hi. ok, royal blues is not dead.

that's about the best I can say. to be honest with you loyal royal types (the two of you that might still check in here): are you following this team? how closely? to make myself sound as I don't want to sound, I'll still say: as I get a little older, and have followed them for a little longer, I realize that the amount of energy I've invested in this losing team year after year listening to complete crap just isn't worth the dwindling amount of time I have available now that I've truly been a full-time member of the working force for a few years now. I mean, I love the royals, I truly do. but, sometimes, it's a losing proposition. I didn't think it would happen to me, but in some ways, it has.

I mean, to either date myself or prove what a kid I am or whatever, I'll say: I just had my 25th birthday last weekend. my presents: a royal blue hooded sweatshirt (that says "royals" on the front) from my girlfriend and a royal blue jacket (that says "royals" on the front) from my mom. something tells me the people closest to me somehow know I'm a huge royals fan. no one really knows why, but the knowledge that I just somehow never give up on these chumps has been burned into just about everyone that knows me.

and the main question *is*, "why?"

well, why do you love these guys? mine has most to do with 1) I'm from kansas city 2) I'm a baseball fan 3) you have to root for your hometown team! it's that simple. I mean, my mom thinks it has to do with my grandma being a huge royals fan, and I don't doubt that's true, too. she's the one that took me to many games when I was little. but, playing baseball (and basketball) when I was a kid, I always looked up to my local teams – royals, missouri tigers, chiefs..it's just...what other teams are you gonna root for? you can't just pick and choose. you can't decide who you like based on who's good. and any royals fans know this. but, as easy as it is for people who either hopped on a bandwagon because a team always contends or happened to be born in a storied, large-market team's city to laugh at fans of a now perpetually hopeless cause like the royals, it just ingrains it deeper. you can't give up on a team. you can hate it when everyone who makes fun of the team hops back on when they start winning, but you still can't give up on them. I mean, last year (2003) when the royals were winning and on top of the division, I went to fewer games than I'd been to in four or five seasons. I loved the team just as much as ever – in fact, I lived and breathed every game – but something about the people giving me shit for liking a bunch of losers suddenly being hyped to go to the games rubbed me wrong. but I guess that's the plight of every winning team's old fans. yeah, I haven't been there from the beginning, but I'm as old a fan as I can be. you can't wish for much else.

and, so, it's sad to watch this team. it's hard to watch them make bad moves. it's hard to watch them relegated to flipping coins into a fountain, wishing that the guys dropped by the absolute worst teams will convert themselves into diamonds. it's sad to watch professionals play defense like the dummies on my (old) softball team. it's awful to both listen to the team hype pitcher after pitcher, and then watch pitcher after pitcher both run themselves and the team into the ground. I, just...I like allard baird right now. I didn't at first, but I do now. but he still hasn't figured out exactly what he's doing. listen to ryan lefebvre and fred white tonight. I like ryan; I don't like fred. but they both love david eckstein, a guy sabermetric guys would tell you isn't a good player, doesn't belong on a major league squad, and all that. but, like they're saying (and I'm not vouching for david eckstein, let me say that – I don't know a lot about him), "he just knows how to play". seriously, fuck tools. fuck "potential". you can watch guys, and see if they know how to play. if they make the right decisions, and know what they're doing at the plate or on the mound or in the field. those are the guys you want. unfortunately – and I mean, yes, it takes a special type of talent to succeed at the major league level, but we're assuming the high minor-league guys at least have the potential, or they wouldn't be there – why is kansas city stocked with guys at pretty much every position that just don't get it? guys that can't read pitches and know nothing about cut-off men and can't change speeds for the life of them and can't keep their head in *every* game? there's something wrong. there's something wrong with the training staff, and there's something wrong with the manager, and there's something wrong with our player / personnel people, but, honestly, our players just plain don't know how to play. and we have no one who can teach it to them AT ALL. so, for this season, I just can't invest myself in listening to every subtle nuance of the complete stupidity of this team.

but, anyway, I'll try to be back to actually offer up suggestions on how this team can get better. at some point.

later.

your pal,
Joe Blow.