bloodsunday
05-05-2005, 12:18 PM
By Jason Whitlock
Special to Page 2
I was on the phone Wednesday afternoon blabbering to a friend about the Runaway Bride's fiancé, when it crossed my mind that he's not much different than the typical Kansas City male pro sports fan.
Seriously – if you are like me, you've spent considerable time this week trying to get inside the mind of that guy. The dude still wants her back. Jennifer Wilbanks walks out on on him four days before their wedding day, and he still wants her back. Look, every man I know has been "whipped" at some point in his life, but when your woman turns you into a national laughingstock, when her actions have you strapped to an FBI lie-detector machine, you might want to take a moment to step back and reassess.
It should be tough to be a Kansas City Royals fan these days, even with Mike Sweeney. You don't go on "Hannity & Colmes" and tell the world that you still plan to marry her once her hair grows back and authorities clear her of any potential criminal charges.
So Wednesday, I rant to a friend: "John Mason has watched one too many episodes of 'Oprah.' At the very least, let her sweat a little. Don't let her walk around feeling bulletproof, like she can do no wrong. Don't turn her into Carl Peterson."
And that's when it struck me. Jennifer Wilbanks is Carl Peterson, president and general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs. And John Mason is a Kansas City pro sports fan -- a guy who gets lied to, manipulated and kicked in the gut year after year but who still believes in every offseason pipedream ever floated.
This was quite an epiphany for me.
As a sports columnist based in Kansas City, I've been looking for new angles on understanding exactly what is transpiring with KC's sports teams and its fans. The city seems cursed by its passion, loyalty and willingness to be understanding of its two pro sports franchises. KC sports fans, like John Mason, are fearful of demanding proper treatment because deep in their hearts, they're insecure and afraid they won't be able to replace the Chiefs or the Royals.
So, season after season, they're fed a steady diet of disappointment.
The Royals, of course, are off to yet another horrendous start to the baseball season. They're 7-20 and well on their way to eclipsing last year's 104-loss season. Once first baseman Mike Sweeney suffers his annual season-debilitating injury, the Royals will have a shot at the major-league record for losses in a season. KC's lineup, even with Sweeney, is the worst in the majors. The Royals have produced just 99 runs in 27 games, the second fewest in the majors.
Manager Tony Pena is working with a Triple-A roster and payroll ($36 million) and yet the fan base is calling for his job rather than questioning the ownership that would put this particular collection of "talent" all in the same major league uniform. A 23-year-old kid, Ruben Gotay, hit second for the Royals on Wednesday against the White Sox. Ken Harvey, who couldn't make the club coming out of spring training, batted cleanup. I guess that explains why Sweeney, KC's No. 3 hitter, criticized ownership during the offseason.
Like John Mason does for his so-called fiance, Kansas City Royals fans feel sorry for owner David Glass and general manager Allard Baird. Mason excuses Wilbanks because she's under-medicated, has an eating disorder and is suffering from "anxiety." Royals fans excuse Glass and Baird because they've bought the myth that the Royals have stunk since the death of free-spending owner Ewing Kauffman due to MLB's lack of true, NFL-like revenue sharing and a salary cap.
Before the year is out, Pena will be the fourth straight Royals manager – following Hal McRae, Bob Boone and Tony Muser – to be fired as a cover-up for upper-management incompetence. Royals fans will eat it up and start fantasizing about the new skipper's turning things around. It's an annual rite of passage in KC. New manager, new pipedreams. It's been 20 years since the Royals won the World Series. It's been 15 years since you could take the team seriously.
The football franchise is even more frustrating. It's revered and worshipped and led by the Runaway GM.
Hey Carl -- what are you smiling about?
The Peterson-controlled Chiefs sell out one of the NFL's largest stadiums year after year, game after game. Judging by the respect and passion directed toward the Chiefs, you'd think they were the New England Patriots. The reality is that the Chiefs haven't won a playoff game since 1993, and Peterson, leader of the Chiefs for 16 years, hasn't put a consistent winner on the field since Marty Schottenheimer left after a disastrous 1998 season.
Peterson drafts poorly, raises ticket and parking prices nearly every year and annually gets into a distracting, ugly contract dispute with the team's top draft pick or best player. He's disliked by his fan base. But, backed by season-ticket sales, he operates without fear and scoffs at his critics.
"You know something, we have 72,000 season-ticket holders," Peterson told KC media members before this year's draft. "We've renewed 95 percent of those people again this year. I haven't had a letter or a fax or a phone call from any of those people. And I haven't, honest to goodness, I haven't had any letters from outside of that, if you want to say, sphere of what I consider real Kansas City Chiefs fans, because they step up each year and put their money down and say, 'I'm here to see the Chiefs.'
"So, candidly, the criticism comes from some of the media. I've even got it at this point [after] 16 years, and I don't consider it criticism. I consider it speculation."
But I'm done blasting John Mason. As a sports columnist, I live in a glass house.
Special to Page 2
I was on the phone Wednesday afternoon blabbering to a friend about the Runaway Bride's fiancé, when it crossed my mind that he's not much different than the typical Kansas City male pro sports fan.
Seriously – if you are like me, you've spent considerable time this week trying to get inside the mind of that guy. The dude still wants her back. Jennifer Wilbanks walks out on on him four days before their wedding day, and he still wants her back. Look, every man I know has been "whipped" at some point in his life, but when your woman turns you into a national laughingstock, when her actions have you strapped to an FBI lie-detector machine, you might want to take a moment to step back and reassess.
It should be tough to be a Kansas City Royals fan these days, even with Mike Sweeney. You don't go on "Hannity & Colmes" and tell the world that you still plan to marry her once her hair grows back and authorities clear her of any potential criminal charges.
So Wednesday, I rant to a friend: "John Mason has watched one too many episodes of 'Oprah.' At the very least, let her sweat a little. Don't let her walk around feeling bulletproof, like she can do no wrong. Don't turn her into Carl Peterson."
And that's when it struck me. Jennifer Wilbanks is Carl Peterson, president and general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs. And John Mason is a Kansas City pro sports fan -- a guy who gets lied to, manipulated and kicked in the gut year after year but who still believes in every offseason pipedream ever floated.
This was quite an epiphany for me.
As a sports columnist based in Kansas City, I've been looking for new angles on understanding exactly what is transpiring with KC's sports teams and its fans. The city seems cursed by its passion, loyalty and willingness to be understanding of its two pro sports franchises. KC sports fans, like John Mason, are fearful of demanding proper treatment because deep in their hearts, they're insecure and afraid they won't be able to replace the Chiefs or the Royals.
So, season after season, they're fed a steady diet of disappointment.
The Royals, of course, are off to yet another horrendous start to the baseball season. They're 7-20 and well on their way to eclipsing last year's 104-loss season. Once first baseman Mike Sweeney suffers his annual season-debilitating injury, the Royals will have a shot at the major-league record for losses in a season. KC's lineup, even with Sweeney, is the worst in the majors. The Royals have produced just 99 runs in 27 games, the second fewest in the majors.
Manager Tony Pena is working with a Triple-A roster and payroll ($36 million) and yet the fan base is calling for his job rather than questioning the ownership that would put this particular collection of "talent" all in the same major league uniform. A 23-year-old kid, Ruben Gotay, hit second for the Royals on Wednesday against the White Sox. Ken Harvey, who couldn't make the club coming out of spring training, batted cleanup. I guess that explains why Sweeney, KC's No. 3 hitter, criticized ownership during the offseason.
Like John Mason does for his so-called fiance, Kansas City Royals fans feel sorry for owner David Glass and general manager Allard Baird. Mason excuses Wilbanks because she's under-medicated, has an eating disorder and is suffering from "anxiety." Royals fans excuse Glass and Baird because they've bought the myth that the Royals have stunk since the death of free-spending owner Ewing Kauffman due to MLB's lack of true, NFL-like revenue sharing and a salary cap.
Before the year is out, Pena will be the fourth straight Royals manager – following Hal McRae, Bob Boone and Tony Muser – to be fired as a cover-up for upper-management incompetence. Royals fans will eat it up and start fantasizing about the new skipper's turning things around. It's an annual rite of passage in KC. New manager, new pipedreams. It's been 20 years since the Royals won the World Series. It's been 15 years since you could take the team seriously.
The football franchise is even more frustrating. It's revered and worshipped and led by the Runaway GM.
Hey Carl -- what are you smiling about?
The Peterson-controlled Chiefs sell out one of the NFL's largest stadiums year after year, game after game. Judging by the respect and passion directed toward the Chiefs, you'd think they were the New England Patriots. The reality is that the Chiefs haven't won a playoff game since 1993, and Peterson, leader of the Chiefs for 16 years, hasn't put a consistent winner on the field since Marty Schottenheimer left after a disastrous 1998 season.
Peterson drafts poorly, raises ticket and parking prices nearly every year and annually gets into a distracting, ugly contract dispute with the team's top draft pick or best player. He's disliked by his fan base. But, backed by season-ticket sales, he operates without fear and scoffs at his critics.
"You know something, we have 72,000 season-ticket holders," Peterson told KC media members before this year's draft. "We've renewed 95 percent of those people again this year. I haven't had a letter or a fax or a phone call from any of those people. And I haven't, honest to goodness, I haven't had any letters from outside of that, if you want to say, sphere of what I consider real Kansas City Chiefs fans, because they step up each year and put their money down and say, 'I'm here to see the Chiefs.'
"So, candidly, the criticism comes from some of the media. I've even got it at this point [after] 16 years, and I don't consider it criticism. I consider it speculation."
But I'm done blasting John Mason. As a sports columnist, I live in a glass house.