Whitlock follows through

with a KC Star column about the Royals. A good job at running down the GM and trying to get to the bottom of things, but I was shocked when he admitted that he hadn't been to Kauffman Stadium in OVER A YEAR.

Wow. I know the Royals are bad, but shouldn't the KC Star lead sports columnist at least write about one of the two professional teams in the city more than once a year? Am I alone on this?

 

He's a busy guy.

He has race cards to play restaurants to visit chats with Barkley to schedule things to do.

 

Is Whitlock the lead columnist, or is Posnanski? Posnanski has been there a lot.

 

Posnanski is clearly the superior columnist. Whitlock has his special interests ... and the Royals aren't one of them. The sad thing is, there are lots of great angles to write about when a team is mired in mediocrity like the Royals.

 

Yeah, everyone loves a mediocritter.

 

I have not been on this board long but I definitely notice a pattern when it comes to the posts of Brett Watson.

As for Jason, good for him following up his original column.

 

I don't know if it is a formal arrangement, but it seems like Posnanski takes care of the Royals and the local angle, while Whitlock does the Chiefs and national with some college football mixed in.
At least that's the impression I get on the occasions I have read the Star. So I'm not terribly surprised that Whitlock hasn't been to the Royals in a year.

 

This isn't surprising. Columnists have their own interests and disinterests and most papers try to play to theiir columnists' strengths. While at the Herald, I did every Final Four, and Steve Buckley did the World Series. Suited us both just fine.

 

Whitlock used to spend more time at the ballpark, but he was undercover:

 

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/14872899.htm

 

dye - i gotta call you out for posting that pic of whitlock ... he was a slimmed down 18 years old when that was taken. you're being way too generous.

but in all seriousness, it sure is nice to see the guy get around to doing his job especially since the trail had grown so cold even scooby-freakin'-doo couldn't track it down. i'm sure the glasses had the grill fired up and plenty of dane to go around to keep him distracted. i'm sure he won't be back to the park for another year or so. great, great hometown journalist.

 

I think that's a pretty weak-ass effort. Doesn't really tell you much. After a short sit-down interview with the new GM, Whitlock gives his seal of approval to the GM.
The column Whitlock wrote for ESPN.com's Page 2, that's the column that belonged in the Star.
And is Whitlock a little like Mariotti and some of the other mulit-media stars who are "too busy" to, as Jason puts it, "work their corners." If Whitlock's not the Star's "baseball columnist" then he shouldn't write about the Royals _ ever. Otherwise, he needs to get his big butt to The K and hang out some. Oh, no, wait. That's way too time consuming for a Big Time Columnist with so many irons in the fire.