How I became a (sort of) football fan

When Cliff and I were first married in 1966, neither of us cared a thing about football.  1963 was the Chief's inaugural season in Kansas City.  I'm not sure I even knew they had a team, even though it's only twenty-five miles away from us.  Surely I did, because back then I read the Kansas City Star every day.  But football wasn't even discussed at our house.  Sometime around 1970, some of our friends would mention the Chiefs when they came to visit, friends who watched every game.  Cliff and I wondered what the big deal was.  

In 1974 we moved to a place in the country near Coffey, Missouri.  We stayed about nine months, realized we weren't going to become farmers, became homesick, and moved back to this area, settling in Wellington.  But during those nine months, we felt pretty isolated from everyone we knew.  Cliff decided it was time to buy our first color television and see if he could figure out why people watched football; so we did.  There was only one clear channel coming in up there, a St. Joseph station.  A couple of Kansas City stations would sometimes come in, but they were "snowy".  This was long before satellite dishes came into being.  Cliff was bored and missing his friends and relatives.  He was determined to give football a chance, just for something to do.

After he had watched a couple of games he'd picked up enough of the rules to figure out what was going on, and began to learn names of the players:  Fran Tarkington, Terry Bradshaw, OJ Simpson... the list goes on, and Cliff was talking about them often and sometimes yelling at them on the TV screen.  I watched this side-show in unbelief, and usually found something to do in the kitchen; I still heard the yelling and cursing, though.  The one that stands out in my memory is this:  "Run, you little S.O.B, RUN!!!"  

 (Cliff says, "Yeah, and that's back when they PLAYED FOOTBALL, they didn't have to pussyfoot around like now.") 

I got so sick of hearing that know-it-all Howard Cosell; it was like chalk on a blackboard.  One time as I walked through the living room on my way to the bathroom the cameras focused on the face of that ugly, irritating man and I did my own bit of yelling:  "Oh shut up, you big can of crap!"  Cliff laughed and laughed, because that's as close to cussing as I got.

As the years went by, I learned to cope by going to another room when football games were on:  I'd watch a portable television, or read a book.  Later on, I listened to podcasts while Cliff watched TV.  I didn't know anything about football.  I was always happy when the Chiefs won, simply because they were representing Kansas City, although winning was pretty rare for them, most years.  If they were playing, I'd holler from the next room to Cliff, "What's the score?"  Or I'd look up from my book and glance at the television occasionally.  But I didn't understand the game, and didn't want to.

Enter Patrick Mahomes, stage left: the Chiefs started winning.  Suddenly Kansas City had a team we didn't have to be ashamed of, although I was mostly just a Mahomes fan.  What a nice kid!  He helps charities, he talks to his fans, he visits kids in the hospital.  He seems to love people in general and he loves Jesus.  Because of Patrick, I began watching portions of the Chief games.  Before you know it, I was watching every moment of every game Kansas City played.  And wouldn't you know it, I fell in love with two other guys on the team:  The unstoppable wide receiver Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, tight end.  I like him because he dances around after a touchdown sometimes.  It's hilarious.

I'm even figuring out a few of the rules; it's probably hard to believe, but until the last month, I didn't even know who was offense and who was defense; I finally asked Cliff and found out it's the goal they are defending, not the football.  Duh.  

I've tried to get interested in other teams, but I don't know the players.  So it's no fun.  However, I can see now why people get excited about football.  It took nice-guy Pat Mahomes to make me a football fan.  

And by the way, the Chiefs are going to the Super Bowl.