Kansas City

The Ravens signed strong safety Bernard Pollard to compete with Tom Zbikowski and Haruki Nakamura for a spot in the starting lineup. If dancing is the tiebreaker in this competition, Pollard will have it locked up. Check out this video of Pollard, who used to play for the Chiefs, from when “Hard Knocks” was in Kansas City in 2007. From what I'm told, his moves would put some of the girls on the Block to shame. I wouldn't know.

The Ravens were interested in keeping nose tackle Kelly Gregg , but they couldn't match an offer from the Kansas City Chiefs. Gregg reportedly will earn twice as much with the Chiefs than he would have with the Ravens, who were offering him $1.5 million. The Ravens officially released Gregg on Thursday, creating $3.5 million in salary-cap room. "Kansas City just gave him an offer that he couldn't refuse," coach John Harbaugh said. "We just wish him the best. Obviously, it's the best thing for his family financially, and we're happy for him. " Playing in Kansas City was a factor for Gregg, whose family lives in Oklahoma.

Google Inc. awarded an experimental, ultra-high-speed network to Kansas City, Kan., on Wednesday, bypassing more than 1,100 other communities, including Baltimore, that applied for the pilot project in a kind of high-technology lottery. Last February, Google said it would choose a community in which to design and build a new fiber-optic network that would connect thousands of homes to the Internet. But not all hope is lost for Baltimore and other cities. Google officials indicated that Kansas City could be the first of several communities to receive Google Fiber.

Now that he has a little free time on his hands, Chad Ochocinco will attempt to make the jump from pro football to pro futbol. Next week, the outspoken and locked-out Bengals wide receiver will get a four-day tryout with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. I'm not sure who's more desperate for attention: Ochocinco or the MLS team formely known as the Kansas City Wizards. "We're always searching for players who can help our team and bringing in new talent," K.C. manager Peter Vermes told the Associated Press . "We know that Chad is an exceptional athlete and that he loves the sport of soccer, and he did play a lot when he was younger.

April 4, 1994: Rafael Palmeiro hit his first home run with the Orioles as Baltimore beat Kansas City, 6-3, on Opening Day.

Kansas City has fans it should be proud of. As Ravens fans who've traveled to other playoff games, we knew to expect the worst coming in as visitors, but Chiefs fans in town and at the game surprised us with their hospitable attitude and well-wishes. There was not much purple and black to be found on that long, lonely walk from the parking lot to the stadium gate, but aside from some very good-natured ribbing, we were actually welcomed and wished well. In fact, we were able to garnish a few beers off the Chiefs fans!

Joe Flacco 's postseason coming-out party turned into an old-fashioned barbecue of the Kansas City Chiefs. With a strong arm, surprising elusiveness and unshaken confidence, Flacco delivered his most impressive performance in the playoffs, throwing two touchdowns in their 30-7 rout of the outclassed Kansas City Chiefs in a wild-card game at frigid Arrowhead Stadium. Recording their largest margin of victory in the playoffs since their Super Bowl triumph in January 2001, the fifth-seeded Ravens advance to play the second-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday afternoon in a divisional game at Heinz Field.

Ten years since he guided the Ravens to the Super Bowl, former coach Brian Billick thinks the team will do it again this year. Billick predicted that the Ravens will face the Philadelphia Eagles in what would be the franchise's second Super Bowl. "I think they're the one team that can go in and beat New England," said Billick, who is now an analyst for Fox and the NFL Network. Billick also expects the Ravens to have a relatively easy time defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday's wild-card game.

Missing in action much of the season, the Ravens' pass rush will stir once again on Sunday in Kansas City and give chase to Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel. Catching him, of course, will be the problem. Even with linebacker Terrell Suggs playing his best, the Ravens posted a franchise-low 27 sacks in the regular season. Filtered another way, the Ravens ranked last in the league in sacks-per-play. Their previous low ranking in sacks per play was 26th in their maiden season of 1996.