Your Chief Fandom...
 

Looking at Rainman's "Greatest Chief" polls, I start to realize that certain players don't get voted for by a majority (even though they may deserve it, and Rainmain has to pimp them), mostly because they played back in the "day." Now, either some of us are too young to remember and haven't bothered researching our team's roots, or jumped on board sometime after.

I'm also interested to see what people who have never lived in the general vicinity of KC have to say about their path to the light.

I will say that I am prejudiced against any band wagon fans, even if they have stuck with it since, say '90. I'm very big into hometown loyalty.

When I was a wee child I watched and went to Chiefs games with my dad. There was no other option. We didn't go to other games, we didn't watch other teams, we didn't listen to other teams on the radio, and we didn't talk about other teams (Same with the Royals and KU). This was during the '80's mind you, so it's not like there was a lot going on in Arrowhead. My dad raised me right. Since '89, I have been away from the KC area, but have maintained my Chiefdom, and I will never relinquish it.

So I'm curious, how did you come to find yourself bleeding red and gold?

(I'm sure this has been done several times, but my feeble search attempts were unsuccesful.)

I grew up in Oklahoma and southwest Missouri, so nothing particularly close. Just kinda got interested with my brother watching all the time... now, when he was a fan (and I was 3 1/2 years younger), I'd almost always root for the other guy, just because my brother liked it... but that's what little brothers do, right? But when I actually started to get interested in watching football, the Chiefs was the team for me.

All of the first 4 options would apply for me.

I started following them in '69 when my family lived briefly in NY. Dad was a big fan. We moved back to KC in '71, but by then I was already a diehard.

I noticed a similar problem on polls of other teams. I am very familiar with the stars of the game (not just Chiefs) from previous eras. I liked to read NFL history when I was a kid. My guess is that those who grew up in the '80s and '90s were too busy playing video games to spend much time learning about the history of the game and hence lack the knowledge to make informed votes in many cases.

My parents weren't rabid fans, but they were fans from the Super Bowl days, so I naturally picked it up... Some of my first memories of the Chiefs included DeBerg and his broken finger... so my age was a natural fit to get the intensity of the early 90's going at the right time...

Being that I teach 12-14 year olds, I get to witness first hand how sports team allegiance is formed. Here in Central PA, if I have a class of say 30 kids, all of which like football, I would say probably 10 would be Steelers fans (proximity/family influence) 7 would be Eagles fans (Less Eagles fans, and I think it's because in the 70's, when these kid's parents were kids, obviously the Steelers were the team, so they carried that tradition over. And let's face it, the Eagles are good now so they're easy to root for). Then with the remaining 12 you get an interesting phenomena, which I blame on the internet and satellite TV. You might have 2 Broncos fans, a Ravens fan, a Dolphins fan, 2 49ers fans, 3 Cowboys fans, and 3 Packers fans or something along those lines. Kids have no loyalty. It's the flavor of the month with kids nowadays. I know a particular kid who is Broncos fan, White Sox fan, Lakers fan, and Red Wings fan. For a college team he likes Texas. Wha? When I was a kid in Leavenworth, ALL of my friends were Chiefs fans, because that was the local team. And I'll reiterate, this was the 80's! Same with the Royals and Jayhawks. Interestingly, all of my grown up friends are Steelers fans. They all grew up in this area, and all grew up rooting for the Steelers.

The new trend is disturbing to me. It means the end of loyalty to your home, and the beginning of prostituting your allegiance to whoever happens to be good at that point so you can look cool wearing their stuff.

Joe Montana.



I WAS 8.

I was 10 years old when Montana beat the Broncos in SuperBowl XXIV. It was the first football game that I watched seriously on television. I was in the fourth grade, and occaisionally there were kids playing football on the playground at recess. So I was familiar with the game, but hardly what I'd call a fan.

In '90, I watched a bunch of the Chiefs' games on television, but again I wouldn't call myself a big fan. I remember bits and pieces of that season, but I get them confused with bits and pieces of '91 and '92. Again, I was a big enough fan to watch some games, but mostly I remember loving watching the "Bud Bowl" cartoons during the SuperBowl that year.

In '91, I was hit by a megaton bomb. That bomb was called "Tecmo Super Bowl." It was freaking awesome! And since all the players and teams were on it. All the sudden, I was a BIG fan, and an expert on all the players. My Dad and I would watch the televised games, and here I was 11 years old and correcting my Dad on the player's names and numbers. I never looked back.

I was born and raised here in the Kansas City area. The Chiefs are in my blood, as much as barbecue, fishing and hunting.

I'll credit DT with making me a Chiefs fan. I clinged onto him when I was younger. No real other explanation on how a 19 year old from Connecticut who's never been west of Pennsylvania could become a Chief fan.

Sadly I've never met another.

I did realize that the Chiefs have one of the most loyal fan bases in all of sports at an early age too. Definitely made me want to be a part of it.

Plus my Uncle's a Fader fan.

It puts together like a puzzle. :cuss:

is that mckee'sport? (i probably spelled it wrong...)

i dropped this chick off there one time in like '69 or so...

a few pretty steep hills, pretty country mostly...

hell, i still think you are older than that... :p :p :p

Dad. Big shocker, huh?

ok, on topic...

my older brother moved to kc way back when and was already a fan when the chiefs won the superbowl...

when i moved to independence, i took my father in law and a bunch of brothers and cousins in laws to a chiefs game and have followed the team every since...

my inlaws totally enjoyed the game, even though they had never seen american football before, let alone a live game...

it was fun watching them have fun, if you know what i mean...

did you grow up in new haven?

i went to school there from 72 to 75 and i absolutely loved the town and the locals...

they were as much fun as the students that i partied with... :BLVD: :bong: :D

a truly amazing place...

I was born in KC and grew up here, i lived in Texas for a year when we got all those good offensive players, i will always be the most dedicated fan of the Chiefs, when i was younger ( in highschool) i used to care more about the chiefs winning than my highschool team, which i started for. i check every morning on the updates and probably would cry if the chiefs won the SB. i will wear chiefs red in the black hole( done it) and will mouth off to anyone who thinks the chiefs suck, especially AFC west team fans. I could care less about the royals, because baseball is just not fun
to follow, any sport that isnt football is redundant.
we are the greatest fans in the NFL and im proud to be a few decibles in the loudest stadium in the world.