Sunday, January 11, 2004
It’s a warm day for January in Kansas, a shade over 50 degrees. I’m driving my 2000 Ford Ranger from tiny Cottonwood Falls to my job as a sports copy editor at the Topeka Capital-Journal. Rarely do I run late, but I am on this day.
It’s a 70-minute drive from my dad’s house, where I’m living after moving back from Texas a few months earlier. I’m supposed to be at work by 3 p.m. to build the pages for Monday’s sports section, but it’s already after 2 p.m. and I’m a good hour from the newspaper office.
To make up the time, of course, I’m speeding. Naturally, I get pulled over about five miles outside of Cottonwood Falls. As the police officer writes a ticket, he asks, “What’s the score?” I really want to be a smart ass, but pass and tell him the Chiefs are losing to the Colts.
An hour later, I watch the final quarter of another disappointing Kansas City loss in the playoffs, 38-31 to Indianapolis. That divisional round matchup is known as the infamous “no-punt game.”
It was on that day that I decided I wasn’t going to invest as much emotionally in the Chiefs.
Saturday, Jan. 4, 2014
Nearly a decade later, I stayed trued to my commitment to not be emotionally invested in the Chiefs.
As I lifted weights in the basement of our duplex, I listened to Kansas City’s wild-card game against Indianapolis. Even when the Chiefs surged to a 38-10 lead, I didn’t get too excited. How could you after the aforementioned game and countless other devastating losses (Buffalo in 1994, Indianapolis in 1996, Denver in 1998)?
So, as the Colts rallied and wiped out a huge deficit, I wasn’t even that mad. “Same old Chiefs,” I said out loud.
Sunday, Jan. 20, 2019
Five years later, things have changed thanks to one man: Patrick Mahomes.
As much as I tried not to be invested in the Kansas City Chiefs, Mahomes made it impossible. As the Chiefs traded blows with Tom Brady and the Patriots dynasty, there I was, pacing back and forth, screaming at the TV, cussing out Dee Ford.
It was just like the 2015 baseball playoffs, when I (and all Royals fans) lived and died with every pitch. That night also seems more meaningful because it’s the last time I exchanged texts and phone calls with my father during a game.
Even after the loss, when I was devastated and he was ravaged by cancer, the old man managed to lift his son’s spirits.
“They’re never going to win anything, Dad. I’m tired of it,” I said. “Son, this is different. This Mahomes kid is special,” he replied.
Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020
A year later, I’m hugging my wife with tears streaming down my cheeks. The Chiefs, who delivered punch to the gut after punch to the gut, have won the Super Bowl, rallying late in the fourth quarter to win their first championship in 50 years.
Moments after the game, I reach for my phone to call my father. It’s the 100th time in the past five months that I’ve done this. It’s also the 100th time that I realized he’s no longer with us. But I couldn’t help but think how much the old man was enjoying it from Heaven.
After decades of disappointment, the Chiefs are the Super Bowl Champions. They are also the feel-good story of the NFL. Seemingly everybody loves them.
The week of January 25, 2021
The Chiefs have rolled into the Super Bowl for the second straight year, hammering Buffalo to win the AFC Championship.
It’s a little different this time, though. The “experts” find creative ways to disparage the best player in the NFL, without a doubt Mahomes. Curious stats like “passes that should have been picked off” pop up. “The Chiefs don’t blow people out,” many others say.
It’s an odd twist, going from hero to villain in a year.
I’ve thought quite a bit about the fact that so many people hate the Chiefs these days. It’s interesting considering they have a likeable team. They have the best player in the NFL, and arguably the most charismatic, in Mahomes. They have the best tight end, and one of the most gregarious personalities, in Travis Kelce.
Like every team, there are sorted pasts. Tyreek Hill, for example. But, he’s done nothing to demonstrate he hasn’t turned his life around (unless you believe suspect media reports, that is).
Ultimately, though, people hate the Chiefs because they win and win a lot. And, as I think about how much people genuinely hate Kansas City, I come to the following conclusion: I really don’t give a shit. Chiefs fans deserve this.
