Andy Reid: New Chiefs Head Coach

CHIEFS HEAD COACH ANDY REID

INTRODUCTORY PRESS CONFERENCE

January 7, 2013

CHAIRMAN AND CEO CLARK HUNT

Opening Statement: “This is a very exciting day for me and my family and everyone affiliated with the Chiefs organization. A week ago today, when I began the search for our next head coach, I outlined a specific set of criteria that I believe best described the ideal candidate for our job. I knew that I wanted a proved leader who has built a successful program; I knew I was looking for an effective communicator, teacher and someone with a high football I.Q. and a strong work ethic. Finally – most importantly – I wanted a man of integrity, who would hold himself and those around him accountable to get the job done. What I didn’t know when I laid out those criteria last week was that I was effectively describing Andy Reid. Naturally, I was pleased to find someone who matched what I was looking for. I was even more excited once I spent time with Andy and got to know him as a person. He is warm and engaging, down to earth and we hit it off right away. It was fun to talk football with him; he is intelligent, receptive and you can tell that he has been around the game a long time. He is also humble, honest and appreciative of the opportunity to be a head coach in the National Football League. Andy is a proven winner who built an outstanding program in Philadelphia over the last 14 years. During his tenure with the Eagles, his teams qualified for the playoffs nine times and his teams went to the NFC Championship game five times. Andy led the Eagles to six NFC East division titles and the 2004 NFC Championship. He is fifth in career victories among active coaches and has been named NFL Coach of the Year three times during his career. As a teacher and communicator, he has demonstrated a unique ability to motivate his players. His knowledge of the game and humble, hardworking approach to his craft has made him one of the most respected voices in the National Football League.

“In addition to his abilities as a coach, Andy is a man of integrity who cares deeply about his family and the people that he works with. He is well respected around the league for his character, humility and the genuine compassion that he demonstrates for his coaches, players, colleagues and most of all, his family. We are excited today because we are not only welcoming Andy to the Chiefs family but also his lovely wife Tammy. Spending time with Tammy over the last few days, it is already apparent that she will be an outstanding addition to our Chiefs family and an engaged member of the Kansas City community. We are so glad to have her here in Kansas City, and we appreciate her sharing Andy with us.

“I am very excited to begin this new chapter in Chiefs history today by welcoming the new head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, Andy Reid.”

HEAD COACH ANDY REID

Opening Statement: “I am very excited to be a Kansas City Chief. I had a small stint in Columbia, Mo., at the University of Missouri as a football coach and the offensive line coach. My family and myself, we loved every moment of that opportunity. When Clark called – I have been in this league a long time – and there are certain families that stand out. The Hunt family is just top; they are phenomenal, phenomenal people. When Clark is the CEO and Chairman of the Kansas City Chiefs, when he called, he immediately had my attention. I completely understand his values and the organizational values which he possesses. The fan base here is phenomenal; I came from a fan base that was tremendous. The Kansas City Chiefs fan base – there is nothing like the sea of red. I had an opportunity to play here and play against the Chiefs, and it is tough. I can’t wait to invite other teams in to be challenged by the Chiefs kingdom; it is a great environment. With that, with the great job they have done taking Arrowhead Stadium and turning it into this monster with all the great additions that have been added to it and with all of the community support, as a head coach, you just can’t ask for more.”

How did Clark Hunt sweep you off your feet when you decided to come to Kansas City? “Clark and members of this organization paid me a visit. What I thought would be a three hour meeting turned out to be a nine hour meeting and it probably could have gone on a lot longer than that. There was a certain energy that started with Clark and radiated with the people that I had a chance to meet with. As we talked, you got this feeling that this is the right thing to do. It made the decision easy. I crossed my fingers hoping that I would be offered the job, and I was.”

How do you get back to the level you were at from 2000-05 as opposed to the last few years? “The last couple of years weren’t good enough. I look at the whole picture of those 14 years, and I take responsibility for each one of them. I understand the energy that I have and that I can bring to the organization. We will start from the bottom, and we will start working. I’ll make sure that I bring a good staff, and we will get down to it. My job is to be the head football coach, and that is what we are going to do. We are going to coach hard and make sure that we build a foundation.”

What do you think about this roster? “I have looked at the roster and there are some good football players on this team. I look to add to that, I think that’s important. We can all get better – me included. The quarterback position, I will dig in and look at that and we will build it. We will see how that works out, we need to spend some time on that – I need to find the next Len Dawson. It might be right here, it might not. I have to dig in, and I need a little time on that.”

How long do you think it will take you to settle in and start player evaluations? “We have to go through that process and we will dig in. When Clark hires a general manager, we’ll get to that part. We will make sure that the coaches and the General Manager will get in and analyze the team. The coaches that were here left evaluations of the team and those will obviously be taken into consideration. It’s a process, and it will take a little bit of time to get in there and make sure we do it the right way.”

Was there any thought in your mind of taking a year off? “I’m ready to go now. This is what I do, so I’m ready to go. I never took that into consideration.”

Do you have any regrets about your time in Philadelphia? “I don’t. I can leave Philadelphia saying that I gave it my all. I can leave Philadelphia with some great years. I was there a long time as were some of my staff members. We were blessed to be there and sometimes change is good; change will be tremendous for the Philadelphia Eagles and on the other hand, it will be terrific for the Kansas City Chiefs.”

What is the feature that you look for in a quarterback? “There are a lot of things and they are all different. You have got to be able to win football games, and that is what it comes down to. You can evaluate a lot of different things, but ultimately, what it comes down to is you have to be able to win football games. That’s how you go about your evaluation.”

What similarities do you see between your situation in Philadelphia and the one you have here? “With the exception of the expansion of the Cleveland Browns at that time; we were the lowest team with the worst records in the league.  That’s the same thing that we are right now.  That would be the similarity there.  I would tell you that there are some good football players on this team and it is important to continue to build on that.  Every team goes through a bit of a transition. Teams get old and then they have to start over and continue to build from the ground up.  That’s what Scott and Clark have committed to so we will continue to do that.”

Will you have any input in the decision of the new GM.  And what part of your staff do you already have built or will you consider keeping any of the current guys?“As far as the coaches go, I have gone through and met with all of the guys and I will make that evaluation as we go.  I had a great visit with them, and they are some great guys.  Romeo [Crennel] and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for him. He built a good staff.  As far as the general manager goes, I'm leaving that up to Clark.  I will sit in on the interviews with him, but the final decision is his.”

On the staff, will you interview them here, what’s the process? “Here’s what I did this morning; I got in early and started the interview process.  I started with the oldest down to the youngest, that’s the way it went. They had an opportunity to have a platform to talk and I had the opportunity to talk to them. There was positive interaction between all of us.  We are all in the same profession together, and they deserve a chance to have an opportunity.  There will be some that come with, but I’m still in that process.”

Do you have any sense if you’ll go with the 4-3, 3-4, and after meeting with Scott did you decide that you didn’t want to work with him, how did that work? “Scott and I are friends, but that was taken care of before me and worked out between Scott and Clark.  In regards to the 4-3, 3-4, I’M evaluating that right now.  I understand the values in both. I’ve been a 4-3 guy, and I’ve played against a 3-4 so I got it and understand it.  There has been an effort to bring in players that work in the 3-4, so I will look at that first and go from there.”

Clark, you said that you are restructuring the organization.  Could you clarify that and how you envision your role now and does that mean you’ll be spending more time at the facilities?“We have restructured the organization.  Historically the head coach has answered to the general manager and the general manager answered to the CEO.  Beginning with Andy joining the organization, the coach will report directly to me and the general manager will report directly to me. It will change my day-to-day interaction, I will have a lot more interaction with the head coach than I have in the past.  Most of my interaction has been with the general manager from a football standpoint. I spend quite a bit of time here, and I’m not sure if it will go up or down.  Whether I’m here or not it’s easy to be in contact with Andy on a daily basis in today’s technology world.”

This past year the fans had a difficult time, are you hoping they come back and what reassurance can you give them? “Absolutely. My job, and the reason I was hired is to produce a productive football team, one that can challenge these other great teams in the National Football League and win games. That’s what I’m going to start to do.  I welcome them all back. I’m welcoming the other teams back. I want them to see the sea of red. I want them to see what I saw when I came here to play, a very energetic and aggressive crowd. I love that.  My job is to get a good product for them, and I’m going to work my tail off to put that together.”

Who will make the final decision on player personnel? “That would be the general manager, and really the general manager will pass that through Clark.”

As you put your staff together is it important that coordinators have head coaching experience?“No, that’s not important at all. I want to try and get the best guy in that I possibly can on offense and defense, that’s the way I would like to approach it.”

What was said in the conversations between you and Dick Vermeil? “Dick is a very close friend; he has called me once a week since I’ve been in the National Football League.  He considers the Hunt family at the top of the list.  He has said nothing but good things about the Hunts and the city of Kansas City and the organization.” 

How are you going to handle the quarterback situation? “I’m going to study the heck out of the guys that are here and have a chance to meet those guys. Then I’ll have a chance to evaluate that at that point.  We have some guys to be in a solid position. It might not happen this year, you never know.  The important thing is you do the right thing.  We have been blessed with the No. 1 pick in the draft, and you want to make sure you do the right thing and pick the right guy, not necessarily a quarterback, it has to be the right thing. You don’t want to force anything. People that do that get themselves in trouble.”

CHAIRMAN AND CEO CLARK HUNT

How many interviews were scheduled? “We had more interviews scheduled after Coach Reid, but we made the decision that we didn’t need to pursue those. Andy also had some interviews, but on Wednesday, we had a pretty good feeling on the direction which we were headed. By no means was it a done deal at that point; Andy mentioned to me that he wanted to bring Tammy to Kansas City for a chance to see the city. He wanted to see the facilities and we did that on Friday. By the end of the day it was apparent that it was a perfect match and we were able to get the deal done.”

What was the interview structure like? “We decided to have a fairly large interview team in large part because I wanted the candidates to get a good feel for the organization. In today’s NFL, the business side and the football side need to work closely together, and that has never been more true than it is today. I felt it was important for Andy to have a chance to speak with some people on the business side of the organization as well as the football side.”

Was there a moment that you realized something needed to be done with the organization? “It was a very hard year on all of us – my family, the fans, and the organization – both on and off the field. I don’t want to say that there was any one moment where I realized that I had to do something about it, but when you are not successful in the National Football League, it is a certainty that change is coming. I’m glad that 2012 is in the rearview mirror at this point and that we are off to 2013. In Andy, we already have our first victory.”

Do you have a timetable to find a general manager? “We have already started that process and we have a list of candidates. We don’t have a timeline per say, but I do hope that we can have this wrapped up as soon as we can. One of the advantages of having Andy on board as quickly as he is, is that it will help us from the standpoint of attracting assistant coaches. I think the same thing can be said on the GM front; the GM that we hire will know where we are from a head coaching standpoint. The sooner the better, but I cannot give a timeframe.”

Picture by Chris Sembower. Check out his sweet art at www.chrissembower.com

My debate format

I have a great idea for a new debate format that will keep the public interested and the candidates on their toes:

The debate format is similar to the game show 'Press Your Luck' and the entire debate is a 'Question Round'. There are 10 questions and the first candidate to buzz in gets to answer each question. Then, after the answer is given, a panel of celebrity judges gets to decide what the rating of the answer is. If it's a low rating, then the other candidate gets to give his rebuttal instantly. If it is a high rating, then the candidate who has not given an answer has to spin the big board and hope for "no wammies". He does not want to land on a wammy. If he does, then he has to do a physical challenge. Such as: finding a flag in a big, messy piece of pizza, or climbing across a jungle gym while being hit in the face with a gigantic water hose. Once he completes the physical challenge, he then gets to give his rebuttal. The 'Question Round' never lasts for more than 10 questions or until both candidates are too tired from the physical challenges and cannot continue, whichever comes first. Once the question round is complete, each candidate gets 5 minutes to talk about whatever they want without insulting the other candidate. However, this is not as easy as it sounds as they are attached to a lie detector during the entire final 5 minutes. If the candidate is caught lying, then Joe Rogan comes out and makes them do a stunt from 'Fear Factor', such as eating bugs or drinking something gross. After this round, the debate is over and America is polled on who won by Ryan Seacrest. Then there will be no questions as to who won the debate because as it stands now, each candidate wins and loses depending on which party you talk to.

I hope the Chiefs go 2-14

I really hope the Chiefs go 2-14. I really, really hope that they lose those 14 games in a humiliating fashion. I also really, really, really hope those 14 losses are so awful that by week 16, the last home game, Chiefs fans aren't even at Arrowhead. And by "not at Arrowhead", I mean: Nobody is in the stadium. At all. And if there are people in the stadium, I hope it's only those guys that are way up on the sides of the upper deck that stand the entire game. That'd be pretty funny. Just those guys standing there all alone, spaced out by 10-15 rows.

Anyway, you might be asking, "Why, Angry Chiefs Fan, do you want them to go 2-14 and not 1-15?" Well, kind sir, I answer that with this: "I want to beat the Raiders in Oakland because I hate the Raiders with such a burning rage that I want to make them feel just as awful about their team as I do about mine."

But this is all just a wonderful, drug filled dream. We all know that the Chiefs will pull 2-3 wins out of their ass and finish 4-12 or something and get the 6th pick in the draft, or just deep enough that Geno Smith, Barkley, EJ Manuel and that guy from Arkansas are all already off the board and we'll be stuck drafting another interior lineman on defense that won't pan out because none of them have since Bill Maas in 1984. This is how the Chiefs work. This is how the Chiefs have worked for the past 8 or so years. They'll go on a win streak in December when they play the Browns, Raiders and Colts and everyone will say; "Where was this team all season? Good momentum going into 2013!" and nothing will change in the off-season. Basically an NFL version of what the Royals have done each September for the past 27 years. So, I'm rooting for them to lose every single game. #StinkoforGeno or #PlayBadlyforBarkley or #SuckforEJ (yea, I can't think of anything good for him) or #TankforTyler. I don't care which one it is, but I want one of those 4 guys in the first round in 2013. So suck it up, Chiefs! Suck it up for your fans that have given a shit for all these years when you've refused to put a team on the field that's good enough to win one lousy playoff game.

Long blog short: I've decided to just not care for the rest of this season. I'll watch the games, but only because I enjoy a hearty laugh when I watch football players do stupid things over and over and over again and never learn from their mistakes because they're either awful, or the coaches don't know what they're doing well enough to fix it. I'll be pissed when the Chiefs win, and happy when they lose. Basically it's going to be opposite day every Sunday at my house.

Also, how the hell did Pioli pull this Houdini shit in the pre-season and make all the experts and fans believe the Chiefs were AFC West contenders? That's some good ass magic right there.

The End.

Romeo's Quotes

HEAD COACH ROMEO CRENNEL

PRESS CONFERENCE

OCT. 15, 2012

OPENING STATEMENT: “I don’t know what I can tell you about yesterday other than the fact that we were disappointed in it. We needed to go down and play a better game than we played and we were in the game at halftime and the second half, we were unable to get much done in the second half and the score got out of hand as a result of it. We’re a 1-5 football team and that means you’re not very good. We’re working to try to get better, we will continue to work to get better as we focus on this bye week and see how we can improve things. But as you look at the game, me personally, I was disappointed with the first quarter and the penalties we had in the first quarter because I expect more from our guys as far as the decisions they make as it relates to penalties and field position, because field position is critical and it’s important and I’ve been talking to them about it. I thought that they understood the importance of field position. It was not a lack of effort or they didn’t do it maliciously, they were trying to play football, but they made some bad choices as it related to penalties, so that hurt. The other thing that hurt us in the course of the day is that we were in position to make plays on the ball and we were not able to make plays on the ball. It’s not like guys were wide open and we weren’t covering them, we were in position and I expected us to make plays and felt we should have intercepted a couple of those balls, but they made the play and we didn’t and as a result of it, it ended up in chunks of yards that they were able to gain and there was a touchdown on one and a couple chunks of yards on the others. That hurt us as far as field position, momentum and all those things were concerns. We still have to continue to work to get better and be able to make those plays because at least we were in position to make them and now if we make them then that will help our momentum, help our field position and help our chances to win. The quarterback, Brady [Quinn], I thought that he was a little rusty but he managed the game, managed the team. I think if he’d had more time, I think the rust would have been knocked off, but he didn’t have much time so he did the best he could with the time that he had to prepare for this game. In the running game, we weren’t able to run the ball as effectively as we had been running the ball. You have to give their defense credit because their defense was pretty active and did some things along the line of scrimmage that impacted our running game. But the bottom line is the bottom line, we lost the game and this business is ‘did you win or did you lose’ and we did not win. So we’re going to go forward and try to improve it and try to get better and try to win. That’s what we’re going to do. With that, I’ll open it up.”

DANNY PARKINS (610 SPORTS RADIO): You’ve said after two games now that you’re not sure why the team played as bad as they did. Why should fans believe that you’ll be able to fix why the team is playing so poorly?

CRENNEL: “You know, I was referring to that first quarter where it’s important in the game to get off to a good start, particularly when you’re on the road and we had like five penalties, I believe, in that first quarter and that was disappointing to me because I expect better, I expect more from the players. For them to make those choices that hurt us in field position, I just didn’t like it. And what I know about this business is you have to keep working with your guys, keep harping with your guys, keep trying to knock it into their head what you want them to do and eventually they get it. They don’t always get it right away, but eventually they get it and I’m hoping that we will get it soon.”

PARKINS: So is the answer then more of the same?

CRENNEL: “No, see I didn’t say that.”

PARKINS: Well you said you keep working at it and eventually you’ll get it?

CRENNEL: “That’s what you have to do, you have to keep working at it. If I don’t keep working at it then I might as well pack up my bags and go home. But I’m going to keep working at it, I’m going to try to get these guys better and then the team will be better as a result.”

DANNY CLINKSCALE (SPORTS RADIO 810 WHB): Were you disappointed in the effort level in those last couple of drives?

CRENNEL: “Yeah, I was disappointed in the effort there. We were not as disciplined as we needed to be defensively to be able to stop those guys from scoring those couple of touchdowns that they scored then. And I was disappointed in that. Some of it is guys were trying to make plays – not that they didn’t give effort – but they were trying to make a play and they got out of position. Sometimes it might be, we run up the field or the linebacker might try to run through to make a play and get picked off by a tackle, so some of those things occurred that allowed them to score.”

DOUG TUCKER (ASSOCIATED PRESS): If Matt Cassel is ready to go for your next game against Oakland, will he start?

CRENNEL: “That’s a hypothetical and Matt has not been cleared to practice yet. When Matt is cleared to practice football, then we’ll evaluate it and then we’ll make the decision at that time.”

TUCKER: Have people been encouraging you to play Matt Cassel?

CRENNEL: “Encouragement, no.”

TUCKER: Is there pressure to stick with Matt Cassel?

CRENNEL: “No. I have not. I decide who plays. I decide who’s active. I decide who’s inactive. I will evaluate the situation and I will make the choice.”

PARKINS: What allowed you to have a more balanced game plan with Brady Quinn at quarterback rather than a run-dependent game plan with Matt Cassel at quarterback?

CRENNEL: “You know I’ve always said it depends on what’s going on in the game and when we couldn’t run the ball as effectively, then you’ve got to try to mix some other things in and if you can mix some play-actions and some throws down the field in a little bit, that might open up the running game. But it didn’t open up the running game, so the game plan ended up being more balanced because of what occurred.”

CLINKSCALE: Was Jamaal fully 100 percent healthy yesterday? He seemed to come out of the game quite a bit?

CRENNEL: “Well I don’t know if any players are totally 100 percent. He’s banged up a little bit, but he’s able to play and when he needs to come out or we take him out, he comes out, he catches a breather, gets some water and then he’s back in there.”

BOB FESCOE (610 SPORTS RADIO): You said yesterday basically that if the talent does what we tell them to do, we’ll be ok. Are the guys not doing what you’re trying to get them to do?

CRENNEL: “Not all the time. Yeah, not all the time. And sometimes it’s because they anticipate things. We give them the game plan during the week and we say, ‘on this formation, this is what these guys have been doing, on this formation this is what these guys have been doing.’ So they begin to anticipate, ‘here’s the formation that he said that this is what they’re going to do.’ So now he plays the play but it’s not that play so now he’s out of position and that creates a seam in the defense or a hole in the offense as well. So sometimes that occurs. What the guys have to be is, they have to be disciplined enough to do their job first before they help out and that was happening in the fourth quarter – we weren’t disciplined enough to do our job first and then try to help. We tried to help out without doing our job which creates seams.”

FESCOE: Was Steve Breaston not part of the offensive game plan yesterday?

CRENNEL: “Steve is a backup wide receiver right now. And the number of reps he gets, I don’t know how many he’s going to get or when he’s going to be called on and when he’s going to be needed. And we’ve talked about it and I said you just have to be ready when you’re called on and do the best you can when you get called. And that’s the way every backup on the team has to do it. There are a lot of backups on the team that don’t get reps, but if they get called on they have to go in and play.”

TJ CARPENTER (SPORTS RADIO 810 WHB): How do you plan on instilling that discipline in your team for the rest of the season?

CRENNEL: “If they will play hard and do their job first – and when I’m talking about not being totally undisciplined, it’s making some choices that normally you wouldn’t make – do your job first and then help out. So if they do their job first, no matter what the circumstance is and then help out, then we’ll be better. But if they try to help out first before doing their job then there’s going to be a seam somewhere, there is going to be a hole. A lot of times the good teams find those holes.”

CARPENTER: How do you get them to do what you’re asking them to do?

CRENNEL: “Practice and practice and practice. Repetition and repetition.”

PARKINS: You’ve talked about trying to find an identity for this team. Are you any closer to that?

CRENNEL: “Well I think that depends on what you mean by identity, because some teams have an identity of running the football. Some teams have the identity of passing the football. Some teams have the identity that they’re a quarterback offense, so I think your team is what it is. What I have always said is I want tough, physical, smart football players. That’s still what I want. I think we have some on this team and I think that, like I said, if they will do their job first and then help out, then we’ll be able to make plays.’

FESCOE: When you’re sitting at 1-5 and you’re struggling, do you call anybody in the industry like a mentor that you can go to for thoughts or ideas?

CRENNEL: “There are a couple guys that I can call and talk to, yeah.”

FESCOE: Care to share those names?

CRENNEL: “No.”

DOUG TUCKER (ASSOCIATED PRESS): I know you’ve changed quarterbacks but are you making any changes during the bye week?

CRENNEL: “I think by adjusting to offensive approach and becoming a more balanced offense like it was just mentioned. I think that will help us be able to be more effective on the offensive side of the ball because when you do one thing, like when you run the ball and if you’re not able to run the ball, then you’re pigeon holed and they know exactly what you can do. I think that we have to be able to mix it up more offensively to make defenses defend more things, and then by them having to defend more things by spreading the ball around more,  then maybe we can make some of those plays that this other team made against us.”

JOHNNY KANE (KMBC): Do you feel a sense of urgency to win?

CRENNEL: “I think we must win, so that we can win and generate some confidence for this team and for our fans if nothing else. That was one of the reasons I was disappointed about the penalties in the first quarter, because we’re going against a team on the road and you don’t want to give away anything on the road. We were giving up field position. I was disappointed in that. I think you focus on the next game and you do everything you can to win the next game then you go from there.”

TUCKER: The fan base is very angry, are you going to talk to the players about trying to ignore it? Do you talk to the team on this or do you put on the blinders and forge ahead?

CRENNEL: “Well, I think you put on the blinders and try to forge ahead because there is nothing that we can do about what’s said other than win a ballgame. If we win a ballgame, then some of those comments kind of get tempered a little bit. If we can win another one, then they get tempered a little more. That’s the best thing that we can do is to win a ballgame. Yesterday those one, two, three plays where defensively we were in position, if we make any one of those or two of those – we should make all three of them because we’re in position, but we don’t make them – if we make any one of those, probably, it’s a different game and we might be able to win the game because it’s 7-3 at the half. Their seven came off a long touchdown pass. That was one of those three that I was just talking about, so if we’re in position to make them and we just didn’t make them. That still doesn’t make it any easier. That still doesn’t change the record. I understand that, but I can take from that, that the guys are in position, that they’re trying to do their job. I’ve got to take the next step with them and get them able to make the play rather than give up the play.”

CARPENTER: Are you working with the wide receivers in practice to fix the tipped balls that are intercepted?

CRENNEL: “Hand placement, for one, not tipping the ball up in the air. Sometimes when you go to catch and you put your hands under the ball, now it has a chance to get tipped up in the air. But now, boom, if you put those thumbs together and catch it like such. If I don’t catch it, it’s going to go down into the ground, so we’ve been working on those things. Hopefully that will help us.”

PARKINS: What do you have to say about the reports on a contract extension for Scott Pioli?

CRENNEL: “Contracts, the only contract that I’m concerned about is mine, and Scott has to deal with his contract situation whatever it may be. I don’t know what it is, so he will address it if he needs to. But I think there might be a team policy that contracts cannot be discussed, but I’m not sure.”

KANE: Can you compare this season to any time in Cleveland that you experienced?

CRENNEL: “There were times in Cleveland that it wasn’t this close, so it’s been a little bit worse. The thing about this team and about these players is that we were somewhat successful last year, and we’ve added some players to the team and that impacts the chemistry and everything that’s going on. I think because we’re in position to make plays, those plays will start getting made. Just like Justin Houston. He did what he was supposed to do; he was in position. He intercepted the ball and ran it across midfield, but then we got the penalty on it. But he was in position. He made the play, so that’s encouraging when you see a guy do what he’s supposed to do. Like I told them today, if you just do what you’re supposed to do, do your job first, then good things happen for us. That’s what we’re trying to impress upon them, that let’s do your job first and then help out.”

My God.... the Royals......

I've gotten tired of trying to get my point across on the Royals in 140 characters on Twitter. So I'm coming here to voice my opinion.

I love baseball. I played baseball in college, I was a coach in college (albeit for a short time period) and I was an All-American in college.  Long story short: I know baseball. But the thing the Royals are trying to do is NOT baseball. At least not Major League Baseball as it's being played in 2012.

First things first: Why the fuck is Jarrod Dyson leading off all the God damn time?? HEY YOST: DYSON HAS A CAREER OBP OF .297. THAT ISN'T GOOD. QUIT LEADING HIM OFF. In case you didn't know, you don't put a guy in the lead-off spot that is LUCKY to hit the ball in the outfield. Plus, he sucks in the outfield. Why in the world you guys sent down Bourgeois without giving him a chance is just idiotic. The guy hit .292 last year for the shitty ass Houston Astros, but you go with Jarrod Dyson? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING.


Trying to win games with a slew of long relievers, inning eaters and 4th and 5th starters as your rotation isn't going to cut it, even if you have the 1927 Yankees lineup. Don't agree? Then name one World Series champ in the past 20 years that didn't have an ace (a pitcher that dominated that season) on their pitching staff.....

I'd wait longer for you to scour baseball reference to find one, but you're not going to because one doesn't exist. This isn't the movie Major League. You can't put together a bunch of crap players and expect them to all have career years at the same time and "hope for the best" because you promised to take the clothes off the owner after each win. This is MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL. Where pitching is everything. Give me a team with 5 ace pitchers and a bunch of Jarrod Dyson/Chris Getz clones as hitters and I'll win you a division. I'll scrap across 3 runs a game, maybe 4 if one of them gets lucky and hits an inside the parker, and I'll win 90+ games easy. Why? Because my pitchers will give up 3 or less 90% of the time. Not 3 one game, then 9 the next. I don't want to lose the chance at a win in the first 2 innings. Because when you keep getting down 6, 7, even 8 runs in the first 3 innings every 3-4 games your position players start to get frustrated and eventually pissed off. They were pissed off tonight. You could see it in their faces and body language. They knew the game was over in the 3rd inning. They just wanted to get it over with and get on to the next game.

More later.......

Finding Bigfoot?

Have you seen this show? If you haven't, you're not missing much as they never actually "find" Bigfoot. Usually they find nothing. It's like if someone made up a show titled "Eating cheese", but nobody ever eats any cheese. They just spend an hour talking to people about cheese, then they put on some night vision goggles and stare into the fridge at odd hours of the night, hoping some cheese shows up. But it never does. 

If you haven't seen the show, here is some typical dialogue from it:

Bigfoot "witness": I saw this big 8 foot creature just pop out from behind this tree about 50 yards away, then it ran off.

Member of the Bigfoot crew: I'm convinced that you saw a 'squatch. 

More typical dialogue:

Bigfoot crew member #1: What the hell is that! It must be a 'squatch!!  

back from commercial: "Oh wait, it's just a horse."

That's not even the worst part of the show. If you watch it at 3am, like I do, then during commercial breaks you get epic abused pet commercials with Sarah McLachlan playing over it. 

Awesome show. Great job!

Update?

If you're looking at this right now you probably think it's a dead blog. Well it isn't. I just don't update it very often.

If you want to know what's on my mind, follow me on twitter: Follow @BrianJAyers