Welcome to Chiefs Therapy

Leader: Welcome to Chiefs Therapy. A lot of new faces tonight. Let's start by going around the room at telling each other about ourselves and what's on our minds. Who is first?

Me: I'll go. The name is Christian. I am 23 year old blue collar Kansan. Been a die-hard Chiefs fan since day one. Not sure how the fan hood started, but it did, and has never died or waiver despite that for the majority of my memorable life, the Chiefs have been average at best, with only a few miserable playoff games played. I am the type of fan that is almost always the eternal optimist. I live and die by the Chiefs. Weekends are ruined by loses, weeks are started off great with wins. Arrowhead Pride is visited more than a dozen times a day, mid-season, preseason, off season, regardless.  I have been a season ticket holder for two years. I love the Arrowhead experience, despite the fact that in the last 11 home games I have been to, I have seen 1 win. 1-11. At least it was MNF opener last year though right. Frustrating? No more sad in my opinion.

It’s been two days since I attended our home opener against the Bills. It was pretty sad. At first I was frustrated, mad, and angry, but that slowly turned mostly to sadness and slight depression. This continued into Monday and Tuesday where work just drug on and the Chiefs game, and the state of the Chiefs was the only constant on my mind. Usually a good night’s sleep helps me forget, but Sunday was different. Sunday was different. It was demoralizing. I am sad, for many reasons:

1- Chief’s fans (fans being those who are not quite as die hard as I am, not meaning to sound cocky) are fickle. They often over react, and are quick to pass judgment. This was seen first-hand Sunday in 2 instances. The first were two mid-30’s men sitting behind me. When we were down 0-14, they left, saying they were going to sell their season tickets and the year was over. I didn’t believe it, but they never came back. 0-14, that is certainly overcomeable I think. Most would.  At half in the bathroom the discussion turned quickly to the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, which at half we were apparently the front runner. What? 1 game. 15 other teams are 0-1. 6 of them are playoff teams from 2010. Where is the optimism people? It is 1 game. If we can recover, and come back Sunday and compete, and hopefully win, what will fans say then? That we are winning the Super Bowl? Why can’t my fellow Chiefs fans be optimistic realists? I fear residual effects from this game. People sell tickets. Stadiums are empty, or worse, filled with the opposing teams fans. The fan intensity is not there (which it was to start Sunday’s game. I was tomahawking walking into the stadium!!). We lose home field advantage with our crowd. Fans, let’s not let this happen. Stay optimistic, stay supportive.

2- Eric Berry’s injury saddens me greatly. I wear his jersey every week. After last year’s MNF game (remember my only win in the last 11 games) I didn’t wash that jersey once until the year was over. (Ok, it’s a superstition) But what an affect this will have on our team. McGraw and Sabby do not at this point in time seem to be viable replacements. But let’s give them a shot. Maybe our D line can compensate creating more pressure on the QB (where was that Sunday). Let’s be honest. Eric’s injury is huge, but it does not have the magnitude of an injury like Peyton. Like many witty media members have said, Peyton could win MVP by not playing all year. Berry does not have that type of impact. Peyton’s loss could be the difference between 10 wins and 2. Berry on the other hand, might only be worth 1 or 2 wins. Let’s not dwell on how his injury affects us now. Instead let’s hope that he comes back strong next year, with no residual effects. He is a hell of a talent and it’s a shame to see him hurt, but boy doesn’t he have the right attitude "Minor setback for a Major Comeback." Fans, take notes, take that attitude.

3- It saddens me, that being a small market team generate little to no national media coverage, until Sunday. Getting blown out the worst on opening day, generate attention, negative attention. Stevie Johnson (God made him do it remember) tweets and that gets attention. Berry gets hurt, that gets attention. When we do good things, we are rarely, RARELY featured on ESPN, or talked about by the experts. But last night on Sportscenter, Scott VanPelt talked Eric Berry vs. God made me do it for about a minute and a half. In that short time he managed to mention the Chiefs getting blown out. Negative press. Our representation by the national media is now negative. And people often remember the negatives a lot sooner than the positives. I hate the limited media attention we get, but I even more dislike the negative press. Here is to hoping the Chiefs come out against Detroit, and in the remaining 14 games and compete. At least compete! Won’t we all feel better if we are in games and have chances to win? Being in games leads to wins. As I have been reminded today, we were blown out twice last year. Surely there was plenty of negativity then too. Let’s focus on the future and see how we react. The sky is not falling! Even if the national media, Florio, and Whitlock think it is for the Chiefs.

Leader: Wow. A lot on your mind tonight. Feel better?

Me: For the first time since Sunday at 12:02 pm, yeah a little bit. More hopeful than anything (this is also in part to the post by Aiken_Drum really good work. Great read. Gives great hope. (Link at end of page.))  Can’t wait (Bart Scott style) for Sunday and Detroit. This team has resolve in my mind, and is led by a strong head coach in Haley. I think we will like what we see, win or lose, and will get rid of this nasty taste in our mouths.

Leader: A lot of season left. Thanks for your take. So who is next? Surely the rest of you around this circle tonight need to get something off your chests…..