Laddie Morse
Dear 2019,
I want to apologize to you before I even get started on this letter. I waited 50 years to meet you, but I confess, now I’ve found another year, 2022, to take your place. Well, not “take your place”… but a year I hold more dearly, even more.
Back in the 2019 playoffs, from the first moment that I saw QB Patrick Mahomes connect with his WR, Sammy Watkins, for a 60 yard TD pass to take a 35-to-17 lead against the Tennessee Titans in the 2019 AFCCG, I knew that was going to be a year like no other, and… admittedly, I cried.
.
.
“We’re going to the Super Bowl!” I shouted
at my TV, “We’re going to the Super Bowl!”
.
Two weeks later you gave us, “Do we have time to run Wasp?” and when it worked, I was enraptured in that moment and taken to a place I had only dreamt of… and did dream about, for 50 interminable years.
.
.
Your February of 2020 parade was special, just like your Super Bowl victory, and there will never be another one like you. Plus, you and Travis Kelce… via the Beastie Boys of course… gave birth to, “You Gotta Fight, For your Right… to Parrrrrty..”
.
.
Once Travis Kelce shrieked those words doing his guttural best, it whipped the crowd into a frenzy which, honestly, has never stopped.
However, this year was special for all of it’s own reasons. Back in 1969, a year I recall first hand, we had “65-Toss-Power-Trap” to reminisce about for the better part of 50 seasons… and then three years ago, the play was actually called: “2-3 Jet Chip Wasp” or simply, “Wasp”, and now this year, we scored twice on a duplicated concept, once to the right side, and once to the left side, on a play we now celebrate called: “Corn Dog.”
.
.
.
.
I love, and will always cherish, Wasp, but now I have Corn Dog to capture my imagination and it fills me up. Am I filled with anticipation at what Andy Reid will come up with next? Now, I’m in dreamland over Corn Dog, especially since the Chiefs beat the Eagles with it… twice.
.
.
I’ve since heard that, Travis Kelce was lined up on the wrong side of the formation, so instead of stopping the play with a time out, Patrick Mahomes went ahead and had the ball hiked and followed through with “Corn Dog” left, to the opposite side of the field. The play, fooled the Eagles defense completely, twice. This was Skyy Moore’s first TD ever as a Pro, and it came in the Super Bowl. It’s revealing — and says something about the kind of person he is — that Patrick Mahomes tracked the ball down so that Moore could have it later.
During the 2019 season, Patrick Mahomes threw for over 4,000 yards and 860 of those were to the fastest man in the NFL, Tyreek Hill. Now, Hill has taken his talents to South Beach — as of last March 23rd, 2022 — and the Chiefs ended up trading picks around, ending up with 22 year old WR Skyy Moore, George Karlaftis plus this year’s 4th and 6th Round selections. While many questioned if Mahomes could be as effective without Tyreek Hill, his winning the MVP, during the season as well as during the Super Bowl, Mahomes made it clear, this year was to be special.
.
.
Hey 19, you’ll always have a special place in my heart, but I knew we could do it again soon with a QB like Patrick Mahomes kicking this offense into gear. In fact, we went to the Super Bowl the very next year so, that was the first clue that it could happen repeatedly. However, 2020 was also very disappointing, mostly because of who we lost it to… and… the fact that, we lost.
Now, we hear the team talking about “Running It Back” and they’re also using the, “Dynasty” word again, but… it’s because of the 2020 and 2021 seasons that this doesn’t sit well with some of us Chiefs fans. Thank you for your Parade, but this year’s parade was awesome as well. In fact, I believe we had more fans at this Parade than yours. The Los Angeles Times published an article called: “Chilly Chiefs fans turn out for Super Bowl LVII victory parade” in which they said the Chiefs Championship Parade was costly:
.
“The City Council earmarked $750,000 for parade-related expenses, and Mayor Quinton Lucas estimated overtime costs for police and firefighters would total more than $1.5 million.”
.
The TODAY Show announced that the Chiefs parade had one (1) Million fans in attendance. In a 2021 head count, the city of Kansas City had the population of: 508,394. So, reaching more than one-million for the parade is superbly significant, and obviously, others, from far and wide, came to the parade. In a TODAY Show video called: “1 Million Attend Kansas City Victory Parade For Chiefs” they reported:
.
.
Also, you might not know this, but a disease — which caused a world wide pandemic — is named after you: Covid-19. Right after we won the Super Bowl three years ago, most of the planet kind of went into hiding. Right or wrong, those days led to some, well, not fond memories. This year, however, the Chiefs and all their fans got to celebrate… and I think some are still celebrating to this very day.
.
.
Andy Reid said during the festivities:
“Next year, we’re coming back here. One more time baby.”
.
Hey 19, winning one Super Bowl doesn’t get a lot of hate from fans of other teams… except the team we beat, the San Francisco 49ers… but now, with two SB victories in four seasons (plus getting there three time)… has apparently drawn the ire of many fans across the country who are not Chiefs fans. On the flip side, more Chiefs fans than ever have crawled out of the woodwork. So, it’s hard not to favor this year’s Super Bowl team.
Hey 19, keep your head up. You delivered what this city hasn’t had in 50 years, a Super Bowl winning team. Now, we have two Lombardi Trophies (three actually) to spend our time relishing.
.
.
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
.