Can't spell Spring Training without R-P-I

One of the odd, but fun parts of being a sports columnist is that your daily life is entirely scheduled by other people. I sometimes am asked, “Do you get to choose your own assignments?” And my answer is, “Why, yes. Yes, I do.” But, of course, that’s a lie. Well, first of all, I would never use the phrase, “Why, yes.” I’m not a character from “Alice in Wonderland.”

Second, while it’s true that I get to choose what columns I write, my schedule is determined by the sports fates. Sunday, the NCAA Tournament committee decided to leave the Kansas State basketball team at home. The unintended consequence of this was to free me from Buffalo or Spokane or wherever the heck the Kansas State basketball team would have been consigned and send me instead to Surprise for Royals spring training. Or maybe it was an intended consequence, I don’t know. Maybe those committee members in the room, instead of discussing teams RPIs and strength of schedules and whatever else, actually said: “Hey, let's snub Kansas State. That way that Kansas City columnist will go to spring training early and be forced to find something new to say about Odalis Perez and Angel Berroa. That could be amusing.”

Of course, I don’t really believe that’s what they said. I believe what they said was: “How can we arrange this tournament so it helps Duke?”

Anyway, we will have another “Baseball Preview with the Stars” up this afternoon -- big star coming up -- and at least two more over the next two days. Then the blog will go live from Surprise, Arizona.

In the meantime, if you are in the Kansas City area – or if you have all sorts of frequent flier miles you want to get rid of – we will have a "Soul of Baseball" book signing and presentation Tuesday evening at The Kansas City Store in Prairie Village (6951 Tomahawk).