Growing Up with the Chiefs: A Case in Fan Loyalty

The last two decades of Chiefs football have been a winding, up-and-down road that has tested one of the most loyal fanbases in the NFL. What makes it harder is when it’s the only era of KC football you’ve been alive for.

The biggest pet peeve of mine in the world of sports has to be the fair-weather fan. The person who only likes the team when they’re winning and is more than ready to jump ship to the next winning/popular team. Those kind of people, in my opinion, are not true sports fans.

The way I see it, fandom is centered around a single, seven-letter word: loyalty. You don’t like a team because they’re winners. You definitely enjoy it when they are, but that ‘s not the main reason you’re a fan. You like them because they’re your local team, because of their tradition, because of the people associated with the team. Or, in my case, you were born and raised with the team.

Take a look at my baby pictures. In several of them you will find me wearing a red and gold bib or curled up next to a plush football with an arrowhead on it. My entire life I’ve been a Kansas City Chiefs fan. The fandom ran in my family (well, mostly, but that’s another story).

To say that loyalty has been put to the test a few times would be a massive understatement.

Let’s put it into perspective. The last Chiefs game before I was born was the 1993 AFC Championship. The Joe Montana-led KC squad fell one game short of Super Bowl XXVIII, losing to the Buffalo Bills 30-13. The previous week, the Chiefs beat the Houston Oilers in the divisional round. Kansas City didn’t win another playoff game until this past season’s wild card round win over, appropriately, the Houston Texans.

So if you’re counting, I went the first 21 years of my life having never seen the Chiefs win a playoff game. Yet, I still remained loyal.

That loyalty also resonated through much of the Chiefs Kingdom over the years. I’m proud to say that I am a part of one of the most loyal fan bases not just in the NFL, but in all of professional sports. Sure, there are the occasional gripes and complaints about the direction of the team. But those all come from the passion we have to see our team succeed.

We don’t have to look very far to see another fan base very similar to that of the Chiefs. For years, the Kansas City Royals were the laughing stock of Major League Baseball. Year after year, the Royals would finish far beneath .500 and often be at the bottom of the AL Central.

More from Arrowhead Addict

But even through all of the years at the bottom, there remained a loyal fan following of the team. A fan base that has been rewarded for their loyalty with two consecutive American League championships and a World Series title this past season. Sure, there were the fair-weather fans coming out of the woodworks supporting “their team.” But the championship was much, much sweeter for those who had remained loyal through the bad times.

So when the time finally comes that the Chiefs get to hoist the Lombardi Trophy once again (which, I have a feeling, will be sooner rather than later), those of us who have been true to the team through all of the trials and tribulations will have our loyalty pay off. That championship will be as sweet for us as it will be for the players on the field, and quite frankly, the Chiefs Kingdom deserves it.

That is the beauty of being a sports fan. You give loyalty to a team and stick with them through all of the bad times. It makes victory that much sweeter and all the heartache worth it in the end.

Home/Kansas City Chiefs News