Whitlock - Don't laugh, your team may be next (stands up for us again)

[Hammock Parties]

Don't laugh, your team may be next

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/w...be-next-101512

Don’t ridicule Kansas City Chiefs fans. One day soon, you could be in their position, a punch line for uninformed, unsympathetic national media, reduced to begging ownership to act responsibly and fairly, the target of scorn from the very athletes you support, forced to finance your own public-relations campaign.

This is where professional sports are headed. The disconnect between local fans and the franchises they love is being powered and accelerated by multi-billion-dollar TV contracts and the billions of ancillary dollars generated by video games and whatnot.

The guy in the cheap seats never mattered. We’re getting to the point, especially in the NFL, where no one in the stadium matters. It’s virtually impossible for an NFL franchise to fail and/or lose money. Before anyone has purchased a season ticket, NFL teams are swimming in enough cash to feed most third-world countries.

That’s why Chiefs right tackle Eric Winston got away with slandering a loyal fan base. That’s why the national media delighted in Winston’s ridiculous exaggeration. And that’s why we opened Sunday morning with a news story that Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli had received a two-year contract extension despite a Matt Millen Lite, four-year run in Kansas City.

You remember Matt Millen, right? Many of you laughed at Detroit Lions fans and their Millen Man March to remove their in-over-their-head team president. Millen, despite his ineptitude, was a Supreme Court justice in Detroit. He led the Lions for eight years primarily because there’s nothing an NFL executive can do to financially damage a franchise.

Cincinnati owner Mike Brown has been trying to destroy the Bengals for two decades. He can’t do it.

At some point, Bengals fans will reach the level of frustration that motivated Lions fans to take to the streets and Chiefs fans to voice displeasure at Arrowhead Stadium.

Fans don’t have a voice in the mainstream media. That should be clear in the aftermath of the Eric Winston-Matt Cassel-Chiefs fans controversy. The mainstream media are in bed with ownership and athletes, the people media believe they need. Athletes and media believe fans are stupid and unworthy of genuine respect. We think it’s a waste of time to look at things from the perspective of the average sports fan.

Let’s apply the bogus logic Winston applied to fans to athletes. Winston claimed that if only a few hundred Chiefs fans cheered when Cassel got hurt that it was still too many and it was still sickening and disgusting. Basically, he’s saying if one percent of the fan base does something inappropriate, it’s worthy of passionate public rebuke and the vilification of an entire fan base.

So if one percent of professional football players run afoul of the law, should we vilify all NFL players? Or would that be an unfair generalization? What’s more dangerous, a few cheers when a hometown player gets his clock cleaned or an NFL player driving while drunk? One act leads to potential hurt feelings, the other leads to possible death.

The media and the ex-jocks pretending to be media on TV were having such a fun time beating up on fans that no one applied any critical thinking to Winston’s opportunistic stupidity.

Not only do fans not have a voice, they’re despised and abused.

Winston’s whiny, inaccurate rant about the alleged behavior of a handful of Chiefs fans became a national talking point. Well, the story is what has made this fan base this angry. It’s the lack of accountability for ownership and management throughout the NFL (and professional sports). As more and more television money pours into professional sports leagues the less power true sports fans have. We’re not changing the channel. Sports is the only TV product that is DVR-proof.

An NFL franchise is the perfect investment. It makes the owner and his front-office cronies the most powerful and important people in any city. They’re untouchable.

No player in NFL history had an eight-year run of incompetence that could rival Millen’s. Why would a $3-million-a-year executive face less performance pressure than a $500,000 special-teams player? How could the Chiefs even consider giving Scott Pioli a contract extension?

I’m aware the original report about Pioli’s extension was refuted later in the day Sunday. But I don’t believe Jason La Canfora of CBS reported sketchy information. I believe Tampa Bay’s 38-10 thumping of Kansas City made the Chiefs walk back the leaked information.

Clark Hunt isn’t stupid. Kansas City’s fan base is frustrated and motivated. A group of fans started a Twitter feed @saveourchiefs dedicated to getting Scott Pioli fired. In two weeks, the feed has amassed 73,000 followers. Last week the group flew a banner over Arrowhead Stadium demanding that Pioli be fired and Cassel be benched. They’re planning more activity for KC’s next home game on Oct. 28. (I donated $600 to their cause. I’m a Chiefs fan.)

Extending Pioli at this time would further motivate an already-active fan base. The fan base has taken to social media to educate local and national media about what has been going on with Chiefs football the last two decades and the lengthy list of errors Pioli has made in four years. They’re tired of reading the propaganda pumped out by Pioli’s partners in the mainstream media.

Don't laugh at their desperation. Don't harshly judge their missteps. You could be next.

[memyselfI]

Originally Posted by durtyrute

So many people went from making fun of JWhit to sucking his balls, that's comedy.

This. I'm sensing a big 'rope a dope' coming up...

but then I'm not a REAL Chiefs fan so what do I know? () And WTF have I been doing the past 40 years?

[acasas4]

I have a man crush on J Whit now.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by memyselfI

This. I'm sensing a big 'rope a dope' coming up...

but then I'm not a REAL Chiefs fan so what do I know? () And WTF have I been doing the past 40 years?

God forbid we should thank a National figure that has volunteered his help to back our movement.


We are KC fans. We cheer a team from a small market that nobody cares about. Whether Whitock is doing this for personal gain or to help us, it will have the same end result.

National Attention

That is really all I care about.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by memyselfI

This. I'm sensing a big 'rope a dope' coming up...

but then I'm not a REAL Chiefs fan so what do I know? () And WTF have I been doing the past 40 years?

well, when you only have 1 person in the major media defending you, your more then likely to forgive someone or even be like, hey this dude isnt half bad, he knows what us Chiefs fans are going through.

Its like, i dont even get mad anymore when the Chiefs lose. Honeslty, its like im watching the game to see how much we lose by. lol Its like what can us Chiefs fans say anymore? Its like we said it all and i feel like im beating a dead horse by saying f pioli, F this organization and the way its being ran.

Its like we are waiting to see what Pioli has to say to the media, but his ass is in hiding and will stay dark til he is fired or he has no choice but to talk to the media. Its like, hmm ok what do we do now? We dont have a game for 2 weeks.

[Hound333]

Originally Posted by durtyrute

So many people went from making fun of JWhit to sucking his balls, that's comedy.

While I may not have always liked what JWhit was saying I was never one of those guys slamming him. I always respected that he would speak his mind and not give a crap how the PR would come out. Its gotten him in trouble a time or two.

This time his mind and mine are on the same page so preach on JWhit.

[notorious]

Is it strange to have 99% of the readers agree and praise your article, Jason?

[Graystoke]

Great article. Glad we have jwhit on our side.

[memyselfI]

Originally Posted by notorious

God forbid we should thank a National figure that has volunteered his help to back our movement.


We are KC fans. We cheer a team from a small market that nobody cares about. Whether Whitock is doing this for personal gain or to help us, it will have the same end result.

National Attention

That is really all I care about.

Oh honey, you ARE in a world of hurt if the national figure you can attract to your 'cause' is Jason Whitlock. That will definitely show em.

[Chief Faithful]

Wow,...I am not a fan of Whitlock's writings except for this one. His take on Winston was very compelling especially where he turned the table on him about making generalizations.

I am generally a Pioli fan and I like how he has managed the payroll and the changes made to scouting and drafting. But, Pioli has done a terrible job addressing the QB position and selecting HC's and OC's since Weis left. At this point I would not be upset if Pioli were replaced. The problem is the lack of stability at the OC position is creating a bad snowball effect. Does it do more harm or good to shake up the coaching staff again?

This team is beginning to suffer the same problems the Raiders experienced under Al Davis with the coaching carousel.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by memyselfI

Oh honey, you ARE in a world of hurt if the national figure you can attract to your 'cause' is Jason Whitlock. That will definitely show em.

Better than nothing. Nobody else cares about the Chiefs in the National Media simply because this franchise has sucked for 40 years.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by Chief Faithful

Wow,...I am not a fan of Whitlock's writings except for this one. His take on Winston was very compelling especially where he turned the table on him about making generalizations.

I am generally a Pioli fan and I like how he has managed the payroll and the changes made to scouting and drafting. But, Pioli has done a terrible job addressing the QB position and selecting HC's and OC's since Weis left. At this point I would not be upset if Pioli were replaced. The problem is the lack of stability at the OC position is creating a bad snowball effect. Does it do more harm or good to shake up the coaching staff again?

This team is beginning to suffer the same problems the Raiders experienced under Al Davis with the coaching carousel.

problem isnt the stability at OC, is the offense sucking ass. These guys get paid alot of money, they had enough time to learn the system. Im sure its not all that difficult to hand the ****ing all off 80 percent of the time. lol

Whats wrong is this team is just NOT good, they have no leader. THey get deflated in the 4th quarter and its lights out.


It all starts from Clark Hunt to Scott Pioli. They draft all these "captains" in collage but they arent shit for the Chiefs.

[durtyrute]

Originally Posted by Chief Faithful

Wow,...I am not a fan of Whitlock's writings except for this one. His take on Winston was very compelling especially where he turned the table on him about making generalizations.

I am generally a Pioli fan and I like how he has managed the payroll and the changes made to scouting and drafting. But, Pioli has done a terrible job addressing the QB position and selecting HC's and OC's since Weis left. At this point I would not be upset if Pioli were replaced. The problem is the lack of stability at the OC position is creating a bad snowball effect. Does it do more harm or good to shake up the coaching staff again?

This team is beginning to suffer the same problems the Raiders experienced under Al Davis with the coaching carousel.

What else could happen, are we going to lose by 80 instead of 30? Will we have 100 turnovers instead of 20? Shit needs to change and it needs to change now.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by memyselfI

Gosh, there a shit ton of victim mentality there. I'm not sure it's a home run to be considered one of the Bengals, Browns, or Lions crowd. I like to think of our drought at a pit stop...not a way of life.

Guess the abused victim pity party has many willing to partake.

You need to go over to Pro Football Reference and take a look.

Losing in KC absolutely IS a way of life.

The winning that happened in the late 60s and early 90s is the EXCEPTION, not the rule.

[Imon Yourside]

Originally Posted by BoneKrusher

not here, i've always been a jwhit fan just like i've never liked Cassel as our QB.

Same here.

[Dave Lane]

Holy mother of god... On your kneels people!