More Kansas City Sportswriter, Bloggish Business

It comes as no surprise that Joe Posnanski's blog is crammed full of good writing on a regular basis. What I really appreciate about what the guy's doing -- beyond pumping out thousands of quality words a day -- is that he just plain gets it. He's like that elderly sage that can offer worldly advice about Roth IRAs, gardening tips, and tell stories of Shoeless Joe Jackson while eating a slice of pizza and dominating a game of Super Mario Kart.

Seriously. Posnanski, in the last couple of days, has shared with his readership, tales of his formative years as a sportswriter, what it's like to get heavy criticism from Bob Costas, his take on the sports bloggery/journalism/Bissinger debate, all while doing the same clever things us under-to-not-at-all paid, uncredentialed bloggers do, i.e. make references to our own laziness, drop GoreTubes one-liners, and offer the bring-it-back-to-reality opinion that everyone's made too much of the Leinart photos on Deadspin, all of which I appreciate.

I haven't bought his latest book yet. I'm eager to read it, but I think I'm even more eager for the book he's working on about the 1975 Cincinnati Reds. I love this paragraph, largely because it could absolutely have been written by me, except for the fact that I wouldn't have written it as well:

I am entirely fascinated by the people and teams that have haunted my sports experiences. I’ve always thought, in a modest way, that I could write a good John Elway book because I cannot stand that son of a gun. He has stuck so many knives in me through the years that my blood has gone orange. I believe my own fan relationship with Elway — the guy who broke my heart over and over again — could be more interesting than the view of some big John Elway fan. Anyway, it would be to me.

(Editor's Note: It should be noted that Posnanski grew up in Cleveland, which makes him a huge Browns fan. He has lived in Kansas City for some time now, with his wife and children, and he writes about sports for a living, which makes him, to some degree, a Chiefs fan. Though I've never seen any solid evidence to back this up, I'm told that this Elway character notched a victory or two over one or both of these teams at some point in the past.)

I also love the fact that Posnanski has an affinity for Pete Rose, even today. That's two things we have in common. Actually, there're a lot more than that, but whatever. Another thing about the guy, though, is that he has no shame in promoting his own book on his own Web site. And he can do so in one sentence while throwing links to his colleagues' sites in the next. Speaking of which, here's Aaron Barnhart's recent interview with Costas regarding the nature of things, which links to Richard Sandomir's The New York Times piece, and Sam Mellinger's take on the same subject.

And that is a ton of reading, most of which is good, all of which has been covered to depths I'd never imagined possible.
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Tradition Tuesday: Chailey's & Dry vs. PySaw

The rough focus of this blog is the rivalry between the Kansas City Chiefs (heralded by Bankmeister) and the Denver Broncos (championed by Cecil and Old No. 7). It may seem unfair that it's two versus one, but once KC gets that second Super Bowl win we'll even out the delegation.

Seven years ago we started The Tradition, in which Bronco fans travel out to the Truman Sports Complex with their team, and Chief lovers return to the Rocky Mountains with theirs. We tailgate, we talk massive amounts of shit, our wives are occasionally assaulted by rival fans, and we almost always watch the visiting team lose. It's a grand old time.

Here at the HoG, we're going to keep The Tradition going with Tradition Tuesday--a weekly state-of-the-rivalry address.

Leading up to the first of two Tradition Weeks here on the HoG, we've got some interesting things going on matchup-wise. As the world of football bloggery knows, Brett Favre and the Pack just left AmCoVesCapIn with a shocking OT victory; Shanahanigans would be denied their late-game field goal trickery. Now, on a short week, the Pack rolls into the 'Head for a squaring off of Favre against the one team he has never defeated. It's no secret the Pack can't run the ball; Old No. 4 likes to heave the long ball. And he can do so with success against the alleged best corner duo in the league, also known as Champ Bailey and Dre Bly, or as I like to call them,



Chailey's and Dry.

Yes. Mr. Fah-vuh-ruh just lit up this pair to the tune of a buck eighty through the air, the receivers to whom he was throwing were no seasoned veterans by any stretch. And, I'm not sure how to say this properly in English, but here goes: It fucking ruled. Yes, the collective Bronco fan base was forced to remove the shafts of Chailey's and Dry from their orifii for a moment, slide the hairy bean bag over and say, "Well, I guess 'shutdown' is subjective."

Don't get me wrong. The Chiefs cornerback duo of Pat Surtain and Ty Law -- a.k.a. PySaw -- is prett abysmal. In fact, I'm not sure there's a worse duo in the league. Come to think of it, this duo



could probably cover receivers with more shrewdness and mobility, but what can you do. Granted, you can say cool cut-that-meat things about them, like the following:

1) Ty Law historically owns Peyton Manning, especially in the post-season.
2) Pat Surtain was allegedly an outstanding prep quarterback in New Orleans and once started a high school all-star game in place of Peyton Manning.

Neither of those tidbits will get you into the playoffs (playoffs?!?), though.

That said, the Broncos travel to Ford Field this week, where 10-win Kitna, who apparently mixes humor with God, looks to keep his surprisingly accurate prediction on pace. Meanwhile, Mike McCarthy and company will lose to the favored Chiefs, setting up one hell of a kickass debut to the 2007 version of The Tradition. Stay tuned.
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