News and views

Our weekly round of sports news and views while giving thanks....
News -- The Kansas Jayhawks and Missouri Tigers meet Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.
Views -- There are so many tasty storylines and subplots around this game. What if Kansas ends its miserable six-game losing streak to become bowl eligible? Will it be enough for Mark Mangino to save his job? If  KU loses, is he gone on Sunday, since the Jayhawk brass would need to move quickly? Given the way the Jayhawks have played, though, we can’t see them knocking off a schizophrenic Missouri team.
News -- Kansas State finishes 6-6, 4-4 in the Big 12, in the return of the Wildcats’ football messiah, Bill Snyder.
Views -- Mark it down right now -- the Wildcats will win the North next year. Early projections point toward another muddled, watered-down mess in the North, as there isn’t a lot of star power returning. Snyder accomplished his primary objective this year, to get the program back on solid footing. And the guy has a way of unearthing diamonds in the rough, putting a little polish to them and making them stars. Nebraska loses many key players, Missouri is unpredictable, KU and Colorado are in a state of flux and Iowa State is, well, Iowa State.
News -- St. Louis’ Albert Pujols is the unanimous winner of the NL’s MVP award.
Views -- If it wasn’t unanimous, they should do away with the award. But we saw what happened with the NL Cy Young, as St. Louis’ Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright would have been a better choice than San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum.
News -- The Kansas City Chiefs attempt to make it three in a row,  and four of the last six, when they travel Sunday to San Diego.
Views -- It’s only human nature for the big letdown after the biggest win in the last five years. We anticipate this one being a blowout, but the rest of the schedule the team should be competitive.
News -- Hutchinson and Gardner-Edgerton meet Saturday in Emporia to determine the No. 1 team in Class 5A.
Views -- Gardner-Edgerton, under former Salina Central coach Marvin Diener, will find out that there’s Hutchinson and then everybody else. We watched the Hutch-Carroll game on TV last week and you get the true appreciation just how good Hutchinson’s line blocks. Granted, Josh Smith and Deveon Dinwiddie may be 5A’s two best backs, but the offensive line doesn’t get the praise it deserves. It simply manhandled Carroll last week and the holes were big enough for a truck to drive through.