The pre-season schedules are starting to come out.  Of course we've got the Governor's Cup against the Baghdad St. Louis Rams.  It's not on the official site yet but here is a quick snippet of who our opponents are.

The Kansas City Chiefs open the 2008 preseason schedule at Soldier Field against the Chicago Bears. Official dates and kickoff times will be announced at a later time.

The Chiefs host the Arizona Cardinals, travel to play the Miami Dolphins and host the St. Louis Rams in the '08 installment of the Governor's Cup series.

Times and dates haven't been released yet.

I think Chris mentioned the other day that the Rams are thinking about moving their training camp to Wisconsin.  This would make for some interesting inter-state rivalry practices for the Chiefs and Rams.

Welcome AP readers!  Another day drags by the in the off-season.  A few links for you to get your morning started off right.

-It only took us 88 days to find out the mystery behind LJ's injury.  A cracked bone in his foot.  What was the mystery?

-An "unnamed NFL player" said his teams game plan against the Chiefs was to run directly at Tamba Hali.  Is Tamba a rising player or the beneficiary of Jared Allen?

-Speaking of Jared Allen, here is a great article detailing his love for hunting.  Very well written article that gives some depth to Allen.

-And people ask why Larry Johnson can't identify with the average Chiefs fan.  He's got some cool cars though.

-An uplifting story from Grandpa Eddie Kennison.  He nominated his old high school English teacher for 2007 NFL Teacher of the Year.  Yes, she did win.

-If this guy hadn't signed with the Rams, would you guys have welcomed him back?

What happened this morning?  I thought KC was supposed to get a lot of snow, but I'm not complaining.  Anyway, grab some coffee and I'll be back in a bit.  Also, put up any good diaries to get us through the day!  You guys didn't think I would end this post without mentioning this game, did you?

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San Diego @ Indianapolis, Noon central time on CBS.

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Giants @ Cowboys, 3:30 PM central time on Fox.

Who ya got? I'm taking the Colts over the Chargers and the Cowboys over the Giants. Your predictions?

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Seattle @ Green Bay, 3:30 PM central time on Fox.

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Jaguars @ Patriots, 7 PM central time on CBS.

Man, don't you just love football on Saturdays? Even if the Chiefs aren't playing, the divisional round of the NFL playoffs is up there with the best time of the year in sports.

I'm not one of those crazy bandwagoneers who is going to picks the Jags. New England will win and win handily. 38 to 27, Patriots. Jacksonville scores a late touchdown to make the score respectable.

The Seattle/Green Bay game could go either way but I've learned over the years to not doubt Brett Favre, especially at Lambeau Field. 31 to 17, Packers. Seattle never gets their offense going and Favre throws two touchdowns.

Let us know your predictions in the comment section. Oh, let us know your drink selection for the games as well. I've got six Fat Tire ales to get me through.

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Giants @ Bucs, Noon, central time on Fox.

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Titans @ Chargers, 3:30 central time on CBS.

That Jags/Steelers game yesterday showed exactly why you watch every NFL playoff game. Good for the Jags too. I like their style of football and I'm happy to see it succeed.

Who ya got today? I'm taking the Chargers over the Titans and the Giants over the Bucs.

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Redskins @ Seattle, 3:30 PM central time on NBC.

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Jaguars @ Steelers, 7 PM central time on NBC.

Jump on over to the other sites for the games or feel free to comment here. I'll be around...

Who ya got in these games? I'm taking Chargers over Titans and the Jags over the Steelers. I know. I just blew you away with those picks.

August 14th is the release date for the newest edition of the perennial Madden franchise. I don't own an XBox 360 or a PS3 but I do enjoy playing Madden when I get the chance. From the look of it, this year's edition (gang tackling included!) should be the next generation of football gaming.

Check out IGN.com's Madden Blog for some cool screen shots and insider notes on various features of the game.

After reading this article by Peter King and seeing that the Chiefs will possibly play a regular season game in Germany in 2008, I found myself debating in my head the pros and cons of the NFL expanding into Europe. Our very own GM Carl Peterson is apparently a very big proponent of NFL play in Europe and the dollar signs will point you in the direction of why he's so excited.

As we've noted many times here at AP, the NFL is first and foremost a business. Teams and the league need to make money in order to survive. NFL Europe and now talk of international regular season games is a way for the league to test the financial waters over the pond. Football in the United States has been at the top of professional American sports for probably ten years now. With the United States virtually conquered by football, I can just see owners salivating at the possibility of expanding the NFL to a global market. Although I understand the reasons for the NFL to market overseas (cough..cough...MONEY!) I certainly don't like it.

First, NFL games are scarce enough. Unlike the 162 game season of baseball or the 82 games of the NBA season, the NFL season is a ritualistic banding together of fans for one day a week, 16 times a year. Fans are already squirming in their chairs on Monday morning for the Sunday game. We already have a bye week where we don't have football for two weeks and I think I speak for all football fans when I say that the bye week for your team is absolutely boring, filled with anxiety and filled with a general "Can we please get back to football?" mentality. I know that an international game would still be televised but I'm not sure at what time or if we would even get to watch a game live. Please don't detract from another week of football, like the bye week does, by playing a game at 3 AM Central time or something equally ridiculous. I need my live football fix. Replays of games just don't cut it for me.

Perhaps the biggest problem I have with Carl Peterson and the league deciding on playing a game in Europe next year is that in this case, the Chiefs would be giving up a home game to be the "international host" for a Europe game. By playing overseas, the Chiefs give away one of our biggest advantages- home field. Does the benefit of spreading the NFL to Europe outweigh giving up a home game in KC? I am banging my fist on my desk right now yelling, "Hell no!".

From a Midwestern, American football fan to the NFL, please don't take my Chiefs games overseas. As a long time fan of the Chiefs, I could really care less about an NFL game in Europe. Maybe I'm a purist. Maybe I'm just selfish. But don't lessen the real fan's experience for a marketing adventure abroad.

From the official site:

(Actual text of the bill. You have to love any bill that mentions Worlds AND Oceans of Fun.)

DT snubbed again (Photo source here)

We mentioned a few weeks ago about Derrick Thomas being a Hall of Fame finalist. As it turned out on Saturday, Thomas did not make it in. As Chiefs fans, we know that DT deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. His time in the HOF will come, don't worry. More on Derrick Thomas on Thursday, the 7th anniversary of his death.