Welcome to the refreshed Arrowhead Pride! To celebrate the new look and feel of our sports communities, we're sharing stories of how and why we became fans of our favorite teams. If you'd like to share your story, head over to the FanPosts to write your own post. Each FanPost will be entered into a drawing to win a $500 Fanatics gift card [contest rules]. We're collecting all of the stories here and featuring the best ones across our network as well. Come Fan With Us!
SB Nation’s blogs are getting a refreshed look today and as part of that we’re going back to our roots and writing about why we are fans of our teams. For me, that’s the Chiefs. Why am I a fan? Like many of you, I had no choice. I don’t mean that in a bad way but that when you grow up in Kansas City, especially in the 1990s, you’re a Chiefs fan.
I was born in the 1980s and grew up watching Marty Schottenheimer’s Chiefs in the 1990s. That is the story of so many Chiefs fans today. For my peers, the talk of why you’re a fan often starts with Marty. He was on a first name basis with the entire city. Still today I can say Marty around Chiefs fans and everyone knows who I’m talking about. There is just one Marty.
The Chiefs in the 1990s were a big deal. It was very easy to become a fan of them during that time period. They had been so bad for so long that the city was thirsty for a winner. They had just drafted a future Hall of Famer in Derrick Thomas and paired him with another star in Neil Smith. There were so many personalities on those 1990s teams.
My family - Chris, the Old Man, me (and sometimes my Mom) - would watch the games every Sunday. I remember an uncle of mine renting a big screen TV for Chiefs season one year in the early 1990s (which seems insane today).
The Chiefs also brought me disappointment. Plenty of it. I can remember like it was yesterday when they lost the AFC Championship game to the Bills. It was my first painful sports heartbreak. It would only hurt more and more as the Chiefs continued to lose playoff games after that. In fact, the Chiefs haven’t made it that far since then.
This could be the year though. It’s hard not to be optimistic with this team this year. It’s hard not to notice the similarities to the 1990s. It’s cool knowing that 20 years from now there are going to be some kids out there who grew up Chiefs fans because of Big Red.
Why are you a fan? Hit the FanPosts and let us know why.
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