ROYALS!

When I was a twentysomething, I would always stay up too late watching Mike Emrick or Gary Thorne broadcast three and four-overtime NHL playoff games. It was great fun, although in retrospect, they were usually 2-1 or 1-0 snoozers. But it was riveting to me back then.

Fast forward a few years to 2015. The Kansas City Royals are in the World Series, and lead the Mets three games to one. The good guys rallied to tie the game at 2-2 in the 9th, and put a fiver on the board in the top of the 12th. After that, it was all over but the shouting. Watching the last three outs go up on the board, ending with a called strike three. It felt a little anticlimactic to... Nah-- it was awesome!

Union Station in Kansas City, decked out in Royal blue, celebrating KC's first world title in 30 years.

Kansas City Royals. 2015 World Champions. I love the way that sounds, even if I can barely type it, let alone wrap my head around what happened. 

The game ended about 12:30 Eastern time, so it gives me a new appreciation for fans who actually have serious rooting interests in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I was absolutely tied up in knots. Usually I would 'watch' the game on my gametracker app while I tried to do schoolwork. It would work for about five or six innings, until I couldn't take it anymore. 

I spend most of my energies rooting for the UTEP Miners and the Kansas State Wildcats, which means I don't get to celebrate things like winning championships. My team winning a title, to be the last team standing-- is something that has never happened to me. K-State got close a few years ago but missed out. UTEP, well, their shining moment was in 1966, a few years before my time. There have been moments of great joy, but nothing like what the Royals got. I'm not used to having nice things like this. A team I actually root for and care about won a World Series. It really happened. 

Now I understand what the euphoria is about. Now I grasp why legions and generations of fans hang on every pitch. 

It's one reason why the 2014 loss to San Francisco cut so deeply-- getting the tying run to third base in game seven with two outs in the 9th. When you get that close, you just never know if you'll get that opportunity again. 

But this time, Virtue and Justice prevailed. The parade in KC drew 800,000 people, including a good friend of mine who drove three hours before dawn to get there.

What a team. What a year.