I'm enjoying the Kansas City Royals ALCS game on the television right now. What a wildly different Kansas City thing this is than the Chiefs. At this moment here in the 2nd inning they're losing 3-1, but no matter. They will always be considered as the team that'll make a game of it, come back, be winners. Doesn't even matter if they lose this one, they're American League champions. Up to now no other team has won an ALCS game over the past two years than the Royals. They've captured the attention of all sports observers as a team of gamers, competitors, winners.
Then there's the Chiefs.
In thinking about this team, I thought of the Eddie Murphy film Beverly Hills Cop. Murphy plays a street-wise cop from Detroit named Axel Foley, trying to solve a murder in upscale Los Angeles. When a couple Beverly Hills police officers fail to reign in his unorthodox ways, the department's captain assigns a couple more sharper looking cops to do the job. When they confront him during an improvised stakeout, Foley compliments them as the "A-team."
"We're not falling for the 'banana in the tail-pipe trick'" they boast.
Thing is, they do still get had by Foley when he cleverly evades them to achieve his objective.
Yeah. You know what I'm thinking.
The Chiefs, they look like the "A-team" but sadly, they're the "D-team."
Yes, I know it is easy to hop on the anti-Alex Smith bandwagon, and I confess, right now I'm right in the middle of that extravaganza playing lead tuba. But this whole thing is infected.
The whole thing.
We can start with Smith, and in a newsgroup post from some forlorn Chiefs fan (which ones aren't?) I found this quote. Just like to share it with you.
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all."
This quote perfectly encapsulates what we all see in Alex Smith. He's talented, he's versatile, he's smart, he's quick, and he's all those other nice things.
But think right now of Tom Brady, then think of Alex Smith. Tom Brady - Alex Smith. Alex Smith - Tom Brady.
Can you see the difference?
Smith is better in every area. ::Guh?:: No, no, check this out. He was the No. 1 pick overall ten years ago, while Brady was, what, back in 1999 or some time, what, 12th round, 582nd overall? Brady right now is 40 years old, something like that, Smith is still in his prime.
Except...
Look through their eyes into their souls.
Sorry, but the whole having-a-dozen-coaches excuse is so old and worn it hurts. Sorry but the whole offensive-line-isn't-good-enough excuse just doesn't cut it. Sorry but I just don't believe that it is always the fault of the receivers or the coaches not calling the right routes or any of that.
To his credit Smith has never whined about any of that, but then, it has always seemed like he just never cared.
Again, look again.
You can see Tom Brady is fearless, and Alex Smith is -- if not fearful, just not - really - there - at all.
It is that simple.
I actually hoped that this would be Alex's year. That he'd come around. I still held out hope, I did. For good reason. He's better than Tom Brady.
But he will never win anything because he so embodies that quote.
He'll run plays. He'll do as he's told as a good soldier would. He'll even proudly wear the Chiefs red and gold. Please, I mean that, he's a fine young man!
But I'm telling you, that last series against the Vikings did it for me. Here's what it was, and please, never mind anything that the coaches did or didn't do -- none of that really matters with a quarterback who simply refuses to lose. Alex Smith, on the other hand -- down by 6, ball close to mid-field, just over two minutes left -- plenty of time:
1st down crap pass somewhere around Kelce.
2nd down crap pass somewhere around Avant.
3rd down crap pass somewhere around Wilson.
4th down crap pass to nobody in particular.
Sorry, but we all know.
Tom Brady would never have let that happen. Never ever never ever never ever never ever.
He's won four Super Bowls. How?
It's right there in his soul.
And yeah, as it pains me to say this -- Alex Smith doesn't have it.
Not only can you see it in his eyes, but the results show it, and Chiefs fans have had enough of it.
So yeah, I really really really want the Chiefs to start Aaron Murray on Sunday. I can't believe there isn't a Chiefs fan who doesn't want this. Sorry but skip over Chase Daniels. I like Daniels, but he's not the long-term guy.
So what if Murray gets trucked? Let's see him go. Let's see what he can do. I know some are saying "You can't just put a guy in like that in the NFL and expect anything. It just doesn't work that way. Give it up. Just never mind."
Sorry, but that's a load of mnfmnmp. At this point we truly do have nothing to lose. Why don't we do something to get ourselves geared up for future success?
We still have to replace Reid after this year and get that terrific new coach to get us geared up for 2019 and beyond, that's a given. For now, how about getting Murray some reps? Plus, here's the thing, what if Murray tanks and it's a for-sure thing? What if we look and see he doesn't have the Brady-esque killer instinct that'll carry us for a number of years?
Then we'll get to know. Then we'll know that with our high draft pick for next year we can pluck up a Trevone Boykin in the draft so we're fully ready for 2019.
Whatever the case: Clark. John. Chiefs front office people. Get with the program and start getting ready for 2019 right now.
I'm a Chiefs fan and I always will be, yet all I've known for years and years and years is this interminable death because we just refuse to be brave. I'm ready for us to be brave, people. I'm so sick and tired of being cautious, and as the quote says, never living at all.
Just to let you know, there're a dozen other things I'd like to say about Chiefs things, right here in this post. This thing, that thing, interesting and important things Chiefs. But I'm kinda tired right now. I've said all that matters right now. I think all Chiefs fans know what the reality is. It's pretty simple.
Will we be brave?
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