Shields in 2015: Origins of Will Shields' Charitable Ways from The Mothership
During his illustrious 14-year career as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, former All-Pro guard Will Shields' accomplishments are as impressive as they are diverse.
On the field, the numerous accolades he received and records he broke are revered in Chiefs lore; but what Shields was able to do for the Kansas City community off the field is why he is spoke about with such reverence among those who know him best.
His "Will to Succeed" foundation has helped more than 100,000 individuals since its inception in 1993, and it was the driving force behind his Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, which is the most prestigious honor an NFL player can receive, back in 2003.
"Will Shields was as fine of a total complete package as a person and a player that I ever coached," former Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil, who coached Shields for five seasons (2001-05), said. "Nobody I've ever met in coaching has given more back to the community than him."
Super Bowl Tailgating Recipes from The Mothership
The Super Bowl is right around the corner! If you still need some delicious recipes for the big game, we've got you covered.
Some of the Chiefs employees chimed in and submitted their favorite tailgating recipes.
Season Ticket Members Win for Renewing from The Mothership
In the first week of the Signing Bonus program, some lucky Season Ticket Members (STMs) have already received Scout Investment Club Level passes for next season, a trip to the 2016 Pro Bowl and lunch with team president Mark Donovan.
The Signing Bonus allows STMs who renew their tickets early to be entered into a drawing to receive prizes, such as tickets to the Super Bowl, a chance to watch a Chiefs game from a suite, or catch the Chiefs take on the Lions in London.
KCChiefs.com Video: Arrowhead Update: NFL Honors Need to Know
KCChiefs.com Photo Gallery: Super Bowl IV Highlights
2015 Hall of Fame finalist: Will Shields from ESPN
But the numbers Shields has are impressive. He never missed a game in his 14 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs and was selected to play in the Pro Bowl 12 times. He is one of four offensive linemen in NFL history to be selected to play in 12 or more Pro Bowls.
The others -- Bruce Matthews, Jim Otto and Randall McDaniel -- have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Seattle Beats New England at Losing to Kansas City from The Wall Street Journal
This will sound like a Kansas City ploy to broadcast the fact that only one team this year beat both New England and Seattle, and that was the Chiefs. But this isn't a topic that Chiefs officials have any interest in discussing. They ignored emails seeking insight into how the Chiefs pulled off those victories. And following Sunday's Pro Bowl here in Arizona, Chiefs players cornered in the locker room turned somber and looked at their feet when asked about the New England and Seattle victories.
"I mean, it's frustrating," said Dontari Poe, declining to state the obvious: The Chiefs didn't even make the playoffs!
A good decision to release: Brandon Flowers? from ESPN
Verdict: Releasing Flowers indeed paid off for the Chiefs. They really didn't miss him much. They not only shed a burdensome salary but improved their pass defense. They also beat Flowers and the Chargers twice last season.
ValueSpeak: Making everything super from The Deseret News
As far as I could tell, there was only one problem with Super Bowl I.
The Green Bay Packers weren't green. They were blue.
And even though I had never before seen a professional football game live and in living color, I had read enough from my subscription to Sports Illustrated to know that the dark jerseys worn by the Green Bay Packers were green, not blue...
...Since we had never before had a color television, we didn't know a thing about tint and color adjustment. And as usual, Dad had thrown out the instructions, confident that there wasn't any problem with any TV that couldn't be fixed with masking tape, tin foil or a rap on the side...
"...I'll get a repairman tomorrow," he said, resigning himself to spending the first Super Sunday afternoon watching the blue-ish Packers trounce the purple-ish Kansas City Chiefs, whose helmets should have been a bright cherry red. It was a minor irritation, but it somehow cast a pall over our enjoyment of the pre-game festivities. This was the first Super Bowl, and we were watching it on our super new color TV. It was supposed to be, you know, super.
Love in the Time of Deflategate from ESPN
ON THE NIGHT of Dec. 1, 2012, a man named Jack Easterby -- a lanky and balding former college basketball player and golfer with a thick Southern accent and a demeanor so relentlessly positive that it approaches goofy -- stood before the Kansas City Chiefs and tried to make sense of death. Not just death: a murder-suicide...
...Easterby, the Chiefs' chaplain, was in the team building preparing a Saturday service when the gun went off. Just hours later, players and coaches were waiting for consoling words from a man who, if the team hadn't drafted punter Ryan Succop out of South Carolina with the very last pick in 2009, they never would have known. Easterby had been the chaplain at South Carolina. Early in his second season, Succop asked Easterby to lead Bible study for the Chiefs, and Easterby demonstrated such an innate ability to connect with players -- listening rather than talking, investing more in their lives than their games, assigning homework rather than uttering empty maxims -- that Chiefs GM Scott Pioli came to personally pay for his flights from Columbia, South Carolina, to Kansas City.
WHAT THE 2015 HALL OF FAME CLASS SHOULD BE from Blogquin
For the last two spots, I would select Davis and Shields. Davis was a virtuoso in cleats at the running back position, and is only debatable for the Hall because of a terrible knee injury that cut his career short. Davis deserves to be immortalized. He was a truly great player who won two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos. Shields, along with Hall of Famer Larry Allen, was the best guard of his generation. Largely toiling in anonymity with the Kansas City Chiefs, Shields made 12 consecutive Pro Bowls, eight All-Pro teams, was named the 2003 Walter Payton Man of the Year, and is a member of the 2000's All-Decade Team. What else could he have done?
2015 Hall of Fame finalist: Will Shields from ESPN
Nerves were evident from everyone prior to that inaugural game - for which tickets were priced at $10. Izenberg called the room of Chiefs linebacker E.J. Holub, nicknamed "The Beast," for an interview over breakfast.
"Really, I set this up with him over the phone and you couldn't get near the players today like this," Izenberg says. "E.J., the Beast, he's sitting across the table from me and he puts his palms out. They're all sweaty. I said, ‘Why are you so sweaty? You're nervous?' "
Oh, yeah. The Beast was uniquely pressured.
"If we win this game, we get $15,000 a man," Holub said, "and my wife has already spent that money."
Five Things You Notice While Spending 10 Minutes on Radio Row at the Super Bowl from Boston.com
Obscure jersey quest! When I cover a Patriots game and walk past all the tailgates en route to the media entrance, I'm always on the look out for the fan wearing the most random jersey I can find. (Sometimes, actually, it ends up being a John Lynch jersey. He never played a regular-season game with the Pats, but the Pro Shop sold them in training camp in 2009. Lot of you guys pissed away cash on Tebow paraphernalia too.) This place is an absolute goldmine for obscure jerseys. A few spotted during this brief stroll: Two Darren McFaddens, a Sean Taylor (RIP), a Tim Couch (dude did not appear to be wearing it ironically), a Chad Brown (Seahawks), and our someone-paid-money-for-that? winner of the day, a No. 46 Kansas City Chiefs Sylvester Morris jersey.
Spagnola: One More Improbable Thought From A Most Improbable Season from DallasCowboys.com
Just think, the Cowboys scored 30 points against that vaunted Seahawks defense while basically giving away two possessions - the muffed punt and the fumbled away shotgun snap. Why, the Cowboys rushed for 162 yards. Only Kansas City rushed for more this season against Seattle (190).
But, how about this? The Cowboys and Chiefs were the only teams this season to produce 100-yard rushers against the famed Legion of Boom, Murray going for 115 and Jamal Charles for 159.
Oh, and I'm sure the Patriots are aware of this: Four of the only six teams to rush for more than 100 yards against Seattle this season won, accounting for every one of their losses so far.
Very interesting.
Pressure, faith, and claim to "cart": Cairo Santos evaluates season in the NFL from Globo.com [translated from the original Portuguese]
Pressure, fear of dismissal, moment of faith, recovery, field goal in the final seconds, meeting with the idol Peyton Manning , victories over the finalists of Super Bowl XLIX New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks and even an unusual move that made him recall the times of "soccer". It was intense year of Cairo Santos debut in the NFL, the major sports league in the United States.
American Muslims Who Made (Good) News in 2014 from The Community Word
3. Husain Abdullah
Who is he? Husain is an American football safety for the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL.
Abdullah, a practicing Muslim, observes the Ramadan fasts even during the football season.
He was fined for prostrating, a common act of humble gratitude to God, during his second career touchdown, which began a discussion on double standards of religious expression. The NFL later acknowledged that Abdullah should not have been penalized.
How to turn the game losing 7-1 from Veja.com [translated from the original Poruguese]
Everaldo Marques, ESPN, is now the official voice of football in Portuguese. He undertook a mission to evangelize the public. "I started to send early, by email, who sought me, a handout that I found on the internet with the rules of the game," he says. Add to that the didacticism of Everaldo the irreverence of his partner transmission, Paulo Antunes, born in Sao Paulo and educated in the United States. The accent to pronounce the name of the players and interjections in English fell in the taste of the fans, with unmistakable slogans like "We have a game" or " Hello , ball! ". Television for lawns and sands, the shortcut is short.
There are, today, 5000 practitioners in Brazil (one Brazilian acts in the NFL, Cairo Santos, the Kansas City Chiefs). This way, more than 100 teams, male and female, which are divided into three parts: the game with full equipment (helmet and shoulder pads), the flag (range with reduced physical contact) and the beach (played on the beach, as anticipates the name).