Broncos’ Shane Ray on sharing house with a cousin: ‘living with a Chiefs fan is awful’

Denver Broncos linebacker Shane Ray has Oct. 30 circled on his calendar.

Ray, the Bishop Miege graduate who played at Missouri, has been out since training camp when he suffered a torn ligament in his left wrist. But he is scheduled to return for the Broncos’ game on Oct. 30.

It just so happens that is a “Monday Night Football” game against the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Ray obviously is eager to help the 3-1 Broncos try and catch the 5-0 Chiefs in the standings, but he knows a win would help his home life as well.

Ray told BSNDenver.com that he lives with a cousin, who is from Kansas City.

“He die-hard hates the Broncos,” Ray told BSNDenver. “He doesn’t care that I’m on the team and I’m his cousin. He literally wears Chiefs jerseys to the Broncos games. That’s my cousin.”

While the Chiefs are the defending AFC West champions and have the upper hand in the standings now, Ray apparently doesn’t hesitate to talk smack with his cousin.

“I know their history,” Ray said ominously in that interview.

Since the Chiefs won Super Bowl IV, the Broncos have been to eight Super Bowls, winning three times. Ray was on the Super Bowl 50 championship team.

As for the Chiefs’ playoff history, well, there have been some tough losses through the years.

“Look, as much excitement as you have from them doing what they’re doing,” Ray has told his cousin, “they’re the Chiefs.”

Ouch.

Ray caught grief from Broncos fans last year after he got a Kansas City-themed tattoo on his back that includes the Chiefs logo. In June, he was in Kansas City for a football camp, and his mother helped out there. Ray admits he even dreamed of calling Arrowhead Stadium his home field.

That’s why Ray told BSNDenver he knows that he won’t change his cousin’s allegiance. Still, Ray admits that “living with a Chiefs fan is awful.”

“I respect it because that’s where we’re from, everybody is like that, everybody is Chiefs fans, but I play for the Broncos, this is my team, this team is my opportunity to do a lot of things,” Ray said in the interview. “It’s just funny, man, having to deal with that.”

As for the Chiefs-Broncos game on Oct. 30, Ray is fired up to return to the field and do some damage to Kansas City’s chances in the division. This is what he told reporters in Denver earlier this week:

This story was originally published October 11, 2017 at 12:07 PM.