Featured image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Sports are a huge part of the Kansas City atmosphere. KC Sports fans love to cheer on their favorite teams whenever they are given the opportunity and there are many to cheer on. There are teams from football to basketball to soccer to baseball including, the Kansas City Chiefs, University of Kansas Jayhawks, Sporting Kansas City, Kansas City Royals, and more. The Chiefs and the Jayhawks seasons have ended for the year, but worry not, Sporting KC and the Royals are just beginning their seasons.
Each season brings a new team for fans to cheer on. The Chiefs are the professional football team of Kansas City. In the 2016 season, the Chiefs were 12-4 (12 wins, 4 losses) and sat in first place in the AFC West Division. The Chiefs lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the divisional round of the playoffs, ending their season. The fans of the Chiefs were there every step of the way to cheer on Alex Smith, Tyreek Hill, Eric Berry, Coach Andy Reid, and the whole team through each game. The Chiefs’ 2017 season begins on Thursday Sep. 7 against the New England Patriots.
Once the football season concluded, the Jayhawks basketball season began. This season, the Jayhawks won the Big Twelve Regular Season Title for the 13th year in a row. The Jayhawks were given a number one seed in the NCAA basketball tournament and made it to the elite eight by beating UC Davis, Michigan State, and Purdue, but lost to Oregon on March 25, and were not able to move on to the final four. Junior Gabrielle Abrams is a fan of the Jayhawks and “had fun watching the team this season.” She is going to miss Senior Frank Mason next year but is looking “forward to seeing Udoka Azebuike return and Svi Mykhailiuk continue to step up as a guard next season.”
Although the Jayhawks season ended sooner than fans may have hoped, they were soon distracted by the Royals and Sporting KC. Sporting KC started their season on March 4th. So far this season, Sporting KC is undefeated with three wins and three draws. The Royals played spring training games throughout the month of March. Their regular season began on April 3 and their first home game, opening day, was on Monday April 10 at 3:15pm. Tamara Schuster, Director of Admissions, is looking forward to seeing “the core group (Lorenzo Cain, Mike “Moose” Moustakas, Eric “Hoz” Hosmer, Alcides “Esky” Escobar, Salvador “Salvy” Perez, Alex “Gordo” Gordon)” play together and is hoping “they can pull off a winning season before the core changes.”
Schuster adds that she is “looking forward to the long, leisurely pace– and hopeful nature — of the baseball season as a bit of a distraction from the current discord in our country.” Kansas City sports allow fans to get a break from other events going on and cheer on their favorite teams.
