Saturday, February 25, 2017

The Kansas City Blessing, Part III

My cousin, the die-hardest of die-hard Chiefs fans, sent out a Facebook notice shortly after the Chiefs latest playoff debacle, a simple but impassioned declaration that it didn't much matter any more. Yes there was much more depth to the message than that, but the thrust was something every Chiefs fan feels every time after time after time after time after time we refuse to win a playoff game that is ours for the taking.

Oh believe me I feel the same way. In my last post I'd spoken about the galaxy of hope we have if and when John Dorsey waves his wonderful wonder wand and does what he must this year -- however dramatically disruptive it may be -- to get the Chiefs to put a playoff team on the field that will nfncknking win a playoff game for once. But I do realize that in my exuberance I may have been a bit hard on some of our better players.

Don't get me wrong, the essence of what I said still holds. I'm hearing that the Chiefs are going full-throttle to ink Eric Berry, and that's perfectly fine, really -- but let's face it, arguably the best safety in the NFL still loses to good quarterbacks in the playoffs. Berry's been the lesser player four times -- Flacco, Luck, Brady, and Roethlisberger have all schooled him. He did beat Brian Hoyer (yay!)

But to Berry's credit, a ton of other factors weigh on the Chiefs. The NFL/media/business/officiating/Norse-god military-industrial complex is still consistently destroying the Chiefs chances to advance to games that'll lose too much money should the Chiefs appear in them. And the evidence is clear from one thread raging through the rumor mill I happened to see when one time this past week I peeked at Chiefs stuff.

Yeah, I peeked for just a moment to see if my work colleague's rumor threads had some veracity...

Big mistake.

Right after I'd posted about how splendidly awesome it was to have John Dorsey at the wheel driving an organization that is scorching up the player personnel development highway, I see that everyone is convinced he's slipping off to Green Bay after this year.

You are nfcknghfcncghkcking kidding me.

This is precisely the kind of thing that verifies everything I've said about how much the complex is crushing Chiefs fans hopes to enjoy some decent measure of postseason joyfulness. You know, I like looking (when I do which is rarely) at Arrowhead Pride and Arrowhead Addict and any number of other Chiefs sites and blogs, because the articles are indeed for the most part optimistic. That's a nice thing, an encouraging thing -- really, not being facetious at all, it is good to read good things about good Chiefs things happening often enough. There's a place for that.

But then there are my cousin's sentiments, and frankly, how many other Chiefs fans not only feel this way but know why they do?

How many Chiefs fans look at this gathering storm projecting Dorsey going the Packers and know that this is precisely the kind of thing that justifies the abject despair Chiefs fans feel all the time? That there is no reason in the world Dorsey should be going there except that the complex is loathe to see him continue to do great things for a team they simply do not tolerate being successful?

The best that happens is Dorsey likes the stability and purpose of the Chiefs organization right now and wants to see his work to its end -- a Super Bowl championship by 2023. Really, this is the way it should be. There is no reason in the universe the Chiefs are any worse than the Packers organization-wise -- at least that I've seen, no reason. So yeah, maybe Dorsey will see that the Chiefs Kingdom at every level appreciates everything he does here and he'd make no more money and have no more accoutrements in Green Bay than in Kansas City.

The second best is that after Dorsey is gone to the Packers, we can pray his replacement will take what he's done and do almost as well, hoping what we'll have from Dorsey's work and his successor's will propel us to that success we've all been so longing for.

Thing is the precariousness of that latter scenario, oh how familiar are we with that, is precisely why smarter Chiefs fans like my cousin legitimately, justifiably, and teleologically feel the way they do.

This is why in the face of knowing exactly what we're up against, seeing it, beholding it, being honest about it -- one of the main elements of the Kansas City Blessing is simply the fortitude any Chiefs fan has in the face of the impediments. I mean, what if the blessing at this exact moment in time is that being so sought-after means John Dorsey is as good as we all know he is? Maybe Dorsey stays after all, or if he's gone his replacement will be even better?

There is always that one thing I've shared a few times before -- that the horror of all the playoff horrors gets Chiefs people to do that much more they know they must do to win championship football, and that when they do it will be that much sweeter.

So yeah, I'll still blog about each game, however much that is. I'll still be one of the faithful -- through the pains and thrills and likely even more pains, but knowing there are those like me, that's cool.

The best of the Kansas City Blessing, however, is really in that image of the Chiefs fans at the top of this blog post. A random image from an event the Chiefs had at an elementary school --

Those kids are the Kansas City Blessing.

Hopeful still, enjoying the delights and wonders and beauties of the Chiefs Kingdom which is much more than football -- that's awesome.
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Saturday, February 11, 2017

The Kansas City Blessing, Part II

I wasn't planning on putting up a new post. I'd figured the most recent one would be the last for the 2016-2017 pro football episode, but I felt compelled to write about a few more specific things, for a few more quite significant reasons. There had been a number of other things on my mind that I didn't get to last time and I won't be revisiting them here, though a thread that ran through this latest postmortem to the Chiefs season is still quite prominent.

Yesterday a colleague of mine came in to my work area, someone with whom I converse about sports items at times, and while he knows I am a bit of a sports celibate, as it were, I indulge him and we have moderately engaging discussions. I don't contribute much except for whatever my sports-attuned radar has picked up from news or other sources.

He is, by the way, the gentlemen who mentioned a number of weeks ago that he felt the Chiefs are the only team with five game-changing players on the team, five of them (Hill, Kelce, Berry, Peters, Houston), and that he could think of no other NFL team with any more than two or three. Game-changers mind you, players who can almost single-handedly win games merely by their extraordinary talent and persistent will.

Which is why what he shared with me on Friday afternoon is something I felt I simply must address here in this blog. It starts with this still resounding truth every Chiefs fan knows so well and is so painfully familiar.

There is no way this team should have lost yet another playoff game, this one to a far less talented Steelers team.

This truth simply cannot be lost on wise insightful Chiefs management, it simply cannot be.

Here is what my colleague told me, and again, I know nothing about any of this, I have not in any way pursued discovering more about these possibilities, I haven't the faintest idea the veracity of the things my colleague divulged. I know nothing other than what he said, except that I do know

What these things mean for the Chiefs Kingdom.

He said the Chiefs are jettisoning a lot of high-priced guys, in surprising fashion. Any of us can think of anyone the Chiefs could do without, but some of the names were surprising. He mentioned Albert Wilson, but that's not a surprise because he simply could not run open routes underneath coverage and he dropped far too many passes he should've been able to grab.

He mentioned Jamaal Charles, but that's not really a surprise either except that Jamaal was such a valiant Chiefs player for so long, and really, so damn good. But you know? When you think about it, how well did Jamaal do for us in getting us to promised-land glory? You know, when you think about it, really very little.

In 2009 the Chiefs were poor. In 2010 Charles did well to get us the playoffs, but the rest of the team was not up to his ability, so that was really not on him. He was injured for the year in 2011, and 2012 was a catastrophe for everyone. There was 2013, but he got injured early in the Colts playoff game so that wasn't really on him either. In 2014 he was again spectacular but you know? He simply was not spectacular enough, because we inexplicably lost games to Tennessee, San Francisco, Arizona, and Pittsburgh we had no business losing. And then in 2015 there was the second ACL tear -- worse than the first because even today he has still not fully recovered from it, so yeah, not on him, but if he's not out there on the field, then he can't be employed as we need him to win postseason football games. Thing is, everyone has been pretty certain Jamaal, as great a Chiefs player as he will always be, is gone. Not much of a surprise.

The real surprise was who my colleague also mentioned, Eric Berry. Yeah.

Eric Berry.

I'd thought we'd surely be keeping Berry and likely letting Dontari Poe go, but ya know? As I think about it, if Berry is going to ask for the moon, I'd say good-bye too. How come?! Well, here's the thing, and this will give you a hint of what I think is going on within the inner workings of the Chiefs Kingdom.

Those playoff games.

In 2010 we got smoked by Baltimore. Berry was a rookie, and the team just wasn't as good as the Ravens, so that's fine. But Berry wasn't a world-beater in that game either. Then there was 2013 when Andrew Luck torched us in the last quarter-and-a-half of that nightmare game. Even though our D-backs were hurting, Berry was still back there letting the Colts get quick huge plays when stopping any two or three of them would've won us the game. That's a big one on Berry.

Then there was 2015 when Berry blew key coverages that allowed the Patriots, a team with absolutely no running game, to beat a better Chiefs team. And then there was this year, when Berry again blew critical coverages allowing the Steelers to get into field goal range one too many times.

Yes, Eric Berry is a hero, to everybody, always will be, always will be one of my favorite players no matter what. But I'm sure John Dorsey is going to go to Berry and say, "Look, it's about dubyas, and you didn't get it done when we needed it -- a number of times when we really needed it, in a big way. We still like you and would like for you to be a Chiefs player forever. Here's our offer, we'd love to have you return to play for us." Again, if he doesn't, then you know what?

I trust John.

My colleague mentioned there were other guys with their heads on the chopping block, he couldn't recall any, but he said one might be Eric Fisher. Eric Fisher?! Well, you know, Fisher is a fine offensive lineman, and last year we did sign him to a long term deal, but you know what? He still could've easily not held that Steelers guy when we really needed him to just play even modestly like a No. 1 overall pick.

The first item my colleague brought up, however, was about quarterback. He said that the Chiefs are going hard after Tony Romo. Now my first thought is, oh no, yet again we're going after some veteran who'll be around for maybe three years -- it's the Chiefs standard practice ::sigh:: But then I thought, good, the Chiefs are finally wanting to really take care of business.

Sorry, but Alex Smith, let's face it, you haven't done the job. You've actually played okay in the playoffs, really, you have, but please -- you haven't won us playoff games. You're good, but not winning-playoff-games good.

So if the Chiefs get Romo, cut loose Smith and all these other high or overpriced players, draft a fine quarterback for the future and stockpile a slough of other selections (some with compensatory picks -- oh do I like John Dorsey more and more), and with a ton of saved cap space snatch an undervalued free agent here and there...

We're in business.

Thinking about these things my colleague shared actually gave me a glimmer of hope. No, actually, it is giving me a galaxy of hope.

John Dorsey wants a team that will win playoff games and he'll do what he does really well to get it.

I like it a lot.

The strategy is simple, and he's got the skills to pull it off. We already have the game-changer pieces in place. I'd like to believe Dorsey has already told Andy Reid, we like you, you're a fine play-maker and strong team-leader, let me get the guys you need. Now some may wonder why Dorsey doesn't consider getting rid of Reid too, but please, finding good, solid coaches is much harder. Yes we can justifiably blister Reid about his inability to adjust or failure to be much more organic or refusal to manage late-game clocks or whatever, but he's still a terrific coach.

I'd also like to believe that Dorsey's gone to players like Tyreek Hill and Chris Jones and told them, look, you are the future, we really like you, and we will put a winning team around you.

And I know he's going to go to those players like Romo et al and share with them the vision for winning Chiefs football by bringing them on board to do the great things the Chiefs can do. Regarding someone like Romo, Dorsey's got a feather in his cap and something the Chiefs have really never had: a core of three terrific wide receivers in Maclin, Hill, and Conley, as well as the best tight end in football.

And I know he's going to run the table on draft day because he's already shown he's got the eye for nabbing talented players where he can get them.

A key takeaway in all this is we know he means business because he's going to toss anyone who isn't going to be serious about winning Chiefs football. He summarily did it to his third-round pick, Keivarae Russell, right in the middle of the season, and everyone was stunned he did that. Why though? Why so surprised? If he's no good or doing nothing to show he'll get better, get rid of him.

Oh my do we need bosses who are serious about lighting a fire under the ass of guys when it counts the most. No more spells, curses, deer-in-the-headlights looks from Chiefs players on the playoff football field. We're so sick of seeing that, every Chiefs fan wants to puke.

Get the job done, dammit.

Who cares who anybody is, who cares how much money someone's making or how special anyone thinks anyone is or what anybody thinks one way or the other?

We need a winning Chiefs football team, and that means winning postseason football.

Period.

This is the delightfully wonderful thing about hearing what my colleague shared with me yesterday.

John Dorsey means business. He's going to get guys who will win and if you're not one of those guys, you're outta there.

Wow. Wow, how many times have you felt the way you do now about this?

Now again, I can't say whether or not any of this is veritable or the extent to which things will change or whether we even have a legitimate shot at Romo or not. The veracity of any particular thing one way or the other is not even what really matters.

You know what matters.

I can't wait until next January.
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Thursday, February 02, 2017

The Kansas City Blessing

September 30, 2014.

That was the day the Shuttlecock Curse silliness was finally put to rest.

You remember, being a Kansas City sports fan. Apparently in 1986 or something, shortly after the Royals won their first World Series title, the Nelson Gallery put a big honkin' shuttlecock on the front lawn. The thinking was since it was there, the Chiefs and Royals have stunk in postseason play, or worse, not even been there at all.

Seemed like eons. It was all the fault of that stinkin' shuttlecock.

Well, on that brisk September day, the Royals annihilated that sucker.

As every red-blooded Kansas Citian knows so well, the Royals defeated the A's in the American League Wild Card Game in one of the craziest fashions imaginable. Then they dispatched the Angels who only led the majors in wins that season. Then they disposed of the Orioles who some said were better than the Angels. Then they were 90 feet away from putting it to Madison Bumgarner -- who was only having the greatest pitching performance in World Series history -- and damn well winning the World Series outright.

Never you mind. For the Royals came back with a vengeance in 2015, first storming to the AL Central title, then taking down the Astros, then the Blue Jays, then the Mets to finally win it all with the greatest display of clutch hitting in major league postseason history tallying seven wins across that span in games they trailed by two or more runs.

Kansas City major professional sports team, World Champions.

Now yeah, it wasn't the Chiefs. And while there are likely a few Kansas Citians who care little about baseball, it was still a sign.

It was a major sign that a team with exceptional on-field talent, strong front office leadership, and the heart of a champion could overcome the gargantuan non-$$$-generating non-media-darling impediments and not only win it all but

Win it all being real and true and courageous.

You just saw it all over the Royals for two straight years. And if you are someone who likes the baseball Kansas City team and followed them through that delightful run, you know how phenomenally exhilarating it was. And everyone knows that much of that joy came from the what-seemed-like-an-eternity feeling of excruciating despair when the Royals were the absolute dregs of major league baseball.

I share this because I think this is a key component to what is happening with all this Chiefs stuff. I don't think there is any question there is something, something beyond anything we can explain that is keeping the Chiefs and their fine team from winning anything meaningful once they get into the playoffs. The Chiefs have been too talented far too often for there to be any other reason.

But that's where the Kansas City Blessing comes in. I shared a couple years ago that "Winning is a curse." For a number of reasons, it really can be. One of the things that makes losing a blessing is that when your team does win, it is that much sweeter. I am looking forward to the day when the Chiefs win the Super Bowl again.

For one, it will be that they deserved it. They certainly aren't getting any help from the officiating or the NFL business/media interests or any of that, but that's the way it should be. I don't even want there to be any charmed plays or any of that going our way. I'm looking forward to the postseason games the Chiefs gut out, battle to the end, get the clutch win, and captivate the nation by their merits both in their talent and their character.

And for two, it will be overwhelmingly joyous because we've been faithful to the team. My heart breaks for all the fans who took on the ice storm effects and got to Arrowhead early this year only to have their hopes crushed yet again. I feel it when I think about the Charlie's Saloon patrons in Philadelphia who are so devoted for no reason other than the owner one time looked at the Chiefs and thought, "Yeah, that's a team worth rooting for."

What is so encouraging is that none of them will give up on the Chiefs. And right now, in spite of this season's woeful turn in the playoffs yet again -- right now is the best time to be a fan. It can't be said enough, Clark has brought stability and purpose, John has brought wisdom and insight, Andy has brought inspiration and industry, and the players know it, feel it, and consider their teammates as family.

It'll happen soon, I believe it will.

But you know? I don't care if it's 2039 when Joe Montana's grandson, five-year Chiefs veteran and original D&D! quarterback Jedidiah Montana leads the team to their first Super Bowl win since IV, I'm good with that, really.

As long as I know they're on the right track as they are now.

It's a blessing to be a Chiefs fan, it really is.

You may know I am a Christian man, and after our season ended I had read from the 51st chapter of Isaiah in my devotional time. It was good to be assured there is a God who restores, who honors those who seek righteousness as it says there in the first verse of the chapter. The third verse is the one that is most meaningful for now, and I'd like to share it with you here.

Yes, there will be a time when Chiefs success will be deliriously glorious. It's great to talk about Chiefs things anytime, whenever, about whatever, but I've said everything about this season for now. There'll be much more for next year, certainly.

To conclude this one, a promise from God. Yes, this particular message was for the Israelites, I know, but He cares about Chiefs fans too.

"The Lord will surely comfort Zion, and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing."
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