Kansas City Chiefs, Royals And Wizards

In the whole scheme of things, it's a very small thing, but when bloggers or posters on the forum call Kansas City teams simply 'Kansas', it's annoying!

I guess it comes from the fact that the 'City' suffix can be dropped when discussing several English football teams. Nothing is lost when Birmingham, Stoke, Hull, Cardiff, Coventry, Leicester, Swansea, Norwich, Exeter, Bradford, Lincoln, Chester, Salisbury or York are referred to without the City suffix, although the Bristol and Manchester teams need the suffix to differentiate them from other 'same city' teams.

In Scotland, there's a good argument that the 'City' SHOULD be dropped from Brechin and Elgin since neither town is in fact a city, but that's a different topic.

In the United States, Kansas is a state, and Kansas City is a city. That is it's name. Most of Kansas City isn't even in Kansas, but Missouri, so it's not just wrong to call it Kansas, it's also misleading.

West Bromwich Albion are not West or West Albion. Sutton Codlfield Town are not Sutton or Sutton Town. Milton Keynes Dons are not Milton or Milton Dons.

Hence the baseball team is the Kansas City Royals (never Kansas Royals or Kansas) and in the NFL, they are the Kansas City Chiefs (never Kansas Chiefs or Kansas). The soccer team there are called the Kansas City Wizards (admittedly embarrassing, but perhaps slightly better than the original Kansas City Wiz).

There are other places called Kansas in Alabama, Illinois, Ohio and Oklahoma.

Kansas is a college team from the state, but is not located in Kansas City. Kansas is also the name of a 1970s rock band.

While on the subject of incorrect names, I was speaking to the Betfair help desk the other day because they had wrongly settled a St Louis Cardinals result. The very helpful girl pulled up the details, looked at recent settlements, and asked if this was "the St Louis Cardigans game".

So now you know - It's Kansas City (all one name) and to those who persist in making the error of dropping the City, I say carry on wayward son.