Sometimes, All You Can Do is Laugh

Alex Gordon...you know what's coming next... right? He is injured, out for three to four weeks and will likely miss the season opener. When I first read the headline, I laughed out loud. Of course he is injured! He plays for the Kansas City Royals. The baseball gods have been hard on the Royals ever since the passing of their late owner, Ewing Kauffman. Bad things happen to you when you are a fan of the Royals, when you play for the Royals, when you work for the Royals, even if you merely read things about the Royals. You can suffer from a detached retina, simply because you were near the Royals.

I have worked in hospitals for years and maybe their is more connection than I ever imagined between my career choice and my favorite sports team. People come to hospitals for basically three reasons: for their birth, for their ailments and for their death. A lot of the same can be said for those who come to the Kansas City Royals. Many good players are "born" in Kansas City: David Cone (even literally born in Kansas City), Jeff Conine, Johnny Damon, Carlos Beltran, you get the idea and if you're a fan you are all too aware of this phenomenon. Players come to the Royals during times of "illness". These are basically times when players are coming off of sub-pars seasons, or when they are not drawing much interest from other teams (Jose Guillen fits the bill). Finally, players come here to die: Felix Jose, Chile Davis, Terry Pendleton, Greg Gagne, Gary Gaetti, Vince Coleman, Chuck Knoblauch, Mark Grudzielanek, etc. 

(Gary is easy on the eyes)


There is always the smell of the "sick" and often times a sense of sadness you when walk the halls of a hospital. When you work there, you are constantly aware that something could go very wrong. I wonder if those same smells and feelings fill the locker room and front office of Kauffman Stadium. I wonder if Gordon's injury was even surprising to Trey Hillman and Dayton Moore. Injuries happen to every team, but doom seems to surround the Royals.