Why Am I excited about this year?

     Hello... This is my favorite bar, the bar that is known as Arrowhead Pride I am the guy that sits in the back corner drinking his coffee; thinking. I am often thinking about the Chiefs. I say the occasional hello and love to strike up a conversation but I am rather introverted so I generally keep to myself. I love listening in to other people but since the most subjects that I have an opinion on…are well covered by the people involved I do not feel the need to join in. I am unsure why I am even typing this post because of my nature but it is something I cannot let go. Now that we out of the way, let me refill my coffee before I begin.

                The Marty Schottenheimer era; I became a Chiefs fan officially in 1988, it was after the strike and I was too young to understand because I was 8 years old. How I actually became a chiefs fan is that I got to meet Christian Okoye with my mom. I honestly do not remember how or why but I do remember thinking, WOW that is a big man. After that experience, I started watching the Chiefs religiously. Every year during the Marty years, I would be excited. Anywhere from the drafting of Percy Snow, Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith or just the national media saying how good the Chiefs would be that year.  The last year of 1998, I was still excited but was shocked how that season turned out. I honestly believed Marty could not have a losing season.

                The Gunther years; enough said. (P.S. I have always liked Gunther but…)

                The Dick Vermeil era; I have always loved Martyball. A stout defense, strong special teams and an efficient offense were the aspects of football I loved most. Then the greatest show on turf showed up. I was a HUGE fan of The Maz. I thought he had enough of an attitude to make up for the lack of it on defense. When he went down so did we. It was an awesome run of offense and I generally was excited while Coach Vermeil was here.

                The Herm Edwards era; I know many did not like Herm as coach. When he became our head coach I was like yes a defensive minded coach. At first I was excited. Then Herm started talking about the Tampa 2 and Tampa. I am not here to argue different style of defenses the pros and cons.  I personally like a 3-4 defense. The reason is that I like quality linebacker play. This comes from watching Derrick Thomas, Tracey Simien, Anthony Davis, Greg Manusky, Marvcus Patton. I always wanted to be an NFL linebacker. If I would have been bigger, stronger, faster and athletic ability along with high football intelligence it might have happened. Then doom hit. When Herm said that the Chiefs did not back into the playoffs but they won when others lost. That really bothered me. For me, it wasn’t just coach speak but a belief that the Chiefs were going in the right direction.

                The next 2 years, I was no longer excited. I thought the worst we could get was 6-10. Not in my wildest dreams would I believe we could go 2-14.

                The Todd Haley era; I really like Todd Haley. Why? I honestly do not know. I can’t point to his record because it is 4-12. He yells a lot and uses foul language, (I am in the military so I am around it, but I personally tried to avoid it.) He does remind me of his mentor, Bill Parcells. I was/am a fan of Coach Parcells. He just wants to win championships. I do not know if Todd will be successful, but I am excited he is our hear coach.

2010- This year.

                I am trying not to be so pessimistic and say ope here is another 4-12 or 5-11 team. Now, I admittedly am a Kool-Aid Drinker but 11-5 just seems a little out of touch. So I will go 7-9 or maybe 8-8. After the last 3 years that would be plenty to be excited about. I just am expecting more. Why? If I had that answer, I would not be writing this post.

                I am naturally both an introvert and a realist. My realistic side tells me that I should expect 6-10 at the high end. My introverted self says; why are you writing this post? There is a hope with this Chiefs team.  I have hope that we will more closely resemble the 2001 Patriots than the 2007 Chiefs.  Do you have an unexplained hope? Why do you think the Chiefs will be better this year?

               Oh, looks like my coffee is getting cold. I better go back to my bench and do some more thinking about the Chiefs. Thanks, and if you want to stop by I seem to always have a seat.