If you know me, even a little bit, you know that I am a die hard Green Bay Packer fan. I mean some people are, "die hard fans" but not like me with the Packers. It's a fanhood so extreme that exists only on the rarest of occasions. Like you do not understand the extreme emotions and actions that the Packers have gotten out of me. FINE! I'll give you some embarrassing moments from my past to prove my point.
I cried when Brett Favre threw the game sealing interception against the Giants in the 2007 NFC Championship Game, which ended up being his last game as a Packer. It was a struggle to hold back tears when my high school's band teacher (also a Packer fan) told me on March 4, 2008 at 3:04 p.m. that Brett Favre had announced his retirement (for the first time). I spiked the remote into the ground after Seattle beat Green Bay in the "Onside Kick Game" to go to Super Bowl XLIX and punched lots of different things (like my dresser) in my bedroom because I was so angry (It is not an exaggeration to say that in that moment I was the angriest I have ever been in my entire life). I turn off Packers games when they are playing badly, not because I am superstitious or a bad sport (okay let's be real I am both of those things) but because it is not good for my health to be as angry as I am when the Packers play bad. I can't deal with it.
Hopefully you understand what the Packers mean to me now. So you can probably imagine how much it mattered to me that the Packers won Super Bowl XLV. I remember that season and playoff run like it was yesterday. They beat the Bears in Week 17 to make the playoffs, beat Mike Vick's Eagles in Philly in the Wild Card, rolled top-seeded Atlanta in Atlanta, then beat the Bears again at Soldier to win the NFC. It was a great ride and the Steelers awaited in the Super Bowl. I remember being anxious for two weeks. I'm pretty sure I stayed home from school to watch Super Bowl Media Day. I had all my friends over to watch the game, and the Packers freakin' won.
When the clock hit zeros and they were the champs, I ran outside into the dark night in Mound City Missouri, sped down my driveway, slipped on a patch of ice and busted my knee, butt, and head. I probably sustained a mild concussion. But I could not feel pain in that moment, I got up and just kept running and screaming, unconscious of what I was doing or where I was going. I ended up running by the house where the Super Bowl party Hayston and his friends were at. As he tells it, they heard someone screaming out in the street and they knew it was me. They all came outside, and put me on their shoulders like I had played in the game the Packers had just won. It was a moment of pure euphoria and joy.
I hope that these stories illustrate how much I care about the Green Bay Packers. Surely it is clear just how much that Super Bowl XLV victory meant to me. I am a native of Chiefs country and will always have a love for my hometown team, but understand there is just a deeper love for the Pack.
All of that being said, the closer we get to the possibility, the more it becomes clear that a Chiefs Super Bowl win would mean much more to me than any Packers title of past or present. And the reason for this is because I understand what it would mean to those around me, possibly even more so than they do. I've been to the top of the sports fan mountain, but for Chiefs fans, that mountain is about three times as high and the journey has been about six times as difficult. You want to know why I want Chiefs fans to experience a Super Bowl win? Because they deserve it, more than any other fans of any sport in the world.
Now I understand that the Chiefs have won a Super Bowl (almost half a century ago, mind you). I also realize that there are fans of other teams that have never experienced a world championship (lol @Chargers). The difference is that Chiefs fans have stayed true more than any other fans in football or any other sport. They have stuck with the organization through years of regular season success followed by playoff disappointment, then the dark ages of the late 2000s, then more years of playoff disappointment. You know what though? The fans stayed true through it all. And now they find themselves here, knocking on the door of football's promised land, with only football's Satan (Belichick), and Antichrist (Brady) standing in the way.
These fans and this city and this region deserve the Lombardi trophy they have so long craved. And believe me Chiefs fans, I know how it's going to make you feel, more than you know, because I have been there. Some of you will scream in giddy excitement, some of you will cry tears of joy, some of you will run down your driveway and slip on a patch of ice and bust your skull and not feel the pain. No one wants that for you more than me. I want it for my dad, who has been a Chiefs season ticket holder and watched more games with Brodie Croyle as the starting quarterback than any man should have to. I want it for my mom, who is the proud owner of a Joe Montana Chiefs jersey. I want it for my brother, who is one of the most optimistic people I know, and therefore has had his heart shattered by this franchise on many occasions. I want this for the most loyal fans of any sports team in the world. Because you all deserve it, and I can't wait to watch you celebrate. That's why a Chiefs Super Bowl victory will mean more to me than any other ever could.
GO CHIEFS.
P.S. Tom Brady is a system quarterback.