Category Archives: Racing

Sports: I Got the Fever; Going Opposite Baseball Directions; Playoff Football; Detroit and Nashville for Speed

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(BEFORE WE GET STARTED):   There is the NBA and then there is basketball and it is being played by women.

We took in our second Indiana Fever game when we were in Indianapolis recently, chance to watch Sophie and Caitlin play—Sophie is kind of considered Caitlin’s enforcer—and again were greatly impressed by the intensity of the women’s game and the fact that people of normal height but extraordinary skill worked the ball, set up plays, had tremendous assists, fierce blocks, and ran up 90 points in four ten-minute quarters.

And the pregame!  Tiger fans, get a load of this (anytime you see someone wearing number 10, it’s former Tiger Sophie Cunningham)

Now, on to regular business

(BASEBALL)—Neither of our major league baseball teams was much to talk about this week.  The Cardinals muddled along and the Royals sank deeper into mediocrity. In fact, the Royals dropped to a season-worst 15 games under .500 with their sweep by the Rangers, making Kansas City losers of 16 of their last 19 including two straight sweeps and four overall. Manager Matt Quartaro was at least honest when he said, manager Matt Quatraro said Sunday. “I mean, we didn’t play well enough to win a game.”

The Royals were 10-18 in May. Four of their pitchers are out with injuries and the the offense isn’t showing much spark heading into June.  They began the new week with the second-worst record in the American League (Detroit is a half-game behind them.)

The Cardinals took the rubber game of the series with the Cubs Sunday night to hold onto second place in a division in which every team is playing better than break-even ball. They’re five games over .500 but trail the Brewers by four and a half at the start of a new week.

They opened a series last night against the Texas Rangers who are managed by Cardinals fan favorite Skip Schumaker, who played in St. Louis 2005=2012.

(DOWN ON THE FARM)—-A rarity, maybe it’s history—for minor league baseball happened in Springfield Saturday afternoon when Jurrangelo Cinintje, obtained in a winter trade and now the number for player in the Cardinals pipeline, started for the Springfield Cardinals.

He struck out Wichita Wind Surge outfielder Garrett Spain twice.

He did it once throwing right-handed and once throwing left-handed. He wasn’t too spectacular otherwise—three runs, three hits and a walk.

He’s 23, has made ten starts this year and is 3-2 with a 5.21 ERA

(BATTLEHAWKS)—-The St. Battlehawks go into the first round of the UFL playoffs at 6-4 after Friday night’s upset by the Dallas. 20-16.  They had clinched a home field first round playoff spot a week earlier.

Dallas had lost six in a row before finishing the regular season with the victory. St. Louis helped he Renegades get the win by turning the ball over four times in eleven possessions (1 fumble, two interceptions and a 3-and-out).

The Orlando Storm go into the playoffs 8-2 with the Battlehawks at 6-4. The Louisville Kings are 5-4, and the DC Defenders are the four-seed with a 5-5 record.

The first round playoffs next weekend will match Orlando and DC and St. Louis against Louisville in the Battledome, as it’s now called. The ‘Hawks beat the Kings 16-3 earlier.

The Kings started the season 0-3

On the track—

(INDYCAR)—The streets of Detroit hosted IndyCar one week after the spectacular Indianapolis 500  and this this time, the driver who started P1 finished in the same position

—a familiar face: Alex Palou.  If he pulls off a win next weekend at World Wide Technology Speedway, he will have won half of the last 26 IndyCar events.  He’s four out of eight this year. He’s well on the way to his fourth straight series title, up by 62 points over Kyle Kirkwood, the runner up, three seconds behind.

He led 71 of the 100 laps and took the lead for the final time on lap 69 when Kirkwood pitted.

(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe were three-wide at the start of the last lap at Nashville but, as one long-ago broadcaster put it, “it was a wreck that didn’t happen….and Hamlin had the momentum coming off of the last turn.

Hamlin began the race on the pole but jumped the start and was sent to the back of the 38-car field. He fought his way back for the 62nd victory of his career. He is now only one win behind Kyle Busch, who ranks ninth on the all-time Cup list.

(picture credits: Palou at Indianapolis—Bob Priddy; Battlehawks—Instagram; Pitcher—Springfield Daily Citizen)

 

Reflections on Memorial Day, Part three  (5/30/26)

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Sunday, things got very serious.

And incredibly intense.

And scary.

The 350,000 fans who would watch the Indianapolis 500 (or just have a big party) had started arriving days earlier, many setting up their tents and mobile homes in the numerous parking lots around the track, some spending the night before the race in their cars on 16th Street.

They began surging through the gates when they opened at 6 a.m., many wearing shirts for their favorite drivers, shirts for cars’ sponsors, and shirts commemorating the event about to unfold before them. The souvenir facilities quickly were swarming with people wanting to buy memories of what they were about to witness.

The grandstands were filling by the time the Borg-Warner trophy was moved to the start-finish line for the race about 9 a.m.

The cars were rolled to their starting spots at 10:30, drivers soon to follow, passing through a few thousand reporters, guests, sponsor representatives and car crews.

Pulses start to quicken with each step of the opening ceremonies saluting veterans and first responders with the presentation of colors, a prayer by Indianapolis Archbishop Charles Thompson, a fourteen-gun salute and taps. Indiana composer, singer, and band leader Emphraim Owens did “America,” and Grammy Nominee Jordin Sparks performed the Start Spangled banner ending with a flyby over the main straightaway by F-16s from the South Dakota National guard.

And then comes the goosebumps moment for thousands—Jim Carnelison’s annual performance of the state song, “Back Home Again in Indiana,” punctuated by a return, east to west by one of the F-16s.

And at last, Roger Penske’s order, “Drivers, Start Your Engines.”

Should you want to share the entire opening ceremonies:

2026 Indy 500 Opening Ceremony | INDYCAR

Weather forecasters for several days had warned that rain could interrupt or even shorten the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500.  The race would become official after 101 of the 200 laps. The pressure was on from the drop of the green flag for drivers to get everything them could get before the rain ended the race. The rain generally stayed away although enough drops fell to pause the race for a few minutes before the intense race against rain resumes.

More than one-fourth of the race was run under caution, the cars circulating at 90-95 mph while crash debris and car remnants were removed from the track. The green flag was out for 149 laps.  The intensity of the competition is reflected in these statistics:

There were seventy lead changes, a record.  Even more telling is this:

One-hundred and thirty seven of the 149 full-throttle laps produced a margin between first and second place of less than one second.  Cars lapped at better than 220 miles an hour, weaving in and out of lines, passing and re-passing.  Thirty-three started; 24 were still challenging one another at the end of the race. Eighteen were on the leader’s lap, the top four within four-tenths of a second of each other.

If you have the endurance, here is the entire race as seen from Rosenqvist’s car—and hear his spotter and his conversations with his crew chief (be prepared to be seated for more than three hours):

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=rosenqvist+cockpit+video&view=detail&mid=3BB33C474F5056FF64F83BB33C474F5056FF64F8&

Marcus Amstrong took the lead at the start of the last lap with contenders  David Malukas and  teammates Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist and David Malukas tightly behind racing at speeds forty miles an hour faster than the takeoff speed of my son’s Southwest Airlines 737.

The race evolved into a 23-second duel between Malukas and Rosenqvist. Want to take a white-knuckle ride with Rosenqvist on that last lap?

https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=felix+onboard+for+the+last+lap+of+the+500&refig=6a18ca50d02f4504805071

Malukas led out of the fourth turn but Rosenqvist had the momentum.

Rosenqvist by 0.0223 second, the smallest victory margin in Speedway history.

The win was worth $4.3 million of the record $30 million purse.  By the time Rosenqvist took the ceremonial last lap around the track, in the back of a pickup truck, so the crowd could appreciate what he had done, and he and his crew knelt at the start/finish line for the traditional kissing of the bricks, a light rain was falling.

The finish was bitter for Malukas, who wept when he stepped out of his car. He had finished second to Alex Palou last year by 1.142 seconds, meaning he has been separated from two straight wins in the Indianapolis 500 by a combined 1.7 seconds. But he wasn’t the only one disappointed.

 

Santino Ferrucci, whose uniform reflected the nation’s patriotic 250th anniversary theme of the day, finished in the top ten for the eighth straight year. Pato O’Ward, racked up his fifth straight top five including two runner ups.  O’Ward was only 0.4271 seconds behind Scott McLaughlin, finishing fourth. Ferrucci was 8th, 1.571 behind.

Will their time come for Malukas, Fdrrucci, and O’Ward?  Or will they join the long list of men who year after year were within reach of being immortalized on the trophy but never made it.

They’re all yet young and God willing, there will be more chances for their faces to join those of Rosenqvist and 76 others on the big trophy.

Shortly after the 500 ended, the longest race of the NASCAR season was helping Charlotte, North Carolina, observe Memorial Day.  In a few weeks, those cars will roar around the first race track in the world to use the word “Speedway” to describe itself. The cars will be bigger and one-third slower but the fans will be as devoted to them as IndyCar fans are devoted to their cars and drivers, and the competition for a prestigious Brickyard 400 victory at the greatest race track in the world will be equally fierce.

The great track is silent now. But in a few weeks a new roar of engines will be heard as the great track once again knows he heat of racing cars being driven by people doing heroic things.

For me, it was time for a long, quiet ride home, hoping I could make it back to Missouri before having to buy more of that awfully expensive Illinois gas. I found myself thinking of the era that gave us this holiday. After all, I was going to spend the day in the land of the man who was the central figure in it all.

Join me in that ride, if you wish, on Monday.

(picture credits—Bob Priddy and Rick Gevers; Borg-Warner; Finish—The Guardian)

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Notes From a Quiet Hill 

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In case you are wondering—-

Triple-A says the highest recorded price for regular unleaded fuel in Missouri was $4.683 on June 16, 2022. The record for diesel was set just nine days later at $5.375.

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We either are still in Indianapolis or on the way home after witnessing two races—one of which we hope to have more about later (and we don’t mean tomorrow). We took this picture last year of the starting field—only six cars, if you want to call them that.

This year was the second annual Wiener 500.  All six of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile raced for two laps, each with a two-person crew (both college students who have spent a year touring the country promoting Oscar-Mayer products.  It was so much fun they decided to do it again Saturday, weather permitting (we are writing this on Wednesday night before heading to the Circle City Friday morning).  We’ll have a full report.  Last we knew, two young women from the MU Journalism school had been part of the traveling show. If one of them drives one of these machines to victory, she will be the first woman to win a race in the 117-year history of the Speedway.

Last year, the 500 broadcast crew had fun with their straight-faced coverage:

Inaugural Oscar Mayer Wienie 500 🌭 Full Race | INDYCAR on FOX

Unofficially, the last 2.5 mile lap was turned in 3:17.5, about 65.2 mph.

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Another example of the political amateur hour in Washington crossed our desk a few days ago when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the House Natural Resources Committee advocates for solar energy are wrong because, “”All of these projects …in Nevada have one thing in common. When the sun goes down, they produce zero electricity….The whole machine doesn’t work when the sun goes down. And there’s examples from around the world of this happening.”  He suggested committee members have secret briefings about how solar energy doesn’t work.

California Congressman Jared Huffman couldn’t resist a response, asserting there is an “amazing new technology that apparently the secretary is unaware of, it’s a battery.” And solar system batteries hold the day’s electricity for use at night.  Burgum seems to have been in the dark about that. Ignorance such as this in this administration stopped being a surprise a long time ago.

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I’m an immensely popular guy. Or maybe a lot of people are interested in my welfare. My phone is ringing from sunup to sundown from people wanting to make sure my Medicare program is good enough. Even when my caller identity says they’re call from some town in Missouri (and other places nationwide) it turns out that they’re not calling from those places at all.

And many voices sound as if they’re coming from places without Medicare.

A dozen calls a day probably is below average. I answer the calls because I don’t want to fill up the answering machine with non-messages. The thing beeps and drives me crazy.

One day our caller ID told us we were calling ourselves. But we recognize our own voices and the voice calling us was neither of us.

It’s time we re-examined the Attorney General’s no-call list to see if we can have a law (maybe it has to be federal) that says any call originating from someplace other than where the caller ID says it’s coming from is a crime.   It has been many years since we heard of the Attorney General racking up a big fine against a robocall company.

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Here’s something that is really, really serious in our country’s politics.  There are conspiracy theorists who claim that President Trump faked his assassination attempts. While there is no Christmas card exchange between his mailbox and ours, we can’t see how that assertion is true. If it is true, it means that Donald Trump planned for the death of one or more onlookers—Corey Comperatore, who did get fatally shot, and two other people on the platform who were wounded in Pennsylvania. There are those floating the idea that he somehow convinced some guy from California to give up the rest of his life as a free citizen to go to Washington and do something at the correspondents’ dinner to justify tearing down part of the White House and building a ballroom that is more secure than the Washington hotel ballroom where the dinner was scheduled this year.

All of that is rubbish. Perhaps the discussion we should be having is about what Trump does and/or says that has encouraged three unbalanced people to try to get him in their gunsights.

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Here’s a way to end Mr. Trump’s war with Iran.  We buy all of its enriched uranium and make an exclusive contract with Iran to be our exclusive supplier, with American management involved. Payments for the uranium would come from the funds this country has confiscated from Iran not only to pay for the uranium but to constitute reparations for our bombings. Turn management of the Strait of Hormuz to the United Nations which could charge reasonable fees that would finance programs in the world’s poorest countries.

Maybe we could make Iran our 51st state. Or the 52nd.  Or the 52rd.  Or 53rd.  We almost need a scorecard to keep track of the possibilities.

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Sports: Hardy Update;  Winning and Losing Streaks end in Same Game; Biggest Weekend for Speed.    

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by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(AHMED)—A suspect in the shooting of Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy has been caught in Paducah, Kentucky.  Rashodrick Harris is being extradited to Mississippi to face two charges of aggravated assault. Authorities say additional charges might be added.

Three people taken into custody at the shooting site have been released.

Hardy has moved to a Columbia hospital after surgery in Mississippi on leg wound. He already has started physical therapy and could be released from the hospital this week. Coach Drinkwitz says Hardy’s status for the 2026 remains uncertain.

(MIZZPORT)—South Dakota guard Jordan Crawford is the fifth, and likely last, portal player to join the Missouri Tigers for next season.  He’s 6-3, spent two years at College of Charleston then a year at Eastern Kentucky and was at South Dakota for the last season. He’s listed as a redshirt senior. He averaged 14.4 pointa game for the Coyotes last year and shot 37% from three.

Three Tigers last year are still without a new home court for the next season: Sebastian Mack, Jacob Crews, and Jevon Porter.  Porter and Crews need hardship permits that will let them play.

(BILLSPORT)—The St. Louis University Billikens have restocked after losing most of their team that finished with the best record in school history.  Several players have stayed and they’ll be joined by 6-7 guard Yousaf Ahmad, who comes south from Canada. Others players coming to St. Louis through the portal are Alon Michaeli, moving east from Colorado, and Elijah Stron, who’s moving west from South Carolina.

The Billikens lost Bobby Availa, their big mane in the middle. They’re hoping 6-11 freshman Sheek Pearson can step in. He was red shirted with Marquette last year.

They’re also picked up home town guy Jamison White, a 6=7  high school recruit from Vashon High in St. Louis.

Baseball:

(ROYALS/CARDINALS)—The Kansas City Royals broke their six-game losing streak Sunday against the Cardinals

The Royals are struggling with several injuries, perhaps the biggest one is starting pitcher Cole Ragans, who was put on the 15-day disabled list with a left elbow problem May 8. His return is uncertain although Kansas City Star reporter Jaylon Thompson says Ragans threw thirty pitches in the bullpen Sunday and felt good. But the teams is still deciding its next steps in his return.

Stephen Kolek shut down the Cardinal Sunday to end the Royals’ six-game streak. The Cardinals’s Masyn Wynn left the game in the seventh inning. He’s listed as day-to-day after tweaking his knee running to first base to avoid a double play.

The Royals have lost seven of their last ten games and have fallen out of a challenging position in their division. In fact, at 29-27, they’re last.  Only two teams have fewer wins.

The Cardinals are eight games over .500 and only a game and a half behind the Cubs.

Football:

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The clock ran out on the St. Louis Battlehawks with the ‘Hawks two years away from tying the score against the Houston Gamblers.  The 23-16 loss is the first home loss for St. Louis since the third game of last year and keeps them from locking up a playoff spot.

There are two games left in the UFL season before the top four teams go into a playoff. The Battlehawks are tied with the DC Defenders for second place in the league at 5-3. Orlando leads at 6-2.

The teams will face each other again on Thursday night in Houston.

The Big Motorsports Weekend:

Indianapolis 500 plus 600 miles and Charlotte and F1 in the picturesque streets of Monte Carlo.

(INDIANAPOLIS)—Alex Palou will start next Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 in the same place that he finished last year’s race—first.   But the starting field behind him is less settled than it appeared to be Sunday.

Palou finished a tense Sunday with a run of 232.248 to win his second pole at  the 500.  He was the only driver to top 232 mph in the last round of qualifying, edging another former winner, Alexander Rossi, by .1726 of a second for the four-lap run.  David Malukis, in his first 500 as member of the team owned by Speedway owner Roger Penske, starts from the outside of row one.

Felix Rosenqvist, who had led the qualifiers through the earlier rounds, was disappointed by his final run, which will start him fourth.

Then things changed.

The 33-car lineup for the race start was changed hours after the Palou’s qualifying run when post-qualifying inspections found unauthorized modifications to the cars of rookie Caio Collet and Jack Harvey.

Collet, who had qualified tenth and Harvey, who would have started 20th, have been sent to the back of the field to 32nd and 33rd place for the start of the race.

A three-car crash yesterday as drivers adjusted their cars for racing trim destroyed one car and badly damaged another.

Rossi spun on the second turn and demolished the car he had qualified for the second starting position.  He was taken to a hospital a short distance from the track but he was reported to be awake and in “good spirits” when removed from his wrecked car.  Pato O’Ward, who was following Rossi, spun into Rossi’s car and badly damaged the car he had qualified for sixth starting position. A third driver, Romain Grosjean, scheduled to start 24th, also spun trying to avoid the other two.

Multiple Contenders Crash in Indy 500 Practice

Two-time winners Josef Newgarden (who will start a disappointing 23rd) and Takuma Sato (starting 12th) had the top laps during the practice session that was shortened because of the crsh and because of rain.

Rossi, O’Ward, and Grosjean will have a chance to get their cars into racing trim one more time. The last practice before the race will be Friday.

(NASCAR)—Denny Hamlin won NASCAR’s annual all-start race, a non-points contest that means one-million dollars to him and his crew.

He and the other Cup driver will run NASCR’s longest race Sunday evening, 400 laps, 600 miles on the Charlotte oval.

One member of the starting field will be Katherine Legge, the only woman driving in the Cup series this year, although she’s a part-time entrant.  She will start 26 in the Indianapolis 500 that afternoon and fly to Charlotte for the race that night. She’ll be the first woman to try “the double.”  She will be the sixth driver to try to run 1100 miles on Memorial Day Sunday. Tony Stewart is the only driver to finish both races on the same day—in 2001 when he was sixth at Indianapolis and third at Charlotte. Other drivers who’ve tried are John Andretti, Robby Gordon (who tried five times), Kurt Busch, and Kyle Larson.

(FORMULA 1)—Formula One’s race will be through the glamorous streets of Monte Carlo on the same general circuit as the one used in 1929 for the first race.

(Photo credit:  Palou—IMS)

 

Sports: Ahmad Hardy Shot; NCAA Tournament Greed, and More 

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(HARDY)—Missouri’s  record=breaking running back Ahmad Hardy was shot in the left leg at a concert at a biker club in Laurel, Mississippi early Sunday morning. He’s undergone emergency surgery and is in stable condition.

Missouri is three months away from opening the 2026 football season. ESPN reports there is “optimism” that he will be able to play football again although it’s too early to establish a timetable for his return to strength.

Police say another man also was shot. Three people are in custody. Hardy is 20, a Mississippi native. He set a new Tiger rushing record last year.

Laurel police say the shooting took place during a “melee” after a rap concert. Reports n Laurel say the cause of the shooting is still being investigated.

The Tigers had been looking forward to a 2026 season with the return of its one-two backfield punch from ’25 of Hardy and Jamal Roberts.  Roberts ran for 753 yards on 124 carries last season and scored six touchdowns.  Hardy went for 1,649 yards, a new school record, with 16 TDs and was a finalist for the Doak Walker Award.

Hardy and Roberts made Missouri the only team in the  SEC with two running backs in the top ten in yardage last season. Coach Eli Drinkwitz told reporters last season that Roberts “is as good a back as there is in the country.” Hardy had been expected to go high in the 2027 NFL draft after staying out of the transfer portal. Roberts did the same thing and has two more years of eligibility remaining.

Missouri does have some depth at running back if Hardy isn’t ready by the start of the season. The Tigers picked up a couple of portal transfers in Hawaii native Va’aimalae Fonoti III, who moves over from Montana, an FCS school. He’s 5-11, 207 pounds with three years of eligibility left. He was 84/418 rushing with five touchdowns. Last season.

Also coming in is Houston Christian;s Xai’Shaun Edwards, who averaged five yard a carry for 1,019 yards last year for another FCS team. He scored a dozen touchdowns.

Missouri also will have true freshman Maxwell Warner on the roster.  Warner is from Chicago and went to the same high school that Mizzou basketball coach Dennis Gates attended. He was considered the top running back in Illinois. He also played defensive back.

(NCAA)—It’s going to be easier for our Missouri teams to get into the NCAA tournament in the future. The men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are being expanded by eight teams to 76 teams.  The plan has come under some harsh criticism but an association spokesman says none of the 32 conferences in the NCAA opposed the plan.

Ben Portnoy of the Sports Business Journal thinks the new plan gives the Power Four Conferences and their “increasingly bloated size” more dominance in college sports. In the pas five year’s tournaments, twenty teams were listed in the “first four out.” Thirteen of them were frm those four conferences.

“Let’s not kid ourselves, this is being done, at least on some level, to appease the richest and most powerful leagues in the country.” The new format opens dozens of new sponsorship opportunities and a subsequent jump in association and school revenues.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals have finished their toughest part of the season so far—going 9-7 in seventeen days against the Dodgers, Mariners, Pirates, Padres, and Brewers.  All of those teams are playing better than break-even ball and all are considered playoff contenders.

The Cardinals finished the week 23-17, three and a half games behind the Cubs, tied with the Brewers for second place in a division in which all five teams are playing better than .500 ball.

(WHERE ARE THEY NOW?)—Where are the major names that left the Cardinals in the last couple of years and how are they doing.

Nolan Arenado is hitting .273 with six homers and 18 RBIs for the Diamondbacks.

Sonny Gray is 3-1 with a 3.54 Era for the Red Sox

Willson Contreras, also with Boston, is batting .259 with eight homers and 23 ribbies.

Paul Goldschmidt, in his second year with the Yankees, is batting 200 with two homers and seven runs batted in.

Brendan Donovan is hitting .295 with 3 home runs and 8 runs batted in.

Miles Mikolas is 1-3, 7.44 in eight games, five of them starts.

(ROYALS)—The Royals continue working back to break even after their eight-game losing streak. They finished the week wining seven of their last ten and pulling to 19-22. The Tigers ended Kansas City’s five-game wining streak Sunday.

(FIFA)—Arrowhead Stadium as a name doesn’t mean much to the millions of people worldwide who will be watching the World Cup Soccer Tournament (or as the official soccer folks call it “football.”)  So the place will just be Kansas City Stadium when FIFA brings six pool play tournament games next month along with a match in the round of 32 and a quarterfinal contest.

The AP’s Dave Skiretta reports the Hunt family has spent millions of dollars reconfiguring the football field into a soccer field’s dimensions. The first teams to play on the redesigned field will be Argentina, the defending World Cup champion, against Algeria on June 16.  The final contest is scheduled for July 11, giving the Chiefs a month turn Kansas City Stadium back into Arrowhead.

Tickets for those games aren’t cheap. For the first four games, ticket prices will range from $140  to $410. Some seats in the nosebleed section can be had for as little as $60 but don’t expect any kind of intimate viewing experience. Round of 32 matches range from $160 to $440.

If you want to take in the quarterfinal match, be prepared to cough up $485 to $1,125. If you buy previously=sold tickets through the FIFA World cup platform, be prepared to pay a 15% resale fee.

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs invited 76 undrafted free agents to their rookie camp this year.  Only three were signed to contracts:  WR Xavier Loyd, DB Marlen Sewell, and OT Kahlil Benson.

Lloyd in a Kansas City native who played at K-State, Illinois State and at Missouri. He was in 12 games for the Tigers. Sewell spent five years at Vanderbilt, had 52 tackles in 45 games.

Benson played 12 of the 16 games Indiana played on the way to last season’s national championship. He allowed only 24 quarterback pressures on 382 pass-blocking snaps last season.

They’ll be part of the squad for the offseason training program that starts later this month.

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The St. Louis Battlehawks head into the last weeks of the UFL season in a three way tie for their division lead.  St. Louis, DC, and Orlando all are 5-2.  Jarveon Howard of the Battlehawks leads the league in rushing with 354 yards.  The ‘Hawks have the league’s best defense, giving up 247 yards a game, which they need because they’re last in total offense. But they’re pretty efficient. They are second in scoring average behind the DC Defenders, 30-23.

St. Louis beat Columbus 31-20 last week. There are three games left in the regular schedule, two against Houston and one against Dallas. Houston is 2-5. Dallas is 3-4.

(REMEMBER?)—Kansas Center Greg Ostertag, who played for the Jayhawks 1991-95 and then had an eleven-year NBA career, has been elected mayor of Mount Vernon, Texas, a town of about 2,500 about 100 miles northeast of Dallas.  At 7-2, he is now the world’s tallest public official.

Now: Where the rubber meets the road:

(INDYCAR)===It’s been a long time between wins for Chistian Lundgaard—47 races, in fact—but he heads into IndyCar’s biggest race as a winner.

Lundgaard finished almost five seconds ahead of David Malukas on the road course at Indianapolis, his first win since July of 2023

The race had its chaotic moments beginning as the field surged into the first turn and things got too crowded and the cars of Scott Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist, Pato O’Ward, and Caio Collett tangled, triggering a full course caution.

Rosenqvist was able to run eight more laps before retiring in 23rd place.  Dixon rallied back to fifth at the end. O’Ward and Collett finished on the leader lap but were 18th and 19th.

The race turned for many competitors when Alexander Rossi’s car quit because its hybrid power system failed and he rolled to a stop on the main straightaway. He fumed, ““It’s pretty annoying to have failures on the car because of a product we didn’t ask for that doesn’t improve the racing.”

Rossi sat in the safety of his stalled car as competitors roared past at racing speeds before a full=course caution came out.  He finally climbed out and walked across pit lane where he told an interviewer, “The fact that it took that long to throw a full-course caution when the cars on the front straight were going by at 170 miles an hour also seems insane when they don’t let us drive in the wet yesterday.” Qualifying had been called off  the day before the race because of unsafe conditions caused by rain, although IndyCar has run races in the rain several times.

David Malukis finished second after leading the most laps but giving up the lead to Lundgaard        and Graham Rahal claimed the last podium slot.”

Qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 will be next weekend. The race will be on the Sunday of Memorial day weekend, May 24th.

(NASCAR)—Shane Van Gisbergen’s historic drive to the win on the Watkins Glen board course already is considered an epic.

The acknowledged master of NASCAR road courses (he’s 7-1 in the last three years) came out of his last pit stop in 26th place, 29.2  seconds behind the leader with 24 twisting laps ahead. .

He overhauled all of them and pulled away for a 7.3 second lead at the checkered flag.

His win leaves him only two short of Jeff Gordo’s all-time NASCAR Cup Series record for road course victories. Van Gisbergen has yet to win on an oval.

Connor Zilisch, a rookie in the Cup series, appeared to be the only driver capable of keeping Van Gisbergen in sight until a tire let go. He finished 20th.

NASCAR’s next points race will be Sunday night, May 24th, the annual 600 miler at Charlotte. Next weekend it will hold its annual All-Star Race, this time at Dover.

(photo credits: Hardy— Kris Sand, Columbia Missourian; Lundgaard—IndyCar; Van Gisbergen—Rick Gevers)

Sports: One More Tiger; Good Mahomes News; Baseball is Looking Good–and May Racing

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZZOUPORT)—The latest new Missouri Tiger basketball player is guard Kennard Davis, a St. Louis Vashon product coming over from BYU. He’s a 6-6 small forward who spent a year at Southern Illinois and two more at Brigham Young where he averaged 8.6 ppg last year.

247 Sports ranks Missouri’s recruit class this year as the 11th best in the country.

Three guy’s on last season’s Missouri roster remain unemployed—Sebastian Mack, Jacob Cruz, and Jevon Porter. Porter remains in limbo because he needs a medical hardship designation to play next year.

(CHIEFS)—The news is getting better about Patrick Mahomes’ recovery from his knee injury. The Chiefs are saying he might reach his goal of being ready for the season opener in September. In fact, Coach Andy Reid is holding out the possibility that he could be involved in the OTA’s May 26-28.

Reid has told ESPN, “He is in a good position to be able to do some things. If he can do some things, [he will]. Phase 2 remember, there’s no contact and there’s no offense versus defense. “It’s Phase 3 that you get into that… he’s in a position where he can do everything, I think.”

Some videos have been circulating showing Mahomes dropping back and throwing passes.

Just in case he’s not ready, the Chiefs picked up former LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier in the draft.

He’s eager to see what he can learn Mahomes: “I’m so excited to be in a room with those guys. Coach Reid and his unbelievable offensive mind and obviously sitting behind Patrick and getting to learn from him, hopefully steal some things from him and see the game through his eyes.”

The Chiefs also have added Justin Fields who has seen NFL snaps with the Bears, Steelers, and Jets.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals have hit the 20 wins mark a week earlier than last year even though they came up short against the Dodgers in their final game of their series, the loss ending a four-game Dodger losing streak and a six-game Cardinals winning streak, but still giving the Cardinals a series win. Dodgers’ starter Justin Wrobleski is now undefeated in five decisions.

The loss went to Dustin May, who drops to 3-3.

Cardinals pitching shut down Dodgers’ star Shohei Ohtani who went hitless during the series and finished without a hit in four straight games. That’s his longest hitless streak since he went five game in 2022 while playing for the other Los Angeles team.

The Redbirds started the week with a 6-3 win against the Brewers. Both teams had 11 hits.Milwaukee scored twice in the ninth to make it close. Kyle Leahy went 6.1 innings and gave the up the first of the by Brewer’s run.

(ROYALS)—The Royals swept the Mariners to wrap up their week and doubling the number of road games they’ve won this year.  They’re now 6-15 on the road.  Kris Bubic ran his record to 3-2 with seven solid innings, allowing Seattle its only run, giving up only four singles.  The save went to Daniel Lynch, his first of the year. The sweep has run the KC record to 15-19, going 7-3 in their last ten games.

Their game Saturday saw the Royals become the eighth team in MLB history to win a game although Royals batters fanned 17 times, got no walks, but still put together a 3-2 win.

Seth Lugo (7IP, 2R) kept Kansas City close and added another distinction to the game when he struck out Randy Arozarena on a curve ball clocked at 67.8 mph, the slowest strikeout pitch by a non-position player this year. But it was only the second slowest of his career.

The Royals started this week 2½ games behind the Guardians and the Tigers in a division in which those are the only teams above .500—by one game. ]

Michael Wacha, who threw only 60 pitches in the first six innings—tying a personal record—held the Guardians at bay last night. He left after 7 and, allowing only four hits and two runs.

Now, something that’s faster than a Seth Lugo curve:

(NASCAR)—Chase Elliott outran Denny Hamlin in a four-lap shootout at the Texas Motor Speedway to get his second win of the year.  The win makes Elliott the second multi-winner this year, joining Tyler Reddick, who has won half of this year’s races (5). Reddick finished fourth behind Alex Bowman, who had his best finish since recovering from vertigo that sidelined him for four races earlier.

The win moves Elliott into second place in the standings behind Reddick and Hamlin. Reddick leads by more than 100 points as the series moves into the second quarter of the racing year.

(INDYCAR)—No racing but plenty of running on the big oval at Indianapolis this week as IndyCar started preparing for the 110th 500 on Memorial Day Weekend. The two days of practice allowed rookies and returning veterans who don’t normally run the full schedule to complete their drivers tests or reviews and start getting their cars set up for qualifying on May 16-17.  The Race is on the 24th.  The last day of practice so crews and drivers can get their cars in race trim will be “Carburation Day” on Friday the 22nd.

(Carburation Day is a throwback to the distant times when the cars really used carburetors. The last carbureted cars in the 500 competed in 1963, the Lotus-Fords of Jim Clark and Dan Gurney.

The first car with fuel injection was Bill Vukovich’s Fuel Injection Special that was sidelined while leading with less than ten laps left in 1952.  Vukovich won with the car the next two years. This is the way it looked the year he won for the second time.  It was the first car I ever photographed at the Speedway—with my Brownie Hawkeye camera that captured only a blur. (This is a diecast model of it, though).

The two days of testing topped out at relatively moderate speeds—rookie Caio Collet turned a lap at better than 226 mph.  By the time qualifying weekend rolls around the fastest cars are likely to be at about 235.

(ZANARDI)—Racing lost one of its great competitors a few days ago with the death of Alex Zanardi.  He never ran in the 500 because he competed in the era when open wheel racing had split into two competing camps. Zanardi won the Championship Auto Racing Teams title for two of the four years he competed.  A horrendous crash in 20001 that cost him both of his legs ended his career—for a while.

Dissatisfied with the prosthetic legs on which he walked, he designed a custom legs that would let him get back into a race car. He was able to drive a race car using only hand controls and eventually got back into racing cars. And he won races.

More remarkably, he became a four-time Olympic champion.  He won four gold medals at the Paralympics in London and Rio de Janeiro in handcycling and the triathalon. F

He was 59.

(FORMULA 1)—Formula 1 returned to the track last weekend after cancelling a couple of its races in the Middle East war zone.  Mercedes teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli won his third straight.  He’s the youngest driver in F1 history to win a race—19. He won the Miami Grand Prix last weekend. He’s 19.

(Photo credits: Vukovich car—Bob Priddy; Zanardi–the Independent)

Sports: Lots of Chiefs Draftees and Other Things.

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(TIGERSDRAFT)—Here’s a sign of the times for college football.

Six Missouri Tigers were chosen in the NFL Draft for the second time in three years.  That ties a record for most draftees from a single class since the league cut back to seven rounds of the draft in 1994.  Six Tigers from the 2009 and 2015 teams—Gary Pinkel was the coach then—established the record.  The only other time in school history this has happened under current circumstances was two years ago.

These six raise the total NFL draftees from Missouri to fifteen, the most for any three-year period since the NFL merged with the AFL in 1970.

In 1981 when the NFL went twelve rounds, seven Tigers were picked.

None of the six in this draft was a home grown Tiger.  All six were NIL carpetbaggers.

The top Mizzou draftees, defensive end Zion Young and linebacker Josiah Trotter went in round two, Young to the Baltimore Ravens (45th choice) and Young to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (choice 46).

Two other guys were drafted in the third round with Green Bay taking defensive tackle Chris McClellan and the Rams taking right tackle Keagen Trost. They were choices 77 and 93, respectively.

Day three saw wide receiver Kevin Coleman Jr taken in the fifth round (#177) by the Dolphins and cornerback Toriano Pride Jr., (#220) by the Buffalo Bills.

Missouri has had seven draft picks in a class before. In 1981, when the NFL Draft lasted 12 rounds, the Tigers sent seven players to the NFL as draft picks.

(RELATED)—A lot of people, Tiger fans included, were surprised that Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia, a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy, didn’t get drafted. He certainly look pretty Heismanish when the Commodores played our Tigers.  He’s the first Heisman runner-up to go undrafted since nobody wanted Iowa’s Brad Banks 23 years ago. He’s the first Heisman finalist since Jordan Lynch form NIU in 2014 to go undrafted.   Both buys wound up playing in Canada.

(CHIEFSDRAFT)—The Kansas City Chiefs went aggressive in the NFL draft, trading places to get the people they most wanted.  They haven’t had a first round pick 2017, they year they took Patrick Mahomes.

The Chiefs went shopping for a cornerback in the first round, trading with the Bears to move up from 9th to 6th in the first round. They snagged LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane. They hope he’ll plug a hole created by the losses of Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson to the Rams. With their second pick in the first round, they went to Clemson DT Peter Woods.

Round two:  They took Oklahoma edge rusher Mason Thomas, a choice that surprised some analysts, one of whom forecast the choice could “go down as one of the biggest surprises in recent Chiefs draft memory” because he is “an undersized, bendy defensive end,” the kind of guy defensive coordinator Steve Spagnola likes.

They had no choice in the third round but in the 109th player picked, in round four, was Oregon small cornerback Jadon Canady who also can play safety. Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson was the fifth-round pick (#161). He also catches passes. A second choice in the fifth round was WR Cyrus Allen of Cincinnati who, some analysts think, has some special teams talent.

Nothing doing in the sixth round so their final choice (#249) was LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who is considered a “developmental pick.”

“This is the first time the Chiefs have picked in the top 10 since dealing up for Patrick Mahomes in 2017, and the first time they’ve gone into a draft day with a top-10 selection since Andy Reid’s first year in Kansas City (’13), when they held the No. 1 pick,” Breer wrote. “That, to me, is why GM Brett Veach has been so active looking at both moving up and potentially moving down. This is a rare opportunity for the Chiefs that might not come along again for some time. I think if Kansas City moves down, then Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq will be on the radar.”

UDFA: Houston Cornerback Zelmar Vedder, Sand Diego State CB Bryce Phillips, Oklahoma RB Jadyn Ott, Louisville OT Pete Nygra, Iowa Safety Xavier Nwankpa, Miami LB Wesley Bissainthe, Wyoming TE John Michael Gyllenborg, Cincinnati WR Jeff Caldwell, DT Cole Brevard of Texas, CB D’Arco Perkins-McAllister from Louisiana-Monroe, Duke edge rusher Vincent Anthony Jr., LSU guard Josh Thompson, and Toledo LB Anthony Dunn.  Other UDFA signings: Virginia Tech RB Terion Stewart, Iowa DL Ethan Hurkett, Michigan DT Damon Payne

The Chiefs also are going to look at several guys in their spring rookie minicamp: Temple receiver Kajiya Hollawayne, Montana CB Kenzel Lawler,  Pittsburgh OL Jeff Persi, safety Desshon Singleton of Nebraska, Washington WR Omari Evans, WR Jacob DeJesus of Cal, Charlotte LB Shay Taylor, USC WR Jaden Richardson, three guys from UConn—Punter Connor Stutz, LB Donovan Branch and TE Louis Hansen—and Tennessee Tech S Tim Countras, Washington kicker Grady Gross, Rice DL Blake Boenisch, LB Colby Taylor of West Florida, K-State S Gunner Maldonado, Liberty DB Brylan Green, three guys from Pitt: CB Rashad Battle, S Javon McIntyre, TE Justin Holmes; Eastern Kentucky DB Jaheim Ward. An offensive tackle from the International Player Pathway program, Felix Lepper, has been invited to the camp.

One other UDFA—in an intriguing move, the chiefs picked up E. J. Smith, who played for Stanford and for Texas A&M.  His four-year college stats are nothing to write home about: 207 total carries,  969 yards, nine TDS. He also caught passes for 470 yards and another touchdown. Sometimes it’s the pedigree more than the statistics that makes someone worth a look. E. J. Smith is the son of Emmitt Smith, the NFL’s all-time rushing leader.

He has a tough row to hoe if he ever gets to see much playing time. The Chiefs, remember, signed Kenneth Walker, the star of this year’s Super Bowl.  They drafted Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson and picked UDFA Jadyn Ott from Oklahoma.

For most of these guys, this is just a cup of coffee in an NFL locker room. A few might make the practice squad. Most will hope for a long shot chance with another team. Look for some of these names on the UFL rosters in the next season.

Speaking of the UFL:

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The St. Louis Battlehawks, who had split their first four games of the season, went on the road to play the undefeated Orlando Storm last weekend—and dominated the Storm in the first half, storming to a 25-0  lead. The defense held Orlando to just 29 yards of offense as Orlando went just 3 of 14 on third downs.  Orlando got 14 points in the third quarter and a field goal in the fourth, but St. Louis emerged with a 25=17 win.

The Battlehawks played without former Mizzou kicker Tucker McCann, who aggravated a quadriceps injury during warmups. Punter Ryan Sanborn was the fill-in. He got a couple of field goals in the first half but missed a couple of PATs.

The Battlehawks are 3-2 now although they have been outscored 112-116. Orlando and DC lead the league at 4-1.  St. Louis plays Louisville Thursday to wrap up a three-game road trip. Louisville is 2-3.

(MIZZPORT)—Missouri hasn’t seen the last of T. O. Barrett.  They’ll have to deal with him at least twice in the next season when they play Vanderbilt. Ant Robinson II has signed with Florida State. Jacob Crews and Sebastian Mack are still waiting for calls and Jevon Porter hasn’t heard if he’ll get a redshirt.

The portal closed on the 21st with Missouri still having three slots to fill.  As of now, six players from the last season will be back: Trent Pierce, Trent Burns, point guard Aaron Rowe, forward Annor Boateng (whose season ended early with an injury), forwards Luke Norwether and Nicholas Randall

The Baseball.

(CARDINALS)—The St. Louis Cardinals spent last week sinking back toward .500 and started this week 14-13 after wasting an outstanding pitching performance from Michael McGreevey. The offense got him two runs but the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead.

The crusher came from Seattle’s Rob Refsnyder, who challenged a called third strike and got it overturned—-then ripped a JoJo Romero pitch 412 feet over the fence to give Seattle the 3-2 win.

The Cardinals have not been below .500 this season.

(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals scored six runs in the last two innings, with Lane Thomas’ walk-off three run homer in the ninth to snatch a win away from the Angels 11-9 Sunday. The win completed a sweep of the Angels and upped their record to 11-17.

Joe Caglianone had tied the game in the ninth with a two-run shot. The Angels got a run in the to of the tenth before Thomas ended it.

Starter Seth Lugo had a rugged outing. He went 6.1 innings but gave up seven earned runs on 14 hits.

The Royals started the week having climbed into a tie with the White Sox for last place in the division. They were only one game behind the Twins in their bid to escape the cellar in a competitive division in which the leading teams are only one game above break-even—Cleveland and Detroit are only 15-14.

Movin on to Moving On Sports—

(NASCAR)—-What to talk about after the first race of the year at Talladega?  The “big one” that involved 26 of the forty cars in the field?  The continued criticism of this generation of race cars?  Carson Hocevar’s first Cup win?  His victory celebration?

The wreck was not the biggest of the big.  The record is 28 cars that got tangled up in October of 2024.

Carson Hocevar’s first Cup win is memorable not only because he survived racing at Talladega and the way he held competitors at bay for several closing laps, but especially for his unique way of celebrating.  Hocevar, one of the tallest drivers in NASCAR at 6’4” tall, figured out how to work his clutch and throttle while sitting outside of his window, waving at fans.  Some folks worried he was endangering himself but NASCAR apparently liked it.

Hocevar has a ton of charisma, is a 23-year old Michigander who was the rookie of the year in the Cup series in 2024. He’s been racing since he was twelve.

He got through the big wreck without damage to his car, drove into contention in the third phase of the race, dueled with Chris Buescher, for the last 37 laps.

Hocevar took the lead from Buescher on lap 151 of the 188 lap race. Buescher took it back on 156 but gave it up to Hocevar for laps 1570169 before surging back into the lead for 151=165. Hocevar held it for 166. Buescher was in front 167-172 before Hocevar led two and Buescher took the led for lap 175. Hovercar led two, Buescher one before Hocevar led two more. Buescher was in control for four laps before Hocevar pulled ahead for two laps. Buescher got his last lead on 187 but Hocevar got him at the end and won by .112 seconds.

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(MODRIVERS)—-Missouri drivers in NASCAR have been hard to find in the last few years, but two drivers we’ve followed are going to be putting on the helmets and strapping into cockpits this summer.

Joplin native Jamie McMurray and sometime Missourian Clint Brawner (who hails from Emporia, Kansas—just across the border from Missouri–has had a place at the Lake of the Ozarks, thus earning him consideration as an adoptive Missourian) will each drive a truck race for Kaulig Racing this summer

Kaulig is bringing Dodge back to the sport under the Ram pickup truck label.  Bowyer will drive the truck at Dover on May 15. McMurray will be in the truck at the inaugural road race at the San Diego naval base June 19.

Both Bowyer and McMurray at part of the FOX sports broadcast crew that covers Cup races.  Bowyer won ten Cup races in his career and likes the short tracks. Dover, he says, is “a beast—concrete, tight and unforgiving.”   McMurray has seven Cup victories including the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same year, 2010. He has road racing experience, co-driving the winning car in the 2025 Daytona 24-hours.

(INDYCAR)—The Indianapolis 500 is guaranteed to have the traditional 33 starters this year with an entry from A.J. Foyt’s team to be driven by Katheirne Legge who will make her fifth start in the race.

Legge brings back her sponsorship by a cosmetics company and has new support from General Motors, one of the two engine suppliers for the series. Legge’s best start in the 500 is from 29th. Her best finish is 22nd.She’s the tenth woman to compete in the race and holds the one-and-four lap qualifying records for a woman driver, more than 231 mph.

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IndyCar runs on the Indianapolis Speedway road course next weekend then begins the buildup for the 500.

Sports: Portalizing; MLB Teams on Different Roads; Winners (Again) on an Oval and on Streets

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MUMENBBPORT)—Chiefs Practice; The portal popped wide open for incoming Mizzou basketball players during the last week.

(KC Chiefs)—The Kansas City Chiefs have started their offseason training program—and, yes, HE is there.

Patrick Mahomes “can go to meetings. He can lift, do all that,” said Coach Andy Reid.. That’s the phase he’s in right now,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “We’ll just see. Kind of play it by ear. See where he’s at. He’s doing great, but we’ve just got to be smart with this thing.”

Mahomes is still talking about being ready for game one with no restrictions.”

All the Chiefs are doing is strength and condition programs, rehab work, and team meetings. The sessions go for a couple of weeks.  Mahomes is expected to take part in some of the second phase—three weeks of on-field walk-throughs (no contact).

After that are six workouts the week after the Memorial Day weekend and then June 1-3. Still no live contact although the offense will square off against the defense. A minicamp is scheduled for June-11.

The Chiefs had had to alter their workout schedules a little this year because World Cup soccer games will be held at Arrowhead Stadium.

The NFL hasn’t announced its schedule yet but the first games won’t be until the second week of September. It will have been about nine months since Mahomes wet out with his knee injury.

As long as we’re talking football—

(BATTLEHAWKS)—Former Mizzou placekicker Tucker McCann gave the St. Louis Battlehawks an early lead against the Washington Defenders but the ‘Hawks couldn’t get key stops throughout the game and dropped to 2-2 for the year, losing 28-22 when Washington intercepted a possible game-winning catch on their own three yard line.

McCann his field goals of 51 and 26 yards and added a third one to keep St. Louis close but the Battlehawks couldn’t complete the last-minute comeback.

(MUMENPORT)—The pieces are starting to fall into place for Dennis Gates’ 2026-2027 squad.

The Tigers have picked up three big additions in the last week.

Small forward/wingman Jemier Jones, who will be a sophomore. He’s 6-6, 218 and coming in from Providence. He averaged about 12 points a game for Providence last year, shot 57% from the field and 39% from three-point land and made almost two thirds of his free throws. . He’s considered a four-star transfer who finally is going to Missouri—which had made him an offer coming out of high school.  There’s another link to Missouri: his coach at providence was former Missouri favorite Kim English.  English, was fired at Providence, has joined the coaching staff at the University of North Carolina.

Also coming in is Tennessee’s Jaylen Carey, a beefy (6-8, 267 pounds) forward/center,  a basketball gypsy who already has played at James Madison, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee. He’s expected to complement center Trent Burns, the 7-5 junior whose development produced a lot of backup minutes in the recent season.  Carey started eight of the 37 games he played for the Volunteers last year when he logged about half of the minutes per game. He averaged almost eight points and six rebounds a game.

The most delicious acquisition was Bryson Tiller. who abandoned Bill Self and the great KU field house to play in Columbia next year—and maybe for two years after that (but don’t count on it in these NIL days.

He’s a 6-11 and 240 pounds with a wingspan of 7-feett-3-inches.  He averaged about eight points a game in 35 games as a freshman last season. He scored 13 points, had five blocks and five rebounds when KU belted the Tigers in Kansas City in December.   He’s another guy Coach Gates didn’t get at the start but didn’t give up on.

Tiller calls Gates “a standup guy,” and he told The Kansas City Star, “I trust in him as a person first and foremost, and I trust in the plan that he has. He wants to use me in all assets and all facets of the court — on the wings, on the perimeter, inside, outside. So I just feel like I have a lot of trust in that plan, and it’ll be great.” He appears to be a candidate to be Mark Mitchell’s replacement.

Trent Pierce and Trent Burns have agreed to stay with the Tigers.

As of last night, only Anthony Robinson of the departing Tigers had found a new team. He signed with Florida State.

(MIZZWMNPORT)—The Lady Tigers have lost five players to the portal: Ma’Riya Vincnt, Shannon Dowell, Hannah Linthacum, Chloe Sotell and Lisa Thompson.

The first replacement is Michigan shooting guard McKenzie Mathurin, 5-10, a former McDonald’s All-American who played about nine minutes a game for Michigan in her first year of college. Former Lady Tiger coach Robin Pingeton had made her an offer in 2024 but she took Michigan instead.

She was in 25 games for the Michigan team that made the Sweet 16, averaged 3.5 ppg including 15 against Penn State. She hit about 39% of her three point shots.

Joining her in the early moves to Springfield is Missouri’s Hannah Lithacum, who sat out last year with injuries.

(MOSTATEWMNBBPORT)—Seven Lady Bears from 2025-26 have rambled on. But their replacements already are in the den. Hanna Linthacum is leaving Missouri after playing 62 games and moving to the Missouri Bears, one of several new players who will take the court next fall in Springfield. She’ll be joined by Zoe Canfield, coming over from Kansas.  After three years at Arkansas-Little Rock, Faith Lee is moving to Springfield. She averaged more than 12 points a game last year on 39% shooting.  She scored 20 against the Lady Bears last December, almost half of her team’s points.

Victoria Dixon spent her junior year at Houston Christian where she started three of her 27 games. A pickup from Pittsburg State is Maycee James who spent two years at the community college level before one injury-shortened year at Pitt State.

(BILLIKENSMENPORT)—The St. Louis Billikens have a number of roster slots to fill because of graduations—and the exit of forwards Brady Dunlap and Kalu Anya. But three guys who made all-conference teams are to provide a solid foundation: Amari McCottry, Trey Green, and Kellen Thames. And six others also are staying. The retention rate for a mid-major school such as SLU is considered to be pretty special. The top five non-seniors will be back with a team that set a school record for wins this year—29—and won the A10 regular season championship.

(BILLIKENSWMNPORT)—The first two signees for Billiken’s women’s coach are Peyton Olufson and Evelyn Shane.

Olufson , a 5-8 point guard, will join Saint Louis from Incarnate Word Academy, which holds the nation’s longest high school girls basketball winning streak at 141 games. She is a three-time state champion, a 2024-25 first-team All-Conference selection, and a 2025 All-District honoree. Last season, she averaged 7.1 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 2.97 assists for the Red Knights.

Shane is a six-footer from Ursuline Academy where her teams set a new school wins record and two district championships. She has topped 1,000 points and is the school’s leading scorer.

BASEBALL:

(CARDINALS)—So far, the team that Chaim built appears to be golden.  Sports Illustrated has noted that their sweep of Houston during the weekend has given them their best start IN EIGHT YEARS. They finished the week with a five-game winning streak that put them at 13-8, a record not seen since 2018. Unlike forgettable recent years, they have yet to fall below .500.

The streak ended last night against the Marlins, 5-3.

The strong start is being led by young players, some of whom—Jordan Walker in particular—have started to bloom.

But playoffs are not to be seriously considered this early. In fact, every team in their division is above break even, as of Sunday night.

(ROYALS)—The Royals, on the other hand, are the worst team in the American League. The Yankees swept them last weekend.

Manager Matt Quatraro: “Everybody’s frustrated.  Nobody wants to have a start like this. But it is early, mid-April, and we play better baseball, that’s what’s in our control. If we’re able to do that, we’ll dig ourselves out. There’s way too much talent in there. There’s way too many high-character guys in there.”

Kansas City hoped Cole Ragans could end the losing streak at six Sunday, but he lasted only 4.1 innings, gave only four hits but eight walks, a career high.  The Royals started the week as losers of ten of their last dozen games, the last seven in a row. They have now lost eleven straight games to the Yankees going back to the 2024 playoffs.

Last night, the Royals wasted an outstanding performance by Seth Lugo, who held the Orioles to one hit and, thanks to Jac Caglianone’s homer, who left with a 1-0 lead.  But things fell apart quickly after that. The Royals lost the game in the 12th inning  7-5 to run their losing streak to eight, the longest since 2023. They had 14 hits and had the bases loaded in three innings but cold not score in any of those innings.  Reliever Alex Lange gave up the grand slam homer in the 12th that gave the Orioles the win.

Speedworld

(NASCAR)—Tyler Reddick now has a handful of wins and a historic start to the year. His fifth win in the first nine races equals Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s record set in 1987.

The result was a major disappointment to Denny Hamlin who came out of the (presumably) last round of pitstops with a four-second lead. Reddick ran him down before brushing the wall and giving the lead back to Hamlin. But a spin on the white flag lap by Cody Ware led to a restart. Kyle Larson got the jump and led a lap before Reddick got past him for the lead on the last lap and  got to the flag a tenth of a second ahead of Larson. Hamlin finished fourth giving up another position to Chase Briscoe.

Reddick started from the pole for the fifth time this year and has won every race from that position except the season-opening Daytona 500.

(INDYCAR)—Alex Palou has checked off one of the other big races on the IndyCar schedule, the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Felix Rosenqvist led all the way until the last round of pit stops when Palou’s Ganassi team was three-quarters of a second faster than Palou’s guys, and put their driver out front for the final laps. Palou now has won three of the five races this year, 11 of the last 22, and heads to Indianapolis where he is the defending 500 champion.

Palou has moved to a 17 point lead as he looks for his fifth IndyCar championship.

(500)—The field for the Indianapolis 500 has been guaranteed its 32nd car.

Jacob Abel, from Louisville, Kentucky, failed to make the field last year. His family-owned team has put together a sponsorship deal and has an engine supplier. Abel Motorsport last made the 500 field with R.C. Enerson in 2023.

Efforts are underway to put together another team-engine-driver-sponsor combination to enter a 33rd car, which would guarantee a full starting field.

Practice for the 500 begins on May 12 with the race, as usual, on Memorial Day weekend.

Photo credits: Tiller—Instagram; Jones and Kerry—X, Mathurin—U of Michigan; Earnhardt and Reddick—NASCAR; Palou leads—NTT IndyCar Series screenshot; Abel—Abel Motorsports)

Sports: New Royals Stadium Proposal; Cruise jumps; Sophie Stays 

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(BBPORTALS)—Add the name of Jacob Crews to the list of bolting Missouri Tiger basketball players.

Crewse to play another year of college ball, but he’ll need an NCAA hardship waiver to get it. He’s the fourth Tiger to jump ship. So far, nobody has transferred TO Missouri but it’s still early in the shopping season to have anything in the cart although Coach Dennis Gates is looking at a lot of merchandise, particularly on the guard shelf.

The story is the same in Springfield and in Billiken-Land.

(ROYALSHOME)—Kansas City’s Council is considering whether the city should pay about one-third of the cost of a new stadium for the Royals. The ordinance putting up $600,000 of the $1.9-billion needed authorizes the city manager to negotiate a 30-year deals with the team to play in an area known as Washington Square Park.

The proposal also would prohibit the Royals from thinking about moving to another state, county, or city and it would call for the stadium being ready for the start of the 2030 season. Owner John Sherman has indicated the team wants to play “in the heart of the city,” although he has not reacted to the proposed ordinance.

(CHIEFSHOME)—Kansas Governor Laura Kely has signed a bill creating the Kansas Sports Facilities Authority, the latest step in her state’s effort to get the Chiefs to move to Wyandotte County Kansas with a training facility in Olathe.

Kelly’s statement says, “The Kansas City Chiefs’ historic agreement with the State of Kansas is monumental for our economy, creating thousands of new jobs, attracting tourists from around the world, and elevating Kansas as an elite place to put down roots…This bill provides the necessary governance structure and guardrails to manage and oversee the team’s facilities, ensuring Kansans for generations to come will continue to cheer on our beloved team at home. We’re turning Kansas into a premier destination for sports and entertainment without raising state taxes or taking funding away from essential services.”

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The St. Louis Battlehawks scored 21 points in the last quarter to top the Birmingham Stallions 34=30.  Backup quarterback Harrison Frost took over the quarterbacking duties at halftime.

The Battlehawks squandered a 10-0 first quarter lead, part of which was a 54-yard field goal by former University of Missouri place kicker Tucker McCann to fall behind 16-13.  It was 30-20 with 11:45 left before “Hawks and Frost took control of the game. They took the lead with 1:42 left.

The Battlehawks will play the DC Defenders next Saturday, the first of three straight road games. They opened the season with a win against the Defenders.

(MCCANN)—Tucker McCann has been out of football for five years but has continued to work out and made the Battlehawks roster in mid-January and immediately made his presence felt with a 58-yard field goal in the season opener, his first field goal in a competitive game since August 12, 2021.

He was an undrafted free agent in the 2020 draft coming out of Mizzou. He signed with the Tennessee Titans but injured an ankle in a preseason game and was sent to the practice squad. He was cut in October of 2021.

(THEBASEBALL)—Both of our baseball teams have shown they’re not much more han mediocre in the first couple of weeks of the season.

(ROYALS) —-The Royals finished the week at 7-9 only a game out of first place in the AL Central division. For the most part the team seems to have left it hits-bats in Florida. Salvador Perez and Vinnie :Pasquantino are hitting .264. Jonahan India is hitting .184. The star of the team, Bobby Witt Jr., is hitting only 260. The bright spot is Mikael Garcia who is at .324 after the first 15 games.

Starting pitching is pretty sold. Michael Wacha turned in a masters’ performance Saturday against the White Sox on Saturday. His first 17 pitches were strikes. He went into the eighth inning having thrown only 80 pitches. The Royals won the game 2-0 and Wacha lowered his ERA to 0.43.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals are above break even thanks to outstanding starting pitching in the early going. Michael McGreevy is giving up only 2.64 earned runs a game. Andre Pallante has an ERA of 1.80 and Matthew Liberatore is respectable at 3.38.

Jordan Walker has been a surprise in the first two weeks, hitting .314.  But the whole team’s average is only ,224.

(SOPHIE)—Sophie Cunningham has signed on for another season with the Indianapolis Fever of the women’s NBA.  The signing keeps the popular “Trois Leches” (Spanish for “Three Milks” that combine for a popular dessert) of Cunningham, Caitlin Clark, and Lexie Hull. The three are the core of the Fever, a team that won the Commissioner’s Cup in 2025 although Cunningham and Clark both missed playing time

Terms of the contract haven’t been revealed but the new collective bargaining agreement specifies that someone who’s been in he league as long as she has will be paid at least $292,500, a sizeable increase from the salaries in the last CBA.  This will be her eighth season. She’s 29, played thirty games for the Fever last year before a torn MCL put her on the sidelines. She had career best shooting percentages last year—43.2% from the three-point line and 46.9 overall.

Cunningham is setting up her second career as a media personality and podcaster. She’s going to be part of the USA Network’s studio coverage of the WNBA when she’s not on the court. She’ll also contribute to the network’s digital and social platforms.

AND she will be a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model this year.

The league starts its season on May 8. The Fever will play its first game the next day.

For the speedy set—

(INDYCAR)—Not all of the attention next weekend will be focused on the racing on the streets of Long Beach, California.

A new movie will attract a lot of attention—a documentary about driver Robert Wickens, whose seeming meteoric career was ended by a crash that left him partially paralyzed.  It’s going to be the story of a driver who was determined to drive racing cars again—and has been.

An earlier documentary tracked his life from wheelchair to racing car:

Bing Videos

Wickens was IndyCar’s rookie of the year in 2018, having run so well in the first part of the season to accumulate enough points to win the award although a crash at Pocono left him a paraplegic.

Four years later he was back in a race car—an IMSA TCR series entry with hand controls that he and his co-driver took to two wins and a championship.

The movie is called, “The Weight of Speed.”

The Long Beach race is the last one before the teams move to Indianapolis for a race on the IMS road course and the 110th Indianapolis 500.

(NASCAR)—Ty Gibbs made Grandpa’s day on Sunday with his win at Bristol, his first in 131 cup starts for Joe Gibbs racing.

Ty Gibbs made the critical decision that gave him the win when the caution flag waved for a Chase Elliott spin.  Gibbs refused to pit when many other leaders did.

His gain in track position paid off when he restarted with the lead and fourteen laps to go in regulation distance.  But a later caution flag meant the race would go into overtime.  He withstood the challenge of Ryan Blaney and beat him to the line by .05 second, the closest finish at Bristol since Missouri’s Rusty Wallace beat Ernie Irvan by one foot in 1991.  It’s also the first race win for a car number 54 in almost 47 years—when Lennie Pond won his only Cup race, at Talladega, in 1979.

Blaney and Kyle Larson had dominated the race until those cautions. Larson finished behind Blaney, in third.

Missouri NASCAR fans get a chance for their first close race of the year—at the Kansas Speedway, not far from the apparent future home of the Kansas City Chiefs.

(Photo credits: Stadium—Kansas City Royals; Sophie—Irishstar.com; Gibbs—Bob Priddy)

 

 

Sports: The Portal Opens; Barrett Bails; Baseball Teams Break Even. (3/17/26)

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZZPORT)—The college basketball transfer portal opens today and the Missouri Tiger guards are bolting. Late last night, word came that T. O. Barrett, whose insertion as a started added intensity to the defense and toughness to the inside game, was bolting. We already knew the ptjer two top guards were moving on. Anthony Robinson II, who lost his starting guard position in mid-season to Barrett, and reserve guard Sebastian Mack, who never rose above a backup role after transferring in from UCLA, are leaving.  Both are seniors. Barrett has a couple of years of eligibility left.

He was exciting in his sophomore breakout season, but had a problem with turnovers, scored a career high 28 points against Tennessee but also had games where he had no offensive impact.

Mizzou has a five star guard, Jason Crowe Jr., coming in, joining the only guard left on the roster—redshirt Aaron Rowe of Columbia.  Crowe is considered a top ten national prospect.

Mizzou has one of the best recruiting classes in the nation for the 26-27 seasons as it looks to improve on this year’s fadeout with four straight losses, including first round games in the SEC tournament and in the NCAA.

(BILLSPORT)—Two players from the St. Louis University Billikens are going into the portal but reports indicate other players with eligibility remaining will stick around. Department are forwards Brady Dunlap and Kalu Anya. Dunlap had the best three-point parentage for the team this year—45 percent. But in terms of minutes played he was seventh in the nine-man rotation and his playing time was reduced in the last ten games.

Anya was crowded out of the rotation this year and took a redshirt so he’ll have one year of eligibility left. He’s a 6-8 forward who started all 34 games for the Bills in the 2024-25 season when he led the team in rebounds, shot a respectable percentage from the field but hit less than one-third of his free throws.

(BEARSPORT)—Missouri State’s only portal entry so far is Amar Kuljuhovic, a 6-8 power forward. He transferred to Springfield after two years at North Dakota State but played in only two games this year.

(BASEBALL)—Both of our major league teams have finished the first full week of the season with so-so records. The Cardinals winning five of their first nine and the Royals losing five of their first nine.

(ROYALS)—The Royals opened a series against the Cleveland Guardians last night, looking to get back to .500 after the first ten games of the year. Before the game, the team activated infielder Michael Massey from the ten-day injured list and sent utility man Nick Loftin to Omaha.

Massey had been recovering from a calf strain. He hit .244 last year. He’s mostly a second-baseman but has played third and left field, too.

The first of three games against the Guardians was moved from last night to the afternoon because temperatures were expected to drop for a game under the lights. Kansas City evened is record at 5-5 with a 4-2 win. Jonathan India’s two-run homer in the eighth gave the Royals a needed cushion in the win. He also drove in Kansas City’ s first run. Catcher Carter Jensen also homered.

(CARDINALS)—The last piece of the Sonny Gray trade to the Red Sox has fallen into place with the Cardinals getting Class-A pitcher Patrick Galle as the player to be named later. Galle was a 17th round pick last year projected to be a reliever.  He’s the third player to move to the Cardinals in the trade.  Galle is 22 with a triple digit fastball that produced a 1.04 ERA in eight appearances with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod League, a collegiate wood bat summer league.

Last night, the Cardinals dropped back to .500 (5-5) with a 9-6 loss to the Washington Nationals. One nice development in the opening games of the season is Jordan Walker, who was 2 for 5 last night an is hitting .314 in the early going after a lot of work on his swing while in Florida. Rookie J.J. Wetherholt was one for three and is hitting .278 so far in his first pass through major league pitching.

(TIGERFB)—The Mizzou football class of 2927 is starting to assemble; the question will be how many will stick with their verbal commitments. Coach Drinkwitz wants 18-22 recruits in the last. Six already have committed

The top name on the tentative list is Tight End Jack Brown Francis Howell Central, considered the top talent in Missouri, a 6-5, 215 pounder who catches footballs. Jack Brown is a four-star recruit.  More than thirty schools will try to get him to change his mind.

(CHIEFS)—Coach Andy Reid isn’t forecasting whether Patrick Mahomes will be ready to go for game one of the NFL season but there is a video that shows him dropping back and throwing a pass in the Chiefs training facility. His left let is wrapped from ankle to thigh but he appears to be moving normally.

(BATTLEHAWKS)—The Battlehawks play tonight, a rarity in UFL scheduling. They will take their 1-0 record against the Dallas Renegades, who also have won their first game this year. The ‘Hawks will have to find a way to stop Dallas quarterback Austin Reed, who set a league record with 376 passing yards in a 36-16 win against Houston.

On the track—

(INDYCAR)—IndyCar heads to the streets of  Long Beach on the 19th for its last race before everyone heads to Indianapolis for a road course race and the buildup to it’s greatest race on Memorial Day weekend.

The car count for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 stands at 31, two short of the traditional staring field of 33. RACER magazine’s Marshall Pruett reports Abel Motorsports is working getting a car ready for Jacob Abel, son of the team owner, who was bumped from las year’s starting field by a faster driver in qualifications. Andretti Global appeared ready with a car for Colton Herta, who is running Formula 2 in Europe this year. But his availability has come into question. PREMA Motorsports, which has not been able to field a car for the starting grids of any of four races so far this year but could put one on the track if a driver with adequate sponsorship appears on the scene.

Alex Palou won last year’s 500 and has won two of the four races this year with Kyle Kirkwood and Joef Newgarden winning the other two. Kirkwood’s consistent runs in the first four races has put him in the points lead.

(NASCAR)—NASCAR returns after the Easter break to run at Bristol. It’s the eight race of the season. The standings are starting to look familiar as drivers race to be in the top 16 in points for a ten race runoff that will crown a champion who accumulates the most points during those ten races.

NASCAR has abandoned its street race in downtown Chicago to return to the Chicagoland Speedway. It’ called ChicagoLAND because the track is in Joliet. Because no Cup races have been run there since 2019, Goodyear plans tire tests on the 21st.  The race is July 5.