The Pain of Kansas City Sports

This is as dark of a time to be a Kansas City sports fan as I have ever experienced. Considering that in my lifetime I have seen historic losing streaks and loss totals from the Royals, Elvis Grbac derial a Chiefs' play-off run, and Mark Redman being the closest thing the Royals had to an All-Star that is saying something. When a late push by the Royals to escape the cellar is the brighest spot in the last two years you know you have hit rock bottom.

The Chiefs

The Chiefs continue to amaze me at how poorly they can produce on offense. It seems so long ago when Trent Green, Priest Holmes, Eddie Kennison and Tony Gonzales were setting records. And for a defense with so many high draft picks and free agent money to give up as many yards and points as they do is also disappointing. And, the coaching staff must see something in Tyler Thigpen (that the rest of America does not) to feel that he actually gave them a chance to win the game last week. He looked overmatched in the preseason against running against the 3s. How he could be expected to lead a team to victory in a regular season NFL game is beyond me. He really does make the return of Brodie Croyle look really good about now. And, after what he has done to date, that's further proof of the state of things.

The Royals

The Royals' late September surge has helped to ease some of the pain of the torture of August. The pitching has been in its April form and the offense has produced some home runs. Dayton Moore has promised wholesale changes from the past. I hope that means signing Zack Greinke to a long-term contract. He and Joakim Soria are the closest thing to a star in a Royals' uniform. While it was nice to have the Royals stay close to contention for a least a couple of months this year, a long losing streak once again dashed any hopes of real competitive play.