This post will be no different.
You see, I could pound out the standard "We've got this guy and that guy and we can hope for this thing and that thing to happen" kind of post -- nothing wrong with that. I like reading those kinds of things, makes this time of the year the most hopeful.
Instead I'm going to continue making the statement about the state of professional sports that afflict Chiefs chances for success. Very few are saying these things. The Chiefs are sadly already part the institutionalized requirements to spew the racialist hysteria ("Advance social justice"), bilge the sodomist insanity ("Celebrate Pride"), and blap about how much people must take lethally dangerous drugs so they can be the very best virtue-signalers ("Get vaxxed or else!") All of these things not only derail Chiefs success, but a million times worse they destroy the health of the community and the nation.
Now I'm seeing all kinds of things about how the Chiefs have signed on with whichever online gambling operation has appeared the most respectable. It is a thoroughly wicked endeavor, yet the little I've seen or heard is that this is some kind of positive thing. I did not catch the details of this formal arrangement, so I do not know the names of these rackets, but "Draft Kings" and "Fan Duels" seem to be the most prominent. Please do not get me wrong, I am saying in no uncertain terms: these operations are evil beyond evil, and it is tremendously grievous that the Chiefs are joining just about every other professional sports enterprise and embracing this ugliness.
Yes, I am pulling no punches here. All of this should be summarily and comprehensively against the law. And yes, it does affect the Chiefs chances of success. As I've shared in my posts after the ridiculous loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship game, I'm convinced Chiefs leadership and management were told implicitly but firmly to take it easy on the Bengals. Don't make it a blowout -- and every indication of what we saw on the field was that they complied. This isn't just an instance of my whiny complaining as a Monday-morning quarterback or Patrick Mahomes just having a rare bad day.
It happened.
And I'm convinced it happened because of the connections the NFL now has with organized gambling. I can't help but reiterate that the week before Super Bowl IV, back in 1970, Len Dawson (God rest his soul) was being excoriated because of an assumed relationship he had with a single gambling figure. Remember that? Remember how crushing it was, the weight of having to deal with that, of clearing his good name -- all just before he had to perform in the biggest game of his career?
Today that kind of illicit relationship is not only celebrated, but officially formalized.
I've come across an article that speaks to the rottenness of this gambling thing. Interestingly the take intimates that it has the seeds of its own destruction sown into its own business model. The problem is unless there are enough principled people to step up now to vigorously push against it and to encourage addicts to be disciplined enough and make other lifestyle choices, it will continue to thrive in some form.
One of the other major reasons for why this is so horrifically debilitating is another thing I've shared several times before, but hear very little about from other sources. I am indeed very sad about that, but much of that is because there are too many fans who just don't care. "Who cares if I put money down on some players or games? Get outta here with your Puritan sentiments. Shut up, no one wants to be around you, killjoy."
I still like the Chiefs. I still want them to win. I still hope the best for them and cheer them on. I still have a good time watching what they do on the field, win or lose -- and it has indeed been a glorious time for Chiefs fans with the Veach-Reid-Mahomes troika doing amazing work for the Chiefs Kingdom.
But they have their work cut out for them. And you know why.
It is because they are simply not a New York-Los Angeles big-market media-darling team.
As I've said before, it is harder for the NFL to do what major league baseball is doing, but you know professional sports leagues do it. Look at major league baseball right now, look at the standings here as of Saturday September 3. The Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees are running away with their divisions. That teams like the Astros and Braves are decent doesn't take away from the fact that every year the New York and Los Angeles teams will always be at or close to the top of their divisions. They are essentially permanent members of the "Premiere League" of major league baseball.
And they must be if professional baseball survives. The majors realized that in 1994 when they arranged things so the Yankees and Dodgers will never go long without winning. This idea is simple, and perfectly rational if wholly duplicitious: If you're a Twins or a Pirates you yourselves do want to win, but if you don't win, you want the Yankees and Dodgers to win. As long as they win, the league and your chronically poor performing franchise wins because you stay in a league kept solvent because the huge NY/LA fanbases are supporting their teams winning.
Those teams are then given distinct advantages to ensure they are more consistently successful, and no one else minds because that's how the whole enterprise thrives.
Makes sense. Doesn't make it any less deceitful.
What about the Chiefs? Again, I am convinced Brett Veach and his team have to work that much harder to field a team that must battle the forces that really don't want them being as successful as they could be. It is not hard to see how much teams like the Cowboys especially get the lion's share of attention in media coverage and so forth. Sad to say the NFL as a whole suffers any time the Chiefs go far in the postseason. To be fair it is my consideration that the popularity of players like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce have given the Chiefs a certain gravitas the NFL likes. But it wouldn't have nearly the impact if Mahomes and Kelce were on a team like the Jets.
We'll see. This is a season preview. Again I could write about this or that player, blah blah blah -- great stuff mind you and I am indeed really psyched about the players on our team -- but you can get a lot of that at Arrowhead Pride or Arrowhead Addict. I like both sites, and I also like looking at Bleacher Report's Chiefs page for all the latest posts about Chiefs things. As far as I know those are the best, and links to each are in my "Links" feature in this blog.
Thing is, this season preview is just a heads-up to see what kinds of things might just be in the mix to afflict the Chiefs in some unjust way. Wow, there are so many -- this gambling travesty just one of the more vicious.
Let the drama begin.
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The posted image is from the Kansas City Star. Thank you.
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