Finally, It Could Be Fun To Follow The Royals

But before we answer to that headline, it should be noted that it's true: EVERY Sports Illustrated issue is now available on-line. This actually turns out to be something a lot more entertaining than I ever thought it could be. You can thumb through any issue you want. Find and read old articles (including the infamous George Plimpton April Fool's Day joke about a pitching phenom named Sidd Finch). I mean, shouldn't Rolling Stone have done this years ago? That picture above, from SI's vault, is one of my cherished childhood memories. Almost midnight, Yankee Stadium, ALCS, and the Royals finally beat the Yankees to go to their first World Series. Dan Quisenberry striking out Willie Randolph, looking. It was the Quiz man's only strikeout in 3 2/3 innings of relief that night.

On to your 2008 Kansas City Royals. Nobody can ever get excited about starting a season 2-0 when a 10-game losing streak can loom anytime. But damn it's nice, gotta feel better than, oh-and-two perhaps. The real reason for excitement this early: Brian Bannister shut down the vaunted Tigers lineup for 7 shutout innings this afternoon. Bannister, it should be noted, had a great rookie year last season, and was one of GM Dayton Moore's master moves, picking the Mets pocket by trading Ambiorix Burgos to get Floyd Bannister's kid in hopes that he might be something of a starting pitcher. He's on his way to being an ace, which means Gil Meche can slide to a 2 or 3 starter, where he really should be anyway.

But why the Royals could be a good time. They finally seem to have some character about them. Crazy Zack Greinke, provided he's finally gotten past the fact that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston broke up (if you haven't heard Planet Zack, by all means, click on the link, he describes how he literally cried when he learned of the break-up and it seemed to put him in a serious state of long term depression) starts tomorrow afternoon against Detroit. Who knows which Greinke will show up. I'm just glad he seems to finally get to the park on time.

Joey Gathright is getting some face time with David Dejusus' injury, which is just another good reason to bring back the old Gathright over a car video:
We all panicked when Moore threw stupid money at Jose Guillen, who had just been busted for juicing. When Guillen was with Tampa Bay, he famously feuded with then Manager Hal McRae. So Guillen comes to Kansas City...and requests to where McRae's uniform number...and he's WEARING it. Guillen's still looking for his first hit, but that fucker's got a cannon of an arm in right field. The Royals sort of need a moody character who you think could just explode at any given moment. Sort of like McRae with a group of reporters. In other words: The Sweeney Era is officially dead and gone.

And now the Royals in there own way have let us find out what Trev Alberts has been up to lately. I still have no idea what Trev is actually doing for work, but he probably is the last guy who should call out an obscure blog (although damn if he called this one out, we wouldn't be at all pissed, we'd be thrilled). I hate to break it to Trev, but a lot of us have struggled in recent years with whether or not it's OK for our children to grow up Royals fans. I'm going all in with my kids this year, no matter if Zack breaks out the crocodile tears over Brad and Jennifer tomorrow on the mound in Comerica. Yes, it's going to be a bad year for the actual Kaufman Stadium, as it's still going through a remodeling phase that was pushed back because of the bad winter. The Royals Staff has been forced to office in the Plaza instead of the Stadium for the season. But for the better part of over 14 years, the Royals have literally been dead before the first pitch of the season. Finally, there's at least a glimmer of hope. I'm not expecting a playoff push, but I'm expecting to be able to follow the team all season long without embarrassment. And hoping Bannister can shove it to Boston and New York on the road like he did to Detroit.