Great Googly Moogly

Inspirational song: Fight for Your Right (Beastie Boys)

Now that we know who the teams will be playing in two weeks, the idea of a fun football party next door at T’s has gone from a pleasant idea into a four-alarm emergency. This will be no casual affair. This man is the biggest Kansas City fan I have ever encountered. He was on vacation in Florida this weekend during the AFC championship game, and I am fairly certain I heard him hooting and hollering from here.

When we bought houses next door to each other, on the same day in 2015, we had no idea how his love of the Chiefs would influence us. That first football season, I had Sunday Ticket and he didn’t, so he came over to watch games with me in my basement. I remember when the first couple games went horribly pear-shaped, and in September of that year, he said, “well, football season starts in eleven and a half months.” He had already written them off. It was not until, what, two years later that he started getting giggly about this rookie quarterback they signed, swearing he was going to be the wave of the future. That was the year I played in his fantasy football league, and his team was already “Beer for Mahomies.” I didn’t quite get it, but I did start watching with him with more interest, mostly because I had drafted Travis Kelce onto my team.

By last year, we were really starting to catch the fever with him. Turns out that kid Mahomes is something special. We were heartbroken when the Patriots beat them in overtime in the AFC title game. Almost didn’t even bother watching the super bowl that year. Flash forward to this season, and we were in it to win it with T, watching almost every Sunday on his ridiculously large television. In fact, while he was in a sports bar in the middle of Florida today, we were snuggled up on his couch, with his dogs, watching the game on his TV. (Granted, at halftime the Mr was also playing Call of Duty on his gaming platform, but it was mostly so the dogs weren’t lonely over the weekend,)

We haven’t spoken to T directly yet. He’s on his way back from vacation. But he sent us the picture his girlfriend took, of his face when it really hit him that his team, his obsession, is going to the big game, for the first time since I was a toddler. The party is going to have to be insane now. Chips and salsa will not suffice. There will need to be themes and games and friendly wagers and all sorts of mayhem. I should start planning my potluck contributions now, and shopping for non-beer beverages (and no, gluten-free beer is not safe). I might even break down and buy a real Chiefs jersey. Or at least a t-shirt.