FanPost

2017 Springfield Draft party was a success

Great report, thanks for writing! -Joel

So as many of you know there was something called an "NFL Draft" that started on 4/27/17. Apparently, for whatever its worth, we drafted a quarterback. I believe we traded up to get this quarterback. I also believe there’s video evidence of Chiefs fans losing their minds … I was one of those fans, enjoy.

The thing is, I’ve had a full on draft crush for a quarterback out of Texas Tech. Since the very first game I watched of Patrick Mahomes, it was pure shock and awe. I instantly thought to myself, this kid is going to be a star in the NFL. Any team that takes with him with a good supporting cast is going to be a contender for a long time. Man, do I want him in KC …

Fast forward a few months, Mahomes’ draft stock is through the roof. We all on AP know this, there’s no chance we get a shot at him at 27. So what do we do? Do we trade up? Do we trade down? Trade away a player? Do we pick from the quality QB prospects in 2017? The end result here was absolutely priceless.

See, about a month ago I made a Fanpost with the NFL Draft in mind. I wanted a chance to meet new Chiefs fans and fellow APers while watching the Draft. After I wrote it, I asked Joel to kick it to the front page so all the Springfield area people could easily see and find it. The result was a great comments section followed by an equally great turnout at the Draft Party. Honestly, I couldn’t complain at all about the night. The food was good, the beers were good, the company was great, and my oh my … did Dorsey come to play!

So here’s my mini take on the evening...

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I arrived early to make sure everything was ready to go. Within a few minutes, people started showing up. By the time the draft began we had quite a few people there. I never counted but I’d guess 25 or so made it to the party. Thank you by the way, you all rock.

Anyway, as the draft continued along a few people made "their picks" for the teams. There were some surprise picks including the Bears trading with the 49ers for Biscuit. Seriously, That was a horrible pick, what were they thinking? That put us one QB down already and its only pick number two at this point (I started to worry... worry a lot).There were a few other picks that a lot or a few thought were odd, however everyone kept chugging along waiting to get closer and closer to pick 27.

At this point, I recall looking up and seeing Christian McCaffrey go to the Panthers. After that pick the rest of the night was a blur of emotion. See, one minute, I’m setting there chatting it up with some fellow APers whilst enjoying my delicious pizza burger. The next, a guy (non APer, super cool dude) eating a bowl of ice cream (vanilla I’m pretty sure) yells out that the Chiefs are on the clock. It took me by surprise ... I did a double take looking up at the TV screen. I couldn't believe what I was seeing ...This is the point in the night that hope returned to Chiefs fans everywhere.

For context, as you all know, we weren’t supposed to be on the clock. It was the Bills at 10, not the Chiefs. I figured I had many more beers to enjoy before we would even be close to "trade territory." I figured we would have more time to converse. Ha….Boy was I wrong. It’s like Dorsey heard all of our collective cries for a QB, looked over at Reid and Clark, smirked and said watch this…

Listen, it’s hard to contain that much excitement. It’s hard to contain 34 years of not drafting a QB in the first round and it’s even harder to contain never seeing your team in a Super Bowl. But with these following moments, Anything was going to be possible. People were starting to lose it… and rightfully so.

Now when Goodell came out and read "The Kansas City Chiefs select Patrick Mahomes", pure heaven broke out in our little Draft room. There were shouts of joy, people jumping, people high-fiving, it was absolutely amazing. As I’m writing this right now, I’m still on cloud nine.

This is going to be one of those Chiefs moments we will remember forever. That being said, it appears in that joyous moment, I completely forgot what I said or did. Lucky for me, Mrs. Bird - I really am a lucky man - showed me some video that she took during those moments. What I didn’t realize prior to that night was that I may have had a serious draft crush on Mahomes but apparently I absolutely LOVE John Dorsey. I went full Ron Burgundy here, professing my love from my proverbial mountain top… I get a bit excited when it comes to the Chiefs. I'm sure we all do, that’s why we are here reading/commenting. Anyways it was a great catch by her and it was a great night for KC Fans.

In closing here, Mrs Bird and I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that came out. It was really really nice to meet everyone. I hope we can do it again sometime, or go catch a game. Please feel free to share something in the comments if you stopped by. Falco was a major help in figuring out my video issues on here so...Shout out bud, thanks! Lastly, remember when the Chiefs took a quarterback in the first round? Yeah… We do too!

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This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.