Whitlock follows through

[Pocket Aces]

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?

 

[DyePack]

He's a busy guy.

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

 

[joe]

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

 

[brettwatson]

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.

 

[Ace]

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.

 

[hypocritealert]

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.

 

[JayFarrar]

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.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

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.

 

[DyePack]

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

 

[Firstime Caller]

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

 

[Tom Petty]

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

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.

 

[SockPuppet]

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.

 

[BTExpress]

Am I imagining things, or is there some kind of obsession with the Royals on this board, a team that hasn't been remotely relevant in more than two decades and which shows no signs of becoming relevant in any of our lifetimes?

 

[kingcreole]

Am I imagining things, or is there some kind of obsession with the Royals on this board, a team that hasn't been remotely relevant in more than two decades and which shows no signs of becoming relevant in any of our lifetimes?

It's that damn Midwest Coast bias, I tell you!

 

[brettwatson]

The Royals are a microcosm of sports in the 00s. They can't compete with the big boys in the current economic strata that is major league baseball and the folks they have hired to make personnel decisions are the exact opposite of the boy geniuses who run the A's and Red Sox. The average Joes that control the purse strings have kept the franchise mired in mediocrity,

Meanwhile, the fans suffer. Two decades now between playoff appearances. One can only live on memories of George Brett and Bret Saberhagen and Willie Wilson, et. al. for so long and then it's what have you done lately. In KC's case, the answer is absolutely nothing.

What's sad is how strong of a baseball community KC once was. They drew from 4-5 states and personified all that was right with the sport. But year after losing year robbed the faithful of all hope. And unliike other perennial losers (Cubs) the lure of Kauffman Stadium isn't enough to draw the masses like lemmings every year.

If KC ever gets good again -- and that's one giant sized if -- maybe the luster will return to this formerly proud franchise.

 

[SockPuppet]

Uh, Jason, you there?

 

[Simon]

Wright Thompson piece on David Glass being a great man: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/14895910.htm

Whitlock on Glass being kind: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/14896092.htm

Release the hounds?

 

[jason_whitlock]

Wright Thompson piece on David Glass being a great man: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/14895910.htm

Whitlock on Glass being kind: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/14896092.htm

Release the hounds?

simon, how 'bout a little context... i've been writing a series of columns on glass. you can't just talk about day 4 without mentioning the other 3.

 

[spnited]

Before I share a couple of the stories, I want to clear up a couple of things. When I went out to the K on Saturday, I had no idea that my colleague Wright Thompson was filing a long profile on David Glass for today’s paper.



Nothing like being totally disconnected from what's going at at the paper where you supposedly work. Too busy being a media star, huh, JW.

 

[Simon]

Recap of Jason's hardcore bashing of Glass: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/

1st column he talks about the new GM and bashes Glass a little bit. 2nd Column he talks how they Royals suck and havent been playing better and that Bell is a sitting duck. 3rd column he talks about the Royals need a new Tony Pena, someone ****ing nuts like Ozzie. 4th column he joins Wright's Glass is a great guy who is going blind but he still says he sucks and is the worst owner ever.

More coverage of Royals than they ever deserve.

I think I get the point that David Glass sucks as an owner...but how is this changing anything? How are your columns going to make the Royals better? How many times are writers going to write "Glass hates losing" without questioning it seriously? He's full of ****.