Even though I more or less knew (as many did) that the decision had already been made, I'm still stunned to see that Fanfest 2012 has been cancelled. I already said my piece on this earlier this week and don't have much more to add. This decision is illogical and shortsighted. That the Royals are canning the Fanfest for mostly financial/staffing reasons, during the same week it comes out that they're getting more or less free money for selling stadium naming rights... wow.

So basically, because of the All-Star Game and it's events -- which really are kinda irrelevant or at least not-really Royals related and not even something that many Royals fans can attend and oh yea ARE IN JULY -- there's no Royals Fanfest this January. Look, guys, there's a quota of fun or nice or cool things you can have in any given season. I guess if the Royals ever make the playoffs, we'll learn that Spring Training the next year will be nixed, because the franchise can't accommodate all this extra work. But hey, you're the idiot fan and you'll take it. Once again, sports are teaching us quite a bit about life.

Here are your links.

Royals:

• No FanFest, but Royals Luncheon set | royals.com: News
• FanFest Fail - Royals Authority
• The Royals Should Not Cancel the 2012 Fanfest - Royals Review
• Jonathan Sanchez aims to cut down on free passes with Royals | royals.com: News

Baseball:

• Twins fire general manager Bill Smith, name Terry Ryan interim GM " AaronGleeman.com " Aaron Gleeman's Baseball and Minnesota Twins Blog
• It's Also The Moves That Don't Get Made - Lookout Landing

Grab Bag:

• Lipsyte on mis-remembering Joe Frazier dead: - Slate Magazine
• Swing State Blog: North Carolina's Surprisingly Boring Electoral Vote History
• A big British boundary review: Why Britain has centrist politics | The Economist