the game 95-86 to go 10-14 in their last home game before the Olympic break against a team that has three Olympians on it—Brittney Griner, Diana Taurasi, and Kahleah Cooper. Phoenix is now 12-11.

Clark had 20 points including a crowd-standing jumper over Griner, 13 assists and a half-dozen rebounds.

Some observers of the WNBA suggest some veteran players are jealous of Clark, an observation Cunnigham thinks is wrong. She told WSLAM radio listeners, “You see a lot of people in the public eye on the men’s side kind of having Caitlin Clark’s back, too, which is kind of surprising just because they know how physical our game has always been. But when I tell you that the narrative that we’re all against Caitlin or the vets against the rookies that needs to be squashed because it’s not like that…I’ve had my jaw broken; I’ve broken a finger; I’ve broken my nose. Everyone has stories of how physical this league really is and I think that is the main jump that people don’t understand.”

“…I don’t think anyone’s being targeted. If anything, I think we need to give her a little bit of grace sometimes because she has a lot on her plate and a lot of eyes on her. But with that, I think this is gonna be really good for her. She’s gonna be great.”

Cunningham, who does some modeling, is getting attention for some of her pre-game attire choices—such as this glam-appearance before a game earlier this month against the Dallas Wings.

And earlier this year she showed up in a hockey jersey.

She has started all 31 games at guard for the Mercury this year and is averaging 11.3 points per game.

Okay, so much for the fashion runway (that seems to lead to the team locker room).

(BASEBALL)—-It’s the All-Star break and both of our major league teams are above .500, something that is a pleasant surprise given what the Royals were (not) doing a year ago and the discouraging start of the season by the Cardinals.

We normally think of the All-Star game as the halfway point of the season….but the schedule is well beyond that. The Cardinals have played 96 games and the Royals have played 97.

(ROYALS)—The Royals go to the break at 52-45, third in their division and two games behind the Red Sox on the Wild Card list.

They went for pitchers in the MLB draft, starting with a two-way player with their first draft pick: University of Florida pitcher/first baseman Jac Caglianone. CBS sports called him “the most fascinating player in the class, a freak show talent.” He hit 62 homers in the last two years and struck out only eight percent of the time. The rating suggests he’s most likely to be a reliever rather than a starter if he makes it to the bigs.

High school pitcher David Shields a 6-2 lefty with three pitches that he gets for strikes. Scouting director Brian Bridges says “The sky’s the limit for him.” He was Pennsylvania’s Baseball Player. He won’t be 18 until September.

They took Tennessee pitcher Drew Beam in the third round. Beam allowed only two runs in the two College World Series games he pitched as Tennessee won its first national championship. He has four pitches including an above average change up and a fastball in the 93-95 mph range.

Round 4’s pick was L. P. Langevin, a right-handed pitcher from Louisiana-Lafayette with a 92-95 mph fastball, a slider and a changeup. He was a reliever in college who racked up 106 K’s in 62 2/3 innings with 33 walks.

Another Tennessee pitcher was picked up in the fifth round, A. J. Causey, another right-hander. Side-armer who struck out 125 batters in 91 1/3 innings

More pitchers and a catcher came in succeeding rounds: Righty Tanner Jones, a righty from Texas A&M, likely a reliever; Dennis Colleran, another righty whose ERA is not impressive (7.97 with Northeastern but he allowed no runs in the last nine of his 15 appearances; Duke righthander Nick Conte, who’s been taken for his potential. Got in just six innings in seven games this year after missing the 2023 season with an injury but he was highly thought-of in high school and in the New England collegiate Baseball League allowed just one run in 11 1/3 innings.

North Carolina A&T catcher Canyon Brown was the ninth round choice. In his three seasons he hit .288 and in the last two years in the summer leagues he’s had a .766 OPS. He hit .310 ith a .906 OPS for his college team this year and threw out 27 attempted base stealers.

The Royals finally picked a southpaw when they took LSU pitcher Nate Ackenhausen in the tenth round. Mostly a reliever who played a big role in the Tigers’ national championship in 2023.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals only all-star selection has decided he’d rather have four days off than take part in the game. Reliever Ryan Helsley, who set a team record with 32 saves before the all-star break, says it will be better for him and for the team to give his arm a rest so he can continue to be effective down the stretch.

The Cardinals, nine games below break-even on Mother’s day (May 12), are now four above the line (50-46). They are in playoff contention—the second spot out of three—the Mets are a half-game back and the Diamondbacks a game and a half behind the Redbirds. They’ve gone 35-22 since then and appear to have a slightly favorable schedule the rest of the way.

But things are still unsettled with some veterans not producing as expected, a pitching staff that doesn’t breed confidence (except for Helsley) some guys still uncertain because of injuries, and a one-time wunderkind who doesn’t seem to be making big improvements at Memphis—here he was expected to make big improvements.

The Cardinals have provided hours of speculation about trades since before the season started and that speculation has become more tiresome by the week.

Jordan Walker continues to get at-bats at Memphis but hasn’t earned a trip back to the show. Manager Oliver Marmol says he needs to be more consistent “in doing what he wants to do with the baseball from an offensive standpoint and missing the way he wants to miss,” a statement crying for some definition.

The draft:

West Virginia middle infielder J. J. Wetherholt, who had been a projected number one pick until hamstring injuries cut his year in half became the Cardinals top choice. CBS Sports said he has an “excellent command of the strike zone. He hit .332 in his shortened season with eight homers. Assistant GM Randy Flores says he “plays up the middle, is athletic, has good hands, speed and makes good contact. Bats left-handed.

The ’Birds didn’t have a second-round pick. But in Monday’s picks for rounds 3-10, this is who they got:

RHP Brian Holiday, Oklahoma State. He was 7-3 with a 2.95 ERA. Led the Big 12 in Ks with 128 in 113 innings. Fastball tops out at 95 and has a “baffling” slider.

Arizona State catcher Ryan Campos was taken in the fourth round. A stubby 5-foot-8, 190 pounder was a three-year starter for Arizona State. Considerable stats as a hitter–.357 as a freshman, .388 as a sophomore. As a junior he ripped 22 homers, 25 doubles, drove in 56 runs. In his three years, he had 94 walks and only 66 strikeouts.

University of Oklahoma left-handed pitcher Braden Davis was a round five pick, a reliever for two years at Sam Houston State, a starter last year with Oklahoma where he went 9-4 with a 4.30 ERA in 92 innings with 117 Ks. Held opposing hitters to a .208 batting average. Probably a reliever.

Josh Kross was a switch-hitting catcher at the University of Cincinnati after a year at Eastern Michigan. Mid-America Conference player of the year as a .376 hitting freshman, All Big-12 in his one year at Cincinnati where he parlayed being hit by pitches a school-record 26 times into a .438 OBP. Also played some first base.

Vanderbilt righty Andrew Dutkanych IV was one of the top high school pitchers two years ago. Had Tommy John surgery earlier this year. Had a 3.18 ERA with 20 strikeouts and 15 walks in his collegiate career. MLB says the Cardinals might be “gambling on the upside” with this choice.

Notre Dame left-handed pitcher Jack Findlay also is an up-sider for the Cardinals. He had Tommy John surgery in 2023 but before than he was 10-4 with a 2.90 ERA. Starter and reliever in college. 108 strikeouts and only 27 walks in his Notre Dame career.

The Cardinals took Texas Tech third baseman Cade McGee in the ninth round. He’s complimented more for his fielding than for his hitting. After his freshman year at Gonzaga, he played in the Cape Cod League, perhaps the top summer collegiate league. He hit .185 in eighteen games. But he is seen as a potential “average to above average” hitter.

Oklahoma outfielder Bryce Madron became the tenth and final pick on the second day. He hit .318 from the left side of the plate his year, an all-conference second team selection. Scouts say he controls the strike zone and “doesn’t try to do too much.” He drew 106 walks this year in college and struck out only 64 times.

Now we turn to the speed sports.

(RACING)—Penske racing had a weekend sweep in Iowa and in Pennsylvania, with drivers Scott McLaughlin and Will Power winning both ends of the INDYCAR doubleheader at Iowa Speedway and Ryan Blaney taking the flag at Pocono in NASCAR.

(INDYCAR)—Scott McLaughlin finally picked up an oval victory in Saturday’s race on the high banks of the .087 mile Iowa short track.

McLaughlin had said that he wouldn’t consider himself an IndyCar driver until he had won on an oval. He led 164 of the 250 laps to finish half a second ahead of Pato O’Ward. McLaughlin had battled pole-sitter Colton Herta until grabbing the lead coming out of the pits.

McLaughlin added to his success for the day by winning the pole position for Sunday’s race, setting a track record in qualifying.

Will Power won for the first time at the Iowa Speedway the next day. But for him, the wait has been much longer. Power had raced 18 times at the rack and had won seven poles but had never won and had been in the top three only five times.

Power had finished 18^th in Saturday’s race started 22^nd Sunday and didn’t grab the lead until lap 209 of the 250, thanks to a pit stop that was nine-tenths of a second faster than the last stop by Alex Palou, who finished four-tenths of a second back. McLaughlin was third.

Power had not won a race on an oval since Pocono five years ago. It’s his 43^rd IndyCar victory, breaking him out of a tie with Michael Andretti for most wins in his career. He ranks fourth on the all-time list.

The weekend at Iowa was a dominant one for Penske Racing with Power and McLaughlin leading 309 of the 500 laps in the two races.

About the time Power was crossing the finish line, a multi-car crash that turned into a dangerous scenario was happening on the track behind him.

Sting Ray Robb Goes Airborne in Wild Last-Lap Incident at Iowa (indycar.com)

The IndyCar windscreen was credited with protecting Sting Ray Rob and Kyle Kirkwood from serious injuries. Rob was checked by IndyCar’s medical team and released from their care after a checkup.

The two races’ results leave Alex Palou in the points lead but his margin over Power has been cut to 35 points. Pato O’Ward holds third, 72 back.

(NASCAR)—-Ryan Blaney’s winning run at Pocono wrapped up the hat trick for Penske last weekend. Blaney picked up his second win of the season by holding off Denny Hamlin, who finished 1.3 seconds back.

Blaney had been consistently near the top for most of the race but didn’t lead for the first time until only 44 laps left. He held off the field through two more restarts. Alex Bowman, who one last week’s race, challenged until Halin passed him with seven laps left.

Only five races remain in NASCAR’s regular season before the 15-driver field is set for the 10-race playoff series.

(Photo credits: Cunningham—Instagram: McLaughlin and Power—Bob Priddy)

The Jontay Thing

Posted on April 24, 2024 by bpriddy

Just as Monday’s entry was being written came news of the tragedy of Jontay Porter, the Columbia kid, ex-MU Tiger, fringe NBA player who is the first person permanently banned from the NBA since Jack Molinas was banned 71 years ago for betting on games he played with the Fort Wayne (now Detroit) Pistons.

The Porter case is of special interest not only because of his Missouri roots but also because Missourians might be deciding whether sports betting should be legalized in our state—and what that might mean to the confidence we have in our big-time sports teams and their games.

Alex Kirschner, writing for Slate.com says Porter “did things worse than anything Pete Rose ever got up to.”

Jeff Zilgitt of USA TODAY was equally unforgiving when he wrote, “In all of Jontay Porter’s idiocy, he provided a service to other professional athletes who might consider placing bets on games in which they are direct participants or in which they have insider knowledge to provide to gamblers. It’s almost impossible to pull it off in a world of legal, regulated and monitored gambling. It’s even more impossible when you’re as blatant as the NBA says Porter was.”

Kirschner notes that sports leagues “make a lot of money off of people betting on their games…It’s a cash grab, yes. But from the leagues’ perspective, it’s also a payment in exchange for tolerating certain risks. Sports leagues profit from betting but they are also terrified of it.”

Porter, he says, committed two sins and flirted with a third. He disclosed privileged information to bettors and manipulated in-game outcomes. In Porter’s case, he took himself out of a game early so he would not meet projected performance levels. The third circumstance that terrifies leagues, says Kirschner is outright throwing of games. “The single easiest way to threaten a league’s multibillion-dollar business is for people to doubt that they’re watching a game left to chance…If that goes, everything could go.

Porter is only 24 years old. Kirschner says his career is in the dumpster because he has been involved in the biggest betting scandal involving a player since sports wagering was legalized in this country in 2018. “If the Black Sox were a 10 on the scandal scale,” he writes, “Porter probably is a 6 or 7.”

Zilgitt darkly predicts this will happen again. “Someone always thinks they can beat the system, and maybe someone can but not Jontay Porter and his simple attempt at trying to make extra money. It’s inevitable, just as it was inevitable it happened in the first place.” Porter, who has spent most of his pro career in the NBA’s minor league, was being paid $410,000 this year to play for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. The league investigation says he made $22,000 on the bets he placed on the game from which he removed himself, claiming illness.

The “idiocy” that Ziglitt attributes to Porter is explained by Kirschner who writes that the kid used the gambling companies that partner with the pro leagues to place his bets—-and those bets are monitored by the leagues. “If Porter were collaborating with underground bettors and bookies, his activity would have gone undetected,” he wrote.

In Kirschner’s view, pro sports teams are just asking for this kind of problem. Sports wagering companies are aggressively advertising their “services,” leading to greatly expanding participation in betting. He bluntly observes, “A bigger pool of bettors means a bigger pool of potential crooks. In a subtle but real way, the NBA courted the Porter scandal.”

Pro sports leagues fought against sports wagering until the U. S. Supreme Court legalized it nationwide in 2018. Once it was legalized, the leagues had no choice but to get in bed with the betting industry. Pessimists might be forgiven for wondering if they’ll stay on their separate sides of the bed.

And whose reputation is damaged by this scandal? Not the gaming industry. It’s sports and those who play them. A player has been banished for life. Pro sports worries whether its fans think its product is genuine and honest.

Zilgitt quotes NBA Commissioner Adam Silver saying the Porter case “raises important questions about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of bets offered on our games and players.” Zilgitt notes Silver has advocated federal regulation of sports wagering and suggests outlawing or limiting certain kinds of bets.

Not considered by either columnist is what role state regulatory agencies can play or should play in terms of disciplinary actions against casinos that handle such bets or wagering companies that process them. In this case, the hammer has fallen on the player, deservedly so, but those who took, paid, and processed his bets appear to be facing no penalties.

Missouri’s pro sports teams are gathering signatures to get a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment legalizing sports wagering.

The proposal mirrors bills introduced in this year’s legislative session that grievously disadvantage the state and the programs that rely on gambling income for their budgets. The Missouri Gaming Commission has warned that the legislation pushed at the Capitol by gaming interests does not raise enough revenue for the commission to adequately regulate sports wagering. Nor does it do anything to punish the betting industry that produced the measley $22,000 that Porter won.

“Measley,” as in how little he gained compared to how much he has thrown away.

The Porter scandal is a tragedy for him and for sports in general. How will Missouri voters see the issue now that one of our own has become a self-induced victim of a system we are being asked to approve? He might be the first but nobody expects he will be the last.

If Missourians approve the proposition, will they also undermine trust in the games that they love? How many Porters are needed before we wonder about every missed free throw, every error, every missed tackle, every overthrown pass, every wide shot on goal?

(If you want to read the full articles on which we’ve based two entries):

Jontay Porter NBA betting scheme is a lesson in stupidity (usatoday.com)

Athletes beware: Jontay Porter NBA betting scheme is a lesson in stupidity (msn.com)

Sports: Norm’s In; Going Opposite Directions; New AD on the Horizon? And a Few More

Posted on April 23, 2024 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(NORM)—Former Missouri Tiger basketball coach Norm Stewart finally is getting his place in the Hall of Famous Missourians at the State Capitol. The bust will be unveiled at 1 p.m., May 1 in the House Chamber. It later will be moved to the rotunda, joining more than three dozen other busts of famous Missourians.

Stewart turned 89 in January.

His teams rang up a record of 731-375 in 38 seasons as a head coach, 634 of them at his alma mater.

(BASEBALL)—One of our teams finished last week at 13-9. The other one finished at 9-13, with some folks remembering last year when the team started 10-24.

(KANSAS CITY)—The 13-9 record isn’t the only statistic that shows how much the Royals’ season is a turnaround from last year. Here’s another one:

The Royals were held without a run by Baltimore on Sunday, their first shutout of the year. Last year they failed to score fifteen times. Seth Lugo took his first loss and gave up his first home runs of the year after winning three straight to start his season and not giving up a homer in 41.1 innings.

Kansas City is led this year by catcher/first-baseman Salvador Perez, who starts this week hitting .333 with six homers and Bobby Witt, Jr., at .300. The pitching is among the best in baseball with a 3.18 ERA, which normally would be an outstanding year for an individual, let alone a team. The pitching continues to carry the team, which is batting a cumulative .237, Perez and Witt notwithstanding.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals on theother hand are 9-13. Wilson Contrares has the longest hitting streak in Major League Baseball, 14 games, at the end of the playing week. Shortstop Masyn Win and Contreras are above .300 at the plate but the ‘Birds as a team are hitting only .219. But with an offense like that, the pitching staff’s 3.95 ERA, solid thought it be in today’s game, isn’t good enough.

The Optimist Award for 2024 goes to Sonny Gray, the pitching ace who says the Cardinals are going to turn things around big-time soon. Gray is doing his part, going 2-0 without an ERA and an 11-0 strikeout to walk ratio in his first two starts. Sunday, a dozen of the 19 outs he got were strikeouts. He did give up his first walk of the year and his first home run and that was enough for the Brewers in a 2-0 shutout.

(FOOTBALL)—As we were going to press (as they used to say in the journalism biz), reports were coming out that the new Athletic Director at the University was going to be Laird Veatch, the AD at Memphis for the last five years.

It’s a return for Veatch, who supervised fund raising for the athletic deaatment, 2000=2002. He later was the general manager of Mizzou Sports Properties in 2003, coordinating external media operators for Learfield Sports, which has multimedia rights with Tiger sports teams. His first big job, other than lining up all of the NIL deals, will be raise half of the money for the $250 million dollar make over of the north end of Memorial Stadium.

(BATTLEHAWKS)—A big offensive day for the St. Louis Battlehawks coupled with a solid offensive day gave them a 32-17 win over the Memphis Showboats and a 3-1 record. St. Louis again led the UFL in attendance with 31,575 people in the Dome.

‘Hawks quarterback A. J. McCarron threw the ball an all-time high of 45 times, completed 35 of them for 222 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Jacob Saylors rushed for 103 yards. The defense gave up only 127 yards and let Memphis convert only one of ten third and fourth down attempts.

(Playing with Engines)

(INDYCAR)—Nobody INDYCAR “makes fuel” as Scott Dixon does. He proved it again with his win at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Dixon went about 50 of the race’s 85 laps without refueling and had to hold off Josef Newgarden, who was closing the gap with ten laps left before Newgarden was hit from behind by Colton Herta’s car.Herta went on to finish second, about one second behind Dixon.

The win extends Dixon’s record of having at leat one victory to twenty consecutive years.

(NASCAR)—The “big one” didn’t happen until the field was roaring toward the checkered flag at Talladega Superspeedway. With cars crashing ahead of him, and more crashing behind him, Tyler Reddick kept his foot on the floor and steered out of harms way to the win.

The crash was triggered when pole sitter Michael McDowell tried to block Brad Keselowski but touched Keselowski’s car at 200 mph and turned into the wall. Reddick let the wrecking cars move out of his way while he slipped Keselowski for the win.

(FORMULA 1)—Max Verstappen adds the trophy for the Chinese Grand Prix to his shelf, posting a 13 second victory over runnerup Lando Norris.

(Photo Credit: Bob Priddy)

Sports A Tipping Point for Women’s Basketball; A Pro Football Attendance Record

Posted on April 9, 2024 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

Normally we would be talking baseball and wrapping up the hockey season at this time of year. But we start with a national championship and a football attendance record that should attract the attention of the National Football League.

(WOMEN’S BASKETBALL)—-The ferocity of play in women’s basketball, led by the record-setting play of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, and the record television audiences for the last three games of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, has created a whole new audience for the sport.

Why? Because it’s more fun to watch. And because it’s more than three-point shots and showboat dunks.

We have a national champion women’s team here in Missouri.

Easily overlooked because of the NCAA tournament has been the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. And St. Louis University has become part of that magical season.

Coach Rebecca Tillett has led her Billikens to the WNIT championship with a 69-50 drubbing of Minnesota in the season finale. The team showed toughness by winning its first five tournament games (four on the road) by a total of 21 points before polishing off Minnesota by 19. The margin had reached 25 before Tillett started running in her subs. The Billikens hit eleven three-pointers and were led by Kayla McMakin with 20 and Peyton Kennedy with 19. Kennedy was the tournament’s MVP. The defense held Minnesota to a 3-23 performance beyond the arc

St. Louis University finished with a 22-18 record after splitting 18 Atlantic Conference games. But in the conference post season tournament, they upset nationally 10^th- ranked George Washington, number two VCU, and number six Rhode Island.

Minnesota finished 20-16.

The championship marked the conclusion of a remarkable turnaround for the Billikens. They were 11-17 on February 21 after losing to Fordham. Their 11-1 run after that brought them the first WNIT championship in school history and the first in Atlantic 10 history.

This was Tillett’s second season at SLU. Last year, her team went into the post season with a 7-16 record before winning the A10 postseason tournament and getting an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost to Tennessee.

Tillett says this year has been a “tipping point” for women’s basketball. “It’s always been great. But now everybody knows it’s great. Everybody can see it. You are seeing fans become enamored with the way women play and compete.” She says she’s “grateful” that her Billikens are part of that history.

(BATTLEHAWKS)—Fans of the St. Louis Battlehawks of the United Football League continue to make a great case for the NFL to consider St. Louis as a place for an expansion team or a team looking for a new home.

More than 40,000 fans watched Battlehawks kicker Andre Szmyt hit a 22-yard field goal as the clock ran out to give the ‘Hawks a 27-24 win over Arlington. The attendance in St. Louis almost equalled the total attendance of all four of the UFL’s season openers—almost 46,000. The crowd also set a record for professional spring football.

Running back Mataeo Durant set up the winning kick with a 41-yard bolt that gave him 104 rushing yards for the day. Quarterback A. J. McCarron was 19 for 29 passing, 248 yards as the Battlehawks evened their record at 1-1. The league has a ten-game schedule.

(BASEBALL—ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals’ rebound from last year’s forgettable season has produced the team’s first four-game sweep since 2021. M. J. Melendez’s two-run homer in the seventh inning Sunday keyed a rally that led the Royals to a 5-3 win over the White Sox. The White Sox are 1-8 so far this year, tied for the second-worset season start in team history. The Royals are now 6-4 and open a series at home against Houston tonight.

(BASEBALL—CARDINALS)—The St. Louis Cardinals have split ten games so far this year. The pitchers’ 4.66 ERA ranks the staff 22^nd among all pitching staffs in the league. That might explain why they’re 5-5 heading into tonight’s game against the Phillies in Philadelphia.

Sonny Gray finally will get his first regular-season start for the Cardinals tonight against the Phillies.

The Cardinals became the first team beaten by the Miami Marlins Sunday. The Marlins savaged the Cardinals with two three-run homer in the first inning to get their first win of the season after a record nine straight season-opening losses.

—-Now, about the folks who have roaring good times:

(NASCAR)—William Byron picked up his third win in eight races this year, leading Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott to the first 1-2-3 finish in HMS history. The win was the 29^th for HMS at Martinsville, a record for most wins at a single NASCAR venue ever and it adds to the distinguished start of Hendrick’s fortieth season in NASCAR’s Cup series.

Hendrick wasn’t at the race to enjoy the celebration. He had had a knee replaced earlier in the week. Larson’s second-place finish was enough for him to pass Martin Truex Jr., for the regular season points lead.

(INDYCAR)—INDYCAR runs its second points race of the year next weekend on the streets of Long Beach.

(FORMULA 1)—Back to things as usual for Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing, as he ran off with a win at the GP of Japan. He joins Michael Schumacher as the only drivers to win the Japanese Grand Prix three times in a row. He has won 22 of the last 26 Grand Prix races and is shooting for his fourth straight Formula 1 championship.

Sports: A Big Vote; A Crash; Two Wins; A Closing Rush

Posted on April 2, 2024 by bpriddy

by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(STADIA)—It’s election day in Kansas City and the future of the Royals and the Chiefs might be determined. The election is on the continuation of a special sales tax used to build, renovate, or keep up the places the Royals and the Chiefs play.

Baseball season has finally OFFICIALLY begun.

—but not well for our major league teams. Both could snag only one win in their first weekend series.

(KANSAS CITY—The Royals had three solid starts against the Twins had no offense in the first game and a blown save in the second game. But the third game was a Royals offensive display.

Starters gave up just two runs in 19 innings in the series.

Cole Ragans set a Royals record on opening day with nine strikeouts in six innings. He gave up two runs and that was one more than the Royals scored. Ragans, who was impressive after a midseason trade last year, broke the opening day strikeout record set by Wally Bunker in 1970 and tied by Danny Duffy eight years ago. But the Twins won 4-1.

The Royals wasted a good start by offseason acquisition Seth Lugo in their second game. He and Twins starter Joe Ryan hooked up in a pitchers duel through six innings. Lugo struck out four, walked one and allowed just two hits. Ryan retired the first ten Royals he faced before giving up a double to Bobby Witt Jr., in the sixth. Reliever Steven Okert gave up a single to M. J. Melendez to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. But the Twins tied the game in the eighty and got four more in the ninth to win it 5-1.

Brady Singer gave the Royals their third quality start Sunday with seven shutout innings and ten strikeouts, giving up just one walk, and three hits. Salvador Perez’s three-run homer in the first inning was all he needed but the Royals pile on eight more runs, four of them coming on additional homers, to rack up an 11-0 win, their first victory of 2024. It was the first five-homer game at home since July 22, 2017. It was the 25^th game in club history to feature five home runs.

Michael Wacha’s first start for the Royals was a no-decision in which he lasted five innings and gave up only three hits. Unfortunately they all came in the fourth inning and resulted in three Baltimore runs that tied the game. The Orioles won 6-4 last night on a two-run walk-off homer by Jordan Westburg, his first career walk-off hit. Bobby Witt Jr., and Salvador Perez both homered for the second straight game.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals also avoided a sweep in their season-opening series against the Dodgers but could have won twice with better bullpen performance in the final game of the series. They had the Dodges down 4-1. But in the eighth, pinch-hitter Max Muncey homered with a man on to give the Dodgers the 5-4 lead that they protected in the ninth.

Center fielder Victor Scott II showed flashes of his potential in the series. He’s on the roster because of injuries to some of the Cardinals’ outfielders. In the finale of the series Sunday, he was on base three times and scored twice. Starting pitcher Steve Matz gave up only five hits in in five and two-thirds innings, to go with two runs.

The Cardinals won the middle game of the three game set with Paul Goldschmidt’s ground out in the tenth inning bring home the winner in a 6-5 game. The Redbirds had taken a 5-3 lead by scoring all of their runs in the seventh thanks to some Dodger mishaps—a hit batter, a balk, and a catcher’s interference. Lance Lynn was good for four innings in his first outing for the Cardinals in seven years. He did not return after a 35-minute rain delay.

The Cardinals opened a series last night against their former manager, Mike Schildt, in San Diego. Kyle Gibson shut down the Padres on four hits through seven innings while the Cardinals feasted on five Padres pitchers for 14 hits in a 6-2 win. Wilson Contreras and Brendan Donovan had their first homers of the season.

Cardinals officials say Lars Nootbar could be back in a few days. In a simulated game during the weekend, he batted four times and got in five innings of work. He’ll probably get some playing time at Memphis in midweek before coming off the IL Thursday.

Pitcher Sonny Gray reportedly will come off the IL in about a week.

(FOOTBALL)—The UFL season has opened in a stunning way for the St. Louis Battehawks, who lost to the Michigan Panthers on a last-second 64-yard field goal by someone who hasn’t kicked a field goal since high schools.

The Battlehawks had a comeback 16-15 lead when Michigan’s Jake Bates got a kick-three with three seconds left. The Battlehawks had scored two touchdowns in the last quarter to take the lead.

The kick by Jake Bates caused some NFL eyes to pop open. The Detroit News has reported some NFL teams already have contacted him. He can’t sign with anybody until the UFL season ends June 2.

(ATTENDANCE)—The UFL drew far fewer people to its four opening weekend games than watch NFL games. The Battlehawks-Panthers game drew 9,444 grandstand people. The other games ran the total to 45,918, a number likely to be bigger next weekend when the Battlehawks play at home. Last year St Louis led its league in attendance.

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs have signed a new backup quarterback—Carson Wentz, who gets a one-year deal to replace former Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert who has entered free agency after going 18 for 35 in passing with no touchdowns and three interceptions but getting his second Super Bowl ring. He got his first one as Tom Brady’s backup at Tampa Bay.

Wentz was Matthew Stafford’s number two guy with the Rams last year. He has a Super Bowl ring from his time with the Eagles.

0-0-0-0-0

Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice has lawyered up after a six-car crash in Dallas during a freeway race between a Corvette and a Lamborghini. Nobody was seriously hurt but it appears Rice and the other driver ran from the scene without learning if anyone had been hurt. His lawyer says he’s cooperating and “will take all necessary steps to address this situation responsibly.” Police think Rice was driving the Corvette.

A spokesman for the Chiefs has told KCMO Radio the team will “react accordingly” after it has the facts.

(BLUES)—The St. Louis Blues are trying to put together a late-season run that will let them slip into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But their loss to the San Jose Sharks during the weekend pushed them closer to the brink of missing them.

They bounced back last night with an overtime win in Edmonton. Brando Saad got his 25^th goal of the season 2:09 into the overtime period to pull the Blues within three points of the Los Angeles Kings for the final playoff spot. The Blues have gone 8-2-1 in their season-closing rush The Blues have seven games left. The Kings lost to the Jets last night and have eight games left.

(BASKETBALL: BEARS)—Cuonzo Martin is back in Missouri, at Missouri State. He’s been there before. Martin last coached at the University of Missouri and was fired after two winning seasons out of five and a 78-77 record.

Martin led the Missouri State Bears for four years before leaving after the 2020-2011 season and a record of 61-41 that included the school’s only regular season Missouri Valley Conference championship. He has a five-year deal at $600,000 a year with bonuses.

(BASKETBALL: TIGERS)—Mizzou is keeping Robin Pingeton as its women’s basketball coach although then-Athletic Director Desireé Reed-Francois said Pingeton needed to get the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament to keep her job.

Reed-Francois is gone. Pingeton is back for her fifteenth season although her team finished 11-19 this year.

Pingeton is paid $400,000 a year base salary. In her fourteen seasons she has taken the Lady Tigers to the NCAA Tournament four times, the last appearance being 2019, and to the Women’s NIT six times. She’s 236-200 in her tenure at Mizzou.

Now, the circle sports:

(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin has captured his second win of the season, a second in three weeks, but he has several critics who say he cheated.

NASCAR has a line at which points the leading car can accelerate toward a green flag on a restart. Numerous observers think that Hamlin sped up before getting to the line, gaining an advantage over Martin Truex, Jr., that he was able to hold to the checkered flag.

Hamlin had taken the lead coming out of the pits after the final caution flag and said after the race, “I wasn’t going to let them have an advantage that my team earned on pit road.”

Truex had led 228 of the 407 laps including 54 in a row before the final caution with two laps left. Joey Logano and Kyle Larson slipped past him on the final laps. Chase Elliott was fifth, just ahead of Christopher Bell who had started 29^th.

(INDYCAR)—More testing has been run on the hybrid power system that INDYCAR wants to start using after the Indianapolis 500. Thirteen drivers from six teams ran 988 laps, more than 2400 miles, on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Two other teams, Penske and Andretti Global, practiced with the regular powerplants, which will be used on the road course race at the start of May.

(F1)—Formula One returns to action next weekend with the GP of Japan.

SPORTS: One Last Disappointment; The Injury List; The Journeyman Quarterbacks; Axes Fall; Tires do, too

Posted on March 19, 2024 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet contributing editor

(mizz)—All year long, the Missouri Tigers have had at least one disastrous scoreless stretch that robbed them a chance for a basketball win. One last time, they had another one. This time they broke their fans’ hearts by waiting until the bitter end.

They had taken the lead early in the second half, not an unexpected event given the trend all year, and the held it well past the mid-point—which WAS kind of unexpected. They fought off Georgia surges and went up by seven points when Sean East II scored off a rebound to make it 59-52 with 3:39 left.

Those were the last points of the season for the Tigers. Georgia ran off twelve unanswered points to slam the door on Missouri’s hopes.

Missouri scored just six points in the last 6:25. They missed their last seven shots and had a turn over on an in-bounds pass that was turned into a quick Georgia basket.

The season ends 8-24 with Missouri 0-for-2024, losers of 19 straight SEC games, including the conference tournament first-round exit.

Now we wait to see how the portal changes everything. (zou)

(AXES)—Travis Ford, briefly a Missouri Tiger before going back to Kentucky to finish his college basketball career, was fired by St. Louis University hours after the Billikens had lost to Duquesne in the second round of the Atlantic Ten Conference Tournament.

Ford’s team were 146-109 in his eight seasons. But they made it to the NCAA Tournament only once and were never seeded higher than fourth in the post-season conference tournament.. The Bills were 13-20 this year, 5-13 in the conference. He is the third-winningest coach in program history. He has been the highest-paid employee at SLU for several years at more than $2 million a year.

This might be the end of coaching for Ford, who’s been in the biz for 27 years. “The game’s been very good to me. Now it’s time to do something else,” he said after the firing.

Ford went to SLU from Oklahoma State where he also spent eight seasons before being fired.

He played a year for Norm Stewart, in 1989-90, where he made the Big 8 All-Freshman team. But he returned home to Kentucky to finish out his career with the Wildcats. His teams at five universities were 491-366.

0-0-0-0

Another Ford also has been shown the door with a winning record—but not the right kinds of wins—Dana Ford at Missouri State, in Springfield.

The Bears were 17-16 this year but only 8-12 in the Missouri Valley and were knocked out of the Arch Madness Tournament in the quarter-final round.

His six-season record at Missouri State was 106-82 with a conference recordof 64-48. His team went to the NIT once.

Missouri State was his second head coaching job. He’d done four years at Tennessee State before moving to Springfield. His overall coaching record is 163-146.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals have tamped down a little of the speculation that manager Oliver Marmol won’t last by giving him a contract extrension, This season was to be the last in his original three-year deal. Terms haven’t been publicly announced but it’s thought his new contract is good through ’26.

The injury report is a mixed bag as opening day nears. Pitcher Sonny Gray has thrown off the mound for the first time since leaving his first spring training game with a hamstring tweak. He reported no pain in a 20-minute bullpen session. But Marmol says he will miss pitching on opening day. He says Gray might not require a stint on the injured list “and could potentially pitch later on the first road trip of the season.” The new opening day pitcher will be Miles Mikolas.

The news is less good for three other guys.

Word came out Saturday that Keynan Middleton, one of the off-season pickups to bolster the bullpen, has a strained arm and will miss opening day. Middleton who can throw consistently close to triple digits, spent last year with the White Sox and Yankees. He’s been in three games this spring, getting a couple of K’s and allowing two hits. He’s been shut down for ten days and might miss the first couple of weeks of the season.

Tommy Edmund’s rehab has been shut down for at least a week as he reported some pain in his right wrist as he took part in batting drills. If he starts the season on the IL, he could be replaced by rookie Victor Scott II, who is having a solid spring.

Lars Nootbar likewise might start the season on the injured list. Manager Oliver Marmol says he’s making progress with his injured ribs but his return to full play remains uncertain.

(ROYALS)—The Royals have named Cole Ragans as their opening day starter. It’s just nine days away. The Royals open at home against the Twins.

Ragans had a comeback year last season, returning from his second Tommy John surgery. He pitched strongly for the Royals, showing a fastball toughing 97 mph and posting a strike rate of 10.6 per nine innings. He was the American League pitcher of the month last August when he won three out of four, rang up an ERA of 1.72 and had 56 strikeouts in 36 2/3 innings. Only Dennis Leonard, in June, 1977, has had more strikeouts in one month than Ragans had.

Overall, he had a dozen starts and posted a 2.64 ERA.

0-0-0-0-0

Three new names have been added to the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame—two of them executives.

Outfielder Bo Jackson, dare we say “legendary” outfielder?—is joined by General Managers Cedric Tallis and John Schuerholz on this year’s list.

Jackson is considered the greatest two-sport athlete in pro sports history with eight years in MLB (five with the Royals) and four partial years in the NFL, not playing until baseball season was over. He was a .250 career hitter with 141 home runs (32 one year for KC) and an arm that people still talk about. His most famous play was a one=handed grab of a ball off the left field wall, a turn and throw from the warning track that stunned everybody:

(7) KC@SEA: Bo Jackson’s cannon gets Reynolds at home – YouTube

Nobody was more surprised than Reynolds:

(7) HAROLD REYNOLDS: THE BO JACKSON THROW – YouTube

Before a hip injury ended is NFL career, he played 38 games for the Raiders, averaged 5.4 yards per rushing attempt and 73 yards-plus per game.

Tallis was the Royals’ first General Manager when they were formed as expansion team. He acquired the players who were the foundation of the Royals first great generation—Brett, Otis, Patek, Rojas, Mayberry, McRae, Wilson, Leonard, Busby, and Splittorff, among others. He also created the Royals Baseball Academy that produced Frank White and UL Washington. He died in 1991.

The Royals took Schuerholz away from Baltimore to help develop the Royals’ farm system. He took as GM in 1981 and added players such as Saberhagen, Danny and Bo Jackson, Seitzer, Appier, Montgomery and Tartabull. He went to Atlanta in ’91 after building the team that won Kansas City’s first World Series championship in ’85, and was the architect there behind five pennants for the Braves. He was elected to Cooperstown in 2017.

(EXMIZZ)—Drew Lock has become the latest Missouri football quarterback to become a journeyman signal-caller in the NFL. He has signed a one-year deal with the New York Giants, his third team in six seasons (three seasons in Denver, the last two in Seattle). He’s been in 28 games during that time, started 23, is 9-14 as a starting quarterback, 28 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. He has a chance to start if expected starter Daniel Jones hasn’t come back from ACL surgery last November.

He joins Blaine Gabbert as the only Tiger quarterbacks in the NFL. Gabbert has built a ten-year career, mostly as a backup after he fizzled as a starter at Tampa Bay. Gabbert has played for six teams and won his secnd Super Bowl ring this year with the Chiefs (he won his first one as Tom Brady’s backup with the Buccaneers). Gabbert has been in 69 games, 49 as a starter with a 14-35 record. 51 TDs and 50 interceptions.

The third Missouri quarterback to build a long career in the NFL as a backup was Chase Daniel, won a Super Bowl ring with the New Orleans Saints. Daniel played 74 games for for six teams and was 2-3 as a starter with nine TDs and seven interceptions. He was out of the NFL last year. (EXZOU)

(FOOTBALL)—We already know something about the way the first season of the new United Football League will finish up.

In St. Louis.

The United Football League has announced its first championship game will be played in St. Louis at the domed stadium June 16.

The announcement is a reward for St. Louis Battlehawks fans who led the league in attendance last year with more than 35,000 fans per game. The Batlehawks came up one game short of playing in the XFL championship last year. The XFL and the USFL merged during the offseason. The league’s first game will be March 30.

—Blessed are those who go around in circles, for they shall be called wheels—

(NASCAR)—“I’ve never run a race like that. I hope I never have to run a race like that again,” said fifth-place finisher Kyle Larson after Sunday’s race on the short track at Bristol. He wasn’t alone in those feelings because the concrete surface seemed to eat tires.

A spokesman for NASCAR, senior VP for Innovation and Racing Development had a different take. He called it “one of the best short-track races I’ve ever seen.”

The difference in perspective might be the difference between watching and driving.

The record 54^th lead change of the race belonged to Denny Hamlin, who passed teammate Martin Truex Jr., in the closing laps. Only three other drivers finished on the same lap as Hamlin and Truex, the smallest number of cars on the lead lap since Dover, twenty years ago. Sixteen drivers led at least one lap, tying a track record set in 1989.

The racing during the stages and in the final run for the checkered flag became a tire management contest as tire wear was far worse than Goodyear had predicted. It was so severe that NASCAR decide midway into the race to give every team an additional set of tires.

The win is Hamlin’s 52^nd, tying him for 13^th on the wins list.

Goodyear admitted after the race that tire wear was not up to standard. A spokesman said the fall-off in tire wear was ‘too drastic.” He says Goodyear will do extensive research why so many tires failed or were showing threads when changed during pit stops.

(FORMULA 1 AND INDYCAR BOTH HAD THE WEEKEND OFF.)

Bob Priddy

A journalist's random observations

Category Archives: basketball

Sports: Tigers Get Expected Win; Chiefs Off, Stunning NASCAR Announcement

“Winning for Education” Makes Losers of Teachers, Veterans

Sports: 7-Come-11 for Mizzou; Chiefs Escape Again; Royals in Danger; Cardinals Fans Send Message; and other stuff.

Sports: Missouri Olympians and other sports

Sports: Sophie’s Choices, All-Star Break, the Draft, and other stuff

The Jontay Thing

Sports: Norm’s In; Going Opposite Directions; New AD on the Horizon? And a Few More

Sports A Tipping Point for Women’s Basketball; A Pro Football Attendance Record

Sports: A Big Vote; A Crash; Two Wins; A Closing Rush

SPORTS: One Last Disappointment; The Injury List; The Journeyman Quarterbacks; Axes Fall; Tires do, too

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