Chiefs’ Camp 2013: Five Reasons I Hate the Preseason

Jun 5, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs running back Cyrus Gray (32) runs drills during the mini camp at the University of Kansas Hospital Training Complex. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Hello once again, Addicts. Long time, no talk. If you’ve noticed I haven’t been around the last couple of weeks, I apologize for my absence. I’ve missed you, but my life has been a bit hectic. My wife and I just finished welcoming the world’s newest Chiefs fan. Our daughter, Adelyn, arrived on July 9 and as you can imagine, life in the Seibel household has changed a bit. Anyways, I thought you all should know why I haven’t been around. But enough of that, back to work!

Training camp has officially arrived in the NFL. All 32 teams have now reported to camp and are working on their game plans to become the next Superbowl Champions. Our beloved Kansas City Chiefs are no different. This past week we have been inundated with news from St. Joe about the mid-west version of Montana-Rice connection. If you haven’t heard, that new connection is the Smith-Kelce connection. These two plan on setting reception records to rival other NFL receiving duos. At least that’s what I heard.

If you’ve read any  and/or all of my articles since I started here at AA, you probably know that I’m a bit of a homer. I’m the eternal optimist. I think Alex Smith is the answer for the Chiefs’ needs at quarterback. I think Andy Reid can lead this team to the promise land of playoff wins and Lombardi trophies. While I’m so happy that the Chiefs are officially in camp and the NFL wasteland that is mid-June to the end of July is over, I will go on record as saying that I hate the NFL preseason.

I know that’s a pretty bold statement to make. Training camp is perhaps the time when the team is the closest to the fans. Having open practices, autograph sessions and family fun days is awesome for the fans in KC area, but as far as real football goes, to me it’s the most frustrating. So, as we’re still in the offseason, and thus the time of year when lists are all the rage, here’s the top five reasons I hate the preaseason.

5. Unnecessary injuries.

Tony Moeaki, Devon Wylie and Sanders Commings, I’m talking to you. The season hasn’t even started yet and guys are getting hurt. Two seasons ago, the guy who was supposed to be the replacement for the great “Tony G” was lost before games even mattered. The bad “juju” that surrounded his injury followed the team into the next two games, causing Eric Berry and Jamaal Charles to go down with identical injuries. To me, nothing is more frustrating than losing a player when the games are nothing more than televised scrimmages. I get that football is a full contact sport, but I hate seeing injuries when the records are still 0-0. I mean, we’ve already heard of injuries coming from the Chiefs camp this year and it was only the first practice.

4. Vanilla play books.

I’m ready to see this so-called “Mid-West Coast Offense.” I’m ready to see Alex Smith (or AS11 as he’s come to be known in the world of Disqus comment shorthand) go deep, go short, hit perfectly timed slants across the middle and quick turn timing routes. I don’t want to see a bunch of hand offs and easy plays that we’ve seen a million times. I want to see the playbook, opened up and the team running at full throttle. I want to see Smith line up in the pistol and then audible to the spread only to give it to JC on an end around. I want to see what this team can really do, not the five plays that Andy Reid wants everyone to see.

3. Non-football Sundays…still…

Football is back…kind of. But, it’s not Sunday football, it’s Friday Night Lights, or a weird version of Thursday Night Football. Football on Saturdays isn’t quite right either. I still have to mow the lawn on Sundays, and I really don’t like that because I should be drinking cold beer, eating homemade wings and this awesome buffalo chicken dip that my wife makes all while watching Chiefs football on my 70 inch Sharp LED-LCD television…but there’s no football on. I keep checking the NFL channels on DirecTV, but they’re not there yet…even though they’ve already started charging me my monthly fee for the Sunday Ticket. It’s so frustrating I just want to scream. Oh well, I guess we’re almost there.

2. Camp Holdouts

Eric Fisher, Dwayne Bowe and of course the King of the DBs (and I don’t mean defensive backs) Larry Johnson, I’m talking to you. I hate holdouts with a passion. It pisses me off so much I can’t even put into words how I feel about it. You are professionals. I understand you don’t want to get hurt if you don’t need to, but football is a team sport and the whole team needs to be there in order work as a cohesive unit. If you’re not there, the team can’t gel. If the team can’t gel, you can’t win. If you can’t win, you go 2-14…again…for the third time in the last 10 years. Don’t hold out from camp. Do what you get paid millions of dollars to do. Play football and entertain us fans. Period, dot, end of story.

1. Over Heightened Expectations

Raise your hand if after the first preseason game last year when the first team offense scored touchdowns on consecutive drives (all of this without Dwayne Bowe–please see #2 on the list) and Matt Cassel looked like Joe Montana you went into work the next day and declared the 2012 Chiefs would win the Superbowl? Some of you guys need to put your hands up, because I know I’m not the only one. Ok…how about this? Shout out if you told everyone on your fantasy football league that they should draft Jon Baldwin because he was going to be the sleeper player of the year? Again…nobody? Should I even mention the predictions I made about the Chiefs’ defense? My point here is, with all of the factors I’ve outlined above, the preseason leads to very jaded (or rose-colored) views on how the team will perform during the season.

While I understand that preseason is a necessary evil, and something both the players and the fans have to suffer through, it doesn’t mean I have to like it. It’s just a harsh reminder how close to real football we are, but how much further we really have to go.

I write this post with a light heart, however, because this has been one of the most exciting offseasons in recent memory for the Chiefs. I really am looking forward to that first preseason game against the Who Dat Nation. Honorable mention on this list is that I hate that DirecTV doesn’t carry preseason games as part of the Sunday Ticket.

Oh well. I paid my twenty bucks and I’m ready for some football…kinda…

Until next time, Addicts!