!!!Go, Chiefs!!!

Sunset the night before the game,
Lake of the Ozarks

I'll admit it, I'm not much of a football fan - the whole "watching people injure their brains for my entertainment" part usually leaves me cold. But when it's the hometown team in the Super Bowl, and they haven't won, or even made it that far in fifty years, it's hard to ignore the hype - and why would you want to? If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

So, Sunday night found me over at the home of some like-minded friends. I was driving over to their house just a few minutes before the kickoff, and felt like I was out after curfew. I saw just three other cars on the normally bustling route between our houses. Three. In two miles.

Once I got there, we adjourned to their home theater room, where I discovered it is much easier to follow the action on a bigger screen. (I think I last watched a game when a 24" screen was good-sized...) When the players are bigger, it's a lot less like watching ants scurry; the movements of the teams make more sense. And, my friends totally got into the spirit of the game by having too much good food on hand, so I know we did that part right. (Do I know how to pick my friends, or what??)

We enjoyed the first half of the game. I ate too much of the good food, and started to get into the game. I enjoyed the back and forth action between the two teams; they ended up tied at the half. (If I weren't in Kansas City, I'd have to admit, those 49ers were playing a great game!)

I won't pick a side in the after-game debate of how many clothes the half-time singers should have been wearing - but I will say I admired their fitness. If I was her age, and I could do that, and look like that doing it, I might well forget to cover my nether cheeks, too...

Then the game restarted. Despite my protests of not really caring, I found myself pulled into the action. The 49ers got ahead, and we (notice, they're suddenly MY team) didn't put up a matching score. Then, when we finally got the ball, we threw an interception.

I couldn't watch. I was pulled back to earth, suddenly aware I needed to visit the bathroom; that my contacts were about to quit for the day. I'll admit it - mostly, if we lost, I wanted to be able to immediately climb into bed, pull the covers over my head, and try to convince myself I really hadn't cared all along.

So, I said my good nights, got into my car, and drove home over the eerily quiet streets. When I got there, I gave my eyeballs some relief, then turned on the TV, only to find we were now ten points down.

**sigh** I couldn't stand it, so I turned the sound off. Somehow, that was going to make it easier.

But then, but then. Just when it was starting to look like a lost cause, Mahomes reached down deep into his pockets and there, among the mint wrappers and pennies, he found his magic, just six  football minutes before the end of the game. (Football minutes are not real minutes - the two aren't really the same thing at all.)

The Chiefs got the ball and scored, got it back and did it again to pull ahead, and once again to seal the deal!

The city erupted as one, the normal divisions of race, politics, economics erased for a magical hour. The fireworks were going non-stop, crime did stop. Through the closed windows of my house in my normally quiet neighborhood, I could hear people outside cheering; their houses suddenly not large enough to contain their elation.

We won!!!!! (A victory all the sweeter for having been so long denied.)

Surely, they had a room up in heaven somewhere where the big screen was tuned into the game, because I swore I could hear Walter screaming with the best of them. Surely, he didn't miss this just because he died too soon. Rest in Peace, buddy...

Go, Chiefs!!!!