En route to the Super Bowl, these Kansas City Chiefs fans aren’t intimidated by birds | Opinion
Saturday, almost a full day before the Kansas City Chiefs take on Philadelphia in Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Arizona. At the busy airport in Denver, two men with red Chiefs gear awaited their connecting flight to Phoenix.
One was taller and trim. The other was shorter and more solid. The pair could pass for father and son, but they are not related. Both were headed to their first Super Bowl in person. Neither had tickets to the big game when the day began.
The last-minute trip west was the idea of Michael Johnson, 70, of Stilwell, Kansas. A retired engineer, Johnson is a slender man with smooth whitish hair and a goatee of the same color. On this day, he was dressed in a pair of jeans and sneakers for the flight from Kansas City to Arizona. In Denver, I asked him at what point he decided to attend the Super Bowl.
“Today,” the huge supporter of Chiefs’ offensive lineman Creed Humphrey replied. To his right was family friend Wade Wilbur, 44, a sod farmer. Around 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Wilbur received a text from Johnson asking if he wanted to go to the Super Bowl. Wilbur needed time to contemplate the question. He had planned a watch party at his Lawrence home. Within 30 minutes, the party was off.
Wilbur returned Johnson’s text, agreeing to go. A few hours later, they were at Kansas City International Airport on route to Phoenix. Johnson and Wilbur paid about $4,000 each for game tickets, they said. They used a third-party app to find lodging until Monday.
“We bought our Super Bowl ticket and plane ticket this afternoon,” Wilbur, dressed in jeans and tennis shoes, told me Saturday evening. “And decided on a whim just to go.”
Added Johnson: “It’s a bucket list type deal.”
Later, at the same airport, 26-year-old Markel Devers of Omaha took a seat while waiting on his flight. The smell of grilled onions and fried potatoes filled the air as he chomped on a burger from an airport restaurant. Dressed in a sleeveless red-and-yellow Chiefs puffer vest, a black hoodie and designer sweatpants, Devers sported one red Air Jordan Nike shoe and one bright gold one. His look was complemented by several chains dripping with bling hanging from his neck. He wore diamond rings on each finger. A shiny watch adorned his left wrist.
Devers, a real estate investor and party promoter, didn’t secure a ticket to the game, he said. He does have plans to join others at a tailgate party outside State Farm Stadium in Glendale — the perfect way to celebrate before heading to a relative’s home nearby for a block party highlighting a game tens of millions of people are expected to watch on television.
Devers is a fan of head coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce. He was partial to former wide receiver Tyreek Hill, too. Hill, of course, left last year to sign with Miami. The Chiefs, Devers says, have hardly noticed Hill’s absence.
“One thing about it. Two things fa’ sho. One man don’t stop no show,” he said in a rapper’s tone. “So, we gon’ keep it going, keep it flow. The water gon’ roll and we gon’ get it back to the Super Bowl.”
On the plane, boisterous Philly fans let it known where their allegiance lay.
“Go birds!” one man yelled on the connecting United Airlines flight from Denver to Phoenix. The man turned his attention to Johnson, who was sporting a long-sleeved Chiefs T-shirt. “Sorry what’s about to happen to y’all,” said the man in a green Eagles jersey and a thick, sparkling chain. He was flashy and brash, but Johnson didn’t take the bait to trash talk back. He shared a laugh with Wilbur as the Eagles fan found his seat near the back of the plane.
“You Chiefs fans are too quiet,” the man said. Other Eagles fans loudly agreed.
But the jeers weren’t enough to dampen the spirit of Chiefs fans like Johnson, Wilbur or Devers, who expect the hometown team to bring a world championship trophy back to Kansas City for the second time since 2019.
Unintimidated, Devers shook the hand of a heckling Eagles fan after their flight landed in Phoenix, adding to the excitement leading up to the Super Bowl. We’ll see who has bragging rights after Sunday’s game.
