Five reasons to come to Monday night’s Arrowhead Pride Watch Party

The second Arrowhead Pride Watch Party of the 2018 season will be this Monday night for the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams.

Join us at The Other Place, 7324 West 80th Street in Overland Park, Kansas. Kickoff for the game is 7:20 pm. RSVP HERE.

And here are five reasons you should be there:

1. The Other Place is great

If you have never been there — and before I was there for the Chiefs-Patriots watch party in October, I hadn’t — then you don’t know the setup. The Other Place will have us in the back room. Everybody in there will not only be Chiefs fans, they’ll also be Arrowhead Pride readers. If you can find a better environment to watch an important Chiefs game — outside of the stadium where it’s being played — then by all means... you’d better go there. Otherwise, you belong at The Other Place.

Here’s another thing you won’t know if you’ve never been to The Other Place: it’s a nice joint. The atmosphere is cool. The staff is attentive and friendly. The food is good, and they have all of your favorite beverages. There are plenty of TVs, so regardless of where you sit, you won’t have any trouble seeing the game. If you’re one of those folks who has to step outside for a couple of minutes once in a while, you’ll even find that The Other Place has a space heater on the rear patio, and TVs mounted to the rear windows, so you can keep up with the game while you’re outside.

2. You can get an Arrowhead Pride t-shirt

If you RSVP at this link, for just $10 you’ll get a drink ticket and an Arrowhead Pride t-shirt. Seriously... all the cool kids have these now. But even if you’re not all that interested in being cool, that’s a pretty good deal — even if you just wear it once a year for Halloween, like our own Kent Swanson.

We’ll have 75 T-shirts available, so be sure to get there early enough to snag one. And there’s another reason to arrive early, too: there will be free food as long as it lasts.

3. You can meet the one-and-only Blogfather... Joel Thorman

Let’s face it: Joel is the star of this show. But don’t take my word for it — after all, I’m legally required by section 1(a), subsection c(2) of my SBNation employment agreement to say so — come and meet the man for yourself.

Joel is not only the co-founder (with his brother Chris) of Arrowhead Pride, he’s a born-and-bred Kansas Citian who was raised with Chiefs blood in his veins. He’s an Internet impresario, sports radio pundit and accomplished raconteur.

And he’s also... you know... bringing the t-shirts.

Joel won’t be there by himself. The delightful Aly Trost and yours truly will also be there to represent Arrowhead Pride. Aly will be taking pictures. Once the game is underway, I’ll be hunched over my laptop, writing a couple of thousand words about the game while it’s happening.

While speaking with Aly or me, you’re more than welcome to bring up that we both picked the Browns to win in Week 9. I’ll go ahead and give you a preview of the answer both of us will likely give: with the same set of facts, we’d do it again.

4. It’s not scary to meet people you know from the Internet

Well... that’s not really true. It is a little scary.

I actually have a lot of experience with this. For a number of years, I ran a newsletter and website for people who knew each other from online chat rooms. The whole point of it was to organize events where we could hang out with each other in real life. And yes... the first time you come to something like that, it’s a little scary. And that’s perfectly understandable.

But we’re not asking you to come to a stranger’s house. That wouldn’t be a good idea. (Also... Joel’s house isn’t big enough for this). Instead, we’re asking you to come to a public place that will be full of people who will have at least one common interest with you: a love for the Kansas City Chiefs. If you give these folks a chance, you’ll find out that you have other things in common, too. And pretty soon, you’ll have new friends.

I’ve met many, many hundreds of people at events like this one. I didn’t like all of them, but I liked way more of them than I didn’t. And I often found that the people I didn’t like online were quite different in person, and they became my friends.

But if you just want to sit at your table and cheer along with the rest of us, that’s OK, too.

5. The watch party isn’t a jinx... unless you make it one

When we announced the watch party for the game against the Rams, a few AP readers said we should cancel it immediately, because the last watch party was when the Chiefs played the New England Patriots — which as you know, was the only game the Chiefs have lost this season.

I’m sorry... but that’s just bunk!

The Chiefs are no longer a team that requires some kind of special ju-ju to win games. This is the team of Patrick Mahomes... Tyreek Hill... Travis Kelce... Dee Ford... Chris Jones... Justin Houston... and on a day-to-day basis, Eric Berry. We don’t need no steenkin’ lucky charms! We’re the Kansas City freakin’ Chiefs!

But I’ll tell you what: for the sake of argument, let’s say that the watch party had something to do with the Chiefs losing to the Patriots. How can you be sure that the Chiefs didn’t lose the game because you didn’t come? Huh? What do you say to that? So go ahead... don’t come to the watch party. If the Chiefs lose, I’ll be holding you personally responsible!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go downstairs and finish the laundry. My lucky jersey is dirty, and I want to be sure it’s clean for the party.