Greetings, respected baseball sages of Royals Review. I come to you seeking a favor. Not money, or time, or a bite of your sandwich (although I'd certainly take that). What I need from you is some straight shooting.

a little background:

I'm a big-time lurker around these parts. Comment occasionally, rec when something makes me laugh. I'm on this site often enough that I could name about 30 commenters off the top of my head, and know a little about each's internet personality. Philofthenorth? Cool uncle figure. Old Man Duggan? Colleague from the trenches of the "sparsely trafficked movie blogs" circuit. LaFlamme? May read one of his books one day. Royalsretro? Someone I'm pretty sure I would like in real life.

I know all the RR characters, though you probably don't know me. Such is the life of a lurker. I'd call it pathetic, but what is reading about the Royals on the internet to begin with if not pathetic? I can feel no shame on the internet, no matter how disturbing the pornography hard I lurk.

Here's the thing though: I haven't actually watched a Royals game in quite some time. Two years, maybe. Up until very recently I thought Ned Yost's last name was pronounced like lost. I moved to Brooklyn at the beginning of the Dayton era, and the combination of 1)not being able to go to games anymore or watch them easily on TV, and 2)Dayton, drove me away from the team. I bought an internet package in 2009 to make one final stab at it, and that, my friends, was how it ended.

I've still been following the team, but only as a fan of Freneau. If he wrote about the Mariners or the Rangers I'd probably follow them. Although it has always seemed perfect to me, in some perverse way, that he writes about the Royals. I digress....

In an effort to spend more time alone indoors this summer, I'm considering making another go at it with MLB.com. My question to you, the RR community:

Is it too soon? Should I wait a year? It definitely seems like this lineup should be young and interesting. But surely the rotation will be terrible, right? And what if Giavotella is the next Gotay and Perez'z Perezense turns out to be a mirage? What if Moose be stankin'? What if Franceour goes all Franceour on us? What if Yuni, in some sick twist of fate, becomes a starter? If I go all in and this team sucks hard, the Royals will lose me forever. There's just too much MMA to watch.

I want to get the package, and I want to watch semi-meaningfull baseball. Is this the year for that, or should I wait until 2013? I'll hang up and listen.

Greetings, Arrowheadpriders, your boy Big Matt from Arrowheadaddict here. I don't often hang around the AP, but I did stop by yesterday and engage some of you on my favorite topic, our heroic owner Mr. C. Montgomery Hunt.

I referenced the time a few years back when he threatened to move the team, and was surprised to find that not only had everyone apparently forgotten that, most of you seemed to think I was confused. I was asked to provide proof (a reasonable request), but the article I was referencing from the Star had been taken down. The best I could do, at the time, was link to this discussion about said article, on a soccer site of all places.

Chiefs fans really don't want to believe Clark Hunt threatened to move the team, and I suppose I can understand that. But the reality is that threatening to move the team is one of the first things he did when he assumed control (during Lamar's failing health). At the time I found it interesting that that article could no longer be found at the Star, but one of you pointed out, correctly, that the Star takes articles down all the time, seemingly at random. I'll put my tin foil hat away on this one, because after I got back from my washers tournament (washers is the sport of kings) and watched the Strikeforce fights (MMA is the other sport of kings) I was able to find the proof I needed. This site also links back to the Star article in question, but this one comes with a quote:

The Kansas City Chiefs' move-threat reflex has finally kicked in, as it was revealed Friday that team chairman Clark Hunt (son of owner Lamar) recently told local officials: "If there's no renovation of the sports complex, one or both of these franchises will be gone." (Royals owner David Glass insists he has no intention of trying to leave town.) If the goal was to strike fear among the populace, Hunt's words seem to have had their intended effect: County sports authority chief Mike Smith told the Kansas City Star, "It's got me real nervous. I would not take it as a threat, but as a message."

 

And that, as they say, is that. One can't help but wonder how so many were able to banish that memory from their minds? It was a pretty big deal at the time. And given what we've seen in the last six months, I'd say its definitely still relevant today. Not the threat itself, but what it tells us about who our owner is and what his priorities are.

But I'm not here to editorialize. I'll save that for the site that pays me (figuratively). I was asked to provide a link, and I have done that. I'll be interested to see what grounds some of you find to dismiss this one. Or maybe that quote has jogged some memories? I mean, this was only six years ago. Hey, maybe in another six years we'll forget about those illegal television negotiations! I can think of some people that would be happy to help us with that.

On an unrelated note, I also asserted that the ratio of Hunt money to tax dollars that went into the New Arrowhead was worse than the ratio for other stadiums. I was initially referencing a Whitlock column, which is obviously not a popular thing to do around here. I was asked to provide evidence again, which I was able to in some measure, but it was a very tedious process and I had said washers tourney to get to. I have since found this report by John Vrooman, professor of sports economics at Vanderbilt University.

Its a good read if you're at all interested in this topic. Provides evidence for and against my assertion, actually. Some of it can be tough to get your head around, but there is some pretty great stuff in there all the same. At the time of the renovations, the public had paid an average of 54% on new stadiums that decade. The Chiefs got a 77% public subsidy. It appears my statement on ratios was indeed correct.

However, from a total dollars standpoint, we did pay less than other cities, because ours was a renovation rather than a new stadium entirely. The issue easily becomes murky, as these issues often do. I guess it doesn't really matter. We have our stadium, we have football again, and we still have Leonard Pope.

I'll show myself out.

Greetings, Bloody Elbowers. Long time listener, first time caller. I've been watching every UFC card for years and have even done some work for the UCC here on the east coast, but had never gotten around to checking out Strikeforce until Saturday night. Lazy, I know. The reality is that I've been a total UFC homer ever since they bought out Pride. I didn't think there was anything else worthwhile out there for me. Last night I finally decided to expand my horizons.

This puts me in the somewhat unique position of knowing the sport without knowing the fighters I'm watching. I would imagine most of you had seen King Mo, Lashley, etc fight numerous times. This was my first. I thought I'd post my reactions and hopefully get some feedback from you guys as to their accuracy.

First of all, the packaging needs some serious work. The entrances are unfortunate and the commentators are second rate. Rogan really puts a clown suit on those guys. And that Luke Rockhold interview was painful. This stuff is all beside the point, but the fact is I felt like I was watching something from the mid 90s. And none of it should be that hard to fix. Just be professional and find a few people who can talk. I guess maybe that's harder than it seems. The UFC really got pretty lucky with Rogan.

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Maybe this is an unnecessary post, but I've seen Will taking some flak in the comments recently and that really chaps my ass.  The idea that people come here, log in, and take potshots at a guy providing this awesome, free service is beyond me.  All because he isn't positive enough?  About a team that hasn't sniffed .500 in 6 years?  A team that hasn't made the playoffs since Dynasty was cancelled?

Is this for real?

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I don't like Yuni Betancourt.  On a Royals blog this is basically the equivalent of saying, "I don't like paying taxes" or "I don't like eating shit".  I mean, of course I don't like Yuni.  Nobody does.  Nobody outside of the Royals front office, anyway.  I don't need to list the reasons why.  You all know them.  I will say its never a good sign when your shortstop has a potbelly and a flabby face.  I think if Yuni were a white guy he'd be the pastiest man on Earth.


So yeah, I like to rag on Yuni just like everyone else.  But would having Chris Getz in the starting lineup really be any better?

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I, like most of you, am happy to see Trey Hillman hit the ol' dusty trail.  I don't like him personally, and its been clear for quite some time that he isn't a very good manager.  Ned Yost is an uninspiring hire, but he isn't Trey Hillman.  That alone endears him to me right now. 

Having said that, I'm realistic about how things will probably end with Yost.  No manager is going to win with these Royals.  Yes, Hillman was bad, but as I've said before, he was just a symptom of the disease.  Dayton "The Disease" Moore remains, as do his hand selected players, scouts, and front-office yes-men.  I think we all realize the switch from Hillman to Yost is not likely to turn this team around.  Switching managers at the local Church's Chicken won't make their vittles taste like Strouds'*.  The Royals are still the Royals.

*This is actually kind of a bad example as a change in management really can do wonders for a fast food establishment.  But its a good example in that the Royals are definitely the Church's of the fast food chicken world. 

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