I just made a list of 9 individual blog post topics surrounding the Chiefs making Super Bowl LIV. But I don't want to get into those just yet. I'm sitting here in Cape Coral, visiting my mom. And I want to sit here with my emotions and try to let it sink in.
The first Super Bowl I have a good memory of was Super Bowl XXIV. The 49ers beat the Broncos like a drum 55-10. That was 30 years ago. I was six.
So I missed 23 Super Bowls due to not being born/being too young. I've seen 30 Super Bowls. The 31st that I'll see has my team in it. With 16 AFC teams fighting for one spot, it seems that waiting 31 years is a little overdue. But I'm not complaining. Thanks to the Patriots, Steelers and Peyton Manning, most of the AFC teams have been waiting a while. This is a league of haves and have nots and the Chiefs have been a have not for the last 49 years.
Going back to not complaining...my kids won't know what it's like. They don't really care about football. But even if they did, they wouldn't know how to appreciate it. They were bummed last year when the Dee Ford offsides prevented the Chiefs from making Super Bowl LIII. But they don't know what it's really like to invest in something and have it so often result in disappointment.
I cried in 2003 when Peyton's Colts beat the Chiefs in the no-punt game. That KC team was 13-3 and started 9-0 and I believed in them.
In 2007, the Chiefs lost the first Burger Bet to the Lions.
I watched them get blown out in the playoffs by the Ravens in 2010 at Niraj's apartment on Milwaukee.
In 2012, they went 2-14 with Jamaal Charles and I was here on Hoagie Central handing out game balls.
In 2013, I was ready to finally see them win a playoff game. They were up 38-10. They lost when Andrew Luck recovered a fumble and scored on the same play.
With Alex Smith, I saw them get knocked out of the playoffs three years in a row, capped off by the Mariota touchdown pass to himself.
And then last year, there was a moment I thought KC was going to the Super Bowl. And then a flag was thrown. Dee Ford offsides. Mahomes never saw the ball in overtime.
Four times I've paid good money to go to Arrowhead Stadium and walked out a loser...including this year vs the Colts. I specifically bought tickets this year because I hadn't seen Mahomes in person yet... And because if the Chiefs went to the Super Bowl, I wanted to say I was there for a game that year. That I saw that team in person.
And this list doesn't even include all the regular Sundays where a Chiefs loss has ruined my weekend. Where I'll be in a bad mood, not quite sure why, and then remember that the Chiefs lost.
So above all else, my goal is to appreciate this. Like, really savor each moment.
Marino made one Super Bowl. Rodgers made one Super Bowl. Brees made one Super Bowl.
Lots of people are projecting that the Chiefs are set up well for the next decade, but nothing is certain. The Chiefs could lose this game and not make it back for another 50 years.
Nothing is guaranteed.
But here's what I do know. There are things that cannot be taken away from me or this team.
Today, Clark Hunt got to raise the trophy with his father's name on it for the first time.
Today, Patrick Mahomes ran in a 27-yard touchdown that will be an all-time highlight. I will see this in ten years on the best plays of the 2020's. Go ahead and add it to the best playoffs highlight reel.
Today, the 50-year drought is over. Win or lose, this is the farthest that I've ever seen this team go.
Today, the fans at Arrowhead got to leave in the best way possible. They saw the last home game of the season not because we lost but because we ran out of games that aren't played at neutral sites. They got to see red and gold confetti and a trophy presentation at home.
Today, I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears that the Chiefs are going to the Super Bowl. It's the first time that's ever happened, and win or lose, nothing can take that memory away.
No comments:
Post a Comment