KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Eric Bieniemy is spending this particular week for the second straight year not only preparing the Kansas City Chiefs to play in the Super Bowl but also trying to explain why he doesn't have an NFL head-coaching job.

Bieniemy said Tuesday that even though he interviewed for six openings this year and multiple openings last year, the right job hasn't come along yet.

"It's always about getting the right job," the Chiefs' offensive coordinator said. "Sometimes the job and the person have to connect. There has to be a connection. The only thing I can do is be my most authentic self. That's who I am. I can only be me. Some team has to want me. For some reason, that chemistry has not been a fit. There has not been that opportunity to connect, but that's OK. At the end of the day, I have the opportunity to go out here and work with the Kansas City Chiefs, which is a great organization ...

"I'm excited about the opportunity that has been presented to me. The other stuff, I can't control that. That is out of my control. The only thing I can worry about is today and moving forward what I need to do to help our guys be at their best come Sunday."

Bieniemy said he's dealing with the disappointment by focusing on Sunday's game. The Chiefs have the chance to be the first team to win back-to-back championships in more than 15 years when they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.

"We've had a great deal of success here that's placed me in the situation where I've been recognized to interview for some jobs," Bieniemy said. "Those interviews, for whatever reason, I have not been hired, which is OK because at the end of the day I still have an opportunity to go out there and help our team pursue and obtain our goal.

"Yes, there is a focal point where you are focused on that interview. But once that interview is over, it's time to turn the page. I can't sit here and dwell in pity because when all is said and done with I have a responsibility to the Kansas City Chiefs ... to make sure that we're mentally and physically ready to go come game day. That's who I am, and that's how I operate.

"I learned a long time ago how to persevere through adversity. The beauty of it is not so much that I have to persevere, because that's going to take care of itself. It's making sure that whatever is taking place with Eric Bieniemy isn't becoming a distraction in us pursuing our dreams and our goals."

Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians was asked if it would help if the NFL made a rule to move the hiring cycle to after the Super Bowl.

"I think that would be a great rule. I really do, if everybody had to wait until after. I know everybody's gonna go behind their back anyway, and agents will have agreements with people, but I think the hiring process should wait until after the season."

While indicating there were times over the past week when he felt "nauseous" believing that the deal might not get done, St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak couldn't be happier with his acquisition of five-time All-Star Nolan Arenado from the Colorado Rockies.

"With the addition of Nolan, we think we went from a good to a great team," Mozeliak said to reporters Tuesday. "I can tell you, over the last week or so, I kept feeling nauseous. It felt like something was going to go wrong."

Things fell into place after the clubs re-engaged in trade talks in December. Mozeliak indicated there were discussions about acquiring Arenado as far back as last offseason, around the time the third baseman felt a trade was best for him.

"When I signed in Colorado, I signed it with the intent of being there for the rest of my career," Arenado said. "It wasn't meant to be. The last few years have been tough."

Arenado's displeasure came from the Rockies' inability to field a competitive team after he signed an eight-year extension with the club before the 2019 season.

The Cardinals acquired Arenado on Monday for pitcher Austin Gomber and four minor league players. To waive his no-trade clause, Arenado was given two opt-out clauses, after the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

"I plan on sticking around," Arenado said. "That's my goal. I plan on staying here for a long time. I said that once in Colorado, but I truly mean it. I'm not worried about [opting out]."

Arenado compiled just a .738 OPS in 48 games in 2020 but was plagued by a shoulder injury.

"It was tough last year," he said. "I don't want to make the excuse that it was only because of that. It wasn't easy playing injured. I feel like I'm in a better place now. I expect to be back to normal."

Arenado understands Rockies fans might be upset with the deal but says he has no hard feelings toward the organization.

"My relationship with the Rockies is just fine," Arenado said. "I'm not going to talk about the bad things. There are no bad things. I had a great time in Colorado. It just didn't work out.

"I know a lot of people are bothered by this [trade], but I'm not the first [big] contract to get moved after a couple of years. It happens a lot in this game."

While Nolan Arenado took questions about the storied tradition of the St. Louis Cardinals, playing rivalry games at Wrigley Field and life on a perennial playoff contender, Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort was being asked whether he has thought about firing himself.

Yes, the trade of the five-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner is going down much better in St. Louis than in Denver. Even Monfort seemed saddened that the franchise ultimately agreed to acquiesce to Arenado's desire and traded him away from the franchise that drafted him in 2009.

"I'm a fan. I truly am," Monfort said. "I understand how they feel. To be quite honest, I would probably feel the same way. I do even feel the same way. When we signed Nolan, it was an attempt to keep Nolan for rest of his career. But things do change."

The Rockies never won a division title with Arenado, but they did make the playoffs in 2017 and 2018 as a wild card (losing a tiebreaker game to the Dodgers for the NL West title in 2018). They went 71-91 in 2019, however, and Monfort said the club had tried to trade Arenado after that season, when he first asked for a trade.

The Rockies then went 26-34 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and they discussed several trade possibilities, finally settling on the St. Louis deal that brought in pitcher Austin Gomber and four minor leaguers, with some cash -- perhaps as much as $51 million -- also going to St. Louis to help pay down the remaining six years on Arenado's contract.

Arenado can still opt out after 2021.

General manager Jeff Bridich downplayed the idea that the Rockies are now starting over.

"There are levels and variations of the rebuild process, but this certainly is not a total teardown and rebuild like certain teams have chosen to go," he said. "I think if that were the case that certain players would have already been traded."

One of those players would be two-time All-Star shortstop Trevor Story, who is eligible for free agency after the 2021 season. Story is tied for seventh -- with Arenado -- in WAR among position players since 2018. Bridich said he expects Story to open the season with the Rockies, though adding that it's difficult to predict what will happen this season.

"His situation is separate from Nolan's, as is the case with the rest of our players," Bridich said. "We certainly cherish having Trevor as a shortstop. It's very difficult to predict what the coming months are going to look like, in terms of the deadline, in terms of this season in general ... but we do not know what the pandemic and what the virus is going to do and how things are going to work out."

For now, the Rockies are acting as if they can still contend for a playoff spot in 2021, even without Arenado and without receiving any impact players in return or making any other significant offseason moves.

"We have an extremely talented team," Monfort said. "They are built to compete. It is time for them to take the next step."

After two poor seasons, the numbers don't really back up that assessment. The Rockies were just eighth in the NL in runs in 2020 -- after finishing in the top three every season between 2009 and 2018. They allowed the most runs in the league. Still, Monfort believes the team has the pitching to contend in 2021.

"My biggest belief is we have built pitching and we have done it internally. We have a lot of talented pitchers. ... Jeff has done a good job of getting young arms and not having to go out onto the free-agency market. I think the pitching is really a core that we've never had in our history."

German Marquez is one of the more underrated starters in the majors. Kyle Freeland finished fourth in the Cy Young voting in 2018 and bounced back with a solid 2020 after struggling in 2019. Jon Gray has flashed top-of-the-rotation potential, but has had some injuries and struggled with a 6.69 ERA in 2021.

So the Rockies will roll on, without their franchise player, and fans will wonder what will happen to Story.

As for firing himself -- or Bridich -- Monfort answered, "I have thought about firing myself, but I have not thought about firing Jeff."

SYLVANIA, Ga. – Kyle Reinhardt rebounded from mechanical hiccups to post one of the more-notable performances of the young season over the weekend at Screven Motor Speedway.

The 26-year-old finished second with the All Star Circuit of Champions Saturday, one night after steering issues led to a 22nd-place result in the series opener.

It’s a promising and needed run for Reinhardt, who’s trying to establish footing with a new-look team as he runs the full All Star season for the first time.

“We were all definitely excited,” Reinhardt said. “We kind of exceeded our expectations a little bit. Friday we had a couple bugs to work out, but we got it good for Saturday.”

Reinhardt started the feature seventh and methodically worked his way to the front as the 35-lap main event wore on.

It took him just five laps to move into the top five, and by the race’s third caution on lap 19, Reinhardt made his way to fourth. He slipped to fifth by lap 28, but a caution for Sheldon Haudenschild gave the driver of the Capitol Renegade No. 91 what he needed.

Reinhardt powered to third on the ensuing restart, and then picked off Sam Hafertepe for second as eventual winner Aaron Reutzel reached the two-to-go signal.

The race ended under a yellow-checkered flag condition when a pileup occurred on the frontstretch right as Reutzel rounded turn four for the final time.

Any sooner, and Reinhardt might have had one last shot at the victory.

“Who knows what would have happened,” Reinhardt said. “I think we would have had a shot if we got that yellow. Without a yellow, we weren’t going to beat [Reutzel], just with the rubber and how the track was.”

Reinhardt showed solid speed all weekend. Though Friday didn’t yield a desirable result, he qualified 16th out of 34 entrants. The only thing that worked against him was he had the stiffest heat race of the night, needing to somehow overtake Donny Schatz, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Aaron Reutzel for a decent starting spot.

On Saturday, Reinhardt qualified fourth, behind only Schatz, Tyler Courtney, and Gio Scelzi. Now, he looks to build on the run behind car owners Wayne Quackenbush and Jeff McCall.

Quackenbush has served as Reinhardt’s car owner in the No. 91 in central Pennsylvania since 2017. McCall, on the other hand, came into the fold with a national profile, having crewed in the past for Dave Blaney in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.

“It got everybody’s confidence up, everybody who is working together for the first time,” Reinhardt said. “It worked out nice. There were a lot of good cars there, between all the Outlaw guys that were there and almost all the All Star guys that were there. The competition was definitely heavy. For us to have that much speed, it was a really good thing for all of us and all the people involved.”

“We’re just hoping to keep racing here and keep the ball rolling,” he added.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Bryant Paver Motorsports has formed an alliance with sprint car driver Scott Bogucki.

Bogucki will operate his winged sprint car program out of the BPM shop in Missouri and will serve as a racing mentor for young sprint car driver Garet Williamson, who earned a top-10 finish in the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour championship standings last year during his rookie season.

“We’re really excited about the deal and having Scott around on a regular basis,” Williamson said. “I think it will help us grow having him and his team around the shop and at the track. We’ll be at a lot of the same shows so I’m looking forward to us working together.”

Bryant Paver Motorsports will be a sponsor on Bogucki’s race car. Both teams currently plan on racing full time with the ASCS National Tour while adding select 410 sprint car shows into the schedule this year.

“I think it’s going to be great for everyone involved,” said Bogucki, who posted a career-best third-place result in the ASCS National Tour championship standings last year. “It gives me a central place to work out of. It will also financially help my team to allow us to race more. I want to race the 410 more than I have in quite a few years. My team hasn’t changed, but we’ll be housed in Missouri with Bryant’s support. We still have great support from SawBlade.com, Dissolvalloy and many other great partners.”

Williamson will participate in several 410 winged sprint car races this year for the first time. Bogucki enjoyed success during several starts in the division last year, highlighted by a third-place result during his debut with the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions.

“Scott has been successful in both the 360 and 410 ranks so I think he can help us adapt,” Williamson said. “I think our racing plan will be similar to his in terms of focusing full time on the ASCS National Tour and then filling in open weekends with 410 shows when those are available. I’m really excited to race the 410 when the opportunity presents itself.”

Ariel Ben-Abraham ripped open a shipping box from China on Monday expecting to find accessories for his clothing company. Instead, he found a bundle of jumbo-sized hockey sticks intended for Washington Capitals star Zdeno Chara that had been randomly delivered to a basketball fan in suburban New Jersey.

"This has to take the cake as the strangest thing I've gotten by mistake," Ben-Abraham told ESPN. "Future Hall of Famer's sticks, for the tallest player in NHL history? That's crazy. Those odds don't even make sense."

His photos of the shipment from True Hockey went viral on Monday. The Capitals said they were aware of "a mix-up between the manufacturer and the shipping company," and that the mistake was being taken care of.

Hey @Capitals why are $5k worth of your hockey sticks at my house...

Also what time is practice?

I think @FedEx messed up... ? pic.twitter.com/05QzUabiAs

— Ariel Ben-Abraham (@ArielCreate) February 1, 2021

"This is not something I thought I'd be dealing with," said Corey Gregory, True Hockey's trade marketing manager for North America. "We aren't sure how it happened. Somehow they ended up at this young man's house.

"We got the first notice around 5 p.m. It was a little bit confusing. How is there a young man posting in New Jersey that he had sticks? Then I looked at the box and saw that it was intended for the Washington Capitals and just thought, 'Oh my god, they're Chara's.'"

Ben-Abraham runs a clothing company called Create Supply and receives FedEx shipments daily, especially from China. He gets boxes of all shapes and sizes. He opened up a shipment from China on Monday to find clothing in one box, LED signs in another box and then, to his surprise, a "bunch of hockey sticks that are like 30-feet tall."

He opted to put the sticks on social media because he had experienced some customer service frustrations with shipping companies before and wanted to connect with the Capitals or Chara directly.

True Hockey said Chara had sticks delivered on Jan. 25. Players will sometimes ask for tweaks to their sticks after a shipment, and this new batch was shipped out for the defenseman -- the batch that ended up not making it to the Capitals, whose practice facility address was on the label as well as the name of Brock Myles, their equipment manager.

True Hockey went to FedEx to tell them the sticks had been delivered to the wrong address. FedEx checked the tracking number and told them the sticks were at a facility in Memphis.

"No, they're not in Memphis, guys. We have a kid in New Jersey has posted them online," said Gregory, "and they said they couldn't do anything until they knew they were missing. So we took it into our own hands."

According to Ben-Abraham, True Hockey reached out to him through all of his social media channels, explaining the importance of the shipment and the seriousness of the mix-up.

"He said he was going to report me. Report what? They dropped the box off and handed it to me. There's nothing really to report here, buddy," said Ben-Abraham. "I said, 'Brother, if I posted it to social media, I'm pretty sure you're going to get everything back."

Gregory was confident that would be the case.

"Once he posted it, I was confident they weren't going to be sold. It's kind of like taking a picture of yourself robbing the bank," he said.

The sticks in the box haven't hit the market yet. The "Project X" sticks are due to be available to the public on Feb. 5. True Hockey is a part of True Temper Sports, which is the largest golf shaft manufacturer in the world. True Hockey has made inroads in the NHL, with players like Chara using their gear.

Gregory said he's arranging for the sticks to be picked up from Ben-Abraham, potentially to be delivered to the Capitals as they're in New York City to play the Rangers this week. He said the company is mulling over ways to thank Ben-Abraham for his assistance.

Faheem Ashraf has had a strange Test career. When he was first included in the side in 2018, he promptly scored 83 against Ireland, and a productive series against England with the bat raised hopes Pakistan finally possessed that most valuable of players - a seam bowling allrounder. Six months on from that series, however, then-head coach Mickey Arthur publicly told reporters in Cape Town, after a miserable day of Test cricket against South Africa, that he did not consider Faheem to be an allrounder: just a bowler. He would play the following Test in Johannesburg and take six wickets, though he only scored 15 runs. Perhaps Arthur had a point after all.

But after that, he wouldn't play red-ball international cricket for nearly two years, included almost as an afterthought for Pakistan's tour of New Zealand, apparently only getting a shot in the playing XI because of Shadab Khan's injury. And while he didn't carry the sort of threat with the ball Pakistan might have hoped, he struck a delightful counter-attacking 91 in the first Test that saved the follow-on, followed by 76 runs in Christchurch. Against South Africa in Karachi last week, his 64 was equally priceless in getting Pakistan a big lead, even though he has managed just three wickets since his return.

Faheem, however insists he hasn't shifted focus away from bowling. "I have always viewed myself as a bowling allrounder. I try and give my all with the ball, and help the specialist bowlers," he said, talking to the media over video conference. "I'm having a good run with the bat but when I have the ball in hand, I want to play like a bowler, not an allrounder. I'm focusing on bowling just as much as I did before, even if my performances are more apparent with the bat. But that shouldn't mean I'm focusing on my bowling any less."

Work off the field is a theme he often returned to. "My improvement hasn't happened overnight, there's a lot of hard work behind it that nobody sees," he said. "I had been working hard on my batting ever since I broke into the side. County cricket teaches you a lot, but coaches in Pakistan help you, too, and if you take their advice on board in the right spirit, you are bound to learn a lot.

"Since I came into the white-ball team, people believed I was a white-ball player. But if you look at my career in domestic cricket, I was performing better in red-ball cricket than white-ball cricket before being called up."

The surface at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium might afford him a better chance of embellishing his bowling numbers. Over the past five years, pacers have had much more joy in the city, picking up 498 wickets at 21.40 in first-class cricket, while spinners have accounted for just 72 wickets at 34 in the same time. That means Faheem may have a bigger role to play with the ball in the second Test against South Africa than he did in Karachi, though he did say the wicket in Rawalpindi was different to what it had been a few years ago.

"The pitches that are being made at home in international and domestic cricket are much different to what they used to be a couple of years prior. I played a first-class match here four years ago, and you wouldn't see a pitch like this then. At the time, it was full of grass. The Rawalpindi wicket is usually quite good for fast bowlers because it's hard and the weather is mild. We practiced much better today and I felt a lot better batting and bowling today compared to yesterday because the weather was a little warmer, and I'm looking forward to the Test."

It already feels like a long and winding career Faheem has had in Test cricket, but the second Test will just be Faheem's eighth overall. In each of the previous seven, he has found a way of contributing with either bat or ball, but wound up facing scrutiny for the discipline he hadn't performed in. He's been dismissed as both bowler and batsman at various stages in the short while he's been with the Test side, and yet Pakistan continue to turn to him. The second Test in Rawalpindi is yet another chance to show why.

Ali Khan paid homage to long-term mentor Dwayne Bravo, who was equally chuffed with the USA seamer's latest T10 League heroics that saw Khan take three wickets in just five balls. But Khan would be be denied the chance of a hat-trick, thanks to a deep finger cut on his bowling hand that put the leading wicket-taker in doubt for the remainder of the competition.

Khan was unable to finish his over thanks to the cut that came from his diving catch that removed dangerman Tom Kohler-Cadmore, but had already done enough to claim Man-of-the-Match honours with his figures of 3 for 0 in 0.5 overs that restricted the Pune Devils to just 57 for 7 from their ten overs.

Even with his fourth finger busted open, the 30-year-old removed Alex Davies with his first ball before bowling two dots that preceded the wickets of Nasir Hossain and Karan KC in immediate succession. After his 2 for 4 against the Gladiators the previous day, it secured a second Man-of-the-Match award in less than 24 hours for the Delhi Bulls quick. Khan said the support of Bravo has been a key factor in his excellent form with the ball.

"It's a really nice setup. DJ Bravo is a really good captain, a leader both on and off the field and gives you a lot of confidence," Khan said. "Especially in T10, [because] you can go for a lot of runs. He's always the kind of leader who comes back and backs you and keeps you confident and gets you ready for the next ball."

Bravo has played an important role in Khan's ascent as a cricketer. It was the West Indies all-rounder who had plucked Khan from a US Open T20 tournament in 2017, and has since taken the pacer with him to the Global T20 in Canada as well as the Caribbean Premier League.

That led to Khan being selected for the first time at the last edition of the Indian Premier League, and these milestones in Khan's career - as well as performances such as those over the past two days - give Bravo an enormous sense of pride.

"He's someone I have a lot of time for - someone that I believe has a lot of talent and to see the way he bowled today with a lot of pace and aggression to pick up wickets, he's very good for our team," Bravo said.

"He's someone who's special to me, because I saw him in the US playing and I invited him to play for my team in Trinidad and since then, he's done very well. Every time he does good, I feel good."

Khan now has seven wickets from just less than eight overs in the Abu Dhabi T10, with strike rate of just 6.7 and would be a big miss for the Bulls should he not return for the remainder of the tournament. He was also denied a historic IPL debut with the Kolkata Knight Riders, as a side strain ultimately ended his time with the franchise and resulted in his release when the retention lists were drawn up last month.

Khan will be hoping that his T10 exploits don't end in the same disappointment, and fortunately for both the player and his Super League leading team, they are guaranteed a spot in Friday's set of knockouts with a game to go. It means they may have just enough time to get Khan sewn up and back into their attack by the weekend.

"We're going to get stitches now, so let's see how it feels by tomorrow," Khan said. "If it needs to be rested because we're in a good position, we have that luxury of having getting a rest. So we'll see how it comes out in the next couple of days and if I can be ready for the playoffs."

Oklahoma City Thunder guard George Hill will miss at least four weeks after having a procedure on his right thumb, the team announced Tuesday.

Hill had a procedure to address a mallet finger injury at the Kerlen-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles and will be re-evaluated in four weeks.

He is averaging 11.8 points and 3.1 assists in 14 starts this season, shooting 50.8% from the field and 38.6% from 3-point range.