Lucky pants, paper helmets, special cereal: Chiefs fans share rituals ahead of Super Bowl
The Kansas City Chiefs are competing in their third Super Bowl in four years. They won a third AFC championship on the backs of the players and coaching staff, but also with the help of fans like you.
We asked our readers for their special game-day superstitions, and you delivered. We heard from quite a few who shared their precise routines — from unique clothing to specific seating arrangements.
Here’s what you shared with us.
GAME-DAY GEAR
Clothing was a big theme among the answers we received from Chiefs fans.
Joshua Finch wears the same Disney-themed pajama pants underneath his pants during games. He said they were was a gift he received from someone while he was in the hospital during the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LIV run during the 2019-2020 season.
“I broke my leg last year and couldn’t wear them, which is why we didn’t go to the Super Bowl,” Finch wrote to The Star. “I was able to wear them again this year to the AFC Championship and we won. I will wear them again (for the Super Bowl) next weekend.”
Larry Sumpter, who currently resides in Denton, Texas, said he stopped wearing his solid red Chiefs shirt with the logo because they lost the last two times he wore it.
Annette Keeter in Kansas City is precise with her apparel for every home game:
Her hair in ponytails, with one red scrunchie for the left, and a yellow scrunchie for the right
A tiara
A custom red jersey, which she hasn’t washed this season
One red shoe on the right foot, and a yellow shoe on the left foot
Her Super Bowl LIV ring, which must face outward on her right middle finger
A big Chiefs necklace
When it’s cold, Keeter said she wears the same headband her grandmother used to wear when she would attend games.
The only game she missed this season was the Chiefs’ loss against the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 16, and she only missed it because she was sick. All of her friends said the only reason the Chiefs lost was that she wasn’t there.
“I’ve made everyone around just as superstitious as I am,” Keeter said.
For the Super Bowl, Keeter will be seated at home in her chair that’s straight from GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. She will also make sure that her dad is not watching the game with them in the same room, since they made him watch old western movies during the Chiefs’ last Super Bowl victory.
GOOD EATS
Sumpter’s rituals don’t end at avoiding wearing his Chiefs shirt. Growing up in Oklahoma, he’s been a Chiefs fan for as long as he can remember. He tells his son all the time he has no idea how lucky he has it.
Sumpter makes cheeseburgers for every game and plans to do the same for his big Super Bowl party this Sunday. He started cooking cheeseburgers the first time he went to go watch the game out by his fire pit on his iPad, and he said it’s in honor of Andy Reid and his love for the meal.
The fire pit is where he and his friends will watch the game this Sunday, no matter the weather conditions in Texas. Sumpter braved the cold weather during the AFC Championship games against the Bengals, and while he expects it to be warmer, he has everything his party needs to have a good time.
Tim Foster cooks a three-egg omelet, with a side of toast and Chiefs-red milk every game day.
Breakfast food seems to be a common thread in the Chiefs fandom.
Cereal, specifically Hy-Vee’s “Mahomes Magic Crunch,” plays a big part in Jim Still’s game day ritual. Still stocked up on the cereal when it came out in the summer of 2019 and eats a bowl of the cereal every game day.
Still has even brought the boxes into the stadium for the last two Super Bowls the Chiefs played in.
“Super Bowl security is worse than the airport,” Still said. “I actually had to explain to the security why I’m taking it in there. They pulled me aside, and I had to go through some extra steps, but they let me take it in both times.”
The inspiration for this superstition is 20 years old: Stills saw two Bills fans at a bar eating “Flutie Flakes” for quarterback Doug Flutie. When he saw Mahomes had his own cereal, he said he knew what he had to do to bring the Chiefs good fortune.
Still leaves for Phoenix on Friday with his wife and two of his children, and he plans to bring the same box he’s been eating from all season into State Farm Stadium on Sunday.
“I LOOKED LIKE A DORK”
For all of Paolo Carollo’s 55 years of living, the biggest impact he’s made came on Jan. 12, 2020. It was a cold day when the Chiefs found themselves down 24-0 to the Houston Texans in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Carollo went to the game with one of his older brothers. As the “goofball” of the four brothers, Carollo wore a paper Chiefs helmet during their tailgate.
“My brother said I looked stupid,” Carollo said. “I looked like a dork.”
He took off the helmet before he got to his seat, and all of a sudden, the Chiefs were in a hole. Carollo talked to a person sitting near him about the paper helmet, and the person told him to put the hat back on and bring some luck to the team.
The stranger wasn’t wrong.
Carollo put it back on, and the rest is history. The Chiefs scored 51 straight points on their way to a 51-31 victory. Later that season, they won the Super Bowl.
Carollo moved and lost the paper helmet for a couple of years, but he found it just in time for this year’s playoffs. He put it back on when the Bengals had the ball with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, and Chiefs fans know how that story ended.
“I call it a magical playoff hat,” Carollo said. “I’ll bring it to Super Bowl Sunday at my brother’s house.”
Each superstition, ritual and routine these fans and plenty of other Chiefs fans follow can be seen as goofy or weird. But as Keeter said, it’s only weird if it doesn’t work.
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
