Could there be anything more mind-numbing...

... than paying attention to the Royals right now? If the depressed traffic on this site is any indication, then I'm on to something. In a decade of haplessness, this September takes the cake for the most uninteresting month of baseball in the history of the sport. Instead of watching Chip Ambres, Justin Huber, Donnie Murphy etc. play everyday, we are treated to the likes of Terrence Long, Matt Stair, Joe McEwing, Denny Hocking, Aaron Guiel nearly every day, which will put a collicky baby to sleep posthaste. I recognize that Buddy Bell's job is to try to win every game (although pitching to ARod with two outs and runners at second and third in the midest of another epic collapse undermines his integrity in that effort), and for whatever reason he believes that Terrence Long and the Bunch give him the best chance to win. Bell's lineups don't seem to fit with the idea that this is a rebuilding season and time for young players to learn the game at the major league level, but it's all a big yawn to me at this point. There is nothing that can salvage this season other than it ending as quickly as hunanly possible. I can't wait for the season to end so I can actually begin to look forward to something - free agency, where I can look forward to being disappointed once again.

-- Although my #1 team is the Royals, my #2 is being an active member of the Anti-Yankee Brigade. With less than 20 games to play, the Yankees are actually on the outside of the playoff picture right now, and I am desperately rooting for the Indians or A's (unlikely after losing Crosby) to take the wild card (I highly doubt the Yankees can pass the Red Sox for the division title). The Indians have been playing some inspired baseball in the past 2 months, and if their starting pitching can hold up it will be very tough for the Yankees to surpass them. Cleveland also has the good fortune of playing the Royals 7 times in the final games of the season, and I hereby give my blessing for the Royals to lose each and every one of those games in the spirit of helping the Yankee miss the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons.

-- Switching over to the Daily Redcoat...



... the Chiefs played nearly flawless football against a flat-footed Jets team. I was most impressed with the run defense, which turned in a stout performance for a unit that has been a festering wound for the past few years. It all comes down to run defense this season - if the Chiefs can play stout against the run and turn their opponents into one-dimensional passing teams against should be a pretty good secondary once Warfield drives (inebriated, of course) back to the stadium, this team will win at least 12 games and take the division title. If the run defense fails, then it's going to be another mediocre season.

-- Derrick Johnson is a beast. It's been a long time since I've seen a Chief defender with that kind of athletic ability. We're going to have to live with the blown assignments and playing out of position, but that's the price you have to pay to keep a young guy who is so uniquely talented on the field. The benefits will outweigh the negatives, I'm sure.

-- Two great cornerbacks lured two pretty good quarterbacks into interceptions yesterday. Surtain made an excellent interception on Pennington by leading him to believe he was covering elsewhere (on the play that ended in his concussion; godspeed, Patrick), and Ty Law suckered Trent Green with his end-zone interception. Trent has problems with the end zone interception, but in this case you tip your cap (if you're wearing one).

-- Priest Holmes' "touchdown" was a thing of beauty, even if he was down at the 1.