Tradition Tuesday: On The Road Again

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 Chef-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.

In breaking news, the Denver Broncos signed four free agents from the now-defunct World League of American Football NFL Europe Europa on Monday. While this normally wouldn't have any significance at all, I must point out that one of these gentleman has a built-in online fan club.

That would be Kevin House, late of the University of South Carolina and stints with the Seahawks, Chargers and Saints. We're big fans of anybody named House here at the House, as well as anybody named George that's not George Foster. George Foster can die a thousand deaths and burn in eternal hell afterwards. But Kevin House, you're the man. We'll be pulling for you come training camp, and if you make the 53-man roster I'll personally pony up for a jersey stitched with your name and number. That, of course, means you'll blow an ACL within minutes. Such is the power o' the jinx.

It is nice to be talking about training camp. We're in July, and that means the countdown to two-a-days is measured in mere weeks now. While the large men with new SUVs prepare for their summer inferno, we the fans are diligently forming plans of our own. The game tickets are being procured, the tailgating menus are taking shape, and some of us are getting ready to take to the interstates and friendly skies to follow our teams.

Yes, I speak of the road game. The true test of a football team is also the true test of a football fan. We've all seen our boys in the comfort of the home stadium, but to show your true grit you need to spend a little time vastly outnumbered and mildly afraid for your life.

I'm not trying to make this into a class issue. Everyone makes decisions on game attendance based on a variety of factors. Some of my friends have family connections to season tickets at Invesco, and those jackasses get nothing but curses from me (behind their backs, of course...I don't want to burn any bridges that may lead to good seats).

I also personally feel that going to games in person is a monumental pain in the ass. It's a tremendous amount of work, especially if you do what you ought to do and make a full day of it: grilling, drinking, boasting, fighting, blacking out and spending a little time in county lock-up. Good times. But I get just as much satisfaction in watching the game in my own living room on my own bad-ass television. I can actually see all the replays, not to mention all the other NFL games I miss when I'm there in person. I don't pay eight bucks for a warm beer, and I can curse loudly without offending any small children or stuck-up parents.

You do, however, have to go to games once in a while, and I try to make it a point to hit a few roadies every season. There is always The Tradition, and the mandatory pilgrimage to Kansas City. It's a wonderful time, even when your eyeballs are frozen in December or some drunken gorilla in overalls threatens to break your spine. It's good old fashioned Midwestern Americana football, and I'll be heading out there until the day I die. Even after, I'll insist that my cremated ashes be transported to Arrowhead a couple times.

We took a trip down to New Orleans, before Katrina. The pre- and postgame festivities were legendary and the food was amazing, of course. It was chilling to attend a game at the Superdome, which I'll always associate with that Super Bowl halftime show U2 did after 9/11, with the names of the victims projected on the walls and ceiling. But the game was a blowout, and the Saints fans were perfectly happy taking their beatings like shelter dogs.

The scene was similar in San Diego two years ago, where parking-lot bluster turned into bleacher pacifism. Is it too much to ask of fans to stick around past halftime? How can you let your home stadium be overrun by expatriates and tourists from Colorado? Weak. It's hard for me to respect the Chargers or their fans after that trip.

I didn't expect much from the fans in Arizona last year either. I can't even imagine following a team run by the Bidwell family. The new stadium, however, was brain-meltingly sweet. Our $10 tickets were awesome, and the entire building was full of well-thought-out details and gadgets. There was zero downside to the trip, especially considering that the Broncos emerged victorious.

In the end, though, it all comes back to Arrowhead. No road stadium beats it for atmosphere or passion, even though the concourses are narrow and the line for the shitter endless. I doubt I'll ever go to Oakland, even in disguise. Some day I'll take in a game at Lambeau, and I'd love to go to the Meadowlands and Foxboro as well. This season's two most appealing roadies are at Indianapolis and Chicago, but unless I procure corporate sponsorship I'll be limiting my out-of-state travel to KC on Nov. 11. Where hopefully we'll see Kevin House pick one off and take it to the...you get the idea.