I packed my dreams away.
Living in a shell,
Hiding from myself ...
There was a time,
When I was so afraid.
I thought I'd reached the end,
But baby that was then --
For I am made of more?
Than my yesterdays!
This is my now!
And I am breathing in the moment!
As I look around?
I can't believe the love I see!
My fears behind me!
Gone are the shadows and doubt!
That was then --
This is my now ...
I had to decide,
Was I going to play it safe?
Or look somewhere deep inside,
To try to turn the tide,
And try to find the strength
To take that step of faith!
This is my now!
And I am breathing in the moment!
As I look around?
I can't believe the love I see!
My fears behind me!
Gone are the shadows and doubt!
That was then --
This is my now ...
I have a courage?
Like never before!
I've settled for less,
But I'm ready for more.
Ready for more ...
This is my now!
And I am breathing in the moment.
As I look around?
I can't believe the love I see!
My fears behind me!
Gone are the shadows and doubt!
That was then --
This is my now!!! ..."
-- "This Is My Now" by Jordin Sparks.
--------------------
Last Week SU: 6-7-0.
Season to Date SU: 81-51-2.
Last Week ATS: 5-8-0.
Season to Date ATS: 64-63-7.
Last Week Upset / Week: disaster.
Season to Date Upset / Week: 2-7-0 SU; 4-4-1 ATS.
This Week Upset / Week: raiders (+10) over "Super" Chargers.
The Non-Chiefs Picks.
* at Steelers (-6 1/2) 34, Panthers 27.
* at Jets (-7) 21, Bills 6. "ALF Game O' The Week" honors.
* "Shane" Falcons (-6) 34, at Browns 13.
* at Bengals (+5 1/2) 31, Saints 30.
* Redskins (+3) 31, at Bucs 13.
* at Titans (+6 1/2) 17, Patriots 10.
* at Colts (-3) 31, Jaguars 24.
* at Bears 20, Lions (+6 1/2) 14.
* at raiders (+10) 34, "Super" Chargers 24.
* Dolphins (+10) 31, at Packers 21.
* at Rams 34, Seahawks (+9) 27.
* Cowboys (+7 1/2) 24, at Eagles 21 (OT).
* at 49ers (-3 1/2) 31, Giants 3. "Good Times Game O' The Week" honors.
The "Klassy" Kevin Keitzman Tweet O' The Week.
I'll give the "Konfident" and "Klassy" one a pass this week. Let's just all hope his pants aren't (allegedly) needing to be pulled up, or he doesn't (allegedly) pass out drunk at a blackjack table at Harrah's via falling out of his high chair onto (allegedly) the casino floor, after KU stuns his Wildcats tomorrow.
The Watching Party Plans.
There are no The Watching Party Plans, as this is a Chiefs game I will be in attendance for.
The Tailgating Plans.
The Bus departs about 6am. If you feel like braving the cold to help us get tents set up and heaters going, it'd be appreciated.
Also, she's almost done. The outside is painted; all that is left is to add on the new stencils on each side. Here's how she looked downtown last Sunday:
(Classing up the joint, I say. Image credit: me, via my iPhone 8 something.)
My good friends Nicole and Andrew are coming down from Sioux Falls for this one. I have no idea why. I'm just glad to see them again before the year is over. (Bonus appearances rule! They'll be back for the raiders / New Year's finale.)
I also have a Twitter friend that I regularly converse with coming in (he's a Cardinals fan), and he and his crew will be tailgating with us as well. Try to be nice to him; he's a pretty cool dude online to me, at least.
The menu Sunday is various chili's and various beers. I know there's a white chicken chili coming, I know there's a regular chili coming ... and I'm making my version of taco soup. You're welcome. Also, I'll be doing jalapeno poppers as well as an appetizer. (Pause). What? (Pause). You're f*cking right I'm making them to ensure I stand in front of a grill all morning long! Am I that obvious?
In addition, there will be plenty of libations, plenty of fun, and God willing, possibly the first test of the new stereo system that Jarad installed during his renovation of The Bus. (Note: we haven't gotten to try it yet, because our new neighbors speaker system is just beyond kick ass, and they play the same sh*t we do, so we're just letting them dominate the noise at this point.) It worked awesomely commuting to Sprint Centre and McFadden's last Sunday. I can't wait to try it out on the sacred grass that is the knoll north of the G30 sign.
Oh, and the A-Man and his dad will be (allegedly) making an appearance. That should be fun.
Hope to see y'all Sunday.
The Flashback.
Flash back to 2002. To the "32 Defense".
The Chiefs entered Thanksgiving Weekend at 5-6 ... yet very much in control of their own destiny. Their remaining schedule was vs Cards / vs Rams / at those people / vs "Super" Chargers / at raiders.
The "32 Defense" was christened as such, by (I believe, of all people) "Klassy" Kevin Keitzman, because it ranked 32nd (out of 32) in damned near every major statistical category. Yards allowed. Points allowed. Turnovers forced. Yeah, the 2002 Chiefs defense was beyond abysmal.
And yet, one person dared to defy common sense, logic, and every sense of reason known to man, by insisting literally all season that "this defense has a shutout in it! I know it does!"
That person?
"The Voice of Reason".
Go figure -- that Thanksgiving weekend Sunday?
Chiefs 49, "Super" Cardinals 0.
Hey, it was pick that one, or the one from the previous season out in the desert ... best known for learning first hand, that turning on every faucet in the bathroom known to man, plus flushing the toilet periodically, does not drown out the sound of a couple having sex, if they're really, really, really digging each other for about ten to twelve straight minutes. Or so I've been told. (Note: I was not the one getting his groove on, in that Super 8 bathroom. I know -- circle me stupified as well, Bert. Circle me stupidied, that I was innocent for once.)
Stevo's Drink O' The Week.
So let me set the stage for this one ... and it might make some sense.
Two weeks ago, I was in San Antonio for my cousin's wedding. It was a great time had by all. Until we got back to the hotel.
Because I was leaving at 5:30am to make it home for kickoff against those people, for Saturday, my brother and sister-in-law let me sleep in the kids' room on the floor, for a couple hours before I had to get up and going. So let me say this: getting a 10 year old and two 8 year olds, high on sugar, soda, and excitement, to fall asleep is like asking me to stay sober for a night. I'll give it a try, but it ain't happening.
I finally gave up about 3:30, and called an Uber to head to the airport for the 5:30 flight home.
Go figure -- nothing is open at San Antonio International at 3:30am.
I also misread (tony dumas voice) the flight plans, as my connection went through Houston instead of Dallas. Not a big deal; the time was still the same -- 8:37am at KCI.
I land in Houston a little after 6am, and go figure, no much is open. I manage to get to Terminal B with a few minutes to spare to catch my puddle jumper to get to KCI ... and it's delayed.
Anyways, I finally land at KCI a little before 10am, luck into an Uber literally dropping someone off in front of me as I request one, bribe the dude with a 20 to make it to Arrowhead "as fast as f*cking possible", and he drops me off within sight of Gate 6 a little before 10:30am.
(He earned that $20.)
I wander down to The Bus, am welcomed by all, and handed a beer. I didn't check what said beer was; it was my first drink of the day on those people day. It could have been Bud Light for all I cared, and I'd still have chugged it in ten seconds and demanded a rematch with the next bottle.
The beer I was handed?
You guessed it -- Frank Stallone!
No, you guessed it -- Bud Light.
So that's my drink of the week, because after twenty years of protesting to the contrary, I have finally found at least -- at least! -- one EXACT SCENARIO, where I will drink Bud Light, and be happy, if not satisfied, about it.
It's a confluence of travel, I pray never happens again.
"Disreputable Mexican Food Truck" Update.
I was down in Texas two weeks ago. My adopted home state. I mean, I literally cried getting off the plane when landing, as this played in my iPhone head, uuh, phones.
(I defy you to not sing along.)
(Because kids singing that song? Does that to you.)
I lived in Texas for (mike gundy voice) four! years in college. At least 49.95% of me wishes I still lived there, but whatever.
The first day down there was owned by my brother -- both good, and, uuh, good. He somehow badgered the rental car agency into giving us a Tahoe over a mini-van * . His points got me onto the "exclusive" 12th Floor of the Sheraton Gunter Hotel -- where only top rewards folks are supposed to stay.
(To say nothing of the 24 hour food and beverage bar on the 2nd floor. Yo quiero free booze! And the breakfast bar was nothing to sneeze at either.)
We went that Thursday night to Dave and Busters at the Riverwalk Mall. The kids had a blast ... as did the grown-ups picking up the tab. (Seriously -- $2 Shiner draws? That's indefensibly cheap!)
On the walk to Dave and Busters, this was the shot from about a block from our hotel, onto the Riverwalk:
(Beyond beautiful and awesome. Image credit: me, via my iPhone 8 something.)
But it was Friday, that was so cool to me.
Those of you who know me best, know my mom and I were not exactly a functioning relationship for most of my life post high school.
Which is why this is so damned cool to me:
(I love how photographers think putting "PROOF" over the photo actually stops us cheap degenerate folks from stealing their image. (Image credit: somebody greedier than me, at The Alamo.)
If you had told me six years ago my mom and I would snap a picture of us in front of anything, I think we'd both have laughed.
We're both smiling in the pic above, but not laughing.
It's a smile of love. Of acceptance, tolerance, of recognizing you don't have to change who you are, to be loved on all sides.
It's an acceptance, of our now.
(Pause).
Boy, we're coming back to that theme, in the ...
The Chiefs (Probably Pointless) Pontification and Prognostication.
(*: I owe her at least four beers at last count, on bets of "what will my brother do" bets. I'll pay up by Thanksgiving ... maybe.)
When I got off work tonight, I headed to Price Chopper to grab some dinner and a few bottles of something alcoholic in nature, intending to settle in for a typical Friday night the last month at the Casa de Stevo: eat, drink a glass or two, and pop a pill out of that "Sleep" bottle I purchased at a dispensary out in Colorado last month.
(I'm telling you -- a healthy dinner, 2-3 glasses of wine, and a pill laced with 10% weed = at barest minimum, 10 hours uninterrupted sleep. It's a perfect end to any week.)
I got into the check out line, and I hear "Steve! How are you!" coming from behind me.
It was a former co-worker of mine at my two previous jobs, Madeline.
For the next five, six minutes, we shot the sh*t, so to speak. Got caught up on each other's lives, got to laugh over a few shared memories. It's everything you'd want a random "what are the f*cking odds" encounter in a check-out line at a grocery store to be.
She offered me a lift home (it's currently 20ish and spitting snow here in Waldo); I declined the offer, partly because I live three blocks from the Price Chopper, but also because I wanted to start to brace myself for what Sunday morning is going to feel like.
But there's another reason I declined.
Sometimes?
The past, is the past?
For a reason.
--------------------
Sometimes, that reason? Is that the past just hurts too f*cking much, to deal with. Believe me, I know. I'm sure everyone reading this as well, is nodding "f*ck yeah, it hurts". At least part of the past hurts for everyone in life.
But sometimes, that reason the past hurts?
Is that the future is so damned beautiful, it's so damned amazing, it's so much better than anything in the past, that the past just has to be ignored, forgotten, or (in the best case scenario) knocked into a graveyard of forgotten memories, irregardless of how we feel about that knocking occurring.
And that, at least to me?
Is what this 2018 Chiefs season, is all about ... so far.
--------------------
Chiefs fans? We've endured God knows how many heartbreaks, how many playoff defeats, how many blown playoff berths. Hell, the only year we've missed the playoffs under "Fat" Andy?
We make them if we had defeated the "Super" Cardinals in the desert, in Week Fourteen 2014. We didn't; we fell 17-14 in a game best remembered for having two touchdowns called back via penalty.
If you think about the journey to where we are today -- atop the AFC, tied with the Rams for the best record in football -- if you had said six short years ago that all this would happen in the last five years:
* five straight winning seasons
* four playoff berths
* first playoff win in a generation
* two home playoff games
* two divisional round appearances
* two straight division titles for the first time
Would you have taken it, coming off 2-14, Jovan Belcher, "Coach Baffoon", rock bottom season of 2012?
Of COURSE you'd have taken it.
And yet, admit it -- this season feels far, far different than those previous five do, right?
--------------------
This is our now, Chiefs fans.
And it's time to embrace the moment.
I picked Jordin Sparks for the theme for three reasons, none of which may make sense to you, but they do to me, so ... in the words of someone from my past I pray I never encounter again, (dusty voice) Deal With It!
Those reasons are ...
1. She's one of my three favorite "American Idol" contestants ever * .
2. She's from Arizona. And
3. She did the National Anthem at the most painful defeat of the "Fat" Andy Reid era *** .
Sunday? We undo the shame of (3), at least.
--------------------
(*: my top three are Blake Lewis, Jordin Sparks, and (flip a coin) Daughtry or Kelly Clarkson ** . Crystal Bowersox rounds out my top five. Also, Jordin's best performance was her most forgotten one: "Woman in Love" by Barbra Streisand. She was 17 when she did this ... and godd*mned right, she nailed it to (reggie jackson voice) second f*cking base, pitch issues excepted. Jesus, this song is so good ... and yes, I am straight.)
(**: gun to my head, this is "Idol"'s finest hour. Jesus, this one gets to me. It's that, or this.)
(***: if (when?) we host those bastardos again, it'd better be this chica doing The Anthem.)
--------------------
I hope to see everyone reading this on Sunday. You know where I'll be. And we'll all be there for the same reason.
Because this?
Is our now.
This isn't the best Chiefs team we've ever seen ... but as my dad would note (after 35 years in the trenches at a government job): "it's close enough for government work".
Let's do this.
* at Chiefs (-16 1/2) 56, "Super" Cardinals 13.
Setting up the biggest regular season game the Chiefs have played in twenty five years, in terms of hype.
And go figure -- Steve Young will be a part of it, next week ...
No comments:
Post a Comment