Originally Posted by shaneo69
DAWES: THE ECSTASY NOT THE AGONY
Jun 13, 2005, 9:00:27 AM by Media Watch by Rufus Dawes
There is a term in the naval world known as the agony of collision. This is the interval between when the collision of ships becomes inevitable and the actual moment of impact, during which the captain has to prepare for the worst under precarious conditions. For too many people the months before the start of each Chiefs season is a time to start preparing for the worst.
But for those who are season ticket holders, however, the general feeling is optimism and I bet you’re pumped to attend this weekend’s Sneak Preview out at Arrowhead.
If you read this Web site with any regularity it’s likely you are a Chiefs enthusiast or one of a handful of ego-driven media who want to find out what lies the Chiefs are telling these days. OK, the latter is a bit too insistent, but you know who you are and it’s possible you’re more interested in seeing if your name is appearing in print today. But you’re not the subject of today’s missive.
Today and this Saturday are for Chiefs fans, especially those who are fortunate enough to be season ticket holders or want to be. Season tickets are the litmus test of class acceptance, a gathering ground for like-minded souls, a sanctuary for “people like us” to come together and follow “our team.”
This web site was devised for you. It’s as simple as that. You want the straight scoop from the team’s mouth, don’t spend too much time sweating whether it carries a distinctly pro-team perspective because it does and that’s what you would expect. You can take tough stands from time to time and even live with the occasional barb tossed at the team by the site’s columnists. Even one as disposed as me to be positive is not beneath nodding my head (it’s harder to do in print) in disbelief on something the club has done or not done. (I’ve been writing for years with stupefying redundancy – and obvious lack of success—that drafting is better than free agency, in case you hadn’t noticed.)
Call me a sentimental fool (or worse, for you radio-talk types who are still reading) if you must, but Chiefs fans are just that: sentimental fanatics about the Chiefs, not fanatic about criticizing the Chiefs.
Chiefs fans are normal folks, not elites like media. You’re not swayed by the bastions of doctrinaire thinking that believe it’s a duty to convince you that they know better than you and that all is wrong or about to be. Some of their talk, you deduce, is hypocrisy and insincerity anyway. Much of it is about filling time or space on a blank page of newsprint. Sure, you like the occasional big name the team is wooing on a free agent trip and when you see that individual sign somewhere else, you get piqued. But it’s a momentary pique. Your season ticket renewal statement comes the same day and for a moment, just a moment, you contemplate the thought that you might clip an extra ticket or two off your order. But that’s momentary and even if you think it, acting on it is a far more serious commitment. It’s more likely you don’t drop your entire order. The few cancellations of season ticket accounts – that’s accounts, mind you – the Chiefs ticket office tells me, proves that.
You probably had your doubts when Marty Schottenheimer came to town back in 1989 because you had little reason to have faith in the team back then. In time, you came to like Marty and Carl Peterson but, as is usually the case, grew frustrated when they couldn’t get the team to the Super Bowl. It’s likely more than a fair number of you hated the idea that the offense was so bad and now are just as upset that the defense is dreadful.
You probably were excited when Dick Vermeil was hired because you liked his pedigree and his openness and you still do, although you’ve developed some frustrations with him. But since he’s such an open guy and Peterson isn’t, you save your angry words and thoughts for the ‘ole GM, although it never reaches Jason Whitlock proportions.
Still, you get up every morning and read this site to see what Chiefs news is being made today. You remain engaged, if only because it gives you something else to think about instead of your daily intake of orders from your boss, or your husband or wife. The number of readers in the early mornings of every weekday is large, according to the Web masters. It’s a long work day and Chiefs news serves as a break from memo-reading.
You fall silent in the face of the cranks who routinely fret about the state of the team, tossing accusations at you, but you wait until the team does well and return the favor. In this unique off-season that would be best described as an Era of Good Feeling you are buoyed, although you are smart enough to know that it’s all a crap-shoot once the teams take the field.
The Chiefs will continue to maintain your attention and it has precious little to do with the economy or even wins and losses. Even the media, who seem to think that those seasons are best that make their profession most fun have to agree at the moment, even though it’s not axiomatic that losing always produces more entertainment.
“Man lives by habits indeed,” wrote William James, “but what he lives for is thrills and excitement” and the Chiefs have provided plenty of the latter.
By your measurement the Chiefs have been a success. Kansas City can provide moments of grand amusement. The Chiefs have never cheated you, unless losing an exhilarating playoff game is cheating. If the score doesn’t turn out right, you can at least say you had a great outing with your friends and family and that is enough. You sit in the stands and look around at all the faces, some of which you have seen for years now. Perhaps they have become good friends. You walk out with them after a good game and bad one. You hear some griping – maybe you do some of it yourself – but the next week you and the people seated next to you are back again and just as engaged. You’ll be there this Saturday and it’ll be like new again.
Call us hopeless romantics. Ok, call us something worse those of you who are anxiously gripping the handrail and poised for the collision.
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