Fans for the Crown

As you’ve probably heard, the Kansas City Royals are in the World Series for the first time in 29 years. And we’re celebrating. Walking around the plaza, you’ll see the JC Nichols fountain completely colored royal blue.  On cars driving down Mission, and all over the plaza, Royals flags wave in the October wind. Driving down Ward Parkway, you’ll notice yet another beautifully-colored Royal Blue fountain. The East hallways are filled with students and teachers wearing Royals gear.

After winning game four of the American League Championship Series, every social media site I checked was filled with fans rooting or the Royals. From Sportscenter to local celebrities to tons of East students, everybody seemed to be tweeting, instagramming and posting Facebook statuses.

A few minutes later, one of my friends said something that none of us expected to hear. He said that it was awesome that the Royals are in the World series, but that half of the people who were tweeting about it didn’t know anything about baseball.

He, along with many other KC sports fans, was annoyed at everyone’s newfound Royals obsession. They hadn’t paid attention for the whole season, until now that we were in the World Series. They were fair weather fans.

But he shouldn’t be annoyed at this. Sure, it’s easier for all of us to cheer on the Chiefs or the Royals when they’re winning. More importantly, the Royals need fair weather fans. They’re a part of the fan section, and they’re a part of the whole playoff atmosphere. Without fair weather fans, there wouldn’t be nearly as many people cheering on our home team. In a time like this, the more fans we have, the better.

The Royals haven’t been in the World Series in 29 years. Who cares if some of the fans are fair weather? The whole city is celebrating, as they should. From a lifelong season ticket holder, to someone who doesn’t even know the words to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” a fan is a fan regardless of weather. And sure, some of these people couldn’t name any other players on the team besides Eric Hosmer, but again, that doesn’t matter.

Although it seems like these fair-weather fans are just acting like they know what they’re talking about solely because the team’s popular, they’re really just rooting on their city. They’re the Kansas City Royals, after all. Anybody who’s from here should have the right to cheer on their home team.

In 2008 when KU won the National Championship, every KU fan went nuts, and even if they were fair-weather, it didn’t matter. These teams love to get all the support they can. As a fan who has experienced their team win the championship game, I can say that the more people celebrating, the more fun it is to be a fan.

Kansas City has been waiting for this a very long time. Whether you’ve paid close attention and follow the Royals, or even if you don’t know why the crowd sometimes chants animal names (Moose), it’s okay to act like you know tons about the Royals. Go buy a “Party like it’s 1985” t-shirt. Tweet something like, “#BlueOctober”, even if you aren’t quite sure what blue has anything to do with October. The more people we have cheering on the boys in blue, the better. Even if they are fair-weather fans.

Fans make a huge impact on players’ performance. It gives the players more motivation to win for the fans, and for the city. It makes them feel like they owe it to the city to win. After 29 long years, I’m sure the players would agree with this statement.