Sports: Missouri’s Miserable Monday; Beaultin’ Beau; Beaten Bears; and some Bad Basketball

Posted on December 23, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(GOOOOOO CHIEFS!)— Kansas has won the biggest plum of its long-standing economic border war with Missouri, luring the Kansas City Chiefs west of our state line where they will play in a new and enclosed stadium starting in 2031. Their new playground will be in the same economic development area that houses the Kansas Speedway, where NASCAR and sometimes IndyCar run, a track originally proposed for an area near Kansas City International Airport but which lacked sufficient Missouri government enthusiasm to keep Kansas from grasping it and making it a place that has boomed economically and will boom even louder now.

The announcement that the Chiefs will move to Kansas means Missouri has been unable to hang on to a third NFL team—the Cardinals and the Rams from St. Louis and the Chiefs from Kansas City. All three have bailed out of Missouri in disputes about state support for new stadiums.

Kansas is going to build a domed stadium project costing $3-million near the Kansas Speedway and The Legends retail district. There also will be a $300 million practice facility in Olathe, Kansas—ending St. Joseph’s role as the Chiefs training camp.

Shortly before the announcement in Topeka, Kansas legislators unanimously voted to allow STAR bonds to be issued for as much as 70% of the costs of the stadium and a mixed-use district that will be developed around it. Tax revenues on liquor and sales generated within the district will pay off the bonds.

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt says the only thing that will change will be the location of Chiefs games. Otherwise, he said, the fan experience will remain the same and the team will compete for more championships.

Missouri has lost three NFL teams—the Cardinals, Rams, and now the Chiefs, all because it was not as aggressive as the teams’ owners wanted the state to be in financing new stadiums. Kansas City also lost a major league baseball team, the Athletics.

It’s a huge economic loss to this side of the state line. Governor Mike Kehoe had called the legislature into special session last summer to put together a bond package covering up to half of the costs of a new stadium or a massive overhaul of Arrowhead, plus $50 million more in tax credits for the Arrowhead project and a new stadium downtown for the Royals, plus financial help from local government.

But the financial help from local government evaporated last year when Jackson County voters gave a strong “no” vote to extending a local sales tax that would have paid for those projects.

Now, the Royals are in play and there is a report that “an affiliate” of the team has taken a mortgage on land in Overland Park, Kansas.

(SO, WHAT NOW?)—Well, there’s always the UFL. St. Louis has its poor substitute for an NFL team. The domed stadium named for a now defunct airline where the Rams used to play is the home of the Battlehawks. Whether there still will be an Arrowhead Stadium for the Kansas City Whatevers, if the UFL expands, is undetermined.

(CHIEFS TODAY)—The Chiefs might have spoiled the Tennessee Titans’ chances of getting the first pick in the NFL draft, giving the Titans their first win in a dozen home games and only their third victory all season. Kansas City played most of the game with its third-string quarterback, Chris Oladokun, calling signals after Mahomes backup Gardner Minchew limped to the sidelines and then to the dressing room with a second-quarter knee injury. It was Oladokun’s first NFL game. He’s been on the taxi squad for the last couple of years.

The pitiful 26-9 loss guarantees the Chiefs with their first losing season since 2012, before the Andy Reid era began. The chiefs now are losers in four straight games, and six of the last seven. The Chiefs went into the game with the league’s eighth ranked defense and gave up 376 yards to rookie quarterback Cam Ward, who broke Marcus Mariota’s team record for most passing yards in their first season.

The Chiefs had only 133 yards of total offense and only nine first downs; the Titans had 22 first downs and . The Titans ran 70 plays; the chiefs only 43. Oladokun finished 11/16 for 111 yards.

The Chiefs entered the game in a poor physical situation. Patrick Mahomes and right tackle Jawaan Taylor are on injured reserve and nine players were declare out, including five starters.

Things appear likely only be worse this week. They play the Broncos on Christmas night

(MIZPORTAL)—The instability of college football caused by the transfer portal that allows athletes to become carpetbagging mercenaries hired by schools looking for a golden arm or unstoppable legs, in particular, is a big deal for the Missouri Tigers.

Beau Pribula has turned into one of those carpetbaggers who found a bigger paycheck at Missouri than he was likely to get at Penn State couldn’t wait until after a bowl game helped the team get to before he told Mizzou he was looking for a greener pasture.

Pribula wasn’t so bad at Missouri that he wouldn’t likely do better with a second year in the system—although the system departed when the Offensive Coordinator Kirby Moore found a portal that he could go through, too—but Pribula didn’t exactly show that he was the next great NFL clipboard quarterback to be produced by Mizzou.

So Missouri becomes just another team headed to a bowl game with a patchwork lineup because some guys would rather go campus-shopping than play another game in their latest school’s colors.

(MIZOC)—Missouri’s new offensive coordinator is bringing experience from one of the Big Ten’s elite teams. Chip Lindsey is moving to Missouri from the University of Michigan. He’s been a college coach for a dozen years in increasingly higher circles. His South Carolina team ranked 7^th in the nation in total offense in 2023, averaging almost 500 yards a game. This year at Michigan, his teams averaged almost 400 yards

He and Mizzou and Eli Drinkwitz have some acquaintances with each other. During his three-year head coaching stint at Troy, his team lost to Missouri and Coach Barry Odom at Faurot Field 42-10 and fell to Drinkwitz’s Appalachian State 48-13. He has helped develop three quarterbacks who’ve made it to the NFL including Patriots starter Drake Maye, and Jarrett Stidham and Nick Mullens. It’s not known what his role will be for the bowl game next weekend.

(THE BOWL)—The preparation for the game by freshman quarterback Matt Zollars will be different by game time. He and Coach Drinkwitz both know that he’s not a fill-in for the next game. He’s number one and the pre-game preparations are different. This game and the spring practices can put him in a commanding position for 2026. He has shown good potential as Pribula’s substitute for three games this year. The Gator Bowl could be the game in which he reduces or erases the word “potential.”

One thing to watch for—because his coach will be watching—-is how well he performs on third downs, passing downs. “You look at our four losses this year, you look at our three losses last year, look at our two losses the year before that—our inability to consistently convert third downs in critical games or throw the ball has been a major factor in our losses,” said Drinkwitz.

Virginia is looking for its first 11-win season. The Cavaliers go into the game having won two of their last three. Missouri’s season flattened out as it began facing top 10 fellow SEC Schools. They go into the wining with three losses in their last five game.

(NOT RUNNING AWAY)—-Although he could write his own check elsewhere, Ahmad Hardy is staying at Mizzou. He admits he hadn’t gotten any offers: “I think they know I’m a Tiger, so they ain’t hit me up.”

That means Missouri will have an All-American running back for the new offensive coordinator.

Hardy would have been among the hottest properties if he wanted to go portalizing. His 1500 yards-plus performance—before a bowl game—ranks him 28^th among all Missouri career rushers. Another season such as this one could get him to third on the all-time list. He’ll likely have to stick around for another year to move past Larry Roundtree (3720) and Brad Smith (4289 who, as a running/passing quarterback also threw for 8799 yards.).

But—-the Tigers’ one-two backfield punch this season might not be complete next year. Running back Jamal Roberts, who gained an average of 6.2 years every time he got the ball this year (so far) is in play as a possible portal entrant. Coach Drinkwitz hopes some moneyed supporters will cough up a lot mor NIL funding to keep him at Faurot Field in 2026.

(MOSTPORTAL)—Missouri State Quarterback Jacob Clark, who finished his college career with a 34-28 loss to Arkansas State in a bowl game in Texas, has little good to say about the portal process.

He was sacked eight times as the Bears played without their starting left tackle Ebubedike Nnabugwu, the Conference USA’s best pass protector, who is portal bound. Also missing was right tackle Erick Cade, has played out his eligibility. Defensive end D. J. Wesolak took himself out of the lineup to protect himself for the portal. Starting center Cash Hudson, also reportedly headed for the portal, DID play but left the game in the fourth quarter with an injury.

Clark pointed to Texas-San Antonio coach Jeff Traylor whose team will play Florida International the day after Christmas without almost twenty players who are going portal shopping to show the absurdity the portal is creating in college football. Traylor has blamed “all of the tampering and the agents and coaches,” who are promising “incredible” financial deals to lure players into the portal. “I hate it because I really want to coach them in a bowel game, but they’re getting leveraged out of it…I never thought we’d be punished for making a bowl game by being leveraged.”

“You’re talking about teams that have $26 million to $40 million, and the number’s just too big, and who knows if they’re being told the truth? It’s sad, it really is sad,” he continued.

“There’s no such thing as tampering. Coaches talk to players, agents talk to players. Oh, then turn them in, coach. You think those players are going to give me the coach that’s actually talking to them? Why? It’s driving the price up. The more they get driven up, the price goes up higher and higher. As long as there’s people gonna pay it, who’s going to stop it? What’s going to stop this? What’s going to stop it? Only the freedom of process is going to stop because when there’s no money left, what are we going to all do?”

—a highly pertinent question.

Missouri State and Arkansas State both finish the year at 7-6.

(MIZSIX)—CBS’s Mike Renner thinks he has identified the top 150 potential NFL draft picks—and sixTigers are on the list. The last time six Mizzou players were drafted was 2023; the record is seven, in 1981.

Linebacker Josiah Trotter is the highest-rated Tiger at number 74. Defensive Tackle Chris McClellan is 85, IOL Cayden Green is 90. In the last third are Edge Rusher Damon Wilson at 105, WR Kevin Coleman at 110 and IOL Keagan Trost, 141.

The Winter Solstice means we are one step closer to the magical day when Spring training starts.

(BRAGGARTS)—-First, we lost the Chiefs. Then we lost a basketball game to Illinois—and it was the worst loss by either team in the history of the so-called “Braggin’ Rights” game between Missouri and Illinois.

Illinois “outed” the Tigers everywhere—offense, defense, rebounding—in all facets of the game. Toward the end, the biggest question was whether the Fighting Illinois would double-up on the Tepid Tigers—and they almost did, 91-48.

Missouri heads into the SEC schedule 10-3 with losses to Illinois, Notre Dame, and Kansas, losses that could play a role in a couple of months when it comes time to decide if Missouri is good enough for post-season play..

Junior point guard Anthony Robinson talked on Sunday about a ‘TPD’ mindset, meaning tough, physical and disruptive, saying that would be a key to playing their brand of basketball and finding success against Illinois.

The Illini out-rebounded Missouri 43-24. They outscored the Tigers on second-chance opportunities 29-5. The Illinois defense produced miserable Missouri shooting—29% from the field, only 27% from the arc (6 of 22 from the three-point line).

Life won’t get easier with the start of the SEC schedule on January 3. Florida. The Seminoles are ranked 22^nd this week.

(CARDS)—The St. Louis Cardinals have taken their first deep plunge into the trading market by sending catcher/first baseman Willson Contreras to the Red Sox for three right-handed pitchers: Hunter Dobbins, Yhoiker Fajardo and Blake Aita. Contreras waived his no-trade clause.

Dobbins was 4-1 last year for Boston. Eleven of his thirteen games were starts. He fanned 45 in 61 innings and had a 4.13 ERA before he tore a knee ligament early in July and had season-ending surgery. Shipping off Contreras opens the door for Alec Burleson to become a fulltime first baseman. Dobbins takes Contrera’s spot on the 40-man roster.

Fajardo won’t be 20 until the 2026 season is almost over. He was with two teams in the minors last season, posted a 2-8 record but had a 2.93 ERA and whiffed 147 batters in 122 innings. Aita will be 23 next June. He’s seen as a potential starter. He also was with two teams last year, went 5-7 with an ERA of 3.98.

Until the Contreras trade, the Cardinals had been making only small waves. Left Fielder Matt Koperniak was put on waivers, went unclaimed, and is headed back to Memphis for a third season. He hit .309 at Memphis in 2024 but had a disappointing ’25 when he dropped to only .246.

The Redbirds signed free agent pitcher Dustin May to a one year, $12.5 million contract. May missed three weeks last season with an elbow nerve inflammation and was 7-11 with a 4.96 ERA in 23 starts for Boston and Los Angeles. He’s struggled with arm problems throughout his career and had Tommy John surgery in 2021. He is 19-20 with a 3.86 ERA in 57 starts and 14 relief appearances in a six-year career.

(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals seem to be taking their time in the free agent/trade markets. This past week, they traded relievers with the Phillies. The Royals added veteran left-handed pitcher Matt Strahm, who came over from the Phillies in a trade for pitcher Jonathan Bowlan.

Strahm went 62.1 innings in 66 games, was 2-3 with six saves and a 2.74 ERA. Bowlan has been in 50 games in his two-year career, 1-2/3.86 last year with 45 Ks in 44.1 innings.

Now, a little tragedy, and some and history—.

(NASCAR)—Federal investigators say it will be quite a while to figure out why the plane of retired NASCAR Cup driver Greg Biffle crashed, killing Biffle, his family and others. Biffle, who was popular in the garages and was known for his philanthropic work, was named one of NASCAR’s 75 greatest drivers in its first 75 years. He won 19 of his 515 races, was in the top five 92 times and finished 175 races in the top ten. He was the runner-up for the 2004 Cup championship and finished in the top ten in points six times.

(INDYCAR)—There are few higher-ups in big-time sports who spend more time relating to fans and sometimes getting their hands dirty while doing it than Doug Boles, the President of IndyCar and of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Most often, he’s the guy looking cool in a blue suit in a crowd of one, two, or three hundred thousand people in verrry casual, if not sometimes outrageous, summer attire. The fact that he got a journalism degree before becoming a lawyer (three of my former Missourinet colleagues did the same thing, so we relate on that level, too) means he can speak board room lingo as well as he comfortably can wander among the hordes of folks who like to mix sunshine, hot dogs, beer, and really, really fast cars on hot summer weekends.

He finds adventure outside the office and inside the speedway and enthusiastically shares it with Speedway fans and worshippers with videos that he calls “Behind the Bricks.”

The track is called “The Brickyard” because it once was paved with millions of bricks that sometimes cause problems for the modern paved squared oval where cars have touched 240 mph before making a left turn. There still were a few feet of bricks on the main straightaway when my parents took me to the track for the first time.

His enthusiasm about the old place is shown in three recent episodes that shows us “under’ the bricks—a project to repave part of the track when some the old bricks shifted and caused a bump that cars going four miles a minute shouldn’t encounter, especially in a turn. The project turned into an archaeological expedition that recalled the earliest days of the track and became three podcasts that mix technology, history, and the guy who runs the whole place.

Bing Videos

Behind the Bricks: Turn 2 Repave, Part 2

Behind the Bricks: Turn 2 Repave, Part 3

It’s grey and it’s cold and we’ve had a bad day in sports in Missouri. It seems like a long time before we’ll write again about daring men and women doing remarkable things when the asphalt over the old bricks is hot again. But Doug reminds us that the good times are waiting.

(Photo Credits: Stadium, Hardy—Instagram)

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

Posted on December 16, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Baseball—

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The other two guys are unknowns.

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

Motoring right along:

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

The Daytona 500 is now less than sixty days away.

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

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

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

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

(Photo credit: Instagram)

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

Posted on December 9, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On to the fast stuff:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on December 2, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love is a Junior. Hardy and Lacy are Sophomores.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Royals have been quiet, too.

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

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

Speaking of things that are fast—

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on November 25, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now, the speedy stuff:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Border War

Posted on November 21, 2025 by bpriddy

I might not be considered a loyal Missourian—

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get over it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on November 19, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s Clark’s second POTW this year.

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

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

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

Some wheel thoughts—.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on November 11, 2025 by bpriddy

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An Open and Shut Case

Posted on November 11, 2025 by bpriddy

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

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

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

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

But the story raises the stakes in the discussions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brent

Posted on November 5, 2025 by bpriddy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Guilt-free naps

With a cat on the lap

And the Chiefs on the TV….

And it went downhill from there.

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

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

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

Bob Priddy

A journalist's random observations

Category Archives: football

Sports: Missouri’s Miserable Monday; Beaultin’ Beau; Beaten Bears; and some Bad Basketball

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

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

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

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

The Border War

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

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

An Open and Shut Case

Brent

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