Sports

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The road to answers on why someone would bomb the Boston Marathon, the nation’s oldest annual one, remains long, and difficult.

In this edition of "A Fan's Notes," commentator Victor Wishna looks for inspiration in the marathon itself.

Seven games into their 2013 baseball season, the Kansas City Royals have a winning record for the first time. The home opener against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium took a dramatic turn late in the game.

Unlike last year when the Royals gave up seven runs in the first inning of the home opener, they kept the game close.  Down 1-0 in the eighth, Lorenzo Cain doubled and scored in an inning that produced all the Royals' runs in their 3-1 victory.

With a record number of spring training games won, the Royals started the regular season in Chicago last week with two losses and a win.

The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament is notorious for its unpredictability year after year, and as March Madness winds down, one Kansas university gets to claim the biggest upset of the tournament; Wichita State University making it to the Final Four for the first time since 1965 to play first seated Louisville.

Though Atlanta is this year’s host city for the NCAA’s Men’s Final Four, Kansas City still holds the record as the city with the most championship games.  This year, the NCAA is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the men’s basketball tournament. 

For the 29th time, the annual NCAA Division I Basketball Championship -- that is, "the tournament" -- has arrived in Kansas City. With thousands upon thousands of fans expected, the March Madness is spilling out of the Sprint Center and clogging the downtown streets. Commentator Victor Wishna tries to make sense of the maddening crowd in this month's edition of A Fan's Notes.

The first bow and arrow is believed to have been used around 12-thousand years ago, but with the rise of guns, archery fell out of favor.  Now, it’s being revived with the help of school programs across the county. Eric Edwards from the Missouri Department Conservation and coordinator for the Missouri National Archery in Schools Program shares with us how archery is helping young people learn discipline, love of sport, and concentration.

Actor Harrison Ford plays Branch Rickey in "42," the movie on baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson to be released next month.  Rickey is the former general manager who signed Robinson to break the color line in Major League Baseball.  Ford will be in Kansas City next month for a special screening.

  It’s a mad, mad, mad March. And there’s nowhere more crazy about college basketball than Kansas City. From the Sprint Center to Municipal Auditorium, up and down the Power and Light District to living rooms everywhere, college hoops are here. Today on Central Standard, we tip off a conversation about the tournaments that are dominating our airwaves, namely the NCAA tournament that starts today and includes games later this week here in town, but also a tournament that gets less press but has been in town longer—much longer—the NAIA, whose championship game is tonight.

Sometimes the need to be accepted can be just as powerful as the need to be different. One local rugby club somehow offers both.

The Kansas City Carnivores are by definition a team that plays rugby. They also serve as a non-profit organization that seeks to bring the sport of rugby to traditionally underrepresented communities, with an emphasis on gay and bisexual players.

In college basketball, the Missouri Tigers advanced in the Southeastern Conference tournament after a 62-50 victory over Texas A&M on Thursday night.  The Tigers will take on Ole Miss tonight.

Four basketball games took place last Friday at the St. Mary’s High School gymnasium in Independence for the last time. 

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph announced last month the school will close at the end of the school year because of declining enrollment.  It has been around for 160 years.

The captain of the cheerleaders, a senior, shares her thoughts. Her name is Emily Echlin, the daughter of KCUR sports contributor Greg Echlin.

Last week, the International Olympic Committee announced it will be taking wrestling to the mat--the 2016 Games will be the last for the ancient sport. But with March Madness approaching and spring training already underway, why should the casual fan care? Commentator Victor Wishna explains in this month's edition of  A Fan's Notes.

A mainstay of Kansas City Royals baseball broadcasting is retiring.  Bob Davis plans to devote more time to University of Kansas play-by-play.

It’s taken years, but the world’s most popular sport is finally catching on in the United States. Sporting KC has regular sell-outs at its stadium, and the team has fared well in its young history.

 Now it’s turn for the U.S. women to take the pitch. This year marks the inaugural season of the National Women’s Soccer League, and FC Kansas City, our town’s team, join 7 other cities – Boston, Seattle, Chicago, Washington DC, Portland, Rochester NY, and Piscataway NJ on the field.  Today we're are joined by  the coach for FC Kansas City, Vlatko Andonovski and forward Melissa Henderson.

It wasn't Will Shields or Otis Taylor, but another former member of the Kansas City Chiefs will enter Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer.

Bill Snyder is the oldest active coach in major college football and shows no signs of retiring. Snyder will be 78 if he fulfills the 5-year extension he signed to coach the Kansas State Wildcats.