The Royals are Good at What their Owner Wants Them to Be Good At

Depending on your source, the Royals payroll is up somewhere between a little and a significant amount over 2012. It is still near the bottom of the league, however. Just something to keep in mind when you see the new Forbes piece about MLB team values, and you learn that David Glass has made somewhere on the order of $361 million owning the Royals just in the increased value of the team. They also made $16.3 million dollars last year in operating income. Just something to keep in mind.

A What Sink?

These people are elected by a vote... of real life other people!

A few Tennessee lawmakers apparently inquired whether a new sink at the state capitol designed for custodial use was a sink for Muslims to wash their feet in before prayer, theAssociated Press reported Monday. The lawmakers were reassured that it is simply a "mop sink." 

“I confirmed with the facility administrator for the State Capitol Complex that the floor-level sink installed in the men’s restroom outside the House Chamber is for housekeeping use,” Legislative Administration Director Connie Ridley wrote in an email. “It is, in layman’s terms, a mop sink.”

Conspiracy!

This is a pretty awesome parody of 9/11 truthers:

The Empathy Party

In example 37,867,045,983 of why I believe the major difference between conservatives and liberals is that liberals have an ability to imagine what life might be like for someone other than themselves, here is Senator Rob Portman on why he no longer opposes gay marriage:

"I'm announcing today a change of heart on an issue that a lot of people feel strongly about," Portman said. "It has to do with gay couples' opportunity to marry. And during my career in the House and also last couple years here in the Senate, you know, I've taken a position against gay marriage, rooted in part in my faith and my faith tradition. And had a very personal experience, which is my son came to Jane, my wife, and I, told us that he was gay and that it was not a choice and that, you know he, that's just part of who he is, and he'd been that way ever since he could remember."

I don't know if Rob Portman has any other kids. If he does, and it just so happens one of them is an illegal immigrant, a single mother, not wealthy, or  has a pre-existing condition, he might just end up becoming a Democrat.

Friday Song Day

Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside for my friends who love the Heartless Bastards.

 

Kansas City Sports in 13

I went looking for a post I had done on how Kansas City's major sports fortunes were the worst of any city with at least two teams, and I found out that I hadn't updated it in 3 years. So, here is your depressing state of Kansas City sports, 2013 edition. What you are looking at is the number of times teams in these cities played in and won their respective championship games/series.

The first number is appearances in title games. The second it the number of times they won the championship.

Atlanta 6 app. (1 title)
Baltimore 2 app. (2 titles)
Boston 17 app. (8 titles)
Buffalo 5 app.
Charlotte 3 app. (1 title)
Chicago 11 app. (9 titles)
Cleveland 4 app.
Cincinnati 2 app. (1 title)
Dallas 9 app. (5 titles)
Denver 8 app. (4 titles)
Detroit 13 app. (7 titles)
Houston 4 app. (2 titles)
Indianapolis 3 app. (1 title)
Los Angeles 15 app. (10 titles)
Miami 6 app. (4 titles)
Milwaukee/Green Bay 3 app. (2 titles)
Minneapolis 3 app. (2 titles)
Nashville 1 app.
New Orleans 1 app. (1 Title)
New York 24 app. (14 titles)
Oakland 4 app. (1 title)
Philadelphia 7 app. (1 title)
Phoenix 3 app. (1 title)
Pittsburgh 8 app. (4 titles)
San Diego 2 app.
San Francisco 8 app. (5 titles)
Seattle 2 app.
St. Louis 6 app. (3 titles)
Tampa 3 app. (1 title)
Toronto 2 app. (2 titles)
Washington D.C. 3 app. (2 titles)

And our relative neighbor, Oklahoma City, has had one team now for 4 years and already has a championship appearance. Oh, and we had the best MLS team in the regular season last year and they didn't play in the title match either. There is probably another "and" here somewhere.