Rexed Out - Royals Fans Need to Relax

Photo - John Sleezer KC Star

The Royals marketing folks decided on “Our Time” as a slogan this year for a few reasons.  This was not to suggest an inevitability of winning after so many years of losing.  Rather, this was to signify the idea that a franchise that couldn’t get out of its on way for a nearly two decades has finally taken ownership of its situation.  The steps to turn this team into a winner have finally been taken.

It’s no mistake that the campaign consists of highlighting many of the young stars on this team.^  These young and talented players represent the changing of the guard.  They are the new faces that are helping to usher in a new era of Royals baseball.  “Our Time” signifies a new direction for the club and one that the fans can be proud of.  What happened in the past is the past but the future is bright here in Kansas City and that is the impetus behind that slogan.

^ Not that there are any old stars on this team with one of the youngest rosters in baseball, but you get my point.

More than possibly any other baseball franchise the Royals have been through some incredibly tough times.^  It was a precipitous drop from the top of the baseball world in 1985 all the way down to the very, very bottom in 2005 when the team went 56-106 and was easily the worst team in baseball.  

^Except for the Pittsburgh Pirates, they feel our pain.

After years of enduring 90+ loss seasons, this fan base is understandably beaten down.  Royals fans can be, at times, some of the most negative, sarcastic, snarky, pessimistic, albeit highly educated fans in baseball, and I include myself in that group.  We’ve had no choice.  Humor is often a defense mechanism against unwanted situations and we’ve all had to reach down and defend our sensibilities from another rough Royals season.

The negativity has shown itself in Kansas City for quite a while now.  No matter what, some fans won’t allow this organization to do anything right.  There were those that suggested the Royals jumped the gun on calling Eric Hosmer up to the big leagues in 2011.  He is on his way to becoming one of the best players in baseball.  There were those that said signing Jeff Franceour and Melky Cabrera were dumb moves when they both had career years last year, or close to it.  Some decisions have deserved to have been questioned (*cough* Yuni *cough*) but the point is that every decision is scrutinized to the most minute detail.

This has extended beyond baseball and has reared its ugly head with the recent assignment of Rex Hudler as the color commentator on the Royals tv broadcasts.  Cries of ridiculousness about Hudler’s attitude, how he’s too positive, how he has to “prove himself,” etc. have littered twitter and even made their way to the man himself through only 4 games and spring training.

Part of this stems from the fact that Hudler was brought on as a replacement for Frank White, one of the most beloved baseball people in the city.  It was never going to be easy to replace White, but someone with an attitude in stark contrast like Hudler, full of positivity and effusive praise towards the organization, only makes matters worse.

What I struggle with is the issues that people have.  If my twitter timeline is any indication then it appears that some people are downright offended on a personal level about Hudler doing TV broadcasts.  It’s as if some sort of ‘rite of passage’ must be had by Hudler before the fans will allow him into the club.  It seems like fans expect a man who has no ties to Kansas City to immediately come in, understand our history, and be pessimistic.  Even when he is coming in to the organization on the most positive upswing it has seen in the last 25 years.

We can put aside the fact that if you are so inclined you can silence the TV and put the radio on to listen to Denny Matthews at your heart’s content.  I’m also going to let everybody in on something, the man that Hudler replaced in White, wasn’t all that great either.  I love Frank White and think that there are few better ambassadors for baseball in Kansas City than him.  However, that does not mean I can’t be critical of his ability to be a TV broadcaster.

White didn’t have the smoothest delivery, and sometimes struggled to get his point across clearly.  I remember his first year in the booth it was near unlistenable.  He made a marked improvement in year two but still was only adequate, his ultimate saving grace was that he was Frank White.  From a pure TV announcer standpoint, Hudler is better than White.  Now, whether you like him or not is completely subjective and even a staunch Hudler supporter would probably be hard pressed to like him more than White.

It just seems quite amazing to me that a city that was so ready to embrace unbridled enthusiasm towards a team ready to make a move sends so much vitriol towards it.  Part of this new era of Royals baseball should be a brushing aside of the negativity of the past.  If the organization is going to try to shake loose the decades of losing, then the decades of pessimism should be quick to follow.

It’s important to remember here that optimism isn’t an absolute.  Even the most positive fan has the right the question the organization and certain moves like signing Yuni, or sitting Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas after only 3 games of a “slump.”  Optimism doesn’t automatically make one a “homer” or tow the company line.  A bit of realism is important for all fans, but criticism and pessimism don’t have to be synonymous either.

“Our Time” is about establishing this new era in the Royals history.  Part of that new era should be a bevy of positive fans.  Despite the last two decades, there is more than enough positivity to go around for this organization right now.  Hudler is a man who was hired to do a job that he is doing.  The Royals chose him and put him here.  If you don’t like it, you should direct your complaints to them, as opposed to a man who is doing his job.  

Unless you’re Jim Nantz or Bob Costas a TV announcer is a TV announcer.  Fans need to remember that we tune in to watch the Royals.  You don’t have to like Hudler, but just because he’s not Frank White and chooses to be positive about his situation, doesn’t make him worthy of any sort of misplaced fan-hatred.  I for one find little difference between Hudler and White, save for the knowledge of the organization.^

^ Knowledge of which it would be ludicrous to compare Hudler to White.

The slogan “Our Time” isn’t just about the team; it’s the organization and the fans.  This is our time to embrace the team for what they are and what they can be, not to wake up echoes of negativity because somebody is too positive.  There should be plenty of positive to come in 2012 so hopefully as the season goes on the enthusiasm will only seem par for the course.