Chiefs players’ drinking at Super Bowl rally sent young fans exactly the wrong message | Opinion
Congratulations to the Chiefs players, the organization and Kansas City region for an exciting season and an epic Super Bowl win. Reaching the summit of the sport calls for celebration. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous overt drinking, receiving IV fluids for hangovers and public display of drunkenness, with a mouthpiece in front of tens of thousands of people at last week’s victory rally, are unconscionable and destructive on many levels.
Three of our best-known and revered players — Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones — were prominent in their intoxicated states. With their positions and notoriety, they have the potential to do great good as role models for young people and families. Instead, they chose to make fools of themselves.
Why do we as fans and the Chiefs organization condone such behavior? What other profession would allow and seemingly expect these sorts of actions? If a player is too wasted at the rally to stand steady, speak or act responsibly, then maybe there needs to be an adult in the room to throw a flag and tell this person to take a back seat.
How much harm by undoing the messaging that our youth receive in schools, youth groups and at home about the dangers of drug and alcohol consumption, was done by witnessing the actions of these heroes? Alcohol abuse, including binge drinking, has serious personal and societal consequences. There are very few families that don’t have at least one alcoholic among them. Most are in denial of the problem so they too rarely seek help, even after they have wrecked a wide path of destruction at work, at home or with the legal system.
As health professionals, we can attest to the toxicity of alcohol on a cellular level as well. News flash: Alcohol is toxic to the brain (take that, chronic traumatic encephalopathy), the heart, the pancreas and the liver, to name the top players. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 380 Americans die every day from excessive alcohol use.
We need more messaging that drinking responsibly is acceptable. However, if you choose to drink to excess (your right to party), keep it at home or out of the public eye. Part of that messaging could be that if you or others think you drink too much, or you feel guilty about your drinking, you should get professional help. Pro and college sports teams alike could add these concepts to their curriculum.
The shooting that killed one and sent dozens of others to hospitals at the end of the rally might be more pressing concerns in many Kansas Citians’ minds, but it shouldn’t overshadow the dangers of alcohol abuse.
One player in particular on the Chiefs roster stands out as an excellent role model who should be encouraged to continue to lead by example. That is Harrison Butker. Maybe he can give the egregious offenders on his team a good kick in the rear.
Peter Bock is a retired family physician who lives in Eudora. Jim Vacek is a retired cardiologist who lives in Olathe.
This story was originally published February 20, 2024 at 11:22 AM.