Our family moved to Kansas City from St. Louis around 1990, and we lived in Kansas City for the next decade.

I had been a long suffering St. Louis football Cardinals fan until they moved to Phoenix.

I had no team, I needed a team.

The Kansas City Chiefs seem logical. To someone from the coast they must figure St. Louis and Kansas City are basically one world, Midwest and Missouri connected.

Wrong.

There is little interaction between the two cities on each side of the state and that always applied to sport.

So plopped in Kansas City, I got tickets for a Chiefs game for my son and I to go shortly after we moved.

Arrowhead Stadium was huge, impressive, and half filled with bored fans.

It had been a long time since Super Bowl glory and the teams weren’t great.

We watched Steve DeBerg quarterback a Chiefs team that day. I have no clue to who they played or the outcome, just that nobody much seemed to give a shit.

As fate would have it, Marty Schottenheimer was brough in the very next year and things changed. Now he has the rap for not being a particularly clever coach who didn’t do well in the playoffs. But the man knew how to win football games in the regular season.

I got some colleagues at the newspaper fired up enough to go in with me to get season tickets. We walked down to the 10 yard line and sat in seats just a few rows from the field. When the ball was on our side of the 50 and moving toward our end zone, it was heaven. The other way, not so good.

But it was fun. And as the Chiefs started winning it go to be more fun.

I remember before one big game an announcer said “folks, you can’t just leave home 15 minutes before kickoff and get there on time anymore. Those days are gone.” I laughed because we could done that on that first game we went to, but when Arrowhead filled, parking and tailgating became a huge event.

When the Chiefs brought in Joe Montana and Marcus Allen, it was like Hollywood had arrived. The excitement was off the charts.

But we still didn’t do much in the playoffs. And then we moved to Denver, to live amongst Bronco fans, God help me.

I’ve told that story in other places but as my Chiefs loyalty never wavered through somewhat thick and lots of thin, Andy Reid and that Patrick guy arrived.

As always, success brings new fans and I even see them sometimes here in Bronco world, as we are on top and the Broncos are pretty much what a horse leaves after a good meal.

A week out from the Super Bowl, and yes last year was supreme, I think back to those less than glory days and savor even more just how good this team is and how much I want to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.