SSSSUUUUUUHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Team USA Baseball

There is something in sports that Midwesterners love. They always have and they always will. They love it when players leave everything on the field for the love of the game. It is shown in their fanaticism for college sports, whether it's Huskers, Bluejays or the Maverics. They love it when kids are on the field giving it everything they have to win.

They also love their country. Why shouldn't you. No matter what your political views, EVERYONE has to admit that this is the best country in the world . . . hands down.

Why not combine both of these loves! And you can tonight. Tonight, the USA National Baseball team will be playing the Japanese National Baseball team at Rosenblatt at 7:00 pm. You will see college aged kids out there playing for their country. They will be decked out in red, white and blue and the name on the front of their jersey will not say UCLA, Arizona State or South Carolina. The name on the front of their jersey will say USA!!!!

These kids know what that means and know that they are representing their country in a competition on the field. A lot of these guys were here a month ago playing in the final College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium. And now their back to play for their country.

The least that we could do as Americans and as baseball fans is to show up and root them on to victory!

Counting Down!!

I just wanted to throw this out there . . .

49 DAYS UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF SATURDAY FOOTBALL THIS SEASON!!!

Once we get past the All Star Game, the we seem to be on the second half of the summer. We start to see more football stories on SportsCenter. Camps start coming together for the NFL teams followed soon after by college football media days (by the way, how crazy will Big 12 media days be this year, especially for Nebraska). Then when August gets here, the college players will get back on campus to begin practicing. And don't forget your fantasy football drafts! And before you know it your whole weekend is spent on the couch with a beer in hand watching the pigskin.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

It's About Time

14 year!!! What all has happened in the last 14 year? How many people who are 20 now, remember when they were 6 years old?

We've hosted two Olympics in the US in that time. We've elected a black president in that time. We've seen the rise and fall of several boy bands in that time. We've seen the addition of 3 new Star Wars movies in that time.

It's been 14 years since the National Team has won the All Star game. Do you remember that crazy summer with Sosa and McGwire? Yeah, this happened even before then. The last time the National League won the All Star game, the steroids era was in full swing in the MLB, but wasn't known by the public.

14 years ago, Mel Gibson was the cool guy from the Lethal Weapon movies. (Man, that guy's career is in the crapper now.)

Congratulations, National League!! You did it! You got that 14 year old monkey off your back!!!

Most Boring Day Of The Sports Year

Today (the day after the All Star Game) is the only day of the year where there are not any of the major sports playing at all. No baseball, no football, no basketball, no hockey, NOTHING!!! I couldn't imagine going more than one day with out any sort of sport to follow.

So, use this day to recuperate. Spend it with your family and out of the heat. Make your wife think that you would rather spend time with her instead of 'watching all of the games that are on TV'. She'll love you and it will give you a free pass for the second half of the baseball season and the first part of the football season.

Hillman Out! Yost In!

I feel bad for Trey Hillman. You manage a game. You win the game. And then you get fired. That sucks. That is like you making a great presentation and then getting fired. The problem is that you didn't get fired based on that one presentation and he didn't get fired based on that one game. Trey Hillman didn't win. Plain and simple.

Trey came in after Buddy Bell stepped down and he was going to bring some fresh air to the club. A young coach with energy that would put a spark in the clubhouse and get these young guys going. It didn't happen. There were signs that it could happen. A great start to the 2009 season that had Royals fans wondering if this would be the year that they become a .500 team and try to contended in the AL Central Division. But then the Royals became the Royals of the last two decades and went back to the bottom of the division. The Royals showed signs last year with a pitcher that was able to overcome being on a bad team to be awarded the American League Cy Young Award. It's a great building block for this season, but on May 13th, the day that Trey gets fired, Greinke finally picks up his first win of the season.

Trey Hillman seems like a really nice guy. Dayton Moore obviously really likes Trey. That was evident when he broke down crying at the press conference to announce the firing of the manager. If you're a nice guy the loses baseball games, you're still losing baseball games. You're not winning. You're not contending and you're not putting butts in the seats.

What do the Royals need to get out of the basement in the division and be talked about with respect? I don't know. But, they need to go talk to the Rays because they've done it.

Big 10?

There's been a lot of discussion about the conference re-alignment and the changes that will be coming to the college football and college sports landscape. And yesterday came the report from WHB in Kansas City that the Big 10 has made 'initial offers' to Notre Dame, Rutgers, Missouri and NEBRASKA. Is this a good thing? I say yes.

There are more positives to moving to the Big 10 than there are positives of staying the Big 12. By the looks of it, the Big 12 could be a picking ground for the other conferences. The Pac 10 wants to expand and the SEC wants to expand and the Big 10 wants to expand. Who is NOT looking at expansion? . . . the Big 12. If anything, the Big 12 is looking at schools that they will need to replace leaving schools. Why not get ahead of the changes and do whatever you can to move to a conference where you know they will have quality opponents? Why not do everything you can to go to a conference that has their own TV network?

Beat the rush and lock yourself into a good conference rather sit on your hands and get stuck in a mediocre to bad conference.