On this Valentine’s Day, I’m devoting a section of the paper to something so many of us in Cassville love so much — the Kansas City Chiefs.
What’s not to love about the back-to-back Super Bowl champions? Every time they have seemed down and out, the Chiefs seemingly rise to the occasion and give us a lesson in perseverance and grit rarely matched in sports.
Twice in the last five years, Kansas City has faced San Fransisco in the biggest game of the season, and twice, the Chiefs have crafted incredible comebacks that have left many of us fans in tears of joy or in exuberant celebration.
This season was full of adversity for Kansas City. In fact, many believed it was the season the Chiefs would finally fall out of Super Bowl contention. If Sunday is any indication, they always have a chance to win if Patrick Mahomes is under center.
The most expensive cap hit in the league at $37 million, Mahomes saw his offensive line weakened and his receiver corps decimated. For most of the season, Kansas City led the league in drops, yet Mahomes still managed to throw for more than 4,000 yards and complete 2/3 of his passes.
The Chiefs played at a rest disadvantage for most of the second half of the season, played one of their games in Germany, had to play a wildcard game and played their last three games on the road as underdogs.
They beat both No. 1 seeds, beat four of five MVP finalists and faced the toughest ever path to a Super Bowl win. In the last five years, the Chiefs have played in four Super Bowls, and over that span, they are 5-1 when down by 10 or more points.
That level of can-do is just incredible, especially at the highest level of football.
As the great Andy Reid says, “When it’s grim, be the grim reaper.”
I also feel like you can’t fully appreciate this season without mentioning the outside noise that came with the newly announced relationship between Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.
Often times in sports, athletes who are in high-profile relationships, especially new ones, see a slip in their production. Kelce overcame the pop culture curse and produced exactly as fans expect him to. If he could perform “Viva Las Vegas” as well as he can play football, he might make a career as a pop star himself.
Whether you are a fan of Swift or not, the attention that relationship brought to the NFL created many new fans of the game, and the NFL capitalized on that about 30 seconds per contest she attended.
On Sunday night, as Mahomes nickel and dimed his way past a fourth-and-1 and to an overtime touchdown and win, and I ran my 2-year-old through the house on my shoulders, I thought about what an inspiration that final drive was.
No matter the circumstances, the Chiefs never quit, and this time, all the effort resulted in all the glory.
It’s this perseverance I hope our high school athletes take into their postseasons in coming weeks. I plan to make my annual jaunt to Columbia Feb. 23-24 for the state wrestling tournament, where two Cassville athletes — Faith James and Hailey Roark — will take their shots at championship glory.
The Cassville boys will take on districts this weekend, with multiple wrestlers having high hopes of state qualification.
My advice? When the chips are down and all may seem lost, take a page out of the Mahomes playbook. One match at a time, one move at a time, find ways to persevere and push yourself to achieve greatness at whatever level you can.
I can’t wait to see what hardware Cassville wrestlers can bring home with that never-quit attitude.
P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day to my wife. Thanks for enduring another NFL season with me and making my life a Super Bowl win every single day. I love you!
Kyle Troutman has served as the editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014 and became Publisher in 2023. He was named William E. James/Missouri Outstanding Young Journalist for daily newspapers in 2017, and he won a Golden Dozen Award from ISWINE in 2022. He may be reached at 417-847-2610 or ktroutman@cassville-
democrat.com.
