Chiefs and The Boys of Summer

Josh Kingsley

I owe y’all a story about my summer guys baseball trip. About a month ago I promised extra stories about my friend, Adam M, and here we are. Our annual baseball trip, which is a sacred tradition, happen this past weekend. The main thing I want to make clear: I use the term “sacred” with full reverence and totally mean it in a completely unironic way. Adam, 14 to 31 others, and I eagerly look forward to this weekend all year. Good friends are hard to find, and we make sure to keep ours close and frequently visited. The other thing that makes the weekend sacred is the time. We just finished year 13*, are halfway through the MLB real estate tour, and are gaining as much steam as weight.

We have a simple plan and goal: get together annually, invade a town with an MLB team, and spread the awesomeness of Boston University Men’s Crew. The task is tall, but so are we. Thirteen* years, and not even halfway there. We are hitting all 30 MLB parks. Here is the story of the BU Crew Boys of Summer.

Origins

The journey started in summer 2010. Adam and I work together. Misty works at a downtown hotel half a block from Adam’s place and right next to a place called Mo’s Irish Pub. Misty and I are a few months newlywed, and we spend much of our extracurricular time at Adam’s and/or Mo’s. One night Misty showed up with what she assumed was a throw-away story: a group of 5-10 guys checked in earlier. They do an annual guys trip in a baseball city, and it was Milwaukee’s year. Every group of friends has a planner. I fill that role for mine, Misty fills it for hers, and Adam is also that guy. Misty and I watched the bulb go off in Adam’s head. He quickly retorted that such an event has been on his mind for some time. Misty and I went home and essentially forgot about the conversation.

A couple days later we learned that we share a specific trait with Adam: don’t bring up a concept if you aren’t serious about it. Adam got in touch with Misty to set up a room block for an upcoming weekend. My conversations with him pivoted more to the “must do things in MKE” nature. Meanwhile, Adam was feverishly contacting all his college buddies from the rowing team about a trip to Milwaukee for a Brewers game. Fast forward to the weekend when Adam sends a Thursday message to the work crowd:

“I have a group of East Cost a-holes in this weekend, and they want

to mingle with some Midwest country bumpkins. Join us!!”

I don’t have the email to quote it exactly, but that is what it said. My paraphrased response:

“I’m the biggest bumpkin of them all, and will be there all weekend.“

Boys of Summer 1

The weekend came in epic whirlwind fashion. About a dozen guys rolled into town from all over the East Coast for a giant bar hop. Adam had meticulously planned a schedule of all the best spots we frequented and took visitors at the time. Highlights:

Trinity: this is a spot on the Water Street bar district. Picture 3 connected bars and a college style atmosphere.
The Safe House: if you know, you know. This is spy themed bar with a secret entrance and exit. You must provide a password to enter, and no, I will not give it to you. Any Google search for unique bars in America will include this place.
Miller Park: this was kind of the focal event of the weekend. Great place to catch a ballgame.
Adam’s place: his house is incredible. It is the ultimate party or night out pre-game spot. Saturday night had to include the place.

There was one major conclusion at the end of the trip: this was the first of an annual thing. My major event was absorbing into the group. I believe that you cannot have too many friends or too much fun, so this was quite welcome.

Boys of Summer, An American Institution

That wild weekend in Milwaukee in 2010 has become an entity. A variation of this core formula happens annually:

Summer weekend in a city with an MLB ballpark we have not attended
Early bird crew gathers Thursday night for casual dinner and drinks
Some local flavor activity Friday and a nice dinner in the evening
Baseball game Saturday

There are variations based on the specific city, but the overall flow is the same. Over the years focus on down time to just hang out has increased. It is an annual reunion we all look forward to. Our goal is to hit every ballpark, and here is the progress and time line:

2010: Milwaukee Brewers
2011: Colorado Rockies
2012: Washington Nationals
2013: Texas Rangers
2014: San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
2015: Cincinnati Reds
2016: Toronto Blue Jays
2017: Minnesota Twins
2018: Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox (we waited 9 years for the two-fer)
2019: Philadelphia Phillies (many in the group live in Philly, so it was obvious for year 10)
2020: *Covid
2021: Baltimore Orioles
2022: Cleveland Guardians

The process of picking the where is based on spreading the geography (i.e. not hitting a single time zone too many years in a row), and also picking a time that fits all our family and school schedules. The default weekend is 3rd weekend in July. Our only real rule is the Boston Red Sox will close out the list as our last stadium.

The Bests

After 13 years we have some excellent stories and plenty of opinions on the cities we visited. I will get into those shortly, but first some stats:

14 ballparks visited
21 teams seen
5-9 home team record – I never called us good luck, haha
Apparently our favorite teams are the Indians/Guardians and Nationals with 3 appearances each

Now for some stories and recommendations. These will be a mix of my personal thoughts, conversations with Adam, and perceived views of the group.

Best Stadiums

We have some gems on the list already. Wrigley Field is at the top of most baseball parks lists regardless of author. This group rated it highly as well. Wrigley has hands down the best post game night life in the entire league. This park is a must visit for all baseball fans. The Orioles Park in Camden Yards is iconic in its own right. The orange brick wall behind the outfield is as cool in person as it looks on TV. Those are the givens on the list.

The group contains mainly East Coast fans of the Red Sox, Phillies and Nationals, so those parks rated high with the group as well. Both are very nice parks with excellent sight lines throughout the stadium. The Phils get my personal nod based on the tailgating aspect. I do want to highlight the surprise hit on the list a bit more. The White Sox Guaranteed Rate Field (GRF) has a bad reputation as the last of a forgettable era. It opened in 1991 shortly after the toilet known as Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg and the old and unsexy Rogers Centre in Toronto. The Orioles and Indians/Guardians opened their far superior parks shortly after. Other gripes about GRF include its location in the rough park or Chicago and its proximity to nothing. Both are accurate.

However, when you get to the park the experience is great. The renovations have added charm, the seats and sight lines are comfortable, everything is on the cost effective side, and it is easy to get to. Hop on the red line, and you are there. Don’t stray and it is safe on game days. Italian beef and sausage combo sandwich is where its at.

Best Food

Given the formula from above we eat a lot, and have some great recommendations. I will start with the best meal we have had to date, which is quite timely. Acqua di Luca in Cleveland is the best meal we’ve had. We arranged an excellent 5 course meal with wine pairings. This is a must stop if you are in Cleveland.

Here are some other spots I fully endorse and recommend when you are in the area:

Baltimore – Crab: BWI is one of a couple airports where I will order seafood. Crab cakes at Obrycki’s are a must in the B terminal. Our Friday formal meal was Riptide for crab. They brought us cookie sheets full of whole crab with hammers and bowls for the shells.
Chicago – Pizza: everyone knows Chicago has the deep dish. The easiest place to find is Giordano’s because they are everywhere. Lou Malnati’s is another great, multi location stop. My personal favorite and the one we hit is Gino’s East on the Magnificent Mile. Patty style sausage is the order. The Chicago two-fer demands a second restaurant. Our nice dinner was at the venerable Gene & Georgetti, and it lives up to every reputation.
Philadelphia – Cheesesteak: this is a repeat. Dalessandro’s is the spot.

Finally, I do have to pour a 40 out for our favorite place no longer with us. Minneapolis lost a true great in the 2020 Covid Restaurant Massacre. There was an incredible meat and cocktail spot called Butcher and the Boar, and I fully shed a tear learning of its demise.

The Best Reasons

I will conclude my BOS segment with a simple message: this is a totally worth it labor of love. Relationships take work to keep them healthy. That comment is common when discussing romantic and marital relationships alike. It is not common in commentary regarding friendships, but is equally important. Make sure to take time to reconnect with friends.

We have no idea how many trips around the sun we have left.

More Preseason Football

The NFL has one week of preseason football left, and then we are on to real games. Excited does not scratch the surface for this fan, and I know I am not alone. The draft, camps and preseason are fun, but pale in comparison to the fix received from regular season games. The offseason is for dreamers, but the season is for winners. I believe the CHIEFS will be major winners again this season, but for now we are projecting like the rest of the league. Cleveland did give me an opportunity to scratch the football itch with a preseason game featuring Browns and Eagles. The walk to the stadium showed me that Browns fans lead the league in many offensive categories including: offensive t-shirts. I won’t repeat any of them, but Chubb and Watson give them plenty of, um, material.

I always enjoy walking into a new sporting venue and getting to know the local team better. The first thing I noticed in the Browns stadium was the list of titles. Keep in mind these are AFL Championships, but the Browns have 8, which includes 5 consecutive from ’46-’50. The retired number ring, with Jim Brown prominently on the 50, was impressive too. It struck me as salt in the current fans’ faces and wounds. This whole Watson saga is not giving any real thoughts of hope either.

Preseason Meaning

These games are less fun than the regular season games for good reason. The results largely do not matter… to fans. Preseason records have no tie or indication to any sort of season performance. The games mainly serve as live tryouts for the roster’s bubble players. That all said I believe there are a few things that matter beyond the roster spots:

Chemistry: the teams playing with visually click or they won’t. This is an important consideration. The important things included are QB/WR connection, OL organization, and defensive presence and coverage.
Trends: meaning what does the game phase look like. Does the offense actually move smoothly? Can the D stop the run and defend the passing game? Is special teams playing solid or looking like a liability?
Crazy Results: lopsided games matter.

Let’s talk CHIEFS on these topics. The chemistry looks excellent from my view mainly speaking about the Mahomes to WR connection. All these guys are illustrating how hard they worked in the offseason. The majority of the chemistry here is reps to build trust and muscle memory. Mahomes appears in sync and full of trust for his pass catching corps. The early returns on games also show a meaner, more aggressive D.

That leads perfectly into trends. CHIEFS starting D is looking much stingier than last year’s edition. Granted, that bar is as low as the final for a limbo championship, but progress is progress. It is still too early to call us having a good D, but Veach clearly gained talent in the draft. I do think it is safe to say that. The real impressive trend is Mahomes and the offense. A rushing attack balance, motivated RB backfield, and lazer focused Mahomes jump out. Patrick is 3-3 scoring TD on his drives with no favorite target.

What Crazy Results Mean

Patrick Mahomes is having a crazy stat preseason:

3 drives all resulting in TD
222 yards passing on 18-26 completions
133.8 passer rating

This is the preseason, but he is putting up the best overall performance among starters. It’s time to get excited about this offense. The other major thing I noticed was the Bills beating the Broncos 42-15. Final scores and win-loss record may be irrelevant, but giving and receiving beat downs like that is not irrelevant. Buffalo destroyed Denver in all phases on 1st, 2nd and 3rd team. That matters. The Bills look battle ready, and Denver looks like they need more seasoning.

Player We Must Note

George Karlaftis is also trending upwards… very. I maintain my shock with his availability at #30 in the draft, and his preseason is validating it. The dude is non-stop all-out effort and proving he can move fluidly enough in the NFL. His draft questions revolved around movement/technique and arm length. The fact remains that he was effective against the gauntlet of stout Big 10 lines. We may just have another steal on our hands. The movement is small, but there is talk starting on social media of DROY and other exciting stuff. Let’s look at some number first.

There is a PFF graphic floating around with these preseason numbers:

31 pass rush snaps
5 QB pressures
2 sacks
22% of pass rush snaps result in pressure or a sack

These numbers show an effective pass rusher. I also dug into another metric set from ESPN Insights for OLB/DE Pass Rush Win Rates from 2021. The definition of a win is beating the block in 2.5 seconds or less. I used this stat set for a base line of what a good rusher looks like. These names jumped out:

Myles Garrett: ranked #1 on the list with a win rate of 28%. (Clowney was #4 with 24% – Go Browns)
TJ Watt: the DPOY ranked 5th with a 24% win rate proving the destination is probably more important than the journey in this instance.
Maxx Crosby: rounded out the top 10 with a 22% win rate.

Karlaftis has a small sample size in the preseason, but he is accumulating stats at the rate Maxx Crosby is beating blocks. That matters. His first task is to take that into the season, and step two is to capitalize in his new Twitter residence, the backfield.

Let’s Get Crazy

BJ Kissel is a name we all know and love. He recently made a trip to the Department of Why the “H” Not, and made a fun claim on Twitter. Kissel said:

“This is the kind of thing that makes me think

he’ll break the Chiefs rookie sack record.”

Here’s what he was referring to:

This is a “H” of a prediction, but I say… why the Heck not? It is not a proper preseason without a crazy claim/prediction. For the record I consider these rational claims/predictions:

Patrick Mahomes will win MVP in 2022
CHIEFS will win Super Bowl LVII
Travis Kelce will lead all TE in yards, catches, TD

None of those count in my book. This Kissel claim attacks hallowed ground — DT Ground — and is wild. If Kissel is correct we will witness an elite season from the DROY. I will drink to that.

Movie Almost Ender

“Superbad” débuted roughly 15 years ago on August 17, 2007. The movie stars Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Christopher Mintz-Plasse as high schoolers looking for booze and girls. The supporting cast includes Seth Rogan and Bill Hader as man-child police officers being bad at their jobs. Plot lines are as ridiculous, as they are entertaining. This movie sits in a very high spot in the comedic world, and is always worth a watch.

Lenny the Cool

The only way to end this piece is a nod to the great Len Dawson. CHIEFS fans and the NFL world lost a giant on Wednesday, August 20, 2022. I have one simple thought: thanks for the memories Len, you will be sorely missed. Also, thanks for the best photo in the history of the NFL.

Josh Kingsley — ArrowheadOne and Arrowhead Kingdom