The Brew House

I wrote about this on Facebook the other day. But that just didn’t seem sufficient.

On Friday afternoon, the Royals played the Cleveland Indians at Kauffman Stadium in their 2012 home opener. There was a flyover, and pageantry, and one of those big, damn American flags. The Royals — as they are wont to do — got blitzed 8-3.

But here’s the moment, the scene that sparked the Facebook post (the scene that is tempting me to write a 25,000 word screenplay): Al Borland showed up at Kauffman Stadium to sing “God Bless America.”

It led to the natural question: Why in the hell is Al from Home Improvement at Kauffman Stadium? In Kansas City? On opening day? Does he know Royals manager Ned Yost?*

*Ned is hunting buddies with Jeff Foxworthy. And maybe Foxworthy and Al (Richard Karn) run in the same (90s sit-com) circle.

But, seriously, why?

OK. So, this was sort of awesome.

Or… it was until I realized that Al was in town to perform at The New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park. But here’s the thing: If you’re from Kansas City, this makes the story even better. Al from Home Improvement is playing the lead in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” And this is SOOOO… Kansas City.

We live in a town where every single C-list former sit-com actor shows up to perform at a dinner theatre in a suburban strip mall. And this all seems totally normal. We live in a town where there’s a place called the NEW Theatre Restaurant — and it opened more than 20 years ago. And then it hit me:  A washed-up sitcom actor singing “God Bless America” at The K as the Royals got blown out?

Yep, this might have been the most “Kansas City” moment in history.