It’s Fun To Be A Kansas City Chiefs Fan!

Wow! How long has it been since I have actually been able to say that , and feel it in my heart? “It’s fun to be a Kansas City Chiefs fan!”

Longer than your Arrowhead Adventurer cares to remember.

It wasn’t an instant realization for me. It kind of gradually hit me at the draft party at Arrowhead this year. I felt different.

Everybody knows that person who tries to make fun where there isn’t any.

It just makes things worse in the long run.

For many of us loyal STH’s that is what we had become.

This party was different for me for sure.

I didn’t feel the need to get my photo with the Cheerleaders this year. I was happy to just watch them exist.

I didn’t fight over the discount Chiefs gear either. I have plenty and I’m glad.

I didn’t mind waiting in line for the free concession food. And when I ate it, it tasted so wonderful it was hard to eat and not smile.

I saw Clark Hunt and said “hi” to him and he returned the greeting, and I liked him and was glad he was our owner.

And I missed his dad, but was glad in my heart he never was cursed to spend his last days like Al Davis.

I didn’t hurry by Warpaint and the pretty lady that rides her to get a jump on the beer line.

I stopped and marveled at how soft Warpaint’s pretty fur is, and pretty the lady is that rides her.

Yes, something was different about this draft party.

I didn’t have to justify being a Kansas City Chiefs fan.

I just liked being one. It was fun.

And it hit me. Being a Chiefs fan is fun again.

Many of you have been Chiefs fans so long that you might not even remember why you became one.

You may have inherited it, like my friend Shawn who grew up with red and gold carpet in his basement and breakfasts with his father and brother at Arrowhead in the frigid weather.

You might have noticed a player like the great Derrick Thomas, and wrapped your mind around the rest of the team.

You may have went with a winner, like the Kansas City Chiefs certainly were when they won what I personally think was the greatest Super Bowl victory in the history of the greatest sporting event on earth.

None of that was really true with me.

Someone gave my buddy and I lower level tickets so many years ago when the Chiefs were the worst of the worst.

And I sat in my seat, and marveled at the brightness of the green grass, and the blueness of the blue sky, and the cheerfulness of the cheerleaders.

And I said to my buddy….”This is fun.”

And so it went. I became a lifelong Kansas City Chiefs fan on that warm September day.

We have had some rough times Addicts for sure.

How long did I wear my Chiefs hat at Walmart ready to defend their honor instead of bask in their glory?

A long time.

But now I wear it to HyVee to talk about the bright future and exciting players, and bad ass coach we have now.

I might be misguided but I don’t have to try and convince myself we have a talented coach, or a skilled quarterback.

I honestly believe we do. Time will tell.

I know we have the best sports complex in the NFL. Truman is still the envy of those who would rather drive a 1953 Corvette instead of a 2013.

I know we have the best tailgaters.

And the most beautiful uniforms, amazing red and gold wonder.

We have the most wondrous history in the NFL.

Amazing wins, heartbreaking losses, career ending injuries, and even deaths.

If it happened to the Chiefs, it’s likely to have happened at Arrowhead Stadium.

No, being a Chiefs fan doesn’t rule my life.

But I think about my beloved Chiefs fans all the time.

I have a text network that gets my alerts, usually after everybody knows it happened anyway. But so what.

Being a Chiefs fan is so important to me that when my fiancee and I talked marriage, we talked about keeping my Chiefs tickets after we tie the knot.

I get to keep them!

And how did I know for sure she was the girl I wanted to spend my life with?

Lots of things for sure. But it didn’t hurt that not only did she have a real, stitched Tony Gonzalez jersey, but a Kansas City Chiefs winter coat as well.

And I even found a Kansas City Chiefs water cooler in her garage.

And all doubts were swept away like the spring rains sweep away the dreariness of a long winter.

So scheme, plan, strategize, argue, and defend our beloved Kansas City Chiefs all you want.

But above all have fun being  a Kansas City Chiefs fan.

Because being a Kansas City Chiefs fan is fun again.

And I for one am so very glad.