The Royals In The World Series Should Make Detroit Fans Angry [BLOG]
By: Jeff Riger
@riger1984
Good for the Royals. I'm happy for them. All season long nobody took them seriously and now they're in the World Series after winning 8 straight playoff games. Who could have predicted that? They're also doing it with a manager that everybody considers the dumbest in the game. Can you imagine Ned Yost getting a ring? Yeah me either, but he's four wins away from putting that ring on his middle finger and flipping it to the entire world the next time somebody questions his competence. Good for him!
Of course that won't happen...
The Royals aren't winning the World Series because the Giants are. We all know that on even numbered years in this decade it's San Francisco that gets to have a World Series championship parade. They did it in 2010, 2012 and they're right on schedule to do it again this season. They of course will be awful in 2015 and then win it all again in 2016 as the pattern continues. So all the magic the Royals are experiencing right now should come to an abrupt end this time next week.
It's still a huge accomplishment though. KC is there while the Detroit Tigers are at home with a payroll that almost doubled that of the Royals.
However this blog is not about the Tigers and how they got swept by the team that got swept by KC. Nope. There will be no talk of windows closing or a talented era of Tigers baseball resulting in nothing. Naw, to be frank, I'm sick of talking about it. We knew what would happen. We know their best chances are behind them. It's just time to move on and wait until opening day next season. In fact this blog is not even about baseball, instead it's about waiting and waiting and waiting for something we all know will never happen.
You see, the Royals are in the World Series for the first time since 1985 and if my math is correct that's a drought of 29 years. 29 long, tough, hopeless seasons of watching a team that loves to play in powder blue uniforms muck around a baseball diamond. I'm sure it was tough and yes three decades is a long time however it's not that long…
This happens all the time in sports. A team makes a run, they surprise and shock and then everybody talks about how tortured their fans have been. It's crap! Team after team breaks a drought and the world embraces them all while the fans here in Detroit wait their turn.
It's true, you know it is. There's a better chance that you'll stop being a Lions fan due to frustration and fatigue than the team winning it all.
We all have our fantasies… Every Detroiter has thought about what they would do if the Lions ever did go to a Super Bowl. We've planned out every second and every detail knowing full well we'll never get to live it out. I feel very confident saying I will never see the Lions in the big game and even if you won't admit it out loud, you know you feel the same way too.
So forgive me if I don't feel all that much sympathy for Royals fans and the hardships they have encountered while watching baseball over the last three decades. They're getting their time now, when will we get ours?
Think about it for a moment. How many awful teams have either won a title or were at least a step away from one all while Lions fans were being forced to put up with a disappointing product year after year?
The answer is a lot.
Not to depress you or anything but let's list a couple…
There was the time when the Cardinals went to the Super Bowl. Or the time when the Boston Red Sox stopped their annoying fans from whining constantly and won it all. What about the Rangers in the World Series or Boise State in a BCS game or the Cubs in the NLCS? Yeah, I know the NLCS isn't the World Series but it's the Cubs. That counts in my book. The Dallas Mavericks won it all. Butler went to the National Championship game...twice. The Rangers went to a World Series. Michigan basketball even went to a National title game. The Tampa Bay Lightning won a Stanley Cup, the Tampa Bay Rays went to a World Series and the Tampa Bay F**KING Buccaneers won a Super Bowl. How could the Bucs win it all before the Lions ever go to one? That was the topper for me.
What am I missing?
Every follower of every team above suffered but none as much as Lions fans.
The Lions have one playoff win in over half a century. Enough said.
So when I hear people getting excited about Detroit being 4-2 this season and how they have the best defense in the game, I can't help but to try and bring everybody back down to earth. Yes, I know I should just let people enjoy themselves and shut my mouth but I can't. The offense is not good, the defense hasn't really played a good QB besides Aaron Rodgers and last year they were 6-3 before they collapsed.
So as we watch Royals fans go crazy this week and hear about how tortured they've been, feel free to take some pride in what they've gone through is nothing compared to what you've experienced as a Lions fan. At least you got that out of all your years of fandom; that and all those fantasies about what you would do when the Lions win it all. It's just a shame you'll never get to live them out.
So prove me wrong Lions! Make Detroit fans the next fans that get to go crazy and see the torture end. I would say they deserve it!
