Around The Kingdom: Alex Smith, The Bullpen, Great Opening Days, and Ballpark Dollars
By Joel Wagler
Quarterback Alex Smith of the Kansas City Chiefs (11)Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Kansas City is one of the best sports towns in the country, and KC Kingdom has a lot of fun bringing you news from around the area for our professional and collegiate teams.
Few fans are as passionate about their teams than Kansas City fans, whether it is making Arrowhead Stadium the loudest outside venue in the world, or filling up Sporting Park each match, or being Royal in Kauffman Stadium. The area also supports three of the most passionate college fan bases in the country.
Each morning, we will try to bring you some news from around our sports kingdom, in addition to the news, information, editorials, and analysis KC Kingdom already provides.
We hope enjoy the news from Around The Kingdom.
On Arrowhead Addict, Ben Nielsen discusses whether or not Alex Smith was worth the price he cost the Kansas City Chiefs in draft picks.
"The question now is whether or not the Chiefs made the right decision to send two second round picks to San Francisco for Alex Smith. Having a second round pick in this year’s draft would be extremely useful but there is no way the Chiefs would be in playoff contention if Geno or someone else was the Chiefs quarterback."
David Hill from Kings of Kauffman promises the Kansas City Royals’ bullpen will be just fine, and that we should not panic after one game.
"Naturally, in the Royals first game of the season, that stellar bullpen was unable to perform at the same level. Aaron Crow allowed both inherited runners to score in the seventh, then Wade Davis put runners on the corners with one out in the ninth. Even shutdown closer Greg Holland looked mortal, giving up the game winning hit to Alex Gonzalez. It was just a bad day for the Royals bullpen."
"When I look at the Fan Cost Index and see that it now costs a family of four an average of $191 to attend a Royals game, that doesn’t please me. The Glass apologists (and as I learned from Twitter there are plenty still out there) say the Royals still have one of the least expensive tickets in the majors. Nice story, but with this steep increase that’s no longer the case. Team Marketing Report says the Royals have the 19th highest average ticket price. Their FCI ranks 21st. They remain below average, which is nice. However the Royals play in the 31st largest market (according to Nielsen.)"
On Pine Tar Press, Darin Watson gave us the Top 5 Opening Performances in Royals history. For us older guys, there are some nice memories stirred up.
"This is a subjective list, compiled by going through the box scores from each Opening Day game in Royals history. One thing I found is that, in the macro sense, the Royals have been terrible in openers. Like 15-31, counting this week. If it makes you feel better, good Royals teams like the 1976, 1980, 1993, and 1994 versions all laid eggs in their first game. And of course, the Royals lost last year in the lid-lifter* and still had a good season."
Happy reading, and have a great day. Be sure to check out KC Kingdom throughout the day for news on the Chiefs, Royals, Sporting KC, Tigers, Wildcats, and Jayhawks.