Kings & Chiefs

(HEADS UP – If you hate sports, just can’t see what all of the fuss is about, or are just one of those folks who choose to look down on all sports for whatever reason – I’ll see you tomorrow, you don’t have to read further. It’s a sports rant today.)

Very early on after starting this blog I wrote a minor rant about some of my sports-based passions. At that time the LA Kings were just starting their run in the NHL playoffs and the LA Angels were already starting to disappoint about a month into their MLB season.

Now the seasons have turned, literally in the sports-related sense. The Angels are about two weeks away from the blessed ending of another thoroughly forgettable year and the Kings are playing their first pre-season game, with the season starting for real the first week in October. Best of all, the NFL season has started and my beloved KC Chiefs look like they’ll suck a lot less than they did last year!

The Angels will make a great case study for Harvard Business School or some sports management program. They’ve gone out for the last several years in a row and paid a TON of money to free agent players who have failed to produce anything like the numbers they were expected to. Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, and (don’t even get me started on) Vernon Wells — big money, long term contracts, and mediocre performance from them all.

On the other hand, the Angels have gotten amazing production from some of their rookies and younger players. Mike Trout won the AL Rookie of the Year award last year and his sophomore year has been even better. This year’s rookies JB Shuck, Collin Cowgill, Kole Calhoun, Andrew Romine, Luis Jimenez, and Grant Green have all produced as well or better than the high-priced free agents, once enough injuries happened to let them be brought up from the minors. Maybe it’s because they’re hungrier to make it, maybe it’s just because they’re younger, but whatever it is, they’re doing a better job. Meanwhile, the team is stuck with hundreds of millions of dollars in salaries for the next ten years or so for players who aren’t producing now and will likely be producing less at the end of those contracts.

Interesting business model.

Meanwhile with thirteen games left we’re in third place, sixteen games out in the division. That’s not good math. In the wildcard we’re still alive mathematically, 9.5 games back, but we would have to jump over five different teams to get a playoff spot, and that’s not going to happen in this version of reality. We’re at 72-77, five games under .500, and the only realistic “goal” the Angels have for the last two weeks is to perhaps at least have a winning season. Whoopie!

When last we left the Kings, they were starting their playoff run, trying to defend their 2011-2012 Stanley Cup Championship. The Kings did really well in the playoffs, winning nine of the sixteen games necessary to hold onto the Cup. They beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 in the first round and the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in the second round, before falling to the Chicago Blackhawks 1-4 in the Western Conference Finals. It was a glorious run and I had on my jersey for every game and was blowing the Joyous Vuvuzela of Victory with every goal, even if that meant hauling it across the country and blowing it in hotels and in the homes of relatives. (The relatives knew the job was dangerous when I married into the family, the hotels, not so much.)

As the new season starts, I’m really looking forward to another winning campaign and again being a contender for the Stanley Cup. Having won it once, I would like to see my favorite team win it again, and this year I would like to be there in the crowd on the night they dance it around.

Finally, after enduring in agony a miserable 2-14 year in 2012, it was with renewed hope that I (and about a half million fellow Chiefs fans) looked forward to this season with a new general manager, a new coach, a new quarterback, and a new attitude. So far we haven’t been disappointed. Today we had our first home game and won a close one over a good team (Dallas Cowboys) and that makes me happy. This upcoming week we’re the premium Thursday night game in Philadelphia against the Eagles. That should be a real treat.

I don’t really expect the Chiefs to be in the Super Bowl this year after posting a 2-14 record last year (not that I would object to that happening, mind you) but it will be great to be competitive again. I know that it’s a rebuilding year and that 8-8 would be a spectacular improvement over last year. And let’s face it, 7-9 would be OK, probably, kind of. Even 6-10. Maybe. On the other hand, if we catch a couple of breaks, 9-7 or 10-4 isn’t completely out of the question and that might get us into the playoffs. Right?

Just sayin’…