The Chiefs obviously would be better off with home field advantage – all of our losses were on the road and the opposing fans were definitely in the games. We needed to be at home for the playoffs with our home fire (us Chiefs' fans), but it is too late to change things now! All I can say is "Go Chiefs!"

MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS

The Chiefs' Characters

Helmet Man

X Factor

A Thought About Baseball

Super Bowl XXXVII

Some Thoughts About Super Bowls

In Defense of the Chiefs' Name

THE CHIEFS' CHARACTERS

Painted faces and extravagant regalia are common place at Chiefs' games. Some are as simple as a decal on ones cheek or an arrowhead on ones head, but many are very complicated. For me, just wearing something red is sufficient.

Over the years, however, there have been a few who come to games dressed the same game after game and become well known. Of course, there are the official characters or mascots – KC Wolf is the current mascot. Was the Chief on the horse considered a mascot? I do not remember. Back in the bleak days, we had a guy that dressed in very short shorts with a drum that used to go around the stadium beating the drum and revving up the fans. Back then, that is about all that was exciting. We have also had a guy that would come to the game dressed in the jersey of the opposing team with arrows stuck into him all over; I have not seen him lately.

Currently, we have three characters that stand out and I do want mention Helmet Man. See below for his story. Right now we have X Factor, Belly Boy and another guy that comes dressed with spike-like hands and exposed shoulder pads. I have something about X Factor below and even have a film clip of him taken in 2002. I may post it, but I fear the download time on a 56K modem may be too long.

Before the 2003 season is over, I will try to post something about Belly Boy and Spike (I do not know is real pseudonym).

Belly Boy comes to all games, no matter how cold, without a shirt although he does usually wear a cape. According to the Kansas City Star (12/15/2003, pages D4 & D5), his name is James Tolson. He usually sits in the first two or three rows in the northeast corner of the stadium. I have talked to him and he has no regular seat of his own. It appears that the fans in the area accommodate him in some way. Not surprisingly, he has a rather large belly of loose fat. He has the unique ability to ripple the fat up and down. I will get a still picture of him, but would love to get a movie of him. The Chiefs, however, do not allow video cameras in the stadium. Although, I suspect that are most concerned with fans taking motion pictures of the game, I do not want to risk losing my video camera to some "crowd control" dude or dudess.

Spike (I will learn his real pseudonym) sits in the east end zone and spends most of his time in the aisle encouraging the fans to yell and scream. I understand that he is actually a Chiefs' Red Coater, but prefers his own outfit instead of the "red coat". He has a very complicated attire. I got a picture of him at the Chicago game along with a Chicago character. Sorry, I am not totally digital, so I need to get it developed before I can post it.

I hope you are catching the weird humor I am feeling when I use the term "real pseudonym"; I like logical contradictions like that.

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HELMET MAN

The picture of Helmet Man was taken on September 15, 2002, at the Chiefs' game against the Jacksonville Jaguars (the Jaguars won, 23-16). At that time, he carried a drum and would walk up and down the various steps beating it and raising fan enthusiasm. Not long after that I noticed that he no longer performed. I assumed that he got tired of doing the job, but I was very wrong.

Then, throughout this 2003 season, I have heard that he had had some problem with the Chiefs. Apparently, there had been some radio appearances by Helmet Man, but I never heard the broadcasts and knew not what the real problem was. On a couple of occasions I saw him standing beside the road near the entrance ramp onto I-70 on the east side of Arrowhead. He was fully dressed up as Helmet Man and would wave at passersby.

Then on November 23, 2003, the Kansas City Star ran a page one, lead article about Helmet Man and his problems with the Chiefs. Since it is a copyrighted article, I cannot post it, but you can get it from the Kansas City Star for a small cost (www.kansascity.com). At the end of this article, I will tell you a little more about the picture and after you have read what I have gleaned from the Star's article about Helmet Man, you will understand that the way the picture was taken might have frightened him very much.

According to the Star, Helmet Man is actually Wahed Moharam who was born in 1954 in Cairo, Egypt. He came to the United States in 1978, fell in love with the country, made it his home and is now a citizen. The most interesting part of his story is that in the early 1990's he got into a situation in which he had vital information about terrorist activities, including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. In fact, he apparently provided vital information about that crime and in 1994 testified in a federal court in New York in regard to the bombing.

Thereafter, he entered the witness protection program but has had to move several times due to multiple breaches in his cover. He then moved to Kansas City in 1996, opened a business, became a rabid Chiefs fan (it is so easy, you know), and married (that seems to be fairly easy to do, also). But, once again his cover was breached, largely because his wife became convinced that he was actually involved in both the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the September 11, 2001, attack that brought the towers down. She even went to the extent of establishing a web site about it.

Once the Chiefs became aware of Wahed's past, they became concerned for the safety of Chiefs' fans and revoked his tickets and forbad him to enter Arrowhead Stadium dressed as Helmet Man. I am not going to try to determine who is right in this circumstance. In order to know what is right, one has to know all the underlying facts on a first-hand basis and I am not in a position to know.

Now, about the picture! Understand that we have a man who is in the witness protection program on account of his involvement in a very major world event. Whether you view him as a participant or an observer is not important for this article. His cover had been breached several times and he could be the target of revenge. I, on the other hand, knew nothing about his past and just wanted to get a picture of one of Arrowhead's game day characters. I, also, did not want to interfere with my fellow fans' view of the game. So, I went to the aisle and crouched down. Suddenly, I burst up and clicked the picture. I do not know if he was actually frightened, but he did seem to stop short which is the picture that I got. When he saw I was just taking a picture, he smiled broadly, but I had already taken the picture that you see on this page.

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X FACTOR

The picture displayed here is actually a frame grabbed from a video I shot before the Chiefs' game with the San Diego Chargers on December 22, 2002. X Factor correctly predicted a Chiefs' win, although he predicted a larger point spread than the actual score of 24-22.

According to the cut line on a picture of X Factor that appeared in the Kansas City Star on October 2, 2003 (p. A1), X Factor is actually Ty Rowton who lives in Manhattan, Kansas. He has been appearing as X Factor for a number of years and do not remember when he might have missed a game. It is called dedication to a worthy cause, you know.

I may post the video eventually, but the download time on a 56K modem will be quite long.

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A THOUGHT ABOUT BASEBALL

I have attended many athletic games in my life - football, baseball, basketball and others. But, here is a thought I have about baseball: Baseball is a game that is so exciting that they have to have a designated time to stand up!!!! Think about it!

Good luck to the Royals in 2004, however!!!!

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SUPER BOWL XXXVII: Grudaneers, 42; Gruders, 21

I am not at all unhappy that the Oakland Raiders lost the Super Bowl, but I am very disappointed that Rich Gannon appeared to have done so poorly. I feel that the Kansas City Chiefs made a substantial error in keeping Elvis Grbac and letting Rich Gannon go.

To make things worse, now Rich appears to have suffered a potentially career-ending injury at the hands of the Chiefs. I wish Rich Gannon well, but unfortunately the only way that he could totally redeem himself would be to come back and quarterback his team to a Super Bowl victory. Unfortunately, he can't do that because it is now the Chiefs' time – I hope!

Life is full of all sorts of anomalies. One is that sometimes your support of one cause runs contrary to your support of another cause. And, the Rich Gannon situation is one of those.

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SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT SUPERBOWLS!

Everytime I watch a Super Bowl, I am reminded of my thoughts about what the Super Bowl has become.

First, of course, it is much more extravagant than the first games – no one knew what to call it then. I recall that the "World Series of Football" was one prevalent thought. Another was the "national championship of football". By year 5 or so, the game officially became the Super Bowl and its popularity as grown astronomically.

As the game has become more extravagant, the fan base of the Super Bowl has changed even though the fan base for preseason and regular season games remains a mix of the affluent that can afford the club level seats and the diehard grunts that save up there money so they can go out and yell and scream (and perhaps even afford seats on the club level) for their home team.

Basically, it appears that the Super Bowl is not a game in which true football fans have any part. The "fans" at the Super Bowl are not anything like the fans at a regular season game. Look at the Super Bowl fans and they appear to be movie stars and other wealthy persons that can afford to buy their way into the game.

The reality is that the season ticket holders of either of the teams are entitled to relatively few seats. The rest are in the control of the NFL and Super Bowl sponsors.

True, in the most recent Super Bowl (XXXVII), there were a number of weirdly attired Raider fans in the stands and the television folks focused on them frequently. Remember, however, that San Diego is relatively close to Oakland and, in reality, they numbered very few in comparison to the entire crowd.

I have been a regular supporter of the Kansas City Chiefs since 1969, having missed only three seasons and a few other games since then. Yet, if the Chiefs were to make it to the Super Bowl, my chances of getting a ticket to the Super Bowl would be slim to none.

Thus, I who have gotten up very early on many, many Sundays in those nearly 35 years, yelled himself hoarse more times than I can remember and lived through the longest professional football game and way too many wide to the left field goals, probably would not be able to experience the same great feeling that the players do.

In short, to think that some dizzy dingbat actress that has no clue about football is there, and a real fan like me probably has no shot at coming close to it, really galls me.

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IN DEFENSE OF THE CHIEFS' NAME

Although, it is presently not an upfront major issue, much has been said in the past about the use of the word "Chiefs" as the name for Kansas City's professional football team. Some Native Americans find the term demeaning and objectionable as a people should not be considered a mascot. Some object to the use of Indian terms as they are reminders of defeat or because they might represent some sort of chest pounding arrogance.

Officially, the Chiefs will counter that the team was named after former Mayor H. Roe Bartle whose nickname was "chief". Mayor Bartle was an important influence in bringing the Chiefs to Kansas City and the Chiefs say that the name is in his honor. Also, officially, the mascot of the team is KC Wolf, not an Indian figure.

On the other hand, the Indian influence is so overwhelmingly strong within the environment of the Kansas City Chiefs, it is hard to say that there was no Indian influence in the naming of the Chiefs. First and foremost, the Chiefs play in Arrowhead Stadium – arrowheads were Indian weapons. An Indian head is displayed on many Chiefs graphics. Originally, the Chiefs celebrated touchdowns and field goals by having an Indian attired white man run around the stadium on a horse called War Paint.

Also, what is not mentioned is that Mayor Bartle's nickname actually has Indian origins. Mayor Bartle was very active in Kansas City area Boy Scouts and a quick review of their activities and rituals will reveal a very strong Indian influence. Many of those rituals involve Scouts dressed in Indian regalia. The mayor's nickname came from his Boy Scout activities and, thus, has Indian origins.

So how can I, one who is just about as conscious of human rights as anyone, feel comfortable calling Kansas City's team the "Chiefs"?

I have never, since I started going regularly to Chiefs' games in 1969, considered the Chief or any Indian to be a mascot. I view the Indian references to be positive symbols, not demeaning disregard. For me, the Chief is symbolic of bravery, swift and lithe movement, well-honed bodies, valiant defense and cunning offense, the ability to strike with surprise, ability and agility and the competence to perform outstandingly in all environments. For me, the Chief is a symbol to be revered, not denigrated.

I am very sensitive to the plight of the American Indian. I am also aware that Indian names exist everywhere in America. There are many many states, cities, counties, townships, subdivisions, rivers, creeks, streets and schools that are named after Indian tribes, personalities or terms. If we were to abandon the use of Indian names in this country, probably one-third of the country would have to be renamed.

Do all these Indian names represent a denigration of Native Americans. I really do not think so. Many of these names were originally affixed to the place simply as a way to reference the area and when the designation started the area was in Indian hands. The Indian terms were not meant to indicate the white man's domination, only to identify the place.

Native Americans have been isolated into relatively small and generally hostile environments. To completely eliminate Indian names from our American maps, places and things would virtually wipe the existence of Indians from our minds. If we do a good job educating people, when we say the words "Missouri" or "Kansas" we might every now and then remember how two tribes of Indians (among others) were displaced from lands in which they lived and sustained themselves and try to conduct ourselves better the next time.

And, if the Chiefs ever do win the Super Bowl again (like on February 1, 2004, for instance), I hope that in all the glory that we do not forget that the name represents a valiant people who were wronged in a very great way!

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