The most active team was Chicago as they made two trades. The Bears are extremely desperate for young, controllable talent on both sides of the ball. They were able to get the quarterback of the future and did so without mortgaging the future. The Cowboys pick up a talented running back to replace DeMarco Murray. The biggest winner from this draft for me is the New Orleans Saints who used all three picks to select starting caliber players at really good values.

There were several teams I wanted to trade up or down for, but was unable to due to a lack of trade partners or assets. These teams just selected the best player available if the draft spot wasn’t worth the player that was right for the team.

My next NFL piece will be a review of the draft. Until then enjoy both my final mock and the real draft.

Round 1

The post NFL Draft: Predicting the First Two Rounds appeared first on KRUI Radio.

That’s exactly what I found myself repeating time and time again throughout Tuesday’s unbelievable sudden-death game between the Kansas City Royals and Oakland Athletics.

It was a tale of two lengthy stories in a do-or-die Wild Card game. First, the Royals and their “never say die” attitude fought from levels of obscurity to find themselves right in the midst of an American League Central Division title. While not garnering the division lead after a brutal 162-game schedule, they captured a playoff berth and the eyes of baseball nation. The Cinderella of baseball went up against, well, the once-Cinderella of baseball.

Oh, the Oakland Athletics: the featured team in “Moneyball” that made Billy Beane quite possibly the most well-known general manager in sports. While the tactics featured in the film got them into the playoffs with a salary well below the likes of the AL West superpower Los Angeles Angels, it wasn’t a winning strategy in the playoffs. So what did Beane do? He went completely out of his typical mind and traded his top prospect and best power bat to acquire exceptional rotation additions in Jeff Samardzija, Jason Hammel and Jon Lester.

Before that trade the A’s had the best record in baseball. Since? They’ve lot 30 of 46 and stumbled into the postseason, struggling to regain the same outstanding lineup composition that had them as World Series contenders.

Two different roads lead to the same destination, one on the upswing and other trying to find theirs once more. But that isn’t the story, rather just the background. The story is how the Royals singlehandedly sparked baseball.

After not reaching the playoffs for 29 years, Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City was as electric as any stadium I’ve ever seen, and I watched the Kansas City Chiefs break the stadium sound record across the street just a night earlier.

Fans, dressed fully in blue, were never out of the equation, even when trailing on three different accounts. Their resilience matched the team – one of small ball, never giving up and a blue-collar attitude. The fan base represented their team just as well as the team played for its fans.

And through our televisions we witnessed the beauty and perfection of sport combined with a flawless relationship between athletes and fans. Never were the Royals out of it – not following a two-run, opening-inning deficit, not when down four runs with a seasoned playoff ace, Lester, staring them down on the mound, and not even when The A’s took a one-run advantage in the top half of the 12^th inning. The fans never stopped cheering, and in turn the players never quit performing.

And as neither a fan of the Royals or Athletics, I feasted on it – and I know others without an interest in the game did, too. Watching and not wanting the Royals to win seemed impossible, even against my preseason World Series pick. I’d rather be wrong than see those fans go home unhappy. This is how Kansas City sparked baseball.

They revealed what has been baseball’s appeal since it debuted well before my grandparents were born. Hard work, determination, teamwork, playing for the love of the game and simply doing whatever is necessary to pull victory from the jaws of defeat is so valued in a sport that has dwindled in popularity while trying to compete against the likes of the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLS in recent years. This can be shown by a singular play: a simple steal of third base.

Here’s the situation: bottom of the ninth, one out and a runner on second. Kansas City’s speedster Jarrod Dyson is on the base path, sitting in scoring position only because of a sacrifice bunt (what seemed like the 20^th of the night for Kansas City’s small ball attitude). With an out from the sacrifice, the Royals have two choices: Either 1) With Norichika Aoki and Lorenzo Cain the next two batters, let them swing and hope for a single to the outfield to tie the game, or even better walk-off or 2) Throw all the chips on the table and do what you’ve done all year by attempting an incredibly gutsy steal of third.

They chose option two, not jumping off the methods that got them to this point, such as their counterparts did during mid-season. It worked.

Dyson darted to third and slid well through the bag, one of an MLB playoff-record seven steals for the Royals. Sure enough, Aoki hits a sacrifice fly and Cain lines out. Had they changed strategies now, Kansas City would have lost.

Long story short: The Royals give up a run in the top of the 12^th, sure enough fight back once again, and win on a single off one of Oakland’s midseason acquisitions in Hammel.

Gatorade coolers were dumped, hugs shared to greet the winning run at home plate, and the crowd was as passionate as ever. The Royals showed what being an athlete and a fan is truly supposed to mean, where winning matters, but appreciation for maximum effort means even more.

And baseball provided something that football, basketball, hockey and soccer can’t. Something so unique to the sport, that it is also their downfall to many modern fans. The amount of time it took for this game to conclude was wonderful.

Every pitch made fans hold their breath, as everything could change from one swing of the bat, one fielding error – a passed ball, a steal, and all the other immense variables baseball provides. Every. Single. Pitch. The suspense was brutal – it was a literal nail biter as proof by my hands today. It was as stressful as game to watch as any, but I couldn’t take my eyes away. And remember, I’m not even a Royals fan.

Kauffman was rocking, and as a fan of a team that hasn’t been a winner since 1908, I thank Kansas City for showing me what that kind of passion looks like. Thank you, Kansas City, for being a Cinderella, blue-collar story that not only refused to go down without a fight, but refused to lose in general. Thank you, Kansas City, for showing anyone who questioned the intensity and immense passion that baseball can provide what the potential truly is. And thank you, Major League Baseball, for creating a one-game playoff with such immense pressure that these scenarios have the opportunity to come about.

The sudden death play-in game creates such a pressure-filled atmosphere that it makes baseball so much more appealing than its multiple seven-game bouts. After 162 games, to have it all come down to one game may seem unfair to some spectators, but it’s such an incredible concept. Imagine doing 162 days of classes, just to have the professor say “throw out all the homework, your grade comes down to tomorrow’s final test.” Yeah, that kind of pressure.

I hope you all got to experience to an extent what that Tuesday night game involved. Appreciate the pressure on both squads, the nerves they had to squander to perform and the show they put on.

But before I finish, remember what Kauffman looked like in that playoff atmosphere. Now imagine it’s Game Seven. Now move that game to Wrigley Field.

“It doesn’t get any better than this.”

The post How the Kansas City Royals Sparked Baseball appeared first on KRUI Radio.

I’m predicting a good season for the Kansas City Chiefs. You can thank the acquisition of quarterback Alex Smith for that. With the acquisition of quarterback Alex Smith it is just a sign that Chiefs’ Star Wide Receiver, Dwayne Bowe is going to have a great 2013 season. We just might see the Dwayne Bowe from the 2010 season where he had 72 receptions, 1,162 receiving yards, and 15 receiving touchdowns.

Although most are saying that this might not be such a great year for Alex Smith because the way Matt Cassel played as the quarterback of the Kansas Chiefs, and how his production decline throughout the years. When you look at the Smith is already looking like he should do better than Cassel. When Cassel had a great season the next year he had a mediocre season. Then after that he had a phenomena season in his second year in Kansas City where he threw 27 touchdowns, only 7 interceptions, threw for 3,116 passing yard, and had a quarterback rating of a 93. After that Cassel number just been decreasing/ Compare to Alex Smith, although he haven’t had a breakout year like Cassel did in 2010 he has been increasing his number every year since 2009.

Because of Matt Cassel struggles, that caused Chiefs’ star wide receiver stats to go down. The same year when Cassel had that breakout season was the same season when Dwayne Bowe had a breakout season as well. With Smith improving every season, that only means that Dwayne Bowe would have another breakout season this year. With Smith under center Bowe is most likely going to be a pro bowl wide out for the second time in his five year career. This maybe will be one of the best receiver and quarterback duo in the NFL next season. It is clear that Bowe is the best receiver on the Chiefs team, since his first 3 years in the league he was second in receiving on because that’s when they had Tony Gonzalez. Ever since 2009, Bowe has been leading his team in every single receiving category. As long as Alex Smith has a great year, Dwayne Bowe would have a fantastic season.

Now we have to wait until training camp starts, to find out whether or not these two stars can work together here in Kansas City. With this move it’s bring high hope to the Kansas City organization. Hopefully they want let Kansas City down again next season.

The post Will Alex Smith and Dewayne Bowe have great seasons? appeared first on KRUI Radio.