KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Some 23 years ago, Peter Vermes moved to Kansas City, not by request but rather by trade — a move that, unbeknownst to him at the time, would forever alter his life.
But there’s a story that sticks out about the initial year in Kansas City, and it doesn’t exactly mirror the next 22. Which is kind of the point in why he’s sharing it.
The then-Kansas City Wizards — who a decade later would become Sporting KC, the team Vermes now oversees as a coach and general manager — were traveling to Los Angeles to play the LA Galaxy. When they arrived at LAX Airport, though, there was no bus to transport the team to the hotel. In fact, there was no one at all. Inside the terminal, Vermes and his teammates waited for nearly two hours, and back then they had an inside joke when these kinds of things happened — they’d hum the tune of traditional circus music.
