By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

—–BASEBALL—-

(ROYALSRICHWITT)—The Kansas City Royals are betting the farm on shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. with the largest contract in franchise history and one of the largest contracts in Major League Baseball.

The Royals have signed Witt, who is 23, to a deal that will run for at least eleven years with a team option for three more. Sources say the heavily back-ended deal is for $288.7 million. The three-year option would add another $89 million. Witt can opt out in years 7-10 during which time he can renegotiate the contract or become a free agent.  He also gets a $7.7 million dollar signing bonus.

If the contract goes the full fourteen years it will total $377-million, the third largest contract in baseball history as of today. But baseball has been going bananas with big, long-term contracts since Fernando Tatis Jr., signed for fourteen years and $340 million in 2021.

Witt’s contract is the 26^th long-term huge money deal since then.

Witt convinced the team that he’s a superstar last year when he hit 30 home runs and stole 49 bases, the first Royals player to join the 30-30 club and only the fifth player in MLB history to have at least 49 homers and 30 steals.

In the past week, the Royals also picked up veterans second baseman Adam Frazier, a free agent from the Orioles. He’s 31, a career .268 hitter who will provide an experienced double-play partner for Witt.

(CARDINALS)— The Cardinals, who have been looking for relievers who can throw strikes past batters, have added Yankees free agent Keynan Middleton, who will get five million dollars this year. The Cardinals have a six-million dollar option for 2025 with a one-million dollar buyout.  He’s a seven-season veteran who struck out 64 in 50.2 innings last year.

(IT’S ALMOST HERE)—Pitchers and catchers report for the Royals and the Cardinals a week from tomorrow. Position players are to be in camp five days later. Opening day is March 28^th.

(JUST TWO DAYS LATER)—The football season kicks off.  The UFL season that is. The St. Louis Battlehawks are one of the eight teams to emerge from the merger of the two competing spring leagues that merged during the winter. They start their season playing the Michigan Panthers at Ford Field in Detroit. Their home opener in the St. Louis dome will be April 6^th against the Arlington Renegades.

But before that, the NFL is hanging around for one more game.

(CHIEFS)—The Chiefs and the 49ers are in Las Vegas getting their game faces on. Hoopla Week is well underway and the people in the sportsbook business are adjusting the odds, it seems, every day but all, as of today, are predicting a field goal will win it.  The Number one seed in the NFC plays the number three seed in the AFC, which now is saddled with the label inherited by the Dallas Cowboys in their glory days, “America’s Team.”

And that’s all that’s really newsworthy five days before the Super Bowl.

(MIZ$)—An anonymous donor has forked over the largest donation in the history of the University of Missouri Athletic Department—$62 million. That’s more than twice the previous big gift, made in 2012.  Fifty million of those dollars will go for the planned renovation of the north end of Memorial Stadium with the rest going into the Tiger Fund, which benefits athletes. The changes are to be finished in time for the 2026 football season. The Tiger fund is described by the University as a “general pool of money used on travel, equipment, marketing and mental health support for the school’s athletes.”

What will the renovation mean for the big Rock “M” that has been part of Memorial Stadium since football season in 1927? The university says it will still be there, just “reimagined.” ($OU)

miz)—Missouri has won the SEC battle for the basement, showing once again a lack of killer instinct and a continuing ability to take a lead and then forget that the ball is supposed to go THROUGH the rim for an extended spell.  Early lead, several minutes of cold shooting, loss of lead, close to within one or two possessions, and can’t find a dagger.

Vanderbilt 68, Missouri 61.  Vandy had won only five of twenty games going in. Missouri had won eight of twenty-one. Neither team had a conference win.  Missouri is still looking. Vanderbilt is now 1-7 in the SEC. Missouri is 0-9.

Texas A&M is next.  They’re 13-8 overall, 4-4 in the conference.

‘Nuff said about Tiger roundball, too. (zou)

(MIZZ-D)—Tiger football coach Eliah Drinkwitz continues to re-stock his defensive coaching staff with the hiring of Brian Early to work ith defensive ends.

Early has spent five years coaching the defensive line at Houston. He’s been a coach for thirty years. Four of his guys have been NFL draft picks. He had the Sun Belt Conference’s defensive player of the year for three straight years.  One of his first jobs will be to work with Willams Nwaneri, the top defensive prospect in the country.

Once he arrives on campus, Early will begin working with five-star recruit Williams Nwaneri, who’s the nation’s top defensive prospect. Nwaneri, from Lee’s Summit, is 6-7, 260 pounds who had 56 tackles in 14 games last year, with ten of those tackles being for loss. He had a dozen sacks as a junior. (ZOUD)

—The roar is beginning to be heard—

(INDYCAR)—IndyCar has finished its latest round of testing its new hybrid power plant and this time there were “No issues, no tow-ins, just smooth,” said two-time series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power. That’s good news from the tests at Sebring after a rocky round of tests late last year raised concerns.  Ten drivers compiled almost 3200 miles with no problems. Among other things, the new power plant allows a driver whose car stops for one reason or another to restart it, as Alexander Rossi did on one of his laps. The last time an IndyCar could be restarted by the driver was  in the late 1960s when Formula 1 champion Jack Brabham had cars of his own design in the 500.

IndyCar has not announced when the new system will be put into competition but have said it will not be until after the 500 in May.

(NASCAR)—NASCAR Cup drivers have traded paint for the first time this year with a promotional race in the Los Angeles Coliseum that was moved from Sunday to Saturday night because bad weather was on its way to the West Coast.

Denny Hamlin won the Clash within the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on the special dirt track installed around the football field. He finishd ahead of Kyle Busch and last year’s Cup champion Ryan Blaney. The extremely tight track produced only four leaders but eight cautions and a winning speed of a little less than 33 mph.

The Daytona 500 comes up in two weeks.

(FORMULA 1)—Lewis Hamilton has stunned the F1 world with his announcement that he’s leaving Mercedes, a team that has helped him to six of his  record-tying seven championships, for Ferrari in 2025.

He’s had a rough couple of years with Mercedes, the team he joined from McLaren in 2013 as the cars have battled serious handling problems.

He took to social media for the announcement: “I feel incredibly fortunate, after achieving things with Mercedes that I could only have dreamed of as a kid, that I now have the chance to fulfil another childhood dream. Driving in Ferrari red. Mercedes has been a huge part of my life since I was 13 years old, so this decision has been the hardest I’ve ever had to make.”

Ferrari’s last F1 championship was in 2007. Hamilton hasn’t won a race since December, 2021.

F1 starts its season March 2 at Bahrain, the first of a record 24 races this year.

by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

We are two days away from February, a short month.  By the end of it, men will be playing baseball again, drivers of brightly-decorated automobiles will be going in circles really fast, and the frozen spirits of sports fans will have begun feeling the first tentative touches of warmth.

(CHIEFS)—A season-long work in progress is one game from being complete. The number 3 AFC Kansas City Chiefs will play the number 1 NFC San Francisco Giants after two weeks of hype in the Super Bowl, a game name coined by Chiefs and AFL founder Lamar Hunt.

Game management and big-time plays at critical moments were the keys for KC.  The Chiefs controlled the ball for 20:31 of the first 30 minutes, keeping the dynamic Ravens offense on the sidelines until the Chiefs had built a 17-7 halftine lead.  They had the ball for another 17:29 of the last 30 minutes, with the only second[half pointa coming on a Justin Tucker 43-yard field goal with 2:37 left.  Patrick mahomes hit Marquez Valdes-Scantling with  32-yard third down pass on a third-and nine challenge just before the two minute warning and that was the game.

Travis Kelce and Mahomes were perfect with 11 targets and 11 completions for 116 yards and the game’s first touchdown.  Kelce broke Jerry Rice’s record for most playoff receptions and tied Rice with 8 playoff games with 100 yards receiving.

What it all boils down to is that the Chiefs are in their fourth Super Bowl in five years, while the 49ers are back in the big time for the first time since losing 31-20 to Mahomes and Co. in Super Bowl 54 in 2020. The last time the two teams met was in October, 2020 when the Chiefs won by three touchdowns.

(miz)—Missouri basketball has crafted an 0-fer conference season and the story continues to shoe little variety—lead, contend, watch the other guys pull away at the end.  Maybe they are waiting to peak in the conference tournament.

The 72-64 loss to South Carolina left them 0-7 in the conference.

The Tigers tried the inside game this time instead of throwing up threes (they tried only 8 and made only 2).  Trying to pick up fouls inside didn’t produce much—South Carolina committed 17 fouls that Missouri turned into 14 points; Missouri recorded 18 fouls that became 16 SC points.

The Tigers again failed to close the deal. They were within 5 with 2:28 to go but hit only one field goal afterwards.

(MIZZ-D)—The football team has a new defensive coordinator—Corey Batoon, who comes to Columbia from South Alabama where he has been in charge of the defense and safeties for three years.  Here are some of his credentials:  The school was 22-16, held opponents to the low 20s per game in scoring.  Opponents were 169/513 in 3^rd down conversions, 33/70 on 4^th downs, and South Alabama recorded 85 sacks in 38 games.

(MIZZ$)—The MU athletic department has reported it took in almost $141.6 million in fiscal 2022 and spent all but one dollar of it, both records.  The Post-Dispatch got the numbers from the NCAA.

They do not include money donated to a “collective” that goes for payments to athletes under the name-image-likeness program.  Mizzou raised $7.1 million for that program. Mississippi State was the only school reporting less.  The highest-rollers are no surprise:  LSU $20.1 million; Georgia $18.3 million; Alabama $16 million, and Florida $15.8 million. (zo047)

(BASEBALL)—We are two weeks away from the opening of spring training.  Pitchers and catchers for the Royals and the Cardinals report on the 14^th with pitchers and catchers reporting on the 19^th.  The first games are on the 22^nd.

The Cardinals avoided arbitration with Tommy Edmond with a two-year deal, and signed former Houston reliver Josh James for his potential. James had been with Houston for parts of four seasons but has had injury problems.  He’s 30, was in 87 games for the Astros 2018-21, struck out 34.2% of the batters he faced, walked 13.2% and allowed batters to hit only .204. Somehow, however, he compiled a 4.64 ERA.

As we were going to press, the Cardinals announced two additions providing possible depth and/or potential.  First baseman/outfielder Alfonsa Rivas was picked up off waivers from the Angels. He was with the Pirates, the Guardians and the Angels and last year, hit .229. He’s 27

The Royals avoided arbitration with relievers Rick Anderson and Carlos Hernandez, starters Kyle Wagner, Brady Singer and Kris Bubic. Adam Frazier, a free agent second baseman from the Orioles has signed a one-year deal . Twelve-year veteran backup catcher Sandy Leon has a minor league contract. The Royals will be his 8^th team. He has a .208 lifetime batting average.

And the engines have been fired for the first time in the major motorsports season—

(DAYTONA)—How about a race that lasted 24 hours having a winner only 2.1 seconds ahead of the second-place car.  A Porsche owned by Roger Penske came across the line first, the car driven by Penske’s 2023 Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden, Felipe Nasr (who drove the last leg and got past the Cadillac that had dominated the race in the last 40 minutes), Matt Campbell and Dave Cameron.

The win is the first for Penske in the 24-hours since a team led by Mark Donohue won in a Lola 55 years ago.  It continues a roll for Penske Motorsports that began with an Indianapolis 500 victory last May, a NASCAR championship with Ryan Blaney in November. His next target is the LeMans 24 Hours in June.

Newgarden becomes the fifth reigning 500 winner to win the Daytona 24 hours to start the next racing season. Arie Luyendyk did it in 1998, Dan Wheldon eight years later, Dario Franchitti  in 2008 and four-time 500 champion Helio Castroneves two years ago.

IndyCar’s Colton Herta as part of the third-place team.

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(HALL OF FAMER)—Lemar Parrish was one of the premier defensive backs in the National Football League for many years throughout the 1970s. A lot of people think he hasn’t gotten the post-career honors he deserves.

Last week, it was announced that Lemar Parrish is a part of the 2024 class of enshrinees in the Black College Football Hall of Fame.

Parrish played for Lincoln University in Jefferson City, 1966-1969 as a kick returner and defensive back.  He was named an All-American in his final year, the same year he set a school record by running a punt back 95 yards for a touchdown against what is now Missouri State University. He averaged 16.8 yards per punt return. That record and his career average of 15.5 yards also are still school records. LU won 23 games during his career, almost ten percent of all the victories in school history (248).

He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round. In his rookie year he had five interceptions, one fumble recovery, 194 yards of punt returns and 482 yards returning kickoffs.

In 1970, against the Buffalo Bills, he took a kickoff return 95 yards for a touchdown and scored another one on an 83-yard blocked field goal attempt. Two years later, against the Houston Oilers, he scored touchdowns on interception returns of 33 and 25 yards. Against the then-Washington Redskins in 1974, he scored on a 93-yard punt return and a fumble return of 47 yards.

While he was with the Redskins he was named Football Digest’s 1979 Defensive Back of the Year.

When he left the Bengals in a contract dispute he held the team record for touchdowns scored by
return or recovery.  Four came on interceptions, four on punt returns, three on fumble recoveries, with one kickoff return and one on that blocked field goal. Three times, he scored two return-or-recovery toughdowns in a game. In his eight years in Cincinnati, he was named to the pro bowl six times. His 25 career interceptions is still the fifth-most in franchise history and he still holds records for career punt returns for touchdowns, kick return averae and single-season punt return average. He was named to the Bengal’s All-Half-Century Team in 2017, five years after Lincoln University enshrined him its all of fame.

In the entire history of the NFL, only twenty defensive backs have been picked for eight Pro Bowls. LeMar Parrish is one of them.  He was a three-time All-Pro first team player and a two-time second teamer.

The list of inductees into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame goes back to 1951.  LeMar Parrish’s name is not on that long, long, long list. It’s hard to understand why it isn’t.

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers hit the snooze button halfway through the first half against Seton Hall and didn’t get a wakeup call until the second half was about two-thirds gone.  Once again unable to play a 40-minute game, the Tigers took the loss, their fifth of the year to go with seven wins and facing a big game next weekend against 16^th-ranked Illinois (7-2).

Missouri led early, 16-10 but dozed off, missing five of six shots and turning the ball over twice while the Pirates went on a 16-3 run and led 42-38 at the half. Seton Hall outscored the Tigers 33-18 in the first fourteen minutes of the second half. Missouri woke up down 75-56 and pulled within six with 3:32 left.  But that was as close as they got in the 93-87 loss.

The game was decided in the paint where Missouri’s bigs made no impression on Seton Hall at all.  The Tiger Trees (Trent Pierce at 6-10, seven-footer Jordan Butler, 7-foot-2 inch Mabor Majak, and Seven-five Connor Vanover) combined for just 26 minutes on the court, 12 points (two dunks by Vanover and Pierce going 3-3 including two from outside the arc), 3 rebounds, one steal amd three blocks while Seton Hall was going 17 for 21 on layups and scoring 44 points in the paint. Missouri scored just 30 points inside.

Missouri outscored Seton Hall 31-18 in the last six minutes but both teams scored 17 points in the last 3:32. (zou, weakly)

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs handed the New England Patriots their seventh home loss in eight games this year Sunday, dropping the Patriots to 3-11.  The Chiefs started slowly again and trailed 207 in the second quarter before getting their second touchdown just before halftime to take a lead, then adding 13 points in the third quarter and going scoreless in the fourth.

The Chiefs had a chance to score on their opening drive but Harrison Butker chose that moment to miss his first field goal of the season, ending a streak of 61 straight threes, one short of his own team record. The Patriots took the lead in the second quarter when Patrick Mahomes threw his 13^th interception of the season, which ties him for career-most, set in 2021. It was hs only pick of the game, however, and he finished with more than 300 yards passing and appears to be a lock on another 4,000 yards passing year. He has never had a year of less than 4,000 yards since be became the Chiefs’ fulltime quarterback.

The Chiefs meet the Raiders on Christmas Day. The Raiders are coming off a 63-21 shellacking of the Los Angeles Chargers, afer leading at the half 42-0.

(THE PRICE OF SOUNDING OFF)—It’s not nice to blast NFL officials, especially if it appears you were wrong. ESPN’s Adam Schefter says the league has decided coach Andy Reid’s criticism of the offsides call that might have cost the Chiefs the game against the Bills was worth a $100,000 penalty for violating  “long-standing rules prohibiting criticism of game officials.”  Quarterback Patrick Mahomes is $50,000 lighter in the wallet for the same thing and for unsportsmanlike conduct on the sidelines after the call.

Now we wait to hear in the NFL goes after Kadarius Toney, the accused scofflaw who was offside. Toney says the call was ‘pretty much bogus.” He claimed he had gotten no warning form officials about where he stood as the play was called.  That’s not what the officials said. A fine for Toney? We’ll see.

(ROYALS)—After being relatively quiet in the early trading/signing period, the Kansas City Royals have started assembling the improvements they want to make for 2024.  Tops on the list is Michael Wacha, once one of the young arms for the Cardinals, who has signed a $16 million one-year deal with a player option for 2025.

Wacha will be 33 next July. He’s 88-54 after eleven years in the Bigs with an ERA of less than 4.  Last year with San Diego he was 14-4 with a 3.22 ERA, his best season since he went 17-7/3.38 as a 25-year old starter for St. Louis.Wacha’s career has been limited by injuries. He’s been out with shoulder problems in five seasons. The last time he started 30 or more games and pitched more than 134.1 innings was 2017.

The past week also saw the Royals add other guys. Seth Lugo, also a Padres starter last year,  signed for two years at $30 million with a $15 million player option for 2025. Lugo spent seven years with the Mets before moving to the other coast with San Diego. He’s 40-31 in his career that has mostly been in the bullpen although he started 26 games last year. He’s another guy with a career ERA under 4 (3.50).

While Wacha and Lugo’s numbers aren’t big given the number of years they’ve been in the majors, they add veteran experience to a young  Royals pitching staff of Cole Ragans, Brady Singer and Jordan Lyles, who showed promise last year

Earlier, Reliever Will Smith got a one-year contract for five million. Reliever Chris Stratton has a one-year deal at $3.5 million and a $4.5 million option for ’25. Outfielder Hunter Renfroe joins the team for $5.5 million in 2024 and a $7.5 million player option for the next season. Renfro has a chance to rebuild himself in Kansas City.  He started last year with the Angels, hit .242 with 19 homers and 56 RBIs before he was put on waivers when the Angels shed a lot of salaries and was picked up by the Reds.  But he was only in 14 games for them, hitting only .128, before he was designated for assignment, then cut at the end of September.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals have gone quiet, presumably because they’ve entered a new negotiating phase with somebody.

(SPENDING)—New York Times columnist Jeff Passan has ranked the teams’ free agent spending on new players so far this year and both of our teams are in the top six:

Dodgers  $717 million (plus $135 millon for the five-year deal with pitcher Tyler Glasnow, picked up in a trade)

Phillies  $172 million

Diamondbacks  $122 million

Giants $113 million

Royals  $105 million

Cardinals $99 million

(X-CARD)—Good Heavens, Matt Carpenter is still around. He’s been traded by the Braves to the Padres, who have given up an outfielder prospect.  The Padres also sent pitcher Ray Kerr and cash to Atlanta, the cash going to pay part of the $5.5 million player option salary the Padres would have had to pay him.  The Padres didn’t need him after picking him up from the Yankees after he seemingly rediscovered his bat while with the Yankees in ’22.  But in San Diego, he went back to being the Carpenter that Cardinal fans remembered in his final years in St. Loui: a .176 batting average, five homers and 31 RBIs. He played in only 76 games.

And this note about one of sports’ greatest trophies:

(THE SILVER FACE)—-It’s the only trophy in all of sports that has every winner’s face engraved in three dimensions in silver.  The trophy is almost five and a half feet tall and weighs more than 110 pounds.

It’s the Borg-Warner Trophy, originally designed in 1935, and each year the sterling silver face of the winner of the Indianapolis 500 is placed on it.  A few days ago, the face of Josef Newgarden was added in a special ceremony in Indianapolis.

Back on a warm day in May, Newgarden made a last-lap pass and a daring move as the field charged to the finish line at more than 200 mph to win the Indianapolis 500 for the first time.  He called having his face on the trophy “the highest honor you can have in motorsports.”

What became the bas-relief Newgarden face is the work of sculptor Will Behrends who first created a life-sized clay bust of Newgarden that is the basis for a tiny version that becomes a wax mold sent to a jeweler who turned it into the silver image.

Part of the process involved Newgarden sitting as a model while Behrends put the finishing touches on the bust.  The result turned into a special selfie.

(Photo Credits:  Wacha—MLB; Newgarden—Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including screenshot from trophy unveiling)

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(ALL-AMERICAN)—Before we get to anything else:  Missouri’s Cody Schrader has been named to the Associated Press All-America First Team.  He joins Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels of LSU and Ollie Gordon of Oklahoma State in the backfield.

Luther Burden III is on the second team. Kris Abrams-Draine makes the second team defensive unit.

Javon Foster is a third team offensive All-American at tackle.

The AP All=America team was picked by 18 voters who put together the weekly Top 25 football ratings.

(MIZ: Roundball)—-The Missouri Tigers outscored the second-ranked Kansas Jayhawks for the first sixteen minutes of the game in Lawrence Saturday and outscored them in the second half by three. But those last four minutes were killers as the Tigers couldn’t buy a bucket but Kansas reeled off fourteen unanswered points.

73-64, Kansas, the final.

Coach Gates isn’t interested in moral victories but for Tiger fans, the game might have shown team growth as it heads toward its pre-conference wrap-up games against Seton Hall next Sunday, Illinois on the 22^nd and Central Arkansas on the 30^th.

(MIZ: Football)—The Tiger football team might be able to say, it took a Heisman Trophy winner to beat us in the LSU game.  They probably aren’t saying it because it’s regarded as an excuse.  But LSU Quarterback Jayden Daniels could not be stopped in LSU’s 49-39 win over the Tigers this year.  He threw for 259 yards and ran for 130 more against a Tiger defense that has won national praise. He had help from LSU’s defense that stopped Missouri in the waning minutes.  The Missouri Tigers had the Geaux Tigers down 39-35 before Daniels threw a touchdown pass with less than three minutes left. The defense stopped Missouri twice, the last time on intercepted pass returned for a touchdown that stopped a Missouri drive that could have led to a tying field goal at the least.  Daniels threw for 50 touchdowns and rushed for more than 1,000 yards.

Missouri running back Cody Schrader was eighth in the voting with one first-place vote, two second-place votes and 22 third-place votes. It’s the highest finish for a Tiger player since Chase Daniel was fourth in 2007, equaling Paul Chrisman’s finish in 1939.

(REPLACING CODY)—The transfer portal has drawn to Missouri a running back with some strong credentials who might be a yardage chewer to replace Cody Schrader.  It’s Marcus Carroll, who rushed for 1,350 yards at Georgia Tech in 2023. He wound up in the end zone 13 of the 274 times he carried the ball.

(CHIEFS)—The Chiefs’ loss Sunday night was their fourth in six games, and another reminder of how much they miss Eric Bienemy, their former offensive coordinator who is now the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach for the Washington Commanders. His presence has not done any miracles for Washington, though, which is 4-9, losers of nine of their last eleven games, and 32^nd in the league in scoring.

Some observers point to some friction in Washington between  Bienemy and some of the players because of his high-discipline philosophy. The Chiefs are clearly playing sloppier offensive football this year than they did when Bienemy was around.  While they might complain about the referees, the plain truth is that the receivers and the quarterback don’t seem to be in sync as much as usual and the number of dropped passes is disheartening.

The Chiefs lost to the Bills Sunday 20-17 and receiver Kadarius Tony went from being hero to being the goat in a matter of seconds.  Tony scored what would have been the winning touchdown but was the reason the play was called back.  He lined up offside, not by a little but by a lot.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed a pass to Travis Kelce who while running for more yards turned to his left and threw a lateral to the trailing Tony who went into the end zone untouched.  But there was that flag that killed the TD.

While Mahomes raged and coach Andy Reid mused about why the refs didn’t warn the Chiefs that Tony had lined up offside, Referee Carl Cheffers wasted no time saying the Zebras are not there to tell players to follow the rules:

“It’s one of those things we don’t want to be overly technical on, but when in his alignment he’s lined up over the ball, that’s something that we are going to call as offensive offside,” he told pool reporter Matt Derrick. “So that’s what the down judge saw. He saw that the alignment was over the ball and that’s what he ruled on the field. That’s what he called….Ultimately, if they looked for alignment advice, certainly we are going to give it to them. But ultimately, they are responsible for wherever they line up. And, certainly, no warning is required, especially if they are lined up so far offsides where they’re actually blocking our view of the ball. So, we would give them some sort of a warning if it was anywhere close, but this particular one is beyond a warning…So really regardless of whether or not he was warned at other times during the day, if it was an egregious alignment to where he was over the ball – whether he had warnings or not – it would still be a foul.”

The Chiefs are 8-5. The’ll get out take their frustrations about the Bills game against the Patriots next weekend. The Pats are 3-10.

Now, the Baseball:

(ROYALS)—The Kanas City Royals haven’t made any big waves in the off-season. Their signing of Will Smith is a reunion; Smith started his  career with Kansas City. He’ll be 35 next July but is a low-risk opportunity fot the Royals, who have signed him to a one-year, five-million dollar deal. Smith has the distinction of picking up three World Series rings in the last three years. He’s the first major leaguer to do that with three different teams (Braves in 2021, Astros the net year and the Rangers this year). In fact, his record goes beyond baseball. He’s the only person in baseball as well as the NFL, NBA, and NHL to do this.

His numbers with the Rangers were not outstanding but were reasonable in today’s game: 57.1 innings itched in 60 games with an ERA of 4.40.  He’s 33-41 in his career with a 3.67 ERA and 113 saves.

There are other intriguing arms still out there and General Manager J. J. Picollo has let it be known that the club has about $30 millon in the budget for new players.  It appears the first five-million has gone to Smith.

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals finally pulled the trigger on Tyler O’Neill last week and one of the best parts of the deal is that he can’t come back to haunt them in the immediate future if he managers to get through a season in good health.  He’s in the American League now with the Red Sox and the Cardinals have picked up a couple of young pitchers in return.

One of them, Nick Robertson, is expected to be with the team when it comes north in ’24. Evaluaters say his fastball averages better than 95, looks more like 97 and has some wicked movement. His changeup is only about eight mph slower but it moves and he has a slider that he developed late in the last season that raised some eyebrows.

The other pitcher is Victor Santos, who has spent a couple of years in Triple-A. He’s 23, has good command, and throws strikes. Slider/changeup/sinker guy with a pretty good strikeout ratio. He missed the 2023 season but is spending the winter in the Dominican League and is having a good season there.

Now, a couple of notes from the Zoom Room:

(INDYCAR)—Development of the new hybrid powerplant is moving a little slower than the series had hoped.  The series will open 2024 with the same engine that it has used for several years and won’t go to the new hybrid system until after the Indianapolis 500 in May.

IndyCar has two engine suppliers—Chevrolet and Honda.  But Honda has started counting its pennies a little more closely and says it’s considering pulling out of the series after 2026 because of high costs. Honda supplies power plants for as many as 18 entries in IndyCar races but says the cost/benefit ratio isn’t working as well as it wants it to work.

IndyCar has been trying to lure a third manufacturer into the series for several years. Honda has been a supplier since 1993.

(NASCAR/NHRA)—-Tony Stewart, who started a drag racing team two years ago is replacing his driver.  With himself.  He’s getting into the seat that his wife, Leah Pruett, had occupied. She’s taking the year off because the Stewarts want to start a family. He still is part owner of Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series

(Photo Credit: Partial screen shot from broadcast of Chiefs/Bills game)

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs dropped a big one to the Philadelphia Eagles at home last night.  Actually they dropped several, increasing their NFL-worst record for dropped passes to 26.

Dropped passes including two as the Chiefs tried to regain the lead with time running out, penalties and two turnovers in the red zone added up to a 21-17 loss that drops the Chiefs to 7-3 whle the Eagles go to 9-1.

Wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling had a perfectly-thrown pass bounce off his hands for what would have been a go-ahead 51-yard touchdown play in the last Chiefs drive. Wide receiver Justin Watson let the ball through his hands on the Chiefs’ final play, a pass on fourth and 25 that would have been a first down.

The Chiefs were held scoreless in the second half after Philadelphia found a way to stop what had been an effective run game in the first two quarters and th Kansas City offense seemed out of kilter in the second half.

(CARDINALS)—-Sometimes, seasoned lumber is the best thing to use when you start a rebuilding process. The St. Louis Cardinals have picked up two pieces of it, one as a player and one as a coach.

The Cardinals’ first significant signing of the team’s rebuilding winter is former starter Lance Lynn who has signed a one-year deal, reportedly for a guaranteed $10 million or so with incentives to earn another three million.  The Cardinals have a $12 million option for 2025.

Lynn pitched his first six years with St. Louis, went 72-43 with a 3.78 ERA.  One important thing about him is that he ate innings, 977 of them in 161 starts. He’s 36 now. Last year he started 6-9 for the White Sox but finished the year 7-2 with the Dodgers and helped them advance in the playoffs.  He has a World Series ring from 2011. He left the team as a free agent after the 2016  season and signed a deal with the Twins. The Twins dealt him to the Yankees in mid-year and then to the Rangers for three years, then two years with the White Sox.  It was a disappointing experience for Lynn but he had one strong game when he tied a team record by striking out 16 Mariners and set a Manor League record for strikes by a pitcher who went into the game with an ERA of 6.00 or more.

In his career, he’s 136-95 with a 3.74 ERA.

ON THE BENCH:  The Cardinals have hired their third bench coach during the Marmol managing era.  The newest one is former Redbird utility man Daniel Descalso. He replaces Joe McEwing who is moving up to the front office as a special assistant to John Mozeliak, the President of Baseball Operations. The team says it expects to make more coaching additions as the winter wears on.

Descalso spent half of his ten-year MLB career with the Cardinals.He also was with the Cubs, Diamondbacks, and the Rockies.  He spent last year as a special assistant in baseball operations with Arizona.

Former outfielder Matt Holliday was hired as bench coach a year ago but he decided he wanted to spend more time with his family and resigned after a few weeks.

(MIZ)—Missouri’s win over Florida has allowed the Tigers to inch up one spot in the Associated Press and the Coaches Poll. They’re tenth in each. They hold at 9^th in the playoff rankings.  They’re the nation’s top-ranked two-loss team.

It began to appear as the game went along that the team that had the ball last was likely to win the game.  The Missouri Tigers had the ball last, down a point with a minute and a half to go…and then inside of thirty seconds had it with fourth and 17

And they found a way to win.

The lead had changed for the eighth time in the game when a Florida field goal put the Gators on top 31-30.  But Florida left too much time on the clock for Missouri. Here’s how the last minute-36 seconds brought the ninth lead change of the game, and gave 28 seniors on the football team a beautiful memory to take away from their last game on Faurot Field.

1:36—Missouri 25 yard line after a touchback on the Florida kickoff.  Quarterback Brady Cook throws short to Cody Schrader for two yards.

1:20—pass incomplete. Third down and eight.  Cook to Mekhi Miller good for 13 yards.  First down.

1:00—False start, Missouri.  First and 15.  Cook finds no one open downfield, throws to Schrader, who loses two yards but gets out of bounds.

Second and 17 now.  Incomplete pass to Theo Wease Jr.

Third and 17, Cook tries to hit Mookie Cooper but leads Cooper too far and he can’t pull it in .

:38—Fourth and 17.  The game rides on this play, maybe the whole season if the Tigers want a 10-win year and a New Year’s Day bowl game.  Missouri calls its final timeout because of some confusion about what play to call. Cook drops deep, throw a bullet that Luther Burden III jumps to catch amid Florida defenders and bulls his way for 27 yards and puts Missouri in Harrison-Mevis long field goal range.  The ball is on the 40.  It would be about a 57-yard kick.

:21—Incomplete pass.  Missouri needs more yards to make the kick easier for Mevis.  Cook connects with Miller at the Florida 29. First down

:13—Cook spikes the ball to stop the clock. Second and ten.  Schrader fires to Cooper, who backs out of bounds at the 13-yard line.  First down but not enough time to get closer.  Mevis walks on to deliver his second walk-off field goal of the year.  Florida calls  time out, giving Mevis time to get nervous. Mevis won’t be iced. He’s just thinking about the mechanics of thekick, “keeping my head down and making good contact…I knew if I do those two things then good things are gonna happen,” he says afterward.

Head down, good contact and the ball arcs high and through the uprights with four seconds on the clock.

On-field celebrations are interrupted by officials who say the clock still shows a handful of seconds. Florida tries the hook-and- ladder return of the Missouri kickoff but the runner is finally on the ground with the clock at zero.

Cody Schrader racked up 127 yards rushing in the first half but the Gators found a way to stop him in the second two quarters. He had only 32 more yards but upped his conference-leading total to 1,272.  Cook finished 20 for 34 for 326 yards and no interceptions.  Burden  went over 100 yards receiving for the first time since week six with 158 and now has 1,142 yards for the year, third best in the SEC.  Cook has topped the 3,000 yard mark, and ranks third in the conference.

On the other side of the line, Darius Robinson’s eight sacks tie him for second in the league. Only Mississippi State’s Nathaniel Watson has more—10.   Kris Abrams-Draine’s four interceptions put him a tie for second, one behind Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston.

Harrison Mevis and Texas A&M’s Randy Bond lead the conference with 22 field goals. Mevis is third in points scored, 103.  Eight of the top ten scorers in the conference are kickers.  Cody Schrader ranks 11^th with 12 touchdowns and a two-point conversion.

Missouri is fourth in total offense at almost 450 yards a game, trailing LSU, Georgia, and Ole Miss.

One game left in the regular season. Friday afternoon, against Arkansas, which beat up on Florida International 40-22 Saturday to run the Razorback’s record to 4-7.  (ZOU)

(ROUNDBALL/MIZBOO)—This had to be a learning experience of some kind. It certainly was an embarrassment.

Just two days after a scintillating rush from far back against Minnesota to claim a 70-68 victory Friday night on the road, Missouri’s basketball team choked big time against Jackson State.  Missouri, which outscored Minnesota 31-9 in the last half of the second half at Minnesota to come from 20 down to a 70-68 win, was up 57-50 against a team that is opening its season with nine straight road games and five straight losses.

But the Jackson State Tigers outscored the Missouri Tigers 11-2 to take the lead at 61-59 with about seven minutes left.  The Tigers re-established a lead at 69-63 but let the game slip away, with Chase Adams hitting a jumper with three seconds left to give his team the win.

Missouri crippled itself ith 18 turnovers.  Eleven of them in the first half turned into 17 points and a final one trying to get off a shot under the basket just before the clock hit zero.

Jackson State Coach Mo Williams called it a “signature win” for his team: “To beat an SEC opponent on the road, not to mention this is 15 days straight on the road since Nov. 5. To have that performance from multiple guys, O’Neal going 8-for-11 from the field and Young bouncing back from a few tough games that he has had and to hit some big shots for us and to make his free throws and continue to be aggressive was huge for us… We beat SMU last year and they are considered more of a mid-major than a Power Five just because of the conference. You beat an SEC team, a Missouri team that is not going to be at the bottom but an upper-echelon team in the SEC.”

It was the eighth meeting between Missouri and Jackson State, the first in 22 years. It’s the second SWAC team Missouri has faced this year, the first being Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a season-opening 101-79.

Missouri meets South Carolina State tomorrow night. (ZOU, but not as enthusiastically)

Getting up to speed—

(FORMULA 1)—Max Verstappen, who earlier appeared unimpressed by the hoopla surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix enjoyed himself so much Saturday night that he said afterwards, “I’m already excited to come back here next year and hopefully try to do something similar.”

He won his 18^th race of the year, the 33^rd victory out of the 43 Formula 1 races.

(INDYCAR)—The kickoff of the 2024 big-time racing season in the United States will be January 25-26 on the high banks of Daytona. IndyCar has not raced there since 1958 but the track has become a showcase for the series’ talent in recent years and next year will continue that trend.

At least sixty cars will run in the Daytona 24 Hours. Three-time winner and six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon; last years winner of the Indianapolis 500 winner, Josef Newgarden; James Hinchcliffe, and the winner of the 2016 Centennial 500, Alexander Rossi are the healdiners from the series.

IndyCar owners will have entries: Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi, Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal, and Jimmy Vasser.

Dixon will team with, and with four-time IndyCar series champion Sebasian Bourdais—who won the 24 hours in 2014—and Dutch driver Renger van der Zande.   Tom Blomqvist, an English driver who will join the Meyer Shank IndyCar team for 2024 will team with two other drivers on the Whelen Cadillac entry.

Newgarden will be one of four drivers in a Penske Porsche.  Colton Herta and 2009 F1 champion Jenson Button will be half the team in a car from Wayne Taylor Racing.  Marcus Ericsoon, who won the 2022 Indianapolis 500, will be one of four drivers in the other Acura run by WTR.

Rossi, Hinchcliffe and two other driers will be in a McLaren 720s. Kyle Kirkwood and former IndyCar driver Jack Hawksworth will be tw-thirds of a team entered by Pfaff Motorsports.

By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers have proved they can play with the big guys. Now they have to prove they can beat the big guys.  Thirteen penalties, some at crucial moments, and a couple of bad passes led to a 30-21 loss to Georgia, the nation’s number one team in the AP and USA Today Coaches poll (but #2 in the bowl playoff list).

Missouri went into the game ranked 14^th in the polls but 12^th in the playoff list.  The loss likely dooms Missouri’s changes for an SEC division title or one of the playoff bowls but its performance likely impressed several top-level bowl scouts.

Missouri traded leads with Georgia and the game was in doubt until the four-minute mark when a Georgia interception led to a field goal that boosted the Bulldogs’ lead to nine points.  The game turned in the fourth quarter when a Brady Cook pass aimed at a receiver cutting across to the left was intercepted by 300-pound defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse, who lumbered deep into Tiger territory before going down.

The game stats showed Missouri out-rushed Georga and had more tackles for loss on defense. Cody Schrader toughed his way to 112 yards rushing with a touchdown in the fourth quarter that tightened the game.  But Missouri couldn’t get a dagger play that would put them back on top.

Tiger Kicker Harrison Mevis helped Missouri to a first-half tie with a 38-yard field goal  and gave the Tigers a second-half lead at 13-10 when he hit from 42 yards out, a kick that made him the top scorer in MU football history.

Next up for the Tigers is Tennessee. Both teams go into the game at 7-2.  Tennessee beat up on Connecticut 59-3 Saturday. Both teams are likely to be ranked in the second half of the top 20 going into that game. (ZOU)

(CHIEFS)—What many thought would be a shootout became a tight defensive win for the Chiefs Sunday. The Chiefs’ 21-14 win was the result of an tough and opportunistic defense that held Miami scoreless in the first half and sealed the win with a huge play that stopped a Miami drive for a tying score in the closing seconds.  Kansas City scored 21 points in the first half, with the ultimate winning points coming on a 59-yard fumble return by Bryan Cook.

Perhaps most satisfying for Kansas City fans was that the fumble was by former Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who caught what was intended to be a screen pass two yards behind the line, but was immediately hit by defender Trent McDuffie and dropped the ball, which was scooped up by Mike Edwards. Edwards, about to be taken down, lateraled the ball to Cook who streaked down the sideline for the touchdown.

The Chiefs couldn’t score in the second half but Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa let a shot at tying the games slip through his fingers—really slip.  The last snap for the Dolphins went slightly to his right and off his fingers. He fell on the ball, but it was Chiefs’ ball with seconds left.

While the Chiefs offense again struggled to put big points on the board, the defense forced Miami to punt five times in the first half, more times than they have punted in any full game all year.  The first-half shutout was the fewest points scored in a first half in the Dolphins’ last forty games. And the scoreless first half was the first since last year’s Christmas loss to the Packers. Tagovailoa’s 193 yards passing in the game was his lowest total of the season. And Hill never could break free, finishing with eight catches for 62 yards.

The Dolphins shut down Travis Kelce, who had only three catches for 14 yards.  But his final catch of the day put him a yard past Tony Gonzalez former team record of 10,940 yards receiving. He broke the record in his 152^nd game.  Gonzalez reached the 11,000 yard mark in his 191^st game. Kelce needs only 59 yards to get there and become only the fourth tight end in NFL history with 11,000 yards.

He still needs a lot of work to catch Gonzales, who caught passes for 15,127 yards.  Others who topped 11K yards: Jason Witten, who had 13,046, and Antonio Gates, with 11,841.

There are some other Gonzalez records within Kelce’s reach. He’s within 46 receptions of Gonazalez’s 916 catches and is within three of the 76 touchdowns Gonzalez scored while with the Chiefs.

Hill had told his teammates not to let Kelce out of their sight.  If that’s what they did, the Dolphins were soft on a lot of others. Patrick Mahomes completed passes to nine receivers. Kelce, Hardman, and Gray had three each. Nobody else had more than two.

The win makes the Chiefs the first NFL team to win games in four different countries: Germany, Mexico, England and——*

(TIGER ROUNDBALL)—We got our first look at this year’s talent assembled by Mizzou basketball coach Dennis Gates last night.  Missouri opened with a 101-79 win against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Sean East II, with 21 points lead the team in scoring as Gates gave fans a first look at a dozen players.  Tamar Bates played ten flashy minutes and scored 18 points including 10 within a minute and a half.  Aiden Shaw chipped in with five blocks and nine rebounds as the team racked up 17 assists with only 13 turnovers.

The new Tigers shot 56% from the field, 40% from behind the line.

The Lady Tigers opened their season with a 72-61 victory over Belmont, with new players, including freshmen, scoring all of the points in the first quarter.

(CARDINALS)—The St. Louis Cardinals will play a special game in a special place next June 20—Rickwood Field, the oldest professional ballpark in the United States.  They’ll play the Giants in a game honoring the Negro Leagues.

A special guest for the game will be Willie Mays, who played at Rickwood Field as a member of the Birmingham Black Barons.  Tickets will be hard to come by—the stadium seats only 11,000.

The park opened August 18, 1910, the realization of a dream by Birmingham industrialist Rick Woodward, who asked Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack to help him design it.

Want to take a look?

https://youtu.be/FW9_nQDMDCo

Rickwood Field was shared by the Birmingham Barons, a white team, and the Black Barons. Future Hall of Famers played on the diamond through the years, as the park’s history tells us:

History of Rickwood Field | Rickwood Field

Now, on to the end of NASCAR for the  year—

(NASCAR)—-The checkered flag has fallen on the 2023 NASCAR season with two winners at Phoenix: Ross Chastian gets the race but Ryan Blaney gets the Cup after a day of close racing among the remaining competitors for the championship.

Chastain, Blaney, Kyle Larson, and William Byron—the latter three being in contention for the Cup—raced each other intensely for almost sixty laps including a pit stop and a restart after a caution flag.  Blaney’s car owner, Roger Penske, had to tell Blaney to turn down his intensity as he battled Chastain, assuring him he could with the championship by conserving his car and settling for a secod-place race finish.

Blaney contented himself to second place after that, finishing 1.2 seconds behind Chastain with Larson third and Byron fourth.  The fourth driver who entered the race running for the championship, Christopher Bell, broke a brake rotor just past the one-third mark and finished last.

Blaney becomes the fourteenth driver in NASCAR’s 75-year history to win a Cup championship before turning thirty (Jeff Gordon did it three times).  The youngest was Bill Rexford in 1950.

He sees the championship as a responsibility in addition to being an accomplishment because the championship brings a platform. “I feel like if you get the privilege to be a champion of your sport, it is part of your job to promote your sport and do the best you can to be the best champion that you can,” he said afterwards. “I think it’s part of your job to kind of, hey, embrace it, push the sport. You have this awesome platform now to where you’ve done something incredible; use that, promote the sport. I’m excited to see what happens this offseason, see what comes up, to where you’re not only growing yourself, you are growing the sport of NASCAR as well.”

Racing is in his blood.  His father, Dave, ran 473 Cup races in a 17-year career. His grandfather and an uncle also were racers. He won his first race at the age of nine in a quarter midget.  He won in NASCAR’s top series three times this year and finished in the top ten in half of the 36 races. He has finished in the top ten in points in seven of his eight full-time seasons.

The race was the finale for Kevin Harvick’s career.  He led 23 laps early in the race but his car lost some of its handling as the sun faded. He finished seventh, the 21^st consecutive top-ten finish at Phoenix.

The next race that counts toward the 2023 championship is only 101 days away, the Daytona 500, February 18.

(FORMULA 1)—Max Verstappen has won the Grand Prix of Brazil with Lando Norris in a McLaren and Fernando Alonso in an Aston Martin sharing the podium with him. The victory extends his record for most wins in a season, now at 17.  Each race is a new recordfor Verstappen this year.  Even if he fails to win any of the final two races, will finish the year having won more than 77% of the races on the schedule.  That would break the record set in the hearly days of F1 when Alberto Ascari won six of he eight races in 1952. He has won 32 races (so far) in the last two seasons, another record. He’s been on the podium nineteen times this year, another  record. His 922 laps-led is also a new record. He will far surpass the record for the greatest winning margin for a championship. Sebastien Vettel won the title by 155 points ten years ago. Verstappen leads his nearest competitor by 256. He has a record run of 39 consecutive races leading the points. He has won eleven times from pole this year, another record.

Verstappen has led the championship standings across two seasons, since the Spanish Grand Prix of May 2022, and is guaranteed to end the season with a record run of 39 races in a row as leader.

*The United States, of course!!!

(Photo credit:  NASCAR/Chris Gaythen/Getty Images)