The Royals’ opening day means it’s wishing time again
I will start by admitting that I am not a fan of the Kansas City Royals. I root for the Chicago Cubs, as my father does and my grandfather once did. With the Jewish holiday of Passover coming weeks before opening day, and Jews all over the world pledging that next year they’ll be in Jerusalem, my grandfather would utter his own holy wish: that this be the year when the Cubs win the World Series. We wore Cubs caps to his funeral in 2009. This April, I make my own wish.
This I tell you only to illustrate that I understand what it means to pin your hopes to a team that is particularly good at grinding down those hopes over a 162-game season. I know what it means to talk yourself into a new rotation, a new prospect, a new organizational approach and, most of all, a new season. Kansas City is a baseball town, a city full of people who have made these bargains with themselves year after year. People want the Royals to be good because life in a baseball town is better when the baseball team is good.
