{"id":8089,"date":"2014-10-16T16:29:34","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T16:29:34","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-10-16T16:29:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T16:29:34","slug":"congratulations_to_the_kansas_city_royals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2014\/10\/16\/congratulations_to_the_kansas_city_royals\/","title":{"rendered":"Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Please indulge me on this. This is somewhat personal to me. The Kansas City Royals<\/a>, how about that, a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. Eight straight playoff wins, setting a Major League Baseball record. The extra-inning win over the Oakland A\u2019s. Three games over the Anaheim Angels, and now over four over the Baltimore Orioles, and to the World Series. They host it, starting Tuesday night in Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium, first time in 29 years. <\/p>\n

I was not at the Royals in 1985. I had just left town for Sacramento to set out on this journey, if you will. I worked for the Royals from \u201979 through \u201983, so I was there for the 1980 World Series that they lost to the Phillies. It was exciting and, you know, I had an important job there. I was director of ceremonial first pitches, and I was director of escorting national anthem singers to second base before playoff games. They sometimes even let me pick the anthem singers. It was five years I spent there. I wouldn\u2019t trade those five years for anything. It was my first five years outside of radio, which I started at age 16.<\/line><\/p>\n

I met people I would otherwise have not met. I learned things, experience things I never would have. And I had doors open for me simply because I could say, “Hi, Rush Limbaugh, from the Kansas City Royals.” People that wouldn\u2019t give me the time of day, I\u2019m talking about businesspeople, would open their doors. But it was also good for me because I found out that I\u2019m not cut out for corporate conformity, but I wouldn\u2019t trade those five years, and it\u2019s so great. <\/p>\n

Nobody in the professional baseball world, the sports media, can believe this. They\u2019re still writing about it even today in the New York papers as though it\u2019s a joke and it\u2019s illegitimate. They\u2019re making fun of the manager, Ned Yost, “Seriously, Ned Yost? What a bumbling –” All they\u2019ve done is won eight in a row, and they\u2019ve done it with a payroll that the New York Yankees spend on two players. <\/p>\n

I was looking at the game last night, watching, and that stadium, they\u2019ve done such a great job renovating it and keeping it new. The place was buzzing. It\u2019s one of the best places in the country to watch a baseball game and be part of it. These are young players that don\u2019t know they can\u2019t do anything. It was great to see, and I just want to take a little brief moment here to congratulate \u2019em.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: One more observation about the Kansas City Royals and the American League Championship Series. I\u2019ve done something the past couple of weeks I haven\u2019t done in years, I have been watching baseball games on TV, and a realization hit me last night. It\u2019s the way it used to be. I didn\u2019t hear any talk of concussions.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t hear the play-by-play announcers or the color commentators lamenting sexual abuse. I didn\u2019t hear about whether some player had come out and was gay. I didn\u2019t hear about any cultural this or that. It was just baseball. It was nothing more than the sport of baseball. It was on television, it\u2019s what was talked about, and all of that sideshow stuff the media has dragged into football (and to a certain extent basketball) wasn\u2019t there. <\/line><\/p>\n

It was… Well, they\u2019re gonna frown on me for this word, but it was “pure,” and by “pure” I mean in the purest sense. It was almost a throwback. It was the way watching sports on TV used to be, long before the Sports Drive-Bys decided to go get political on everybody. It was really great. Something else I was reminded of: The Kansas City crowd is one of the best-looking crowds in baseball. Seriously. <\/p>\n

Look, I know I\u2019m biased here. I lived there for 10 years and I worked at that team for five years, but they\u2019re respectful of the other team, sportsmanship and all that, some clever signs. It was all good. It was great TV, it was great baseball, and it was exciting, and as I say: I haven\u2019t watched baseball in years. But I got the fever, and I think it\u2019s great. Again, I just wanted to take a brief moment to congratulate everybody. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s so great for everybody in the organization, because nobody gave \u2019em a chance to do anything. I mean, here\u2019s Buck Showalter. He\u2019s the manager of the Orioles, and he may as well be Bill Clinton. No, no, no, no. He may as well be <\/line>Obama in terms of his brilliance. “This is the smartest guy. This is the craftiest, the smartest guy.<\/line><\/p>\n

“Over here you got Ned Yost! A bumbling idiot, bunting, sacrificing, doesn\u2019t know how to manage, doesn\u2019t know how to do anything.” The sports media, even though they\u2019ve been purists here, just can\u2019t figure it out. Even today, it doesn\u2019t make sense to them, and you have to love that. So congratulations to everybody. The ground crew even did a great job. That place looked immaculate last night — well, the whole series, in fact. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Here\u2019s Sarah in Overland Park, Kansas City. Welcome. It\u2019s great to have you on the program, Sarah. Hi.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hello, Rush. I love you. You\u2019re the man.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I\u2019ve been trying to get through for years. I\u2019ve been a fan forever, my family, all of us. And of all the things for me to call about, I am so happy you mentioned the Kansas City Royals. I\u2019ve been waiting because I know about your connection, and I have to tell you, it\u2019s just amazing in this city right now. It\u2019s electric.<\/p>\n

RUSH: It\u2019s like it was, I\u2019ll bet, back in the late seventies, early eighties, mid-eighties, when the Royals owned the town and when the Royals defined even the self-esteem of the city. I mean, they owned it. Everybody, I mean, the city was totally united based on the Royals and their fortunes, and it was a great time. It was a great period in the city\u2019s history. And you\u2019re saying it\u2019s back now, huh?<\/p>\n

CALLER: You know, I was two years out of high school in \u201985, and I was a big fan, I\u2019ve always been a baseball fan. Politics and baseball are my two favorite things, besides my daughter. So I was away at college when they won it in \u201985. And, you know, baseball is just America. My family and I were at the game on Tuesday, the third game, and I\u2019ve never seen anything like it in person. People were singing, “God Bless America” with the singer in, what, seventh or eighth inning. Nobody knows the words to that song. It was just people were crying and taking off their caps and just so into it, and I think —<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: Sarah, hang on, hold your thought right there. I misread the clock when I took your call. I thought I had a minute more than I do. I\u2019ve gotta take a break, but don\u2019t hang up. Don\u2019t go anywhere.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Now, we return to Sarah in Overland Park, Kansas City. It\u2019s great to hear you talk about this because these are exactly my memories when I was there. It\u2019s the Midwest. It\u2019s the Heartland of America. You\u2019ve got decent people. I made the point, Sarah, watching these games on television it was so refreshing not to have to talk about concussions and not to have to hear about spousal abuse or suspensions or fines or, you know, whether some player came out and what does that mean, what\u2019s going on with the commissioner. <\/p>\n

It was just baseball. It was just the way it used to be. It\u2019s kind of like a throwback, in a way. And the games were good. It was all good. And those players, the players on that team are all solid looking kind of guys. Everybody has their vagaries and proclivities, but I can understand everybody getting behind the team. It makes total sense. It\u2019s the way it was last time the Royals were a dominant championship team.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. I agree with you, and that\u2019s just baseball to me, and, you know, I truly believe America is rooting for this team. They\u2019ve struggled for so long, and I think Dayton Moore is a genius. I think Ned Yost has managed this team very well. And I think they\u2019ve both been very patient, as has the owner of the Royals.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, okay, we\u2019ll grant patience. We\u2019ll chalk it up to patience.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, they\u2019re great players, and I think it\u2019s different than other teams, too. The Royals and the general manager want to hire players who really want to win. They have good character. They work hard. It\u2019s been a real struggle. They just have worked so hard.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, here\u2019s what\u2019s happened. I\u2019ll explain it to you in a nutshell. The Royals simply can\u2019t play players what the Yankees, the Angels, and other teams can. Well, they\u2019re a small market. I don\u2019t know the smallest, but they\u2019re a small market. They don\u2019t have local revenue like other teams do, and despite the revenue sharing tax, it doesn\u2019t even begin to make up for it. They have, however, a great scouting department. They sign young players.<\/p>\n

It is amazing the quality of the young players that have come up through the Kansas City system, and once they show their wares and they reach their free agency period, they\u2019re gobbled up by other teams, and the names are legion. Carlos Beltran is one. Johnny Damon is another. These were all Royals. And, in this case, what happened is this team gelled, while it\u2019s very young, this team came together why it\u2019s very young before anybody had a chance to test free agency and split. It really is amazing timing when you get down to it. <\/p>\n

There was something else that happened this year. Some fan, the Royals have a fan in South Korea that is absolutely a rabid fan and went through hell or high water to get there in Kansas City to watch a game. His story made the news and he ended up meeting some of the players, became a local celebrity while he was in town, and that almost coincides with the team\u2019s reversal of fortunes, not entirely, but they had so many great human interest stories this year. <\/line><\/p>\n

When I worked there, I\u2019ll just share with you a little thing here and then, Sarah, I have to move on. But when I worked there, you know, every year you hope you make the playoffs \u2019cause there\u2019s nothing better. The postseason is fun, the excitement, the place is packed, the town\u2019s buzzing, it\u2019s the best. During a season, you see things — I did. I saw plays, late-game heroics, home runs that made me think this is the season of destiny, turning an unlikely double play in the ninth inning in Texas, I\u2019ll never forget one of those. I got on the phone, when I still used the phone back then, and I said, “This is the year. This is our year. We\u2019re gonna make it. Did you see that play?”<\/p>\n

I saw so many of those things this season with the Royals, it made me say, even during the playoffs, that this team is destined. And, so far, it\u2019s proven out. So the World Series opens Tuesday night in Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium. The town is gonna be buzzing. There\u2019s no question about it. It\u2019s one of the best restaurant towns. It\u2019s one of the best dry cleaner towns. I mean, it\u2019s one of the best highway towns, best airport towns. It really is. So, Sarah, I\u2019m glad you\u2019re all jazzed about it. I\u2019m sure the whole town is. That\u2019s the great thing. I appreciate the call very much, and best of luck. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Please indulge me on this. This is somewhat personal to me. The Kansas City Royals, how about that, a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. Eight straight playoff wins, setting a Major League Baseball record. The extra-inning win over the Oakland A\u2019s. 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