Sammy and I are still grinning from the experience we had yesterday at Arrowhead Stadium. In Kansas City for the weekend, our plan was to see the World War I and Arabia Steamboat museums for our Missouri experience. This plan was happily tossed aside when the Kansas City Chiefs secured a place in the American Football Conference Championship game this weekend and we had the opportunity to attend our first NFL game with our friends Brian and Ami, devoted KC Chiefs fans. We arrived in a Kansas City that was painted in red in preparation for the game against the Tennessee Titans.
Our tailgating experience was off to a sunny but very fresh start as we arrived at the stadium carpark at 8.30am with a temperature of -11°C/12°F. Once we set up our space and had the first mimosa of the day, we took our time wandering around as we met fellow supporters and watched others firing up grills, setting up canopies, and parking their supporter vehicles where they could fit them. We love the time and energy that is poured into the art of tailgating and enjoyed every minute of the day with Brian and Ami.
The aromas of food filled the air, not least from our own grill, as tailgaters cooked everything from burgers and sausages to a pig on a spit and everything in between.
By 12 o’clock we packed up and headed into the stadium and what a great stadium it is. Home to the Chiefs since 1972, Arrowhead hosts the team’s Hall of Honor which includes a Hall of Fame and tells the Chiefs’ history. To walk through the stadium and absorb the atmosphere with tens of thousands of other fans was something quite unreal. The air was electric as Chiefs fans poured into Arrowhead ready to watch their team bring home the Lamar Hunt Trophy, the coveted prize of the AFC Championship. Named for Lamar Hunt, the founder of the American Football League and the founder and owner of the KC Chiefs from 1959 until his death in 2006, the trophy was last won by the Chiefs 50 years ago and today they had a score to settle.
The game was preceded by the national anthem and a Stealth Bomber flyover which only fueled the fire in the bellies of the Chiefs supporters. In September 2014, the crowd at Arrowhead set a Guinness World Record for the loudest stadium at 142.2 decibels. As we were drawn into the game we literally couldn’t hear ourselves think as the deafening roar of the crowd also drowned out any cheers the Titans supporters may have been offering.
The game was sensational. As the home crowd roared their approval, quarterback Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs to a 35-24 victory over the Titans and reclaimed the Lamar Hunt Trophy. With confetti decorating the stadium, the air of determination was palpable in Arrowhead as the Chiefs now go forward to take on the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV on February 2nd, the ultimate NFL championship game.
Brian and Ami, the KC Chiefs and everyone else at Arrowhead, thank you all for making our first NFL game such a brilliant one. We have enjoyed every sporting event we have attended on this journey, but this experience was something else altogether. GO CHIEFS!
S&P