The Royals 28-year stretch of futility is hilariously pathetic, unless you’re one of the 18 Kansas City fans that have stuck with the frustratingly hungry team since their last playoff appearance. Only three games out of the AL Central division race and 1.5 games from the AL Wild Card entering play Wednesday, there’s a small bit of hope that Ned Yost & Co. can end the misery.

That playoff appearance came in 1985 when they won the World Series, but the franchise has not been back to the playoffs since, a total of 28 seasons. A whopping 13 managers and hundreds of players have rolled through KC since that title, none of which brought a single appearance.

What else has rolled through America with more productivity than the Royals since 1985?

 

WrestleMania debuts at Madison Square Garden and Hulk Hogan is on top of the world as WWF Champion:

WrestleMania

 

Emilio Estevez are Michael J. Fox are killing it at the box office with The Breakfast Club and Back to the Future:

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This was a legitimate and acceptable hairstyle in 1985:

hair

 

Wayne Gretzky was dominating hockey while three of the greatest players in their respective sports are busy being born (Cristiano Ronaldo, Adrian Peterson and Michael Phelps):

gretzky etc-page0001

 

Computers looked something like this:

computer

 

And Facebook looked something like this (Mark Zuckerberg at 1-year-old):

zuck

 

The Cosby Show, Murder She Wrote, Cheers, Dallas and 60 Minutes were flooding American television screens:

dallas

 

The Nintendo Entertainment System is released on October 18, 1985:

nintendo

 

The USFL is still alive and kicking, albeit lightly, as 1985 was the corrupted league’s last season:

usfl

 

Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb’s all-time record of 4,191 hits on September 11, 1985…and everyone still hates his guts:

rose

 

Photo Courtesies: WWE.com, Universal City Studios, Stylish Eve, Getty Images, Computer Museum, Facebook, International Business Time, RF Generation, YouTube