MANHATTAN – Kansas State basketball coach Frank Martin today received a call from television star Charlie Sheen, offering words of encouragement to the embattled coach.
Martin, who came under fire this weekend after being caught on tape smacking one of his players, said he’s been inundated with calls of support from coaches, fans and especially celebrities, such as Tom Sizemore, Chris Brown and, of course, Sheen.
Sheen has a history of alleged violence against women, including recent accusations that he held a knife to his wife’s throat and threatened to have her killed. However, he has apparently made amends with his wife, who has requested that the recent restraining order against him be dropped.
“He just said that he understood what I was going through, and that by apologizing, professing my love for Chris (Merrieweather) and promising to never to it again, I was guaranteeing myself a free pass this time, and possibly next time it happens,” said Martin. “It was good to hear from a guy like Charlie, who’s dealt with this sort of thing a lot. I’ve got his number now, so next time it happens I can give him a call first.”
Martin said he’s trying to put the incident behind him, but that he’s flattered so many famous people have reached out. There was one call, however, that Martin decided not to take.
“OJ Simpson called yesterday morning. I let that one go to voicemail.”
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Report: Glass instructed Moore to ‘Prove a point’ about spending money
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Unnamed sources inside the Kansas City Royals organization today revealed the past four seasons have been nothing more than a conspiracy cooked up by Royals’ owner David Glass and General Manager Dayton Moore.
The plan, which including spending money on horrible free agents was put in place to “teach the fans a lesson” that money doesn’t always equal success.
According to the reports, Glass had grown tired of being accused of all of the Royals troubles for his failure to spend any money on free agents during the tenure of former General Manager Allard Baird. After firing Baird, Glass reached out to Moore, promising him the General Manager job, a 100 percent increase in payroll, and a good parking spot, if Moore would promise to continually spend money on horrible free agents.
“People kept saying the Royals would win if (Glass) would just spend the money on free agents,” said a source, who refused to be named for fear of his job. “Mr. Glass took those accusations personally and really wanted to prove that even if he spent money, the Royals were still going to be very bad.”
Since his arrival, Moore has thrown millions of dollars at questionable free agents, even while better, cheaper opportunities were available. Since becoming general manager, he’s overpaid for players such as Jose Guillen, Kyle Farnsworth, Ron Mahay and Yasuhiko Yabuta.
Even his successes have been by accident.
“Dayton gave Gil Meche $55 million. This is an injury-prone pitcher who, in eight years, had only started at least 30 games twice, and was, at best marginal,” said the source. “Meche was supposed to be a disaster, instead, he comes to Kansas City and pitches at his value for two-plus years.”
Thus far, Glass’s plan is working to perfection. The Royals continue to toil at the bottom of the American League, despite an increase in payroll of nearly $25 million. Despite saying he had almost no payroll flexibility this off season, Moore has continued to bring in expensive, sub-par free agents, such as Scott Podsednik and 52-year old Jason Kendall.
“When Mr. Glass decides to prove a point, he doesn’t stop until it’s hammered into everyone’s mind,” said the source. “This is likely to continue until the fans apologize and ask him to stop spending more money.”
The plan, which including spending money on horrible free agents was put in place to “teach the fans a lesson” that money doesn’t always equal success.
According to the reports, Glass had grown tired of being accused of all of the Royals troubles for his failure to spend any money on free agents during the tenure of former General Manager Allard Baird. After firing Baird, Glass reached out to Moore, promising him the General Manager job, a 100 percent increase in payroll, and a good parking spot, if Moore would promise to continually spend money on horrible free agents.
“People kept saying the Royals would win if (Glass) would just spend the money on free agents,” said a source, who refused to be named for fear of his job. “Mr. Glass took those accusations personally and really wanted to prove that even if he spent money, the Royals were still going to be very bad.”
Since his arrival, Moore has thrown millions of dollars at questionable free agents, even while better, cheaper opportunities were available. Since becoming general manager, he’s overpaid for players such as Jose Guillen, Kyle Farnsworth, Ron Mahay and Yasuhiko Yabuta.
Even his successes have been by accident.
“Dayton gave Gil Meche $55 million. This is an injury-prone pitcher who, in eight years, had only started at least 30 games twice, and was, at best marginal,” said the source. “Meche was supposed to be a disaster, instead, he comes to Kansas City and pitches at his value for two-plus years.”
Thus far, Glass’s plan is working to perfection. The Royals continue to toil at the bottom of the American League, despite an increase in payroll of nearly $25 million. Despite saying he had almost no payroll flexibility this off season, Moore has continued to bring in expensive, sub-par free agents, such as Scott Podsednik and 52-year old Jason Kendall.
“When Mr. Glass decides to prove a point, he doesn’t stop until it’s hammered into everyone’s mind,” said the source. “This is likely to continue until the fans apologize and ask him to stop spending more money.”
Kansas Jayhawks fan telling everyone that was a “good loss”. No. Really.
SALINA – Junior College student and avid Kansas Jayhawks basketball fan Ryan Hartley spent all day on Monday telling everyone the Jayhawks’ loss to Tennessee was, “good for the team.”
The Jayhawks, who went into Sunday’s game in Knoxville undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the nation, looked sluggish and slow, losing to a Tennessee Volunteers basketball team that was playing with just six scholarship players after an incident caused coach Bruce Pearl to suspend four players.
This came on the heels of a near-disastrous game at home against Cornell last Wednesday, when the Jayhawks needed a herculean-effort from Sherron Collins to avoid one of the worst upsets in the program’s history.
Despite losing to a team that would have had to forfeit a slow-pitch softball game, Hartley said the game would help get the Jayhawks focused for conference.
“Every coach will tell you, you always want to lose a game or two,” said Hartley. “Losses aren’t one step backwards, they’re two steps forward. Losing is a good thing. You don’t want to be ranked No. 1 all season, that’s too much pressure. They’ll focus on what they need to improve on. Or it’ll light a fire under them. Or that test will give them experience in the tournament. I was actually rooting against them, so I was happy to see them lose. Seriously, I lit up a victory cigar. That’s how good of a loss it was. I definitely didn’t skip dinner then cry myself to sleep.”
The Jayhawks, who went into Sunday’s game in Knoxville undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the nation, looked sluggish and slow, losing to a Tennessee Volunteers basketball team that was playing with just six scholarship players after an incident caused coach Bruce Pearl to suspend four players.
This came on the heels of a near-disastrous game at home against Cornell last Wednesday, when the Jayhawks needed a herculean-effort from Sherron Collins to avoid one of the worst upsets in the program’s history.
Despite losing to a team that would have had to forfeit a slow-pitch softball game, Hartley said the game would help get the Jayhawks focused for conference.
“Every coach will tell you, you always want to lose a game or two,” said Hartley. “Losses aren’t one step backwards, they’re two steps forward. Losing is a good thing. You don’t want to be ranked No. 1 all season, that’s too much pressure. They’ll focus on what they need to improve on. Or it’ll light a fire under them. Or that test will give them experience in the tournament. I was actually rooting against them, so I was happy to see them lose. Seriously, I lit up a victory cigar. That’s how good of a loss it was. I definitely didn’t skip dinner then cry myself to sleep.”
Monday, December 21, 2009
Hillman spending off season creating folksy nicknames
LIBERTY HILL, Texas – Kansas City Royals manager Trey Hillman has spent this off season working hard on thinking of ways to integrate new Royals into the roster and making them feel welcome by referring to them by a folksy nickname.
Hillman, known for his pornstar-esque mustache, his inability to stick with a roster, his team’s sub-par fundamentals, and his ability to stick a “y” on the end of everyone’s name, said he works nearly the entire off season to ensure everyone on the team has a nickname.
“Guys like Farnsey, Hosey, Jack, Gordy, Gilly and Davey, the nicknames really let them know they’re part of the team,” said Hillman, who said a bitter argument with Jose Guillen early in his tenure as Royals manager led him to come up with the nickname idea. “When I call Hosey “Hosey”, it lets him know that this is kind of a laid back, relaxed atmosphere, and not a place where he needs to threaten to kill me.”
Hillman’s perception of the success of his nicknames has led him to spend most of his off time thinking about what to call new guys, and if any of the current players need a new nickname.
“When we signed Jason Kendall, you’d think the first thing I would do is look at his stats, look at some film on him and see how we can best use him,” said Hillman. “What I actually did was spend an entire week decided whether to call him Jay-Jay, or Kendy. The stats thing will work itself out down the road.”
Hillman, known for his pornstar-esque mustache, his inability to stick with a roster, his team’s sub-par fundamentals, and his ability to stick a “y” on the end of everyone’s name, said he works nearly the entire off season to ensure everyone on the team has a nickname.
“Guys like Farnsey, Hosey, Jack, Gordy, Gilly and Davey, the nicknames really let them know they’re part of the team,” said Hillman, who said a bitter argument with Jose Guillen early in his tenure as Royals manager led him to come up with the nickname idea. “When I call Hosey “Hosey”, it lets him know that this is kind of a laid back, relaxed atmosphere, and not a place where he needs to threaten to kill me.”
Hillman’s perception of the success of his nicknames has led him to spend most of his off time thinking about what to call new guys, and if any of the current players need a new nickname.
“When we signed Jason Kendall, you’d think the first thing I would do is look at his stats, look at some film on him and see how we can best use him,” said Hillman. “What I actually did was spend an entire week decided whether to call him Jay-Jay, or Kendy. The stats thing will work itself out down the road.”
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