I’m a Dallas Cowboys, Frisco-loving, homer. I need to get this out there from the start. My personal preference who plays in the biggest of all football games this year, and every year, is our beloved Cowboys.
When your team is out of the running, you take your licks, keep watching the playoffs, and make a prediction about who you think will win, or who you want to win the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy.
If you don’t have a team to root for yet, here’s why I’d say to go ahead and pull for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Frisco Family
Hunt Sports Group owns the Chiefs. Hunt Sports Group also owns Frisco’s own Major League Soccer team, FC Dallas. There’s so much history with this family’s Dallas ties and impact on sports. It’s so deep, let’s just say there would be no “Big Game” as we know it if not for the Pro Football Hall of Famer and ‘architect of the dream’, the late Lamar Hunt.
This game is so well known and so well trademarked we can’t even call it by name.
This upcoming face-off between the NFC and AFC champions will be the 55th one that Norma Hunt, widow of Lamar Hunt, has attended. She’s noted as the only woman to have attended each and every one. Her story of going to 40+ championship games with Lamar and continuing that tradition even after he passed away is touching. It gives me chills to think about.
The Hunts are a long-time Texas family, a long-time Dallas family, and now a part of our Frisco family.
Brothers Clark and Dan Hunt have incredible passion to preserve and honor their father’s legacy through the Chiefs, through FC Dallas, and through the National Soccer Hall of Fame at Toyota Stadium.
When FC Dallas President, Dan Hunt, was asked if Dallas should cheer on Kansas City he quickly agreed that, yes, the Chiefs can be your AFC team. He says,
We’ve been here since the late 1930s and we love this great city. This is a community we love. We’ve waited 50 years for this moment. It’s a big moment for Andy Reid. He’s an incredible human being and a talented guy who’s able to break down teams. He’s shown that time and time again. These games are for the fans, and I hope it’s the show these fans want.
Frisco’s Mayor Cheney and I are on the same page. After the AFC Championship game, as the confetti fell, he posted,
I enjoyed watching Clark and Dan Hunt lift the Lamar Hunt Trophy today. Their family has done so much to support Frisco and have been great partners for many years with FC Dallas and Toyota Stadium. I will certainly be rooting for the Hunt Family and the Chiefs in the Super Bowl!
Texas Pride
In 1960, as part of the newly formed American Football League, Lamar Hunt founded the Dallas Texans team who moved to Kansas City a few years later. So, yes, the Chiefs originated in Texas, which is another reason we can feel a little less awkward about rooting for them.
I get to puff my chest out on this Texas connection as a proud Texas Tech Red Raider, but this is everyone’s chance to get behind the first quarterback to play for and graduate from a Texas college and start in the championship game. Never been done. Other states have sent many names from college to the starring role, but this is our first time.
So, for the love of Texas, that’s one reason to tilt the scales in Kansas City’s favor.
Mahomes
Since he was on the field for Texas Tech, we’ve enjoyed watching Patrick Mahomes. And it’s only gotten bigger and better from there. His performance has been unprecedented to come into the League and put up the numbers and the ability to lead his team to the playoffs so quickly.
I can’t bring up Texas pride and Mahomes without asking Jeb Matulich, one of our favorite Texana history and sports buffs, what he thinks. He shared,
It’s hard not to root for Patrick Mahomes if you’re from Texas. The kid played high school ball here, played college ball here, and is just a good all-around guy. The Chiefs used to be the Dallas Texans, so there’s that too.
You can get a feel for Mahomes’ leadership and strong work ethic from his NFL Draft cover letter. He talks about football being more than the stats at the combine and the Xs and Os.
He says, “It’s keeping your guys motivated, whatever the circumstances, and having the determination to bring your team back from seemingly certain defeat in the fourth quarter.”
And we know he’s shown that. He helped bring his team back from down 24 points in the AFC Divisional Playoffs against the Houston Texans.
His dad was a pitcher in the MLB and even played a season here in Texas with the Rangers in 2001. Watching his dad dedicate the time and energy into his sport at the highest level, the young quarterback mirrors that in his passion for football.
Mahomes says in his letter, “I grew up watching my dad compete against the best in the world during his career as a major league pitcher. I saw him do that for 11 years. I witnessed firsthand the amount of work it is going to take every day if I want to achieve lasting success in the National Football League.”
So many reasons to root for this kid. Nothing against the 49ers or Jimmy Garoppolo. But, I’m in Mahomes’ corner on this one.
The Big Game is Sunday. We’ll be pulling for our Texas connections!
