As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been a little off my game the last couple weeks. This crazy Royals run has messed with my internal rhythms. Not that I’m complaining. But this past week I’d say three-quarters of the stuff I read was about them and their run. So not much to choose from.
Of all the “The Royals Made the World Series” columns and articles I read, it should be no surprise that Joe Posnanski offered one of the best, and most touching.
He writes about what listening to the Royals on the radio meant to small communities across western Missouri and through most of Kansas. As I wrote a few weeks ago, I’ve been reminded of how listening to the Royals with my grandparents was a big part of my summer visits with them each year. So I know exactly what Joe is talking about.
I know many people from tiny Midwestern towns – Minneapolis, Clay Center, Abilene, just in Kansas – and most of them seem powerfully impacted by Royals baseball on the radio. I’m not sure it’s an emotion I can fully explain, but I guess it had something to do with connecting to a bigger city, connecting to the country at large, reaching beyond the sometimes claustrophobic city limits and the often suffocating boredom of nothing new ever happening.
This is shocking, and sure to be controversial. But at least one way of crunching the numbers shows that Ned Yost’s love of the bunt might actually be a good thing.
All That Ned Yost Bunting Has Helped the Royals
Another way the Royals (and youth soccer) has thrown me off my game has been the lack of time to follow the NFL. I usually watch part of the Sunday Night Game. And I’ve watched the Colts when they’ve played at night. But our Sundays are spent at the soccer fields so I can only follow scores. Again, I’m not complaining. And I’ll write about the Colts soon enough.
This lengthy profile of Colts owner Jim Irsay, the issues in his life, and some of the people around him who have also suffered is just terrible. Drug addiction is an awful thing.
Finally, more bad stuff from the NFL. This is an op-ed in the New York Times by Eric Kester, who was a ballboy for the Chicago Bears when he was a teenager. He details the frightening damage done to players he witnessed from the sidelines and locker room. And he points out a dilemma many of us have: how can we watch and love a game that destroys so many people who play it?