Royals vs Yankees

Set to take off for the stadium for my annual pilgrimage to see my home-town Royals take on my live-town Yankees. I will always root for MY home team (KC), no matter where I live.

I just hope the Royals don't embarass George Steinbrenner's crew too much. Don't let the league-worst 11 wins in 47 tries fool you - they are set to POUNCE!

This is the third game of the series and during yesterday's game one of the announcers was, I would say, lamenting the passing of what used to be a very heated and fun rivalry back in the 70's/80's (back when I was IN KC and when they weren't statistically eliminated every year by early June - when they were guud).

But of course, that has been supplanted by the Red Sox/Yanks hatefest.

Some baseball seasons come and go and I hardly notice. But I've been into it the lastcouple of years. I've decided to be into it.

The secret of enjoyment I've learned is to not be in too much of a hurry. The game will not proceed with any amount of haste. If you are not prepared for that, the game seems interminable.

And someone once pointed out to me that it is one of the only games where the defense has the ball.


The one on one pitching duel, bad teams beating good teams with pitching - or fluke hitting - or costly errors, these are all well known to someone describing themselves as a fan.

There is something very zen about it too. Long stretches of what seems like not-too-much going on, followed by focused, crisp activity, only to give way again to watching the grass grow.

And it just humms along - the game. All summer long there is the certainty that that ritual is going on somewhere. No rush. No hurry. Let it happen. Watch it happen. Eat a hot dog. Drink a beer. Prod your legs which are falling asleep under the lotus position.

I mean you can't get too high falutin'. It is afterall a bunch of sweaty jocks trying to one-up each other. But I suppose the layers are there to see or not, depending on your predisposition.