When the Chiefs captured the Super Bowl victory on February 2, it sparked a childhood memory. One Christmas, my mom and dad gave my four siblings and me matching hats and scarves with Kansas City Chiefs monograms. We lived in a rural town a few miles north of Kansas City, MO. (Yes, Missouri, not Kansas). 

As an educational side note, Kansas City sprawls across state lines, joining Kansas’ east side to Missouri’s west side, divided by the Missouri River. Most anything known to Kansas City falls on the Missouri side: downtown, airport, Royals, and yes, the Kansas City Chiefs. Not to beat up on Kansas, but I think it’s important for those who are not from Kansas City to learn an important American geography lesson. The winners of Super Bowl LIV are from Missouri. Not Kansas. 

At any rate, all the Super Bowl excitement reminded me of when my parents gave my siblings and me matching Chiefs hats when we were kids. We weren’t sports fans, but a hat was a hat—even if we had no idea how our team was doing back then. I got other stuff that year, but I don’t remember what. I was happy to have a warm woven hat (winters could be quite cold). 

When school reconvened after the holidays, my siblings and I gathered in our driveway, waiting for the bus, proudly wearing our Kansas City Chiefs hats and scarves. The image of four-eyed, buck-toothed kids proudly sporting their matching monogrammed gifts as they boarded the big, yellow bus makes me laugh today. (There’s a picture safely stashed somewhere.) But that image also makes me proud, knowing that my hometown team finally won a Super Bowl after 50 years. 

Cheers to the “Show-Me State.” 

But most especially, cheers to the Chiefs!