NEWS

Live like it's 1985, last time Royals went to World Series

Daniel P. Finney
dafinney@dmreg.com

The Kansas City Royals are in the World Series for the first time since 1985.

To give you an idea of how long ago that was, recording artist Lorde, who is 17 years old, wrote a song called "Royals" inspired by a National Geographic photo she saw of George Brett signing autographs in his jersey. Brett was the star third baseman of the Royals and 1985 World Series MVP — 11 years before Lorde was born.

As a public service to Lorde and other youths who might not remember the mid-80s as clearly as our more mature readers, here are nine ways you can learn everything you need to know about 1985.

1. Drink a Coke. Drop to your knees and thank your higher power of choice that it is not New Coke, a drink that briefly replaced Coke in 1985.

2. Find a yellow T-shirt. Cut three slits in the back of it. Then tear it off to Rick Derringer's "Hulk Hogan's Theme" (sometimes called "Real American") in honor of Wrestlemania, which debuted in 1985.

3. Hit the bookstores for collections of "Calvin and Hobbes," a beloved newspaper comic strip about a boy and his stuffed tiger that debuted in 1985.

4. Keep an eye out for commies. Eight major spies were captured in 1985, which some called the "Year of the Spy." Of course, in 2014, our own government does most of the spying on its citizens via the NSA.

5. Stop angry turtles en route to rescuing the princess in "Super Mario Bros.," the epic video game that came packaged with the Nintendo Entertainment System, which was first sold in the U.S. in 1985. Just don't blow on the connectors to try to get the game cartridge to work. The magazine Mental Floss proved that was actually bad. Sigh. All that wasted breath trying to get "Legend of Zelda" to play.

6. Put on a cassette of "We Are The World," the 1985 charity single that raised more than $63 million to help fight hunger in Africa. More than 50 musicians participated, including Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon and Cyndi Lauper.

7. Rent "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo," a crime thriller which stars Rooney Mara, who was born in 1985.

8. Binge watch "Murder, She Wrote," "Cheers," "Family Ties" and "The A-Team" — all Top 10 shows in 1985 and available for streaming on Netflix.

9. And finally, send a sympathy card to Cedar Falls native Don Denkinger. A major league umpire for 20 seasons, Denkinger blew a call at first base in Game 6 of the '85 World Series, calling safe a Royals runner who was shown to be out on replay. Many Cardinals fans attributed the mistake to the team's collapse in Game 7 and loss to the Royals. Sourpuss Cardinals fans, who delight in anointing themselves "the best fans in baseball," sent death threats and mean letters to Denkinger for two years after the Series.