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.
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:
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“I have a group of East Cost a-holes in this weekend, and they want
to mingle with some Midwest country bumpkins. Join us!!”
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I don’t have the email to quote it exactly, but that is what it said. My paraphrased response:
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“I’m the biggest bumpkin of them all, and will be there all weekend.“
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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:
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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.
That wild weekend in Milwaukee in 2010 has become an entity. A variation of this core formula happens annually:
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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:
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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.
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:
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Now for some stories and recommendations. These will be a mix of my personal thoughts, conversations with Adam, and perceived views of the group.
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.
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:
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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.
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.
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.
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:
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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.
Patrick Mahomes is having a crazy stat preseason:
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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.
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:
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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.
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:
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“This is the kind of thing that makes me think
he’ll break the Chiefs rookie sack record.”
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Here’s what he was referring to:
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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:
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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.
“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.
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.
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Josh Kingsley — ArrowheadOne and Arrowhead Kingdom
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