The Kansas City Star has the reputation as one of, if not the best sports departments in the entire country. From Kent Babb to Bill Reiter to Jason Whitlock, they really do take their time and put out quality stories on a regular basis (and I've said that quite a few times).
The Star's Sports Daily (a/k/a the sports section) won what's been dubbed the triple crown in newspaper circles -- a top 10 ranking for is daily sports section, Sunday section and special section.
The honors are voted on by the Associated Press Sports Editors.
The top 10 ranking in the special section is the Star's 11th consecutive top 10 finish and is believed to be the most for any papers of it's size. This is the Star's fourth triple crown in the last eight years. Only the Dallas Morning News (another one of my favorite papers) won a triple crown in 2009.
Randy Covitz, Adam Teicher, Joe Posnanski, Candace Buckner and Jason Whitlock received a top 10 finishing for project reporting in a series of stories leading up to Derrick Thomas' Hall of Fame induction.
Whitlock also received top 10 honors for stories on Michael Beasley, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Mangino, Michael Vick and a study on graduation rates for black athletes.
Congratulations and kudos on a job well done to all of our friends at the Kansas City Star.