The Chiefs lost the Super Bowl but now I can do some laundry again

The Kansas City Chiefs suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV last weekend. Let’s be honest, it sucked.

While the sting from that loss will take a while to wear off, there is at least one small crumb of positivity I can take away from it—at least now I can do my laundry.

Over the past 13 months, I have worn the same clothes for each of Kansas City’s postseason games—a red long sleeved Chiefs shirt, red Chiefs socks and black running shorts—no matter what.

It didn’t matter what time the game was, where I was watching it, or if it was over 100 degrees outside (which it was here in Australia for the AFC Championship game against the Buffalo Bills), I would wear the same clothes regardless. And of course, I refused to wash them.

Initially, this habit didn’t start out as intentional. Those clothes just so happened to be the ones I’d decided to wear while watching the divisional round clash with the Houston Texans last season. It wasn’t until after the game that a thought dawned on me: what if these are my lucky clothes?

The lone upside of a Chiefs Super Bowl loss is the chance to do some laundry again.

Generally speaking, I am not a superstitious person. I have no issues with walking under a ladder nor any anxiety over a black cat walking in front of me. But in this instance, superstition got the better of me.

Yes, I know that logically it is ridiculous to think that me wearing any set of clothes would have any sort of influence whatsoever on the outcome of a football game—or any other sporting event, for that matter. But when it comes to being a sports fan, sometimes logic goes out the window.

The Chiefs have had a dreadful history when it comes to the playoffs, with a seemingly endless number of painful, heartbreaking losses. And so what if, in some mysterious way, my clothes had played a role in them overcoming their ill-fated past and had somehow helped them win a playoff game?

With five decades of playoff misery casting a gloomy shadow over Chiefs Kingdom and a Super Bowl run on the line, there was simply too much at stake for me to risk dismissing a potential good luck charm. The clothes would have to be worn again.

Of course, I couldn’t dare put any of the items in the laundry to be cleaned – what if that washed away their magical powers? Once again, there was too much at stake to risk washing them. And so, I didn’t. And it paid off.

The clothes worked their magic again in the AFC Championship game against the Titans, and then for a third time in Super Bowl LIV. Still though, I refused to wash them. The clothes worked again this year too against the Cleveland Browns and then against Buffalo a week later. When the day of Super Bowl LV came round, there was never a question as to what I’d be wearing.

But sadly, after more than a year, the mystic powers of my shirt, shorts and socks finally wore off last weekend.

My clothes had endured me sweating through countless nervous moments over the course of two Super Bowl runs, and they still have a whiff of the celebratory beer and champagne sprayed all over them after that magical, magical win over the 49ers. But now, to the delight of my girlfriend who has had to put up with a pile of dirty laundry folded away in our cupboard for 13 months, it is time for them to go in the wash.

Maybe they had an effect on the Chiefs, and maybe they didn’t. But now, after a painful loss in the Super Bowl it is not only time for a fresh start for the Chiefs, but a fresh start for my clothes, too.