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I’m Going to Kansas City

Posted By ChiefsWarpath.com On July 13, 2012 @ 1:31 pm In Commentary | Comments Disabled

“I’m going to Kansas City. Kansas City here I come. They got some pretty little women there, and I’m going to get me one!” That’s a verse from the hit song called “Kansas City,” originally sung by Wilbert Harrison in 1959. The song has been re-made over 300 times by various artists and has been blaring all week in and around the heart of America, the birthplace of the Negro Baseball League, Kansas City, Missouri.

Kansas City was the site of the 83rd Major League Baseball All-Star game on Tuesday evening, as the nation witnessed the National League shut out the American League 8-0. Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals, was on display for the entire world to see. The last time that the world witnessed a shut out in a MLB All-Star game was in 1996 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, where the National league again beat the American League, but this time by a score of 6-0. Tuesday nights’ victory was the third consecutive All-Star victory for the National League.

18th street and Vine, the ground zero of the Negro Baseball League, is where the Paseo YMCA is located. It was originally opened in 1914, and is associated with names such as Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, and the famous John “Buck” O’Neil. But, more than just the Negro League portion of American baseball history was acknowledged on Tuesday night, but all of the baseball ménage was acknowledged. For instance, fans witnessed some of major league baseball’s greatest players closing out the end of their careers, as well as witness the future of baseball in the embryonic stages of their careers. Some of those participants at the end of their careers were National League manager and three-time World Series Champion (as a manager), Tony Larussa, eight-time All-Star and World Series Champion, Chipper Jones, and thirteen-time All-Star and Hall of Famer, George Brett to name a few. The future of the MLB includes some youngsters such as Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout, the Washington Nationals’ Bryce Harper, the Chicago Cubs’ Starlin Castro, and the Texas Rangers’ Elvis Andrus. While George Brett was wearing his huge 1985 World Series ring and schooling the youngsters in between innings, Chipper Jones was poised for retirement, and taking in all of the sights and sounds of the final season of his illustrious 19 year career. For Brett, he was merely serving as the ambassador of the city in which he had played for 20 years, and spearheaded the city’s only major league championship back in 1985.

A couple of nights prior to the game, the MLB had a “Legends & Celebrity” softball game in which the Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback, Matt Cassel, threw out the first pitch, and the crowd booed Cassel every time the announcer mentioned his name. On Tuesday, the exact same scene was duplicated for Yankees outfielder, Robinson Cano, who was also booed constantly because he rejected the selection of the Royals designated hitter, Billy Butler, as a member of the American League home run derby team. Nonetheless, the city played an excellent host to the fans, who are generally polite to most people, regardless of the fact that the American League was awarded a goose egg.

While we still have two weeks to go before training camps around the league officially open, and MLB’s All-Star game was being played, the aroma around Kansas City still had a football smell to it. With two weeks to go, and still no Bowe. The Chiefs star wide receiver, Dwayne Bowe, still hasn’t signed a contract yet; however the team still has until July 16th to convince the former LSU standout to sign a long-term deal. If that doesn’t happen then Bowe will have to play the 2012 season for his $9.6 million tender. The Chiefs are still $16.5 million under the salary cap, so money is not an obstruction for the team to get Bowe to sign a deal. Despite this situation’s abstruseness, Chiefs’ fans still eagerly anticipate a resolution.

Accompanying the mysticism surrounding Bowe’s contract negotiations, there was some quaint chatter that occurred last week on the social media network, Twitter. It began when a Miami Dolphins’ defensive back named, Vontae Davis, tweeted, “@ochocinco we gotta fly to KC to get @dwaynebowe82 he said he wanna bring his talents to South Beach.” Davis, who again tweeted hours later, “@dwaynebowe82 come to Miami @ochocinco just called me and said he will fly up to help you pack.”

Then, surprisingly, Dwayne Bowe tweeted back, “#omw,” which supposedly means “on my way.” Although these tweets have since been deleted, they were available long enough for them to cause quite a stir inside of Chiefs Nation.

These tweets and a cacophony of other sounds from around the AFC West division have made lots of noise in recent weeks. Beginning with the former Oakland Raider, Anthony Wayne Smith, who has recently been charged with four different murders in California. The next noise sounded came from the San Diego Chargers, who solicited Chiefs fans in the Bronx, New York to purchase tickets for their November 1st match-up at home.

The Chiefs training camp will open on July 27th and run through August 16th at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri.

From August 6th to August 9th the Chiefs will practice against the Arizona Cardinals, who they will face off against in their first preseason game on August 10th at Arrowhead Stadium.


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