Brew: Royals wasting ‘our time’ with slogan
- Apr. 19, 2012
- 0 Comments
Since it was first utterance by team management, one phrase has haunted Royals fans across the country. This phrase, shown during commercial breaks of virtually every game this season, has turned into a national joke and a rallying cry for general manager Dayton Moore’s non-believers.
“Our Time.”
A team with one winning season since 1994 and no playoff appearances since 1985 has the audacity to run a marketing campaign with the slogan “Our Time.” The same team that, today, is known less for George Brett and more for Ken Harvey meeting the tarp, Chip Ambres’ dropped popup, Ken Harvey’s back meeting a ball thrown to home plate, 19 straight losses in 2005 and Ken Harvey’s fist meeting Jason Grimsley’s face.
And as the losses pile up, only one question remains for the long-time fans of this snake-bitten organization: what else could have happened?
Honestly, if there are baseball gods, the Royals organization is proof that they have a sense of humor. The Royals have now lost seven straight, beginning with a back-to-back hit-by-pitch walk-off against Oakland and including six consecutive losses at home to start the season. No Royals team in history has ever done that.
And so, naturally, the “Our Time” catchphrase has evolved into a sarcastic, back-handed hashtag on Twitter. Drew Smyly shuts down your team’s offense? #OurTime. Prince Fielder steals a base off your team’s defense-first catcher? #OurTime. Your team has as many benches-clearing confrontations as wins by April 20? #OurTime.
Cleveland Indians closer Chris Perez, whose squad swept the Royals last weekend, seemed to be motivated by the “Our Time” nonsense after his team’s second of three victories.
“Huge team win tonight,” Perez wrote on his Twitter account, @ChrisPerez54, “time for a sweep to tell the Royals it’s not ‘Our Time,’ it’s #TribeTime.”
You know you’ve hit a new low when Cleveland is talking smack.
“Our Time” has received so much scrutiny that on Monday, #AlternateRoyalsSlogans was trending nationally on Twitter. And while even the most cynical fans did not predict a seven-game losing streak by April 18, the question remains: who in the Royals marketing department couldn’t have seen this coming?
The team’s fourth starter, Luis Mendoza, is prospect roadkill. New closer Jonathan Broxton’s ERA last season was almost as rotund as he is. The team has started two former Houston Astros backups in its last two games.
The organization demoted promising rookie second baseman Johnny Giavotella for defensive purposes, opting to go with a platoon of Chris Getz and Yuniesky Betancourt at the position instead.
Yuniesky Betancourt. Defensive purposes. Let that sink in for a second.
Yes, the season is still young, as are most of the key players. It would take an extraordinary failure for the Royals to reach my pessimistic preseason prediction of 100 losses. But the “Our Time” slogan has already made the team and its fans look delusional and undeservedly braggadocios.
Now it’s “time” for Royals fans to put this expectation-inflating nightmare slogan where it belongs: in the deepest, darkest corner of their minds, alongside Gil Meche’s 132-pitch game, Juan Gonzalez’s contract and Ken Harvey’s token All-Star Game appearance.
Edited by Corinne Westeman
