I want to write about the hazards of Arrowhead Stadium during and after Chiefs’ games, but let me preface this column by acknowledging that I’m well into the “senior citizen” stage and am infinitely more careful than I was when I was in my 20s and 30s.
I remember going to Chiefs’ games in the 1970s and early 1980s when the place was half to three-quarters full (and, yes, the Chiefs were losing), sitting in the upper deck, enjoying the warmth of the sun on fall Sunday afternoons and relaxing as the game unfolded well below me. Often, I’d see some of the same people, and we’d acknowledge one another with nods or smiles, as if to say, “Good to be back at the club.”
There was some drinking, but I don’t ever recall seeing a fight, and I don’t recall anyone being killed going to or from their cars before or after the game.
My, how times have changed. Consider what has gone on out there at two recent home games…
:: During Sunday night’s game against the Bills, two “super fans” — one known as “Red Xtreme” and the other known as “X-Factor,” got into a big fight after X-Factor threw a cup at Red Xtreme’s wife. X-Factor got knocked unconscious. Before it was taken down, a video showed X-Factor cascading down a flight of stadium stairs as Red Xtreme stood over him.
:: In the Sept. 26 game against the Chargers, an all-out brawl took place. The Star reported one man was beaten until he appeared to lose consciousness. Four were arrested, two at the scene and two later, and additional warrants were issued for others involved. Charges including disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and providing false information to law enforcement were filed.
:: Worse than the fights, by far, was the hit-and-run death of 66-year-old Steven Hickle of Wichita, who was killed while trying to cross Blue Ridge Cutoff after he had left Sunday night’s game, apparently during a storm that suspended play for more than an hour. Hickle was first hit by one driver, who did not stop, and then he was run over by the driver of a second car. That driver also did not stop. Police have some evidence and are looking for both drivers. Police traffic crews were not in the area yet to help direct traffic away from the stadium.
I haven’t been to a game in several years, and I doubt that I will ever attend one again, which makes me kind of blue because I had a lot of fun out there over many years. Arrowhead and the Chiefs are a significant part of life in Kansas City, and now I feel like the live-game experience is no longer a safe option for me.
Since Arrowhead was renovated 11 years ago, I’ve been to about three games. Maybe it was a coincidence or maybe the crowds had gotten progressively worse over the years, but the first game I went to after the renovation is when I noticed a distinct change in atmosphere. People were packed more tightly on the main concourse, which was narrower, and they seemed louder, drunker and ruder.
I didn’t like it at all. It was such a stark contrast to the laid-back feel of the “good old days.” After that, I wasn’t much interested in going back. I did go to a Raiders game a few years ago — a night game — with a friend who had seats in the plaza (yellow) level, and even there it was crazy. After the Chiefs scored one touchdown, the guy next to me — a really big guy — bear hugged me and raised me a few feet off the ground. He wasn’t mean about it, but I thought he could have registered his joy differently. High five, maybe?
Now I’m not the least bit tempted to go to an extremely loud venue where most everybody stands up for three and a half hours and I’ve got to worry about getting beer spilled on me or accidentally tipping a beer in somebody is carrying and getting punched for it. Or simply getting jostled on that main concourse that used to be so accommodating.
Nope, I’m sticking to the wide open, friendly spaces on the golf course…Speaking of which, here’s a photo I took this afternoon near No. 16 tee at Hoots Hollow golf course in Pleasant Hill. Give me this any day over the mayhem at Arrowhead.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Seems like the Chiefs’ fortunes have soured ever since Reid’s son maimed that little girl before the Super Bowl.
That could well have something to do with the team’s decline, Leigh. The Britt Reid situation hangs like a somber sky over the team and Kansas City. The trial isn’t scheduled to start until April, so it’s going to be around through the rest of the season, unless high-speed Reid pops up and pleads guilty before then.
I watched a 9-minute video of A. Reid’s Zoom call with the media earlier this week and he seemed flatter and less engaged than usual. He actually sounded robotic. I know he’s never been a good interview or one to utter even a slightly memorable quote, but I’d never seen him this disengaged. He gave virtually the same answer (we gotta do better) to every question, and, as has been reported, refused to address the Jon Gruden situation…With their on-field problems and Reid’s likely preoccupation with the crash, I don’t see the Chiefs returning to the playoffs this year.
I know my perspective as I am now older is way out of the cultural mainstream (some might say unAmerican), and I have friends I love who are loyal Chiefs fans, and I am not an anthropologist and certainly not smart enough to characterize reality. From my tiny pinhole into the way things are, it does seem to me that many sports, most especially including football and boxing, are circuses or cults too often tending to keep the many of the populace distracted from attentive self-government and engines of greed, supported by taxpayers for the benefit of the rich and their egos. As for civic pride, I rather resent being socially pressured into identifying my town with a violent private enterprise. Again, I am not smart enough to evaluate studies that seem to connect aggression in the population with certain sports or whether such sports reduce violence by providing an outlet for aggressive feelings. In my ignorance, I worry that political parties have become like a violent sporting contest instead of a means to solve problems. I appreciate sports heroes like Mahomes who show a different side. When I was a kid and played sports, adults told me, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” In my old age, sports and politics seem to be a decent into “Winning isn’t the only thing; it’s everything.” I’m glad for companionate sports like golf.
I’m kind of ashamed now that when I was in high school, I was a huge boxing fan. I watched the Friday Night Fight every week and knew all the top boxers. Part of the interest was that I grew up in Louisville and followed Muhammad Ali (ne Cassias Clay) from his amateur days. Now, I wouldn’t watch a boxing match (or worse, one of those use-any-appendage fights) for any reason. Just ridiculous. Look how Ali ended up…He’s got a nice tombstone that a lot of people visit at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, but his mind and body were gone 20 years prematurely. He would have been better off never entering Joe Martin’s gym after his bike was stolen from the street.
Fitz, you are spot on about the Arrowhead environment. A few years ago, the attorneys I worked for at Humphrey, Farrington & McClain represented a man who got beaten up so badly by an intoxicated fan at a game that he lost use of one of his arms. In this personal injury case, the attorneys discovered that the ratio of security personnel to fans was dangerously low and that the Chiefs promoted a rowdy, drunken and violent atmosphere. It was inevitable that people would get injured or even killed. Unfortunately, the Chiefs lawyers succeeded in having a mistrial declared and the injured man did not get the justice that was due.
The Star has an excellent editorial today that starts off like this…
Kansas City Chiefs Coach Andy Reid slapped every one of his Black players in the face this week. He did that by refusing to say any more about his buddy Jon Gruden’s forced resignation over seven years’ worth of racist, homophobic and sexist emails than this: “I think all around it’s a tough deal. So I’m going to just stay away from that, and I just appreciate the courtesy likewise. There’s nothing to be gained … with my remarks.”
“All around it’s a tough deal” is the new “very fine people on both sides.”
I’m much more concerned with how the Chiefs organization is going to keep Arrowhead safe than I am with what Andy Reid has to say about Jon Gruden. The Star should too.
I certainly share your concern, Mike…In his story about the fighting this week, Glenn Rice wrote: “Kansas City police previously told The Star, they had some 200 officers, both uniformed and plainclothes, patrol the stadium and parking lots at each game.”
Two hundred doesn’t seem like enough for a stadium that attracts crowds of 78,000 people.
The Chiefs provided a worthless statement, saying: “The venue consistently receives high marks and ranks in the top tier of the NFL’s stadium security and fan conduct best practices audits.”
I think the Chiefs feel like if you come to the game, you’re personal safety is pretty much in your own hands.
The news keeps showing X-Factor hobbling down the sidewalk in his hospital scrubs. Today he was permanently banned from Arrowhead. They should do the same for those other jokers you mentioned who got arrested, as well as X’s cohort.
Nice photo.
The poor guy is gonna commit suicide…or he’s gonna try to scale the stadium’s outer wall.
Who was it who called football a psychodrama for brutes? The explanation that it is a healthy way to channel aggression should just drop the word “healthy” and be done with it.
Former St. Louis lineman and KCMO sports talker Conrad Dobler called football
“victim precipitated violence”.
As someone who sells beer at the Chiefs games and is at every game I disagree. In my experience, over the last 10+ years I think the incidents of fighting and drunken fans has decreased. People know of the consequences – season tickets pulled, arrest. In the past, security would separate everyone and say not to do it anymore, unless it was a really bad fight. Not now – they take them all seriously. Also, with the high price of beer, people will buy two over the course of the game instead of 3 or 4 they’d buy in the past.
It’s good to get that perspective and input, Dan. Thanks for commenting.