In less than an hour, baseball fans from here will join
others from around the world, and we will be watching the best sports battle in
the history of mankind: Game 7 of a World Series. World Series, that word
should have new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be consumed by which
teams we thought were better in the regular season any more. (Even though I’m
still bitter that the Angels had the best record but got swept by the Royals).
We will be united in our common interest to have a great Game 7. Perhaps it’s
fate that today is 2 days before Halloween, and the Royals will be fighting the
playoff monster that is the San Francisco Giants playoff machine. Not from bad
pitching, bad luck, or lack of hitting, but from the failure to fulfill a
destiny. The Royals are fighting for their right to end the perfect playoff
season (they snuck into the playoffs and won the one-game playoff against
Oakland in dramatic come-from-behind fashion, swept the Angels and Orioles, and
were down 3-2 to SF in the WS) and should the Royals win the day, the 2014
baseball season will no longer be known as another season the Giants took it
home, but the day when the world declared in one voice, “We will not go quietly
into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to win. We’re
going to fulfill our destiny.” Today we celebrate the Kansas City Royals!
That speech almost directly taken from one of my favorite
movies ever, Independence Day. The Royals really are in the midst of a magical
playoff run, and this month has been filled with great Royal moments like Mike
Moutaskas finally looking like the great hitter he was supposed to be, Nori
Aoki making diving catches, Herrera-Davis-Holland shutting the door from the 7th
and beyond, and Jason Vargas walking towards first base thinking he had drawn a
walk despite it only being ball 3. Giants fans will disagree, but it’d be a
shame if the Royals did NOT win tonight. For me I like when the “best team wins”
and teams are rewarded for their efforts, but I like many other Americans this
month have been captivated by the Royals’ story. It’s a story that is better
than any baseball movie and captures the imagination of the audience so much
that it transcends the game itself into folklore, and no loyalty to baseball
purism and “justice” should prevail over the magic that are the Royals. It’s a
culmination of destiny, lucky bounces, and historical frustration, but the 2014
Playoffs deserved to be remembered for the great run that the Royals made. Viva
La Royals!
If the Royals are the perfect blend of luck, camaderie,
managing, and storytelling, I haven’t found the girl with the perfect blend of
everything yet. The older I get the more I realize that very few things in
movies ever apply to real life, but I haven’t had the “this girl is it” feeling
that romantic comedies so often depict. I often find good qualities in girls
that I date or admire from afar (nothing creepy, sigh, this is becoming a
common refrain), but no one has put it all together in that one package that
(dare I say) “magically” captivates me. I’ve met girls who are pretty athletic
(great quality for me), laugh at my jokes, express enthusiasm when they see me,
share my interests, show interest in me, and speak multiple languages, but no
one who has combined all those qualities to be the perfect for me, like a
Frankenstein-girl made specifically for Robert Yan. Am I asking for too much?
Maybe, but I just wish one day I could meet my Ruby Sparks (see 2013 blog post
or just google on the internet as to what I mean by this) and I can live
happily ever after. If the Royals can have such a magical ending, why can’t it?
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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