From South Beach to Fort Lauderdale, Miami area abuzz about Super Bowl... and Chiefs

Greetings from Miami, where it’s definitely not snowing, has not snowed and most assuredly will not snow anytime soon.

When I picked up my rental car in Fort Lauderdale, the desk agent told me it’s going to be chilly at night this week: about 65. I couldn’t help but laughing after flying in from the land of snowblowers.

Today was all about football. Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and the rest of the Chiefs held their daily media opp this morning at the JW Marriott Turnberry in nearby Aventura, and Herbie, Vahe, the Sams, Blair, Pete, Tammy — the whole gang was there. The mood here is festive. Everyone involved with the team, players, coaches and support staff included, is enjoying this well-earned time in the spotlight.

The quick Wednesday recap: Patrick Mahomes said he hopes to be a Chief for life. Music to Kansas City’s ears, and a reminder that he and his agents and general manager Brett Veach have been working toward a new contract that some think could be worth $200 million.

Other guys, like cornerback Bashaud Breeland, Terrell Suggs, LeSean McCoy and Blake Bell, to name a few, spent some of the morning seated at tables around the interview room. Reporters approached them on any number of topics. The questions weren’t out of left field, like they were on Opening Night, instead pertaining more to the game at hand. The San Francisco 49ers are holding their own version of this at the NFC media hotel right now as I type these words.

After that, the Chiefs practiced in 80-degree weather before the afternoon clouded over. Per NFL policy, coach Andy Reid’s time afterward was spent with a designated “pool reporter,” who relayed quotes such as these:

“They loved it,” Reid said of the workout. “They got a little sunshine, so they loved it.”

Tight end Travis Kelce is “fine,” Reid said, and defensive lineman Chris Jones looks “good to go.” Both players had been dealing with injuries lately, so that, too, was good news to Chiefs fans.

Some of the Fox Sports crew was allowed to watch the Chiefs’ practice, including on-air talent Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Curt Menefee, Michael Strahan, Jimmy Johnson, Chris Myers and Erin Andrews. They’ll be on the call for Super Bowl LIV in a few days.

Johnson spoke to the Chiefs after practice at Reid’s request.

“I competed against him and always respected him,” Reid explained.

Our KC Star crew had a busy afternoon, too, working on upcoming stories. Pete and Herbie took a break from their writing duties for a little upkeep at the home we’re renting via Airbnb, at the owner’s request. These guys can do it all, I tell ya.

I dropped by the Miami Beach Convention Center to pick up my game-week credential. The other Star-teamers, including our on-site photographer, Tammy Ljungblad, picked up theirs a couple days ago. Our other two photographers from KC, Jill Toyoshiba and Rich Sugg, will collect theirs when they get here tomorrow (Thursday).

The Miami Beach Convention Center here feels simply enormous. It feels like you could put several Bartle Halls inside of it. It’s also the site of the NFL’s Super Bowl Experience, a big fan-fest for people with tickets to the game as well as those without. Twenty bucks gets you access to the convention hall and its wealth of interactive vignettes, historical exhibits and so forth.

We took time to admire the 100th Anniversary All-NFL Team, with plaques commemorating all of the former players chosen for this honor. The Chiefs are well represented there via Hall of Famers Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier, Jan Stenerud and Tony Gonzalez. The Chiefs have more players on “the 100” than the league average among its 32 franchises.

We met fans from all over the world at the convention center, including many from KC. Fans representing other teams wore Russell Wilson or Baker Mayfield or Ryan Shazier jerseys (you name the player, someone was wearing it). When it came to Chiefs fans, however, most wore Mahomes’. No. 15 on the shirt, No. 1 in the heart.

All of Miami is buzzing about the Super Bowl, especially in Miami Beach. From its north end to South Beach, you get the feeling these folks have done this before (they have — this is the 11th time Miami has played host to a Super Bowl). I’ve yet to meet someone who isn’t excited about what’s still to come. Honestly, I’m not sure why you’d hold a Super Bowl anywhere else (sorry, rolling-roofers). South Florida seems tailor-made for it, right down to the smiling people on the street.

Back at the condo now, I’m catching up on social media. You know we’re drawing near Super Bowl LIV when these are some of today’s top trending searches (along with my answers):

Who is going to win the Super Bowl? ... (ask any of the Chiefs fans down here)

What time is the Super Bowl on Sunday? ... (5:30 p.m. Central)

Super Bowl commercials 2020 ... (please, no more Puppymonkeybabies ever)

Super Bowl betting line ... (still very close)

Trends are fascinating. Yesterday via social I shared some analytics from our friends at the Twitters showing how a lot of the country is trending Chiefs on the social media giant’s latest “heatmap” — an at-a-glance show of hands detailing where people were tweeting about the Chiefs, or about the Niners.

Much of the middle of the U.S. appeared to be shaded Chiefs red. Chiefs Kingdom is vast and will only grow if the Chiefs win Sunday.

We saw more than a few Royals caps and shirts on the flight from KCI to Tampa and then on to Fort Lauderdale. Chiefs gear, too, of course. Once we were off the plane, folks who discerned we were from KC (my wife’s Chiefs shirt gave us away) weren’t shy about coming up to tell us how much they like the Chiefs — and especially, you guessed it, Patrick Mahomes. They still love Dan Marino, but they’ve taken a serious liking to PMII.

We’ve spent the last couple of days telling people here that it’s more than just Mahomes. It’s Honey Badger. It’s Reid. It’s a group of guys who really love the game (as Terez would say, “they love football”) and really do represent Kansas City well.

This appreciation is a recurring theme in the special section we posted yesterday and will appear in Sunday’s edition of The Star. It’s entitled “54 Reasons We Love The Chiefs.” The “we” in that title is well-known KC celebrities, like George Brett, Mayor Q, Tech N9ne and many, many more. A common thread in their comments (this special edition is all written in their own words) is that this group of Chiefs is great at football, yes, but they’re also so, well, nice.

The we in that title is also you, because we know you feel the same.

Tomorrow there’s a final, full-on media session with the Chiefs before they run through their Thursday practice. Other goings-on Thursday include a “presser” detailing all the security around this Super Bowl; we’re supposed to hear from representatives of the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service.

President Trump will no doubt attend the game, and then perhaps bed down at Mar a Lago, which is just up the road (though “up the road” in South Florida can mean it takes two hours to get from here to there because of all the traffic). Also on Thursday’s agenda: Super Bowl halftime entertainers Shakira and Jennifer Lopez will speak at their own news conference downtown. That should be fun.

That’s it for now. The sports editor who constantly preaches “keep it short” to his talented writing staff has eclipsed 1,100 words, so it’s time to get back to editing.

Check back tomorrow for more updates, and thanks for following along in The Star and at Kansascity.com!

This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 6:07 PM.

Jeff Rosen

The Kansas City Star

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