Like many of you, I’ve been a Kansas City Chiefs fan for decades. Sunday, our dream finally came true. The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl Champions!
The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl Champions!
That felt so good to write that I’m going to do it again.
The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl Champions!
As I sit here in my living room typing this, it’s 11:00 p.m. on the night that MY team won the Super Bowl. I don’t say “my team” because I have some kind of ownership of them, or work for them, or play for the team. I say “my team” because they are the team that I am such a passionate fan of that it has become part of my identity.
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I watched and cheered as Mario Chalmers hit “the shot” to send the Kansas Jayhawks into overtime of the NCAA Men’s Bastketball championship. I was thrilled when they went on to win that game, but they weren’t “my team”. I didn’t go to K.U. I was just a casual March Madness fan that was happy for the local school.
I went crazy when the Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 2015. I was so excited for Kansas City to have a championship like that. I loved how they were this small market, high character team that wouldn’t quit. I knew their roster. I watched every inning of their post season run. I was elated for them. But they still weren’t “my team.”
My team is the Kansas City Chiefs. When I say that I’m a Chiefs fan I don’t mean that casually—like a fan of some TV show or mint chocolate chip ice cream. I mean that’s literally who I am. My name is Lyle Graversen and I am a Christian, a husband, a father, a public school music teacher, and a Kansas City Chiefs fan. That’s who I am.
People know this about me. That’s why when the game ended I got texts from family, friends, co-workers, my principal, my students, my church group, because everyone that really knows me knows that I’m a massive Chiefs fan. They understand what this team means to me.
I’ve always loved being a Chiefs fan. I wrote about all the heartbreak that we’ve endured as fans after we won the AFC Championship Game. Even in those times of pure devastation over another brutal season ending loss, I still loved it. I loved watching Christian Okoye steamroll defenders as the Chiefs enforced “Marty Ball” on their opponents. I loved watching Derrick Thomas terrorize quarterbacks. I loved watching Priest Holmes, Trent Green, and Tony Gonzalez light up the score board. I loved watching Jamaal Charles break off long touchdown runs. I loved watching Eric Berry spear running backs, and I really love watching Patrick Mahomes play quarterback.
I love tailgating at the greatest stadium in the world. I love screaming “CHIEFS!” at the end of the National Anthem. (Hearing it at the Super Bowl gave me chills.) I love that when I’m standing in Arrowhead Stadium, I don’t stand out as some crazy fanatic because there are tens of thousands of my fellow fans that are just as passionate as I am. I love Chiefs Kingdom.
I love being a Chiefs fan. Period. It’s part of who I am. That was true during the worst seasons I’ve experienced and it was true when the Chiefs rallied from down 20-10 in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl to come back and beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 in Super Bowl LIV.
Man, I just love this team.
When Damien Williams broke that long run to seal the game, I erupted with joy. I ran through my house yelling and jumping. I ended up in my bedroom somehow and just drummed on the top of my bed with my fists. It was this weird combination of shock, joy, disbelief, and a realization that this dream I had been carrying with me for decades was actually going to come true.
Every year I would watch the post game trophy presentation with the confetti and the celebrating and the quarterback saying, “I’m going to Disney World” and I would think, “Some day, some day in my lifetime, my team is going to win a Super Bowl. I’m going to get to see them get that trophy.” The logical part of my brain thought that surely at some point in my life it would happen, but after years of heartbreak, it really started to seem more like a dream than a tangible possibility.
Tonight it became a reality. I’m still kind of in shock. I couldn’t write this piece right after the game ended. I needed time to digest it a little. I got in my car and drove into Wichita to try and buy some Super Bowl Champions Chiefs gear. They ended up already being sold out at both places I tried, but it was still a worthwhile trip. Not only did I get some time to wrap my mind around the fact that this dream I had for so long came true, but at one of the stops, I was able to stop and talk with a bunch of other Chiefs fans. We didn’t know each other. We were just all there smiling, soaking in our moment. Our team won the Super Bowl. The dream came true.
I could go on and on about how amazing this team is. I could write about the fact that they came down from 10 points or more in all three games this postseason. I could point out that Patrick Mahomes had an offgame by his standard and still led one of the most impressive 4th quarter turnarounds in Super Bowl history. The fact that this team gave Andy Reid his Super Bowl win brings a smile to my face every time I think about it. I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of the Kansas City Chiefs than I was when I saw the look on Big Red’s face after the game was over. I can’t even put into words the emotions of that moment but I will remember the emotion on his face for the rest of my life. I’m so happy for him and so happy for the players that got to give him that win—a victory that now cements his Hall of Fame legacy forever.
I love this team. I love my team. Maybe it would be more appropriate to say I love our team.
While attention will soon turn to free agency, the draft, Mahomes’ new contract, and whether or not the Chiefs can repeat, we need to really take a deep breath and savor this moment as Chiefs fans. It will never feel like this again. If we win it all again next year, we’ll go crazy. We’ll love it, but it won’t feel the same as the first time in 50 years, the first time in many of our lifetimes. If we are lucky enough to win another one with Mahomes, it won’t be a win that ends the grueling wait. This is special. This is the moment for which so many of us have been waiting our entire lives.
Our team won the Super Bowl. It happened. The dream came true and it was everything that we hoped it would be. How many times does that actually happen? A handful at best for most of us. I know football is just a game. I know that when it comes down to it there are much more important things in life, but I also know that life is short and hard and we should take a moment to stop and smell the roses (as cliché as that sounds) when we can.
This is definitely one of those moments for long time die-hard Chiefs fans. We agonize over what the team should do, who should be on the roster, where are their weaknesses and can they overcome them, what went wrong in the losses, etc. One team gets to end the season on top of the world. This year it’s our team. You should soak in the joy of that moment like a hot bath after a long day at work for as long as you can.
The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl Champions. The dream came true.