Caleb Humphreys

     Caleb Humphreys is the fan who caught the ball on Mike Moustaks' controversial home run. The reason the home run was controversial was because it appeared that Humphreys reached over the railing and put his glove in between the ball and the wall. The hit was ruled a home run on the field and was later challenged by the Toronto Blue Jays manager, John Gibbons. The television program, Fox Sports One, that was airing the national coverage of the game, quickly cut to replay and showed several angles of the fan catching the ball that didn't look good for the Royals. Eventually the crew chief had heard from the replay official in New York and the hit was ruled a homer despite all of the camera angles that looked like Caleb Humphreys interfered with the ball.
     If the call would have been overturned, Mike Moustakas would have likely been put on second base because Jose Bautista, who was playing right field, had no play on the ball so Moustakas would not have been out. Despite the fact that Moustakas would have gotten second base, the game could've changed entirely in a bad way and even worse for Caleb Humphreys. If that were the case Humprheys would've most likely been escorted out of the stadium for interference and would've been the next Steve Bartman, had the Royals lose the game and the American League Championship Series. Bartman, a huge Chicago Cubs fan was in the first row on the 3rd base foul line for game 6 of the 2003 NLCS. The Cubs were leading the series 3-2 and had a 3-0 commanding lead in the 8th inning when a foul ball was flying close to the stands near him, Bartman reached over interfering with the ball and preventing Moisés Alou, the Cubs left fielder, from catching the ball. The Cubs went onto allow 8 runs that inning and lose 8-3, and eventually lose the NLCS the following game to the Florida Marlins. This was the worst natural instinct any sports fan has ever made and it cost Steve Bartman everything, Bartman was escorted out of the game as beer cans, food, etc. were being thrown at him. He was facing death threats, so Bartman went into hiding and has yet to come out ever since. I would hate to think Royals fans would treat someone that way, but its a possibility if Humphreys interference was actually called.

Caleb Humphreys Catches Mike Moustakas' Homerun

Steve Bartman Interferes with Foul Ball

Back to Back ALCS Championships

     Well, the Kansas City Royals have done it again and despite my prediction, they were able to beat the Toronto Blue Jays with their slightly above average pitching performances. The Royals were able to do what they do best and string hits together forcing in runs to push the Blue Jays pitching to the edge. On top of the Royals rally hitting, they also looked for their strong, talented, defense and their shutdown bullpen despite the loss of Greg Holland. Jumping off with two home wins and heading into Toronto with a commanding lead was very crucial. The Blue Jays were an incredible 53-28 at home this year, due to the simple fact that the Rogers Center is a home run hitting park and the Blue Jays are a homer hitting team. The Jays combined for a total of 123 home runs in the Rogers Center during the regular season and 109 home runs in away ball fields. This shows that if the Royals wanted to beat the Jays in Toronto, they would have to rely on their bats more than their pitching.
     The Royals did what they needed to do and outscored the Blue Jays, 38 to 26 and out hit them as well with 59 hits versus the Blue Jays 46 hits. The Royals eventually won the ALCS in six games, clinching their World Series berth at home on Friday night after a very close 4-3 win with a controversial home run by Mike Moustakas, where a fan appeared to have leaned over the railing and caught the ball. Despite the Blue Jays challenging the call on the field, it was still ruled a home run. The game wasn't over there because Jose Bautista tied the game at 3-3 with his second homer of the game. The Royals scored in the bottom of the 8th as Lorenzo Cain scored from first on a double by Eric Hosmer to make it a 4-3 game. After an hour long rain delay Wade Davis came onto the mound gave up a lead-off hit and then a walk. With runners on second and third Davis struck out two and then finished the Blue Jays off after Josh Donaldson rolled a ground ball to Mike Moustakas to end the game, clinching their back to back ALCS Championships and going to the World Series once again.

The Tides Have Turned Worse for Kansas City Chiefs

     The 2015 season started off looking bright for the Kansas City Chiefs, winning all four pre-season games and week one matchup versus the Houston Texans. The light soon faded in week two with a heartbreaking last minute fumble recovery for a touchdown to give the Denver Broncos the win. In week three we saw Aaron Rodgers do what he does best and breeze past the Chiefs for an easy win. Week four resulted in a loss to a good Cincinnati Bengals team, that is currently undefeated. Week five is where it gets embarrassing, the Chiefs lost to a 1-3 Chicago Bears team in another last-minute loss. This Sunday, week six, we saw the Chiefs lose, yet again, to the Minnesota Vikings who are now 3-2.
     The 2015 season is heading for the drain and looking more and more like the 2012 season where the Chiefs ended 2-14. I sure hope the Chiefs win some more games this season so they do not become the laughing stock of the league, like they were in 2012. It was a rough year for the Chiefs organization in 2012, they were shocked by the murder-suicide of Jovan Belcher, irritated with fans cheering the injury of Matt Cassel, and pissed at fans once again for forming a "Save Our Chiefs" organization. The fans wore black to games to protest, and even hired a plane to do flyovers above the stadium towing a banner that read "Restore Hope: Fire Pioli".
     It is clear to see that things could get nasty for the organization when the fans become irritated with a losing team, so I hope that the Chiefs can turn it around and possibly finish with a .500 season.

Johnny Cueto

     The acquisition of Johnny Cueto for the Kansas City Royals at the trade deadline earlier this season had Royals fans smiling all around the metro. Cueto's Kauffman Stadium debut gave all those fans hope that he would fit right in, and be the true ace that the Royals needed all season. This changed very quickly after a handful of rough starts it almost seemed like we gave away several good minor leaguers for a guaranteed loss overtime Cueto came around in the starting rotation. This came as a surprise to many fans, players, and analysts around the league because Cueto has always been known as an ace from his 7.5 year stint with the Cincinnati Reds.

     Going into the Post Season Johnny Cueto went 4-7 with the Royals and had an ERA of 4.76 which his second highest ERA of any season since his rookie season. His rocky start with the Royals brought up the question as to whether we would end up signing him for the 2016 season. After we clinched a Post Season berth it gave Johnny Cueto some extra time to prove if he is worthy or not. With these extra games after the regular season Cueto has time to prove himself and he did just that in Game 5 of the ALDS where he threw 8 innings and gave up only 2 hits and 2 runs. He now has possibly 2 more games of the ALCS to showcase he is worthy.

Ethics Behind Charging the Mound

     With the start of the 2015 Royals regular season, we saw an unrealistic amount of hit-by-pitch's against the Royals, which led to several team brawls, none of the Royals actually charged the mound, but they sure came close to it. With this in mind I want to talk about the ethics of charging the mound.
     Charging the mound is an assault by the batter against a pitcher which is usually the result of getting hit by an intentional pitch or nearly getting hit by an intentional pitch. This assault is usually brought upon after a few other players have been hit in a game as a form of retaliation. It sounds odd, but many teams use hitting opposing team's batters as a form of protection. It's obviously not protection in the sense that they will most likely get hit later on in the game, but it sends a message that we protect each other as teammates and we aren't afraid of getting ejected for having our teammates back. This idea often extends to the point where batters charge the mound out of retaliation and frustration.
     When a batter chargers the mound he is immediately ejected due to the fact that his sole reasoning of heading to the pitchers mound is with intent to injure the pitcher that just hit him intentionally. This brings up the case of ethics when it comes to charging the mound. Batters often throw their bat or helmet in disgust before charging the mound because charging the mound with your bat would be unethical considering it is used as a weapon in many parts of the world. Although this seems like a reasonable act of ethical thinking, a few players have thrown the whole ethical thinking out the window and actually charged the pitcher with the bat still in hand, which doesn't end well. Usually, the best player on the team or the designated hitter on an American League team gets hit considering pitchers do not hit in the AL, but in the NL pitchers do hit, so they often get retaliated against in the form of a 95+ mph fastball in the middle of the back.
     The ethics of charging the mind are all dependent upon the situation of the game. For instance, the batter needs to take the situational factors into consideration before he starts assaulting the pitcher. These factors can be if he is the best player on the team, if he's pitching, whether or not the game is close, how many players have been hit, etc. It's always fun to see someone charge the mound but sometimes the ethics are thrown out the window in the heat of the moment.

Rio 2016 Olympics right around the corner, already?

     It's hard to believe that the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro are right around the corner already, it seems like the 2012 Summer Olympics in London just finished. I, personally, like the format of having the summer olympics every four years as well as having the winter olympics every four years. This allows for us to not stray too far away from showing our patriotism, but enough of a gap between olympics to where we don't become bored with seeing them on the television every year.
     One of the biggest differences for the the 2016 Rio olympics versus the 2012 London olympics is the addition of two returning sports, golf and sevens rugby as well as a sport making its olympic debut, kitesurfing. I am honestly surprised that the two returning sports were not in the 2012 games due to the fact that these sports have such a global impact. Golf is played by millions of people all over the world, this is shown by having tournaments and competitors from all over the world competing in PGA events. As for rugby, it has a global presence aw well, it even has a growing participation rate and popularity in America. Another reason this is surprising is the fact that the IOC voted rugby into the games with an 81-8 vote, as to why it wasn't in the 2012 games is beyond me. Kitesurfing, making its olympic debut has replaced windsurfing in the summer olympics, but it has seen its fair share of controversy. Many IOC members were not in favor considering the vote only nearly passed with a 19-17 vote in favor of the sport.
     With the 2016 Summer Olympics around the corner, it will be interesting to see how these returning sports impact the 2016 games as well as how many people will enjoy/view the event. As for kitesurfing, I will definitely be tuning in to see what exactly that will look like.

James Harden Mega-Deal with Adidas

     Adidas will pay James Harden $15.38 million dollars a year for the next 13 years for a total of $200 million dollars to endorse Adidas shoes by wearing them on and off the court, he will also help develop new on-court and off-court signature shoes and apparel, as well as partake in promotional tours in Europe and Asia (Long). Harden had a previous shoe endorsement deal with Nike that ended this past summer so Adidas took a shot at landing Harden by offering the $200 Million dollar endorsement deal. Harden was hesitant to sign the deal before giving Nike at least the option to match the deal, and Nike declined so he finalized the deal with Adidas.

     James Harden brings a lot to the table for Adidas. Harden is one of the most recognizable and well-known players in the NBA with his flare on and off the court. With Hardens talent in the game and style in the streets Adidas will see shoe and apparel sales increase with the amount of people wanting to buy James Harden signature shoes and clothing. Adidas has not had a very good history with basketball sales do to the fact Nike is such a powerhouse for shoes and apparel, as well as their biggest endorser to date, Derrick Rose, has struggled with injury and has missed several seasons which hurt sales substantially; so bringing on James Harden will help out Adidas drastically.

The Growing Popularity of Fantasy Football

     Fantasy football has seen a popularity burst unlike any other fantasy sports option out there. Almost every football fan out there has been sucked into the growing popularity of fantasy football and the benefits and bragging rights that come with it. Fantasy football has grown so much that many companies and workplaces around the country will have fantasy leagues for their employees, and this isn't just a male-only activity. The growing number of women entering fantasy football in the recent years is something to marvel at as well. For instance, there is a girl in my fantasy league and when I was in high school the female teachers had 3 different all-women fantasy football leagues. The growth of fantasy football is insane.

      There are a few companies that almost have the sole responsibility for the growth of fantasy football and those companies are DraftKings and FanDuel. These companies are daily fantasy sports companies that offer fantasy games for NFL, MLB, PGA, NBA, NHL, etc., but they see the most profit from NFL fantasy players. FanDuel and DraftKings bring a different format to fantasy sports, unlike Yahoo or ESPN fantasy football, they offer a week-by-week format where you get a certain amount of money to spend on players. The players prices will be varied based on their skill-level as well as their previous weeks performance, after they pick their roster they have the opportunity to play head-to-head or against more opponents. These games appeal to more people because they particularly don't have to worry about injuries or suspensions like us season-long fantasy players do. It's also appealing because there is a lot more money to win with DraftKings and FanDuel. Rather than pooling up money from everyone in your league and potentially winning $150 if everyone pitches in $20 or so for the entry fee, these companies allow for you to win up to thousands of dollars in just one week of the NFL season.

     I think fantasy football is a fun way to bring a competitive rivalry to friends and family as well as the opportunities to bring together their employees for a fun season that potentially net them a few hundred dollars. Whether it's a league full of die-hard fantasy players who eat, sleep, and breath fantasy football or its a group of co-workers starting their first league together, everyone can benefit from fantasy football. With all of this mind, it will be interesting to see what the next adaptation or innovation to fantasy sports will be and how it will effect the popularity and user rate of fantasy football.

2014 American League Wild Card Game

I was lucky enough to experience one of the best games the Kansas City Royals have every played being the 2014 American League Wild Card game against the Oakland Athletics. This game was the first playoff game that the Royals played since 1985 when they went on to beat the Cardinals in the World Series. 

After the Royals clinched their Wild Card playoff berth several days before, I knew that I had to go to that game. I grew up watching unskilled Royals teams that would lose nearly 100 games a year, so I was unsure when or if I would see the Royals play in the Post Season again.

Needless to say, the $140 dollars I spent on a nosebleed ticket and $30 I spent on parking was well worth it. As we pulled into the packed parking lot at 3:30 we were overwhelmed with the feeling of Post Season madness at “The K”. When we finally entered the stadium we managed to climb up to our seats for the National Anthem, and Air Force flyover, that gave me chills.

With 40,000 fans in the stadium on their feet holding their hands over their hearts and saluting the American flag, the feeling was overwhelming. The Royals had made it to the Post Season and I was there to experience all 12 innings of the Royals 9-8 win over the Athletics that started the amazing underdog run to the World Series.