Somewhere in a dark room within the Chiefs practice complex a film projector is rolling.  In the room, instead of a group of players or coaches, Todd Haley and Kyle Orton sit alone.  Rolling on the projector is not film from last Sunday’s defensive battle* between the Chiefs and Bears, but an old game tape from late December in 1990 between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Diego Chargers.  Those of us old enough to remember or smart enough to Google it know that this game clenched the Red and Gold a playoff berth that year.  I’d like to imagine that Haley is talking to Orton not about how Chiefs QB Steve DeBerg played, but instead that he is pointing to the broken pinky on his non-throwing hand that had a peg driven through it.  He’s replaying every hit that DeBerg took.  Haley’s message is as blunt as it is clear: This is what is means to be a Chiefs quarterback.  We spent more than 2 million dollars making you a Chiefs QB to salvage the end of our season so you better man up and get on the field Sunday.

*Although it was indeed a spirited effort by the KC defense last Sunday, this is one of my most loathed euphemisms in all of sports.  It’s used to describe a struggle between two offensively inept teams that, despite having all of football’s rules changed to enhance scoring, still are incapable of moving the ball into the end zone.

It’s no secret that I am a big DeBerg fan, those of you that have been reading the site long enough may remember that I centered my first post around ol’ Steve-o being my favorite Chiefs quarterback.  Yet this article isn’t about how tough DeBerg was.  It also isn’t about saving the Chiefs’ season or the fact that I incessantly get shit from people here in Denver about KC picking up Denver’s garbage for one play while they all pray at the Tebow alter.  This article is about mental and physical toughness at the quarterback position, and whether or not Orton wants to salvage his career.

More after the jump…

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"Better Late Than Never Edition"

If you read my post last week, I posed the question whether it was time to abandon hope of the Chiefs amounting to anything this season. Ultimately, despite the pitiful showing at their home opener against Buffalo, I concluded that it was still too early to tell. Well, it turns out with RB Jamaal Charles out for the season (along with two of our star rookies from last year), it is time to admit that the wheels have come off of this team. As always I have turned to humor in this time of depression, and there are some funny thoughts that have helped get me through this troubled time.

= D     Maybe Matt Cassel should add “Intercept Me Bro” to his line of K-Swiss ads.

= D     Hey we re-signed Mike Cox!  Now at least we get to giggle for the rest of the season when         announcers say, “Mike Cox going up the middle!” or “Mike Cox had great penetration all day long!”*

= D     I wonder if our replacement players will be guys that Pioli and Hunt find off the street holding signs claiming they “Will Work For Food” because that seems to best fit their team spending strategy.

*Thanks go to my brother for pointing that one out.

Fellow Kurt Vonnegut fans will appreciate this need for humor because when all hope seems to be lost in humanity, really what else is there left to do but laugh? Really it seems that we have regressed to the point that this is our only option. It is hard to believe that this post is coming just after Week Two of the regular season, but as Chiefs fans, we are used to it. The true team mantra has been and appears to remain Next Year as opposed to Chiefs Will.

Abandon All Hope Ye Who Click “Continue Reading This Post.”

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I woke up Monday to a HeyTell message from my brother asking if it was a dream or if the Chiefs really lost to the Buffalo Bills 41-7 at home. I must admit that although I knew it had happened, I still was shocked enough that I checked “The Website” (as I now call AA) just to verify. It’s a fortunate thing that I am slated to post on Tuesdays, because I’m not so sure I would have had the heart to put pen to paper (or fingers to keys) after the devastating loss suffered by all Chiefs players, staff, and fans Sunday at the hands of the supposedly terrible Buffalo Bills. After waiting eight solid months and going through the dreadful lockout to see KC football again, the performance by the Red and Gold Sunday left me feeling deflated. I responded with jokes as the messages rolled into my phone from friends who are fans of other teams to seem in good humor, but all semblance of taking the game with a grain of salt was feigned. I felt let down to say the least.

I didn’t watch any more football that day, and spent the rest of my time cutting open long-healed scars by watching 9/11 coverage until it was time to go to bed. Hard to believe it’s been 10 years, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

So what happened? Todd Haley’s press conferences after the loss give me both hope and doubt.  It was strangely comforting to hear Todd Haley take full responsibility after the game and mean it. He knew his team was not prepared, and he owned it. His apparent humility gave me hope that he knew his plan had failed, and it was time to revisit his thinking. That despite his careful use of players after the lockout key guys were still injured. With the loss of Moeaki and Berry, now the Chiefs are not only out two of their most influential rookies from last season, but are behind every other team in the NFL as far as preparation. We all knew his preseason tactics were a gamble (admittedly, a very poor one) and now it’s time to focus on next week. But wait, hold the phone, did I hear him say that he and his coaching staff all thought they were 100% ready going into Sunday’s game? This insight is decidedly not good. Todd may be using this as a tactic to avoid saying his offseason/preseason plan failed, but if this is true it means that Todd Haley and his coaching staff are clueless and incompetent beyond anything that anyone has previously conceived (even Double D). This, my friends, is perhaps the most discouraging thought to come out of the entire calamity.

More thoughts on the press conference, and some insight into the game after you click the thing.

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Maybe this approach is aimed at weathering a late season five-game stretch against New England, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Chicago and the New York Jets that will almost assuredly make or break the Chiefs season. But is this the right approach? Do you want you guys still learning the system during the first few weeks of the regular season?  It does not seem like the most efficient approach to me.

Right 53 doesn’t mean anything anymore, if it ever did.   Because no definition of “right 53″ includes Jonathan Baldwin, Justin Houston, Jared Gaither and Jerrell Powe.  These guys are the exact opposite of what that phrase was supposed to mean.  Upside lottery tickets.  Hey, I love ‘em.  But up until this season we all thought Pioli didn’t.  Its like some guy spent two years telling us he didn’t like ice cream and then when he finally had us over to his house his freezer was full of Cherry Garcia and Americone Dream.

Victor, Ladner, Merlin, and Randy after the jump…

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A lot can happen in a week.  While I was fishing Lake Michigan, camping out, and escaping the inferno of Oklahoma the Chiefs were busy continuing to not care about pre-season games, getting into fights, and then snubbing the media.

Let me make it abundantly clear that I could not care less if we win a preseason game.  The outcome of those games doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter to the team, it doesn’t matter to the coach, and other than the people that pay to go to the games who probably don’t care about a win either, the fans largely don’t care.  Hell watching the Giants/Bears game last night even the Monday Night Football crew couldn’t completely hide their total disinterest towards the end of the game.  Todd, lose every freaking game in the preseason so long as those boys are ready to play come September.

As far as the Chiefs approach to their training regimen and these games, it’s a gamble.  No surpise here.  We all have become aware of the gambling nature of Todd Haley.  Sure he can tell you that there is statistical data to show that his gambles are sound, but so can a guy in Vegas with notepads full of supposed patterns he’s found in the slot machines by spending his kid’s college fund.  A gamble is a gamble, that’s why they call it “a gamble.”  Last year the Chiefs took a similarly cockeyed approach to their bye week by having players act as coaches during practices.  I conjectured this format was put into place to prepare our boys in the Red and Gold for player ran practices during the lockout, but the world may never know.  The result of this player-coach approach?  Of course the Chiefs lost to the Colts.  So, will the extra time Haley and Friends took to work on conditioning end up being the smart move over focusing on actual football work?  Only if the Chiefs can keep it close enough at the start of games to make the fourth quarter matter.

Like I said, it’s a gamble.

We dig into Thomas Jones going “Larry Johnson” on Jonathan Baldwin after the jump…

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Holy crap we are about to have football again.  This Friday we will actually get to see the Red and Gold take the field for the first time in 7 months, and I am very excited.  Sure it’s only the preseason, and at best the first string players will only be on the field for the first series of downs, but after the craziness of this past off season it might as well be the freaking Super Bowl.

So all of this excitement has got me to thinking about the upcoming season, and I thought it would be fun for all of us to get some pre-preseason predictions on record to see just how close our expectations are to reality.  At the end of the season I will go through and tally up who had the most correct answers and they will be dubbed the winner of this little contest.  I will donate my entire months Arrowhead Addict salary to the winner (bad time to tell you all this is basically a volunteer gig…).

We will start after the jump.  Merlin, you can play so long as you leave the cover on your seeing stone.

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All seriousness aside, just what are we getting in Kelly Gregg? Will the addition of Queequeg and Powe, the rookie 6th rounder, be greater than, less than, or zero sum with the subtraction of veterans Sweet Ron and Perv? As to the second question, it’s a hard call at this point but we’ll nevertheless check what the stats have to say.

Crock Blocking

(we really gotta get Crock a feature logo)

I find it next to impossible that McCluster, under these circumstances, will ever justify where we drafted him.

But hope is not lost, not entirely.  And in the face of Wendler’s simple math, I think the Chiefs would do well to try to make the numbers fit, and give McCluster a serious chance to be an impact player.

Here are five ways I could see the Chiefs utilizing McCluster in productive ways. I’ve gone out of my way to assure that each way is not a gimmick, and can make repeat appareances week in and week out, rather than relying on surprise plays.

Jeremy, myself, Lyle, Taylor, and Nikolozi through the looking glass…

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For me the preseason games are an opportunity to see Arrowhead in a different light. The pace is slow. The traffic is light. The hurried walk to the stadium is a casual stroll. Your not in a rush because there isn’t anything to miss. Many fans stay an hour and go home. Others arrive just before its over. Many never even go into the stadium they must mill about on the parking lot, having found that strolling around a warm August night is more entertaining that watching the game.

 In the starting lineup, the secondary is the strength of the Chiefs defense. Berry, Lewis, Flowers and Carr have the potential to be as effective as the awesome secondary of Cherry, Burruss, Lewis and Ross. That unit was the best secondary unit the Chiefs have ever fielded. Will the current group be as good? I don’t know, but they could. Depth is a bit of an issue, but the starting lineup is good.

An external juxtaposition of the internal dichotomy within Ladner, Victor’s musings over redemption for an adversary turned consort, and the first half of a quid pro quo dialogue between Big Matt and Lyle after this rather verbose and sesquipedalian transitional sentence…

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So all in all it appears that unfortunately I was right about free agency up to this point.  No big splashes (unless you count picking up the Cardinals #2 receiver) and a few decent players picked up at bargain prices.  According to Scott Pioli he has no set cap for spending from the Hunt family, and basically has free reign to pay for and pick up whoever he wants for the team.  Evidently Pioli never saw the movie “Blank Check.”

So either Pioli is lying (or how I’m sure he would justify it telling a “half-truth”) or he really doesn’t see any big free agents that are worth the asking price.  At least here the Chiefs are consistent, applying the same mode of thinking that brought the Chiefs Mike Vrabel: Bring in veterans that can play a couple of years to help mentor draft picks until they are ready to take over.  I don’t mind that line of thought other than the fact that it makes for a dull free agent market.

Another interesting piece of information from this press conference was that Haley and Pioli had a so called “comprehensive plan” for dealing with free agency.  I think we can all agree that nothing that they have done so far appears to be all that comprehensive. During the FA threads it was mentioned that weighing all of the gains and losses that the Chiefs were a worse team this year than last year.  Granted that may be true, but the more I think about it the more I think that is not the question we should ask.  I think the real question that should be at the forefront of our Addict brain is:  Are the Chiefs better than the other AFC West teams?

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By all accounts the deal is about done, and it seems to be something both sides can agree on.  I’m no lawyer, to pour over the minutiae and say who got the better of it.  I’m hopelessly biased against the owners in any case.  But, I mean, shouldn’t it be a given that you’re going to unanimously approve a plan you wrote?  I would guess all the disagreement pretty much gets weeded out during authorship, right?  Was a “we did it!” press conference before the players had even seen the proposal really necessary?

But that said, I am going to look at this lockout, after the fact, as a small blessing. Besides leaving the league and its players (and definitely its owners) in a better state for having hashed out their differences—and I really do believe that—it has given me a new appreciation that I didn’t think I’d allow myself to feel. It isn’t all just going to be ponies and gum drops and rainbows and chicken spiedini from here on. Some very bitter and lingering truths about the owners and the players (but mostly the owners) came to light, and as ticket prices and team profits continue to rise, much of the same fan frustration will remain.

Ladner, Merlin, and Randy after the jump:

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The longest work stoppage in NFL history is officially over.  The owners and players can pat themselves on the back (they already did) for biting the bullet and signing a deal that will continue to make all of them very rich.  Must’ve been tough.  What I would really like to see is a “Yes We Did” type press conference with Clark Hunt, DeMaurice Smith, and Roger Goodell all trying to look über cool up on stage with fog machines and lasers.  This would be a great day for DeMaurice Smith, finally making it on stage after being beat out by Doctor Teeth as front man for Electric Mayhem.  They could have an entire hour long narcissistic show about their decision to ratify the new CBA as well (I love they used this term like it was the freaking Constitution on the United States).  It would include what thoughts were going through their mind, where their inspiration to sign the document came from, how they did all of this for the fans, what type of pen they used, what type of shoes they were wearing, how it’s all for sale on eBay…

If I am correct though, you all did not come here to read about the lockout though, right?  Screw the past four months.  Addicts, it is time to talk real football!

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Addicts, as far as anyone can tell we are standing on the precipice of what promises to be a whirlwind of free agency and minicamps as players and coaches scramble to get ready for the upcoming season after the lockout ends.  As far as all reports are concerned a deal is very very very close to being completed, or to follow their rhetoric, “The lockout is almost over, unless it’s not, but if it isn’t than it will be soon, unless of course it ends later than sooner, but, well, ah you get the point.”

Realistically I do not think anyone has any idea what’s going on.  In the meantime that leaves the players, coaches, and fans stuck in the awful wake of uncertainty, left with nothing to do but speculate and hope.  Daily I hear of reports from “some guy who once saw a news article about the lockout” or “someone who was cleaning the toilets in the stadium after a Jonas Brothers concert” that decidedly say the lockout is almost over, to hang on, to bla-bla-bla.  I hate to sound cynical, but this seems more like a device to keep people listening and reading than real reporting.  I will believe what I hear when it is from the mouth of a credible source, until then I will disregard it like I do all of the fake websites showing what the iPhone 5 will look like.

More below the fold…

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Okay, so I am guessing that  there is already a resounding dissent brooding in your gut from reading just the title of this post.  As an historic AFL franchise the Chiefs have changed their uniforms minimally since they were the Dallas Texans, and that is something that many of us Chiefs fans and especially the Addicts take pride in.

It is no secret that people are resistant to change.  Most of the status quo who continually speak about what they would love to have or what they would like to do with their lives continue down the same paths simply because they fear change.  Changing the uniforms of our beloved Chiefs threatens to break certain continuities that help connect us as adults back to our childhood, and it threatens to create a fissure in the Chiefs timeline.

If this is such a controversial call why should we do it?  Find out after the jump.

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Addicts, for those of us that have been to games at Arrowhead Stadium I think it is fair to say that the experience is something that is far above and beyond most if not all other venues in any sport in the US.  There is definitely something special about the tailgating, the Sea of Red, the crowd noise, the Hall of Honor, and the list keeps on going.  Yea, the fans of Kansas City’s NFL team are blessed indeed with a pretty bitchin’ venue to see our gladiators do battle with other cities.

This post isn’t about all of those awesome things though.  As I have gone to more and more sporting events I have noticed that although the Arrowhead Experience puts all others to shame there are some very cool things done in other sports that the Chiefs and NFL in general could learn from.

A sport by sport breakdown after the jump.

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It’s good to be back from vacation, well sort of.  When you leave for a while you always come back to a pile of work and chores that were neglected while you were away, but such is life.  While I was visiting friends and family in Kansas City this past week I had the opportunity to do several things.  I went to my first MLS game to see Sporting KC beat the San Jose Earthquakes 1-0, caught some sun at the lake, and while driving I spent a lot of time listening to 810 Sports Radio which is awesome if you’re a fan of KC sports.  Indeed I forgot just much more in depth coverage you get from the media when you’re actually in town.  While driving around one day, they were interviewing the Chiefs players that attended the three day minicamp put together primarily by QB Matt Cassel, and while listening to these players talk about how much work Matt put into getting this thing rolling something struck me.

Could it be?  Did I just unwittingly stumble upon a plot forged by football masterminds dating back to week four of last season, or has this lockout finally pushed good ol’ Nick over the edge of insanity?  Am I seeing just how much forethought and vision Todd Haley’s coaching staff possesses, or am I connecting dots to form a picture that only I can see?

Find out after the jump.

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To Help With Relief Text REDCROSS to 90999

Chiefs fans and fellow Addicts, there is an old saying that no news is good news.  The meaning behind this is that if you don’t hear anything, at least nothing bad is happening.  This saying, however, is complete bullshit when it comes to the NFL this offseason.  No news is definitely bad news.  So, with the uber-coverage going on with the lockout and appeals, and the totally unwarranted reports of Al Davis surviving from daily injections of Red Bull and virgin blood,* I am going to look forward and review the multiple story lines forming for the Chiefs’ upcoming season.

*After much research and many phone calls, I have found that without a doubt Al Davis has never been nor will be sponsored by Red Bull.  A spokesperson on the telephone assured me that all reports of Al Davis injecting their product while mixed with the blood of virgins, “May in fact be true, but the effects of injecting Red Bull mixed with the blood of other people is not advised, may be detrimental to your health, and any reported results of extending the life of Al Davis have not been evaluated by the FDA at this time.”

Despite the lack of offseason acquisitions and trades, the more I look into next year, the more I see that there are a multitude of appealing plotlines and unanswered questions old and new that I will be watching for.  So let’s choose to ignore the deafening silence of this offseason and take a look at what’s in store if/when the Red and Gold take the field in the 2011-2012 season.

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"Proof Through the Night That Our Flag Was Still There"

After the winds that broke a city and the storm that claimed the lives of so many, utter devastation was left in the wake of a tornado nearly a mile wide.  Yet, like the mythical Phoenix, something had risen from beneath the splintered wood and scattered belongings.  Walking around the shattered homes and cars spray-painted with X’s you can see this Phoenix.  You can see it in the eyes of rescue workers, the makeshift rest-stops giving away free food, the trucks of relief workers driving around offering repast, and the cases of water, work gloves, and trash bags left on every neighborhood corner for anyone willing to pitch in.  This Phoenix, the indomitable human spirit, exists in the people of Joplin through their anguish and time of great sorrow.  This human spirit bonds strangers together to help sift through the rubble to try and find anything to link them back to a time just over a week ago before everything changed.

My hat goes off to the Kansas City Chiefs for donating money to the relief efforts, and using Arrowhead as a base for collecting supplies and donations for those affected.  Affected isn’t the right word though.  These people were not “affected” by a “destructive storm.” I have been milling over in my head the past three days now what terminology can accurately depict what I saw when a group of us went up Wednesday and I still cannot describe what I experienced.

So I will start at the beginning.

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To Help With Relief Text REDCROSS to 90999

Chiefs fans, living in the Midwest during the spring is tumultuous to say the least.  This week alone at least two deadly tornadoes have ripped through the area, and I can tell you that everyone is on edge every time a dark cloud crests the horizon.  There is something unnerving about a severe storm that can only be known to those that have experienced the utter terror and destruction it can bring.  There is a term still used by insurance companies and the like today that describe it as an “act of God.”  Although I am not going to bring religious discussion into this forum, I believe that this is a fitting term.  With storms of this magnitude one truly understands how small they are, and are left with no other alternative than hope to guide them through the storm to survive.  There is a palpable sense of a higher power wreaking havoc and destruction when something like this happens.

Meteorologists can sit there and tell you exactly what forms a tornado.  They can give you warning signs and set off sirens to help you get ready.  They have written volumes of books, and teach thousands of hours of college level classes available to determine the signs of an upcoming storm.  The one thing they cannot tell you is when a tornado will strike.  There will always be signs that the weather is moving in that direction and there will always be people anticipating it to hit, but no one can tell you for sure a tornado will hit until it happens.

See any correlation?

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My name is Nick Rodgers, and I am an Addict.

To be specific, I am an Arrowhead Addict.  I have spent my entire life injecting my mind with Kansas City Chiefs information, and getting high on Red and Gold fumes to enhance my life.  Despite the long off seasons there is always that enticing trickle of Chiefs information available to get by until the next score, like the last resin hit out of your favorite bong.  No matter how desperate the times or how barren the Chiefs World seemed, there was always something: contract negotiations, trade offers, rumors, workouts, rookie signings, free agency etc.  Right now there is nothing.  We continue to talk to each other to keep our minds sane like acid fiends trying to decide exactly what color music is, but really this is merely a distraction from the fact that we as fans are in fact locked out from the NFL as well.  We are locked out, and I for one have entered the stages of withdrawal.

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Chiefs fans, my Blitz is a day late, but hopefully not a dollar short this week.  A huge dap to Double D for helping a guy out.  I was out of town and unable to get a decent hotel room let alone access to the internet for the past couple of days.* DD, as I’m sue you know, it’s nice to escape the Patrick “The Electric Fillet Knife”  Allen’s policy of cutting off a finger knuckle for every post you miss here at the site if you don’t get someone to cover for you (Tip for our new writers: He starts with the thumbs.  I can hardly hold a beer anymore).  Anyways, I’m back, it’s late, I work early, and during my stay in the scenic Dallas metro area I have a topic of discussion I would like to post to the Chiefs fans and Addicts out there. Oh, and I lied about the Dallas metro area being scenic just in case you were planning on using that as a recommendation for a vacation spot…

*On a work trip, my room was uninhabitable because someone not only overflowed the toilet, but let it run all night supposedly without noticing, so I was ever so graciously accommodated in another hotel away from all my comrades which threw off the activities for the evening which you will hear about in a minute.  As my boss told me, “Happy effin’ birthday!”

Amidst the meetings, networking, learnings, faces to names, flux capacitorization, and everything else that is expected with a corporate trip we also had a group activity at the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington to watch them whoop the shit out of the Oakland A’s (7-2).  Luckily do to the raw sewage inhabiting the hotel room I was supposed to stay at, I was late and got there at the start of the 3rd inning.  Why can’t people just leave simply an upper decker anymore?  Yet despite all of this frustration, here is the point of the story where I have to not only brag, but point out the coincidence of my good fortune from the past week.  I had just got back to Tulsa Monday evening from Kansas City where I watched the Royals beat the A’s 4-3 on a bottom of the 9^th sac-fly.  So I got to see an Oakland team lose twice in a week in two different states.  Yeah I know it’s cheesy to call this out, but I didn’t plan it and really what are the odds?  This week was a perfect combination of my two favorite activities: going to professional sporting events, and hating teams from Oakland.  Even though the A’s were formerly a KC team I still hate them.  To me though the A’s are like your toothbrush:  Once you drop it in the toilet it’s ruined.  Goddamn I hate Oakland.

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Chiefs fans, the 2011 NFL Draft is in the books, and right now even with all of the lockout drama in the NFL playing out like a mash up of “Law and Order” and “”Teen Mom” it’s hard to not be excited about the group of new young players acquired this past week.  I have never been someone that follows or talks about the draft each year at great length, but I think we learned a great deal about the Pioli/Haley regime with this draft.  Much of what we learned led us to the wise man conclusion reached by Socrates so many thousands of years ago: We truly know nothing.

I will be up front and honest here.  I am not claiming to be all knowing and all seeing.  I, like many of you, figured that this year we will see a lot more of the same.  I figured we would go for “high character” guys with lots of college leadership that seemed to be “safe picks.”  I figured we would draft a bunch of team captains that filled specific needs, but not take a lot of risks.*  I was in the draft chat, doing my best not to sound like an idiot since I know very little about the players involved and how the inner-workings of the draft play out besides what I have learned from the draft posts on this site, when BAM!  Not only do the Chiefs reach some on their first pick, but they go for a huge wide receiver with lots of potential and a bad rap for character flaws.  As everyone tried to digest what had just happened with the Ravens not picking and the Chiefs basically running up on stage with their card I began to realize just how little I understood the plan for the Kansas City Chiefs, and then I became very excited to see just where this team was going.

*By risks I do not mean players with unseen talent, but rather players that would not fall in line easily, and that despite having great physical talent would ultimately be a risk because they couldn’t wrap their noodle around what the team and organization were trying to do.

Where this team is going, and Chiefs 2011 Beast Mode after the jump.

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As I’ve analyzed, compartmentalized, and digested the last football season for the Kansas City Chiefs in a year where they exceeded all expectations with the exception of the crazy homers, I look forward to the new schedule and realize that as much as the Chiefs appeared to grow this year they will in all probability appear to digress proportionally next season (if there is a season).  Long story short, I would advise you Kansas City fans to put a bit of a leash on your expectations for the upcoming season.

A few reasons why after the jump…

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Chiefs fans, as you may recall, I work in the retail industry.  Right now we are in the midst of our physical inventory process where we prepare for one night where we count everything in the store.  This process is very labor intensive and is the reason you were deprived of my Blitz last week.  In a major corporation with dozens of different ways inventory can enter or leave the system, sometimes something as simple as counting an item to ensure that you have the correct amount can become a daunting task.

The same can be said of a football team.  What I have realized in the several years I have spent regulating inventory is that everyone seems to take for granted that when they check the computer that everything is going to match up.  What is perhaps a more astute observation is that no one cares about inventory until it is wrong.  No one cares until they need something and it is not there when all of the tools at their disposal show that it should be.  These deficiencies seem to erase the vast plethora of other times where everything has been right on, and the focus compacts into a singularity where the memories taken for granted are destroyed like matter in the center of a black hole.

I get to how this relates to the Kansas City Chiefs after the jump.

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We are all Chiefs fans here.  We love them.  Recently, however, I have been very disgusted with football.  As hard as this is to say, I have to really make myself go onto AA some days because thinking about all of this just really makes me angry.  Recently, I have been thinking a lot about this situation and how to come to a resolution.  I am reminded, not of anything related to football, but of a graphic novel I read called “The Watchmen.”  I am not talking about the movie, which although by itself was pretty cool with great CGI and such, but really didn’t live up to the book.  What movies ever really do live up to the book though?

If you’ve never read “The Watchmen” and are planning to, you may not want to go past the jump.

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Fellow Addicts and Chiefs fans, I know that we are all tired of hearing about the labor negotiations, but with the impending lockout to start tomorrow (unless I have missed something and it’s now resolved while I write this post in which case I will look awful silly, which I’m cool with) I felt that I had to talk about it in some form.  Many of us have mentioned writing letters to Clark Hunt as fans and sending them to 1 Arrowhead Drive, and I have to say I was tempted myself.  I think I will abstain from this round.  The reason why?

Go ahead and try to get a hold Chiefs Chairman Clark Hunt’s office tomorrow if/when the lockout starts.  If I had to guess he will not be there.  He could be at negotiations, he could be trying to get something resolved, but I’d rather be pessimistic and insulting.  So, I think you would get an auto-reply that would go something like this:

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I chose this because I can't figure out what sense the picture makes or how it relates to week in review.

Saturday night here at Arrowhead Addict, so it’s time for part two of the week in review.  We have had lots of interesting things being reported, from Todd Haley’s quirky rhetoric in press conferences at the NFL scouting combine to bags of white powdery substances falling out of phantom jackets.  For fans of this site Chiefs news is like the mail, it never stops.  Now if I can just figure out who the hell Pepe Silvia is and get his mail to him (gold star for first person to respond correctly to where that reference came from).

We were relatively light in our 3pm EST posts this week.  Lyle gave plead his case to the Addicts in regards to bringing Le’Ron McClain to Kansas City, and Adam let us all know what he would be watching at the NFL Scouting Combine this year.  I just heard John Clayton on ESPN radio driving home from work saying that Cam Newton‘s stock went up during the combine, and I know the Chiefs have no interest or hopes of getting Newton, but the reason I bring it up is that he said something a little odd.  One of the things he commented on was Cam Newton‘s smile, and how that helped raise his stock…  Yeah, I knew there was a reason I never made it to the pro’s.  I just thought it had more to do with my general lack of physical prowess and athletic ability, but I have to admit I do not have a great smile.

So, short and sweet tonight Addicts.  The drudgery of the off season continues.  I watched what I thought was a pretty horrible movie the other night called “The Blind Side” and it got me to thinking about what my favorite football movie was.  There’s a lot off good iconic ones out there (“Remember the Titans,” “Rudy” etc.) but I think I would have to go with “The Water Boy.”  It’s silly and stupid, but every time I hear, “Joe Montana was a quarterback you crazy asshole!” I laugh my ass off.  So Addicts, what would you say is your favorite football flick?

Have a good night, I’m out!

Much Cooler Graphic Coming Soon to a Blog Near You!!!

Alas Addicts, I know that all of you were hanging on the edge of your seats in anticipation, but I was not selected for the position in Denver I applied for earlier in the week.  If you have no idea what I am talking about, you can read about it here.  Don’t fear though, for yours truly perseverance is the name of the game and I will get where I want to go.  For some reason right now that is Donkeyland, go figure.

I think the format for the Open Mic Night has run a little stale (not much of an Open Mic Night when no one comments), so I will be changing it up a bit from now on and it will henceforth be the “Week In Review” which on Friday nights will link to our 1pm EST posts, and on Saturday nights will link to our 3pm EST posts.  The purpose in this will be to continue any discussions from those posts, any new thoughts, or to start discussions that should have been but did not happen.  In addition to the week in review, I will give some additional thoughts which may or may not be associated with the Chiefs.  This is what happens when a person has free reigns to do what they want on the interweb.  Right now I am listening to Sublime (40 oz to Freedom) and am wondering how many Addicts are also Sublime fans.

Big Matt started us off with his predilection for attaching himself to a small group of draft picks that he knows the Chiefs will not pick in his Draft Picks Done Right post.  Victor reworked the Academy Award Nominations for best picture into a quiz format for the Chiefs in his “And the Oscar Goes To” post, and as linked above, I chronicled what I though were the five worst places to live as a Chiefs fan.  Merlin continued his Thursday Draft Day coverage and detailed some Mid-Late round draft prospects we should keep our eyes on as fans, and my boy Randy revisited the heartbreak of the Tony Gonzalez trade and subsequent failure in Atlanta in his post entitled “Not Again Tony G!”

That’s the first part of our week in review Addicts.  The rest will be up tomorrow.  Feel free to peruse the links and bring up anything that is still on your brain.  I am going to spend the rest of the night kicking back and listening to some Sublime.  It’s a shame Bradley’s life ended so tragically.

Another Friday evening.  Another week coming to an end.  Another week closer to Chiefs games.  We hope.  For us Addicts, this is how we tell time.  The long wait for the snow to melt, summer to come and pass,  and the leaves to grow and start to turn an array of brilliant colors.  We fill our time with the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, the NBA playoffs, NASCAR, and Major League Baseball, but these are merely time killers for a lot of us.  We wait for these sports to come to an end like months on a Chiefs Calendar just as we waited for our birthdays when we were young.  Another marker passed, another upcoming, that much closer to seeing the Red and Gold take the field.  Another day closer.

In the meantime we spend our time speculating about how the new management of our team will handle players, and get angry about the CBA negotiations to the point we start making demands of our own.  We assure ourselves and others that if the season does not happen we will still make it through, no matter how ridiculous of measures we have to take.  We look at what improvements we can make in the upcoming year through free agency and the draft, and quiz ourselves over players and teams of old to see how deep our knowledge and passion run.  We do all of this in anticipation of that treasured moment when the coin flips, our team lines up, the ball is kicked, and we can start the cycle anew.  This is what we do as fans.

I left out discussion on purpose.  Just like keeping the memory of someone alive when they move away by speaking of them often, we talk about the Chiefs and this keeps the NFL alive in our thoughts while the players and coaches restructure through the off season to try and put together a championship organization.  This is the night to talk about whatever you want to keep the discussion going.  What do you think of having an ex-head coach brought in to aid Matt Cassel?  How much money should the Chiefs consider paying Tamba Hali?  Will Todd Haley ever cut his hair?  The great thing is, there is always a lot to talk about.  I hope you all have a great night, and Patrick will be at it again early tomorrow with your morning fix!

I’m not going to bother rehashing the Jets connection like some 9-11 conspiracy theorist, but it does make a person wonder what was so special about that Jets* staff in the late 90’s that has fostered such a love for players/personnel from that team.  Whatever it was, the magic has not left in the eyes of Pioli and Haley, so they continue to bring aboard and promote talent from that roster.

*There is one connection between the Jets and Chiefs that is perhaps not as obvious as it is embarrassing. These are the two teams with the longest Super Bowl drought in the NFL (excluding teams that have never gone).  The Jets, fortunately, have a one year lead on the Chiefs in this race but seem to be much closer to ending their drought than the Chiefs do.  This would leave us Kansas City fans with the longest Super Bowl drought and most consecutive playoff losses in NFL history.  Feeling better about being a Chiefs fan yet?

There are a lot of theories as to why this hire was made.  We will explore those after the jump, but personally if I had to pick the one reason Muir was chosen over any other, I would have to say that it was because of his connection to Haley/Pioli from that magical Jets team, or at least that’s where it started.

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So I’m sitting here thinking about the Chiefs as I’m stuck here in my house.  Snow-nami 2011 officially struck T-town yesterday leaving us 18-21 inches where I live (depending on which internet site you read).  This has given me plenty of time to think, about the season the Chiefs had last year, about the upcoming Super Bowl, about which of my family members I’d eat first if the snow continued to fall, but mostly about the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

I am not going to pretend that I know all of the forces at play, how they interact, or exactly how much money is involved.  I’m sure I could have spent those hours I wasted on Madden destroying the Ravens over and over again more wisely doing research, but if the previous statement lets you into my psyche at all, right now I’m not in a research mood.  I’m pissed off.

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Take if from me, branding is important.  Instantaneous recognition and association by your target demographic/audience with your brand enhances not only your business, but enhances your product or service for the people looking for it.  With that said, this week at AA we officially launched our branded articles with user submitted artwork.  I personally love my “Nick’s Blitz” logo, and would like to thank Tyler for taking the time to design it for me since I barely know how to use the internets, let alone photoshop.  Thank you to everyone who took time to help make this site even better, we are all very thrilled with the submissions and are in your debt.

This week Big Matt turned his grading powers to the Chiefs coaching staff, while Victor came down with a case of Pro Bowl fever after more and more Chiefs were named to the roster.  I posted that I think the Chiefs have an “identity crisis,” and Merlin compared KC fans to, yes, Yankee fans wondering who we would be willing to live with in absence of an all Pro Bowl team.  Finally Jeremy brought up the horror of the Chiefs 41 year Super Bowl drought and voiced his frustration with fair weather fans of Super Bowl teams.  Jeremy, if you want to watch a Chiefs Super Bowl in a room alone, then I’d like to be in the room with you.  Just kidding, that would be a little weird.

So Addicts, what do you want to talk about?  I know a lot of you are fresh off of spitting venom at Double D for his article saying the Chiefs need to hire Jeff Fisher, and it’s cool, he can take it.  Just a couple of thoughts before I’m out.  Which Chiefs are you most looking forward to see play during the Pro Bowl?  Do you like the idea of having the Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl, seeing now that it has helped a couple of our guys out?  That’s all I got, have a good night!

This past season was a grab bag of offense and defense either saving or losing games.  The defense made a goal line stand to secure a win against the Philip Rivers led Chargers, but blew a fourth quarter lead against the Texans.  The offense came out blazing in games against San Francisco, Seattle, and Tennessee, but fell flat in the second San Diego game, the Raiders games, and the playoff loss to Baltimore.  There have been moments of defensive brilliance, offensive drives that unfolded like poetry, and utter disappointment from both sides.  Truly signs of a developing team struggling to forge an identity for themselves in a league laden with strong personalities.

Team identity goes beyond just how a certain person or group performs on the field.  A team with an identity to outsiders and players coming into their system has an almost mythical quality.  At times a team with a strong identity can seem superhuman, all knowing, and even magical.  The will and attitude this personality creates within an organization elevates otherwise pedestrian athletes and coaches to a level that truly is greater than its components.  The Steelers and Ravens identities are woven into a tradition of strong defense.  The Colts and Saints conversely are sewn into a fabric of pure offensive power.  These teams know who and what they are, and for better or worse stick to their guns year in and year out.

So that brings us back to the question, “Just who are the Chiefs going to be?”  This is an interesting question because right now the Chiefs destiny stands on the edge of a blade (I know, nice LOTR reference right?), and they are a couple of key acquisitions away on both sides of the ball from attaining a strong team personality.  Will they acquire a high profile receiver and become a true offensive powerhouse, or will they get another pass rusher and crucify opposing quarterbacks?  I’m sure a lot of you are asking, “Why not do both?”

My answer to that after the jump…

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source: http://www.opensportsbookusa.com

The Kansas City Chiefs tied records with the Indianapolis Colts this year at 10-6, both hosted home playoff games as division winners in the AFC.  The Chiefs being the fourth seed played the fifth seeded Baltimore Ravens, and the Colts being the third seed played the sixth seeded New York Loudmouths Jets.  Sounds good right?

Wait a second.  The Jets and Ravens had better records then both of the teams they played, and yet still had to go on the road to face them because they won weaker divisions.  How is that fair?  To be 100% fair the playoff home games should go to the teams with the best records, not necessarily division winners, correct?  Well that’s what you will hear if you listen to any sports radio show this side of the universe.

Realistically, there are several options available to the NFL if they consider doing this, and none of them have come about just this year.  They have become a hot button since the SeaChickens Seahawks hosted a home playoff game after winning their division with a losing record.  Moreover, this has become an even larger issue since they knocked the defending Super Bowl Champion Saints out of the first round of the playoffs.  The Media doesn’t take kindly to their favorite teams not doing as well as they told everyone they would.*

*See 2010 Vikings and Cowboys.

The different NFL seeding breakdowns, and how this applies to the Chiefs after the jump.

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Source: gambling911.com

*Drumroll*

Open Mic Night Part Two of the Divisional Playoff Weekend!!!

We have made our picks, did you make yours?  I didn’t do so hot last week, not that any of the other games mattered to me.  Here at AA there has been a lot of post season activity.  Patrick has a million posts, but he finally took his stance on Todd Haley, and Lyle mentioned key players on KC’s squad to say that the Chiefs have laid the foundation often spoke of.  Adam noted that the Chiefs need to keep moving forward, and Randy asked all of you Addicts what history/historic players you have seen during your own personal Arrowhead Adventures.

So, in the spirit of the post season, who do you want to see in the Super Bowl out of the remaining teams?  I think I would like to see a match between the Patriots and the Falcons.  I can’t get rid of my love of Tony G, and I would love to see him get a ring now that we are out of the mix.  I also know there’s a lot of sentiment the other way.  Also, lets take a look at the opponents the Chiefs face next year and see what games you are looking forward to.  I’m looking forward to the Vikings game because my buddy from Minnesota and I are gonna meet up in KC and go.
You can find their opponents here.

There it is, short and sweet.  The site is yours ladies and gents, have fun!

Keep it coming little man (source: blogs.pitch.com)

The Chiefs game last Sunday sucked.  Aside from the 9 yards per carry Jamaal Charles averaged, I had a hard time grasping the fact that this was the same team I had seen dismantle the Titans just two weeks ago.

That is all I am going to say about the game.  We all know how we feel about it, so to spend 1000+ words going over and over that disgraceful showing would not only be pointless, it would be sadomasochistic.

Before I get to my main points pertaining to the title of this post, I need to get some words in prefacing not only why I am surprised at the current situations the fans and Chiefs organization face, but how baffled I am that not a week removed from the best season in recent memory where our beloved Chiefs won as many games in one year as they had in the previous three that there is such a state of unrest and uncertainty about where this team is headed based only on very thin reporting, skepticism, and pure speculation.

More after the jump

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Dear Coach Haley,

Before the upcoming playoff battle in Arrowhead Stadium, I would like to assume the role as spokesperson for the Chiefs Nation, and more specifically the Addicts here at Arrowhead Addict.  I know that we need no introduction as you probably read our site as often as anyone else, so I will spare rehashing things you already know; for instance that we are the best Kansas City Chief’s blog on the internet.  During your mid week preparation I feel that it is our duty to let you know a few things that we feel very strongly about concerning your organization, and the team you have built these past two years.

First and foremost we would like to say congratulations for the season you and your team have had.  It has been very exciting for all of us to go through the ups, downs, and situational head scratching to ultimately finish the season with an AFC West title that we all take pride in.  It has been too long since we tasted sweet victory over our rivals, and this year has been the light at the end of a long black spiraling tunnel our fan base has traveled through the past several years.  For this we are grateful.

Remember as you read this that although we have no monetary ties to the team other than the countless millions we have invested in Chiefs paraphernalia, tickets, parking passes etc, we have just as much emotional and personal investment in this team (and possibly more) than any one of your players or staff members.  We are the reason that your team exists, and the tax money from Jackson County is the reason you have an awesome newly renovated stadium to play in.  On top of that the legendary home field advantage you gain from us is feared throughout the NFL, and is one of the reasons you and your team will not be watching the playoffs from home this year.  So although this letter contains things you may not want to hear from us, I feel you owe it to the Addicts to continue reading…

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Hey Randy, how close is this to you? (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Hey Chiefs Addicts!  I hope everyone had a great night and held their liquor, I didn’t drink much because I had to work.  I did however hang with the ultra cool crowd and watch Rockin’ Eve with Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest.  I think this is the last year I will watch it while Clark is still on the show.  It’s too depressing to watch him on television.  God bless you Dick Clark, but it is probably time to hang it up.

Well, this is a Chiefs blog so I will hop back to it.  Tomorrow will be the last Sunday of the NFL regular season, and the Chiefs are fortunate enough to close out the “first season” at home with the Faders coming in to KC.  On the site we had a big week.  We smashed the monthly traffic record and have been on high with the Chiefs clenching the division.  Randy reported back from the Titans game on another Arrowhead Adventure, and Lyle went over his top ten reasons the Chiefs won the West.  Double D ran down the current DVOA rankings for the Chiefs, and Merlin weaved his magic into Raiders Week.  As far as Patrick, he handed out his weekly arrowheads after a total domination of Tenessee.

I hope this new year holds great things for the Addicts, and the Chiefs Nation in general.  So the site is now yours Addicts.  There is a lot to talk about:  the Raiders game, the playoffs, the Chuck Weis drama (I hope this ends soon), and the pro bowl selections.  I still think if Manning wasn’t “Manning” that his season wouldn’t have got him into the game over Cassel.  What do you think?

Have a good night Addicts!

The Only Ball I want to see dropped from now on will be in Time's Square. (Source: Yardbarker.com)

On this glorious last night of a new year for the Kansas City Chiefs, I have a couple of New Year’s Resolutions to throw out:

-I will make more time to hate the Oakland Raiders.  It will be tough, but nothing worth while is easy.

-I will not scour ESPN/NFL Network coverage like a fiend for hours awaiting a lame 10 second bit about the Chiefs.  It’s almost more rewarding to do well when people don’t care or notice.  Keep talking about the 0-48 Dallas Cowboys, the Brett Favre million dollar man reconstructions, and how awesome Peyton Manning is after he throws 4 interceptions in a game.  I’m fine with it, and I’m done with the national media as far as the NFL is concerned.

-I will go to every home game next year.  I really wish I could keep this one, but I know it’s a pipe dream.  Everyone makes at least one that they know they cannot or will not keep.

-I will restrain myself from buying every cheesy token thing about the Chiefs if they win the Super Bowl.  I will, however, buy the gold and diamond encrusted Sports Illustrated “Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Champions” issue printed on paper made from a 4000 year old Bristlecone pine, complete with California Condor tail-feather bookmark and great panda bear fur lined case.

-I will laugh more often (at the state of the Denver Broncos).  After the past few years, it’s a laugh of relief, thank God it is not us anymore.  I still cannot stop from laughing when I think about their team getting fined for cheating with the season that they have had.  McDumbass evidentally didn’t learn from “The Hoodie” that when you cheat it’s supposed to help you win.

I think that about covers it.  On to the posts from this week,

Big Matt was so surprised and ecstatic after waking up late Sunday that he felt as if the Chiefs Landed on the Moon.  Victor put out the first in a series of posts concerning the game this week with his Chiefs-Raiders: Championship Edition post, and I followed up with a post about The Arrowhead Advantage and the importance of remaining undefeated at home.  Adam sealed things up with his own thoughts on the topic consuming every Chiefs fan’s brain, whether to sit or play the Chiefs starters.

What resolutions do you have Addicts?  Kudos to anyone that can come up with a convincing resolution involving Herm Edwards, Brodie Croyle, Carl Peterson, or Todd Blackledge.

With that said, It has been a surprising year for us KC fans, and I hope you all have lots of fun and get home safe.

Happy New Year!

Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Todd Haley and his players may not allow themselves to so much as utter the “p” word, but I have been and will be saying it as much as any conversation permits.  The Chiefs are in the playoffs!  Kansas City will host a home playoff game!  Playoffs baby!  For us hardcore fans, it seems like a lifetime since we have said that.  So feel free Addicts, there is no ban on that word here, use it as many times as you like.  You have earned it.

There is one reason that the Chiefs clenched the AFC West this year and earned the right to host a playoff game: The Arrowhead Advantage.  Being undefeated at home gets you to .500 if my math is correct, and you can win less than half of your games away to make it into the playoffs as a rule.  The Chiefs have the best home field advantage in the NFL, and this is why we are AFC West Champions.

After the jump we will review my top five reasons that the Chiefs have the best home field advantage in the NFL.

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You would think from this billboard that it was a Chiefs home game right? (Source: My Cell Phone)

Sunday it was the Kansas City Chiefs at the St. Louis Rams for the Governor’s Cup.  For those of us that were able to escape our daily lives and make the trek up to the Edward Jones Dome to support KC the day was not a disappointment.  We all know by now that the Chiefs put up a pretty stellar performance despite being on the road and Matt Cassel having an internal organ removed 11 days prior to the game, but was it really a road game?

From my previous posts some of you know that I work retail, so it was a combination of luck and wizardry that got me the last Sunday before Christmas off to travel up to the good ol’ Gateway to the West to watch our beloved Chief’s battle for the rights of best team in MO.  After working all day and driving the six hours from Tulsa to St. Louis, I arrived at my hotel to see throngs of Chiefs fans in the lobby and in the street at 1 a.m. yelling “CHIEFS” at me in my red sweatshirt as I toted my bag up to the third floor.  I figured that it was because I was in a hotel, and KC fans would be traveling, so it made sense.  I retired to my suite to steam my jersey in the bathroom and drink beer out of a MacGyver-esque cooler made out of the garbage pail from our room (clean bag, no worries) with the other people I met up with to watch the game because we were without a refrigerator.

After a clean night of heavy out of town drinking in preparation for a Chiefs game, we strolled out of the Hotel and made our way through downtown a few blocks to the Edward Jones Dome to wait for 10:30 when they opened the gates.  I was astounded with the lack of tailgating (it’s in downtown, where are you going to tailgate?), and although Randy already commented on this, it was downright funny to see people lighting up their Hibachi’s in parking garages trying to recreate the experience of an actual football game.  All I have to say is be very glad that Kate Barnes did not get her dream of a downtown Royals stadium passed.  Really, it was so bad that once we were outside the stadium I didn’t even realize it until I saw “Edward Jones Dome” on the side.  It looks like a convention center or upscale shopping center, think Crown Plaza with a football field in the middle of it…

I feel sorry for the St. Louis fans in that respect, but this isn’t about them, it’s about the presence of Red and Gold.

Waiting in what passes for a park outside the dome with live music and beer for sale, I realized that the amount of Chiefs fans at the hotel was not a statistical outlier.  There really were that many KC fans at the game.  Not only was there a mix of 50% Red and Gold to Blue and whatever, but there was a crazy difference in the way the Chiefs fans acted.  We were all getting together and talking about the game, getting rowdy.  The Rams fans were subdued, quiet, scared?  The way we were acting I expected some banter, some confrontation, something, but it never came.  It was official; Kansas City Chiefs fans had taken over downtown St. Louis.

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Mrs. Claus has got it goin' on (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Big game tomorrow for the Kansas City Chiefs.  Huge game.  Playoffs within their grasp, Chargers closing in and gaining momentum, plus an interstate rivalry with the Governor’s Cup at stake!  This is what a December NFL game should feel like.  We have waited patiently as fans, we have gone through the lowest of lows, taken it on the chin from fans of every other team (besides the Lions), and stepped out of the cellar to feel the brisk air of a winter’s morn.  We are ready.

Patrick stated this week in one of his many posts that the Kansas City Chiefs are far from finished, while  Lyle reflected on the season’s beginning and asked the Addicts where the bar was set for this team and if it had changed as the year progressed.  Double D looked at the DVOA rankings for the Chiefs for the season, and flat out said that Todd Haley was not achieving his goal of getting better every day.  Not only that, but that the Chiefs are clearly declining, and that Haley has peaked and should be replaced as head coach.  Randy looked to the future, and looked into the magic 8 ball to receive some predictions for this week, and the rest of the season.  Results?  Well read the article and you will find out!

Our staff predictions will be up tomorrow, but as a prelim to that I want to ask the Addicts how you think our team stacks up against the Rams, specifically how you think the defense will handle the rookie QB Sam Bradford.  I live in Oklahoma, and watched him tear people apart for years.  To be quite honest, the guy has the talent to be one of the best in the league.

Secondly, with Christmas fast approaching, what was the best Chiefs related gift you ever received?  Mine was when I was a kid and all me and my brother wanted was a Steve Bono jersey.  We both got one, and it was awesome.  I found mine in the attic the other day and it brought me back to simpler times.

I will be back on Wednesday with my regularly scheduled post, but I want to throw out a preemptive Merry Christmas to everyone out there in the Chiefs Nation.  If you do not celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a great Hanukkah, have a great Kwanzaa, or if you don’t celebrate any holiday I hope you can be with loved ones and appreciate all of the great things in this world that we have before us.  Have a great night everybody! Go Chiefs!

"No! It's right, left, right, twirl, jump, kneel, smile! Stupid!" (Source: Yardbarker.com)

Here we go again with another Friday night, and the microphone is unoccupied on the best Kansas City Chiefs blog on the internet (yeah, that’s right, Google it).  Yes fellow friends, it is Open Mic Night here at AA, or as I refer to it “Super Fun Ultra Awesome Time!!!”  We have had a heck of a week as fans and as a site.  There have been up’s, there have been downs, and there have been eggs laid in San Diego, twice in one week.  Kansas City fans watched in horror and disgust as their newly found hero QB Matt Cassel sat on the sidelines, and second string QB Brodie Croyle took the field with a team that looked, well, atrocious.

After the fallout Big Matt put it out there that Brodie Croyle and the myth of the kid with the golden arm can be officially put to rest.  Victor followed up the next day and shrugged it off along with the Chiefs players and staff, acknowledging that the division goes to the team with the most wins, not the “best” team.  I posted about the remaining games for the Chiefs and proclaimed to the Chargers and world, “Catch us if you can!”  Adam kept pace with his article, and brought us home for the week saying that if the season came to the last game against the Raiders, that it would be exhilarating to watch the Chiefs battle for the division down the stretch.

So that’s the week in review here at Arrowhead Addict.  A couple of topics I want to throw out there:

Do you think that Cassel will play Sunday against the Rams (I hope so, I have tickets), and if he does not what do you think the game will look like for KC?

After the total decimation in San Diego last weekend, even if the Chiefs do win the division do you think they deserve to be in the playoffs?  The reason I ask is that I look at the NFC West and the fact that a team with a losing record could host a playoff game, and I don’t think any of them deserve that if they finish 7-9.  After that shutout, there are some serious questions  raised about the validity of this team as a playoff contender.

C'mon Brodie! (Source: Yardbarker.com)

We sure have had a rollercoaster of a week in the Chief’s Nation.  First going up with the win over Denver, up more with San Deigos’s loss, then down down down with our defining game of the season being even more in question because Matt Cassel had a bum appendix.  It now looks very likely that Brodie “Kleenex” Croyle will be calling the shots Sunday against the Chargers, and although he is 0-9 as a starter in the NFL, the rest of the team has improved enough to give us hope, which says a lot about how this year has played out.

Here at AA Big Matt started us out on the rollercoaster upswing by rejoicing in disbelief that the Chargers lost, followed by Lyle’s astute breakdown of the Chiefs organization, likening their process to that of building a skyscraper.  I reflected back on the beginning of the Pioli/Haley era and decided that I used to be a hater, and Merlin claimed that this season we positioned ourselves to play with house money (also that we should enjoy it while it lasts).  After the bad news it was  Adam that helped us as we fell back to earth from the Matt Cassel high of the last two months.  But, after all, it’s not the going up part on a roller coaster that’s exciting, it’s the coming down part.  We just need to hope the track stays together…

So what do you want to talk about Addicts?  The night is yours, but I have a couple of things that have rolled around in my scatterbrain lately.  First is, who is going to win the game tomorrow?  You will see my pick along with the staff’s in the morning, but I want to know what you think.  Second, however far-fetched this may seem to ask, do you think there is anything Croyle could do if he plays that could cost Cassel his job or put it in question?  I mean, if he goes out there and does look like Tom Brady, how fast do you think a QB controversy could start?  Like I said, far-fetched, but a curiosity of mine nonetheless.  Have a great night!

"We are still trying to figure out who He is, and why He hate Rod Smart" -Jim Rome (Source: Yardbarker.com)

I will admit it.  When the Chiefs brought in HC Todd Haley, and he had his first press conference, my first thought was, “Wow, where did they find this guy?”  Seriously, while watching that press conference I rolled all of the high caliber coaches around in my head that were out there that the media had brought up (Bill Cower being at the top of that list) and wondered, “With all of that talent out there, why the !@#$ did we hire this nobody?”

It only got worse.  After watching Thigpen and company win two games the previous season under Herman Munster Edwards, then start out under the new management with a record of 1-5, I saw the Broncos go 6-0 after bringing in the offensive coordinator from the Patriots.  I can only liken my disdain at that period to watching someone you start a job with get promoted to management while you’re still stuck cleaning the bathrooms.  The fact that it was the Broncos only made it worse.  I felt like they had found the superstar coach of the future while we were stuck with some hard-nosed idiot that was a wet towel in the media and sat our best players.   I was starting to expect to lose.  I was starting to get angry with the team.  I was starting to become a hater.  What an idiot I was.

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McDaniels rejoices after only being fined $50k for cheating... (Source: Yardbarker.com)

 Great news! The Chiefs have back to back wins once again for the first time in nearly a month.  Spirits are high in the Chiefs Nation!  We are reveling at Bowe’s run at history for receiving touchdowns in one season (two per game would beat Moss’s record set in 2007), and Matt Cassel is looking more and more like a 60 million dollar quarterback.  To top it off our defense put up a good game (20 net rushing yards, not too shabby) despite having players go down faster than the hype surrounding the Miami Heat.  What should I do LeBron? 

It is an old adage that when you look too far down the road, you trip on what is right in front of you.  Well, it’s not an old adage.  I just made it up.  It sounds good though and is fitting.  I of course am talking about the upcoming game against the Denver Broncos. 

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Man Seneca Wallace Must Really Hate the Chiefs (Source: yardbarker.com)

After consecutive losses on the road to Oakland and Denver, the Kansas City Chiefs found themselves for the first time this season in a must win situation Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.  The Chiefs did not disappoint, convincingly putting away the Cards 31-13 (I picked the game at 34-17, but who’s counting?).  Unfortunately, the Chargers manhandled the Broncos in a Monday Night Football blowout putting up 35 to the Ponies 14.  As good as it felt for me to see Denver get smacked down after embarrassing my team, it reminded me of what everyone in the national media has said all year about the Philip Rivers led Chargers:  They start late and finish strong.  This formula seems to be finally taking shape this season and San Diego does not appear to be slowing down.  What does this mean for the red and gold?

Every game is now a must win.

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