SportsBeat KC

Latest Episodes:

Chiefs, NFL final weekend arrives with uncertainty about how to finish Jan 05, 2023

Show notes

It’s a regular-season finish like no other in the NFL. As the Chiefs prepare to kick off Week 18 with a Saturday afternoon game at the Las Vegas Raiders, there is uncertainty about how to end the season. The Bills at Bengals game on Monday was suspended after Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest in the first quarter.

On today’s SportsBeat KC podcast, Star beat writers and columnists break down not only the Chiefs-Raiders game but the NFL’s options for the regular-season and playoff schedule. Will the league have Buffalo and Cincinnati resume their game? The issue has a major impact on the Chiefs, who would clinch the top seed in the AFC playoffs if they win Saturday and the Bills and Bengals don’t resume their game.

There was also team news with injuries and updates. The conversation started as a SportsBeat Live broadcast.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Game of the year, NCAA champs, World Cup call. Can ’23 top ’22 in KC sports? Jan 03, 2023

Show notes

Sure, we could have rolled out a SportsBeat KC podcast review of 2022 sports in and round Kansas City in, you know, 2022. But what if Kansas State had won the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve? That would have made anyone’s yearly sports highlight list.

So Star columnists Vahe Gregorian and Sam McDowell joined host Blair Kerkhoff and did the prudent thing by waiting. The Wildcats did not reward our patience, but their winning the Big 12 championship was one of the area’s biggest stories in a year full of them.

A Chiefs victory for the ages, quickly followed by its most crushing defeat in the Patrick Mahomes era; the Tyreek Hill trade; Royals moves and a big decision about their future home; Kansas’ men’s basketball season ending winning streak that continued into football season; Missouri’s hot start in basketball with a new coach.

And perhaps the biggest news of all...landing a piece of the planet’s biggest sporting event, the World Cup.

We discuss all of those events and more plus look ahead to the moments that will shape Kansas City’s sports landscape in 2023.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beats the alternative of Chiefs playing well and losing. Another close call Jan 02, 2023

Show notes

With their 27-24 victory over the Denver Broncos, the Chiefs made it 15 straight over their AFC West rival, improved to 5-0 in the division and 13-3 overall. What’s not to like about the outcome?

Well, if the Super Bowl is the objective, it was a bit discomforting to see the Chiefs continue their special teams problems and for Patrick Mahomes to be off his game early in the second half.

We discuss those issues on SportsBeat KC, The Star’s first sports podcast of 2023. The show with columnists Vahe Gregorian and Sam McDowell along with beat writers Jesse Newell and Herbie Teope.

The show began as a postgame SportsBeat Live and we discussed what the Chiefs need to accomplish to get back on a Super Bowl path, which continues on Saturday at the Las Vegas Raiders in the final regular season game.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SportsBeat KC podcast: What are Kansas State’s chances against Alabama in Sugar Bowl? Dec 30, 2022

Show notes

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the AFC West (and Chiefs’ next 2 opponents) turns, KC marches on Dec 29, 2022

Show notes

It’s Chiefs vs. Broncos on Sunday and Denver has a new coach: Jerry Rosburg, a longtime special teams coach in the NFL and the team’s director of game management operations, was elevated earlier this week when Nathaniel Hackett was fired.

What should the Chiefs expect from an interim regime? That’s a topic on today’s SportsBeat KC podcast with Star columnists Vahe Gregorian and Sam McDowell and beat writers Herbie Teope and Jesse Newell.

The Broncos aren’t the only AFC West team that made a big change this week. The Las Vegas Raiders have changed quarterbacks, moving on from longtime starter Derek Carr. The Raiders are the Chiefs’ Week 18 opponent.

We also talk wide receivers with Mecole Hardman’s likely return, and how the Chiefs might handle the position group.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chilly conditions but warm feelings for Kansas in first bowl game in 14 years Dec 28, 2022

Show notes

A little chilly, some broken water pipes and hotel issues, Kansas and its fans are working through the problems of the program’s first bowl game in 14 years. But they’re happy to be at the AutoZone LIberty Bowl in Memphis to meet the Arkansas Razorbacks.

On today’s SportsBeat KC, beat writer Sheryas Laddha breaks down the bowl experience and the game that matches a pair of 6-6 teams that were ranked during the season.

The Jayhawks are ahead of schedule in Coach Lance Leipold’s second season, and Arkansas is in its second straight bowl game under Sam Pittman after missing a bowl game for four straight season.

After a break, you’ll hear from the coaches from their press conferences in Memphis.

By the way, this marks Kansas’ second Liberty Bowl appearance. Led by quarterback David Jaynes, KU played in the 1973 game and fell to North Carolina State 31-18. A few months later, the schools’ basketball teams reached the Final Four.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Podcast: Never too late to talk Chiefs, who face a different Denver Broncos coach Dec 28, 2022

Show notes

Better late than never on our Chiefs postgame conversation. The Chiefs beat the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday 24-10 and beat writers Herbie Teope and Jesse Newell discussed the game before leaving the press box to enjoy Christmas the next day.

That chat is today’s SportsBeat KC podcast. It holds up. Not much has happened since we talked Chiefs. Well, there is one thing: The next opponent, the Denver Broncos, fired head coach Nathaniel Hackett on Monday. The new ownership group had seen enough with the Broncos, who started the year with new quarterback Russell Wilson, coming to Arrowhead with a 4-11 record.

Jerry Rosberg, who had been a senior assistant coach and was a longtime Baltimore Ravens assistant, will lead Denver for its final two games.

The Chiefs, played well against the Seahawks, and we focus on a super effort by the defense, especially the rookies the Patrick Mahomes touchdown run, and the touchdown machine that Jerick McKinnon has become. So, excuse the Christmas delay and enjoy our Chiefs takes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chiefs will play in Buffalo-type weather to keep pace with the Bills Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

The Chiefs look to keep pace with the Buffalo Bills in the AFC West playoff race and will meet the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs and Bills own 11-3 records but the Bills won the matchup earlier this season, so the Chiefs must finish with a better record.

We discuss the playoff picture, Harrison Butker’s kicking woes, the potential return of Mecole Hardman and much more on today’s SportsBeat KC podcast with beat writers Jesse Newell and Herbie Teope along with columnist Vahe Gregorian.

Also, the Pro Bowl rosters have been announced and seven Chiefs were selected. Any obvious snubs? Oh, and the temperature at kickoff could be in single digits.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All Mizzou Tigers want for Christmas is basketball, football victories: SportsBeat pod Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

The run-up to Christmas provides Missouri Tigers athletics with a couple of high-profile contests, and we talk about both on today’s episode of SportsBeat KC, The Kansas City Star’s daily sports podcast.

Star columnist Vahe Gregorian previews Thursday’s Braggin’ Rights men’s basketball game against Illinois and then shifts gears for a look at Mizzou’s bowl game against Wake Forest on Friday.

Missouri and the Demon Deacons meet on the gridiron for the first time. It’s a strength-on-strength matchup featuring the Tigers’ defense against Wake’s high-flying offense. But Mizzou’s going to be missing some key defenders who’ve opted out to prepare for the NFL Draft or enter the transfer portal.

In basketball, Missouri (10-1) is coming off a thrilling victory over Central Florida in which DeAndre Gholston banked in a 35-footer to beat the buzzer for the victory. The Illinois game is the start of three straight for the Tigers against ranked opponents.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SportsBeat KC: How will the 2026 World Cup translate in Kansas City? Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

Moments after Argentina’s game-winning penalty kick hit the back of the net to defeat France in the World Cup final, thoughts turned to the next World Cup, the 2026 event to be held in 16 North American cities, including Kansas City.

On today’s SportsBeat KC podcast, Star columnists Vahe Gregorian and Sam McDowell sat down with three Kansas City officials who attended the World Cup in Qatar: Kansas City Sports Commission and VisitKC president Kathy Nelson, Kansas City deputy city manager and executive director of convention and entertainment facilities of Kansas City Kimiko Gilmore, and Joe Reardon, Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce president and former Kansas City, Kan., mayor.

They spoke of their experiences at the World Cup and vision for the event in Kansas City, which is the smallest U.S. market serving as a host city.

First, you’ll hear a conversation with Gregorian, who spoke to the enormity of the World Cup in Kansas City and how it will translate here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected