Why Winning the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Matters

I like to write letters, emails, blogs, and lots of other literary things so yesterday, as I basked in the glow of Sporting Kansas City winning the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup, I wrote a letter Soren Petro and Kevin Kietzman of Sports Radio 810 WHB. Soren had posed the question of what does winning the US Cup mean. I thought I should tell them. 

Hello Mr. Petro & Mr. Kietzman, 

Today on Petro's show he asked, "what does winning the US Cup mean?" That is a great question. In the soccer world it does mean something in regards to getting to play in the CONCACAF Champions League. That is a big deal in terms of measuring yourself against the best clubs in North and Central America. If being "world champions" is the highest achievement in sport than I would argue that winning that tournament is even bigger than the MLS Cup. Regardless, I don't think that is really why it is meaningful. 

Personally, I am not a big fan of pro football, pro basketball, or pro baseball but I do love the college versions of those sports. Why? Because they do it for the love of the game or at least 95% of them who won't play in the pros do it for the love of the game. Why do so many people love Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Pete Rose, etc, etc, because in your heart you believe that even if they weren't playing for money they would die if they lost. They just want to win because they LOVE the game.The reason I'm turned off by professional sports is because I think they play the game because it's a job and not for the love. That may be wrong, but they are playing a GAME. I mean I would love to play a game to make a living. So you would think if you are playing a game regardless of the level you would LOVE it. My perception is that many pros don't LOVE it and my perception is my reality. 

Last night, I was in the Cauldron for nearly six hours, singing and dancing, with my wife and two young girls (7 & 4 years old, don't judge me on what they hear we are their parents and it's our job to explain and parent them the best I can and this is another discussion entirely and I don't want to digress to far) it was one of the most amazing sporting experience of my life. The SportingKC players are accessible, we have met them at events and got autographs, we get responses to them when we message them on Facebook and Twitter, they post messages about how excited they are before they go out and PLAY. At this point many of them make $100K to $500K now, so they are getting paid very well but not so much that it completely removes them from the "real" world. They come over to the Cauldron after every game and clap for US, win or lose. You see the pain and joy in their faces and it's real. 

I have attached a picture of my oldest last night after WE won the Cup. She was in heaven. Those are tears of joy. She was so excited. The players came over, some were crying, CRYING because they won, grown men behind me were crying because WE won. The players, owners, sales dudes, security guards (which by the way we know their names) players families, ball boys, ushers, cops, food service, all feel like they are PART of it. That somehow they had a hand in it. The management of the club writes letters to the fans telling them that they want to win this for you. 

This win has meaning because when those 18,000 people left last night a large part of them felt like they were part of something special, something that has been lacking in the sports/entertainment here in Kansas City. It has meaning because like you said Mr. Petro, the owners said they were going to do it and did everything they could to make it happen. It meaningful because we feel like we have an actual partnership with them. The ownership recognizes the fact that we pay good money and spend loads of time, that we could spend on other avenues and in return they bust their ass to make it happen. Do you think Mr. Hunt or Mr. Glass really cares about winning or losing or making money? I'm sure they care about winning but I'm sure they care a whole heck of a lot more about making money. Believe I'm no Polly Anna and am not foolish enough to think that Mr. Patterson or Mr. Illig aren't interested in making money, they are businessmen and this is a business but they seem to care about winning and that's meaningful. 

I asked my daughter why she was so excited, she said it's because WE won. She said it was the best day of her life. As a Dad, and both of you are, when your kid tells you that you just had a hand in making the best day of their life, even if she's only seven, that has a ton of meaning to me and they just made a season ticket holder for life and that means something to Sporting. 

I've never called in but I listen everyday. You both do a tremendous job at a very difficult job and I want to say thanks for talking about soccer more this year than ever before.

 

That my friends is what it's all about. 

One Daring Act Today - A New Habit

"Do every day or two something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test." William James "Habit".

My daughter Ruby and I were reading a book two nights ago called, If You're So Smart, How Come You Can't Spell Mississippi? by Barbara Esham. It's a fantastic book and we really enjoyed it. In the book it references the above quote. The author takes some liberty with the quote so it's a bit easier for a six year old to understand but the message remains the same. This led to a pretty fantastic conversation between my daughter and I and it also led us to starting a new habit ourselves. We both are going to try to do something difficult everyday and then report back to each other at dinner.

Yesterday, we tried our first go at this and it was a fantastic. I want to do my best to relay exactly how the conversation went.

"So Ruby did you do anything hard today?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"What was it?"

"I ran in the back yard as fast as I could and didn't step on any dog poop," she said being completely serious. Then she added, "and that was really hard because there is a lot of poop out there."

Wow, owned by my six year old. She later told me I really need to pick the poop up. We are both really excited about this new thing we can share together and in a round about way she is making herself ready for when the going does get tough.