A recent story on Arrwohead Pride discussed the idea of the Chiefs making an official statement about the statements made by Winston to the media about the disgusting behaviour of some fans cheering the injury of Matt Cassel. I'm not understanding what the chiefs could say to make this situation better.


"We apologize for the environment at arrowhead stadium that said hurtful things to players, presented a poor example for other fans and children in the stands."

That might be OK with the media and outside world, but doesn't add anything to the actual conversation. Worse yet it seems to needlessly risk saying the "wrong thing', and make a bad situation worse. Couple that with the way it would draw the bad press out even more, and I don't see the benefit.


What would make fans look better to the media? Here are a couple ideas:

• Have self-admitted "injury cheerers" put together a bannar and fly that over arrowhead during the week (get the proper press coverage too). The banner should say, "We are sorry for cheering the injury of a player, signed the Fans" or something like that.
  
• Support this guys effort to create a get well soon video to Matt. Publicize it.
  

One attitude I see from some fans on AP is "The chiefs created this environment", or "Winston should have kept his mouth shut" or "Winston misrepresented the chiefs fans". These same fans were not the ones cheering, I know. The problem with these arguments form the national media perspective:

• "The chiefs created the environment" - These sorts of arguments are hard to follow and don't play out well in the press. The main reason is that it is a game. So what if they are kind of bad at selecting talent, or don't have the best players at every postition, the fans shouldn't be taking pleasure in the suffering of others because of that.
• "Winston should have kept his mouth shut" - Most people (even in KC!!) don't agree with this. They respect defending a player who doesn't speak for himself. They respect sticking up for your teammate. If most of KC feels this way, you got to believe the nation does too.
  
• "Winston misrepresented the chiefs fans" - Winston already clarified this. He said it was an exaggerated reaction. He said something like: "it wasn't everyone, 7000, 700, but whatever it was it was too much". The media has latched on to this one. Even my local news ran a story in Colorado Springs on the LOCAL FREAKING NEWS, and they mentioned this quote. So, *he* has said the right thing, and the story still has legs, and it still makes KC look bad. You can probably picture it in your head, as they back away from the story, the reports say, "True words, even one person cheering an injury is too much." that resonates with compassionate people that are just hearing sound bites.
  

Why does it make KC fans (and all football fans, btw) look bad? Because it should. It was a rotten thing to do, even if you were drunk. Being drunk isn't an excuse for this. It's a condemnation on being drunk if anything.

Conclusion: Best thing for the chiefs to do as an organization: focus on football. Get the team better. That's it.