Hopping on the Chiefs/ Swift bandwagon

I’m not a big professional football fan, but I have been following the Kansas City Chiefs for the past few years, long before it became fashionable with Taylor Swift fans.

I probably got interested in the Chiefs because of friends and KC super fans Dave and Mary Drey, whose kids were in school with ours and I guess their enthusiasm rubbed off on me.

When I was a kid my favorite team was the Green Bay Packers, whose quarterback was the great Bart Starr. He was one of the best who ever played the game, with a perfect sports name that sounds like it was conjured up by Hollywood press agents. Plus, they had a great coach in Vince Lombardi who also looked like he came right out of Central Casting.

The Packers won championships, while the team most Iowans rooted for — the Minnesota Vikings — well, try as they might, they just couldn’t win championships despite the heroics of quarterback Fran Tarkenton.

I also like the Kansas City Chiefs because they found a solid coach in Andy Reid, who was dumped by his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, despite delivering winning records to the ingrates in the “City of Brotherly Love.”

Kansas City quickly snatched Reid on the rebound in 2013 and the Chiefs were off to the races. They shifted into high gear in 2018 when unheralded backup quarterback Patrick Mahomes became their starter. Since then the Chiefs have mostly dominated the NFL and are defending Super Bowl champions.

Daughter Bridget likes the Green Bay Packers while son Justin is a Dallas Cowboys fan — a big fan. Mary doesn’t seem to care much for pro football.

When Justin was 11 he begged me to take him to a Cowboys game in Dallas. In a moment of weakness, after weeks of his intensive pleas, I finally cracked and told him if he could find tickets at face value, we would go. I figured there was no way he could do it since the Cowboys — “America’s Team” — were a hot ticket at the time.

When I came home from work one day a few weeks later, Justin announced that he was able to snag two tickets at face value from the Cowboys box office. He snatched my credit card number to seal the deal.

So the family piled into the car in late December, drove through freezing rain in Oklahoma and northern Texas and slid into the game at the Cowboys’ old Texas Stadium in Irving. Mary and Bridget stayed in the motel while Justin and I witnessed his beloved Cowboys fall to the visiting New York Giants.

It was a trip we all remember, especially because of the white-knuckle drive back home. In a fitting climax to the trip, we drove headlong into a blizzard on Interstate 29 as we got back into Iowa. Just an hour from home, we finally had to pull off the impassable highway at Onawa. The only motel in town was full, so we were directed to the high school where we joined other stranded travelers, sleeping on mats on the floor of the high school wrestling room. The kids had a blast, not so much for Mary and me.

This weekend the Chiefs will play the Baltimore Ravens for the AFC title, while San Francisco 49ers will play the Detroit Lions for the NFC title. The winners will face off in the Super Bowl Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.

Although the Lions will be the sentimental favorites against the 49ers, because they’ve been so bad for so long, I’ll have to root for San Francisco because their quarterback is Brock Purdy from the Iowa State Cyclones and his top pass catcher is George Kittle from the Iowa Hawkeyes.

If the Chiefs and 49ers both advance to the Super Bowl, I’ll wish San Francisco well but stay true to Kansas City and cheer for our neighbors down Interstate 29. Dave Drey would like that.