Sometimes you can be right for the wrong reasons, and wrong for the right reasons, both at the same time.
Democrats and the news media jumped all over President Donald Trump this past Sunday for making still another geographical blunder — he’s made a bunch of ’em — by congratulating the Kansas City Chiefs, winners of Super Bowl LIV, as representing “the Great State of Kansas.”
Yes, it’s true, the Chiefs’ home field is Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MISSOURI (not Kansas), across the state line from Kansas City , KS.
But Trump was right that the Chiefs represent the NFL team’s single most-homogenous fan base in Kansas, while ignoring (wrong!) that an even larger chunk of fans lived to the east, in Missouri. And he was wrong for singling out Kansas when Missouri should have been included, but right that Kansas and its sports-starved population need some special love.
For instance, what does Trump’s word “represent”mean? Is it just the immediate legal geography surrounding the winner? OK, that’s K.C.M.O., as the natives say. But what about the broader population, representing ALL the populations likely to be Chief fans, which would include not only K.C.K. but also THE ENTIRE STATE OF KANSAS, plus western Missouri, southern Iowa, southeastern Nebraska, and northern Arkansas. There are real PEOPLE living in those locales — actually, millions. This is quintessential “flyover country” for the rest of the USA.
The predictable retort from national Republicans defending Trump was that the New York Giants actually play in the Meadowlands, NJ, across a lot of water from the Empire State. Would anyone congratulate the NFL Giants for winning the Super Bowl as representing the “Great State of New Jersey”?
Enough already. Here is what nobody is noticing — before the early 1950s, these people in the Midwest/Plains had no place to go if they wanted to feel engaged with the “Big Four” of professional sports (baseball/football/basketball/hockey), other than MLB’s St. Louis Cardinals.
But in 1955 the NBA’s Hawks moved from Milwaukee to St. Louis (remember Bob Pettit?), on the eastern side of the State of Missouri. In 1960 the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals did the same (the latter split for Atlanta in 1968). In 1963, the Dallas Texans of the old American Football League (remember that upstart?) also moved to Missouri, but to Kansas City (MO), renaming themselves the Chiefs, thus setting up an east-west rivalry across the state.
In 1971, the NBA’s Cincinnati Royals moved to Kansas City-Omaha (remember Tiny Archibald?), renaming themselves the Kings (Omaha was dropped in 1975), although they left for Sacramento, California, in 1985, never to return. For that matter, the NFL’s Cardinals deserted St. Louis in 1988 for Arizona, although St. Louis got another NFL franchise, the Rams in 1995. Remember “The Greatest Show on Turf” with Kurt Warner, winners of the Super Bowl two decades ago? Yes, the Rams forsook St. Louis in 2016, returning to their roots in Los Angeles. Along the way, however, St. Louis in the 1960s got a National Hockey League expansion franchise, the Blues, who are still in the Gateway City and are current holders of the Stanley Cup. And about the same time MLB brought baseball to KC with the Royals.
So, who are you going to root for? In Pennsylvania, is it the Philadelphia Phillies/Eagles/Flyers/76ers? Or is it the Pittsburgh Pirates/Steelers/Penguins? In Missouri, it’s the same thing — is it Cardinals/Blues and all the franchises in between? Or is it the Royals/Chiefs?
Of all these teams, the one with the longest unbroken tenure in the KC/MO-KC/KS metropolitan area is the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.
Yes. Missouri is a bigger population state than Kansas, but Missouri is DIVIDED geographically between its favorite sports teams, many of which have come and gone. Meanwhile, Kansas is UNITED behind KC, and its people have a number of surrounding states on THEIR side, more than St. Louis has with only sparsely-populated southwestern Illinois across the Mississippi River.
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You have just made my head spin around 6 times.
I went to school in SW Missouri (pronounced Miz-ZOO-ra) at a time when the only choices one had, other than one’s hometown (Chicago for me) was St. Louis. But, while there were different cultural groupings in that area, there was a certain homogeneity as well.
I loved the area and was happy that later they got their own sports teams. The best we could do was the Carthage and Joplin minor league teams.
Well Bill, you are fount of knowledge and trivia! You clearly gave me thought to than the author of the comment.
sorry…more thought
What Trump’s comment reveals is that he is ignorant of the fact that there is a Kansas City in Kansas and a Kansas City in Missouri. If he knew there was a Kansas City in each state, he would not have referred to Kansas, or he would have checked on where the Chiefs were based. By itself, insignificant. But added to his many other comments showing his ignorance, it just confirms what we already know, he is ignorant of the things a president should know.
Hmm….so a President should be keeping up on sports geography, and ignore what other topics? National Defense? Environmental Problems? Healthcare? Judicial Appointments? Foreign Policy? Crime? Illegal Immigration? The Economy? Take your pick. Trump has done more to stimulate the economy based on long-term badly needed reforms than any President since Reagan. And he has appointed Judges who actually apply the law as written, not who invent Opinions out of thin air based on whichever way the prevailing winds are blowing. (usually from the left)
His Supreme royal Highness is always RIGHt ? Just ask Mitt Romney
Gotta Praise Him Big Time!
Thank you for the interesting and fun read! One thing is for sure, Trump did not lose any votes in GOP Kansas, and his comment likely reflects the same knee-jerk response that would be elicited by most most Americans on the question of: “when you think of Kansas City, which state comes to mind?”. Trump’s gaffe is certainly no worse than Gary Johnson not knowing where or what Aleppo is, in my estimation.
Speaking of the “Wizard of Oz” reference, even that childhood classic is not innocently devoid of politics. Frank Baum’s novel (1900) was written in the aftermath of the 1896 famous McKinley-Bryan (he of the “cross of gold” fame) election. The yellow brick road is believed to refer to the gold standard, Ruby’s red sneakers in the 1939 film adaptation replaced the original “silver slippers”, and “Oz”,of course, is the abbreviation for “ounces”, whether the standard is gold or silver. In short, one can hardly divorce politics from anything, including seemingly ‘pure’ children’s stories. Pericles of Ancient Greece could not have been any more correct 25 centuries before: “you may not be interested in politics — but politics will always be interested in you”.