Building A Chief Fan of The Future: Part 1 – The Game Plan
Over the next few weeks, I will be writing installments building a Kansas City Chiefs fan of the future. I have two sons and have been taking one to a game in KC each year for the last 4 years. Not only is it father/son time, but it is showing them the best football team/stadium/fan base/tailgating/etc. in the world. I am sure this time will bear fruit in the future as they fully embrace the sport and the team.
For the first part, I’ll describe the preparation that takes place in planning the trip and getting properly setup for the trip and weekend. This is a critical step due to some of the items needed to get the best experience for a traveling game.
My prep work starts about 3 months out. The main reason for this is the long lead time for some of the items you’ll see in the following paragraphs.
Schedule Review & Game Selection
Step one should be pretty obvious. We need to get the schedule out and decide on a game to attend. I get the dates for the home games and compare them to the family calendar. Once I get any games ruled out that conflict with family events I look at the teams we play. I look for games that have the best rivalry or potential for exciting play. After I get to the short list, I prefer games in September or October, but there are only so many choices. I prefer these months for weather reasons, as well as my work schedule. We want to get this locked down (or at least narrowed to 2 potential games) by mid-summer. This will let the anticipation build.
Apparel
Up next is the apparel check. When you have two growing boys you need to validate several things with their Chiefs gear. Does it fit? Is it presentable? Does it have relevant player’s names on it? And, it is weather appropriate? There are lots of variables in this list to consider. Sometimes there are hand-me-downs in play, if I am taking my younger son. And, sometimes there are loaners from me, if I am taking my older son. Once I get a handle on what they should wear (t-Shirt, heavy jacket, sweatshirt, etc.), I check the inventory and make a list of what we need to buy, if anything. I can then take that list and hit the internet looking for deals. We get those things ordered and on hand ASAP.
Tail Gate Menu/Prep
The third thing that needs some thought, discussion, and preparation is: the all important tailgate. We try to keep it simple since we are coming in from out of town, but do have some menu options. Pretty much anything that can be done on a small grill, with limited prep work, is fair game. Typically they like to go with the hot dog/brat/sausage main dish. We add chili or sauerkraut as a topping. In addition to that, we have chips/dips, sodas/beer, and whatever else our neighbors want to share. If you didn’t pick up on it yet, we do fly in from out of town and still grill up the cased meats.
This is another reason some prep time is needed. I go online and order a disposable grill and have it delivered to our hotel on our arrival date. This year it looks like there is a new product on the market that is a tailgate in a box. We are going to give it a try since my brother and nephew will be joining us this year. Definitely not what I would bring if I were local, but I am not local. Once we get all this scheduled, we are setup for success at tailgating.
Watch Some Games & Talk Players/Stats
The last item is about building some familiarity with the team taking the field in the current year and building the anticipation. I have NFL Sunday Ticket, so we watch the games leading up to ours, whenever possible. If they have some other activity, then we talk about some of the great plays our players made and the key statistics. Both of my sons seem to have a head for numbers and standout plays. As time has progressed, they seem to bring up plays from the past more and more. For instance, my older keeps mentioning how he saw Alex Smith lead the biggest comeback victory in KC Chiefs history and younger about Jamaal Charles’ coming back from his ACL injury.
As they say: Proper Prior Preparation Prevents PeePee Poor Performance. I surely don’t want that to be the memory my boys have, so these are the Game Plan Steps we take to get setup for a fun and exciting trip to Arrowhead to watch the Chiefs.
And there’s The Rub.
