It is a tortured existence to be a Kansas City sports fan. I know places like Cleveland, Boston, and Philadelphia feel like they are some of the most tortured cities, but right now, in 2011, they don’t measure up to KC. Philadelphia just won the World series in 2008 and is in the midst of a burgeoning dynasty, so they’re out. After years of coming up short the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 and 2007, oh yeah and the Patriots won in 2001, 2003, and 2004 with an appearance in 2007, with the cherry on top of the Celtics winning in 2008 and having a championship appearance in 2010; so Boston’s out. Cleveland is the closest but they had Lebron and a NBA finals appearance, not to mention those Indian teams in the ‘90’s that got them a World Series appearance and they have made the playoffs in the last 5 years. The Royals haven’t made the playoffs since 1985 and haven’t come close, the Chiefs haven’t been to the Super Bowl since 1970 and haven’t won a playoff game in 17 years. No sports town is more tortured than Kansas City.
I am here to say that Kansas City sports can start to get excited because the arrow is pointing up. With the Royals seemingly headed towards another 100 loss season and the Chiefs season ending horrifically, why would I say such a thing? Well as it turns out both the Royals and Chiefs may not have great seasons in 2011, but this year is but a stepping stone towards the greatness that lies ahead in 2012.
Why do I have such an optimistic attitude about 2012 with seemingly no evidence to help my theory? Well that’s why The Jeff Report is here, to point out the evidence as to why enduring this coming sports year will make the next one so special.
Let’s start with the Chiefs. First, the most obvious evidence of why the Chiefs are in a good position is because of what happened in 2010. The Chiefs were coming off a dismal 3 year stretch that may have just been the worst stretch ever in franchise history, had a new coach people weren’t sure about and GM yet to prove anything. A few solid free agents later (Thomas Jones, Ryan Lilja, Casey Wieggman) possibly one of the best draft classes in history (Eric Berry, Tony Moeaki, Dexter McCluster, Kendrick Lewis, Javier Arenas), the Chiefs win 10 games, the AFC West and host a playoff game.
The Chiefs may actually be a better team and win less games next year, but make no mistake they are headed in the right direction. Two more offseasons with some quality free agent grabs (too much to ask for a Larry Fitzgerald trade?), two more solid draft class, and the Chiefs will be headed towards a dynasty. Players like Brandon Flowers, Brandon Albert, Brandon Carr, Glenn Dorsey, Berry, Lewis, McCluster and whoever else is added will only get better by 2012. The Chiefs will win a Super Bowl and Haley and Pioli will be the ones that bring it to KC.
Next we have the Royals. Everyone knows how I feel about baseball (basically I hate it), but have always supported the Royals as a denizen of Kansas City. That being said, I am very excited about this franchise right now. Dayton Moore has caught a lot of flack but he has built this organization from the ground up and the amount of talent coming to the big leagues is quite astounding right now.
The Royals farm system is #1 rated by nearly every major baseball publication in the country. On 610 radio a member of Baseball America (www.baseballamerica.com) came on and said that Royals were #1 and it wasn’t close. According to this man (his name escapes me at the moment) the gap between the Royals at #1 and the #2 team is the same as the gap between #2 and #8. That is quite a talent gap. This man from Baseball America also said that of the top 10 prospects of all the minor leagues 3 of them are Royals and no other team had more than 1. This is insane, this type of gluttony of talent in the minors doesn’t happen in baseball.
In their recent Zack Greinke trade, the Royals acquired Blake Ordirizzi who many considered the top prospect in the Brewers organization and he finds himself as the 8th rated prospect in the Royals organization. The hitting talent the Royals have coming up is legit between Mike Moustakis, Eric Hosmer, and Will Myers who will be joined by Billy Butler and Kila Kai’ihoui already at the pro level. Then the pitching talent is out of this world between the likes of Mike Montgomery, John Lamb, Chris Dwyer, Odirizzi, and Aaron Crowe, it really is going to be tough to find a place for all of these guys if they all pan out. Couple that with unspectacular but solid pitchers in Luke Hochevar and Bruce Chen, the Royals have an extremely deep pitching staff, even if all of them don’t pan out. This isn’t even mentioning Alcides Escobar who the Royals got in the Grienke trade and can be our shortstop for years to come.
So what does all this mean? It means that it is an exciting time to be a Kansas City sports fan. We have had good teams in the past, we have been promised good things in the past, but never has our organizations had this kind of leadership and this type of direction before. No more Bob Boone, Tony Pena and Allerd Baird for the Royals, and no more Carl Peterson, Marty Schottenheimer, and Gunther Cunningham’s for the Chiefs. These organizations know where they want to go and more importantly how to get there as their leadership has been to championships before (Pioli with New England Patriots and Dayton Moore with the Atlanta Braves). I for one am excited and I think every sports lover in KC should be as well, as 2012 will definitely be a great time to be a Chiefs fan. Now, we just have to get there…
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