9-year-old Chiefs fan gets surprise ticket to Arrowhead game, breaks down in tears
As a Chiefs fan who lives in another time zone, Matt Chandler has a tradition with his wife and five kids that, well, may not sound all that fun. But it shows their dedication.
They drive more than 700 miles from their home in Clovis, New Mexico, to Arrowhead Stadium.
“My family kind of started making that a family tradition to try and go to a game, and because it’s a 12-hour drive for us, what better family time than to lock everybody in the minivan and go together,” Chandler said with a chuckle. “But we have really thoroughly enjoyed doing that over the last several years.”
It’s such a good time that Chandler and his wife decided to add one more person for their trip this week to see the Chiefs play the Colts on Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium.
Nine-year-old Mechi is a close friend of Chandler’s children, and she is a huge Chiefs fan, even though her parents don’t follow the NFL.
“We started to introduce her to football about four years ago,” Chandler said, “and she has very quickly just gone all in. (She’s) probably as big a fan as anyone you’ll know, as you can tell by her reaction, honestly.”
That reaction can be seen in the video above. On Monday morning, Chandler shared the moment Mechi was surprised with a ticket to see Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
“Do you want to come with us to watch the Chiefs play?” Mechi was asked in the video.
She nodded and broke down in tears.
In less than 24 hours, the video has been viewed more than 300,000 times.
“I posted the video just thinking it would reach a couple of my friends,” said Chandler, who has double-digit Twitter followers. “I set (the phone) down and about an hour and a half later, I was quite shocked.”
There are Chiefs fans around the world, but most have ties to Kansas City. Chandler, however, grew up in eastern New Mexico. That’s an area full of Cowboys, Broncos and Texans fans.
How did he start following the Chiefs?
“Growing up, all my friends were Broncos fans and Dallas Cowboys fans,” Chandler said. “And I wanted to make more of an independent decision. I didn’t want to just be kind of forced into a team. And so I had been collecting football cards.
“This sounds childish, but I was a child, I was about 8 years old, and I had a football card of Christian Okoye with those shoulder pads and that neck brace.
“I saw him play against the Broncos and started watching him I just said, ‘This is my team, this is who I’m sticking with.’ And then I’ve just followed them ever since, through and through.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2019 at 9:13 AM.