More sports news & views

Time for another round of sports news and views...

News -- McPherson College’s football team has been ranked anywhere from No. 9 to No. 23 in the preseason NAIA polls.

Views -- A lot of the Bulldogs’ preseason ranking has to do with their two-year run that has produced a 19-3 record, a KCAC championship and back-to-back appearances in the NAIA playoffs, including last year’s home game against McKendree College. However, the Bulldogs have to replace nine starters off their defense and five off their offense, including quarterback Shane Mascarenas and running back Aaron Lafitte. Coach Joe Bettasso and his young staff has hit the recruiting trail hard, especially on the defensive side. Mac will find out in a hurry just where it stands, at it plays at perennial national power Missouri Valley in the season opener.

News -- Bethel picks former KU star Alonzo Jamison as its new men’s basketball coach.

Views -- If the Threshers become as tough-nosed as their coach, they won’t be anybody’s patsy.

News -- Arguably the two most popular sports in the world, the NFL and NBA, are in lockout.

Views -- We don’t think it’s actually going to happen, but what would a sports fan’s world be like without them, especially pro football in the fall? Can you imagine what kind of withdrawl there would be on Sundays, as we generally block off nine hours of that day to lay on the couch and watch the mayhem unfold? As for the NBA, we actually don’t begin watching it until about April, as the playoffs are never-ending and about half the teams seem to make it anyway.

News -- Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova capture the respective Wimbledon championships.

Views -- Unless you’re a close follower of tennis, you’ve probably never even heard of Kvitova, while Djokovic is one of three men's players most familiar to everybody. What this tells us is, what in the heck has happened to tennis in the United States? What has happened to the days of McEnroe, Connors, Agassi and Chrissy? If America doesn’t start producing some top-notch players soon, professional tennis is going to go the way of horse racing and boxing -- far from the public’s consciousness.

News -- After a slumbering five-game losing streak, the Kansas City Royals go absolutely crazy by scoring 16 runs to double up the Colorado Rockies Sunday, 16-8.

Views -- The Royals showed signs the game before of breaking out of their horrific offensive slump with six runs, but nobody saw this 16-run outburst coming. It was good to see rookie phenoms Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas light it up, as both had been stumbling as of recent games. The Royals have to rely on their line drive hitting, as there’s not a lot of power in the lineup. The only downer of this game was that Luke Hochevar was handed a 6-0 lead and immediately gave five of the runs back.

News -- Speaking of the Royals, rookie reliever Aaron Crow is the only Kansas City player currently picked to the All-Star team.

Views -- You could have given us five guesses and Crow wouldn’t have been one of them. You could make an argument for Alex Gordon, or even his outfield mates Melky Cabrera and Jeff Francoeur. Even Billy Butler, despite his power outage, is hitting .300. Don’t get us wrong, Crow has been outstanding with a 2-2 record with a 1.96 ERA in 34 games. But he’s basically a set-up man and doesn’t pitch that often under fire (other than Monday). Gordon, however, could be added, as he’s one of five players in the running for the fan’s vote of the extra player and he’s probably the most deserving Royal.

News -- The All-Star Game will not include CC Sabathia, Albert Pujols and Ichiro.

Views -- Sabathia can’t pitch anyway because he’s scheduled to pitch Sunday. And Pujols has been out because of injury. So it’s not like there should be a big hue and cry. Ichiro is having an off year by his standards, and the Mariners realistically could have had three pitchers on the staff, as King Felix Hernandez and ace reliever Brandon League made it and rookie Michael Pineda should have.