Chris Phillips Calls His Shot!

"Champions are made from something deep inside them, a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last- minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." Muhammad Ali. This quote will encapsulate the Chiefs season after their win on February 6, 2011 in Arlington, TX.



Yes, I know it is absolutely taboo and a bit mad to go out on a limb and predict the Kansas City Chiefs will win the Super Bowl this year. Las Vegas futures had the Chiefs 35/1 to win the Bowl. Coach Todd Haley has said on multiple occasions, “Don’t even think about the Playoffs. We are going to take it one game at a time.” Of course this is the right mindset for any NFL organization. However, deep down in their heart of hearts every Coach, player, and fan is looking for the sweet glory of victorious bliss when their team hoists the Lombardi trophy. Thanks to the hard work, genius strategy, and key coaching/player acquisitions this season, the Kansas City Chiefs are the proud owners of the AFC West Title. In this league, anything can happen in the Postseason. Any team can win on any given Saturday/Sunday and the Chiefs have their Golden Ticket! I don’t know about you, but this was the best Christmas present I got this year and I’m damn proud of it.



Coming back to reality, it’s looking like the Chiefs may host the New York Jets. Based on the other options for a Wild Card game, I have to say this would be my choice. The Jets are a tough team with a great defense. Rex Ryan has done well this year with his team. I have to admit, I thought Hard Knocks featuring the Jets on HBO was pretty funny this year. However, they have won a lot of close games and the blueprint is out on how to beat these guys. If Rex, Schottenheimer, and the rest of the Jets crew sleep on the Chiefs, IN ARROWHEAD, they will be in for a rude awakening. Old Rex needs to keep his wigs tucked away in the drawer, keep his mouth shut, and lay off the M&M’s. Coach Haley has the Chiefs playing outside of themselves right now and deserves Coach of the Year. With Matt Cassel coming back eleven days from surgery to trounce the Rams, he has created a do or die bond with his team. His all around play has only gotten better as the season progressed. This tells me he needed more time to gel with his new team. You’ve got to love a QB who runs the ball that few extra yards to get the first down fresh out of the hospital. He is all heart and everyone knows it. Matt Cassel should have received a Pro Bowl selection this year. However, this won’t be a problem when they go to the big show.



Conclusion: The Jets are good but the Chiefs win because they have the will and skill.



All roads to the AFC Championship go through Foxboro. Is it possible to win against Belichick and the New England Patriots on the road? Huh, tough question. Your head and the stat sheet would say unequivocally NO! A heart that pumps Chiefs Blood would say Yes! Let’s not forget that Chiefs are engulfed with past New England players and coaches. If there is a team that knows how Belichick’s mastermind works, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs. Haley, Crennel, and Weiss would have to pull out their bag of tricks to pull off this miracle. However, nobody thought we would beat San Diego on that magical Monday night game to start the season either. Where there is a will, there is a way.



The odds are stacked against the Chiefs going to the Super Bowl much less winning it. Predictions are a dime a dozen. In an earlier post, I predicted the Chiefs would be in an AFC shootout with Oakland the last game of the season to decide the AFC West. Most analysts called the San Diego Chargers to Go to the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season. We’ve heard grumbles that Matt Cassel wasn’t worth the money this season as well. If we were right all of the time, we would be sitting next to Chris Berman on Monday Night Countdown. As it is, the love for the game keeps us hoping and guessing at what’s to come. All be it, with a lot of biased towards the Kansas City Chiefs. That’s what I love about hard work, clean living, and surrounding yourself/organization with good people. It eventually pays off. Hunt, Pioli, and Haley are a true testament to this.



Predictions and judgments aside, we have many things to be proud of this year, a Phenomenal Chiefs Team that is all Class, an AFC West Crown, and a shot at the Lombardi.



Big Props to Jamaal Charles, Dwayne Bowe, and Brian Waters for making the Pro Bowl. Cassel should have been there with only 5 Interceptions so far this season. Respect will be paid for his performance in February.



Conclusion: Kansas City Chiefs vs. New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLV.



Chiefs win 35 – 32



Chiefs have a lot of skill. But their Will is stronger than their skill.

What a Year! by MP

Wow! What a year 2010 has been. It is hard to believe it is almost over. Where does time go? What a year in the world of sports too.

The Saints won the bowl, Tiger melted down personally and professionally, the Royals were terrible again, the Lakers and Celts were epic, the Dukies won but robbed Butler, The NCAA pulled about 75 unbelievably dumb moves in college football, and the Chiefs.....YEAH THE CHIEFS....are hosting a playoff game!

So we can talk about some of my terrible predictions, I own them and cannot hide. But boy, am I glad I was wrong about the Chiefs and picking them to go 8-8!

For the record here are the highlights and low-lights of my prognostication this year: I was not even in the neighborhood in the Golf major winner category. VC cleaned my clock. I also picked the Celtics, but truth be told, that was a heart pick not one from the head. I didn't attempt baseball, but who had the Giants? I woefully was wrong about Texas Tech football winning the Big 12 South....and of course the Chiefs going 8-8, taking a few shots at Matt Cassel along the way. I did tell you that New Orleans, Chicago, The NY Giants, Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks were in the playoff pic in the NFC, and they are! I also said OU and Texas would be down in football, also correct. I believe I also told you how the Kansas Jayhawks will be superior to the Wildcats from Manhattan in hoops, but hey that is almost cherry-picking! The Chiefs however, are a different story....

What an unbelievable year for the Chiefs. Hats off to Todd Haley and all the Chiefs turning around a 4 win season last year to sit right now at 10-5, with a great chance at an 11-5 season after hosting the Raiders this coming Sunday. It looks like we will host the New York Jets in the first round of the playoffs, and that...is a winnable game! I cannot stand the loud mouth, HBO Hard Knocks, over-rated, over-hyped Jets. Mark Sanchez is terrible and of the options in the first round the Jets would be most favorable. The Chiefs, with a few bad losses aside, have played tough, mistake free football and are finally getting the notoriety they deserve! Hey, sorry about the Cassel shots...I still think the jury is out. He is a game manager and has done that well the entire year. We all saw what the alternative was with Brodie Croyle against the Chargers. I hope you are all as excited as I am for what is ahead....and this season is the tip of the iceberg!

Around the horn: I previously referenced the NCAA. How in the world do you deem it bad enough to suspend the Ohio State guys for 5 next year...but let them play in the Bowl game? Huh? Much like the "Scam" Newton deal....what a mess! Speaking of predictions....I like the Hogs over the Buckeyes in the Sugar and I like Auburn over Oregon in the BCS Championship game. NFL wise...I am nervous, but will stick with my original Super Bowl matchup...the Battle of the Birds...Falcons vs. Ravens! It is hoop season and the Jayhawks need some toughening up....they play to the level of every opponent, and haven't played anyone really tough yet. I watch them and worry about their lack of size. Seems to me they have to run a lot more if they are relying on the Morris twins in the post. Congrats to Dwyane Bowe, Jamaal Charles and Brian Waters for pro-bowl invites....and to COACH TODD HALEY SOON TO BE NFL COACH OF THE YEAR!!!

That is it for now....Go Chiefs....Go 'Hawks...and Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!!!!

VC Talkin Big 12 Hoops!!!!

Most of the basketball teams who are left in the Big XII (or will it be the Big X??) Conference in 2011-12 are expected to change their non-conference scheduling.

And I can't say I blame them.

Their reasoning is simple. Teams like Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri will go from a 16-team conference slate to a round-robin format where each team plays a home-and-home against the other nine teams for a total of 18 games.

It used to be 14-2 would all but guarantee a team like KU the conference title. A year from now, it's possible 14 wins could still take the title only with four losses to boot!

"We put together a tough schedule with a few games that we still have to return," Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford recently told The Wichita Eagle. "I probably wouldn't have scheduled those games if I knew we were going to an 18-game league schedule. You're talking about 18 games against the best competition in the country. You can't kill yourself out of conference."

The majority of the conference coaches agree with Ford. In fact, nine of the 10 coaches told The Wichita Eagle they planned to downgrade the quality of future non-conference opponents.

"Those 18 games are going to be a grind, and when it's over your conference record is going to speak for itself,"Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said. "You've got to find a way, especially when you're a team like us, to get some wins early in the season and build some momentum before conference play."

This year, for instance, Big XII teams had 15 non-conference games. They scheduled tough competition or as we fans liked to call them, resume builders, that the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee would use next March to seed the tournament.

Starting next year, don't expect to see as many "Duke", "Arizona" and "UNLV" on these teams' schedules in November and December. You'll probably be seeing more Alcorn State and Alabama A&M on the dockets.

"You're increasing your games against high-major opponents by two," Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel told The Wichita Eagle. "You're going from 16 to 18. For teams like us in the south, now we're getting Kansas twice, Missouri twice, Kansas State twice. That makes things a lot more difficult. It could be like the Big East. It's definitely going to change the way we schedule."

"If you want to keep your number of hard games the same you may back off a little bit during your non-conference," KU coach Bill Self said told The Wichita Eagle. "Right now, our goal is to play six high-major games a year non-conference. So that number may go to four, that number may go to five.

"But I think very few schools will keep it at six, if that's their number. That's an awful lot. That would be 24 games of the 31, and then you've got the postseason tournaments. That's a pretty high-stress situation."

K-State's Frank Martin also figures to be pretty selective just like Self at KU. Martin may be trying to fill his 2011-12 schedule with the likes of Alcorn State as there are currently return games lined up against Virginia Tech, Alabama and Florida in addition to a December trip to Cancun, Mexico.

I just hope in the next couple of years Martin will seriously look at resuming the series against Wichita State. There is no reason a four-year contract couldn't be signed to get this rivalry started again. Play two games in Wichita, one at WSU and one at Intrust Arena, and two in Manhattan or better yet, how about this: sign a five-year contract, play four games as mentioned above but play the fifth at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. Can you imagine the crowds for that?

VC Goes Bowlin!

Back in August, on this very blog, I said the Kansas State Wildcats would go 7-5 this football season. I even made a friendly 1-dollar wager with good friend and K-State student Alex Reinecke, who said the Wildcats would finish 8-4. Reinecke was looking good until the game at Colorado. He and I texted several times that day as K-State jumped out to an early 14-3 lead only to see the Wildcats fall behind and eventually lose.

Last week's 49-41 track meet victory at North Texas cemented K-State's 7-5 record and their first bowl game since the 2006 Texas Bowl in Houston. One Facebook friend commented on my wallpost the Wildcats should decline any bowl game because of a horrendous defense. The pathetic defense is accurate. Declining a bowl game, unless there are NCAA sanctions involved, should never be an option for a college football team.

No coach will ever turn down 30 extra days of practice from late November to late December. That extra time is so beneficial as these teams start preparing for the 2011 season. While the bowl game itself is more for the fans, coaches and most of the players can start thinking about the goals they will implement next August. The seniors on the team, like K-State running back Daniel Thomas, can begin counting the greenbacks he will begin making this fall at the next level. Other seniors, a bowl game is a reward for four or maybe five years of blood, sweat and tears that were left behind on the practice and game fields.

I also told you back in August the Wildcats would play in the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. Two media outlets today - Topeka Capital-Journal and Kansas City Star - both are mentioning the Wildcats will end up in New York City. Early indications point to a KSU-Syracuse bowl game which would be a rematch of the Fiesta Bowl game a few years ago in Tempe when Donovan McNabb was Syracuse's QB.

"We're very interested in Kansas State," Pinstripe Bowl Executive Director Mark Holtzman told today's KC Star, "and they are interested in us. Kansas State is right on our radar."

Most of the bowl schedule will be announced after Saturday's conference championship games. The exception this week came from Cotton Bowl officials, who offered its slot to Texas A&M.

One thing is for certain...K-State, Baylor and Texas Tech are vying for the Pinstripe, Texas and TicketCity bowls. The TicketCity Bowl is another rookie bowl which is at 11 a.m. on New Year's Day in Dallas. The Texas Bowl has a 5 p.m. kick on Dec. 29. The Pinstripe Bowl is Dec. 30 at 1:20 p.m. Central.

Baylor, because it went 4-4 in conference play, is expected to land at the TicketCity Bowl. I have no problem with that selection. Baylor beat K-State head-to-head during the season. KSU and Tech both went 3-5 in conference play so the No. 6 bowl slot (TicketCity) should go to the No. 6 team (Baylor).

The Pinstripe Bowl picks seventh and Texas Bowl eighth. Because K-State fans travel well, I see the Wildcats going northeast. That leaves Tech fans traveling across state to Houston for that bowl.

"We're looking at all three (Big XII teams) very closely," Texas Bowl representative Zac Emmons told the Star. "I don't think we can make a bad decision."

The Texas Bowl will likely match someone like Texas Tech against Northwestern or Illinois.

"We're talking to our partners at ESPN, trying to find out what the best fit would be," Emmons said.

Here are the Big XII bowl projections by the Topeka Capital-Journal:

Insight Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Michigan, Dec. 28, Tempe, Ariz.

Texas Bowl: Baylor vs. Illinois, Dec. 29, Houston

Alamo Bowl: Big XII championship loser vs. Arizona, Dec. 29, San Antonio

Pinstripe Bowl: Kansas State vs. Syracuse, Dec. 30, New York

Holiday Bowl: Missouri vs. Washington, Dec. 30, San Diego

TicketCity Bowl: Texas Tech vs. Northwestern, Jan. 1, Dallas

Fiesta Bowl: Big XII champion vs. Stanford, Jan. 1, Glendale, Ariz.

Cotton Bowl: Texas A&M vs. LSU, Jan. 7, Arlington, Texas

I can't wait until Sunday when all of the bowl slots are filled and fans begin making their travel plans. I love it. It is the most wonderful time of the year.

I told you so!