I Pledge Allegiance, to the Chiefs

As soon as I knew football, I knew the Kansas City Chiefs. Honestly, that is how fast it came. Well, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration. It all started off with tangibles. I liked the red and white colors, the unique uniform designs, that kind of stuff. Really amateur reasons. Just the words "Kansas City Chiefs" rolled nicely off the tongue. 

That was just a first stage. I was also always drawn to productive "powerhouse" offenses, and the Chiefs always seemed to possess some major offensive weapons. At first it was the Priest Holmes Tony Gonzalez era. And shortly after, Larry Johnson had his time in the spotlight. 

All this said, even after loving the uniforms, and the players, and the offense, these are not the things that captured me about the Kansas City Chiefs. I was still pretty young at the time when my parents took me to Kansas City to visit relatives we had not seen in ages. Always having been a big football guy, my dad bought tickets for the Sunday game at Arrowhead, and so we went.

I was already well past the time when kids make allegiances to certain teams, but football had never really been my sport. Sure, I followed the top individuals, but as a whole, I would watch few games outside of the post-season and Superbowl games. But when we walked into Arrowhead, everything changed.

It was as though I was swept off my feet and crowd-surfed over a horde of chief fans. Everything in sight was red, every fan looked devoted, and there existed more passion for one sports team in that stadium than, I think, exists anywhere else in the world. This was all before the game even began.

During the game, the offense was alive, scoring 41 points and winning easily. All the while, the devout fans cheered for every play, shrieked at every first down, and went downright wild every time the home team scored. It was an experience that will stay with me forever, something I will never allow myself to forget. It is from that day that I can stand proudly and say that I am the most passionate Chiefs fan in the world.