Bob Gretz' latest column, posted today (12/28/07) is a mailbag. The second "email letter" he received, from a "fan" named "Shane", is what I choose to focus on.
I have proofed this for spelling and grammatical accuracy ... but I basically typed for 42 straight minutes non-stop. I apologize if I ramble at times ... but I'm not altering my thought process.
the link: http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2007/12/28/gretz_mailbag_with_a_punch/
The email and Mr. Gretz' response:
From Shane: “I am talking to the Chiefs who are known as the best fans in the NFL. Well, they used to be the best fans in the NFL.
“It seems like the Sea of Red at Arrowhead is quickly draining to fill only the lower level of seats these days. To the real Chiefs fans of the world, it is an agonizing and painful sight to see Arrowhead empty on Sunday home games. The mystique is gone.
“The fans that choose to leave early and not show up are cursed with hearts of quitters. They were a label of fair weather fan proudly and complain any chance they get. They are not real Chiefs; rather, they are spoiled Chiefs doubters. They spread gloom and blame inside Arrowhead with boos and backsides as they leave their seats … is it that hard to understand what rebuilding means? Herm said it best when he told the fans to “Get over it.” We are not immune to a down year and we should not give up on your team so easily.”
GRETZ: Shane, I appreciate your passion and your words. People become fans of a person, team, place or event for many reasons. No matter why they became Chiefs fans, those folks who climbed aboard the bandwagon in the last 18 years were accustomed to seeing winning football games. Now that we’ve had a season where the team has struggled to win, a lot of those fans are questioning their commitment.
Frankly, that’s a good thing. Much like the roster needs to be rebuilt, maybe the fan base needs to be rebuilt as well. Maybe this is a good time for Chiefs fans to consider why they care and why the Arrowhead experience is important to them.
There’s one thing I know for sure: if those folks who buy tickets find the whole thing has become a less than satisfying experience, they will not pay for seats. Everybody in charge at Arrowhead understands that. That’s why there’s a lot of internal pressure to make sure this team gets turned around and turned around correctly.
That’s why I think it’s folly for fans to jump ship now. Have some patience; there’s something building here that if given time will provide a big payoff.
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My response:
And the trick here will be to keep the profanity to a relatively low level ...
First of all, who exactly is this "Shane" person? Anyone can hide behind the anonymity of an unsubstantiated, unlinkable email with a common first name as the author. (As opposed to, say, me posting my thoughts on an internet forum, with my email address, some personal info, and a lovely action shot of me doing what I do best (floating in the pool, drinkin some Shiner) constantly available to the reader.)
Who is this "Shane" person to declare that Chiefs fans "used to be the best fans in the NFL"?
Uuh, Shane? This fanbase is located in the 3rd smallest market in the NFL. Only Jacksonville and Green Bay are smaller. It has sold out Arrowhead Stadium for 141 consecutive regular season games (as of December 16th). It draws season ticket holders from 48 different states (all but Vermont and Maine). It is still, on gameday Sunday, THE destination place in the Midwest for any serious football fan.
This isn't St. Louis, where sellouts are the exception. This isn't Jacksonville, where a 11-4 football team has to black out 10,000 plus seats every week just to come within 5,000 tickets of a sellout. This isn't Detroit, a metro area of 5 million plus that can't sell out a stadium smaller than Arrowhead for even a hated divisional rival. This is Kansas City. Home to the greatest fans in the world. Home to the Sea of Red.
You complain that it seemed only the lower bowl was filled last Sunday? I think its amazing that 50,000 people (which is about what the lower bowl holds) would show up to watch a 4-9 football team on a 6 game losing streak, one that hadn't scored a 4th quarter point in 5 weeks, one missing its franchise RB, its other "superstar" RB lost to retirement, starting a first year starting QB, a rookie WR, a rookie kick returner, two first year starters on the offensive line, and playing for nothing but pride, I think it speaks VOLUMES to the loyalty, the passion, the dedication, the heart of this fanbase, of which I am a proud, loyal member, I think it reflects quite well on us actually, Shane.
Watch some games this weekend Shane. The 10-5 Giants are hosting New England. Giants fans are selling their tickets off in droves. They'd rather make a buck than watch their team attempt to stop history in the making. Are those fans more "loyal" than us because they're ensuring a filled up Meadowlands on Saturday night?
Watch the Jets / Chiefs on Sunday. I guarantee you there will be fewer Jets fans there on Sunday, than there were Chiefs fans at the Titans game two weeks ago. Watch denver / Minnesota and how empty fake mile high will be. Watch Oakland / San Diego. The QB of the future making his first start for the Raiders, and if McAfee Coliseum is even half full it will be a surprise.
But clearly, "only" 50,000 Chiefs fans showing up in the bitter cold, snow, and wind chill of mid December, to watch a crappy team going nowhere anytime soon play out the string, well, we're all just a bunch of fair-weather minded f*ckers with no loyalty, no dedication, no heart. We're "quitters".
I'm curious, Shane, where were you on December 16th? Were you freezing your balls off in section 132 like I was? Were you there rooting for the Chiefs to win, even though in the long term interests of the franchise, a loss was preferable? Were you standing on every big play? Were you cheering the Chiefs as they left the field with a 14-10 halftime lead?
Did you stay until there were triple zeros on the clock as the 4th quarter ended? I'm curious, as I'm sure other fans are, did you not once, not a single f*cking time, boo the incompetent play calling, the crappy quarterback play, the god awful offensive line blocking, the atrocious special teams return game, the utter inability of our corners to cover anyone? Did you applaud when the Titans receiver took a simple hook route, and went 38 yards for 6? Did you applaud when LenDale White ran for 56 yards on the first play from scrimmage? Or did you do what any non-retard would do, and boo the lack of effort, the lack of execution, the lack of competence shown by the players in the red and gold?
I'm curious, Shane, how long have you been a season ticket holder? And how loyal are you and your posse, how "fair weather" are you? I tailgate with people who drive 8 hours from Dallas for every game. Who drive 6 plus hours from Central Illinois for every game. I tailgate with people who have had season tickets for longer than I've been alive (which will be 31 years on January 3rd. In case anyone wants to buy Steve a birthday beer ...)
They were there when things were really "bad", when you were right to question the fanbase. And they're still there today. Its what we do. Its what "real" fans do, Shane. We don't question other fans loyalty because they refuse to watch a franchise stuck in reverse any longer. We accept that it will take the actions of those fans, and at least 25-30k more like them, to force meaningful regime change at Arrowhead by refusing to pay $.01 more to watch this utterly unwatchable team.
Where were you in 1988 Shane? Or 1998? Did you drive home from college to watch a 4-8 Chiefs squad battle the Arizona Cardinals? Did you have to negotiate with a professor to "make up" an exam to drive home for a Monday nighter against Pittsburgh? Did you nearly blow off a final for a meaningless Dallas game?
Did you sit through the monsoon of the Seattle game? (I didn't. I sat through the monsoon that KC got on Sunday, two days earlier at the Rangers / Yankees game 3 of the divisional playoffs). But I know a damned good many people who did. Did you?
Did you show up in the sub-zero snow filled cold in 2000 for Carolina and denver? Or 2001 for Philly? Or 2002 for San Diego? Or last year for Jacksonville?
I'm curious, can you name 5 people you sit by? Can you name the person to your right, your left, in front of you, behind you? Are you the type of fan who, like me apparently, shows up every week, rain or shine, cultivates a relationship with fellow "quitter, fair weather, doubter" Chiefs fans, and build on that relationship in the offseason? Or, do you show up for a game or two ... and then criticize when other people do the exact same thing that you do, and stay home when the getting gets rough?
Until you prove to me you back up your words with actions, until I see used ticket stubs from every home game this year, until I see proof that you aren't watching every meaningless down-the-stretch game from the last decade from the comforts of your couch, I politely ask you, in the words of Carl Peterson, to "shut the f*ck up and sit the f*ck down".
Who the f*ck are you, Shane, to question my loyalty to this franchise? Who are you to question ANY Chiefs fans loyalty? The fact that we sold out this stadium for every game again this year, in a year most people wrote off in March as a rebuilding year, should tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the loyalty, the passion, the dedication, the love of this fanbase for this team.
Shane, on behalf of section 132, row 26, seat 2 ... go f*ck yourself. And I know I speak for fellow season ticket holders as well. I am damned sick and tired of being told by stuck up arrogant pricks like yourself that I'm not a "real" fan because I dare to question the decision making of this team, because I dare to boo when I see sh*t on the field. I am not a "quitter" because I choose to leave a blowout 5 minutes early. I am not a "doubter" because I have examined the personnel moves of the last 8 years and concluded that Carl Peterson is incapable of building a championship roster.
And I sure as f*ck am not a "fair weather fan" because I show up 30 minutes before kickoff, instead of 30 minutes before the gates open, as I usually do.
Shane, come and find me next home game. I'll be there. I'm renewing. I'm coming back next year for more. Are you? You know where I sit now. I'll be there 30 minutes before the gates open for every game. Just find a red bus with a yellow top, or a gray ambulance with Chiefs sirens. We're usually one of the first 2-3 vehicles in line. Are you? Funny, I've never met a "Shane" amongst the regular people we open the gates with.
Why don't you find me, walk up to me, and tell me to my face that I have "the heart of a quitter". That I "were a label of fair weather fan proudly".
Scratch that, "Shane". Once you learn how to spell "wear" (see the copied verbatim typo above and in Gretz' column, the dude can't spell "wear"), then come talk to me. And try to tell me that I'm not a "real Chiefs fan", that I'm a "spoiled Chiefs doubter".
In fact, that's hilarious. ANYONE who has EVER read ANYTHING I have to write about this team knows that no matter how frustrated I get early in the week, you're getting one email and one email only out of me come gameday Friday. Show up! Be loud! Cheer your team on!
For this "Shane" bastard to question the loyalty of the fanbase, and this fan in particular, is insulting, demeaning, and unacceptable to me.
But worse than Shane, is Bob Gretz, the unofficial mouthpiece of the Chiefs, agreeing with "Shane"'s thoughts.
Mr. Gretz, of all people in this town, I would expect you sir, to fully understand what a disloyal, uninterested fan base looks like. Of all people in this town, sir, I would expect you to grasp what growing anger, hatred, and distrust of the front office is brewing inside this "fair weather fanbase" that Shane so disgusts.
Because you, sir, nearly single handedly prompted the dramatic turnaround that the end of 1988 ushered in. It was only 20 years ago, sir, that you were in the Jason Whitlock role at the Kansas City Star, noting the lack of results, the lack of success, and calling for the end of the Jack Steadman / Jim Schaaf error ... I mean, error. In fact, sir, if you look up the Chiefs on Wikipedia, you'll notice something interesting for a "historical online encyclopedia".
An entire decade is missing. There is not ONE SINGLE THING posted for the 1980s Kansas City Chiefs. And most of the 70s either, for that matter.
(Seriously check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Chiefs)
Sir, you more than anyone affiliated with this organization, are qualified to know what a "fair weather fanbase", a "quitter" fanbase, looks like. You know what utterly inept football management looks like. Because you led the charge to shake things up 20 years ago, to give us a new hope.
Unfortunately, sir, you cannot see that history has sadly repeated itself. Mr. Gretz, as you yourself have noted on the radio broadcasts the last couple home games, "it's 1988 all over again". Yes sir, it is. And its time for regime change to come to One Arrowhead Drive as a result.
To suggest that the roster needs to be rebuilt, is simply stating the obvious. Of course, that obvious being that Carl Peterson screwed up 6 consecutive drafts, so we have no core component of a team to build off of, so we're now 3-4 years behind divisional rivals San Diego and denver in that regard. But to suggest that the fan base be rebuilt too ... sir, I say to you, who the f*ck are you to question the fanbase?
We make that stadium what it is. Not you, not Carl, not Bill Kuharick, not the sh*tty draft picks Carl brought in from 2000-2005, not the god awful free agent busts he continues to sign, not the incompetent coaching, the overpriced beer, the stale peanuts, the parking nazis, the too-small-for-comfort seats. Mr Gretz, it is us, the fans, who make Arrowhead what it is.
For you and "Shane" to suggest, sir, that we need to be rebuilt as well, is a slap in my face, as well as the face of every other one of the 78,625 plus of us who have sold that building out for every game since September 1, 1991. It is a whiz on the stomach of every one of us who have spent hundreds upon thousands of dollars in support of the passion of our lives, the Kansas City Chiefs.
It is a kick to the balls of every one of us who showed up last Sunday, who sat, stood, cheered, and cried in the bitter cold, the snow, the freezing conditions, and poured our heart and soul and emotion into rooting the Chiefs to victory.
I'm curious, Mr. Gretz. If you weren't paid to be there for that Titans game ... would you have been? If you weren't paid to be on the field, and you weren't able to sit in a suite, would you have shown?
I sit behind a Red Coater. I know his first name is Dave. He comes every week with his elderly mother. They are two of the most loyal, die hard, dedicated fans I have ever met. They left early, as did I. I'm curious, Bob ... "Shane" ... if a Red Coater says "f*ck it, I'm out of here", why should anyone else care?
If the people paid to promote the franchise, to recruit the ticket holders, to drum up support in the community for the team, if they feel its fine to leave with the Chiefs trailing 24-10 with 6 minutes left ... does that make them "fair weather fans"? Does that make them "doubters"?
Does that make them "quitters"?
No. It does not.
The only "quitter" affiliated with the Chiefs right now that matters, is the "quitter" press conference that must occur within minutes of Sunday's conclusion, when Carl Peterson steps aside, as Jack Steadman did 19 years ago, for the good of the franchise.
Until and unless Carl steps aside, I won't criticize any Chiefs fan who opts to "doubt", to be "highly critical", to be "fair weather". Or who opts to "quit" by telling the powers that be "Hell F*cking No!" when the renewal notice arrives next month.
If that makes me a "quitter", or a "doubter", or a "fair weather fan", well, so be it. Label me all you want, "Shane". People who know me, know I'm nothing that you describe me to be. And Chiefs fans I know, are nothing like you describe them to be. We're not "disloyal", we're "mad as hell". And we're not gonna take Carl's sh*t, swallow it, and say "mmm, delicious, what a cook!" anymore.
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