Gun’s Quote-of-the-Week:
“The view from rock bottom is often the reason, the inspiration,
for getting back up.”
-Unknown
This city is going nuts. No, berserk. They’re simply mad.
Most people are euphoric and there is an element of joy in the air that hasn’t
been around for a long, long time, if ever.
The Kansas City Royals have won the Wild Card. No, check that…
They are the ALDS champions. Wait… not enough? Let’s try on 2-0 over the
Baltimore Orioles right now in the ALCS, with the next three games to be played
at home in Kauffman Stadium. Did I mention they swept the best team in
baseball? The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim went down 3-0. To-date, we’ve seen
three champaign-spraying parties. We’ve seen 4 extra-innings games and we’ve
seen come-from behind victories. We’ve seen a team step up and play a style of
baseball that has manufactured runs and relied upon stellar pitching and
defense (and the best bullpen in the majors) as opposed to the “modern”
homerun-hitting teams with studs like Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera.
It’s difficult to describe the atmosphere of the ballpark. I
was there for the Wild Card Game. I had the most incredible sports experience
of my entire life. It was something Denny Matthews, the legendary Kansas City
Royals Hall-of-Famer and radio personality said he had never seen before in his
entire life. I, personally, don’t remember being this happy about sports ever.
The boyhood team I rooted for, that my parents would take me to growing up,
that I watched win the 1985 World Series on VHS tape (because Dad recorded it
so that he could show his son one day) is a legitimate contender in the post
season. No person on the planet saw it coming.
This team sucked. It has been called every negative
adjective in the dictionary. There were 100+ losses in some seasons. Players
that got drafted on this team couldn’t wait until free agency to go somewhere
else. We have been voted as Worst Sports Franchise by Sports Illustrated
sometime in the late 90s. There were legitimate concerns the team would be sold
or moved to an altogether different city. There were dark years.
I’ve heard grown men cry on sports radio. I’ve heard stories
of 90+ year olds coming to the ballpark because they’ve never had an
opportunity to take their grandchildren to a playoff game. I’ve tried to buy a
T-Shirt commemorating the events, only to find out the stores have all sold out
within 2 hours of opening, on a weekday… I
guess not having a playoff appearance since 1985 will do that to you.
Why is this baseball team being rooted for by an entire
country now? Why is every Kansas Citian, regardless of whether or not they are
a baseball fan, suddenly jumping on this bandwagon? Why are all the City’s
iconic fountains dyed blue? Is it because we are a Cinderella Story? Is it
because we are the underdogs and everybody wants to cheer for an underdog? No.
Why does an entire country want to cheer on my boyhood team
now? It’s because all of us can relate to being defeated for so long you think
it’s all you will ever know. It’s because we all wonder if we will ever make
it; if we will ever win. We wonder if the blood, sweat and tears that we have
all felt through our brokenness and shame will ever give way to feeling the
pride associated with making something great. We all self-doubt, second-guess,
and insecurely wonder if there will ever come a day when we WON’T be behind. Will
we realize our dreams? Will we find success? We have failed so many times… Can
we make it? Can we reinvent ourselves? Can we move past our past mistakes? Can
we find the strength to move on?
Yes. Yes we can.
How do we know that? Simple. Because we’ve seen a group of
25 men prove it.
All of us want to believe that we can win someday. All of us
want to believe that we can move beyond our histories. All of us want to
believe we can one day be something great. This country, this city, has
witnessed first-hand that, yes, yes indeed, you can. Not only can you survive
whatever it is that has you down, you can persevere…
…and prevail.
…and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!
