Why do we care so much?
 

I've actually done a lot of thinking on this the last few years, and really the last few months.

I've been a Chiefs fan my whole life, though nobody in my family is. Back in the 70's my dad bought a poster for me and my brother's bedroom. It was a picture of an end zone pile up with the Chiefs and the Raiders. I guess I decided I liked the guys in Red, and I've never looked back.

I dealt with kids literally making fun of me in the 70s and 80s because the Chiefs sucked so bad. Then the 90s happened, and I guess it was redemption time, though it still ended in no championships.

I keep a schedule every year, I write the scores and my thoughts on the games. I just looked at the 2006 one where we lost to the...Colts...and read the final note I wrote: New Years Resolution...stop caring so much about the Chiefs...

...and for the most part, I have, a little anyway. I don't get nearly as involved in the draft as I used to, and I've actually had to miss a couple of games on TV because of other things going on...something that would have been unthinkable back in the day, when a loss meant literally 3 days of pissy-ness from me.

So I ask myself...why do I care so much? There is not one thing I can do to change how the Chiefs do play to play, game to game, season to season. And yet, I BLEED Chiefs red, hope reigns eternal every offseason and by the time the season rolls around, I'm feeling pretty good about our chances.

The question is...why oh why do we care so much about something that...at the end of the day, has no effect on our lives in any way shape or form, except the affect we allow it to have on our psyches.

This week, as I sit in anticipation of another Chiefs playoff game, and I think over in my head how great it will be if we win...I just wonder...why do I care so much?

Thoughts?

Because I’m a Chiefs fan

Because we don’t win things. And we never had a real QB.

That's a good question. I was watching reaction videos from Eagles/Bears fans after that missed kick, and you'd have thought those people just won/lost a million dollar hand of poker or something.

Right?

I mean, I've tried to reason it out in my head, and I come up with zilch. There is no benefit or detriment to my life that is tied to how the Chiefs do. If I worked for the team, then maybe. But I'm just a fan, and a pretty rabid one. I guess it's not just the Chiefs, it's any sports fan. Why the **** do we care so much about something we literally can't control?

We take pride in it...why?
We get into arguments about it...why?
We piss off our spouses because we get profane and pissy when they lose...why?


I'm not even saying it's wrong, but it's mysterious to me...

It's a great question...I guess for me personally, Chiefs football is a family tradition that I was born into and raised on.

It's one of the main things my father and I share together and enjoy so there's that bond too....my grandfather helped construct Arrowhead, there's that part of it.

Are any of those good enough reasons? I don't know. It's enough for me to justify my love and obsession with the Chiefs...maybe I'm just nuts lol.

You pretty much followed my fandom trajectory and summed it up pretty succinctly.

How did you feel after the first playoff rape on Dec 25, 1971 in the NFL's longest game ever played ?

Post a pic of your CHIEFS tattoo. Need proof if you bleed RED!

I don't know if "good enough reasons" is a way to think of it, but I suppose it'll do. The family traditions, and the memories, I understand why they are so great, and therefore a reason for you to care. But what about your old man? Why did HE care so much he passed it on to you?

It's really an interesting thing to ponder, for me anyway. In my case it's the Chiefs, but really, any sports fan...we spend time, money, and mental commitment to our favorites sports teams...is this a modern phenomena? Did people give a shit like this about their favorite gladiators in Rome? Heh. I dunno...it's weird.

Well, I was only a little over a year old. For me, I picked the Chiefs because of the color, and then we moved overseas where watching football was a rare treat. I never even saw them play until we came back home in the mid 80's. So, my true disappointments didn't start until the 90's. And...they've never stopped, as we all know.

I've wondered about this over the years as well.

I think there's a bit of tribalism involved. We've picked our group and stick with them. Sports is good at doing this with its geographical divisions and bright colors and logos.

I think some of it is tradition. When I think about the arc of my life, pretty much everything is different now than when I was eight years old, with two exceptions: my self-identity and my Chiefs affiliation remained unchanged. Literally everything else is different.

I think too that sports are highly visible, but this type of connection happens elsewhere in life. I have friends who are really, really into dog shows. I see references to people who follow soap operas religiously for 30 years. People pick their favorite acts and root for them on those singing contest shows. So it's not just sports that causes this, but sports has managed to do it in a highly visible way.

That said, I'm really excited about this game coming up, to the point where I've got adrenaline pumping two days beforehand. I think sports juices up the normal effects described above, in part due to the marketing elements but more because we as a species have 200,000 years of history of getting amped up before a physical confrontation. It used to be with mammoths and giant cave ermines and stuff, and now it's with neck-bearded Homo Erectus throwbacks. But it's the same phenomenon.

For me, it's all about the sentimentality of it all. I started pulling for the Chiefs in middle school, and they've been a constant part of my existence for the better part of the last 25 years. I can mark different points in my life - both good and bad - with what the Chiefs were doing at that moment. Most of us started following the team when we were dumb, innocent kids, and now we're all adults with responsibilities that carry far more weight than sports ever will. But there's something pure and sentimental about the experience of pulling for the Chiefs because it's the same - for me at least - now as it was then. I guess it's a way to stay in touch with my younger self when life was much simpler.

I also think the fact that this team hasn't won a championship hasn't allowed us to find any sort of closure. I genuinely feel if this team wins the Super Bowl, my entire fandom going forward will forever be more relaxed. Sure, I'll still get upset when they lose in soul-crushing fashion, but I'll forever have a bit more mature perspective about it.

That's it for me at least.

You always want what you haven't had before.

To remember what it was like for the Chiefs to win a division round home playoff game, Conference Championship, or Super Bowl, you have to be old. I'm 53 and have no memory of it. To remember what it was like to win any home playoff game or away divisional playoff game, you have to at least be in your 30s. Up until two years ago, just winning anything in the playoffs was a distant memory.

Coming so ****ing close for so long is maddening. It eats into your soul. And unless you've experienced it, or are experiencing it, you just don't get it. Like all these Colts idiots who show up saying, "Gee, I had no idea you all hated us so much." Yeah, we hate you. We hope the Colts lose by 100 points and then their plane crashes into your ****ing house on the way back to Indianapolis. They don't get it because they've experienced regular success at the next level in recent years. We've been nothing more than a speed bump to them. They hate the Patriots and the Steelers.

If I'm wearing St. Louis stuff at a Cards/Brewers game in Milwaukee and the guy sitting next to me glares at me like I'm the Antichrist, I understand why he feels that way.

I've been through all the loses. Been a chiefs fan since 1993. This year, with the #1 seed, the Colts coming to town, this crappy defense. It feels like we're being set up for another let down. Heck if we still had Alex Smith I'd say there's a better chance than not that we lose. Patrick Mahomes gives us all hope. On 3rd and 7, when there's nothing there, he can make a play. Extend the drive. A drive that leads to a score, rather than a punt that puts our soft defense right back on the field. If we can win this one, the team can go into the AFC CHAMPIONSHIP with tons of confidence.

I get excited for the games. and if they win, awesome. If they lose, pfffft.
i stopped caring about losses long ago; probably 206/2007 time frame.

if they lose, it sucks for about a half hour, but then I go on about my day/business. I've got my own shit to worry about to let a bunch of millionaires, a majority of whom, likely don't care if they win or lose to the degree a lot of die hard fans do.

I guess I'm just don't care about losses anymore. They suck, sure. But oh well. I enjoy the hell out of the wins, and don't let the losses effect me too much.

polar opposite from what i was like circa 1990 - 2006. Even a 'win' didn't really satisfy me all that much because I was always finding something on the team to worry about etc.