Sunday, December 03, 2006

Published Dec. 3 in the Kansas City Star

It began with a simple talk with a friend of mine. Truth is, I was jealous. He grew up in Detroit before moving to Georgia, so he was now following two teams while I was stuck with just one, my stumbling Atlanta Braves.

The more I thought about my friend’s luck, the more I wondered what it would be like to be a new fan for a completely different team. I, like most fans, had given myself to one team earlier in life. When I was a kid I learned the players’ and managers’ names, memorized the schedule and during the summer counted down the hours each day to the first pitch.

But that was a long time ago, and I started wondering what it would be like to do that again, to pledge my allegiance to a new team no matter how the season turned out.

As the 2006 season closed and the Braves missed the playoffs, I decided to pick my new team. I set out some guidelines and began narrowing my options.

1. The team could not be in the National League East. No way could I root for two teams in the same division.

2. The team must not have reached the league championship series in the last five years. If I was going to pick a team, I certainly didn’t want to look like a fair-weather fan.

3. The team had to be filled with likeable players. This ruled out the Giants for obvious reasons.

4. The team could not be the Yankees. Yeah, that one is strictly personal.

5. The team could not already be on the way up. Rooting for the A’s and the Twins seemed too easy given the amount of talent and potential talent.

After a few nights I narrowed my search down to the Colorado Rockies, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Kansas City Royals.

I always loved watching Larry Walker and Dante Bichette. But I enjoy pitching duels, and I had a sneaking suspicion those were in short supply in Denver.

The Devil Rays had the look of a team that seemed on the verge of busting out, but they were always going to finish behind the Red Sox and Yankees. I also wanted a team with more history.

That left me with the Royals. The team fit all five criteria, and a quick look at the bandwagon revealed I had a good shot at getting up near the front. People who go to Royals games go because they are Royals fans. They go because deep down they hope the winds of fate will change direction and the team will become better. These are my kind of people.