Monday Night Is Alright In Kansas City Again Baby!

Well gang, for a year I have been posting that the 2010 Monday night game was one of the best that I had witnessed at Arrowhead. The 2011 Monday night game proved me wrong!

As I sat down for dinner in KC before the game, I could feel that something special was in the air.

The first three games this season were difficult to take, both for the fans and players. We played some bad ball against some teams that KC and the world took for granted and lost big time. It was tough for the players and tough for the fans, especially those who plopped down hard earned money for season tickets that looked to be losing value faster than an Enron employee’s 401k plan.

It’s tough to fight traffic and blow a wad of cash on tickets only to see your team get their asses kicked by a team they beat the previous year. A team most people beat last year.

To get that whipping by  Detroit then watch Matt Cassel hand a win to the Chargers with a ridiculous interception made the six hour round trip to KC, a special treat for my girlfriend on her birthday, seem pretty risky. The Vikings win helped some but not much.

On Monday, however, the apprehension slipped away as we sat in our second row seats in Amen Corner.

It has been said the last couple of years that KC fans don’t have the loyalty and spirit it takes to fill what is still one of the largest NFL stadiums in the world. That they no longer have the will, the money, or the time to make the trip to the greatest NFL stadium in the world. Some of the games this year and last seemed to support those assertions.

Monday night was different.

The NFL took a chance on the KC Chiefs last year. The late game for sure, but a chance was taken all the same. And the fans made sure the gamble the NFL took paid off.

This year was a little different.

Kansas City disintegrated late last season, and this year lost several, hell a ton, of key players to season ending injuries. Halloween is a fun day to be at Arrowhead, but its also risky weather wise. A full stadium even for a Monday night game was no guarantee with a healthy team, so as we drove through the gates of Arrowhead I had my doubts.

This game would take extreme efforts from the players and the fans not only  to win but to prove the NFL that KC was worth gambling on. As I painted my face red and gold for the first time in my career as an Arrowhead Adventurer , I knew we had what it would take.

The fans filled the stadium because they knew they had to. I truly believe that the game would have ended differently had we not. As I screamed from the second row, I knew in my heart my screams made a difference. I knew that Matt would not have thrown the TD pass. I knew that the three pointers would not have cleared the uprights without my endless pounding on the seat backs in row one. But most of all, I knew that Phil Rivers would not have dropped that key snap that resulted in his self proclaimed “worst day ever” had I and the rest of my 80,000 strong “Army of Red” not sang out in a harmonious 116 decibel war cry that cannot be described or recorded, but only experienced in the greatest NFL stadium in the world.

But it wasn’t just us schmos who blew their rent money on a ticket and a parking pass that made the difference. All the Arrowhead Addicts in bars, dens, basements, and even Best Buys that gave a broken up team with a questionable coach and suspect QB only four weeks ago a chance to win made a difference too.

We did it again this year, and we will do it again next year should the NFL decide to take a chance on us again . This Arrowhead Adventurer thinks they will.

Monday Night Football is back in Kansas City again baby! And for one night, Arrowhead Stadium in all her former glory was too.