As we put the finishing touches on 2005, it’s time to reflect on the year in sports. Here in Kansas City, it was a year of triumph and tragedy. Well, let’s revise that. It was a year of tragedy. Like lots of it. But ya know, there was also comedy. So, how about 2005: Plenty tragedy, even more comedy. Yep, that sounds about right. In the spirit of tired end of the year awards shows, we present to you: The 2005 DA Showies (not written in front of a live studio audience).
The Corey Haim Wasted Talent Award: 2004-05 Kansas Jayhawks.
It’s not easy to take three senior starters in today’s college basketball landscape and turn it into an opening round loss to Bucknell. But, that’s exactly what Bill Self did with Wayne Simien, Keith Langford and Aaron Miles. For disturbingly long stretches, the Jayhawks were listless, discombobulated and erratic. Most of us knew the national preseason hype was a little over the top. Almost all of us realized pre-tourney predictions of a Final Four were absurd. But no one could have picked the Fightin' Bison over the ‘Hawks in front of what amounted to a KU home game in Oklahoma City.
The Hair Gel Is Eating My Brain Award: Quin Snyder, Missouri Tigers.
Forget an Elite 8 run three years ago. The most impressive accomplishment of Quinner’s professional coaching career has been to make Mizzou hoops completely insignificant. Sunday in Columbia was the high point, as an announced crowd of 5,600 people filled sparkling Mizzou Arena for a 72-63 win over Furman. UMKC topped that mark twice in February alone of last season. NCAA violations, consecutive NIT berths, losses to Sam Houston State, Davidson, and Belmont and an empty arena. Well done.
The How In the (bleep)? Award: Kansas City Royals, May 31-June 2, 2005
Awash in another historically dreadful season and adapting to a midseason switch at manager, the Royals somehow swept the Yankees at the K. Still reeling after skipper Tony Pena resigned under a cloud of suspicion the Royals pulled off 5-3, 3-1 and 5-2 victories. Of course, it must have been the DA Show Mojo. One month earlier we decided to grow our mustaches, a la the glory years of the ‘70s, until the Royals swept a series. Thank goodness for this one. They were starting to look truly ratty.
The Cocoon Three Award: Kansas City Chiefs.
Very suddenly the Chiefs looked old. Really old. Like Wilfred Brimley in Cocoon old. Despite coming off a 13-3 campaign and preseason Super Bowl aspirations, the Red and Gold slid to a 7-9 finish. A 3-8 start squashed playoff hopes by
Thanksgiving and whispers of age finally became shrieks. Priest went down with another injury. Trent, TG and Fast Eddie never got the passing game to click. Suddenly, the O-line seemed slow and the defense, was well, the defense. Add to it a grumpier Grandpa Dick with increasingly absurd logic and One Arrowhead Drive felt more like an assisted living home.
The Deftly Avoiding Travel Delays Award (tie): All Three Local College Football Teams.
Somehow, K-State, Mizzou AND KU all missed bowl games, a feat that hadn’t happened in over twenty years. The Wild-kitties sunk after winning the Big 12 championship in 2003. The 4-7 Jayhawks took coach Mark Mangino’s XXXXXL sweater vest home for the holidays and wrapped every present in Lawrence with it. The Tigers walked into the season trendy favorites to win the North and stumbled out with their tails between their legs, forcing Brad Smith into a pocket passer to disastrous results. Of course, fans and players of all three schools avoided KCI around Christmas which might have been a blessing after all.
Listen to the 2005 DA Showies Thursday morning from 5:30a-9a for more of our end of the year madness. More than 20 more awards will be handed out, plus red carpet interviews with the Chiefs (wanna know who's in Eric Hicks' after-party posse?) Plus, a late X-mas present from all of us at the DA Show. If you miss any part of Thursdays show, we'll replay it the following Friday, December 30.
BEST OF: The Panthers Dancers stop by and don't stop talking for twenty minutes. Wait, you're home schooled? BEST OF: Heat legend Glen Rice in studio on dropping 56 on the Magic, Final Fours and MMA. BEST OF: "The Obama Guy" now has D.A.'s old job! He asked the Prez a question, then he joined the show. BEST OF: Phil and Chris Simms drop by the broadcast to rap about dad's career and son's future. BEST OF: Why so few minority college coaches? DA answers with one word: Boosters. BEST OF: When a Super Bowl MVP and Hall of Famer talks, you listen. The immortal Lynn Swann. BEST OF: TNA Wrestling's Traci Brooks on being blessed with, ahem, great dimensions. DA LOVES THE KIDS: After Marlins summer-camp day, the next gen of Fish Fans might be in trouble. DA LOVES THE KIDS: Part 1 Heat charity camp shows us D-Wright's defense needs a little work.
DA LOVES THE KIDS: Part 2 Not everyone is thrilled with the hiring of Eric Spoelstra. INSTANT CLASSIC: Free-agent Joe Horn blasts his old coaches and asks for Dolphins forgiveness, all live on the show! INSTANT CLASSIC: The man who took down Kimbo Slice: overnight celebrity Seth Petruzelli talks about the fight that stunned the fight world. BEST OF: Author Jeff Pearlman on the controversial Cowboys dynasty. Uh, ew. BEST OF: Heat rookie Mario Chalmers needs help hot-boxing. Cough, cough.. BEST OF: DA is named a Godfather. Can he handle the responsibility or will he sleep with the fishes? BEST OF: DA witnesses the greatest kids game ever. Rock, paper, scissors, space! STAR WARS GEEKS: Part 1 DA goes where no sportstalk host has gone before: Star Wars premier night.
STAR WARS GEEKS: Part 2 Will DA make it out alive or turn into an extra from the Cantina Bar? INSTANT CLASSIC: Legend of the MMA Dan "Hendo" Henderson on the circus attraction to Kimbo and the rise of UFC. BEST OF: New UFC Champ Forrest Griffin on the belt and bouncing out of fighting while the gettin's good. INSTANT CLASSIC: Zo's youth clinic brings us immediate joy: Heat Kids Say the Darndest Things BEST OF: Miami boxer Joey "Twinkle Fingers" Hernandez found himself on the streets. How he got his mojo back. BEST OF: CBS4 Weather Wizard and Miss Florida Lissette Gonzalez on the jet-stream and the wave. BEST OF: Marino delivers a commencement speech and DA's own graduation horrors. INSTANT CLASSIC: Cats winger Nathan Horton is married to a Playmate? Oops. INSTANT CLASSIC: What does JoePa really mean at pressers? Ask Penn State 101. INSTANT CLASSIC: St. Patty's Day means celebrating Irish sports legends: DA Show style. INSTANT CLASSIC: Canes Big Man Dwayne Collins has his Aladdin DVD stolen. The Horror! INSTANT CLASSIC: Dontrelle says peace to South Florida with DA. Here's his Top-3 movies of all-time. SUPER BOWL XLII: NYG's Lawrence Tynes stops by after the ticker tape parade. INSTANT CLASSIC: Is Shaq becoming M.C. Hammer Jr? Say it ain't so. INSTANT CLASSIC: DA melts down as his alma mater brings brings back the dimwitted Greg Robinson for more SU pain. INSTANT CLASSIC: This placed DA squarely on the Chiefs blacklist forever. DA and King Carl in THE Battle Royale. BEST OF: Where it all started: Herm
and Carl agree... Damon is a nice name. SUPER BOWL XL: D.A. does his best investigative work ever. It's the field turf press conference from Detroit. INSTANT CLASSIC: The Mark Mangino Montage tastes better than ever! INSTANT CLASSIC: The 2007 Herm-Gasm. 'Nuff said. INSTANT CLASSIC: The Chiefs Dept. of Misinformation is at it once again. Are the Chiefs wearing white or not? Don't ask them. INSTANT CLASSIC: Chicago's legendary Mike North joins DA to preview Chiefs- Bears. Da Bears! INSTANT CLASSIC : The annual DA Show NBA Mock Draft is here... with a return from Stormbot. FEATURED AUDIO: Royals legend Denny Matthews has bought his first cell phone. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as 6-4-3. FEATURED AUDIO: A fond DA Show farewell to Buddy Bell. He really was "Our Buddy." FEATURED AUDIO
: Lauren Nichole has made quite an impression with her traffic reports. Great or gross? You decide. The
one, the only, Zach Greinke from Royals Spring Training. The
2007 One NIT NIT Moment.
The 2006 Caller Hall of Fame Track One: Christopher Walken's legendary roast
of the new class
First the staff. Then listeners. Now LJ has the Herm-gasm? Crazy
Ray sings the Growing Pains theme song. The
Royals 70's jingle that puts a smile on your face during another horrid season
in KC. The
local TV anchors slip up on the broadcast and luckily the D.A. Show was rolling
tape. 6-6-06:
The Crypt Keeper's Holiday Crazy
Ray displays his talent for singing. Could he make a run at the next American
Idol? Oklahoma
takes it on the chin with this famous call from R.B. Missed
any of the NIT NIT action? Check out the recaps of the games and a special
edition of The One NIT NIT Moment. We
couldn't leave Alex the Intern out of the mix, check out the drunk dial message
Alex left for D.A. The
D.A. Show tribute to Alan Thicke.
Is
Crazy Ray really crazy? Take a listen to find out.
A
D.A. Show Investigation reveals color commentators handing out the pink slip
to local college coaches.
Quinner's
feeling a bit down. We ask, what's wrong with Quinn Snyder? Herm Edwards gave us quotable material right from jump street. He gets a montage based on his introduction presser. A
staple of any good office party. It's the Dick Vermeil montage XP: final edition.
Duh, ok.
DA's Hometown Hottie contest created controversy throughout KC. Radio superstar Johnny Dare stuck his nose in the middle of it. The
callers finally had their own chance to put their stamp on the Vermeil montage Why
do the sista's hate the show? It all started here: Yvette's call of the day The original D.A. Show parody of Jim Rome's smack-off (circa '04). The '05 D.A. Show parody of Jim Rome's smack-off, complete with a certain national columnist. The '06 smack-smack, which brought all the D.A. Show legends together for one fab event. You asked for it. We delivered. DA Show icon Alan Thicke's first appearance.
As we put the finishing touches on 2005, it’s time to reflect on the year in sports. Here in Kansas City, it was a year of triumph and tragedy. Well, let’s revise that. It was a year of tragedy. Like lots of it. But ya know, there was also comedy. So, how about 2005: Plenty tragedy, even more comedy. Yep, that sounds about right. In the spirit of tired end of the year awards shows, we present to you: The 2005 DA Showies (not written in front of a live studio audience).
