It’s been 23 years. 23 years since the Royals won the World Series. 23 years since we had something to cheer about here in Kansas City. Until now.

Carl Peterson was fired. (He DID NOT resign, friends.)

I live in L.A. now and don’t spend much time in KC anymore, but I just happen to be in town today, and I can tell you that sports fans will be celebrating Peterson’s demise here for some time. As an example, I turned on a local Kansas City radio station today and they were playing “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” after the announcement of Peterson’s ouster.

Yes, it was that bad. You have noooo idea. 

I covered the team myself in the early 2000s for two radio stations, and got to know intimately Peterson’s insufferable arrogance and incompetence. Qualities that made the Chiefs organization a complete embarrassment around the city. But so long as the stands were full and the Chiefs were competitive every couple years, Peterson got a pass from Lamar Hunt.

When Hunt’s son Clark took over the team, thankfully Peterson could no longer pass off his “rebuilding” rhetoric on the organization and fans. (Yeah, just like the Dolphins, eh Carl?)

Clark apparently understands that because of the short shelf-life of players and free agency, there’s no such thing as rebuilding in the NFL. The people you have running your team can either do the job or they can’t. But in the case of KC, Emperor Peterson was the ultimate confidence man, and hoodwinked the elder Hunt for two decades.

How bad did it get? I was rooting like crazy for the Chargers yesterday and high-fived my buddies at a KC sports bar when the Chiefs self-destructed. That reax was all about wanting Peterson gone, and I have no doubt that yesterday’s game was the final straw with ownership (though denied today by the owner).

Right now I’m looking out of my Kansas City hotel room window and it’s overcast and 10 degrees.

Yes, it’s a beautiful day in KC.