Here's to 28!

Life is pretty amazing. It's almost my birthday and y'all know how I love to reflect for things like this. Birthdays, graduations, the New Year, the new school year. I can't help myself. Life keeps getting better and better each year. I'm figuring out how to grow more each year. I have so many plans for places I want to go and things I want to learn to do. I'm only turning 28. And I'm pretty psyched about it. Yeah I have a lot of debt. But I wouldn't trade where I am for the world. I'm so lucky and so blessed to have the family that I do and the friends that I do. I've already accomplished one of my promises to myself for this year--I made it to New York City! I can't wait to accomplish the rest. So shout out to some of the great things that have been happening lately and all of the amazing things yet to come.

Psychoanalyzing some Baseball

Why can't we all get along like me and Ray?

I need to process through a few things. Everything that has gone on with the Royals in the past year has changed Kansas City and the people in it and from it.  Sports are a huge part of a city's identity. For 29 years, part of Kansas City's identity was having a baseball team that was a bunch of losers. When you lose for that long you experience a lot of emotions. Apathy, anger, sadness, and especially a self-deprecating sense of humor where you poke fun of yourself to prevent others from doing it to you.  Kansas City, as a city, has also been largely ignored as a big city and seen as not much of anything. I myself have gotten teasing and a little crap for being from there and have had people make comments like, "That's not even a real city."

And then last October happened with the Royals. I wasn't in KC for it, but even experiencing it here meant everything. Many of us (all of us under 30) had never seen our baseball team be even remotely good. And then we got soooo close. We experienced winning and now we don't want to give it up.

Last night, I got to go to the Royals White Sox game. I noticed a definite shift in the energy from Royals fans and towards Royals fans. From Royals fans, there was a considerable amount of more energy and cheering and cockiness and confidence. Towards Royals fans, there was considerable more booing and taunts, wheresas before I would get pretty good natured razzing as people made fun of how long it had been since we had been in the playoffs.

Now, the fights have been ridiculous this year and there are definitely a few guys on our team (Herrera, Ventura) that need to calm the hell down. But what bugs me about media coverage and some things I've heard from Sox fans is a completely failure to mention other teams' roles in all of this. We have been disrespected and also hit by more pitches than any other team.  Most guys on our team haven't been directly involved in the fights. (It's really just been the few I mentioned). And things boiled up and spilled over. Other teams have targeted us and the Royals finally aren't taking it lying down. Kansas City isn't taking it lying down.

I never thought I might want to move back home. But this kind of Kansas City, full of pride and passion, is the kind of city I would want to live in.

Now let's freaking quit fighting and play some baseball.