Kansas City Royals: Loyal Fan Gives Heartfelt Thanks

A general view of the Kansas City Royals home – Kauffman Stadium – Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

My wife

Thank you to my wife, Sarah.

We’ve been married for seven years, and together much longer than that. Sarah was a pseudo-baseball fan prior to us meeting. As she learned of my affinity for the game, and the Royals, she could recall enjoying the dominant years of the Atlanta Braves when they were regularly broadcast on TBS.

Sure, she knew the big guns like Greg Maddux and David Justice, but then she’d sprinkle in a Terry Pendleton reference out of nowhere. That’s when I knew I had picked a winner.

Sarah and I began dating around 2003. The Kansas City Royals had a rare winning season that year, but followed that up with three 100-loss seasons, as well as numerous other 90-loss seasons.

I have to think a lot of women would’ve taken following a lousy baseball franchise so closely as a serious red flag, but she stood by, and for that I’m thankful.

Our courting period took us from Ottawa, KS and Wichita, KS to Cincinnati, OH, and then back to Kansas City. The one constant in our relationship–the Kansas City Royals.

We’d make trips to Kauffman Stadium as often as we could when we resided in Kansas. We’d make special trips back to Kansas City from Cincinnati centered around attending Royals games. We’d attend every Royals game in the rare event they played in Cincinnati. We ordered the MLB package when we lived in Cincinnati, and watched crappy Royals baseball on a grainy feed, on a desktop computer monitor.

I have to think a lot of women would’ve taken following a lousy baseball franchise so closely as a serious red flag, but she stood by, and for that I’m thankful. I’m thankful my cheering in the ninth and 12th innings of Game 5 of the World Series woke her up to witness the Royals come full circle back to baseball glory.

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