A unique brand of frustrating

All teams frustrate their fans. It’s a vital part of sports.

The Chiefs just won back-to-back Super Bowls with a lot fans in a full on panic most of last season.

There are teams who get a notorious label for certain kinds of losing. For instance, you have the teams that are always great, but they just can’t quite win the big one. Think Buffalo Bills.

Other teams are always terrible and simply aren’t allowed to have nice things. Like the New York Jets.

Some teams are known to build you up with hope and optimism, only to tear it all away just when you could taste the glory. These are your Tottenham Hotspurs of the world.

But Sporting KC have found their own unique brand of frustrating.

They are regularly good! SKC can compete with anyone. They will even show you how they can be GREAT. They’ll tease you with foreplay when they’re brilliant and dominant. But a few minutes later, they’ll give you a reason to think they’re terrible.

It’s not just that Sporting KC are hot and cold one game to the next. They are often both good and bad in the same game.

In the first half against the Portland Timbers, and much of the season, the backline was exceptional. I’ve lost track of the number of goals called back this year because the tight line from the defense pulled them off. That’s not lucky. That’s purposeful.

But then apparently a flip gets switched and the other team scores with such ease you wonder how they haven’t done it ten times already.

SKC have only lost one game this season! The world is not ending. They can move to the top of the table with a very short hot streak.

At the same time, every other result this season, they were in a position to win (except for 0-0 draw vs LAFC). That’s nine dropped points so far!

Reading the comments around the internet from SKC fans, you can feel the pain. This is a brutal result. The team isn’t nearly as bad as the pain some of these losses caused, but you can understand the frustration.

The latest episode of Shades of Blue covers what went wrong in Sporting KC’s 3-3 draw with the Timbers, and Peter Vermes’ comments after the game. We have a long conversation about the two strikers. There’s Something About Willy. He bagged a brace but missed the PK which turned around the entire match.

From this episode:

• KC Star: Royals’ and Chiefs’ ‘vote yes’ tax campaign is headed by former Ron DeSantis strategist
• Was Voloder off on the third goal?

Find the KC Soccer Journal wherever you get your podcasts. Please subscribe, rate, & review! Feel free to yell at Cody @ThatCodyTho, Thad @TheBackpost, and Robert @SpKCLife.

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