It seems I don't relate well with my fellow Chiefs fans.
Living in Northern Illinois I don't have much interaction with them, but beginning in approximately 2005 I began diligently posting in sports forums on Yahoo and other sports message boards. Since then, I started a blog (first hosted on Foxsports.com) and have written extensively in the past about my assessments of the team, reading and responding to comments left for me by fellow Chiefs fans. Since 2011, I've also joined Twitter and downloaded apps that allow me to listen to hosts and callers discuss Chiefs news on AM sports talk radio out of Kansas City.
I don't get along with other Chiefs fans. They remind me of Cubs fans from the 1990's--they almost seem proud to be Lovable Losers. I hear them talk about how nice it would be to earn the respect of the national media (Ahem, Pete Prisco) for their 9-2 start, but in the very next breath they'll say "Who cares if the Chiefs lost at home to the Chargers? They were only 2-14 last year, I'm just happy to make the playoffs this year!" I'm sorry, but I have no respect for somebody who thinks that way. It's a loser's mentality.
Maybe this train of thought originates from my upbringing in a big city. Chicagoans do not accept division titles as a successful season--even modern day Cubs fans; it's just not like the way it was in the 90's. The Bears fired their coach after a 10-6 season. I remember asking, after the Chiefs traded away Jared Allen in 2008, "what is the direction of this franchise?" Chiefs fans commented on my Foxsports.com blog post and said they expected "to compete in the AFC West by 2010." What!? A three year plan just to 'compete' in the division? That's a horrendous plan.
One fan told me he didn't care what they did in the playoffs as long as they beat the Denver Broncos at home in Week 13. There are no words to describe the anger and frustration that kind of thought process gives me.
A few weeks ago while listening to 610 Sports AM in Kansas City, the show's morning host, Bob Fescoe, compared the 2013 Chiefs to the 2011 49ers. He posed the question "If you could either play out the string, or settle on losing the AFC Championship, which would you take?" The question is so preposterous I assumed it was rhetorical. Why would anybody, ESPECIALLY a team sitting at 8-0, voluntarily give up a chance to win the Super Bowl, to settle on losing the AFC title game? But Fescoe, his co-host Josh Klinger, and the show's producer all said they'd choose to lose the AFC title game. Three weeks later, I'm still bewildered by this.
The Chiefs haven't won a playoff game since 1993, and apparently, busting that streak is so important to some Chiefs fans they'd forgo any chance of winning a Lombardi Trophy just to watch that playoff win drought come to an end (and presumably lose the next week). But the Chiefs haven't won a Superbowl since 1969, and that is by far the more embarrassing drought.
I fail to comprehend how 1 playoff win in the last 20 years is any less embarrassing than 0.
Fescoe said this morning on the radio that the most frustrating part of losing to the Chargers is the loss of respect nationally. No, the most frustrating part about losing to the Chargers is that the odds of attaining home field advantage in the AFC playoffs have now significantly decreased. Why are Chiefs fans so obsessed with trivial details instead of the big picture?
Who cares what the national media thinks about the Chiefs? Who cares if they beat the Broncos? Who cares about winning the division or one measly playoff game?
This is not your 2-14 Chiefs from 2012. These Chiefs are 9-2. In the NFL, there are no moral victories for teams that start 9-2 and don't win the Superbowl. Chiefs fans, you want respect from the national media? Then settle for nothing less than a Superbowl Championship. Act like nothing else matters and that anything short of a shiny, diamond ring on Andy Reid's finger is a failure. Why do I ask this of you? Because it's true.
Follow me on Twitter: @JimScheffres
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