...

Hammock Parties · 02-02-2020, 12:11 AM

Let’s do this shit.

stevieray · 02-02-2020, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiTown

Hell yes!

I’ve been up since 430am.

I woke up every two hours. lol

KCFalcon59 · 02-02-2020, 08:10 AM

Great story in the Athletic today.

Chiefs hero Joe Delaney dreamed of the Super Bowl — now the moment is here

https://theathletic.com/1577691/2020...oment-is-here/

MIAMI — When Joe Delaney was young, he told his wife, Carolyn, he had one goal: He wanted to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to the Super Bowl. He talked about it when he was drafted in the second round out of Northwestern State in 1981. He said it again after he rushed for 1,121 yards as a rookie. He said it so often that Carolyn can still hear the words, the confidence in his voice.

“That was his dream,” Carolyn says. “Taking them to the Super Bowl. Taking them to the Super Bowl. Taking them to the Super Bowl.”

When Joe played his second season with the Chiefs in 1982, it had been 13 years since the team beat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. The way he saw it, that was already long enough.

Joe lived his life for others, always focused on how he could help. When a former teacher died, he paid for the funeral. When elderly neighbors needed their lawns mowed, Joe woke up early and sweated in the Louisiana heat. It didn’t matter that he was already an emerging NFL star. That was who he was.

He lived modestly, saving his NFL paychecks. He didn’t need a large house. He once told Carolyn that he could be happy with less, telling her to spend their money on their three girls.

“He’d say: ‘As long as I got a little change in my pocket to get me a Coke or a honey bun, I’m good,'” Carolyn says. “He did it for me and the girls.”

What Joe really wanted, Carolyn says, was to help people. And once he arrived in Kansas City, he realized he could do that by winning football games. In 1981, the Chiefs had not had a winning season in seven years. They had not made the playoffs in 10. But then Joe started running the ball and team managed to finish 9-7, and Carolyn heard the same words.

“When Joe set his mind to something,” Carolyn says, “he tried to make it happen.”

Carolyn was supposed to be here. She was excited, too. The Chiefs reached out after the AFC Championship, inviting her to join the scene in Miami. On Friday, she packed her things and prepared for an evening flight.

She would watch the game from Hard Rock Stadium and catch up with Chiefs owner Clark Hunt. She would carry her husband where he always wanted to go.

Carolyn still likes following the Chiefs, if only because it makes her think of Joe. She thinks about the days they spent at Arrowhead Stadium, about how excited she was to watch Joe do his thing. She thinks about how the team was always there when her husband was gone.

These days, she likes watching Tyreek Hill run. It’s the aesthetic more than anything, she says, the way his legs move and his arms cradle the football. It’s the moments he starts to look like Joe.

“He just kind of runs like Joe’s style,” she says.

Carolyn still watches all the games she can. She marvels at Patrick Mahomes. She loves the speed. She celebrated the AFC Championship victory over the Titans with a smile. It’s been nearly 37 years since she lost Joe, but the Chiefs still feel like family.

Back in August, she visited Arrowhead Stadium for a preseason game with her daughters and grandchildren. She participated in a pregame ceremony. She walked the sidelines. She realized how much Clark Hunt is like his late father Lamar. “His son is identical to him,” she says.

Carolyn liked being back at Arrowhead, but the best part was experiencing it with her grandchildren. One of “the boys,” as Carolyn calls them, will turn 13 on Sunday. His name is Jayden, and he plays football in the fall. In recent years, he’s taken to studying his “Paw-Paw” on the internet. He watches highlights and reads old news clippings about his college days at Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La. Carolyn jokes that “he pretty much knows more about Joe than I do.”

This means that Jayden long ago realized why people call his Paw-Paw a hero; that on June 29, 1983, Joe saw three kids struggling in a pond in Monroe, La.; that he jumped in to help even though he couldn’t swim. Just one boy emerged from the pond that day. Joe and three others did not. Carolyn lost her husband. Tamika, Crystal and Joanna lost their father. Joe was just 24, two seasons into his NFL career.

Jayden knows the story now, and Carolyn hopes it inspires. She wants her grandchildren to know about Joe’s football days, but she really wants them to know the person he was. She wants them to know what’s important.

“Football is good,” Carolyn says. “Don’t get me wrong. I love football, and I love that he loves football.

“But I always thought of his Paw-Paw being a better person than a football player.”

When Joe first met Carolyn, he owned just two pairs of pants. They were kids in Haughton, La., and you might say that Joe came from nothing. But that would be a disservice to what he did have.

Carolyn says her husband had a sense of self worth. He was proud of what he had, and he would give it away in an instant. He hated bullies. He appreciated the little things, like a cold drink or a good deed. He was kind to those who needed kindness.

“He didn’t have any money to have stuff,” Carolyn says. “But he was proud of it.”

The one thing he never lacked, of course, was speed. He ran the 100-yard dash in 9.4 seconds. He switched to running back in college. When he rushed for 193 yards against the Oilers as a rookie, Houston defensive end Elvin Bethea invoked the names of Gale Sayers and Walter Payton. “He ranks right up there with them,” Bethea said then. “He is great with a capital G.”

When Carolyn remembers Joe, this is the man she remembers, forever 24 years old. She thinks of the running and she thinks of the kindness, and one day last week, she thought of that day in 1983, when she got word that Joe wasn’t coming home. Carolyn was watching the news and saw the story about the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. She immediately thought of Bryant’s widow, Vanessa.

“It tore me up,” Carolyn says, “because I know how she feels.”

When Joe died, she says, the only thing that kept her going was her three daughters. They relied on her, and she needed them, and she knew that Joe would have wanted them to be happy and safe. “I knew Joe,” she says, “and I knew he would have wanted me to take care of those babies and get on with life.”

Carolyn kept going and the Hunt family offered financial support. All three daughters went to college. Carolyn stills thinks of the Chiefs organization as family.

So on Friday night, Carolyn was preparing to fly to Miami to share in the Super Bowl moment. But then her flight was delayed until the next day, and she started to feel a sinus infection coming on, and she didn’t quite feel up to traveling. She was disappointed to miss out, she says, but she plans to curl up on the couch, put her pajamas on, watch the game at home and think of Joe. And, hey, maybe she can go next year. She thinks the Chiefs will be back.

“I know the Chiefs are going to win,” she says. “I just got it in my heart.”

For Joe, the Super Bowl was a symbol. It was a goal to strive for. It was a dream. It was where he wanted to go. He wanted to win for Kansas City. He talked about it so much. For Carolyn, it’s more complicated than that. There is sadness and grief. There are so many memories. When she thinks about the Chiefs, she thinks of Joe, and when she thinks about the Super Bowl, she remembers his voice. There is no way she can forget.

“Joe used to talk about carrying the Chiefs to the Super Bowl from the time he started to until his death,” she says. “That’s what he was looking forward to.”

**Munson** · 02-02-2020, 08:13 AM

#SBLIV GAMEDAY pic.twitter.com/6BNgtd7sfC
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 2, 2020

**Munson** · 02-02-2020, 08:16 AM

Coogs · 02-02-2020, 08:18 AM

Checking in for my only time today. Enjoy this everyone! It's been far too long of a journey. But at the same time having Mahomes be the guy to lead us to the destination (new beginning) makes it all worth it!

And Clay. I love the OP. Perfect!

**Donger** · 02-02-2020, 08:19 AM

Wish I could be in KC for this. What's the vibe like in town?

**Bearcat** · 02-02-2020, 08:19 AM

tonyetony · 02-02-2020, 08:20 AM

This is the day I have dreamt about my whole life. Patrick Mahomes is our Harry Potter he will break all of the curses with his magic right arm wand.

Chris Meck · 02-02-2020, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donger

Wish I could be in KC for this. What's the vibe like in town?

the calm before the storm.

Like the OK Corral.

**alpha_omega** · 02-02-2020, 08:22 AM

In for the greatest thread since the beginning of time!!!

unothadeal · 02-02-2020, 08:26 AM

The level of confidence I have in this team is at an all-time high. Throughout my entire Chiefs fandom we’ve either had an unreal offense but a defense that couldn’t tie its own shoes, or a stout defense that can stop the best of them but no offensive attack to put points up. This is the most complete team I’ve ever watched.

crayzkirk · 02-02-2020, 08:29 AM

I'm so ready. Was 11 the last time the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. The first thing that came to mind this morning was the scene from Airplane! where Robert Hays is in the bar and asks the guy next to him to pinch him so he knows that he's awake.

Not even going to entertain the idea that the Chiefs lose this. Because Chiefs is dead.

KCFalcon59 · 02-02-2020, 08:33 AM

It's going to be a glorious day!!!!!!

displacedinMN · 02-02-2020, 08:35 AM

Guy on the radio this morning said...Most people see the niners as the most complete team. But Mahomes is the only reason the chiefs have the edge. Dude.

He is a MPLS commentator so they have just as much baggage.

So nervous. I hope I make it until 5:30.

GO CHIEFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

displacedinMN · 02-02-2020, 08:42 AM

Chiefs Twitter list.

https://twitter.com/i/lists/171933188

02-02-2020, 12:11 AM
Hammock Parties I'll be back. Hammock Parties's Avatar Join Date: Nov 2002	**OFFICIAL Chiefs vs 49ers Super Bowl LIV Game Thread** Let’s do this shit.
Posts: 288,100

02-02-2020, 08:10 AM	#167
KCFalcon59 MVP KCFalcon59's Avatar Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Topeka, Kansas	Win it for all who came before us Great story in the Athletic today. Chiefs hero Joe Delaney dreamed of the Super Bowl — now the moment is here https://theathletic.com/1577691/2020...oment-is-here/ MIAMI — When Joe Delaney was young, he told his wife, Carolyn, he had one goal: He wanted to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to the Super Bowl. He talked about it when he was drafted in the second round out of Northwestern State in 1981. He said it again after he rushed for 1,121 yards as a rookie. He said it so often that Carolyn can still hear the words, the confidence in his voice. “That was his dream,” Carolyn says. “Taking them to the Super Bowl. Taking them to the Super Bowl. Taking them to the Super Bowl.” When Joe played his second season with the Chiefs in 1982, it had been 13 years since the team beat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV. The way he saw it, that was already long enough. Joe lived his life for others, always focused on how he could help. When a former teacher died, he paid for the funeral. When elderly neighbors needed their lawns mowed, Joe woke up early and sweated in the Louisiana heat. It didn’t matter that he was already an emerging NFL star. That was who he was. He lived modestly, saving his NFL paychecks. He didn’t need a large house. He once told Carolyn that he could be happy with less, telling her to spend their money on their three girls. “He’d say: ‘As long as I got a little change in my pocket to get me a Coke or a honey bun, I’m good,'” Carolyn says. “He did it for me and the girls.” What Joe really wanted, Carolyn says, was to help people. And once he arrived in Kansas City, he realized he could do that by winning football games. In 1981, the Chiefs had not had a winning season in seven years. They had not made the playoffs in 10. But then Joe started running the ball and team managed to finish 9-7, and Carolyn heard the same words. “When Joe set his mind to something,” Carolyn says, “he tried to make it happen.” Carolyn was supposed to be here. She was excited, too. The Chiefs reached out after the AFC Championship, inviting her to join the scene in Miami. On Friday, she packed her things and prepared for an evening flight. She would watch the game from Hard Rock Stadium and catch up with Chiefs owner Clark Hunt. She would carry her husband where he always wanted to go. Carolyn still likes following the Chiefs, if only because it makes her think of Joe. She thinks about the days they spent at Arrowhead Stadium, about how excited she was to watch Joe do his thing. She thinks about how the team was always there when her husband was gone. These days, she likes watching Tyreek Hill run. It’s the aesthetic more than anything, she says, the way his legs move and his arms cradle the football. It’s the moments he starts to look like Joe. “He just kind of runs like Joe’s style,” she says. Carolyn still watches all the games she can. She marvels at Patrick Mahomes. She loves the speed. She celebrated the AFC Championship victory over the Titans with a smile. It’s been nearly 37 years since she lost Joe, but the Chiefs still feel like family. Back in August, she visited Arrowhead Stadium for a preseason game with her daughters and grandchildren. She participated in a pregame ceremony. She walked the sidelines. She realized how much Clark Hunt is like his late father Lamar. “His son is identical to him,” she says. Carolyn liked being back at Arrowhead, but the best part was experiencing it with her grandchildren. One of “the boys,” as Carolyn calls them, will turn 13 on Sunday. His name is Jayden, and he plays football in the fall. In recent years, he’s taken to studying his “Paw-Paw” on the internet. He watches highlights and reads old news clippings about his college days at Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La. Carolyn jokes that “he pretty much knows more about Joe than I do.” This means that Jayden long ago realized why people call his Paw-Paw a hero; that on June 29, 1983, Joe saw three kids struggling in a pond in Monroe, La.; that he jumped in to help even though he couldn’t swim. Just one boy emerged from the pond that day. Joe and three others did not. Carolyn lost her husband. Tamika, Crystal and Joanna lost their father. Joe was just 24, two seasons into his NFL career. Jayden knows the story now, and Carolyn hopes it inspires. She wants her grandchildren to know about Joe’s football days, but she really wants them to know the person he was. She wants them to know what’s important. “Football is good,” Carolyn says. “Don’t get me wrong. I love football, and I love that he loves football. “But I always thought of his Paw-Paw being a better person than a football player.” When Joe first met Carolyn, he owned just two pairs of pants. They were kids in Haughton, La., and you might say that Joe came from nothing. But that would be a disservice to what he did have. Carolyn says her husband had a sense of self worth. He was proud of what he had, and he would give it away in an instant. He hated bullies. He appreciated the little things, like a cold drink or a good deed. He was kind to those who needed kindness. “He didn’t have any money to have stuff,” Carolyn says. “But he was proud of it.” The one thing he never lacked, of course, was speed. He ran the 100-yard dash in 9.4 seconds. He switched to running back in college. When he rushed for 193 yards against the Oilers as a rookie, Houston defensive end Elvin Bethea invoked the names of Gale Sayers and Walter Payton. “He ranks right up there with them,” Bethea said then. “He is great with a capital G.” When Carolyn remembers Joe, this is the man she remembers, forever 24 years old. She thinks of the running and she thinks of the kindness, and one day last week, she thought of that day in 1983, when she got word that Joe wasn’t coming home. Carolyn was watching the news and saw the story about the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. She immediately thought of Bryant’s widow, Vanessa. “It tore me up,” Carolyn says, “because I know how she feels.” When Joe died, she says, the only thing that kept her going was her three daughters. They relied on her, and she needed them, and she knew that Joe would have wanted them to be happy and safe. “I knew Joe,” she says, “and I knew he would have wanted me to take care of those babies and get on with life.” Carolyn kept going and the Hunt family offered financial support. All three daughters went to college. Carolyn stills thinks of the Chiefs organization as family. So on Friday night, Carolyn was preparing to fly to Miami to share in the Super Bowl moment. But then her flight was delayed until the next day, and she started to feel a sinus infection coming on, and she didn’t quite feel up to traveling. She was disappointed to miss out, she says, but she plans to curl up on the couch, put her pajamas on, watch the game at home and think of Joe. And, hey, maybe she can go next year. She thinks the Chiefs will be back. “I know the Chiefs are going to win,” she says. “I just got it in my heart.” For Joe, the Super Bowl was a symbol. It was a goal to strive for. It was a dream. It was where he wanted to go. He wanted to win for Kansas City. He talked about it so much. For Carolyn, it’s more complicated than that. There is sadness and grief. There are so many memories. When she thinks about the Chiefs, she thinks of Joe, and when she thinks about the Super Bowl, she remembers his voice. There is no way she can forget. “Joe used to talk about carrying the Chiefs to the Super Bowl from the time he started to until his death,” she says. “That’s what he was looking forward to.”
Posts: 6,780	3 0

02-02-2020, 08:13 AM	#168
Munson Roy E. Munson's Avatar Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Olathe, KS	#SBLIV GAMEDAY pic.twitter.com/6BNgtd7sfC — Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 2, 2020
Posts: 23,109

02-02-2020, 08:16 AM	#169
Munson Roy E. Munson's Avatar Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Olathe, KS
Posts: 23,109

02-02-2020, 08:18 AM	#170
Coogs In Search of a Life Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Northern Kansas	Checking in for my only time today. Enjoy this everyone! It's been far too long of a journey. But at the same time having Mahomes be the guy to lead us to the destination (new beginning) makes it all worth it! And Clay. I love the OP. Perfect!
Posts: 21,801

02-02-2020, 08:19 AM	#171
Donger "Think BOOM!" Donger's Avatar Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: 33.675° N 106.475° W	Wish I could be in KC for this. What's the vibe like in town?
Posts: 186,945	1 0

02-02-2020, 08:19 AM	#172
Bearcat Would an idiot do that? Bearcat's Avatar Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Arizona
Posts: 57,091	1 0

02-02-2020, 08:20 AM	#173
tonyetony tonyetony tonyetony's Avatar Join Date: May 2001 Location: Yeah Right!	This is the day I have dreamt about my whole life. Patrick Mahomes is our Harry Potter he will break all of the curses with his magic right arm wand.
Posts: 1,442

02-02-2020, 08:22 AM	#175
alpha_omega Supporter alpha_omega's Avatar Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Liberty	In for the greatest thread since the beginning of time!!!
Posts: 17,069

02-02-2020, 08:26 AM	#176
unothadeal HOF 20?? unothadeal's Avatar Join Date: Dec 2006	The level of confidence I have in this team is at an all-time high. Throughout my entire Chiefs fandom we’ve either had an unreal offense but a defense that couldn’t tie its own shoes, or a stout defense that can stop the best of them but no offensive attack to put points up. This is the most complete team I’ve ever watched.
Posts: 6,126

02-02-2020, 08:29 AM	#177
crayzkirk Veteran Join Date: Nov 2016	I'm so ready. Was 11 the last time the Chiefs won the Super Bowl. The first thing that came to mind this morning was the scene from Airplane! where Robert Hays is in the bar and asks the guy next to him to pinch him so he knows that he's awake. Not even going to entertain the idea that the Chiefs lose this. Because Chiefs is dead.
Posts: 4,716

02-02-2020, 08:33 AM	#178
KCFalcon59 MVP KCFalcon59's Avatar Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Topeka, Kansas	It's going to be a glorious day!!!!!!
Posts: 6,780

02-02-2020, 08:35 AM	#179
displacedinMN It was not a fair catch displacedinMN's Avatar Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Correcting papers	Guy on the radio this morning said...Most people see the niners as the most complete team. But Mahomes is the only reason the chiefs have the edge. Dude. He is a MPLS commentator so they have just as much baggage. So nervous. I hope I make it until 5:30. GO CHIEFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posts: 38,312

02-02-2020, 08:42 AM	#180
displacedinMN It was not a fair catch displacedinMN's Avatar Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Correcting papers	Chiefs Twitter list. https://twitter.com/i/lists/171933188
Posts: 38,312