tk13
11-23-2006, 02:17 AM
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/16079196.htm
Gobble it up
Fans can give thanks to Lamar Hunt — the Chiefs are host to a bigger game than those other turkeys.
By ELIZABETH MERRILL
The Kansas City Star
The old man could almost feel the eyes rolling when he stood up to speak. But that’s the thing about causes. They keep marching on, through kids, grandkids, Super Bowls and 7-9 records if somebody knows they’re right.
Lamar Hunt is not an agitator. His Southern drawl is calm and sweet, his alphabet begins with the letters N-F-L. But for 37 years, the Chiefs owner has made Thanksgiving Day his fight. He’d pass along his proposal, talk about unfair advantages, then inevitably get shot down.
“I don’t want to sound like a complainer,” Hunt says.
“I just feel it, and I feel it strongly … as you can tell my weak voice is getting stronger. … What I contend is it’s improper to let Detroit and Dallas have those games every year. I don’t want to sound ungrateful. We are incredibly grateful.”
The NFL Thanksgiving logo is being painted onto the Arrowhead Stadium grass just before noon on Wednesday, and everywhere around the old joint, there’s a buzz. This, colleagues say, is what Hunt loves the most about being owner of the Chiefs. The spectacle. Kansas City is playing Denver tonight in the NFL Network kickoff, and Hunt says it’s the most publicized event in Chiefs history, bigger than Super Bowl IV and Joe Montana vs. the 49ers.
Call it a temporary compromise, this much-hyped network debut game complete with a 20-minute halftime show, a pregame flipping of the Plaza lights, and ad-nauseam commercials until the 7 p.m. kickoff.
Folks around the league are calling it “Lamar’s Game.”
“I don’t think there was a lot of arguing about it,” says Denver owner Pat Bowlen, who is chairman of the NFL’s broadcast committee. “Lamar has wanted a Thanksgiving game, and this was an opportunity to give him that. It was a pretty easy decision.”
Hunt knows it’s a one-year thing, and he never wanted Kansas City to become another Detroit or Dallas. He just doesn’t think two teams in the NFL should have the advantage of playing host to the game every year. And so the fight continues, but it is on hold for a few days.
Hunt doesn’t want to miss any of this.
“There’s an air of excitement,” Hunt says. “I love that. I love that the crowd is going to be great, that we’re going to have good weather. It’s the national attention.
“I always used to say my mother must’ve been bitten by the show-business bug. I really enjoy the promotional part of it.”
•••
Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier had one of their long phone chats the other day, the kind that come from old friends who banged up their bodies together. They got to talking about the Broncos game in 1969, a 31-17 Chiefs win that put some attitude into the rivalry.
Words were exchanged that day, feelings were hurt, and the game was historical because it was the last Thanksgiving contest played in Kansas City, at the old Municipal Stadium.
Lanier, a Hall of Fame linebacker, paused this week when Bell brought it up.
“I didn’t realize it was on Thanksgiving,” he said. “We were usually out of town and traveling on that day.”
The Chiefs were host to Thanksgiving games from 1967 to 1969. But in 1970, when the AFL-NFL merger was completed, the two established NFL teams — Dallas and Detroit — maintained their traditional home games.
When the Chiefs proposed a rotation, the league sometimes tried to help by giving them a Thanksgiving date. But Hunt never saw that as a reward. The home team has a decided advantage in two ways, he says. It benefits by playing a travel-weary team on just three days of recovery time and it gets an extra two days of rest the following week. Chiefs coach Herm Edwards calls it the closest thing to a second bye week.
“If you ask any team in the league,” Bowlen says, “they’d rather travel and play on Sunday and do what they normally do in a week of practice. It’s not what I would call special other than it’s a national game. It’s a difficult game to play because you only have a few days to prepare for it.”
•••
As a kid growing up in Waco, Texas, Derrick Johnson wore Cowboys blue and rooted for Emmitt Smith. The Thanksgiving ritual rarely changed — turkey and sweet potatoes and chitlins on the table, the Cowboys on the tube at 3 p.m.
Johnson is a linebacker for the Chiefs now, and a sore ankle has kept him out of the last two games. On Wednesday, Edwards delivered some surprising news — Johnson probably will play today, ahead of schedule. He didn’t want to miss the Thanksgiving game.
“That’s a memorable moment for any team that plays on that day,” Johnson says. “It’s a holiday, and everybody’s at home; nobody’s at work. Everybody’s going to see you on TV.”
The Chiefs are 6-4, they’re in the thick of the playoff race, but they’ve rarely been featured on prime time. No Monday Night Football games this year; no Sunday night NBC in the first half of the season. The last time they were featured under the bright lights, Kansas City was hammered at Denver on a mid-September night in 2005.
Edwards, who painted NFL shields all over Arrowhead when he took over in the winter, constantly waves the league flag. He tells his players it’s a privilege to play in the NFL and that he’s proud to be part of history tonight.
By Wednesday afternoon, as he prepared to meet the players at the team hotel, Edwards was pregame geeked.
“I like games like this,” Edwards says. “I really do. It’s what this thing’s all about. You don’t have to give many pep talks to get your players ready. I liked playing in them when I was player, and I like coaching in them. It’s a lot of fun.”
Hunt is 74 years old, he’s battling cancer, but his enthusiasm for the game has been almost childlike. He raved about the halftime entertainment, then conceded that he’d never heard of the aging artist — John Fogerty — who’ll sing.
Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson compared it to the club’s first Monday Night Football game, when the parking lots were packed with tailgaters and the anticipation hung in the smoke-filled air.
He corrected himself. This is much bigger. Especially to the man who fought for this, who went to the league meetings every year with a cause.
“He is not going to be defeated by a no vote,” Peterson says. “He’s told me many times: ‘Carl, I’ve been in this league a long time. Usually it takes five or six proposals and defeats until eventually you get the naysayers to look at the other side of the question.’
“I guess he’s diplomatically stubborn.”
Gobble it up
Fans can give thanks to Lamar Hunt — the Chiefs are host to a bigger game than those other turkeys.
By ELIZABETH MERRILL
The Kansas City Star
The old man could almost feel the eyes rolling when he stood up to speak. But that’s the thing about causes. They keep marching on, through kids, grandkids, Super Bowls and 7-9 records if somebody knows they’re right.
Lamar Hunt is not an agitator. His Southern drawl is calm and sweet, his alphabet begins with the letters N-F-L. But for 37 years, the Chiefs owner has made Thanksgiving Day his fight. He’d pass along his proposal, talk about unfair advantages, then inevitably get shot down.
“I don’t want to sound like a complainer,” Hunt says.
“I just feel it, and I feel it strongly … as you can tell my weak voice is getting stronger. … What I contend is it’s improper to let Detroit and Dallas have those games every year. I don’t want to sound ungrateful. We are incredibly grateful.”
The NFL Thanksgiving logo is being painted onto the Arrowhead Stadium grass just before noon on Wednesday, and everywhere around the old joint, there’s a buzz. This, colleagues say, is what Hunt loves the most about being owner of the Chiefs. The spectacle. Kansas City is playing Denver tonight in the NFL Network kickoff, and Hunt says it’s the most publicized event in Chiefs history, bigger than Super Bowl IV and Joe Montana vs. the 49ers.
Call it a temporary compromise, this much-hyped network debut game complete with a 20-minute halftime show, a pregame flipping of the Plaza lights, and ad-nauseam commercials until the 7 p.m. kickoff.
Folks around the league are calling it “Lamar’s Game.”
“I don’t think there was a lot of arguing about it,” says Denver owner Pat Bowlen, who is chairman of the NFL’s broadcast committee. “Lamar has wanted a Thanksgiving game, and this was an opportunity to give him that. It was a pretty easy decision.”
Hunt knows it’s a one-year thing, and he never wanted Kansas City to become another Detroit or Dallas. He just doesn’t think two teams in the NFL should have the advantage of playing host to the game every year. And so the fight continues, but it is on hold for a few days.
Hunt doesn’t want to miss any of this.
“There’s an air of excitement,” Hunt says. “I love that. I love that the crowd is going to be great, that we’re going to have good weather. It’s the national attention.
“I always used to say my mother must’ve been bitten by the show-business bug. I really enjoy the promotional part of it.”
•••
Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier had one of their long phone chats the other day, the kind that come from old friends who banged up their bodies together. They got to talking about the Broncos game in 1969, a 31-17 Chiefs win that put some attitude into the rivalry.
Words were exchanged that day, feelings were hurt, and the game was historical because it was the last Thanksgiving contest played in Kansas City, at the old Municipal Stadium.
Lanier, a Hall of Fame linebacker, paused this week when Bell brought it up.
“I didn’t realize it was on Thanksgiving,” he said. “We were usually out of town and traveling on that day.”
The Chiefs were host to Thanksgiving games from 1967 to 1969. But in 1970, when the AFL-NFL merger was completed, the two established NFL teams — Dallas and Detroit — maintained their traditional home games.
When the Chiefs proposed a rotation, the league sometimes tried to help by giving them a Thanksgiving date. But Hunt never saw that as a reward. The home team has a decided advantage in two ways, he says. It benefits by playing a travel-weary team on just three days of recovery time and it gets an extra two days of rest the following week. Chiefs coach Herm Edwards calls it the closest thing to a second bye week.
“If you ask any team in the league,” Bowlen says, “they’d rather travel and play on Sunday and do what they normally do in a week of practice. It’s not what I would call special other than it’s a national game. It’s a difficult game to play because you only have a few days to prepare for it.”
•••
As a kid growing up in Waco, Texas, Derrick Johnson wore Cowboys blue and rooted for Emmitt Smith. The Thanksgiving ritual rarely changed — turkey and sweet potatoes and chitlins on the table, the Cowboys on the tube at 3 p.m.
Johnson is a linebacker for the Chiefs now, and a sore ankle has kept him out of the last two games. On Wednesday, Edwards delivered some surprising news — Johnson probably will play today, ahead of schedule. He didn’t want to miss the Thanksgiving game.
“That’s a memorable moment for any team that plays on that day,” Johnson says. “It’s a holiday, and everybody’s at home; nobody’s at work. Everybody’s going to see you on TV.”
The Chiefs are 6-4, they’re in the thick of the playoff race, but they’ve rarely been featured on prime time. No Monday Night Football games this year; no Sunday night NBC in the first half of the season. The last time they were featured under the bright lights, Kansas City was hammered at Denver on a mid-September night in 2005.
Edwards, who painted NFL shields all over Arrowhead when he took over in the winter, constantly waves the league flag. He tells his players it’s a privilege to play in the NFL and that he’s proud to be part of history tonight.
By Wednesday afternoon, as he prepared to meet the players at the team hotel, Edwards was pregame geeked.
“I like games like this,” Edwards says. “I really do. It’s what this thing’s all about. You don’t have to give many pep talks to get your players ready. I liked playing in them when I was player, and I like coaching in them. It’s a lot of fun.”
Hunt is 74 years old, he’s battling cancer, but his enthusiasm for the game has been almost childlike. He raved about the halftime entertainment, then conceded that he’d never heard of the aging artist — John Fogerty — who’ll sing.
Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson compared it to the club’s first Monday Night Football game, when the parking lots were packed with tailgaters and the anticipation hung in the smoke-filled air.
He corrected himself. This is much bigger. Especially to the man who fought for this, who went to the league meetings every year with a cause.
“He is not going to be defeated by a no vote,” Peterson says. “He’s told me many times: ‘Carl, I’ve been in this league a long time. Usually it takes five or six proposals and defeats until eventually you get the naysayers to look at the other side of the question.’
“I guess he’s diplomatically stubborn.”