I owe Andy Reid a big apology.
Not because I doubted he could win a Super Bowl, but because of a post I wrote seven years ago, criticizing Reid’s appearance.
In that article, I said, “Just because a guy is fat doesn’t mean he has to look like he’s a fabric salesman’s dream come true.”
Accompanying the post was a photo of Andy in a floppy, ill-fitting suit as he walked with Chiefs’ owner Clark Hunt on, I believe, the day Reid was introduced as the Chiefs’ head coach.
…Next month I will have been writing this blog for 10 years (thankee, thankee), and over that period I’ve written SEVERAL stupid posts, and that was one of the stupidest. Shame on me for criticizing a person’s appearance.
I haven’t seen images of Andy in a suit lately, and maybe he’s spruced up on the non-football attire, but, regardless, the guy looks great on the sidelines in Chiefs’ red.
And he never looked better than last night: Unbridled joy becomes everyone, right?
Reid, after getting a Gatorade bath
**
Patty and I watched the game at the home of friends who live in Coleman Highlands. Years ago, my first thought would have been to head to downtown Westport and dive into the frenzy after the game. But last night, the main thing on my mind was getting home safely. So, instead of taking Southwest Trafficway and swinging over to Ward Parkway, we went over to State Line Road and took it all the way to our street in the Romanelli West neighborhood.
At the intersection of State Line Road and Westport Road, we saw cars streaming from west to east, most of the traffic probably coming from Kansas and heading to — where else? — Westport.
As we passed the home of Patrick Mahomes and his girlfriend Brittany Matthews on State Line Road, I honked the horn twice.
**
Our daughter Brooks watched the game at home, and she described the mini-celebration that took place in the neighborhood.
At game’s end, Brooks heard fireworks, of course, but also a lot of shouting and yelling. She went outside and saw people running in the Ward Parkway median toward the Sea Horse Fountain at Meyer Circle. Two other curious neighbors joined her and together they walked down to the fountain.
There, Brooks said, several people were clambering in the dry fountain basin and several others were climbing onto and hanging from various parts of the Sea Horse sculpture. All were whooping and hollering, and people in cars that went by were honking their horns and yelling out the windows.
After 20 minutes or so, the fountain brigade left the fountain area and moved on down the median, still hollering and exulting.
**
Obviously, The Star is reaping a huge financial windfall from sale of today’s paper and special Chiefs sections they have been and will be putting out.
Copies of today’s paper were selling briskly when I went to the Brookside Price Chopper this morning to buy three extra copies — over and above the one I got at home. Smartly, The Star raised the single-copy price of today’s paper from $2.50 to $4.99. It was odd to have to pull out a $20 bill to pay for three weekday papers, but I wasn’t complaining. Thanks to the Chiefs, print journalism is enjoying a temporary reprieve in Kansas City.
**
I was impressed with Mahomes’ composure not only during the game but afterward. He was both thoughtful and articulate, where he would have been forgiven for blubbering and spewing.
I got insight into where he gets that composure while watching post-game coverage on one of the local TV channels. In an on-camera interview from the stadium in Miami Gardens, Mahomes’ father, Pat Mahomes, a former Major League baseball pitcher, spoke in a relaxed, confident and even voice. Patrick got some good genes.
Patrick, with parents Randi and Pat on the day he was selected by the Chiefs, April 27, 2017. (His parents divorced years ago.)
**
Here are a few of my favorite Super Bowl quotes, all from today’s Star.
:: Tight end Travis Kelce on his relationship with Andy Reid — “We’re married together forever now. He can’t get rid of me now. I’ll be over at Thanksgiving.”
:: Running back Damien Williams on the help he got from fullback Anthony Sherman on Williams’ 38-yard touchdown run that iced the game — “Sherm came in the game and was like, ‘Follow me.’ That’s exactly what I did; I followed him. The run was supposed to go inside, he went outside, so I went outside and I said, ‘Screw it, I’m taking it to the house.’ “
:: Center Austin Reiter on watching the long, fourth-quarter pass from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill — “I remember seeing the ball go in the air. I remember thinking: ‘Thank God….About damn time.’ “
:: The final quote goes to KC Star reporter Blair Kerkhoff, who assessed the Chiefs’ performance in a “Report Card” on the game.
Under the heading, “Reason to hope,” Kerkoff wrote — “Is this the start of a magical era for the Chiefs?”
Under the heading, “Reason to mope,” he wrote — “None. We had something written here early in the fourth quarter but erased it.”
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Congratulations to the Chiefs. Our LA Times had a nice front page photo from Getty Images. However, I liked the NYT photo by Doug Mills of Mahomes a lot more. As you and I have discussed there is a lot about the NFL I don’t like, especially the violence, the over-the-top end zone celebrations and the subsidy it receives from the Defense Department. It seems work has been done on officiating and education about reducing violence, although it might take years for the data to tell us if it worked. My dislike of the end-zone celebrations may be cultural and I try and be aware of that although hiking one’s leg seems crude. Anyway, my KC area family (now over 150 years) is overjoyed in their pride for KC and the Chiefs. KC is a great place to call home.
Thanks for weighing in, Tom…Doug Mills may be the best newspaper photographer in the country. His photos from Washington recently — the House hearings on impeachment and from the Capitol during the impeachment trial — were phenomenal.
The Times’ lead sports section story on Sunday was about the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins and how several team members have been diagnosed post mortem with CTE. The headline was “Best Team Discovers Perfection Has a Price.”
Then, in today’s Star, staff writer Lisa Gutierrez had a story titled “Chiefs inspire KC youth to play football again.”
NO! Winning the Super Bowl is fun, but, parents, guide your kids into baseball, basketball or soccer!
I went to the SF Chronicle website this morning to get their take. Whining about the officiating costing the 49ers the game. So sad that they felt Denkingered.
I couldn’t get past the Chronicle’s paywall, Steve…I was trying to find a quote from Kyle Shanahan. From what I saw elsewhere, he was getting some blame for not being able to close the deal.
We thought his actions were turd-like — kept questioning calls. Did he even congratulate Coach Reid??
Denkingered?
Don Denkinger, MLB umpire whose controversial and erroneous “safe” call at first base in the bottom of the 9th inning in game 6 of the 1985 World Series is blamed by Cardinals fans to have thrown a crucial game to the Royals. That overlooks the ensuing failure of Cards first baseman Jack Clark to catch a foul pop-up, Cards catcher Darrell Porter’s passed ball and the Cards dismal sub-Mendoza-line hitting throughout the series. In other words, sour grapes make the best whine.
I didn’t do a page count at the Price Chopper checkout line, but judging from the thin size of the paper, It looked as if the retail price came to about $1.00 per page. (OK, I could be exaggerating a bit.) Keep that up and McClatchy will be out of debt in only a few years. Or maybe not. There was a notice limiting customers to a maximum of 5 papers. Under which was a really big pile of today’s edition, at 5:00 PM. The checkers were asking each customer if they wanted a copy, but there were no takers when I was in the line. Nice to collect such memorabilia but probably not a good retirement investment. Buy ’em because you want ’em.
Yes, that was a nasty comment, Jim; thanks for apologizing.
Someone asked Reid if he slept with the trophy. He laughed and said, no … I slept with my trophy *wife*, how about that?! Cute…
Good addition to the quote line-up, Gayle. And Mrs. Reid does indeed look good.
Those were Rockhurst and Sion kids on the Meyer Circle fountain! I was watching from my daughter’s front yard, waiting for the Sea Horse to tumble. As they climbed off and headed south towards your place I had to ask what high school they went to!
I suspected you’d be at that party. I saw your son-in-law hauling in huge bags of ice Sunday morning.
Gayle — You can learn all kinds of obscure stuff reading this blog, can’t you?
Obscure is my favorite kind!
Thanks, Steve! Is that the same Darrell Porter that played for the Royals? I always thought he was cute. :-)
I want to answer that because I have some obscure information about Porter, and I wonder if you’re aware of it, Gayle…
To answer your question, yes, he played for both the Royals and the Cardinals, as well as two other teams.
After retiring in 1987, he settled in Lee’s Summit and tried his hand at broadcasting and the antique business. He had long struggled with dependence on recreational drugs, and it led to his demise.
This from Wiki…
On August 5, 2002, he left his home in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, saying he was going to buy a newspaper and go to the park. That evening, he was found dead outside his vehicle in Sugar Creek, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City. An autopsy found he had died of “toxic effects of cocaine.” The autopsy indicated that the level of cocaine in Porter’s system—consistent with recreational use—induced a condition called excited delirium that caused his heart to stop. Police theorized that Porter’s car went off a road and got caught on a tree stump in La Benite Park in Sugar Creek. Police say Porter got out of the car, walked to the nearby Missouri River, and then walked back to his car. Authorities had initially speculated that he overheated while trying to push the car off the stump in high heat and humidity, but there was no evidence to indicate that he tried to move the car. The exact events surrounding his death are still unknown.
That was my most prominent memory of Darrell Porter — the shocking, highly unusual way he died.
Steve Porter, you just made the case against instant replay. Here we are all these years later talking about that game. Thanks, from a Cardinals and Chiefs fan.
In one way, even in a perverse way for Cardinals’ fans, it’s amazing that the Denkinger story lives on so strong in KC and St. Louis. It shows the staying power of an extraordinary story.
Omigosh, no, I had no idea. That’s a terrible story — very sad.
I’m late to the game, but nevertheless: it wasn’t only Cardinal fans who believe Denkinger’s call cost the Cardinals the ’85 series. Most fans not living in KC would agree that the call decided the series. (See the attached NYT story of a few years ago in which the Times baseball writer states without attribution or qualification that the call decided the series.) Of course I’m not saying the Cards deserved to win the series, given their subpar offensive performance, no doubt impacted by the loss of sparkplug Vince Coleman to the tarp accident. To the predicable ‘get over it’ chorus from Royals partisans, I’d say the Cardinals have gotten over it, given their postseason performance since ’85. It’s just when Royals fans bring it up and misstate the situation, a correction is in order.