goodbye, tony gonzalez.

tony gonzalez traded to the falcons for 2010 2nd round pick.

i understand why we did it, tony's getting old and he only has 1 or 2 seasons left in the NFL, and it will be nice to pull a 2nd rounder next year that will contribute to the team in the future. the question i think you have to ask is whether TG's contributions this year would have outweighed a 2nd round pick's contributions in the distant future.

i say yes. and for the following reasons:

1. the falcons have the 3rd toughest schedule in the 2009 season, which means that their pick in the 2010 draft is likely to be in the 1st half of the selection. a late first round pick is nearly as good as an early 2nd round pick.

2. tony didn't want to be in kansas city. when a veteren player, and team leader, doesn't want to be on the team then that attitude translates to younger players. since that is all the chiefs have on their team at this point then i think it's a good move.

3. the chiefs can pull a very decent player out of the 2nd round. assuming average NFL success, i'll take a solid OT or DT for a few years over 1 year of tony.

at the end of the day though, tony's going to be missed. i'm sure it's emotional for everyone in kc to say goodbye to the guy - i know it will be for me. and it would certainly be nice to have his production this year. we won't know how this trade pans out for 5 or 6 years probably. it depends entirely on what we do with this 2010 pick and how successful that decision is in the future.

i'm sad. but very optimistic. i have faith in the pioli/haley era. it's different, and i have to be okay with that. i trust them with my fandom.

so long tony. we'll miss you.

-ap.

sports bit.

i haven't talked about sports in a while. let's do that today.

1. john buck is batting .434 with a .525 OBP in spring training. mike macfarlane eat your heart out.

2. it's looking very likely that the chiefs will do one of two things in this year's nfl draft: with the third overall pick they will either take linebacker aaron curry from wake forest (#1 ranked player overall) or - if the lions really take OT jason smith over QB matthew stafford - they may trade down with a team like the 49ers for a later round pick and pull someone totally different. i have a feeling the chiefs may be looking to simply draft the best player available - curry, michael crabtree, eugene monroe, brian orakpo, etc. we'll see.

3. my bracket is decently intact. 12/16 isn't bad. especially when my elite 8 are all still around. pitt looks like a bum pick to win it though. favorite games so far: siena over ohio state and oklahoma state over tennessee. also i'm proud of my WKU pick. i'm also proud of my VCU and NDSU picks even though they couldn't pull it off.


4. have you guys seen how josh freeman has rocketed up the QB prospects list? he's jumped pat white and graham harrell and is now listed #3 in QBs behind stafford and mark sanchez (who's draft stock is slowly sliding). it's fun to say that i hung out with him in my Wealth, Power and Privilege class just three months ago.

just a couple quick thoughts. i'll quit blogging now. i have a life you know.

-ap.

quick thoughts on chiefs hiring todd haley.

1. good.

2. our defense is still gonna suck.

3. coming from arizona, todd haley will look normal wearing red on the chiefs' sideline.

4. will haley have the approval of tony gonzales so TG won't whine all season?

5. will haley sign/draft a QB?

6. will haley - a WR coach for a decade and an offensive coordinator for the last 3 years - draft michael crabtree with the chiefs #3 overall pick? oooooooo a sexy question indeed.

-ap.

big day for the jefes...and luis colon.

alright. today was a huge day in sports. for me at least.

the chiefs have hired scott pioli as their new GM. when carl was fired last month, my reaction went something like this: "YES...now what?" so i've attempted to educate myself, but i still struggle to see what makes a "good" or "bad" general manager. i've gathered bits and pieces here and there, and the two things i keep coming back to and finding most important: experience and passion.

pioli apparently has both. he's been a part of the browns, ravens, and jets management in the 90s and has been leading a contributor in the patriots 'dynasty' of from 2000-2009. here are two terrific quotes from new england patriots' owner robert kraft and head coach bill belichick:

"Scott Pioli was an integral part of the many championships the New England Patriots have celebrated this decade and I would like to thank him for his countless contributions throughout the past nine seasons. Scott is a great evaluator of talent. He is thorough in his evaluations, extremely organized and has done a tremendous job mining all possible resources to help Coach Belichick and his staff field the players needed to win consistently." [Robert Kraft]

"To sum up in words everything Scott Pioli has meant to this organization and to me personally would be difficult, if not impossible. From the day I met him, he has demonstrated a passion for football and respect for the game that is second to none. It has been extremely gratifying for me to follow Scott's career ascension from the bottom of the totem pole in Cleveland to his place as a pillar of championship teams in New England. Now with the opportunity to steer his own ship and a vision of building a winner, there is no more capable, hardworking, loyal, team-oriented person than Scott Pioli." [Bill Belichick]

that means a lot coming from belichick...the guy isn't exactly a quote machine. nor is he the source of any emotion whatsoever.

he's probably going to give herm edwards the ax (good by me) and he'll implement a whole new staff of winners (which i'm also okay with as long as he keeps chan gailey). i'm also pumped to see a) who he drafts b) who he gets out of free agency and c) what he does with larry johnson. as long as we end up with a legitimate pass rush i'll be decently happy.

other sports news i need to address:
in a losing effort at ku, k-state starter luis colon put up 12 points and 6 rebounds in 16 minutes of play. also he fouled out with 12 minutes left in the game but the POINT is that luis was a STAR.

the wildcats were terrible, started the game down 18-0, but with luis at the wheel they clawed back to within 4 points early in the second half, but then he fouled out and all morale was lost. sigh. number 15 can't do everything (yes, he changed his number...fifteen is a much sleeker and impressive number than 50).

anyway. for probably the first time since the play of my life and the day the streak ended do i feel like sports are alive in my life - and nothing really significant happened at all. kstate lost by 16 in allen fieldhouse and the chiefs didn't even play a game - but it feels just fine being a sports fan today. i'll savor it for now. please be sure remind me of this moment a few days from now when it all comes crashing down again. damn it feels good to be a kc sports fan/gangster.

go relish.

-ap.

kc sports: what a thrilling topic.

one of the great things about rooting for sucky teams is that you get used to disappointment and your heart isn't broken as often as it might be if you had some sort of expectation. so when the chiefs pull what they did on sunday it's pretty easy to shrug your shoulders and think "hey. draft pick sizzler."

one of the crappy things about rooting for sucky teams is that sometimes they don't have playoff success for decades, and while some teams are acquiring c.c. sabathia and a.j. burnett simultaneously, i get to celebrate the signing of kyle farnsworth to a two-year deal.

-ap.

hope for the jefes.

since everyone else is talking about the election on november 4th, i'll try and bring some fresh air to the currently politically saturated world wide web. lets talk chiefs football.

players i need to address:

1. tyler thigpen. if anyone wants to hear some thigpen encouragement - you can hear it on the AM radio (everclear ref). 610 sports callers are praising him as our solution at QB forever. there isn't anyone getting more encouragement than t-square. no wonder he's performing with so much more confidence. when the world believes in you then you start acting like you're supposed to be there - heck, a couple people have called in claiming he could be the next tom brady. i'm reluctant to go that far, there is quite a difference between the michigan wolverines and the coastal carolina...chanitcleers. main difference: i didnt have to look up "wolverines". do i believe that tyler thigpen is the quarterback of the future in kc? not yet. but do i believe he's got a shot depending on how he plays in the next 8 games? absolutely. i'm not even sure we need to draft a QB this year seeing that this year's QB class sucks and next year's will rule. we could suffice with signing some washed up veteran as a back up. maybe. it all depends on t-square's performance from here on out. also, when the nickname "t-square" takes off - you heard it here first.

2. larry johnson. haven't missed him at all the last few weeks. is he a better rusher than charles and smith? you bet he is. but when you've got the opportunity to be an example for these new guys and you're spitting alcohol at women instead? pitiful. charles ran for over 100 yards on sunday and kolby smith looked terrific before he got hurt, and for the first time this year i actually agree with the complaints and beliefs that the chiefs ought to just ship him elsewhere. maybe the cowboys would take him. not that they need him with barber back there, but they seem to have a distinct interest in players with off-the-field issues.

3. the brandons: carr, flowers, and (branden) albert. we've got two stellar corners in carr and flowers. the injuries to flowers and johnson in the second half is why we lost the game to tampa. they picked on flowers side the moment he went out and the chiefs couldn't stop garcia and galloway. when we're healthy and older we're going to have one of the best secondaries in the nfl. you wait and see. flowers, carr, page, pollard. i think they're all future pro-bowlers. and branden albert ruled this sunday. thigpen had plenty of time and albert is the main reason. he's getting better and healthier every game, and it shows.

4. chan gailey. funny name, great play calling on sunday. it helps when you have the same quarterback for two consecutive games, but i was so excited to see the chiefs mixing it up on offense. wildcat formation? loved it. i was sprinting around my house declaring the play below as the "play of my life." also, when we had the ball late in the game we didn't go super conservative (instead tony g got called for a bogus offensive pass interference), but we didn't just hand it to charles off-tackle 3 times and punt like last week. high five chan. your report card landed its first A this week.

5. mark bradley and devard darling: bradley for that unbelievable pass (see below) and darling for finally making a case for him as the #2 receiver after bowe. i had begun to think DD was a bust - don't act like that isn't hilarious. also some props to brad cottam for existing. i'm not certain that i'd even heard his name through week seven. the receivers were open for thigpen on sunday and that was encouraging. and how about bradley's pass. wow. just please watch the video below and visualize me stomping around utilizing the double fist pump to it's utmost potential.

play of my life:


ahh. i could watch it over and over. all in all - we're making strides. after watching us play atlanta, tennessee and carolina i was certain that this "youth movement" was more of a "youth stagnant". it's good to see that i may stand corrected. there is hope in kansas city. maybe next year we can keep it up for 4 quarters instead of 1 1/2.

go chiefs.
-ap.

pray for the chiefs.

123rd and antioch, overland park, kansas.
took it on my phone this afternoon.
-ap.

kansas city sports sanity and kurt vonnegut.

i'm starting to realize how cubs fans actually do it - how it is that they can go for 100 years and counting without winning a world series and still be as passionate as ever about their team.

it hasn't even been two years since the chiefs limped into the playoffs with a measly 9-7 due to a denver crumble and a last minute 49er field goal on new years eve. the royals haven't played a post-season game in my lifetime. i've been fortunate to have been a cardinals fan for most of my life, but now that i've seen them win it all i really feel as if my true loyalty is with the royals. i'm a kc fan. thats just the way it is.

with immense failure comes equally immense disappointment. after a while that disappointment turns to humor. cynicism? perhaps, but at some point the missed tackles, strikeouts, pitifully immobile quarterbacks and hopeless franchises start to make you smile. expectations flip upside down and you find yourself rooting for alex gordon to strikeout so that it will enhance your argument that teahen should be moved back to third and alex should go rip it up in AA again.

i'm realizing that when you truly love a team and they have the collective ability of eric warfield there comes a point where their disappointment is no longer abrasive to your emotions, but it is almost somewhat warming and fun - like an 4 year-old who gets caught coloring murals on the walls - you'd rather the kid didn't, but let's be honest, it's pretty funny.

how do the columnists do it? how about the cubs columnist who's worked for the chicago tribune for 40 years following 40 years of inept chicago baseball? how do they want to write another depressing article about the team's past, present and probable future? doesn't jason whitlock ever get tired of writing to fire carl peterson? doesn't joe posnanski ever tire of covering the royals' latest "hope" coming up in omaha? imagine that stretched out over 40 years! the only possible articles the worth writing would be at the sake of humor.

this is when kurt vonnegut comes in:
"laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. i myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."

"humor is an almost physiological response to fear."

does the man hit the nail on the head or what? where else is there to go but to the funny papers with this? i tell you what, if someone had started a comic strip called "wrigley field" back in the early 1900's they would've just made a killing over the last century through all sorts of dark humor. maybe someone should work toward a strip called "arrowhead" or "collapsing with carl" or "youth movement".

i will hope and pray that the chiefs and royals improve, but in the meantime i'm just going to chuckle and root for john buck. he's my coping mechanism. God forbid someone else takes him away from us.

-ap.

fire carl.

"It’s no secret that the Chiefs are an organization burning in flames, and Edwards seems to be getting more and more comfortable letting everyone see the gas, matches and electric fans sitting on Carl Peterson’s desk."

"The way the club is currently managed, a coaching staff filled with Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, Bill Parcells, Bill Walsh, Don Shula and Hank Stram couldn’t lead the Chiefs to .500."

-- Jason Whitlock

1-15 is just fine with me.

don't act like i never told ya.

the guys that needed to perform actually showed up - larry, tony, huard and bowe - but, more importantly, the defense looked extremely solid at times: derrick johnson especially. despite a couple unfortunate big runs, we forced turnovers and had decent pass coverage throughout. holler.

and how about that 12th man?! i haven't heard arrowhead like that against denver since dante hall's wickedly famous punt return in the 03-04 season. it felt like we wanted to win for a change.

don't expect them to go on the road at carolina and post up numbers like they did today, but i actually feel like i can watch on sunday with a hope for the future. also, don't everybody run to huard like he's a hero. this is the same damon huard who suffered from "mild head trauma" two weeks ago against oakland...mother faker.

but anyway. today i am proud to be a chiefs fan - not that i wasn't for the last 12 games- but i can finally say it without expected scoffs in return. this is going to be a good week. a confident week. things will happen this week. (you probably weren't aware that i rate my success as an individual based solely on the success of the kansas city chiefs - not entirely true, but it has a surprisingly large impact. too bad it couldn't've happened last week when i had three exams. this week must store something even more rewarding...my mind is doing backflips with anticipation.)

i don't care if we lose the final 12 games of the season - 1-15 is great as long as today is our only win. we won the one that really matters. talk about already exceeding expectations.

-ap.

nfl draft.

ok lets talk about the draft and how kc rocked the ally and freaked the oop.

glenn dorsey?! boom goes the dynamite. in retrospect i shouldn't be too shocked he fell all the way to us at #5, i was confident that either oakland or new york would come out of there with mcfadden. i guess the surprising thing is that atlanta took matt ryan. i didn't know they were that desperate to replace vick*. i would've thought a better idea would be to take dorsey and then trade up for matt ryan. he wasn't going to go until baltimore anyway at number 8, and new england was looking to trade out of the #7 spot anyway. instead the falcon's divisional foe, the saints, traded up and picked up Sedrick Ellis (who i am predicting records at least one sack on Matt Ryan in 08).

I was expecting to have to hop on here and complain all about how disappointed i am with the Chiefs' picks, but i find next to nothing wrong with them. We're still weak at DE - the dude we picked up in the 7th round will fill the spot - but with dorsey on the line...who really cares?

The Chiefs pretty much pulled three first-round quality picks. dorsey, branden albert, and brandon flowers in the second round - but he's good enough to have gone middle of the first round i think.

I'm most intrigued by the Chiefs' third-round picks in RB Jamaal Charles and TE Brad Cottam. I'm confident that charles can make an impact next year. I'm nervous about cottam though - he had five serious injuries in college in four years. that scares me. hopefully he's a quality blocker too cause his numbers are nothing to be excited about, but everyone seems to think he's got tons of untapped potential, so i'll hope that too.

i give the chiefs an A+++. the jared allen trade is an afterthought now - dorsey is a beast, will be better than allen and ALMOST as exciting to watch.

first round trade questions i have of two other teams:
1. how did the lions benefit AT ALL from trading us #15 for #17? they picked up a late rounder, but they also missed out on branden albert and took godser cherilus instead? both albert and jeff otah were better options than cherilus and with the 15 pick detroit had their shot at both of them. i'm just confused. maybe they see something in godser that i dont. maybe its just his name. i'd rather have godser cherilus than jeff otah. otah ust sounds moron.
2. the jacksonville jaguars traded up to the number 8 spot with baltimore. baltimore wanted matt ryan probaly, but when atlanta swiped him they were able to wait for a while. but the jags gave baltimore a 1st, 2nd, and 4th rounder so they could pick Derrick Harvey. Thats essentially what Jared Allen just went to minnesota for. unless you're trading up to take mcfadden - no way you give up that much for anyone in this draft. my guess is that harvey will turn out to be worth it, but i'm still shocked at what they had to give up for it.

i wish the chiefs had looked into a quarterback though. namely dennis dixon. i can only DREAM of a mobile quarterback. elvis grbac, rich gannon, steve bono, trent green, damon huard, brodie croyle. are we joking? those are the quarterbacks since joe montana in 94. i want a quarterback who can do something. bring me someone with another dimension besides 'thrower'. someone who can avoid a sack or even roll out. or even run for a first down without getting mentally destroyed by robert geathers**. but if they're not going to draft one, maybe they'll pick one up in free agency or trade for one. i propose byron leftwich - he's available, and i'm a fan. naturally they should take him immediately for those two reasons. but the chiefs probably want to establish a long-term quarterback. croyle isn't it though guys. sorry.

overall: high five to the chiefs. makes me excited to be a football fan around 2012.

-ap.

* - apparently since michael vick is being held at leavenworth prison in kck, the kansas city t-bones are having "Michael Vick Day". players will wear prison uniforms and they will have special mini-events between innings and all proceeds go to dog fighting awareness or something. i think its hilarious, but i can understand how people wouldn't be happy about it - its borderline supporting vick, and thats not too cool. i think he's supposed to be pulled out so he can throw out the first pitch. i might've made that last part up though, not sure.

** - that sounds like a book. Mentally Destroyed by Robert Geathers.

priest holmes/clent stewart.

relatives? probably not. but they look so similar.

soup. arrg. bowl.

so the giants won the super bowl in what was one of the better football games i watched this season.

more importantly though, the patriots didn't win the super bowl. i kinda think its hilarious; their undefeated season going into the game pretty much means nothing. and tommy brady had a less-than-splendid super bowl game for a change. and he got knocked around quite a bit.

we had a group of about 15 people all rooting for the giants. the place erupted a few times in the final minutes. ESPECIALLY when eli managed to avoid getting sacked on teh final drive and throw a bomb down field. kinda super lucky. but sometimes people have to get kinda lucky to win.

karlie and i made some killer NY tshirts for the game. hers is cooler than mine, but we still looked awesome. i wanted to make one that said "tom brady eats babies." but i decided that wouldn't be appropriate and i probably wouldn't wear it much beyond sunday.

eli manning also sounds super dumb.

i'm disappointed now though cause there isn't going to be any football for way too long...well, i guess the pro-bowl kinda counts. jared and tony will be starting for the AFC. i dont think i've ever actually sat down and watched the pro bowl before. its kinda not even real football.

but i will say this: look out for the chiefs in 08. haaa. right.

-ap.