Okay, this was more than one bucket list item checked off in one night.

- Monday Night Football (even better that it was against the San Diego Chargers and winning meant the Chiefs became tied for 1st place in the AFC West)

- Going to Arrowhead Stadium with my best friend from college, Kyle. (He didn’t mention until we were on our way to Kansas City that the only time he’d ever seen a Chiefs game in person was when he lived in North Carolina and it was during the Herm Edwards Nightmare Experiment).

- Going to see a Chiefs game with my Dad and Shari. Dad is the reason I love football. He will not want to claim this as I am a different kind of fan than my Dad. I’m the yelling, screaming, cheering, rowdy kind of fan. Dad is the watch, tell me to stop talking so much, and then suddenly swear at a ref kind of fan.

So one would say that the game was successful. But I haven’t even explained it - so let’s get to that point and you’ll see why it was INCREDIBLY successful.

Kyle was graduating from training school for his new job and would be home for a week before being shipped overseas for his first job position. I am not a fan of his job. He’ll be gone for possibly as long as five years, yes he’ll get the chance to come home occasionally. But 5 years without regular phone calls, nights out, and being in the same time zone is not my idea of fun. When I told my parents the dates that he would be home we realized it was when they would be in Kansas City for the Chiefs/Chargers game. They quickly talked with the couple that has seats next to them, traded their Packers tickets and got tickets and a hotel room for us to come down. Then it was time to tell Kyle. I let Shari have the honors. It then took him about two hours to figure out that it wasn’t just US going to the game but Dad and Shari were going to and my Kansas City parent, Lori and Travis. At that point I think he hit an 11 on the excitement scale. Problem was we had to wait a LONG time for the game.

FINALLY it’s October 31st, 2011 - game day. Yes, Halloween - Monday Night Football - Chiefs/Chargers - that does mean that all the freaks come out. Before we could see the freaks we had to make the drive. We booked it to KC from Des Moines while Kyle played DJ in the car. I must admit we did have a pretty wild dance party to Katy Perry and Ke$ha at one point. We also did get lost - my GPS does not work when Kyle talks over it. It also tried to take me a way I had never gone before and does not have an ‘avoid ghetto’ option. But we made it and then got to have one drink on The Plaza (Country Club Plaza to be exact - I abbreviate too much) before climbing in the car and heading to my happy place - Arrowhead Stadium. Technically Kansas City is my happy place, but Arrowhead is the place I’m happiest within my happy place. It’s better than Disney, I don’t care what the commercials tell you.

We made it through the construction, through the car accident, through the parking lot maze and finally started tailgating. Kyle got the proper treatment - Gates Barbecue, beer, and Chiefs cookies. We headed in to the stadium before the parents did so that we could go to the team shop - Kyle had things he needed to buy, I only had one. My sideline stocking cap. I had already been gifted one of the two official stocking caps of the season, I wanted the one with the bill. I found it, bought it and we were in our seats. Kyle started immediately realizing what was going on at that point. My parents’ tickets at Arrowhead are amazing. 21st row, between the 10 and 15 yard lines. There are 6 tickets in a row for three couples. Kyle was right on the 10 yard line. Directly in front of us was the Monday Night Football pre-game show. 

Then there was the game. A pre-game flyover (even for a night game!), the Hall of Fame game (which meant Ed Podolak was there), me practicing the skills I learned during the Christiansen era at Iowa by locating Stanzi on the sidelines at random moments (don’t worry Hawk/Chiefs fans - I caught him throwing passes to receivers during warm-ups, he’s still got one hell of an arm) and an energy in the air that made it feel like it was the Chiefs night. The Chargers are a tough team - 1st in the AFC West when the game started. But Phillip Rivers has been off the last few games (this continues to the point I’m writing this). He was throwing interceptions (Kendrick Lewis’s incredible INT was directly in front of us!). And it was great to see that Jonathan Baldwin (our 1st round draft pick who had been out most of the season because of a broken thumb due to a bad decision) was starting to click with Matt Cassel and the rest of our offense. He had his first NFL touchdown in our end zone. With every great play the crowd went nuts. The refs made some horrible calls and it was a stadium filled with boos. Arrowhead prides themselves on being the loudest stadium in the NFL and the teams have to attempt to take the fans out of the game for the Chiefs. The Chargers just couldn’t do it.

With only a few seconds left in the game Rivers botched the snap and Andy Studebaker recovered the ball sending it in to overtime. Chargers won the OT toss. Chiefs held them to three and out. Then Matt Cassel lead one of the most amazing drives down the field. Nerves still take over, fear that we won’t score and that San Diego will get the ball back. But the Chiefs got the ball within field goal range and threw the uprights it went. CHIEFS WIN! CHIEFS WIN!

Kyle got the chance to see his first game at Arrowhead, on a Monday Night, with an overtime victory against division rivals, San Diego. I can’t imagine anything more perfect. And watching him enjoy it made my bucket list check just that much sweeter. But beyond that I accomplished something I never imagined doing - seeing a Chiefs game with my Dad at Arrowhead. It’s hard enough to get him to watch one with me at home, being there was something I won’t soon forget.

CHIEFS WILL!