Michael's dad, Dave, was a Kansas City Chiefs fan when Mike was a kid. When I asked Dave why this was, he told me that Mike's mom, Myra, told him he was no longer allowed to like the Philadelphia Eagles. Dave grew up outside of Philadelphia and followed the Birds....and would have a lot of anger when the team didn't quite deliver. Myra was sick of her new husband yelling at the television and told him he had to find a new team. He was drawn to the Chiefs -- and then when Marty Shottenheimer became the coach in 1989, he was hooked. Even though stories conflict, Dave told me their cat, KC, was named after Kansas City. Myra remembers it a bit differently believing the initials stood for Kitty Cat.
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| KC! |
Michael then grew up being a Chiefs fan because of his dad. Mike shared some of his memories of being a fan of the Chiefs from his childhood with me. When he was in 7th grade, he really wanted the Kansas City Starter Jacket for a Christmas present. Dave told me he had a whole network of people looking for that jacket. Mike remembers walking malls upon malls and they just couldn't find it. Dave thinks they finally found it at Q-Mart. Mike thinks his grandparents, Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop Rocchi, were the ones to make the purchase. Mike remembers wearing it all day long while in school.
Michael remembers watching Derrick Thomas sacking quarterbacks and Christian Okoye running over linebackers. He also remembers watching games when they still had astroturf in Arrow Head Stadium.
When Joe Montana left the 49ers and went to the Chiefs, Mike remembers buying the following poster and having it on the wall in his bedroom for years.
Here are a few pictures of Michael supporting the Chiefs while in Disney World!
Now, fast forward to 2020. During the Divisional Round Playoffs, the Chiefs were playing the Houston Texans and the Chiefs fell behind 24-0 in the first quarter. I made the mistake of journeying into the man cave right after the Texans blocked a punt from the Chiefs and returned it for a touchdown. I had wanted to touch base with Mike on our upcoming week and he was a bit rude to me. I decided to leave him alone and escaped back upstairs. Michael then reports that he left his man cave to go outside to remove his Chiefs flag from our flagpole. He then took the Chiefs license plate off of the front of his car and then continued upstairs to remove all of the Chiefs clothing he was wearing. He stuffed them into the deep recesses of his closet and started doing chores while periodically checking on the game. He saw Mecole Hardman kick return and decided to sit down and watch it for a minute. Ten minutes later the Chiefs had scored 4 straight touchdowns and had a lead at halftime. Michael then decided to check in with me on what my earlier question was -- I told him I didn't feel like talking to him at that point. I was freezing him out a bit. However, seven straight touchdowns later I had forgiven him and the Chiefs were heading to the AFC Championship game.
Similar start against the Titans. Things were looking bleak and Michael was getting grumpy again. Michael was wearing a black Chiefs hat at the beginning of both of these games and after flinging this said hat across the room, the Chiefs began to make a comeback. Keep this tidbit in mind as we move into the Super Bowl. The Chiefs came back to win and next stop was the Super Bowl!
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| I had to create a cake for this momentous occasion!! |
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| We absolutely love hosting parties...and I think we're getting pretty good at them! |
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| The man cave was ready! |
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| The Rocc Flock was ready! |
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| Mike and the kids put these into the coffee table in the man cave! |
After our house fire in 2016, Mike's cousin, Brian, contacted the Chiefs. Brian's wife grew up in the same neighborhood as the Chief's president's wife. Brian used this connection to get a letter to the team president, Mark Donovan. Unbeknownst to Mike, the Chiefs sent a care package that included a football autographed by Justin Huston, a helmet signed by Jeremy Maclin, and a handwritten note from Mark Donovan. During a really awful time, this was a pretty fantastic gesture by the Chiefs.
We were excited to have our neighbors, Mary Therese and Bob, over for the party. Mary Therese is a big Patrick Mahomes fan and enjoyed looking at Michaels' memorabilia.
Michael and I made coasters as party favors for our guests. This was the one we made for Mary Therese....
The kiddos enjoyed having friends over for the party.
And Michael and I enjoyed having friends over for the party!
The annual Beer Pong Tournament happened yet again this year. This thing has been going on for about 12 years....and yes, Michael won. We get to have this super awesome trophy in our house for another year....
And then the game began!!
Things were even before halftime and we were all hopefully optimistic. But then, things began to unravel in the 3rd quarter when the Chiefs fell back by 10 points.
Cameron noticed that Michael was again wearing the black Kansas City hat. Once again, Michael flung this hat across the room in anger and donned the red hat in the picture below.
Things then began to get exciting....
During a review time-out, Patrick Mahomes told the coaches he wanted to run Wasp because he knew it would work and because he knew Tyreek Hill would be open. The play worked and Tyreek Hill caught a 44 yard pass for a first down that sparked the whole team. Michael missed this play live because he was in the bathroom pouting and trying to fix the television that he had installed in there to make sure nobody missed any of the action. The TV was lagging and kept freezing...so when he came out of the bathroom he reported that by our cheers he knew something good happened but didn't get to see it live.
Travis Kelce then got a touchdown to bring the game to 20-17 and make things very interesting.
The Chiefs defense got a stop and got the ball back. The Chiefs drove down the field and Damien Williams scored the go-ahead touchdown but it had to be reviewed to see if he had stepped out of bounds first.
This was us waiting for the review....
Mike was cautiously optimistic the touchdown would stand.
And the call on the field stands!
The 49ers nearly scored an answering TD to take the lead back, but the Chiefs defense made a great 4th down stop to get the offense back on the field. They only needed to get a first down to be able to run the clock out, but running back Damien Williams followed a block by his fullback Anthony "Sausage" Sherman and scored a 38 yard touchdown to put the Chiefs up by 11, the game out of reach, and send Michael on a screaming victory lap around the bar.
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| Allie finally made a visit to the basement to see what all the screaming was about. Here she is enveloped in a hug from Daddy! |
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| I hope Cam will always remember this day.... |
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| We popped a bottle of champagne around 11:00 -- on a school night!!!! |
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| Final score!! |
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| This was such a fun day, all around. It was great to be with friends and neighbors who truly wanted the Chiefs to win for Michael. And win they did! |
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