Between 2000 and 2012, the Royals have had exactly one winning season. In the big scheme of things, how bad are the Boys in Blue? TL;DR: yeah, it's that bad.
128 American major league sports teams that existed between 2000 and current.
30 MLB, 9 MLS, 29 NBA, 31 NFL, 29 NHL
Here's the top 8 teams in American sports since Y2K.
1. San Antonio Spurs (13 winning seasons)
2. NY Yankees (13 winning seasons)
3. Dallas Mavericks (12 winning seasons, 1 tied season)
4. Detroit Red Wings (12 winning seasons)
5. New England Patriots (12 winning seasons)
6. LA Lakers (12 winning seasons)
7. St. Louis Cardinals (12 winning seasons) (see why the I-70 matchup means so much?)
8. Boston Red Sox (12 winning seasons)
Bottom 8
121. Detroit Lions (2 winning seasons) (and a 0-16 season, to boot)
122. Cleveland Browns (2 winning seasons)
123. Buffalo Bills (1 winning season, 2 .500 seasons)
124. Baltimore Orioles (1 winning season)
125. KC Royals (1 winning season)
126. Columbus Blue Jackets (1 .500 season)
127. Florida Panthers (1 .500 season)
128. Pittsburgh Pirates (13 losing seasons) (wow, there's a team worse than the Royals?)
Top and bottom, By Sport
MLB Top NYY, STL, BOS (12 or more)
MLB Bottom BAL, KCR, PIT (1 or 0)
MLS Top LA, CHI, NY (8 winning seasons)
MLS Bottom COL (4 winning seasons)
NBA Top SA, DAL, LAL (12 or more winning seasons)
NBA Bottom MIL, WAS, TOR, LAC, GSW (3 winning seasons)
NFL Top NE, IND, PIT, GB, BAL (10 or more winning seasons)
NFL Bottom AZ, DET, CLE, BUF (2 or 1 winning seasons)
NHL Top DET, SJ, VAN (11+ winning seasons)
NHL Bottom CLM, FLA (0 winning seasons)
Sporting KC: 50th/128, 4th/9 in MLS.
KC Chiefs: 103rd/128, 23rd/31 in NFL
KC Royals: 125th/128, 29th/30 in MLB.
See why KC roots for their soccer team?
Disclaimers: Winnipeg Jets, San Jose Earthquakes not listed.
Tiebreakers on the top 8/bottom 8 include how long it's been since a non-winning season, number of tied seasons, and that San Antonio has won 3 titles since Y2K to New York Yankees 2.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
The Honorable
"I am indebted to no man, and only to one woman — my dear wife — as I begin this very difficult job" - President Ford
Six years ago, Todd Smith (my neighbor around-the-block) said he was going to run for mayor. My wife and I cast votes for him, and he won by three votes. He anticipated a mass exodus from the council, and I told him, "If you run out of better folk to fill the vacancies, you can give me a call."
A year later - in March 2008, he did give me that call, and in April 2008, I took the oath of office, filling a seat on the Severance City Council. We talked politics, tried to do things differently...and in the end both of us saw the darker side of politics. Both of us handed in our resignations (for different reasons), and took a back seat.
Todd and I had a few other conversations - I had the privilege of telling him that he'd been written in to the mayor's seat for his third term in 2011. But, our friendship was strained by the politics...he was tired of it all. And, having little in common besides politics, we haven't spoken much since.
He did wish me well in the 2013 election, "make sure you draw the right straw".
It's unlikely, but I've made it clear that if I ever become mayor, and if I then have to fill a vacancy on the council, my first call will be to Todd. A favor I might never be able to repay...but I wish I could.
The style and etiquette manuals state that the mayor of a city is entitled to the title "The Honorable." And although some people use that term derisively, I respect the men who have taken on the heavy responsibility of leading our town.
Here's to the Honorable Todd Smith, thrice elected to the mayor's chair in Severance, KS.
Six years ago, Todd Smith (my neighbor around-the-block) said he was going to run for mayor. My wife and I cast votes for him, and he won by three votes. He anticipated a mass exodus from the council, and I told him, "If you run out of better folk to fill the vacancies, you can give me a call."
A year later - in March 2008, he did give me that call, and in April 2008, I took the oath of office, filling a seat on the Severance City Council. We talked politics, tried to do things differently...and in the end both of us saw the darker side of politics. Both of us handed in our resignations (for different reasons), and took a back seat.
Todd and I had a few other conversations - I had the privilege of telling him that he'd been written in to the mayor's seat for his third term in 2011. But, our friendship was strained by the politics...he was tired of it all. And, having little in common besides politics, we haven't spoken much since.
He did wish me well in the 2013 election, "make sure you draw the right straw".
It's unlikely, but I've made it clear that if I ever become mayor, and if I then have to fill a vacancy on the council, my first call will be to Todd. A favor I might never be able to repay...but I wish I could.
The style and etiquette manuals state that the mayor of a city is entitled to the title "The Honorable." And although some people use that term derisively, I respect the men who have taken on the heavy responsibility of leading our town.
Here's to the Honorable Todd Smith, thrice elected to the mayor's chair in Severance, KS.
Don't post about that one atheist, please!
I had this post written, nice and neat, ready to post. Then, I posted a comment on Facebook....
So i had to do a little rearranging, and add a postscript to the end of the post.
Everybody knows* that you can only balance an egg on its end on the equinox. I'm the idiot who actually balanced an egg on its end one of the other 363 days of the year, cementing my position as a pompass know-it-all.
I see those urban legends on facebook...the quote mashup that combines interviews from different people and an incorrect claim about a famous psychiatrist. The amber alert for a kid kidnapped three years ago, and safely rescued one day later. A comparison of two sports champions expressing two different emotions and making a moral conclusion.
It's like scratching a chalkboard. And with the experience I've had on listservs, online forums, and various blogs...there's no solving it. There's almost no changing people's perspective.
Ask me about the drinking argument. The cover two argument. Any argument I have with my wife. Just about any facebook post. If I disagree with you, I come off as an argumentative jerk.
And yet I can't shut up. I think half of my facebook comments are a cut-and-paste a snopes on a modern parable / urban legend / outdated Amber Alert.
I'm a firm believer in the Proverb that one person presents his case and seems right...until the other guy brings up the other side...I know it's in the good book somewhere.
And, the other day, a modern-day parable that I couldn't verify. (A pastor whose name doesn't google, a unnamed megachurch, and an anvil of an aesop that's predictable from a mile away).
I commented
"[citation needed] - my google search can't even find this guy, and one person says that the picture is a different homeless person."
And I got told that I was missing the point (spoiler alert: Matthew 24.).
You wanna tell a story like that, call it a modern parable. Call it what it is, an urban legend, a modern parable...but when you post it like a fact...
So i had to do a little rearranging, and add a postscript to the end of the post.
Everybody knows* that you can only balance an egg on its end on the equinox. I'm the idiot who actually balanced an egg on its end one of the other 363 days of the year, cementing my position as a pompass know-it-all.
I see those urban legends on facebook...the quote mashup that combines interviews from different people and an incorrect claim about a famous psychiatrist. The amber alert for a kid kidnapped three years ago, and safely rescued one day later. A comparison of two sports champions expressing two different emotions and making a moral conclusion.
It's like scratching a chalkboard. And with the experience I've had on listservs, online forums, and various blogs...there's no solving it. There's almost no changing people's perspective.
Ask me about the drinking argument. The cover two argument. Any argument I have with my wife. Just about any facebook post. If I disagree with you, I come off as an argumentative jerk.
And yet I can't shut up. I think half of my facebook comments are a cut-and-paste a snopes on a modern parable / urban legend / outdated Amber Alert.
I'm a firm believer in the Proverb that one person presents his case and seems right...until the other guy brings up the other side...I know it's in the good book somewhere.
And, the other day, a modern-day parable that I couldn't verify. (A pastor whose name doesn't google, a unnamed megachurch, and an anvil of an aesop that's predictable from a mile away).
I commented
"[citation needed] - my google search can't even find this guy, and one person says that the picture is a different homeless person."
And I got told that I was missing the point (spoiler alert: Matthew 24.).
You wanna tell a story like that, call it a modern parable. Call it what it is, an urban legend, a modern parable...but when you post it like a fact...
Saturday, July 20, 2013
What's left
The groups I've been in...when I leave, it's usually a complete break. After I toss the cap and take off the gown, my college days become just a piece of paper, a lost yearbook, and one or two good friends. When the online forum finally stops rolling up the hit-counter, I was already on the outside, already an awkward presence. The cities I drive to - one of them was where I did everything, but I feel nothing for that town. The other city, most of the folks I knew over the last fifteen years there, all we had in common was a timeclock. I'm a stranger in my own town.
And as long as it's taken to learn, and as hard as I've resisted the cliche...
blood is thicker than water.
Family's pretty much all I've got left...pretty much all I've ever had.
And as long as it's taken to learn, and as hard as I've resisted the cliche...
blood is thicker than water.
Family's pretty much all I've got left...pretty much all I've ever had.
Cost of Connection
Technology
Four years ago, I posted on one of the xanga ish sites (dollarish)
The Cost To Stay Connected To The World... Priceless
Somewhere, somebody's laughing all the way to the bank.
How much are you spending on phones / internet / television per month?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fast forward four years.
Landline + internet + TV bundled: 207 (+25)
Cell Phones: 310
Cell Phone: $85
Cell Phone for wife: $15
Cell Phone for kid: $15
Cell Phone for kid: $15
Unlimited text: $30
Phone Insurance: $30
XL Data Plans to prevent the XXL Data Charges: $120
AND The month somebody went nuts on a top-ten app: $55
I'm not sure what part of that bill steams me the most...
Four years ago, I posted on one of the xanga ish sites (dollarish)
The Cost To Stay Connected To The World... Priceless
- Landline with long distance: $55
- High speed internet for the home computer: $30
- Cable or satellite TV: $95
- Cell phone: $100
- Cell phone for wife: $50
- Cell phone for relative: $50
- Unlimited text/internet for the three phones: $50
- The add-on so you have enough minutes for the three phones: $30
- Being connected...priceless.
Somewhere, somebody's laughing all the way to the bank.
How much are you spending on phones / internet / television per month?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fast forward four years.
Landline + internet + TV bundled: 207 (+25)
Cell Phones: 310
Cell Phone: $85
Cell Phone for wife: $15
Cell Phone for kid: $15
Cell Phone for kid: $15
Unlimited text: $30
Phone Insurance: $30
XL Data Plans to prevent the XXL Data Charges: $120
AND The month somebody went nuts on a top-ten app: $55
I'm not sure what part of that bill steams me the most...
- The fact that the company 15% discount only counted on one line, totaling $9
- How little my kids actually use their phones
- The month somebody went nuts on the app (the one with the commercials)
- Or the fact that I've got my damn phone, and nobody calls me on it, only my wife texts me, etc.
HELL, I did the obligatory "New Phone, New Number" post on Facebook, and no one asked me for my digits! (Proves that the five-to-ten people I actually texted were the only ones who cared)
Sorry, it's not bloggable.
There are still some unbloggable problems in my life.
I trust my friends. My neighbors. The folks at the church I attend.
But...putting anything about my deepest pain on this blog... (although I know I know almost nobody ever reads it.)
No.
Besides, thinking about it, there's really only three or four people who need an update.
I trust my friends. My neighbors. The folks at the church I attend.
But...putting anything about my deepest pain on this blog... (although I know I know almost nobody ever reads it.)
No.
Besides, thinking about it, there's really only three or four people who need an update.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
80s and 90s
I'm getting old. And I feel it.
I used to think that I was on top of the tech wave, or at least could see the top of it...
no I didn't. I spent over a decade without setting foot in a Best Buy. None of my televisions are flat-screen. I used to program in a language with such a small niche...
I would've had to turn in my geek-card years ago.
THEN...I got a job as an at-home CSR for a major electronics retailer. And my geek cred went into the negative.
I remember the releases...Halo, Assassin's Creed, and Call of Duty. I mentioned to several interested customers that the last FPS I'd played with any regularity was Goldeneye for the N64. Black Friday. uhhh. My wife picks up magazines from garage sales to try to get me up to date on the latest tech. A nice gesture, but I know when I'm beat.
Or when they talk about TVs that can't hook up to the internet (oh, they're supposed to do that?) Or the magic word these days..."Sound bar." I think I know what it is, but I couldn't recognize it at a party.
And how in the hell am I supposed to be able to afford to stay on the edge of the tech wave? How am I supposed to be able to afford a triple-digit collection of games for the latest console?
Some days, I wish I was born Amish.
I used to think that I was on top of the tech wave, or at least could see the top of it...
no I didn't. I spent over a decade without setting foot in a Best Buy. None of my televisions are flat-screen. I used to program in a language with such a small niche...
I would've had to turn in my geek-card years ago.
THEN...I got a job as an at-home CSR for a major electronics retailer. And my geek cred went into the negative.
I remember the releases...Halo, Assassin's Creed, and Call of Duty. I mentioned to several interested customers that the last FPS I'd played with any regularity was Goldeneye for the N64. Black Friday. uhhh. My wife picks up magazines from garage sales to try to get me up to date on the latest tech. A nice gesture, but I know when I'm beat.
Or when they talk about TVs that can't hook up to the internet (oh, they're supposed to do that?) Or the magic word these days..."Sound bar." I think I know what it is, but I couldn't recognize it at a party.
And how in the hell am I supposed to be able to afford to stay on the edge of the tech wave? How am I supposed to be able to afford a triple-digit collection of games for the latest console?
Some days, I wish I was born Amish.
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