Kansas City Sports Have Come A Long Way

Five years ago, Kansas City sports were mediocre at best, and it was painful.

In case you forgot, let’s reminisce.

The Kansas City Royals weren’t even worth watching. Every night it seemed like it was going to be a loss.
The Kansas City Chiefs had a few decent seasons, but never really made much noise.
Sporting KC (known as the Wizards then) wasn’t very good.

For lack of a better term, it sucked being a Kansas City sports fan. Those were trying times. I remember how painful it was to watch games.

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Fast forward five years, and the Royals are the defending American League Champions, made it all the way to Game 7 of the World Series last season, and clinched their first division title in 30 years on Thursday night.

The Chiefs are considered a legitimate threat to win the AFC West and win some playoff games. They are coming off of two consecutive winning seasons, one of which included a 9-0 start in 2013. The Chiefs have some of the best offensive threats in the NFL and possibly the best defense in the NFL (in my opinion anyway).

Now I am not a very big soccer fan, and I don’t really pay attention to Sporting KC, but I do know they have done really well over the past couple of seasons. They won the MLS title in 2013 and have been a good team since then.

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Not only does Kansas City have some of the top professional sports teams, but they also have some of the best college sports programs nearby. The Kansas Jayhawks have always been good at basketball, excluding a few years in the 80s. They play at the Sprint Center every year too, which adds to the Kansas City aspect. This could be the year the Jayhawks bring home another title.

As painful as this is for me to say, the Missouri Tigers possesses one of the top football programs in NCAA and they play in the tough SEC.

If you want to extend the KC fan base out a little farther you can include the Kansas State football program and Wichita State basketball program.

Kansas State has a legendary coach who completely turned their program around in the 90s. They turn walk-ons into NFL stars, just ask Jordy Nelson. Now they always out do their preseason projections and are well-respected across the country.

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As for Wichita State basketball, they too develop what they have. It is hard to believe that the guy who defeated my cousin’s 3A basketball team in the 2011 state championship, is now considered a top shooting guard in the entire country. Ron Baker, like Jordy Nelson, was walk-on at Wichita State. He went from paying for his own college degree, to possibly getting paid to play basketball.

If you look around the country, I think you would be hard-pressed to find another area/city that has such a well-rounded amount of sports teams.

Not only does Kansas City have such great teams, they have probably the most loyal fans in the country. I am so proud to call myself a Kansas City sports fan. Right now, Kansas City is on cloud nine.

Next: Kansas City Royals: 2015 American League Central Champions

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