Are you Chiefs’ fans liking this 10-3 start to the 2016 National Football League season? First place in the AFC West. 3-0 against your two closest rivals, the Raiders and the Broncos. A playoff berth nearly a certainty. Who needs Santa Claus when you’ve got it this good?
How did all of this happen? Alex Smith? Dontari Poe? Kelce or Berry? They are a part but not the big part. The big part is that funny-looking, pear-shaped man, with the “Walrus-like” face and mustache, peering out from behind those glasses covered by his red sideline jacket. He’s holding that ever-present, laminate-covered piece of paper, on which he has planned out every possible scenario that might occur in his game that day. Every offensive play, every defensive set, that he might want to use. He is The Man of the Chiefs, head coach Andy Reid.
In a stroke of good fortune, for the Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie fired Reid on Dec. 31, 2012. Five days later, Chiefs’ owner Clark Hunt signed Reid to a 5-year contract. When Lurie fired Reid he was the longest-tenured head coach in the NFL. Since that time, the Eagles have never been the same nor have the Chiefs!
He may not look it today as he stands on the sideline but Reid was an offensive tackle at Brigham Young from 1978 to 1980. The guy could play a little! In 1971, at the age of 13, he appeared live on Monday Night Football competing in the Punt, Pass, and Kick competition. He’s been in the limelight ever since.
As head coach of the Chiefs, Reid has compiled a 41-20 record without ever causing a ruckus or a headline. He is the embodiment of understatement and it is reflected in the team that he leads.
Guys like this, coaches like this, don’t come along very often Chiefs fans. Enjoy the moment!
CHALK TALK: The St. John boys have made a statement in the past couple of weeks. The road to the 2A state basketball championship will once again go through St. John. They recently won the Larned Keady Basketball Class for fifth straight year and on Tuesday evening destroyed Central Plains in Claflin. A four-time loser to Central Plains last year, the Tigers are roaring once again!
By not expanding beyond 10 teams, the Big 12 just got richer as they used the ploy to get more money out of the television networks. It just might leave a bad taste in the mouths of all of those schools who spent a lot of money and time wooing the Big 12!
Somehow I have a hard time believing that Baylor is good enough to be the fourth-ranked men’s basketball team in the country but, maybe so, maybe so.
Great Bend enjoyed one of their finer football seasons this past year with many highlight moments but the one that stands out the most is the “Miracle at Memorial” when the Panthers rallied from a 24-14 deficit with two final-quarter touchdowns to steal a 28-24 victory from Valley Center.
According to the ratings folks, ESPN has been losing viewers over the past few years. Ditto for the National Football League. Might I suggest that “Progressivism,” Liberalism and sticking your nose into political matters offends a large percentage of your fan base? Certainly both ESPN and the NFL are both guilty of that!
Good thing or a bad thing? This past year the KSHSAA board of directors loosened restrictions on prep coaches in football, basketball and volleyball, allowing coaches to work with athletes during an 8-week period in the summer. Good for the quality of play but puts added pressure on the free time and family time of athletes.
“We never really grow up—we only learn how to act in public!”