March 19, 2024

Blue is my October

The Pressbox

Excuse me for being Blue this month.

Yes, my Kansas City Royals are back in the playoffs. They opened an American League divisional playoff series at home against Houston Thursday. The Royals lost Game 1, but that’s alright. I wasn’t expecting the undefeated run through the American League playoffs they made last year to the World Series.

As a life-long and die-hard Kansas City Royals fan, I’m a little giddy for the second year in a row. It’s been a long time coming. I haven’t been able to experience this since the 1980s when the Royals were competing and winning AL Western Division championships, a couple of American League titles and going to a couple of World Series — winning in 1985.

Right now, we’ll see how the 2015 edition of the the Royals play as one of the favorites to reach the World Series. In 2014, the Royals were the upstarts and the underdogs. They went out and played baseball with abandon — nothing-to-lose attitudes — and advanced to the World Series.

Two wild card teams — the Royals and the San Francisco Giants — were in the 2014 World Series. They proved being a favorite is not always the golden ticket to the World Series.

In 2015, the Royals ran away from the AL Central Division field to win a divisional title. They struggled much of September, but had a large lead in the division. The Royals did win three against Minnesota at the end of the season to wrap up home-field advantage through the American League playoffs, as long as they are in them.

Houston’s Astros were up in the AL West then fell to be a wild card team and decked the New York Yankees Tuesday. The Astros were impressive against the Royals during the regular season.

Let’s go Royals!

What’s up with officiating in football games, especially college and in the NFL? Since the beginning of the season, we’ve had one or more instances where officials have had to apologize the next day for a blown call in games.

Being an official of any sport is not easy, but if you have made the commitment to officiate and get paid for it, please know the rules and keep track of what is going on on the field. Now, I’m the first to say some of the touchdown celebrations had gotten out of hand over the years, but maybe if officials — I include the college conference and NFL top officials in the central offices — weren’t so worried about football players celebrating a touchdown, they’d see some of the mistakes being made.

As a Big 8 follower for many years, I know it was 25 years ago of the infamous Fifth Down Game between Colorado and Missouri in 1990. Colorado turns out had an extra down on the deciding touchdown drive. No one really noticed until it was too late to fix — the football is snapped and play goes on and once the game is over, it’s over.

Communicate and watch each other.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com