Royal Trash Talk

As the Kansas City Royals advanced to the World Series last night, I was reminded of an encounter I had with a Royals fan a few years ago.

I was at Fenway, pre-2004. It was against the White Sox early in the season. (From looking at past scorecards, my best guess is the home opener in 1999.) As it happened, The White Sox had struggled out of the gate and found themselves behind the Royals in the standings. A Royals fan was at the game in his bright blue Royals jersey. He took the opportunity the standings provided, and was just hammering any White Sox fan he saw. He somehow managed to do it in a funny way, so there were no hard feelings. Maybe it was because he, and we, knew that any high position the Royals had in the standings was temporary. They would finish the year under .500, just as they had for the past five years or so. Which was good, because he decided to ignore the Red Sox hot start, and lay into us as well. After all, the Royals had won the World Series in 1985. The Red Sox? 1918, as you may recall. The White Sox? 1917. So, here was this Royals fan, a fan of a terrible team, who had seen a World Championship in his lifetime. It didn’t matter that the Red Sox finished with the second best record in the AL the previous year. 1918! It didn’t matter that the White Sox were closer to contending than KC could even see. 1917! Back and forth, the whole game. 1917! 1918! It was fantastic.

Hopefully that guy is still a Royals fan.

Congratulations Royals!