Here’s another great fan week Chiefs post, this time from All Weather Fan…
Seeing the billboard & newspaper campaign schlepping 1/2-season tickets capped it.
Being an all-weather Chiefs fan these last 2 seasons has been excruciating. Watching Herm blow up the offense and listening to cliche excuses through the 9-game skid is enough to drive a guy to the bottle…even more than usual. There’s no relief reading Jason’s personal jihad to dethrone King Carl or the rage-a-thon on the Star’s Chiefs blog.
Then along came a critics’-choice draft. Not so suddenly, I feel compelled to study the transformation of a team. In the corporate world it’s called a make-vs-buy decision. Despite Herm’s job being on the line, he chose to make a team rather than go shopping. It’s a long range view, unlike my decision whether or not to re-up for another year of season tickets.
Call it Pollyanna, but I sense an Obama-esque hope that this strategy may build a team to last an era. Something in my inner-football fan is changing.
Fans have good reason to be full of venom, abandoning support of this team, as illustrated by my first successful move-down in 19 years as season ticket holder. Not only does Clark Hunt have to rebuild a team and a revenue stream, but a fan base as well.
So who are the new generation of Chiefs fans? Is there a stark contrast in their demographic or psychographic? Do they transition like the boomer generation discovering Branson?
Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t gone completely Kenny G for this notion of a smarter, stronger Chiefs. We want to go to the playoffs…every year. Screw the rolling dome and notion of hosting a Super Bowl. We want a winning franchise that makes the Sports Center reel and appeals even to the fair-weathered.
Will I be in the next generation of Chiefs fans? Likely. Will it be painful? Most certainly. Will I still raise my glass and scream “Chiefs” at end of the national anthem? Will you?
Cheers,
All Weather Fan
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Ditto!
I will always raise my glass for that anthem at Arrowhead. But unless i see signed and improving players and less of Carl’s negotiating tactics and less 3 and outs, I will not be in Section 303 this year.
Consider my DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket RENEWED! I seriously considered not renewing this year given the dismal season last year and knowing that we are in serious rebuild mode(I live in MN, where oddly enough, they don’t make it a priority to broadcast a Chiefs game). However, this year’s draft (and Herm’s mindset….a new mindset?) has changed my mind.
Count me “in” on this rebuilding process…I want to be there from the beginning. I’ll be happy with a 8/8 year (maybe even 6/10) – so long as the the Chiefs show progress towards becoming a reckoning force in the near future.
One caveat….if our draft picks aren’t in training camp from day one, then I will be pi$$ed, and it may cramp my style.
Oh yeah, at least I’ll have a reason to watch the Viqueens….to see if Jared pans out….what a load to carry! Let’s see if he can shake the curse of the big check.
Great post. I believe all the fair-weather fans have hit the road. All that’s left are the true Chiefs fans.
Don’t worry – in a year or two all the strays will be back. With company.
every time i hear the anthem i end it with
C H I E F S ! ! !
and i always will NO MATTER WHAT.
AND TO ALL THE FAIR WEATHER FANS GOOD RIDDANCE
Living in L.A., I am constantly surrounded by fairweather fans to match the climate in which I live. However, every now and then I run into a genuine Chiefs fan and each and everyone knows their Chiefs trivia dating back to their childhood and how they became a Chiefs fan. This team has dedicated fans and always will. I’ll admit, I am not renewing my Sunday Ticket (for reasons other than just the Cheifs dismal performance last year), but I guarantee that any game not televised down here will cause me to appear at a sports bar on Sunday mornings with my jersey on and my appetite for a Chiefs victory.
bro adam and Zach what up with the page not trying to sound f up but now that the draft is over is not as good we need better stuff for this page it was the best page out tell the draft now its at a stand still to me before ever moring i would hurry up to get on line to see what was new and now it like ok what now please bring back the drama lol
and can we get a game tape of the de we got out of the draft i want to see how good this kid is every one is talking about his this shit i want to see him play in school so i can get a feel for how good he might and could be DE Brian Johnston
I’m in complete agreement with everyone here.
Building a contender takes time and I actually appreciate the fact that the Chiefs are completely starting over. Does the whole process test our patience? Absolutely. But ‘Fair Weather Fan Guy’ drives me nuts. For example, I remember after Bill Self and the Jayhawks lost for the second consecutive time in the first round of the tournament. Every fair weather fan was calling for Bill Self to be fired. Why? He had only been at KU for 3 years. He had a proven track record at other schools, did well with Roy’s players given the situation, won a few Big 12 titles, but lost a couple of heartbreakers in the first round. Fast forward a couple of years and he’s had the time to recruit ‘his’ kind of players and develop ‘his’ kind of team and now we have a national championship.
I look at Herm’s situation the same way. He won a Super Bowl as an assistant head coach in Tampa and he showed some signs of development as a head coach in New York. We have actually drafted some good players on Herm’s watch. He’s building a team brick by brick and I like what I see so far and I’m willing to give him another 3 years to make it happen. Hell, even Bill Belichick wasn’t any good until he started stealing signals in New England. So I’m willing to give Herm a chance because contenders aren’t built overnight.
This part caught my eye:
“illustrated by my first successful move-down in 19 years as season ticket holder.”
As a brand-new season ticket holder this season, I have a question… will it take a very long time for me to get down into the lower level?
Chief Bartle,
Good question, I’ve tried each year and was able to move only 3 rows down and out of end zone in upper deck. I actually prefer upper deck, but closer to the bottom where I see entire plays develop. Lower level can tend to be one dimensional.
If money is no object there’s plenty of Club level seating available. They’ve doubled in price due to the remodel and enhanced amenities.
Good luck.
Chief Bartle:
We have had 4 upper level corner end zone angle seats, which we like for dual depth perception, for 13 or so years. We were able to move down in the same section about 4 or 5 years ago from about Row 16 to Row 8. We, too, like to be able to see the whole field, but don’t like being that far from the action.
But this year, we were able to move all the way down to lower level row 15, same basic corner end zone angle only slightly more toward visiting team sideline side of corner whereas before we were slightly more to the end zone side of corner. Also we got the first 4 seats from aisle, whereas before we were in the middle of the section. There were many other seats available in the same general area back in late March. Remains to be seen if these corner angle seats will be too 1-dimensional, as All Weather Fan says.
This year clearly presented us with many more opportunities than in the past. Get them while you can!
I’m a huge Chiefs fan for life, and always optimistic about the future of the team. However, I wish Herm would take a look around the league (at teams like the Patriots and the Cowboys) and realize that signing proven big names in free agency is just as important for success as drafting well.