Mellinger Minutes For Your Ears

You already know this week’s show is built around the Royals playing a real baseball game in front of real humans.

The show leads off with a perspective on what’s really driving this year’s roster, then we get questions on how the show is put together, KU and K-State’s basketball programs, how the Royals spend their money, and journalism. The bonus section begins with the best audio we’ve ever had on this show, and continues going through opening day and what it might mean going forward.

Please listen to new episodes every Friday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We are constantly trying to think of new ways to deliver you information, entertainment or something else you won’t get anywhere else. Part of that is evaluating how you and I can connect. My hope is this can be one more way — a podcast you can listen to whenever and wherever you like.

Join us every Friday for behind-the-scenes access to interviews with Kansas City’s coaches, fans and reporters. We’ve talked with Patrick Mahomes, Mike Matheny, Brett Veach — and more. You can get all the episodes in one place right here.

If you like our work, you can help support us by subscribing to the SportsPass. It’s the best deal in town: $30 for a year or, with a new promotion, $1 per month for the first three months. Either way you get access to all our work, including the best and most Chiefs coverage anywhere.

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This week we start with something I hear a lot of you doing: freaking out about the Chiefs.

Questions hit on KU’s blowout loss to USC, the potential of Eric Fisher returning to the Chiefs, and the Royals’ usage of extensions to keep guys like Salvador Perez and Hunter Dozier in Kansas City.

The bonus segment is with David Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at USC, a great person to talk about this trend of fans being able to watch their favorite teams in local markets.

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Fair warning, this week’s lead is essentially me drooling over the fact that you and I and everyone else can watch actual, real, NCAA Tournament games.

Then we do questions on who the heck I think I am, whether gambling is good for sports, what Ballly’s Kansas City will be like, and whether KU screwed up its infractions case.

The bonus segment is a good one — Sporting Kansas City CEO Jake Reid on the current reality that a significant chunk of Kansas Citians are shut out from watching the Royals and Sporting on their TVs. This is a big story, and something we’ll continue to do more on.

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Believe it or not, there’s a point about Jeff Long and Kansas that I haven’t made yet this week and an analogy that will help make sense of the mess, especially if you’re a Chiefs fan.

The questions hit on weird press conferences, the Chiefs’ salary cap, the chance of Alex Smith rejoining as a backup, and getting kids in school.

The bonus section is built around something Brett Veach said a few weeks ago. With the cuts of Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz some are saying Veach lied. I’m going to tell you why it’s not that simple.

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You guys, I’m back from spring training and it was all of the following: weird, not the same as normal, and incredibly satisfying to watch baseball games played with humans in the stands.

We talk about that, picking up some joy, when we might be able to watch games without masks, maximizing the spring training experience and some audio that tells you everything you need to know about who the Royals want to be and how they believe they can compete in a division with teams that have more money, more talent, or both.

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Now’s as good a time as ever for the wonder of sports. All that stuff we fell in love with, it’s coming back. Slowly, but it’s coming back.

Plus we hit questions on why Andrew Benintendi changes the Royals, the work they still have to do, the Chiefs’ offseason and whether their future will ever look like the quarterback angst we now see in Seattle and Houston.

The bonus segment — all about the Royals, who are doing actual baseball things this week.

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The only show I had it in me to do this week is a show about our dear friend Terez Paylor.

We talk here about telling people we love them, listeners share stories, and Chiefs general manager Brett Veach gives his memories of Terez — from the other side of the notebook.

Promise we’ll get to actual sports next week.

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So I guess we’re talking about the Chiefs in the Super Bowl every year now, huh?

Here we go, about the importance of not taking this for granted, questions on everything from the defense to the most important parts of the game to the offensive line and who is the worst member of the A-Team to travel with.

We finish with a conversation with the man who knows more about the Bucs than anyone who doesn’t work for them.

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It wouldn’t be Super Bowl hype week without a show, right?

We give you a breakdown of three main points from this game, questions about Mahomes and the national media and the best way to watch this game and have a driveway tailgate, and one of my favorite bonus segments we’ve had.

Because Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes told us a lot about where they are this week, even if they did it unintentionally. You’ve got to hear this clip from Mahomes, too, admitting the Chiefs are not disrespected while SAYING THEY ARE DISRESPECTED.

A tour de force, indeed.

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Packed with Chiefs stuff.

We give you a full(ish) breakdown of the AFC Championship Game between the Chiefs and the Bills, including what I’m looking for when each team is on offense. We have another great batch of questions from around the country, and we talk to Kevin Van Valkenburg, who recently did a deep dive on Josh Allen, who fooled a lot of us and this weekend will be trying to end the Chiefs’ season.

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