With the advent of the St. Louis Cardinals-Kansas City Royals series this weekend, the battle of the hearts and minds of Missourians begins. This is kind of like the Civil War skirmishes on the border of the two states but updated for the 21st century. In other words, there is no love lost between the two states and the two municipalities have stark and deep-rooted differences in terms of culture and worldview, but the fight is no longer waged with guns and border raids, but in vicious slander and libel broadcast in print and over the internet.
About half of Kansas City and all of St. Louis sit in the Show Me State, the state of Missouri, the 18th most populous state in the Union. The St. Louis metro area has an edge in population at 2.8 million to Kansas City's 2 million, although the gap is not that large, and even less if you include Lawrence, Topeka and St. Joseph in Kansas City's metro. Both are midwestern cities with midwestern sensibilities - outdoorsy, socially conservative in general, skeptical of the intentions of more liberal coastal states. In turn, both also have a bit of a chip on the shoulder - St. Louisians have an inferiority complex to Chicago, Kansas Citians have an inferiority complex to everyone.
Both stand as the home of distinctly American culinary traditions - toasted ravioli and St. Louis-style pizza in St. Louis, and slow cooked barbecue in Kansas City. Both have proud, rich baseball traditions - St. Louis as the home to the second most successful franchise in MLB history, Kansas City as the home to the most successful franchise in Negro League history, one of the most successful minor league teams in history, and one of the most successful expansion MLB teams in history. And hey, they've treated one of Missouri's own - Albert Pujols - with tremendous hospitality over the year (although we'll see if that changes next year when he signs with his hometown Royals).
So why the animosity? These are two teams that play in separate leagues that meet up only twice a year. I prefer to see us not as rivals, but as brothers who spar once in awhile, but ultimately belong to the same crazy family with XXX signs along I-70, wonderfully liberal alcohol and fireworks laws and a step-brother named Springfield they're both a bit embarrassed by.
Anyways, sticking with the baseball theme the trailer for the upcoming film Moneyball starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Robin Wright has been released. For those of you who have not read the book by Michael Lewis, you should. You don't have to be a baseball fan to appreciate the story. Nadia, you can just borrow my copy.
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