This was a weird Sunday. I planned and hosted a traditional Super Bowl Party at my house. Major focus of the last comment should be on one word: traditional. This was my first traditional in a couple years. The past two Super Bowl parties have been Arrowhead Kingdom/MKE CHIEFS rages. Here is my slightly cocky, 100% true comment: I throw a “H” of a party. Putting together a gathering for 100-200 people is so second nature to me. This puts me in many planning of the company party volunteer roles, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My personal formula has always included topical, appropriate, music at a proper volume. That last part is important and something not all DJ’s actually learn in their lives. The organization I run also includes photo booths, nice cameras and people that know how to run them. So, those elements show up often as well. We had a nice Covid clouded Super Bowl party just over a year ago. The game result was unfavorable, but the party went off without a hitch. Our MKE group watches all games in a private room at a local Buffalo Wild Wings. The restaurant allows us some extra decorating runway for bigger games, and we will take over sound, bring a photo booth, etc. We did all of those things for Super Bowl LV, but the gem was a year earlier.

Super Bowl LIV Super Party

This was the greatest day of my NFL watching life. My team won the big game in front of my friends at a party I threw. I started bringing speakers into our party room during the 2016 season to DJ over the commercials. This would happen during roughly half the regular season games and all the playoff games. My musical approach was to lean heavy on the artists related to the Super Bowl city. I also pressed my fellow fans to drink an appropriate cocktail as well. That one started with Manhattans in 2013 leading up to the MetLife hosted Super Bowl XLVIII. I also always had the TD song cued. Prior to Super Bowl LIV it was Rock-n-Roll Pt. 2 by Gary Glitter. Yes I know his story, and I separate art from artist. Travis Kelce changed the song after the AFC Championship game.

I watched Kelce receive the Lamar Hunt trophy, and tell all of Arrowhead that we have to: “Fight for Our Right to Parrrrty.” The trip back to the hotel from the parking lot was awesome. My group put 96.5 The Buzz, the KC alt rock station, on for the drive home. For about 2 hours we listed to a clip from Kelce, followed by the radio call, followed by the Beastie Boys “Fight for Your Right” on a loop. It was glorious. I had a hunch I would want the audio and grabbed a clip on my phone.

The 2019 music was a joy to compose. A Super Bowl in Miami meant mountains of Pitbull, Flo Rida, Gloria Estefan and reggaetón. I hit music for the commercials on almost every game that season. An additional track for that year was this gem from the Ringer, and it was played weekly.

The Perfect Day Came Together

The party prep was a full labor of love for my wife and I. Our goal was to create a family-friendly, organized, wild atmosphere. Here were the party elements:

Full seating chart for regulars in the party room
Overflow seating in the main bar area (which we completely filled)
Photo booth with multiple graphics
Red up lighting and a CHIEFS logo gobo
Custom made coloring books for the kids
Epic playlist
Silent Disco headphones

That last element was key. Commercials are a key element of the Super Bowl watch party for many. On a normal year with a traditional Super Bowl party I agree. However, this one was not normal, and majority of the core MKE crew wanted music. However, I was accommodating everyone.

So, What is Silent Disco?

Silent Disco is a concept of dancing with personal music, so it can happen anywhere. I have seen parties in Vegas where there is not audible music, but you see a large crowd dancing with headphones. That alone is solid entertainment, but the true magic of Silent Disco is when you notice 3 distinct colors on the headphones and disjointed display of dancing. Silent Disco headphones have 3 channels and the individual picks what they want to dance to. Picture a quiet room, a hundred people on a dance floor, and the result of picking between country 2-step, modern hip-hop and 70s disco. It is as awesome as it sounds to watch and participate.

So, we brought some of those headphones. The first channel tied into the house TV sound for our commercial focused guests. My second channel was Kidz Bop radio. The third channel was my pride and joy, I played my 96.5 clip and the full “Fight for Your Right” clip on a constant loop. That became the headphone music of choice on big 3rd downs and such.

I still get chills thinking of that February night!

A Traditional Super Bowl Party

I call what happened Sunday a traditional Super Bowl party. The tradition is watching a couples teams — that are not yours — while eating and drinking too much. It’s tradition because that’s what happens the vast majority of the time. I just described all but 2 of my Super Bowl parties and I have been at one every year I can remember. Patriots fans are the only fans that can speak of a level of difference in the past 30+ years. We watch the game because:

it’s football,
the commercials are fun, and
we want to see the halftime show

I don’t see a point in doing any of these things without eating like it’s Thanksgiving and drinking too much beer.

The best venue for things like that are your own home. So we planned a small party, invited a few friends, got a ton of drinks, and my wife made soup. The first soup was chili. We have a controversial stance on chili. No, I am not talking pairing it with cinnamon rolls. That is a fact. Our approach is to make chili mild in the spicy department. Many believe it is more than fair game to make it spicy, Titans Anthony, for example, and expect all eating it to adapt. Our stance i,s add cayenne, sriracha, etc. to your heart’s content. We have little kids and we want them to eat too. This is accommodating the group at a Silent Disco commercial. The other soup we had was green bean dumpling. What is that? Let me start with this…

A Quick History Lesson of Hays, KS

My hometown is primarily Volga German heritage, and the short explanation is a German from the Volga river region in Russia. Catherine the Great pushed to populate the region in the 1700s, and pressed for Germans to settle the area by offering things like military service exemptions and cultural retention. This was an excellent sales pitch to a bunch of German farmers, so they came in droves to farm the Volga river region. The military exemption went away in the 1900s, and that started an exodus with many making another trip to America. My ancestors ended up in Western Kansas where the climate and job of farming lined up. The local lore states seven (7) original villages: Catherine, Munjor, Liebenthal, Pfeifer, Schoenchen, Antonino, and Victoria.

These are all still towns, most have a bar, and my family frequents many of them. My cousins and I will rent a limo bus and bar hop them over

Thanksgiving –> which is my favorite holiday. All of these towns surround Hays, so it is a fun, doable proposition to hit them all in a few hour period of time. I grew up with a handful of culinary traditions. The first is a bierock, which Nebraskans call a Runza. Everyone’s mom and grandma makes them and they are delicious. The next one is galuskies, AKA pigs in a blanket, and every family makes them. The last food is the aforementioned green bean dumpling soup.

That Soup

My wife is a heck of a cook and also incredibly accommodating. She learned about and embraced these foods early in our relationship. My parents visit Milwaukee annually, and always leave a freezer full of bierocks. My mom and wife will dominate the kitchen and work the oven, overstocking these. Then the house smells awesome and we eat well for weeks after this. I am always eager to take some to work and share. The process to make a bierock is messy and involved, so it does not happen often.

The green bean dumpling soup is less of an undertaking of time, but requires more precision. Our house cooking rules effectively boil down to: I do the grilling and my wife does the stove top and baking. I handled the grocery shopping for this one… but only after a consultation. The standard call home to ensure accuracy. We called my mom to ensure proper path, and she dropped a mini bomb. My mother admitted that my sister makes the best version in the family. Well, Okay. My sister’s philosophy is to build from a recipe and tweak with extra butter, salt and seasoning. Sure enough butter and heavy cream are notable additions — they were already there, but she added more — she also mentioned Mexican chick spice. My wife is from San Diego, so that was in the cabinet anyway.

This may sound like I am describing some secret family recipe. That could not be farther from the truth. I want everyone to know about it and try it at home.

My Sister’s Official Family Recipe

Dumpling Batter: 6-8 large eggs beaten (can use less or more depending on how many dumplings you want in your soup) add a teaspoon or so of salt and then start adding all purpose flour. Mix with a fork. When you have added enough flour your batter will be thick and stretchy but not a solid dough ball.
In a large stock pot put 2-3 quarts of chicken stock and add 3 heaping tablespoons of Knor brand chicken bouillon (caldo con sabor del pollo) and yes, I like this specific one because of the herbs used in it and the flavor/texture it provides. Add your cubed potatoes to this pot and turn your burner to medium/ high. When your broth starts to boil it’s time to start dropping dumplings. You will know you have gotten the flour to egg ratio of your dumplings correct if they don’t fall apart when you add them to your broth. Dip a fork in your cooking broth to get it hot and then use the hot fork to drop blobs of your dumpling batter into the boiling broth. They can be as large as small as you like. They will be done when they float.
While you’re waiting for your potatoes to boil, in a separate pan saute one large yellow onion with one stick of butter until your onions are soft and translucent. When your onions are cooked to your liking add another half stick of butter and approximately 8-10 tablespoons of flour. Cook until the flour is slightly brown and loses that raw flour taste. Add heavy cream/half and half/milk until you have the consistency of thick gravy.
When all of your dumplings are floating add the “gravy” mixture to the soup pot. Add 2-3 cans of drained cut green beans. If you want a little bit more green bean flavor you can use 1 undrained can and 2 drained. At this point taste your soup and add salt and black pepper to taste, the more black pepper the better! If at this point you want your soup thicker add instant mashed potato flakes.

Closing Out the Cooking Lesson

The above section is her recipe in full, and exactly how she sent it over. I highly recommend giving it a whirl. Plan for this to take 1-2 hours the first time, and know there will be a mess in the kitchen. Make extra so you have left overs. I will throw in a bonus recipe as well. This one is my friend’s mom, is in video form, and is a little lighter on the fat content. Enjoy!!

About That Game

My writings the past 2 weeks indicate I have accepted the result of the Chiefs season, and also that I have fully processed everything. This is all true, but it does not mean Sunday was without aggravation. The Chiefs should have been in that game. I spent half Sunday morning being mad that the Chiefs were not playing. The other half featured anger about my English soccer team’s performance… and… these things influenced each other. The result was complete lack of excitement for the actual game, but again, this was a traditional Super Bowl, and lack of investment in the game is a common thing.

The game was fine to watch. Congrats again to the Cincinnati Bengals for representing the AFC. I feel bad their fans had to see another almost title. The Bengals are entering Bills-Vikings territory, which is still better than Cleveland Detroit territory. Congrats to the Rams for closing the deal and winning a second title. It was nice to see the ever-panned Matthew Stafford get a win, which completely validated Sean McVay. The real winner was MVP Cooper Kupp, who capped a season for the ages.

I am glad that season is over, and look forward to the Chiefs next attempt at glory. There is only one more thing for me to cover as we put this season in the books.

That Halftime Show!!

This was my absolute favorite halftime show. I can go on for days about how much I love the music and the artists. There is no shortage of positive thoughts on the production and stage. However, my absolute favorite part was how perfect that show was for the situation. This was the Super Bowl in the most opulent and expensive stadium in the world. It was Los Angeles on full display. The soundtrack of halftime was all L.A.. This was the entertainment capital of the world, and that show was the music that defined a generation and a genre for that city. This was the perfect time to showcase the music. The entire lineup is still top of their game, but also fully established as classic artists. It followed what I consider a positive trend of local flavor to the halftime show.

Super Bowl LIV’s Halftime show in Miami created an excellent vibe for J-Lo, Shakira, and Bad Bunny, J Balvin and Emme Muñiz were icing on the reggaetón cake. I really hope this continues, and propose my regional appropriate lineups for the next 3 Super Bowls:

2023, LVII, State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ: Alice Cooper, Jimmy Eat World, Gin Blossoms. This is a multi decade ode to rock music. I would be all over this, but there is not a real commercial play. We are looking at another arena type show for this one, and my bet is Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande, or something like that.
2024, LVIII, Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, NV: I have a real idea for this one and it gets its own section.
2025, LVIX, Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, LA: Louis Armstrong is dead and Jerry Lee Lewis is old, so my ideal lineup is not possible. However, there is a very alive and genre merging lineup of Brittany Spears, Harry Connick Jr. and Hank Williams, Jr. This would be wild as hell and is never happening.
2026 Bonus: Word on the street is Tottenham Hotspur in London plan to bid on hosting. I 100% endorse this proposal as the first global Super Bowl. There is not limit to how cool an all Brit halftime show could be. All in.

A Halftime Show Fit for Vegas

I am looking forward to what Vegas does for a halftime show, and I expect it to be the most intricate and perfect execution. The Super Bowl halftime show and Vegas are made for each other. I believe there is a perfect, Vegas-originating lineup for this show as well:

The Killers: these guys are arena royalty and the perfect headliner.
Imagine Dragons: these guys are one of the biggest bands in the world, and have 4 songs with over a BILLION streams.
Donny and Marie: these two ARE Vegas.
Wayne Newton: the sitting KING of Vegas.
100 Elvis Impersonators: the King of Showbiz, Vegas and Rock.

The rock and pop montage options are limitless. To me the biggest question is whether to open or close with “Viva Las Vegas” and the answer might be both. Bonus point options include Blue Man Group adding percussion, Carrot Top acting as something of an emcee, and Penn & Teller participating with visuals. I expect to see some if not all of these things materialize.

One More Time

The Chiefs head into the offseason with work to complete. The WR corp needs to improve, the D-line needs retooling, and apparently OC needs to be solidified. Brett Veach and Co. are on it, and I expect a much improved team. My predictions for the 2022 Chiefs:

AFC Champs
#1 Seed
Host of 5th straight AFC Championship game
AFC rep in Super Bowl LVII

See y’all again next week. Oh, and try my soup.

Josh Kingsley — ArrowheadOne

You can follow Josh on Twitter @mkechiefsfans

Plus, please visit ArrowheadKingdom.org for more Chiefs content.