(Part 1)
Past Disconsolations and Future Deconstructions of a Kansas City Chiefs Fan

This is a critical time in the destiny of the Kansas City Chiefs football franchise, and I wanted to take some time to expand a bit on this humble blog I’ve been doing now for about three-plus years. I’d like to share a bit about my own history with the Chiefs, provide some context for this blog’s approach, and share some visceral thoughts about what I see is going on with the widest overall picture in mind. I’d like to simply include this in installments as I proceed.

I was born in Manhattan, Kansas, where my dad was going to school (Kansas State) and serving in the National Guard (Fort Riley). Seeking a promising business opportunity provided by his uncle, he took our family to California when I was two.

I started paying attention to professional sports in 1971 when my father took me to my first professional sports affair, a bright summer day game featuring the major league baseball Giants and the Cardinals at Candlestick Park. I was overwhelmed by the glory and pageantry of a live sporting event at such a magnificent venue. Hey, Candlestick was state-of-the-art in those days.

Earlier in that year I remember being out in the front yard with my dad and all his tools and handyman equipment. He was working on one of his wonderful home improvement projects, and on the radio was Super Bowl V between the Colts and Cowboys. I’d really known nothing about any team, and I was rooting for the Cowboys for no reason other than having a rooting interest. I recalled it was hard to know who was doing what because the quarterbacks were named Morrall and Morton.

The following season the Kansas City Chiefs were in the playoffs again with a very strong team, playing at home against the upstart Miami Dolphins. Every Christmas afternoon we’d go to the very spacious Los Gatos home of the same uncle who inspired our move out here, and I remember peeking frequently at the game on television. As a ten year-old I was busy bopping about with cousins and such, but I did watch enough of the game to appreciate this team and its play. Ed Podolak will always be one of my heroes for his phenomenal game that day -- I distinctly remember standing there watching him take that punt in the second overtime and zoom down the far sideline deep into Miami territory to get us into easy game-winning field goal range. Well…

Every Chiefs fan knows the outcome of this affair. As I was so young, it would not have the heartbreaking effect later Chiefs playoff catastrophes would have. But this team that was cheered on by my close Kansas City family was forever most prominent in my heart as my favorite professional sports team of them all.

(Part 2 is forthcoming, featuring my Arrowhead stadium experience...)
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