Tradition Tuesday: At Long Last, The Season

The rough focus of this blog is the rivalry between the Kansas City Chiefs (heralded by Bankmeister) and the Denver Broncos (championed by Cecil and Old No. 7). It may seem unfair that it's two versus one, but once KC gets that second Super Bowl win we'll even out the delegation.

Seven years ago we started The Tradition, in which Bronco fans travel out to the Truman Sports Complex with their team, and Chief-lovers return to the Rocky Mountains with theirs. We tailgate, we talk massive amounts of shit, our wives are occasionally assaulted by rival fans, and we almost always watch the visiting team lose. It's grand old time.

Here at the HoG, we're going to keep The Tradition going with Tradition Tuesday--a weekly state-of-the-rivalry address.

Well, here we are. Two days from the start of the 2007 NFL season -- five from Broncos/Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium and Chiefs/Texans at Reliant Stadium -- and the House of Georges, in its near-six-month existence, has taken great delight in bringing you Tradition Tuesday.

With football season upon us, we'll be taking a slightly different approach, one that will keep a keen eye on playoff (playoffs?) baseball, the start of the NHL season, and a continued-swift delivery of your weekly collection of not-rough-on-the-eye females. Most importantly, though, we'll be bringing you exclusive coverage of Chief/Broncos football on a more-often-than-weekly basis, which is good news for everyone.

The talented Cecil has promised to deliver pre- and post-game reports of both clubs (though I'm sure Old No. 7 and I may, on occasion, chime in with our own unsolicited two bits), which, based on his preliminary offerings and summarized theses of professional contests, we can agree is a win/win for us and all involved. Old No. 7, being the gambling man/non-fan of Las Vegas that he is not, will cover spreads, over/unders, fantasy stuff, and all the other erotic-sounding mechanisms numbers-related tidbits in which interest is sought. He has also offered his ever-decreasing time to interview, on a weekly basis, a fan of the opposing team, a project in which I will participate as well. The HoG now has a Broncos/Bills interview and a Chiefs/Texans interview in the shop, as it were, needing only the final spit shines and chrome polishings to get these features on the street.

That said, there are two pressing Choncos-in-my-Briefs issues on which to report today. One: Over yonder, west of the Kansas border, Mike Shanahan and his Broncos inked a deal with Simeon Rice yesterday to help bolster the Bronco pass rush. That should add to the help they gave their squad -- the off-season acquisitions of Dre Bly and four D-line draft picks -- in a major way. In case you've been under a rock, the boys in predominantly orange also added to their offense by signing tailback Travis Henry and wideout Brandon Stokley. The Broncos and their 53-man roster are ready for some football.

Two: The Chiefs finally have all of their starters ready to practice together for the first time in the entire pre-season. Yikes, huh? Mmm-hmm. A good sign for the red and gold. A bit late, but a good sign. Huard, after nursing a sore calf will finally have blind-side protection from left tackle Damion McIntosh, who's been out with a bum knee. And of course, the inverted-vagina symbol and his piles of money are in the backfield. Word has it he'll split time with Michael Bennett until he hits top football shape. Other good news for Chiefs Nation involves their final molding of the roster, which includes the club's decision to cut AFL wide receiver star Bobby Sippio. What? Oh. Good news. Right. Sorry.

The cutting of Sippio was done to make room for third-string quarterback Tyler Thigpen, a rookie out of Coastal Carolina that the Minnesota Vikings were apparently trying to sign to their practice squad. Cut from Thigpen's place were Canada leftover Casey Printers and Jeff Terrell, the only two QBs that showed pre-season mobility and scored against the Saints, respectively. But it gets better. The Chiefs, one week removed from the opener, now have decided to bring in a kicker to compete with fifth-round draft pick Justin "Doink" Medlock. Among the candidates is the 43-year-old John Carney, who was cut by the Saints last year in favor of guys like Billy Cundiff. Sweet.

Yes indeed, folks. Good times. Nevertheless, we'll see if Herm's fixed his "terrible job" in the preparations department. We'll see if he's got his club ready for Houston. We'll see if we'll be offering the tag line "Houston, we have a problem" to Cecil's pre-game review. Or post-game. Or both.



Uh...huh-huh, like...go Bills and stuff.