What the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win means to us

Editor’s note: We welcome back the Thorman brothers — founders of Arrowhead Pride — for this momentous occasion. The following article is written by Joel on behalf of he and Chris.

You could say this is a big day for me, for us. My brother Chris and I started Arrowhead Pride nearly 15 years ago: July 26, 2006. We argued about Brodie Croyle, Damon Huard, celebrated the Pioli and Haley hiring and firing, cheered for Romeo Crennel, argued about Dwayne Bowe’s extension and all sorts of things since then to bring us to this point:

The Chiefs are Super Bowl champions.

The Chiefs’ Super Bowl win is meaningful to different folks on different levels and for us it is this: this team, this website has launched everything meaningful in my life today. Arrowhead Pride landed Chris bigger job after bigger job. Arrowhead Pride bought my first house (ignore my wife saying she made more money than me when we bought the house). Arrowhead Pride paid the bills when our first son Robert, was born. Arrowhead Pride was still my baby when Pete took it over, expanding and growing it to levels unimaginable to us a decade earlier. I read the site every day on paternity leave when our second son, Edward, was born last year.

So what does this Chiefs win to me, to us? Everything.

The Chiefs were the bond that tied my family together as kids. The football games with my uncles at halftime, my uncle Dave pretending to be Joe Montana, my uncle Dan pretending he was Derrick Thomas (and completely drilling 7-year-old Chris on the concrete sidewalk, which was pretty great).

The Chiefs were the launch to our professional careers. The Chiefs are the basis of my closest friendships today. The Chiefs were my identity for a long time, and still are.

Two days after the Chiefs beat the Titans in the AFC title game and secured their first Super Bowl berth in 50 years, my father passed away. On his 65th birthday, if you can believe that. He was well enough to understand that two days before the Chiefs had won and were going to the Super Bowl. There isn’t a person on Earth who was prouder of Chris and I than my dad. It’s fitting that he handed the baton off to us as the Chiefs got ready for the biggest win in Kansas City in a generation.

This team, this site, all of you here mean something to me. They say it’s all about the destination but the journey here has been the ride of a lifetime. GO CHIEFS!