The Dallas Cowboys are enough of a star-studded team to impress me. Seeing Jerry Jones talking to Scott Pioli and then later Clark Hunt was impressive. Roger Goodell then joined all three of those men on the sidelines before the game. The executive of the decade, one of the most visible owners and the NFL's top dog all standing together.
Not a bad scene, right? Just wait. It got better.
Luckily for us, Josh Looney of KCChiefs.com snapped a ton of photos. Check out his Twitter page for more.
Prior to kickoff, Priest Holmes was honored for his time in the NFL. Priest, of course, was one of, if not the best Chiefs running back in franchise history. Coincidentally, Larry Johnson broke his franchise record for attempts today.
In addition to Holmes, former Chiefs kicker Nick Lowery was honored as well. He was officially put into the Chiefs Hall of Fame. It was a great, great honor for him. He had his family with him and you could tell it was a special day for him.
At halftime, a ton of former Chiefs came onto the field. It really was amazing. We wrote about which players were going to be there a couple days ago but it was still one of those moments that makes you stop and think....wow.
Neil Smith, Dan Saleauma, Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier received some of the biggest cheers from the crowd. Our guess our town likes defense, huh? But the biggest ovation went for the last former player that was announced, the Super Bowl IV MVP and a fixture in Kansas City since that game: Lenny 'The Cool' Dawson.
After I walked out of the locker room, I was waiting by a bank of elevators to head back up to the press box. Standing in front of me? A man by the name of Dick Vermeil, who was on the field with Holmes earlier in the game. Of course, Lenny The Cool was there as well.
(That picture was actually taken before the game)
Yeah, it was a loss. A disheartening, and possibly even demoralizing loss, but if you were at the game, you were treated to a level of Chiefs history rarely seen.
Here I was thinking a few weeks back that it couldn't get better than sharing an elevator with Len Dawson. Then I share one today with Lenny, Vermeil and Hunt. I can stand up to current players and ask them questions without much of a problem - but put me next to Len Dawson and I gotta stop for a minute, and think, Chiefs history is about as good as it gets.