We've all bitched and moaned about poor royals coverage in the past (especially in Iowa) but I want to resolve this issue (i want to watch games).

Here is the cliffnotes version of past notes.

1.The royals aren't on tv in Iowa, FSN carries cards and twins games instead.

2. This is bad, but would be ok if royals fans were able to buy MLB.tv...but in Iowa the Royals are in the "local market" and therefore all their games are blacked out.

3. I would pay for the service if it was availabe to me...but it isn't. Therefore i need a black market royals fix. Does anyone know of a website which streams royals games online?? I'd feel bad, but if MLB is too stupid to take my money then they don't deserve it.

Anyone have some ideas?

Remember to tip the waitress, thank you and goodnight.

Pretty ridiculous topic, I know, but who are your all-grit players. The picks can be arbitrarily based, and without logic, but I think it would be fun to see everyone's picks.

Local 54, for those of you who do not attend ISU football games or mock announcers with my friends and I, is the name of the fictitious union of gritty players. It started with the metaphor used by many announcers that the player was like a steelworker who had grabbed his thermos/hardhat/lunch pail, and had punched in for work. This morphed into the player being a "card carrying member of Local Number 54".

So have at it. If I get enough entries I'll tally the teams and give an official Royals Review "Local Number 54 team" with a bio for all the players. Maybe one of you smarter statisticians could run some analysis on the players to see how this Local 54 team would actually perform.

Maybe this is dumb, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

I'll start with my picks. (players do NOT have to be active)

1b- Mark Grace

2b-Bill Mazeroski

3b-Gary Gaetti

SS-David Eckstein

C- Jason Kendall

CF-Jim Edmonds

RF-Pete Rose

LF-Raul Ibanez

SP-Jeff Suppan

M-Sparky Anderson

P.S.

I googled all-grit after struggling to find a left fielder, and came across a similar article by the Brew Crew site. http://www.brewcrewball.com/2008/7/14/571285/the-all-grit-team And here was the team he put together. Not surprisingly we both liked the players who don't wear batting gloves/ are sub 5'5".

As it has been stated, probably more than needed, the royals used to be popular, and now aren't so much. Well most of this has to do with the fact that they are not winning like they used to. But there are other major major factors in my mind.

The unusual radio stations post sparked my memory on some things and also lead me to the Red's article linked in that piece.

This quote was given as to why the Red's radio affiliates have dwindled. He contributed it to the fact that the Red's radio network was no longer run in house.

"When (Reds broadcasting director) Jim Witers was alive, it was all run in-house," Brennaman said. "The teams with the biggest radio networks in baseball were the Reds, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals. "

Notice our club was on that list of biggest radio network?

Those three teams were three of the most popular teams in the country. Why because of winning and mainly exposure. They were on the radio and were easy to follow. Families planned trips down to KC to see their favorite team play.

Which teams are the most popular now? I'd have to say Cubs, Braves, Red Sox, Yankees. The first two primarily because of their large tv network. People like the teams they are familiar with. People support the team they are familiar with. People travel and pay money to see the team they are familiar with. More exposure, more people tuning in is a good thing for mlb.

Which brings me to my single biggest sore spot with MLB.

Obviously I am a Royals fan. I go to school in Ames, IA. WGN has the Cubs and White Sox. FSN has the cardinals and sometimes Twins.  TBS has/had the braves. ESPN has the Red Sox/Yankees. So realizing I couldn't see my favorite team I got on MLB.tv only to find something horrible out.

The White Sox, Cubs, Royals, Cardinals, Brewers and Twins are in Iowa's Local region. Meaning that all their games are blacked out from MLB.tv. How dumb is that? Does MLB expect me to drive down 4 hours for a weekday game? They claim allowing these teams to be on mlb.tv hurts their ticket sales because people will stay at home and watch instead of go. But who the hell is making up this theory.

1. People who know the players and watch the team play on tv will be MORE likely to go down to KC and watch. Therefore there would be a net gain in ticket sales if they allowed the Royals to be shown.

2. Who cares if they watch instead of go to the game. The service is still over a hundred dollars a year, take the money as a source of revenue and move on.

If that doesn't piss me off enough, here is the real kicker. The emergence of the tv network structure and mlb.tv blackout has KILLED royals support in Iowa. Iowa is home to tons of gereral baseball fans who want teams to follow and know about. When the Royals were the easiest team to follow the state had a large contingent of KC faithful.

But now the Royals are screwed because they are no where near easy to follow as compared with other teams or otherwise. They aren't on tv, over the air or cable, which means they attract no new fans just looking for a team and baseball on the tube.  They are doubly screwed because fans they already have are not able to watch the Royals, but are able to see 3 or 4 other teams. What do you think a large number of these fans do? They switch favorite teams. I know it has been much harder to follow the royals with no tv games, and nothing on the news. And I can see how a much lesser man would make the switch to the cardinals after such prolonged torture.

 MLB has way to much power over tv networks and is extremely unfair to fans and teams. Let fans have the ability to see their favorite teams. This is fair to the fans, makes the playing field more level for teams to attract fans, and for God's sake is good for the bottom line of MLB franchises. How can they be against that.

I am new to Royals Review and having reread this post I've realized that it is overly negative, and that is not the direction my future posts will take, but this is what happens sometimes when your mind gets going. I'm currently studying in the hell hole that is Newcastle, Australia where it's 3:18 A.M. so I apologize in advance for the rant which is about to transpire..

The Kansas City Royals don't need their AAA ballclub in from our little brother, Omaha. Seriously. The Royals in recent years have completely and I mean completely ignored all contributions their AAA players have been making to their club.

The Royals have become a "direct high draft pick AA to the bigs" pipeline. Alex Gordon made the big jump most recently and famously. AAA has become the "if one or our catchers has a baby and we need a back up" team. (Belated Congrats to Mr. Buck) What I am saying is hell if we aren't going to even pay attention to the team, and if KC only needs a player to occasionally sit on the bench we might as well bring up a AA player or hell some kid from Blue Valley West.

What does a player in Omaha have to do to get called up and play for the big club? I'm sure Craig Brazell is still wondering in Japan. (How funny is it that the Royals have been prolifically poor power hitting franchise while Omaha has had some of the best power hitters in the Minors) It would have been nice to have some of his 32 homers come be for the big club. Mike Aviles finally got the call up but will he ever see the field for a consistent playing time? I doubt it. It's not like guys from AAA would be replacing the irreplaceable. Tony Pena is not making major dollars and is not hitting particularly well. Mike Aviles is hitting quite well in AAA and will probably never get the shot to see if that translates in the Majors. What if Aviles is the middle infielder who can actually hit the Royals have been desiring since...I don't even know who the last was, Greg Gagne maybe?

The Royals seem to be so invested in their current players that they are afraid to make changes. Why? The Royals have a core group who has played in the big leaugues for multiple seasons, non of which have been at a high level. Honestly the young player with the best year in the bigs is in AAA playing SS. Teahan has underperformed. Gathright...well I like him sitting on the bench as the 4th outfielder so he can stay. Buck is consistently a poor hitter.  Gordon and Butler have less service time and more potential, although I hate the word potential, and I will not go after them for the time being. If a player consistently underperforms in the majors while a player consistently overperforms in AAA shouldn't the club at least look at the switch. Why is Tony Pena so near and dear to the Royals hearts, simply because he put on the big clubs uniform before Mike Aviles. And that is stupid.

AAA has become a zone where no player wants to go. AAAA was once the label for a player who was not good enough for the majors but too good for AAA. That is no longer the case. If a player even plays AAA he is looked at as a decent player, but doesn't have that superstar potential. What the hell is up with that! Hello!!! The Royals have ZERO superstars! No player on our roster will become one! Our offense is filled with below average hitters! If AAA has players who right now could hit for a higher average but were deemed by some scout in 1999 to have less of an upside than Ross Gload was in 1989 I don't care! My goodness when will this team realize that just because years ago one player was not sought after, but this player was a number one pick eventually means nothing. If you give no rewards to successful players in the form of promotion, then why even have the club. I find current minor league stats much more compelling than scouting reports from high school. If a A ball player is dominating, AA should be the next step and so on. Just because a player was a high draft pick doesn't mean he should get an easy pass to the big leagues. Who cares about money invested!! The best players should play.

Mitch Maier is having an excellent year as is Shane Costa. Billy Butler just flat out should not be in AAA but that is a different story.

Everyday I wake up and say a prayer that the Royals have traded David DeJesus, Mark Teahan, Ross Gload, TPJ, John Buck and Grudz for a player. Others will get bent out of shape about this comment, but the truth is non of their stats are spectacular and most are below average. But because we hold our players to such a low offensive standard that batting .275 with 11 homers is a Royals Player of the Year season. 

If we traded ALL those players for just ONE player with power, how could our team be anything but better. Who cares if we lose Teahan, Maier is now in the OF probably doing better than Teahan was before him. German or Callapso is now at second. Butler is back at first and Costa can DH or OF. Olivo is now the starting catcher. Berroa can be the new backup infielder.

Because the Royals have plenty capable guys to fill their spots in AAA,  why not try and create an opportunity to get a truly above average player with our expendable talent.

Hell even Angel is hitting for average and power again. Do you ever think Pena will be as good as his counterpart in AAA? I don't. The front office got so mad at Angel for not being more disciplined at the plate that they forgot to realize that he is still better than TPJ!!! Do you think Mark Teahan will hit more home runs than any of the outfielders in Omaha? I don't. I'm completely rambling now, but it is frustrating to see good performances wasted because of over commitment to certain players for whatever reason.