Ever since I was a grade schooler, the Omaha Royals were a big part of my life. This post might be a little delayed, but the fact that the KC Royals made it to the World Series this year seemed almost as if it was a symbolization of the culmination of my childhood. We often had a mini package of seats for the now defunct Omaha Royals back at the old Rosenblatt Stadium. So every few weeks on a Friday night my family and I would drive down 13th street in Omaha and watch the Omaha Royals. Usually they were terrible, but I didn’t really care. It was fun to cheer for the team, learn how to score, bring along friends, and chat with the pitchers that walked by our seats on the way to the bullpen. My sister and I would often plead the passing by players to toss us a ball, because there is nothing better than bringing home a baseball from a game!
Flash forward about 8 years, I haven’t been to a Royals (now Stormchasers game) in quite some time, Rosenblatt is only a landmark, and I’ve grown up from being that little kid begging AAA ball players for a baseball. The KC Royals team consists of quite a few players whose names are familiar and quite a few I’ve watched play in Omaha, somehow by some stroke of luck my favorite pro-baseball team who I’ve grown used to expecting losses from makes it into the World Series from a wild card game!
There is just something about watching the Royals that brings a sense of calm to me, a sense of belonging to a community perhaps could be another way to explain it. The way that KC and the Omaha area got behind the team was so amazing to watch. I’m not sure exactly what my sentiments were that I was trying to get across with this post…but there have been few and far between sporting events that I’ve been so passionate about. I found myself rearranging my schedule so I could be sure to catch the game and when I was watching the game I would get into every single pitch and will “my team” to keep the magic alive.
Even though the series did not end as I would have liked it to, I still cannot believe that my team fought that hard and got that far this season. It is truly amazing how sports can bring people together and motivate you to keep trying to follow your dreams. Just like my Royals. 2014 will always be a “Blue October” year for me.
THANK YOU ROYALS.
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