September - Kansas City Sports & Fitness Magazine

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: September 2010
FOOTBALL
FEVER
Chiefs Report
page 4
Will Cassel be a blue-chip QB or a bust? . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
7 Questions with Priest Holmes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Lilja returns home to play with Chiefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Chiefs will be improved, but not a playoff team . . . . . . . . . .7
Big 12 Report
page 9
Just how valid are college football predictions? . . . . . . . . . .9
KSU won’t depend on QB to win and go bowling . . . . . . .10
Gill-era begins by picking Pick as KU QB . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
MU has awful August before first kickoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
High School Report
+ Sports Extra
page 14
Three to See on high school level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Rockhurst, Blue Springs top high school poll . . . . . . . . . .15
U.S. Army High School Football Coach of the Week . . . . .15
McNeeley: St. Pius X to Army Airborne Ranger . . . . . . . . .16
Lee’s Summit North, SM Northwest pace XC squads . . . .17
Steve Fisch
Publisher
11730 W. 135th St., Suite 18
Overland Park, KS 66221
Phone/Fax: (913) 764-2050
Email: sfisch@kcsportspaper.com
www.kcsportspaper.com
Editor
Alan Eskew
Contributing Photographers
Scott Thomas, Ed Graunke, Alan Hoskins, Jim Gill
Scott Weaver, Warren Ingram
Some images from sxc.hu
4 SEPTEMBER 2010 KANSAS CITY SPORTS & FITNESS
Shotgunners’
Report
page 22
Mavericks Hockey
Report
page 24
KC Baseball
Report
page 19
Sports
Entertainment
Report
page 20
Event Calendar page 17
Golf page 29 | Bill Grigsby page 30
Wizards page 18 | Fitness page 26
Running & Cycling page 17
Contributing Writers
Charles Redfield, Brad Ziegler, Alan Eskew,
David Garfield, Bill Grigsby, Alan Hoskins, Rob Haworth,
John Landsberg, Jim Potoski, David Smale, Art Still,
Steve Wilson, James Peuster, Marc Bowman,
Dr. Karan Baucom, Dave Borchardt, Dr. Lynn McIntosh
On the Cover
Photo by Scott Thomas
Published Monthly
Entire Contents © Kansas City Sports & Fitness 2010.
The views and opinions of the contributing writers contained
in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views and
opinions of the editor and/or publisher.
Will Cassel be a blue-chip
quarterback or a bust?
n Matt Cassel’s first year as the Kansas
City Chiefs quarterback, he threw for I 2,924 yards with 16 touchdowns and 16
interceptions. He was also sacked 42 times
in the 15 games he started.
In 2008, Cassel put up better numbers
with a better team, the New England
Patriots, throwing for 3,693 yards, 21
touchdowns and 11 interceptions, but was
still sacked 47 times.
The Chiefs gave Cassel a lucrative sixyear
$63 million contract, with $28 guaranteed
and worth $40.5 his first three seasons.
The Chiefs are obviously banking that
Cassel can deliver victories and move the
offense.
Is Cassel a bluechip
NFL quarterback
capable of leading the
Kansas City to a division
title and deep into
the playoffs, or is he
an average at best quarterback, overpaid
and will end up being a bust? We asked our
expert panel at SportsRadioKC.com.
Duke Frye, host of “The
Chiefs Show,” Mondays
at 9 a.m.: I find him somewhere
between the two
right now. He’s capable of
leading them to the playoffs,
but is capable of leading them deep
into the playoffs? I don’t think we have
any indication yet whether he can or not.
He hasn’t played enough and he hasn’t
shown me enough in terms of self-confidence
and reliability on the field, consistency
on the field.
He had a nice, consistent year with New
England in 2008, but he has to back that
up year after year. He hasn’t shown the
ability to do that yet. Is he a Super Bowl
quarterback? At this point I don’t think he
is. But, surrounded with the right group of
people he could be. Look at some of the
Super Bowl quarterbacks in the past 20
years. The other side of that is that I think
he’s a quarterback who will take the
Chiefs to the next step. What that step is
remains to be seen. A deep run has a lot
to do with what kind of talent he’s
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