The Gumball 3000 celebrity race from New York to Los Angeles stops in Kansas City tonight (Memorial Day). More than 100 exotic cars and 250 racers are on the 14th annual coast-to-coat race.
This year's batch of celebs includes Eve, Ludacris, Wiz Khalifa and David Hasselhoff. They stop at the Intercontinental with a red-carpet party (the party in the Hotel Club starts at 11 p.m.).
The cars will be rolling in between 8 and 10 p.m. Go on down and welcome the Gumballers to KC. We can only hope the Hoff rolls up in K.I.T.T.
The rumors of the Big 12's demise were greatly exaggerated. Now the conference has an agreement with the Southeastern Conference for a big-time bowl game (just like the Rose Bowl!).
That could leave the Atlantic Coast Conference on the outside looking in on a playoff system (if it's ever instituted) - and the ACC's members considering their options. We've heard all about Florida State's interest. Rumored, too, has been Clemson. Well, that's official now with Clemson's board of trustees saying they're open to reconsidering the university's conference affiliation (via the Associated Press). The AP story says Clemson has yet to receive "a viable offer to leave," and quotes Board Chairman David Wilkins saying that the Tigers haven't been contacted by another conference. But, Wilkins said, Clemson is ready to mingle.
It's been 13 years since Owen Hart died after falling 78 feet during a live WWE pay-per-view event at Kemper Arena. I was there, and it was one of the most numbing experiences in my life. I can't even imagine what the Hart family went through.
Hart, who was playing the role of the masked Blue Blazer, was supposed to rappel to the wrestling ring from Kemper's rafters, but the harness released early. I still remember the paramedics straddling him, trying to resuscitate him. Hart was rushed to Truman Medical Center where he died. He was 34.
Hart's brother, Bret "Hitman" Hart, posted the tweet above in remembrance of his younger brother. He also posted another saying, "I miss you everyday brother." He added a picture of him and Owen from their Hart Foundation days, wearing pink-and-black tights, leather jackets and holding their championship belts.
Joe Kelly blindly weaves though a pitch-black Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas. The trim 35-year-old CEO of the Titan Fighting Championship mixed martial arts promotion crosses the length of the floor before reaching the switch to the arena lights.
Illumination reveals a couple of hundred blue plastic chairs in neat rows, set up for a high school graduation on the glossy, blond hardwood floor. Friday night, the chairs will be replaced by a hexagonal cage for Titan Fighting's 22nd fight card. Inside the structure, young muscle-bound fighters will try to take the first brutal step toward stardom in MMA's premier fighting league, Ultimate Fighting Championship.
"We consider ourselves the NCAA to the UFC's NFL or NBA," Kelly says. "We're getting the highest-level, brightest prospects before they go on to the UFC."
But Kelly, who has been promoting MMA fights full time for a couple of years, says he's trying to avoid the mistakes that other small promoters have made trying to emulate the UFC's billion-dollar success.
"Everyone wants to be the biggest, the best, the brightest at what they do," Kelly says. "So all these groups have spent so much money trying to compete, to overtake and supplant the UFC. That's not our goal. I'd rather be the successful Jones Soda to [Coca-Cola]."
While it was hoped that the prolific, albeit oft-injured passer from Alabama could anchor the quarterback position, he - like all too many others who have come after Len Dawson - ended up being a place holder. Sadly, Croyle's story was less about his time on the field than the continual mantra from the organization that this was going to be his year to shine. It was a promise never fulfilled as he failed to earn a single win in 10 career starts over his five-year career with the Chiefs.
Skateboarding dominated the weekend sports scene with the Street League DC Pro Tour stopping at Sprint Center Friday and Saturday. Nyjah Huston won the event's opening tour stop (read ESPN's extensive coverage of the two-day event here), while hometown favorite Sean Malto made it to the finals but ultimately finished seventh. Also last week, MTV star Rob Dyrdek cut the ribbon for the expanded skatepark at Penn Valley. Click the photo above for a slideshow of the events courtesy of Sabrina Staires.
After the jump, videos of the Street League finals.
This is not the kind of news you want when your starting quarterback is recovering from shoulder surgery on his throwing arm - well, or anytime.
Missouri Tigers backup quarterback Corbin Berkstresser - the guy taking snaps with the first-string offense in James Franklin's absence - was arrested for allegedly leaving the scene of an accident after hitting a parked car around 1 a.m. Tuesday in Columbia, the Columbia Daily Tribune reports.
Luckily, there weren't any injuries. The Daily Tribune reports that Berkstresser, 20, admitted his involvement in the wreck.
The first baseman crushed the pitching in Arizona - hitting .407 with 13 of his 33 hits going for extra bases. Then the scores started counting, and Hosmer hasn't hit his weight (230 pounds) since the fifth game of the season. Last night, he went 1-for-5, and it raised his average to .180. We're exactly a fifth of the way through the season. His hair has grown back, but Kansas City fans are still waiting on Hosmer to hit.
"Expresso is why I skate," James Surrette says, referring to Lyons by his roller-derby name.
"He gave me a set of pads and told me to try it out," adds Rachel Jones, who this season joined the Kansas City Roller Warriors. "I was just a preppy girl watching a roller-derby match two years ago. But Expresso saw something in me."
It's been almost a year since Lyons' skates stopped rolling around the track. After a practice at the Riverside rink on May 11, 2011, the Shawnee native and captain of the Cowtown Butchers collapsed and died. He was 43 years old.
On a Thursday night late last month, the team - what many still see as his team - is waiting to get into the white concrete building with the blue roof. For their weekly practice, 15 men and women have come bearing roller suitcases full of gear, dressed in hand-torn T-shirts and frayed shorts, and ready to sweat. The owner arrives, and each athlete pays $5 for the chance to practice while the rink is closed to the public.
"Pad up, boys," says Will "Polish Hitman" Bonikowski, the team's captain.
The Royals have gotten off to their normally terrible start this season. And their record at home (2-13) is the worst in the majors. So, it would be hard to judge Royals fans like Book Guy (follow him on Twitter!) who find non-baseball ways to amuse themselves while at The K. During Sunday's 10-4 thumping at the hands of the Yankees, one of the few highlights for the home team was catcher Humberto Quintero's home run into the stadium fountains. Despite signs warning spectators that they aren't allowed to frolic in the falling water, one fan threw caution to the wind, shrugged off a security guard and went for a dip to retrieve the ball. Then he was bounced from the stadium. But at least he freed up his afternoon.
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The Gumball 3000 makes a pit stop in Kansas City tonight (Monday)
Fifty years ago this week, Continental Flight 11 fell out of the sky over Unionville
Guy Fieri, Henry Ford and Johnny Trigg to be inducted into the National Barbecue Hall of Fame
Johnson County boobaphobe wants Overland Park to disappear arboretum's Yu Chang sculpture
The Pitch Questionnaire with Historic Kansas City Foundation executive director Amanda Crawley
Clemson, rumored to be interested in the Big 12, opens up its relationship with the ACC
KC's bakeries turn up the flour power
New teen curfew goes into effect this weekend