(CHIEFS)—It’s interesting what the Chiefs can do with a little speed in the lineup. The return of Xavier Worthy and his deep threats helped the Chiefs rack up their highest points total in two years in a 37-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Chiefs have evened their record at 2. It also is the first time since week twelve of last year that they have run up 30 points.

Worthy had five catches for 83 yards and he added 38 more on two carries in his first game since his shoulder injury at the start of the year. Patrick Mahomes threw for four touchdowns and became the young4est player ever to throw for 250 touchdowns.

The game was a milestone for Coach Andy Reid who has become the first NFL coach to coach more than 200 regular season games for two franchises. He was 130-93-1 in fourteen seasons in Philadelphia. He’s 145-55 with Kansas City. He also is the only coach to win 100 or more games with two franchises.

The Chiefs have a Monday night game next week with the Jacksonville Jaguars who have opened 3-1.

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers took care of business against the University of Massachusetts in their homecoming game Saturday with a 42-6 win that puts them 5-0 with an off-week ahead to get ready for the Alabama Crimson Tide squad that upset Georgia last weekend.

The win Saturday has moved the Tigers up one slot in the coaches poll, to 18^th. The Tigers also moved up one place in the AP poll, to 19^th.

Recruiting—

Mizzou has picked up a couple of top-level defensive recruits, one of them a big takeaway from an SEC rival. Micah Nickerson had verbally committed to Mississippi State but less than a week after watching Missouri beat South Carolina, he decided to be a Tiger. He’s a four-star defensive end, 6-5, 215, considered the 43^rd defensive end in the nation for the class of 2026.

Adding to the class is Hutchinson Community College DE Demarcus Johnson, the top junior college player in the country. He’s a 6-7 edge rusher.

(MIZBB)—Hard to believe…but basketball season is upon us. The new team already is on the court. The Tigers held their first official team meeting on September 22 and the first official practice was the next day. “Fight plus Focus” was the theme for the first workouts.

Here’s an interesting video of the beginning of the pre-season:

Bing Videos    (ZOU)

(BASEBALL)—For those who struggle to stay alert for the playoffs unless the Royals or the Cardinals are involved, this is it. After 162 games in eight months, the long winter already is settling in and only hope for a warmer future will get us through the cold and gray months ahead.

Our teams were mediocre at best all year long, a disappointment in Kansas City, unsurprising in St. Louis

(CARDINALS)—The season ended with a whimper for the Cardinals who lost six of their last ten games to finish six games under .500.  John Mozeliak is now history and Chaim Bloom will take a shot at rebuilding the team for 2025.

Two big names have indicated they might soften their no-trade stances. Nolan Arenado says he is willing to expand his list of teams for which he’d like to play. And Sonny Gray feels the same way.

Losing Arenado might not be too traumatic. His glove ass still good and he only struck out 49 times in 401 at-bats. But he hit only .237 with a dozen homers and only 52 RBIs.

Gray, however, was the biggest winner on the pitching staff at 14-8 despite his 4.28 ERA and 201 strikeouts. He tied for fourth in the National League in wins (the top NL pitcher had only 17), ranked sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (more than 10), led the league with 5.3 Ks for each walk, and was eighth in innings pitched (180.2)

But we might have seen he last of players such as fan favorite Lars Nootbar (.234 with as many hits as strikeouts—119 each—in 509 at-bats), Jordan Walker III (.215, with only 78 hits and 126 strikeouts), Victor Scott (.216, with 107 Ks in 396 at-bats), and Nolan Gorman, with 136 strikeouts in only 351 at-bats).

Bloom might be looking for more punch for a team with a .245 team BA and 1,321 strikeouts in 5433 at-bats. Only one NL team had a worse batting team batting average–.242. All of that being said, it should be noted the entire NL batting average this year was .247 and the batting champion, Trea Turner of the Phillies, set a new major league record for the lowest highest batting average for the season, .301. Eric Burlison and Brendan Donovan were sixth and eighth with averages of . 290 and .287.  Luis Arraez of the Padres had the most hits—only 181. But was a big year in MLB for home runs with Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies beating Shohei Ohtani 56-55 to win that contest.

Gray finished six games over .500. Michael McGreevy showed great possibilities by going 8-4 in 17 games with a 4.42 ERA.  The team was six games UNDER .500 although those two were ten ABOVE.  Ryan Helsley had 21 saves before leaving. The rest of the bullpen staff combined had that many.  Miles Mikolas surely is gone (8-11, 4.84, gave up 29 homers in 31 games). Andre Pallante (6-15, 5.31) and Matthew Liberatore (8-12, 4.21) didn’t live up to expectations. The Cardinals used 24 pitchers this year who had a combined 4.29 ERA and allowed 179 home runs in 162 games.

(ROYALS)—The Royals won six of their last ten to finish 82-80 but  missed the wild card slot by five games. Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino became the first Royals teammates to hit 30 homers and drive in 100 runs each.

Six American Leagues batted above .300 with Aaron Judge’s .331 topping the list. The Royals’ Maikel Garcia was ninth at .286. Bobby Witt led the major leagues in hits with 186 and in doubles with 47. He was fourth in triples. Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh set several records as he led the league in homers with 62, becoming the seventh player to hit 60 or more, breakking Mickey Mantle’s record for switch hitter homers,  and breaking Salvador Perez’s record of 48 for catchers.

As a team, the Royals hit .247, three points above the league average. The Athletics led the league at .252.

Royals pitchers had a combined ERA of 3.73.  Rookie Noah Cameron was impressive with a 2.99 ERA in 24 starts. The only other Royals rookies to finish their rookie season are Paul Splittorff with a 2.68 in 1971 and Kevin Appier, who finished 1990 at 276.

The Royals look to 2026 with a strong core pitching staff with Cole Ragans looking impressive in his last appearances of the year after coming off the injured list. Seth Lugo is solid, Michael Wacha pitched better than his losing record shows, and then there’s Cameron.

The season didn’t turn out as well as KC fans had hoped, given the playoff appearance last year. But the Royals look to 2026 far less unsettled than the Cardinals do.

Going around—

(NASCAR)—A furious final two laps at the Kansas Speedway finished with Chase

Elliott finding the right holes to go from eighth to victory lane and into a guaranteed position in the final eight drivers eligible for the Cup.

Elliott wove his way through a gaggle of fiercely-competing Toyota drivers to put his Chevrolet in the lead by a victory margin of less than seven-hundredths of a second over Denny Hamlin who seconds before had been in a fierce fight for the lead with Bubba Wallace. Hamlin finished second with Christopher Bell third.  Chase Briscoe, who started form the pole for the ninth time this year, was fourth and Wallace wound up fifth.

Hamlin drove the last segment of the race and held the lead until the last pit stops in which a problem with the jack slowed tire changing and put him sixth for the final run. He had worked his way to third and when Wallace and Bell were battling each other, Hamlin slipped past them into the lead. But as he and Wallace battled, Elliott slipped underneath them, the fifth lead change in the last two laps.

The series moves to the road course inside the Charlotte Motor Speedway next weekend. Shane Van Gisbergen, who fell out of the championship field last week, has eon the last four road course races,

(NASCAR FUTURE)—Here’s a name to watch: Connor Zillisch. He’s just 19 year old and won his ninth race of the year on Saturday at Kansas, still racing with a broken collarbone.

(INDYCAR)—It sometimes takes a while for the winner of any sport’s most important event to fully absorbe the importance of what they have done.  The realization recently came to Alex Palou, the winner of this year’s Indianapolis 500 when he sat in a sculptor Willam Behrend’s studio in Asheville, North Carolina as his face emerged from clay.

Alex Palou, 2025 Indianapolis 500 race winner, during the formal sitting with William Behrends for creating the silver image on the Borg-Warner Trophy at William Behrends Studio on Sept. 18, 2025, in Tryon, N.C.

The clay bust will be used to cast in sterling silver a tiny image of Palou’s face that will be placed on the Borg-Warner trophy that is permanently held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His image will join those of Ray Harroun, who won the first 500 in 1911, Tommy Milton, who became the first driver to win two of the races in 1923, Louie Meyer, who in 1936  became the first to win three of the races—and who started the tradition that Palou followed this year of celebrating the win with a drink of cold milk—and A. J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr., Rick Mears, and Helio Castroneves, the only drivers to win the 500 four times.

Eight winners of the trophy at the Indianapolis start/finish line: Front row (L-R) Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Takuma Sato. Back row: Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter Reay. Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya

“To know that I can come to the (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) Museum in like 40 or 50 years, or wherever that trophy is, and see my face and hopefully remember the memories I’ve created this year, it makes it super special. I know my name and face will be there forever,” he said during the carving session.

For as long as sterling silver and the Borg-Warner Trophy exist, Alex Palou’s face will be part of it and the racing history it preserves.

There’s other stuff going on with IndyCar in the off-season—

The latest Formula One driver to check out an IndyCar is Mick Schumacher, wo will make test runs at the Speedway on October 13.  Schumacher is the son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher, who won five races when Formula One ran the Indianapolis road course in the early 2000s. He’ll test a car owned by Rahal Letterman Lanegan Racing. He has been running in the World Endurance Car circuit the last couple of years.

Although Alex Palou dominated the series this year with eight wins and 13 podium finishes, a record number of drivers finished in the top three places in the seventeen races this year.

IndyCar’s Curt Cavin records that it has been a decade since so many drivers posted podium finishes in the series. This year, 16 of the 27 regular series drivers had at least one change to spay the campaign, including Scott Dixon who had his 145^th top-three, extending his record.

Pato O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard, celebrated six times. Kyle Kirkwood was on the podium three times this year, each time on the top step.

David Malukis will move into Will Power’s seat with Penske racing next year. Power has moved on to Andretti Global. He drove for Foyt Racing this year. Foyt has a technical alliance with Penske and it had been assumed that Malukis would move to Penske after Power’s contract expired. Malukis finished second in the Indianapolis 500 in May.

Indycar will be back on March 1^st with its traditional season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

(Photo Credits: Scott R. LePage, Indycar; Borg Warner, Trophy; Bob Priddy, Elliott)

(MIZFB)—-The Missouri Tigers picked on someone their own size last weekend and roared back from a first-quarter deficit to beat Kansas 42-31. The performance has earned Mizzou 25^th place in the weekly AP poll. The nation’s coaches feel the same way.

there were some prognosticators who thought Kansas could win this one and the first quarter gave them plenty of evidence they were right.

Buthe last three quarters destroyed those expectations  as Missouri dominated, allowing kU only four plays while the Tigers ran up fifteen points to tie the game at 21.

The game was the first MU/KU game in almost fifteen years but fans celebrated in their seats at the end.

Here’s why MU’s officials were glad to see that behavior with no fans rushing onto the field to celebrate.

Mississippi State fans celebrated with a field rush after their team beat then 12^th ranked Arizona State 24-20, their first win over a top-20 team since 2022. The NCAA carried out its threat to fine any school that has an incident like that one-half million dollars.

(MIZBB)—Basketball is starting to shoulder its way into the sports picture and Mizzou basketball is making another wave with the signing of its second five-star recruit for its class of 2026.  He’s Toni Bryant Jr., a 6-foot-9 forward who’s listed as the 14^th top recruit by ESPN and the 21^st by 247 Sports. He’s playing now at Zephyrhills Christian Academy in Florida. He also was being courted by Kansas, North Carolina and North Carolina State.

Coach Dennis Gates picked up his first five-start guy for the class of 2026 when Jason Crow Jr., signed. He’s the number three recruit on 247’s ratings list.

Crow is a 6-3 guard described as a “prolific scorer” out of Inglewood, California.

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs have some soul-searching to do after losing to the Chargers 27-21 in front of 17-million fans.

That’s right. 17 million. YouTube, which live-streamed the game to 230 countries from Sao Paolo, Brazil, says 16.1 million viewers watched on their devices in the Unite States and another 1.1 million from other countries also turned on the app for the game.

It was the biggest audience YouTube has had for a single event but it did not break the NFL record for a streaming audience. That belongs Netflix, which drew 24 million streamers for an NFL doubleheader last Christmas.

The Chiefs were flat the first half but showed life in the second, just not enough. They lost Xavier Worthy early in the first half. He dislocated a shoulder. Rookie Jalen Royals missed the game with a knee injury. His evaluation is a day by day thing.

The Chiefs meet the Eagles next weekend. The last time they met, Philadelphia embarrassed Kansas City in the Super Bowl.

Wide Receiver Xavier Worthy will be out of the lineup for a while with a dislocated shoulder. The Chiefs hope he can play eventually while wearing a brace.

As an aside, we offer this:

(REALLY, REALLY OLD)—The Chiefs’ biggest rival through the years as been the Oakland/LA/Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders. They picked up their first win under new coach Pete Carroll. With that win, Carroll, who is 74, has become the oldest head coach in NFL history. Carroll will be 74 next Monday.

For may years, George F. Halas, one of the founders of the NFL, held the record at 72 years and 318 days. Romeo Crennel became the interim head coach of the Houston Texans five years ago at 73 plus 115 days and took over that record.

Carroll not only is the oldest coach NFL history, he’s the oldest winning coach, thanks to the Raiders’ 2013 win over the Patriots.

Andy Reid is 67.

(BASEBALL)—The Royals have a shot at the playoffs. The Cardinals appear not to have a change. But it’s baseball, folks, and the fat lady hasn’t sung for either of our teams. She might be warming her vocal chords for the Cardinals, though.

St. Louis made it back to break-even at the end of the week, winning seven of their last ten games, and needs to win ten of its remaining eighteen games to finish above that. The Redbirds need nine wins to equal last year’s total.

The Royals are three games above .500, missing a change to draw closer by splitting their last ten games. The first round of playoff games is only three weeks away from today.

(ARENADO)—Nolan Arenado could be headed to Springfield for a rehab assignment if his second day of batting practice today works out. Post-Dispatch beat writer Derrick Gold says hehopes to return in time for the last homestand next week. He’s been out about six weeks with a right shoulder strain.

Now the Speedy Stuff

(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin sounded pretty convincing this past weekend when he indicated he’s giving himself two more years of racing at NASCAR’s highest level.  But he showed at World Wide Technology Raceway just across the river from St. Louis that he still has a lot left in the tank at 44, he plans to do whatever he has to do to be competitive enough to go out a winner at the end of 2027.

He became he first five-time winner this year, starting from the pole and locking in his spot in the second round of the playoffs with a 1.6 second over Ryan Briscoe.

The win is his 59^th, one away from his goal of 60 “or more.” Another win will tie him with Kevin Havick for tenth on the all-time NASCAR winners list. He has the most wins by a driver who has never won a Cup championship. His win also is the 200^th NASCAR Cup win for Toyota.

World Wide Technology Raceway has one of the narrowest pit lanes in the series and sometimes it gets pretty congested.

Hamlin signed a two-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing in May and has maintained that he plans to bow out of active racing at end of that contract. He has seen too many athletes, including some in NASCAR who have held on, even racing with lesser teams that have not fielded winning equipment. He says he doesn’t want to be one of those drivers.

“I’m just not going to leave this sport on my deathbed, you know, just leaking oil, running in the back of the pack. I have way too much pride for that. I’m way too cocky for that. There’s just no way. I want to be able to win my last race. To do that, I’m going to have to retire when I’m racing like this.”

At 44, he is a year older and considerably more competitive than the next-oldest driver, A. J. Allmendinger who has three wins in 474 races and a career average finish of 21^st: Michael McDowell is 40 and has never finished better than 15^th in points; and 40-year old Brad Keselowski, the NASCAR champion in 2012, like Hamlin involved in a team ownership, but who has had mediocre seasons the last two years.

“I’m sure there’s someone me competitive than me. I just have never met them. I just think that there’s a few people in every sport that are just built a little different, and they just won’t settle for anything but winning,” he said in his post-race news conference at WWTR Sunday night.

(INDYCAR)—Within days after the last race at Nashville, two major events came to the surface: the end of Will Power’s career with Penske and a major shift by Colton Herta, who leaves Andretti Global to pursue his Formula One dream.

Andretti Global quickly signed Power to a contract fill Herta’s seat and to join Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson for 2026. Power will be switching to Honda power with his new team after spending his career with Penske powered by Chevrolet engines. “This is a whole new chapter for me,” he said at the announcement event. “I have to say that sometimes a change of scenery and a fresh start is very energizing. I can’t wait.”

Power holds the IndyCar record with 71 poles. He’s fourth on the all-time wins list with 45, and is fourth in both number of podium finishes (108) and top fives (142) in more than 300 starts.

In 20 full years of top-level open wheel racing, Power has finished in the top ten in points 19 times. In more than 315 career races, his average starting position has been sixth and his average finish has been ninth. He has two series championships and an Indianapolis 500 win on his record, too.

Colton Herta, who has dreamed of racing in Formula 1is leaving IndyCar to pursue that dream with the new Cadillac Formula One team.  Cadillac has signed veterans Valterri Bottas and Sergio Perez as its drivers for next year but Herta will be the team’s test driver and likely will run some Formula 2 or 3 races to accumulate the number of points needed to become a full-time drivber on the circuit.

Herta became the youngest winner in IndyCar history six years ago. He leaves the series with nine victories and 16 poles in 116 races.

He’s had a taste of Europe already. He tested a 2021-spec McLaren F1 car in 2022. He also competed in some lower-level races before coming back to the states to race in IndyCar.

(FORMUA ONE)—When it comes to money—HUGE money—Formula 1 makes the two major American series look very small. This past week is an example. McLaren announced that it is now entirely owned by companies in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, making it a five-Billion dollar team. Mumtalakat, a sovereign wealth fund in Bahrain will be the majority stockholder. CYVN, which is majority-owned by the Abu Dhabi government will be the minority stockholder.

The deal involves these two companies buying the remaining thirty percent of McLaren that they did not already own from three five other investment funds.

McLaren has been the dominant team in Formula 1 with nine straight constructors’ titles. It has won twelve of the fifteen grands prix run so far this year and both of its drivers are in the fight for the driver’s championship.

Last weekend, Max Verstappen picked up his first win since May, taking the Italian Grand Prix by more than 19 seconds over McLaren’s Lando Norris.

(Illustrative material: University of Missouri, Kansas City Chiefs, Racing—Bob Priddy)

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(BASEBALL)—Neither of our teams has caught any fire since the end of the trading deadline. This year, more than most, it is likely a lot of fans are excited about the advent of the football season more than they are about the how the Cardinals and the Royals are slouching toward the season’s end.

We went back to the All-Star break to see if the trading deadline (or anything else) has done anything to make the blood flow more rapidly.  And the answer is a big fat NOPE.

Cardinals, at the break, were 51-46. As of the end of the weekend they had staggered to 58-60, a record of 9-13.  The Royals were 47-50. Now they are 58-60 now, a record of 11-10, better than the Cardinals but basically becalmed.

So let’s look at something more entertaining. Such as—

(Sophie)—Former MU women’s basketball great Sophie Cunningham has turned the arrival at the Indiana Fever’s dressing room before a game into a red-carpet photo shoot. She’s glamourous and she likes to dress in camera-stopping styles.

With Caitlin Clark out and injuries last weekend to two other key Fever players, more weight has been put on her shoulders to not only be a team enforcer but a team on-floor leader.  She was all of that last weekend against  the Chicago Sky when she led the way with 18 points and added three rebounds, two assists, and a steal, with only one and a turnover

(FOOTBALL)—The Chiefs have played their first exhibition game and used it to let a lot of guys do some exhibiting. Coach Reid had said the starters would play about a quarter. The Chiefs got a short field and scored on their first three plays in the game, producing an early exit for Patrick Mahomes and the first unit. The Chiefs lost to the Cardinals 17-14.

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers aren’t exciting the national pollsters as they head into their first game unranked this year. They finished 22^nd last year but in  both the sportswriters and the coaches’ poll, they don’t make the top 25.

Missouri has four teams ranked on the pre-seasons polls on the schedule this year: Alabama (8), Oklahoma (18), South Carolina (13), and Texas A&M (19).

The Tigers held their second scrimmage of the fall camp last weekend. Coach Drinkwitz saw no separation between the two players competing for starting quarterback—Sam Horn and Beau Pribula, and felt other segments of the offense and defense still need polishing before the Central Arkansas Bears provide the first test of hitting people from other teams on August  28.

(MIZZALUMNI)—From time to time we’ll catch up on former Tigers in the NFL and check on whether they make the squad this year.

There’s bad news about linebacker Ennis Rakestraw, who’s out for the season after suffering a shoulder injury during the first workout for the Detroit Lions.  He only played eight games last year because of a hamstring injury.  He’s had surgery on his shoulder.

MIZZBIZ)—With college football increasingly becoming a cash enterprise, schools are hiring people for jobs most fans could never have imagined just a few years ago. Case in point: Tigers football has added Gaurav Verma as the Director of Football Strategy and Finance. He’ll figure out how Missouri can get the most bang for its bucks in recruiting talent. He won’t recruit, he’ll just deal with the financial part of today’s college football recruiting. His most recent credential explains a good deal of what he’s going to do at Missouri: Salary cap specialist with the Denver Broncos. He has an MBA from MIT. ($OU)

Moving right along. Rapidly.

(INDYCAR)—A couple of major story lines come out of the Grand Prix of Portland IndyCar race this weekend: a race winner at last and a champion again.

Let’s talk about the race winner, Will Power, the first Penske driver this year to win a race in the series owned by Roger Penske, the senior driver on the team and one whose contract runs out at the end of the season.

First: The three-driver Penske program has suffered through a miserable year of mistakes, rules violations, and mediocre finishes.  How difficult has it been for the team known for its dominance of the sport? In 45 combined races this year, Power has the only win and one of three poles (at Worldwide Technology Raceway). The three drivers have accumulated only twenty top ten finishes and only a dozen top fives, including the win for Power at Portland. The three drivers have led only 490 of the 1,980 laps run in those fifteen races. By contrast, this year’s champion (more about him later) has led 568.

Power is sixth in the points standings this year. Teammates Scott McLaughlin are 6^th and 18^th, respectively.

Power is 44. Only Scott Dixon, at 45 is older among active IndyCar drivers. He’s won the national championship twice and the Indianapolis 500 once. He has started from the pole 71 times, the all time championship car record. His 45 wins are the fourth-most ever, trailing only A. J. Foyt (67), Dixon (59, including Mid-Ohio this year), and Mario Andretti (52).

Power shook off discussions of his future with Penske after the race.

The second story belongs to the driver who finished third in the race, Alex Palou. He accumulated enough points to guarantee his fourth series championship in the last five years.  His nearest competitor for the title, pole-winner Pato O’Ward saw his distance chances disappear when his car developed an electrical problem and he finished the day eight laps behind Power, in 25^th place.

Palou, who is 28, will run the remaining two races in the IndyCar series this year with the “champion” sticker on his rear spoiler. He has won the last three championships. He is the only Spaniard to win a national championship in open-wheel racing in this country. In May, he became the first driver from Spain to win the Indianapolis 500.

He has put together one of the most dominant years in IndyCar history. He has won eight of the fifteen races and finished second twice. It has been a remarkably consistent year with finishes in the top ten 13 times, 12 of those times in the top five.

Only A.J. Foyt (7) and Dixon (6) have more championships.

(NASCAR)—Watkins Glen is a road course—-and that’s fresh meat for Shane von Gisbergen, who has won four road and street races this year. He joined Denny Hamlin as the winner of four races in the series this year. The closest competitor at the end, Christopher Bell, was a distant 11.2 second back.

(Photo credits: Sophie—Bob Priddy; Power—Rick Gevers; Palou—Indycar; Rakestraw–Detroit News)

Did you know Missouri has another professional football team?

We’ve pretty much forgotten about arena football, the game from which Curt Warner vaulted into the NFL to become a Super Bowl-winning quarterback with the St. Louis Rams and a member of the NFL Hall of Fame.

Actually there are at least four leagues that play football in small arenas. The Goats are part of the Arena League. The others are:

Arena Football 1

Indoor Football League

National Arena Football League

The St. Joseph team is moving from Kansas City for this season. AND:

Travis Kelce and his brother, Jason, are the new principle owners of the Goats.

Actually, they are principle owners of Garage Beer and Garage Beer has a major ownership share of the team. It will play its first home game of the new season next Saturday in the city’s Municipal Auditorium against the Duluth Harbor Monsters.

Other teams in the league are the Harbor Monsters, Eau Claire Axmen, Hot Springs Wiseguys, Iowa Woo, and the Ozarks Lunkers (based in Springfield).

The Goats came into existence two years ago. They are named in honor of political boss Tom Pendergast’s Kansas City faction, known as “the Goats.” Pendergast and his family controlled Missouri Democratic Party politics for decades before he went to prison for tax evasion in the 40s. One of the things he did was push for building Kansas City’s Municipal Arena that was buit with lots of Pendergast concrete.

“Goats” won out over some other proposed names—Kings (after the NBA team that was in Kansas City for several years), Ribs (for the city’s well-known barbecue reputation, and the Potholes (which is self-explanatory). The team finished 7-1.

Will the team go over in St. Jo? Think about this: The Missouri State High School Activities Association lists 45 high schools that play 8-man football.  By our count, 33 of them are within an easy drive of St. Joseph.  Indoor, or Arena, football games are played on a field 50 yards long, 85 feet wide, surrounded by padded walls. Teams have 15-player rosters and field seven players at a time.

Sadly, we have to report the Goats lost their first game of the year, 54-50 to the Springfield Lunkers on a last-play-of-the-game touchdown set up by a pass interference call on the previous play.

Indoor, or Arena, football actually is a series of leagues ranging in size from three teams to twelve teams.

Arena Football 1

Indoor Football League

National Arena Football League

Arena League

The St. Joseph team is in the Arena League.

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Well, as long as we’re here, let’s do our weekly sports review:

—and let’s stay with football for a bit.

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The St. Louis Battlehawks have wrapped up their regular season 8-2 after taking down the D. C. Defenders 13-8. The Defenders are 6-4 and the teams will have a rematch for the XFL Division Championship next weekend. St. Louis won the game 13-8.

(BASEBALL)—The Cardinals and the Royals open a three-game series tonight with the Cardinals coming off their best May (19-8) since 2013 and their best month since August of 2022. They won six of their last ten and are second, within four games of the Cubs.

The Royals won only four of their last ten and come into the series 31-29. They’re 8 ½ games behind Detroit, in fourth place but only two games out of second place.

The offense-seeking Royals have called up their top minor leaguer, Jac Caglianone, for his first taste of big league pitching. Only one MLB team has hit fewer home runs so far than the Royals, who have 34. The Rockies, who are 9-50, have kept more balls inside the walls than the Royals.  The saving grace for the Royals so far is their pitching—the fourth best in the major leagues with a 3.13 ERA.

How would you react when you’ve been told you’re going up to the bigs?

https://www.si.com/mlb/royals-prospect-jac-caglianone-heartwarming-reaction-big-league-call-up-father

Caglianone has shown impressive power in his games in AA and lately in Triple-A while he’s learning to play the outfield.

The Cardinals’ counterpart is J. J. Wetherholt, who was drafted one slot behind Caglianone last year.  He hasn’t made the progress tht Caglianone has made offensively and there’s no position available for him on the present roster. He’s a middle infielder and the Cardinals are full at those positions.

(MIZ)—Missouri Tiger basketball has become such big stuff that the team needs a general manager.  That is Tim Fuller whose responsibilities are described as, “help with strategic planning and roster construction with an emphasis on alumni engagement, agent relations and NIL optimization.” The appointment is something of a homecoming for Fuller, who was an associate head coach for five years including 2012 when Missouri finished third-ranked nationally after a 30-5 record and a Big 12 championship.

Last season, he was an assistant coach at Providence, under former Tiger Kim English, one of he key players in that 2012 season.  Mizzou Coach Dennis Gates says the appointment will give him more time to coach instead of taking time away to do the things Fuller will supervise now.

Speaking of big wheels—-

(INDYCAR)—This is shaping up to be the breakout year for Kyle Kirkwood, who already has recorded two wins and six top ten finishes (although only five count), swept to the win on the streets of Detroit.  He earlier won on the streets of Long Beach. He and Alex Palou are the only drivers to win an Indycar race this year.

He finished sixth at Indianapolis but was demoted to 32^nd after his car flunked post-race inspection.

All four of Kirkwood’s career wins have been in street races.

He took the lead from Foyt Racing driver Santino Ferrucci with 22 laps left ad held on to win despite damage to one of his front wings.  Ferrucci’s runner-up finish was the best finish for Foyt on a street course since Takuma Sato was second at Detroit a decade ago.

Kirkwood teammate Colton Herta came home third.

Alex Palou, the Indianapolis 400 winner, wrecked on a restart but still has a strong lead in the points.

The next race for Indycar will be within driving distance of most Missourians will be at the World Wide Technology Raceway across the river from St. Louis.

(NASCAR)—Ryan Blaney, the 2023NASCAR champion, has guaranteed he’ll be in the running for his second title with his win at Nashville.

Blaney has had strong runs throughout the season so far but hasn’t been able to hold leads down the stretch—until Nashville, where he led 139 of the 300 laps and beat Carson Hocevar to the finish line by almost three seconds.

NASCAR heads to Michigan next weekend.

(FORMULA 1)—McLaren’s Oscar Piastri beat teammate Lando Norris to the finish line in the Spanish Grand Prix with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc getting the other podium finish.

(picture credits: Kirkwood—USA Today, Junfu Han; Goats—Facebook; Blaney—Bob Priddy)

(BASEBALL)—Both of major league baseball teams finished their first full week of the season with 4-5 records. They got there by different routes, one positive and one negative. Both represent where fans think the teams are going this year. The Royals are likely to be better than their first week. The Cardinals would surprise many if they didn’t continue to decline from their season’s peak when they won three in a row.

(ROYALS)— Royals starter Chris Bubic has become the first pitcher to win his first two Royals starts since Danny Duffy did it four years ago. He went 6 2/3 against Baltimore and allowed only one run. He now has thrown 12 2/3 innings, given up only one run, walked only three and fanned sixteen. The Royals won 4-1 and got their first series win of the  year.

Bobby Witt had a triple, double, and single in his first three at-bats but missed the cycle when he struck out in his fourth trip to the plate. No Royals hitter has  completed the cycle in almost 35 years; George Brett did it on July 25, 1990.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals three-game sweep at home to start the season degenerated into a 1-5 week since and a 4-5 record that many fans expect will worsen as the summer wears on.  The Boston Red Sox added the most recent two losses to the record in Sunday’s day/night doubleheader, beating the Cardinals in extra innings in the first game and then clubbing them 18-7 in the second.

Fans who have been saying Miles Mikolaus isn’t worth keeping were fortified by his performance in the second game Sunday when he basically threw batting practice for the Red Sox. By the time he finished his much-abbreviated stint, he had given up nine runs in 2 2/3 innings and his season ERA had been pounded up to 11.25 in his first two starts. Fans who remember that he had one of the worst ERAs of all major league starters last year at 5.35.

Reliever Gordon Graceffo, called up for the day as the 27^th player on a doubleheader roster, guaranteed a quick trip back to Memphis by going two innings and giving up five runs in his two innings.

By the end of the game, Cardinals pitchers had given up 18 runs, the most scored against the Redbirds in eight innings since 2020.  The game was played in Boston so there was no need for the Red Sox to bat in the ninth.

The Cardinals did set a positive National League record by racking up at least ten hits in their first nine consecutive games of a season. But last night they lost the opener of their series against the Pirates and had only nine hits. Cleveland retains the major league record of ten times, set in 1999.

The ‘birds had the first game won but reliever Ryan Helsley suddenly lost home plate and allowed Boston to win 5-4 in 11 innings.

Catcher Ivan Herrera is likely to be lost for the next ten days because of an inflammation o his left knee.

Nolan Arenado is on a 15-game hitting streak, the longest one in the majors so far.

(HOCKEY)—The  St. Louis Blues have finally lost a game. Their team-record 12 game winning streak was ended last night by the Winnipeg Jets 3-1.

(MIZbaskets)—The Missouri Tigers have picked up another big guy and a new guard through the portal. Luke Norwether is coming home from Oklahoma. Norwether, who was Missouri’s Mr. Basketball in his senior year at Blair Oaks (Wardsville, near Jefferson City) in 2022, has two years of eligibility left. He’s 6-11 and shot 34% from outside last year in limited action at OU.

In his senior year, Blair Oaks played Father Tolton High of Columbia for a district title. Father Tolton, led by 6-11 Jevon Porter, won that game. Porter announced his transfer to Mizzou last week.

Coach Dennis Gates now has the intriguing possibility of having one of the tallest (maybe the tallest) front lines in the country with these two guys at 6-11, and 7-foot-5 center Trent Byrnes.

It’s also been reported that Missouri is picking up UCLA guard Sebastian Mack. The Athletic says Bass, a Chicago native, will have two years of eligibility at Mizzou.

He averaged 10.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 67 games for the Bruins but saw his playing time reduced this past season after starting 30 games as a freshman. He started only once in 34 games this year. He’s expected to have more of a defensive role than acting as a shooting guard. He has hit less than thirty cent of his shots from the arc, 40.4% overall, and hits just under three-fourths of his foul shots.

(UFL FOOTBALL)—Some 32,115 St. Louis fans watched their hometown pro football team win its second game of the year Sunday. The Battlehawks beat the San Antonio Brahmas 26-9.  The other three UFL games had a TOTAL attendance of 32,783.

In its first two weeks of its second season, UFL crowds are averaging 12,344.

The St. Louis domed stadium has installed new turf, replacing the material that produced “The Greatest Show on Turf” in the Rams days, and improved the lighting for the games as St. Louis continues to hope its support for minor-league quality football will someday produce an NFL franchise.

Quarterback Manny Wilkins was 12/16 for 162 yards and Running back Jacob Sailors, who ran for 46 yards on 11 carries scored three touchdowns. The Hawks scored on three of their first four possessions, led 17-0 at the half and put a fork in the Brahmas with a 12-play, 70-yard touchdown drive early in the second half.

Now, looking at faster things:

(NASCAR)—When he needed his fastest pit stop in the race, Denny Hamlin got it in a race that had been dominated by William Byron who started from the pole and led the first 243 laps of the 297-lap race.  Byron’s pit stop dropped him back. He was able to get back to second but didn’t have enough laps to catch Hamlin, who got his 56^th career win and his second in a row.

The victory moves him past retired Missouri driver Rusty Wallace, putting him alone at 11, his car number, on the all-time winners list. He’s four behind Kevin Harvick. Only Kyle Busch, with 63 wins is above him among active drivers.

The spring Darlington race is known as a “throwback” race because the cars are decorated to recall cars driven by retired Cup drivers.  Hamlin’s car was painted (actually it’s a very large decal) to carry the colors of the Home Depot car driven by Columbia driver Carl Edwards

Edwards drove a similarly-painted car in 2008. One of his wins was at Michigan, celebrated by his usual backflip from the driver’s side window.

Edwards, who was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame earlier this year, will be the co-grand marshal at the All-Star race in May.

Ty Gibbs finished 9^th, extending his winless streak to 80. That’s the longest any driver for Joe Gibbs Racing has gone before getting his first Cup victory.

(INDYCAR)—IndyCar is back on track next weekend for a special race at one of its favorite venues—the street circuit of Long Beach, California.  Long Beach is the second longest continuously held race on the circuit. Sunday will be the 50^th race. Only the Indianapolis 500 has been held longer. The 108^th edition of that race comes up on Memorial Day weekend.

Former University of Missouri football Tiger Jay Frye, who lost his job as IndyCar President earlier this year, has become the President of Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing, founded by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and co-owned by television personality David Letterman and businessman Mike Lanigan, the owner of Lanco, an aerial lift equipment company.

(FORMULA ONE)—Max Verstappen has made it to the winner’s circle for the first time this year, taking the Grand Prix of Japan, two seconds ahead of Lando Norris.

Back in the pack, Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli was making history. He became the youngest driver in F1 history to lead a race and the youngest to record the fastest lap in a race. He was 18 years, 224 days old. He finished sixth.

Becoming the youngest winner in F1 history is out of reach. Verstappen holds that record—18 years 228 days.

(photo credits: NASCAR)