The Chiefs are undefeated. The Royals were actually contenders for the Wild Card playoff spot in their division. Sporting Kansas City is second in the Eastern Conference. Kansas City sports are being talked about on ESPN regularly — something that hasn’t happened in years. The Chiefs were even picked to win the Super Bowl –The SUPER BOWL — by ESPN analyst Keyshawn Johnson The last time the Chiefs were even in the playoffs was 2010 when they just barely slipped in the wild card spot and then got plastered by the Ravens.
When was the last time you can remember being really excited for the Chiefs? The Royals? The last time the Royals made the playoffs was 1985, when they won the World Series. Since then, they haven’t made a playoff appearance. Although the Royals didn’t make the postseason this year, they were close and people were going nuts for them. And all of a sudden, as soon as the Chiefs and Royals started to win, people began to become huge fans, and get really excited What a coincidence!
Part of the way people get excited for KC sports is by using social media sites like Twitter. The night of a big Royals win or the day of a Chiefs victory, Twitter blows up with excited fans going crazy about the game. Even during the game, people go nuts and will tweet the second after a big play — whether they’re at the game or watching at home.
One thing I’ve noticed when our teams start winning is that people start to care much more. But they never care as much when KC teams are getting beat. When they’re losing, people couldn’t care less. But when the teams start winning, they suddenly care. Although it’s cool that KC sports have tons of support while winning, it would be awesome if fans had the same enthusiasm and when they’re losing. Fans should rally players to perform better. Players really do see what you tweet at them, so what if fans had that same winning attitude and enthusiasm when the teams were losing? But of course, as soon as they start winning, everybody cares.
KC sports have been considered a joke in places outside of KC for as long as I can remember. Now that they’re not, I’m beyond ecstatic. The only downside is that Chiefs ticket prices will be through the roof, which hasn’t happened in years. I’ve always been able to get cheap tickets and move down, but that won’t happen this year. Last year they won two games total. They’ve already doubled that amount in their first four games.
The Royals were above .500 this season for the first time since 2003. They were a close second to the Cleveland Indians for the Wild Card spot to make the playoffs. This year, I discovered that more people cared about baseball than I thought. I used to think a few people here and there cared, but with the winning season I found out how many people cared and how excited they were. Especially when it came towards the end of the season, Twitter exploded with excited fans. It was the hot topic at school the next day. If the Royals would have made it into the playoffs, it would have been huge for Kansas City.
Sporting KC is having yet another successful season — only to add on to the success Kansas City sports have had as a whole. They are currently second in the Eastern division. Soccer fans go nuts for Sporting KC, and would die to see them win the MLS cup. Wearing their Sporting KC shirts and jerseys, the support for the team stretches wide throughout Kansas City.
When was the last time you mentioned “Chiefs” and “Super Bowl” in the same sentence other than in a joke? Can’t remember? Me neither. But now it’s real. The Chiefs are off to a hot start and don’t have any intentions of slowing down.
Not only are fans happier, but it gives them something to look forward to. Last season when the Chiefs were doing awful, I know I didn’t make an effort to watch every second of every game. But now, it’s different. I don’t want to miss a play. Royals games used to be something I would just hear about if we won or not and not care too much — but this last season I made an effort to at least watch some of each game. My perspective on Kansas City sports have changed, along with thousands of other KC sports fans.
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