Royals lose seventeenth in a row:

"I think it's gotten past the point of frustration for us," Matt Stairs said. "When we make a mistake, it seems to beat us. Tonight it was an infield hit. I thought it was a good ballgame and I thought we played well, but we lost."

Royals need to go 43-1 to finish .500, 25-19 to avoid 100 losses, 1-43 to avoid losing all of their remaining games.

Now THIS is the way to enter Division I:

The South Dakota State University women's basketball team made a smooth transition to the realm of Division I during the 2004-05 school year.

Not only did the Jackrabbits compile a winning record against D-I opposition with an 8-7 record en route to a 21-7 season, but SDSU posted the second-highest team grade-point average in Division I to earn a spot on the Women's Basketball Coaches Association’s Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll.

The Jackrabbits' 3.567 team GPA trailed only the 3.602 GPA turned in by Indiana State. Eastern Washington, 3.498; North Dakota State, 3.476, and Iowa State, 3.461 rounded out the top five.

I dunno, volleyball players are pretty smart, too . . . (hi, Snookums!)

UMKC releases their men's basketball schedule, featuring a trip to that mecca of college basketball, Frost Arena on the campus of South Dakota State University. (Go Rabbits!).

UMKC's schedule announcement is here.

Schedule table in the extended story (i.e. "Read More").

The lawsuit of the National Invitational Tournament against the NCAA begins.

In a civil case projected to feature testimony from college presidents, coaches, athletic directors and economists, the NIT - the older of the two tournaments - is asking a jury to find that the NCAA violated federal antitrust laws.

As a fan of a school which is not likely to get a whiff of the NCAA tournament for some time, my inclinations are toward the NIT. But, the libertarian in me says "the schools sign a contract with the NCAA, they need to live with it."

It's really not even funny any more.

The Kansas City Royals remained in their downward spiral Monday night when they were overpowered by Seattle rookie phenom Felix Hernandez in an 11-3 loss at Safeco Field.

Hernandez, 19, allowed just one run and three hits in eight innings in sending the Royals to their 16th consecutive defeat. He struck out 11 and walked just one in a dominating 99-pitch performance.

It's not the other pitchers that are good, it's the Royals that are just bad hitters. Royals need to go 43-2 to finish .500, 25-20 to avoid 100 losses, 1-44 to avoid losing all of their remaining games.

The delayed bid letting to begin Kansas City's Sprint Center foundation excavation finally happens:

Contractors who balked at responding to the original request for bids complained that the 2½-inch thick document was cumbersome and onerous. One described it as having “public sector bureaucracy all over it.”

City and Mortenson officials believed the biggest obstacle was the interpretation by potential bidders that the contract would make them liable for up to $25,000 per day in damages should the arena miss its completion deadline. Among other things, the revised bid specifications capped that potential damage amount at $150,000.

Detroit 8, KC 7; Detroit 1, KC 0. Royals loss streak now up to fifteen.

"This is getting really old," Royals manager Buddy Bell said. "We literally did some bad things - getting picked off, doubled off. The kid pitched a good game, but he threw to the same place the whole game and we didn't make adjustments. You've got to have the courage to make adjustments, to live with a plan. It is frustrating."

Royals need to go 43-3 to finish .500, 25-21 to avoid 100 losses, 1-45 to avoid losing all of their remaining games.

Alert reader Russell noted the omission of IUPUI from the main map as well as the Mid-Con map. My sincere apologies to Russell and the IUPUI Jaguars...the maps have been fixed. Thanks to Russell and all who have viewed, voted, and/or commented on the maps.

Friday night: Vikings 27, Chiefs 16. Kansas City's re-tooled defense gets shredded early by the Vikings.

Saturday night: Broncos 20, Texans 14. Broncos's re-tooled defense stops Texans first-string four times on the goal line.

Medary.com's NFL coverage will feature the Broncos (Filbert's favorite) as well as Chiefs and Vikings news and notes.

First game of the Royals-Tigers series washed out by Kansas City rains.

Royals record-watch mercifully put on hold for a day.