SportsBeat KC

Reporters spoke with Chiefs draft selections in the euphoric moments after they were taken. A week or so later, the same players in a less hectic moment got the interview treatment again at Chiefs rookie mini-camp. You’ll hear from some of those players on today’s SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast. First-round pick Felix Anudike-Uzomah, the defensive end from Kansas State and Lee’s Su...

The Royals celebrated the Kansas City career of Lorenzo Cain over the weekend with a contract-signing ceremony that allowed him to retire as Royal. On today’s episode of SportsBeat KC, The Star’s sports podcast, you’ll hear from Cain about his KC career, with an emphasis on the 2014 and 2015 postseasons. The occasion got us wondering about who else might receive such a ceremony with the Royals, an...

Is there a Patrick Mahomes effect when it comes to evaluating college prospect quarterbaccks? Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz says he sees more “off schedule” plays from high school and college quarterbacks, similar to the highlight moments from the Chiefs quarterback. Drinkwitz, Mizzou basketball coach Dennis Gates and wrestling coach Brian Smith spoke to fans and reporters on a recent visi...

This week on SportsBeat KC, The Star’s sports podcast, we’ve heard from Chiefs owner and CEO Clark Hunt, general manager Brett Veach, and Kansas City Sports Commission president Kathy Nelson about the NFL Draft in Kansas City. Now, let’s hear from The Star’s Chiefs coverage crew. Columnists Sam McDowell and Vahe Gregorian along with beat writer Jesse Newell share their thoughts on the Chiefs’ stra...

The Chiefs looked to trade up in the first round of NFL Draft but with no takers found they held on to pick No. 31 and selected Kansas State edge rusher Felix Anudike-Uzomah, who grew up in Lee’s Summit. Then the trading started. The next three players taken by the Chiefs were taken in move-up fashion with SMU wide recevier Rashee Rice in the second round, Oklahoma offensive tackle Wanya Morris in...

The NFL Draft in Kansas City has passed and evaluations begin. The early returns are positive for the Chiefs, who added seven newcomers to the roster, and for Kansas City. The area entertained an estimated 300,000 fans at Union Station and the National WWI Museum and Memorial. The Chiefs and the NFL Draft are the topics on SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast. First, you’ll hear from Chi...

The NFL Draft opened before tens of thousands at Union Station, and ended with the Chiefs selecting Kansas State product Felix Anudike-Uzomah in the first round. In all, an amazing day in Kansas City. On today’s SportsBeat KC, we’ll hear from Anudike-Uzomah, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach and coach Andy Reid. We’ll hear about Anudike-Uzomah’s Chiefs fandom growing up in Lee’s Summit, and how V...

Four years after the announcement of the NFL Draft to Kansas City, the day has arrived. Tens of thousands are expected to watch the event at Union Station from the National WWI Museum and Memorial law and millions more on the broadcast. The first team scheduled to make a selection is the Carolina Panthers. On today’s SportsBeat KC, Charlotte Observer columnist Scott Fowler joins Star columnist Sam...

Playing host to the NFL Draft is a process that started several years ago, and now we’re one day away from the start of the big show. On today’s episode of SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast, columnists Vahe Gregorian and Sam McDowell and reporter Pete Grathoff weigh on the event and what it means for Kansas City. It’s also a big weekend for the Chiefs. The Super Bowl champs used last...

Some of the greatest players in Chiefs history were not first-round draft selections, and you’ll hear from a few of them on today’s SportsBeat KC, The Star’s daily sports podcast. Each has an interesting draft experience story, and Bobby Bell, Will Shields and Trey Smith share theirs. Even though they’re from different eras, one thing they have in common: Based on performance they were woefully un...

The NFL will bring 17 draft prospects like Alabama quarterback Bryce Young and Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud to Kansas City for the Draft, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be other draft prospects in Kansas City for the event. A handful of college football standouts from Kansas City-area high schools could find their way to Union Station and Liberty Memorial to take in the sights and sounds...

The business of the NFL Draft, when it comes to Kansas City and Union Station next week, won’t be focused nationally on the hometown Chiefs. As Super Bowl champions, they own the final selection of the first round, No. 31 overall. By then, it’s the drama of when the top quarterbacks will be taken and who will be the top defensive player selected will be resolved. But has any team mastered the draf...

The price for success in college sports can be expressed through coaches contracts. Kansas State is happily in the process of paying that price. After a football season led by Chris Klieman that included the first Big 12 championship in a decade, and a men’s basketball season that had the Wildcats, picked last in the conference, that extended to the Elite Eight under first-year coach Jerome Tang,...

His second Super Bowl championship and MVP season behind him, it was time for Patrick Mahomes to begin thinking about the next quest. Turns out, he’s as motivated to keep pushing forward as ever. Mahomes shared his thoughts about life after the ultimate achievement and starting the 2023 off-season team activities in a 15-minute interview with reporters that you’ll hear on today’s SportsBeat KC, Th...

The NFL off-season comes in phases, and teams are preparing for the first of those. For the Chiefs, that means plenty of pitching and catching with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and wide receivers, tight ends and running backs. That’s happening in Texas, as it did last year. It means meetings and conditioning for the defense, and it’s also an opportunity to hear from Andy Reid and players for the fi...

If the Royals could ignore the opening homestand, they’d look pretty good in the AL Central. On their first road trip of the year, they went 3-3, winning their first two in San Francisco and their final game in Texas. The get away game was their most complete of the season, a 10-1 triumph. But fold in the 1-6 start and the record isn’t pretty after two weeks. On today’s show, Star reporters Pete G...

With 10 draft picks the possibilities seemingly are endless for the Chiefs. But there are some positions that need to be addressed, and on today’s SportsBeat KC, The Star’s sports podcast, beat writer Jesse Newell shares his thoughts on what the Chiefs might do when the draft arrives in two weeks. Edge rusher? Wide receiver? RIght tackle? The Chiefs likely will look for answers at those slots, the...

The MLS and NWSL seasons have started, and can we get a reset in Kansas City? Sporting Kansas City is seven games in without a victory. The KC Current are 0-2. Why the slow starts? On today’s SportsBeat KC podcast, Star soccer writer Daniel Sperry breaks it down. One common element to the teams: lack of offense. The Current has one goal. Sporting has two. For the most part defense and goal-tending...

Bill Self held his first press conference since since being hospitalized for a heart catheterization procedure before the Big 12 tournament, and although the occasion of this year-end meeting with reporters was unlike last years when the Jayhawks won the national championship, this was also upbeat. Self spoke for more than 30 minutes on his improved health and renewed excitement for coaching. “All...

How about a Kansas State defensive end from Lee’s Summit as the Chiefs’ first selection in the NFL Draft? Adding to the local angle, the draft will take place at Kansas City’s Union Station. Felix Anudike-Uzomah, the Big 12 defensive player of the year for the Wildcats, is the Chiefs’ first-round pick, projected by Star beat writer Herbie Teope. Mock drafts are the definition of inexact science, b...

In baseball, early results are magnified, which is why the Royals’ three-game losing streak to open the season make things more dour than had it happened in, say, July. And it’s also why, when the skid ended with Monday’s 9-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, champagne flowed in the clubhouse. Well, that and the Royals were celebrating Matt Quatraro’s first victory as a manager. On today’s Sport...

On today’s SportsBeat KC, you’ll hear from coaches Dan Hurley of UConn and Brian Dutcher of San Diego State as they break down the game and their seasons. You’ll also hear reactions from two of the newest members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, coaches Gene Bess of Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo., and Gene Keady, the longtime Purdue coach who was a three-point letter w...

Every sport begins a season. Only baseball has Opening Day (capital letters). As the 2023 campaign gets underway,n we talk Royals with several players and new manager Matt Quatraro. They met with reporters on Wednesday to discuss a wide range on topics from team prospects to rules changes. You’ll hear from opening Day starter Zack Greinke, along with Salvador Perez, Bobby Witt Jr., MJ Melendez, Vi...

In the free agency flurry the Chiefs have had more losses than gains. Gone are wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman and tackles Orlando Brown Jr., and Andrew Wylie, safety Juan Thornhill and defensive tackle Khalen Saunders. The Chiefs have added tackle Jawaan Taylor, defensive lineman Charles Omenihu and linebacker Drue Tranquill. Add it up, and you have today’s conversation on Sp...

It’s the time of year when hope springs eternal. Baseball season has arrived and every team had a chance at becoming a World Series champion. Right? Some have better chances than others. The Royals enter the 2023 with a new manager, general manager and remain in the early stages of John Sherman’s ownership. There is optimism for improvement, but it will be essential for Kansas City to avoid the sl...