FanPost

On Being a KU Fan and a Royals Fan

Andy Lyons

Now that I’ve had time to digest what the Royals did, I’m genuinely glad for two things. First, I’m glad to have seen it all, glad to live pitch by pitch for a month, glad to see a city transform itself back into the baseball town it was when I was a kid. I’m also glad I am a fan of the Kansas Jayhawks. Let me explain.

The way Kansas City came together for the Royals was something special, something that I haven’t seen in my adult life, even when the Chiefs make the playoffs. It was rare and something to be cherished. The happiness and joy and ultimate pain that it brought to the millions of fans in this city was truly something to behold. The thing is, I’m not sure it will happen again in a long time. I hope it does, don’t get me wrong, but I just don’t know if it will. That’s why in times like these, I’m glad that I’m a Kansas Jayhawks fan.

In basketball season and especially as March arrives, we annually get to experience the exact feelings that Royals fans got to experience this fall. We analyze, critique, and debate every shot, every foul, every matchup on the court, and every potential matchup further on down the bracket. The city of Lawrence and the crimson and blue sectors of Kansas City (and other major cities in the region) come alive with the passion and pride that only sports can conjure.

We KU fans are truly lucky. I’ve heard story after story from people who have never experienced a championship run featuring one of their favorite teams. Stories talking about how this magical run alleviated almost 30 years of pain. Many fans were not even alive the last time the Royals were relevant, much less made the playoffs and competed in the World Series. As a KU fan, I’m lucky enough to have watched with anxiety and pride seven deep runs to the Final Four, including being crowned champions twice. It already seems like forever since Mario’s Miracle in 2008, yet we’ve been among the favorites to win it all a few times since then including that magical 2012 run. We get to experience something similar year after year. We’re lucky.

Other fan bases in the region call Kansas basketball fans elitist (among other more descriptive adjectives), but after this postseason run by the Royals, the adjective I keep coming back to is lucky. Those schools’ fans can’t legitimately claim that their respective teams will challenge for the biggest prize in that sport (be that basketball or football) year in and year out. We can. The fact that the ball hasn’t even tipped off for the 2014-15 season and many have already speculated on our rotation and chances in March is a marvelously rare thing in sports.

I know that this article might sound a little pompous to the outsider, but the fact is, during this most recent run by the Royals, I kept thinking to myself that I haven’t felt this way since late March 2008. The fact that so few in this area get to feel that way is a little depressing, but it makes me even more thankful that I decided to go to school in Lawrence. My only regret is that I never got to experience a deep run to a championship while I was student at KU, but some of that was satiated by the hometown pride that was generated in KC this fall.

Now that baseball season is over and the thrill of the postseason is past, it makes me more excited than I have been for quite some time, probably the start of the 2008-09 season, for KU basketball and rekindling these feelings again as the season progresses

If you’re a KU fan and a KC native, I’m anxious to hear your thoughts on the topic and whether this Royals run has energized you and made you want another KU championship even more. Rock Chalk.



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