KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Hundreds of cars lined up at the gates to the Truman Sports Complex early Monday afternoon, nearly seven hours before the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs were to play the New Orleans Saints at Arrowhead Stadium.
Many of those cars will probably be back Wednesday, when the Royals play the Yankees in their AL Division Series.
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Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes waits to be interviewed following an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. The Chiefs won 26-13. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes heads off the field following an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. The Chiefs won 26-13. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
The Kansas City Royals celebrate after defeating the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the American League baseball playoff series, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Kansas City Royals' Salvador Perez (13) reacts after hitting a solo home run against the New York Yankees during the fourth inning of Game 2 of the American League baseball playoff series, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Kansas City Royals' Salvador Perez speaks during a news conference before a Game 2 baseball game against the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series, Monday, Oct 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
In the meantime, thousands of Chiefs fans dressed in red who showed up early to tailgate also had blue on their minds with both of their major pro sports teams in action. The Royals, who lost Game 1 to the Yankees on Saturday night, were trying to even the series in New York with the first pitch scheduled for about an hour before the Chiefs played the Saints.
“I wish the best to the Chiefs tonight that they can win the game,” Royals catcher Salvador Perez said before first pitch in the Bronx. “For us, too. I think it's a city of champions; that's how they call Kansas City.”
It turned out to be a winning night all around. The Royals beat the Yankees 4-2 shortly before the Chiefs polished off a 26-13 victory over the Saints, moving them to 5-0 heading into their bye week.
"My hat goes off to Matt and the job he did with that crew getting a playoff win against a pretty good Yankees team,” said Chiefs coach Andy Reid, a huge baseball fan who sold peanuts at Dodger Stadium in his younger days. “Impressive.”
Kansas City's sports fans have been living a charmed life for the better part of the last decade.
Sporting Kansas City won the MLS Cup in 2013 to begin the title tide, but it really picked up pace when the long-suffering Royals — who play about 200 yards away from Arrowhead Stadium at neighboring Kauffman Stadium — won back-to-back AL pennants in 2014 and '15, and captured their first World Series title in 30 years by beating the New York Mets.
Then came the Chiefs, who had not hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in five decades before Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes led them past the 49ers in 2020. Now, the latest NFL dynasty has won two straight championships and three of the past five, and have a chance to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls this season.
“I can say from my perspective, once we moved to Kansas City, I've never seen anything like it,” said Royals manager Matt Quatraro, who took over last season after coaching the Rays. “The support for the Chiefs last year — phenomenal. You're in your neighborhood and they score a touchdown, you hear cannons going off. Parties every weekend when they're playing.”
When you combine the Royals and Chiefs, the city has won four championships in the four major sports in the last decade. By comparison, New York has not won any between the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Jets, Rangers, Islanders, Knicks and Nets.
In fact, New York hasn't won a title across the major sports leagues since 2011, when the Giants won the Super Bowl.
You can bet Kansas City fans are reveling in the success, too. They regularly turn out hours before kickoff for Chiefs games for arguably the best tailgating scene in the NFL, while the jerseys of Perez and Royals superstar Bobby Witt Jr. have started to fly off shelves as the club went from a 106-loss laughingstock a year ago to a playoff team this season.
“What a great job they’ve done to this point, and I know they’re fired up to keep on going,” Reid said. “I know we’re all glad to have them coming back here and having another chance to see them play.”
The success has made the Truman Sports Complex, just east of downtown Kansas City along Interstate 70 in an area that hardly could be considered bustling, the place to be whenever either of the teams is playing at home.
“I think the setup we have there is very unique with both stadiums side-by-side,” Quatraro said. “I'm excited for (the Chiefs). It's a great time to be there, and the community supports both teams. You can feel it just walking down the street, you can see more Royals fans out in front of people's houses. It's a lot of fun.”
For many years, the two franchises seemed to want little to do with each other. But as both rose to prominence, Royals players became frequent visitors to Arrowhead Stadium and vice versa.
The bond was strengthened when Mahomes — whose father was a big league ballplayer — bought a share of the Royals.
He's been keeping close tabs on the team, by the way, building a tight relationship with Witt over the past couple of years. And regardless of what happens Monday night, Mahomes sounds as if he's planning to be there for Game 3 on Wednesday — maybe even Game 4 on Thursday, if the series comes to that — despite the Chiefs having next week off.
“I've heard all the stories of how awesome the environment was the last time they were in the playoffs, and they're going up against a great baseball team in the Yankees,” Mahomes said. “They're hungry and playing great baseball right now, and then to be at the K — a sold-out crowd hopefully, and I get to see that October baseball there, it's going to be special.”
AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes waits to be interviewed following an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. The Chiefs won 26-13. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes heads off the field following an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. The Chiefs won 26-13. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
The Kansas City Royals celebrate after defeating the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the American League baseball playoff series, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Kansas City Royals' Salvador Perez (13) reacts after hitting a solo home run against the New York Yankees during the fourth inning of Game 2 of the American League baseball playoff series, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Kansas City Royals' Salvador Perez speaks during a news conference before a Game 2 baseball game against the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series, Monday, Oct 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
NEW YORK (AP) — Commemorations and protests unfolded across the world on Monday to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, an assault that sparked a war that has devastated the Hamas-ruled Gaza strip, fueled bloodshed in other Mideast lands and stirred protests and divisions far away.
Those divisions were visible in New York, where a crowd gathered for an evening remembrance ceremony in Central Park even as pro-Palestinian protesters converged on a corner of the park less than a mile away.
Hamas militants' surprise cross-border attack last year killed about 1,200 people. Another 250 were taken hostage; around 100 remain in captivity, with many of them feared dead. The attack, on a major Jewish holiday, shattered Israelis’ sense of security and left the world facing the prospect of a major conflict in the Middle East.
“The unfathomable horrors I experienced that morning have transformed me, along with every single Israeli and every single Jew,” Natalie Sanandaji, a survivor from a music festival where the attackers killed hundreds, told the audience in Central Park.
Israel responded to the Oct. 7 attack by waging a war against Hamas in Gaza, where the fighting has killed over 41,000 people and displaced around 1.9 million. The conflict has spread in the region, where Israel also is fighting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, facing escalating threats from Yemen's Houthi rebels and contending with a mounting conflict with Iran, which backs Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
In New York, protesters spread a large Palestinian flag on a street near the New York Stock Exchange early Monday afternoon, while a smaller group of counterprotesters held an Israeli flag. The pro-Palestinian group grew to a blocks-long column as it marched through Manhattan streets, at one point holding a banner that read “war begets war” on the steps of the New York Public Library.
Associated Press journalists saw several people being taken into police custody at various points in the march. Police said multiple arrests were made; no further information was immediately available.
While the protesters paused to conduct a Muslim evening prayer at the southwestern corner of Central Park, the parents of American-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra shared their anguish from the park's SummerStage venue.
“We would never have imagined we would still be standing here a whole year later, with no news of him," his mother, Orna Neutra, told hundreds of people at an event that drew New York’s governor, mayor, U.S. senators and other elected officials. Her son, a New York-born Israeli soldier, turns 23 next week.
At Philadelphia's Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, a New Jersey high school group viewed an exhibition about the Tribe of Nova music festival in Re’im, Israel, where over 360 people were killed.
“I feel like that really could have been me there,” said student Ellie Solomon. Many festivalgoers were close to her age, she noted.
“It’s important for us to remember them and honor them because they didn’t deserve anything that happened to them," she added.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, also toured the exhibition and emerged hoping that it gave people “an understanding of what really happened" and made them more tolerant “and more committed to finding peace in our society and peace across the globe.”
In an echo of campus protests across the U.S. last spring, activists gathered again at colleges Monday. About 200 pro-Palestinian protesters chanted and held banners and flags at the University of California, Los Angeles, while a few other demonstrators held Israeli flags.
Six months after counterprotesters attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA, some people wore helmets to Monday's demonstration in case of violence. The protest was peaceful.
Hundreds of members of the Argentine Jewish community, the largest in Latin America, held a ceremony in Buenos Aires in memory of the victims of the Oct. 7 attack. A similar ceremony took place in Santiago, Chile.
Others took part in protests in support of the Palestinians in Lima, Peru; Bogota, Colombia and Mexico City, demanding an end to the conflict.
In Europe, where countries have sought to tamp down antisemitic and anti-Muslim sentiment, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Hamburg that “we stand beside” Israelis, and he also pointed to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
The chancellery in Berlin was adorned with a yellow ribbon commemorating Israeli hostages, and the names of people killed and kidnapped were read out at the Brandenburg Gate.
French President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris with relatives of hostages and of the dead. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot attended a memorial service at the Nova festival site.
The Vatican took up a collection for the people of Gaza and published a letter expressing Pope Francis' solidarity.
In the Polish capital of Warsaw, the Jewish community paid tribute to Alex Dancyg, a Polish-born Holocaust educator who was abducted from the Nir Oz kibbutz on Oct. 7. Israel believes he died in captivity.
In Australia, thousands of people attended vigils in Sydney and Melbourne, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joining the latter event. A day after thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied across Australia's cities, hundreds gathered amid a heavy police presence at Sydney town hall to remember Palestinians killed in the conflict.
In Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, schoolchildren took part in a pro-Palestinian rally organized by the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League party.
Vejpongsa reported from Philadelphia and Spike from Budapest, Hungary. Contributing were Associated Press journalists Jennifer Peltz, John Minchillo and Ted Shaffrey in New York, Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Diane Jeantet in Paris, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw and Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march in support of the Palestinians, in Lima, Peru, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
A pro-Palestinian demonstrator holds a sign that reads in Spanish, "Freedom for Palestine, from the river to the sea," during a march in Lima, Peru, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Guadalupe Pardo)
A woman shouts slogans with a painting of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in front of the Lebanese Embassy during a pro-Palestinian rally in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - People take part in a pro-Palestinian rally in Berlin, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Activist Greta Thunberg, left, attends a pro-Palestinian rally in Berlin, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Attendees march during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the anniversary of a Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza, in Montreal, Canada, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
Police watch as attendees march near McGill University campus during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the anniversary of a Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza, in Montreal, Canada, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
People take part in a pro-Palestinian rally in Berlin, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Pro-Palestinian protesters spread a Palestinian flag while demonstrating outside City Hall, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate outside City Hall, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Pro-Palestinian Orthodox Jews demonstrate during a protest, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
People cross a bridge with the date 7.10, marking the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A woman views photos of Palestinian victims who were killed during the Israel war against Hamas, at a photo exhibition, (Gaza Habibti), Gaza my love, to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the war in the Gaza Strip, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Thousands of Houthi supporters raise Hezbollah flags and posters of late leader Hassan Nasrallah during a rally to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the war in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
An activist holds a picture of the hostage during a commemoration to mark the one-year anniversary of the Israel Hamas war in Madrid, Spain, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
The Brandenburg Gate is illuminated in solidarity with Israel, marking the first anniversary of the Hamas spearheaded attacks on Israel, in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
The Brandenburg Gate is illuminated in solidarity with Israel, marking the first anniversary of the Hamas spearheaded attacks on Israel, in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
The Brandenburg Gate is illuminated in solidarity with Israel, marking the first anniversary of the Hamas spearheaded attacks on Israel, in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Attendees react during a pro-Palestinian demonstration on the anniversary of a Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza in front of Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)
People hold pictures of hostages as they attend a pro-Israel vigil on the anniversary of a Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza in front of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP)
People light 1200 candles in front of the synagogue in Duesseldorf, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, marking the first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
The Brandenburg Gate is illuminated with the flag of Israel in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, to mark the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)
Yuval Danzig, right, the son of a Polish-Israeli man kidnapped and killed by Hamas, helps to unveil a plaque honoring his father, Alex Dancyg, in the Jewish cemetery on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack, in Warsaw, Poland, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Yuval Danzig, left, the son of a Polish-Israeli man kidnapped and killed by Hamas, and Poland's chief rabbi Michael Schudrich unveil a plaque honoring his father, Alex Dancyg, in the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, Poland, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Yuval Danzig, right, the son of a Polish-Israeli man kidnapped and killed by Hamas, helps to unveil a plaque honoring his father, Alex Dancyg, in the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, Poland, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
A wreath is brought to a plaque honoring Alex Dancyg, a Polish-Israeli man who was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and later killed, in Warsaw's Jewish cemetery on the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack, in Warsaw, Poland, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
School children take part in a rally organized by Pakistan Markazi Muslim League party, to protest against Israeli airstrikes and to show solidarity with Palestinian people living in Gaza and Lebanon, in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
School children take part in a rally organized by Pakistan Markazi Muslim League party, to protest against Israeli airstrikes and to show solidarity with Palestinian people living in Gaza and Lebanon, in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Members of the Jewish community gather at a park in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, as mourners marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Members of the Jewish community wave electronic candles as they gather at a park in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, as mourners marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Members of the Jewish community gather at a park in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, as mourners marked the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Two women console each other after making a makeshift memorial as members of the Jewish community gather at a park to mark the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, Sydney, Australia, on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Rabi Yehuda Teichtal speaks at the synagogue of the Chabad community in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Survivor Alon Gat, Rabi Yehuda Teichtal and Berlin mayor Kai Wegner, centre from left, hold a candle-lighting ceremony marking the first anniversary of the Hamas spearheaded attacks on Israel, at the synagogue of the Chabad community in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
People embrace after lightning candles at a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the Hamas spearheaded attacks on Israel, at the synagogue of the Chabad community in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
People light candles at a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the Hamas spearheaded attacks on Israel, at the synagogue of the Chabad community in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
A Yellow Ribbon displayed as the facade of the German Chancellor to show solidarity with Israel marking the first anniversary of the Hamas spearheaded attacks on Israel, in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
People attend the reading the names of the victims of the Hamas attack on Israel during a commemoration to mark the first anniversary of the attack, at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Candles and flowers are laid at the entrance of the synagogue to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Candles and flowers are laid at the entrance of the synagogue to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
A man embraces a women at they attend the reading the names of the victims of the Hamas attack on Israel, during a commemoration to mark the first anniversary of the attack, at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
