Position in the Spotlight: Kansas City

Kansas City is one of the best sports towns in the country, in my opinion. Despite how miserable the Chiefs are, Arrowhead is always sold out, even if they are watching Tyler Thigpen at quarterback. Royals fans seem to have a greater appreciation for baseball than the Royals front office, which is too bad. Even the MLS Kansas City Wizards are among the more stable franchises in the league. The NHL continues to use Kansas City as a threat for struggling franchises, and the area wants a team, and would certainly support them.
There is another team that plays in Kansas City for many of their home games. In fact, this team has compiled an 80-24 record while playing in Kansas City at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, despite officially calling Lawrence, 40 miles to the west, home. I'm speaking, of course, of the University of Kansas Men's Basketball team. For as beloved as the Chiefs and Royals are in Kansas City, no team has the history of the Jayhawks. In an easy pick, the Position in the Spotlight is the Kansas Jayhawks Mens Basketball Coach.
KU has been marked by long tenures and winning teams. In fact, in the school's history, only one coach has ever had a losing record, James Naismith. Inarguably, the worst coach in the history of KU basketball was the inventor of the game. That should give you an idea of how good his successors were.
His immediate succesor was Forrest C "Phog" Allen. Naismith said once to Allen that "You can't coach basketball, you just play it." Of course, Allen went out and proved him wrong, becoming known as the Father of basketball coaching. The arena in Lawrence to this day bears his name. He was at the university for 39 seasons and won only one NCAA Titile, because his career predated the NCAA tournament.
After Allen retired, Dick Harp took over, leading the Jayhawks, including Wilt Chamberlain to the national title game, losing in overtime to North Carolina. Ted Owens followed Harp and led the tea to the Final Four twice.
In 1983, the shortest tenured coach, and one who actually won a title with the Jayhawks, was Larry Brown. This is the same Larry Brown, of course, who was featured in our Indianapolis sporlight.
Unfortunately, Brown was involved in a recruiting scandal at Kansas and was replaced by someone else who has been in someone elses spotlight, Roy Williams, who moved on to North Carolina. Williams went 418-101 with the Jayhawks, which is an incredible record, of course. Among his other notable accomplishments was making the tournament every year after the probation year at the beginning of his career, going undefeated in the Big 12 in 2001-2002 and two trips to the Final Four. For as incredible as his teams were, he was continually dogged by critics who noted his inability to win the title.
After Williams left for North Carolina, Kansas hired Bill Self away from Illinois. After a rough start, including early round Tournament losses, he also has a winning percentage over .800. His coaching style and recruiting brilliance eventually took, and the Jayhawks won their first national title since Larry Brown coached the team. Self continues to coach there, and was named the NCAA Coach of the Year last year.

Honorable Mention: Royals third basemen: The Royals won the World Series in 1985, thanks in large part to the contributions of Hall of Famer George Brett. The Royals have had several good players before and since then, but Mark Teahen and Alex Gordon are the most recent to hear the hype. Is he te next George Brett?
Chiefs Linebacker: The hallmark of the Chiefs has always been the defensive side of the ball, thanks in no small part to the ferocity of their linebackers. Hall of Famers Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier and Derrick Thomas all spent their careers in Kansas City.
Chiefs Kicker: Jan Stenerud and Nick Lowery, two of the most prolific kickers in the history of the game called Kansas City home for a good portion of their careers.

What's the deal with the Royals?

The other day, Steve and I were chatting about the current state of the AL Central (he has Octavio Dotel fever). The Tigers seem to be scary, adding Edgar Renteria, Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. They don't seem to have any obvious holes, except maybe in the outfield, and now have a young 300 pound superstar. Sure, they mortgaged their future, but when the Tigers suck in 4-5 years again, at least they will have some good playoff runs to look back on.
The Indians haven't really done anything, and why should they have? They have a solid young core that won the division last year (only a year later than I anticipated) and are only getting better.. They may be the best team in baseball that nobody talks about.
The White Sox, the team giving Steve the fever, have quietly been stockpiling some young talent as well, to go along with some of their veterans. They added Orlando Cabrera, Nick Swisher and Carlos Quentin to the team and will likely be scoring 8 runs a game, which is good, because they will give up about as many. How long until the pitching squad is addressed on the South Side?
Then there are the Twins who have made a few interesting acquisitions, namely the Matt Garza for Delmon Young swap. Who saw that coming? It addresses a primary concern for the Twins. They can't hit. They also signed a third baseman and a slick fielding shortstop to replace Jason Bartlett in Mike Lamb and Adam Everett. It's nice to see a GM who addresses issues instead of hordes prospects. There still is the big gorilla in the room, Johan Santana, who will probably be traded before Spring Training. That could change everything.
But what about the Royals? I've heard their name brought up in rumors regarding anyone from Torii Hunter to Bartolo Colon. Interesting. I didn't think the Royals were just one player away, or that a couple of veterans would suddenly catapult Kansas City into contention. Are they? After closer inspection of the Royals roster, I have discovered that, in fact, no, they are nowhere near contention. Even with Jose Guillen. Their pitching staff is anemic. They have Gil Meche and Brett Tomko as veterans, and Brian Bannister and Zach Greinke as up and coming starters, but are totally devoid of a bullpen. Besides. Brett Tomko? Seriously? On the offensive side, they have all manner of vaunted prospects, like Alex Gordon, Mike Teahen and John Buck, but they never seem to work out. The Royals have innumerable holes.
So why are they working so hard to patch them? In my opinion, it would make more sense to develop and KEEP young talent, rather than trade it for younger talent. It makes more sense that they should try to show that it's ok to stay in Kansas City. Don't be offering up David Dejesus. Try to keep him.
But what do I know? Dayton Moore is apparently a good GM, and to convince David Glass that they should be spending money is certainly a feat in itself, but I wonder if he's not doing so a little recklessly.