The beauty of Patrick Mahomes being the face of Kansas City for all the world to see
Somewhat like he did on that berserk 27-yard touchdown run against Tennessee in the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium, Patrick Mahomes has scrambled and rambled around the area and become ingrained in the terrain virtually since he arrived in Kansas City in 2017.
Before he was on billboards all over the metro or his image was featured in this newspaper about every chance we get and he could be seen on back-to-back-to-back commercials on television …
Here he was in jorts and a cutoff T-Bones jersey at the KC Masterpiece 400 at Kansas Speedway. There he was in Royals gear at Kauffman Stadium. And clad in a Sporting KC T-shirt at Children’s Mercy Park. Or at various concerts or charitable events or hospitals that speak to loving a community.
But this wasn’t just a young man getting to know his new surroundings. Mahomes is from Texas, but he also was morphing into becoming of Kansas City. He essentially was hugging back a city that immediately wrapped its arms around him on their way to becoming entwined with each other … and shortly to be synonymous on a world stage.
When Mahomes hit a home run during the Big Slick Celebrity Weekend softball game last summer, his first words into a microphone were, “I’m going to Worlds of Fun!”
“Only Pat would say Worlds of Fun,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach told The Star in August, noting his nimble audible from the traditional idea of going to Disneyland and adding, “He has the wherewithal and the understanding to keep it in Kansas City, to keep it here.”
But as the Chiefs prepare to play in the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years when they meet the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 2 in Miami, that synergy between Mahomes and the city will be projected far and wide from here.
Mahomes is different
The exuberant and promising face that has launched a zillion hopes and dreams will stand for our image before a global audience of some 100 million people — surely the most intense spotlight ever directed this way, particularly if you consider the implications of modern technology.
Just at a time the city justifiably perceives itself on the move, with an influx of youth moving downtown amid a building boom and a new airport on the way and amid a World Cup hosting bid.
We’ve had iconic cultural and sports figures represent us before, of course, from Harry S. Truman to Walt Disney. From Tom Watson to George Brett to Buck O’Neil and so many great Chiefs of the 1960s and others. And we’ve had unforgettable teams before, most recently in the form of the 2014-2015 Royals.
But amid the ever-increasing Super Bowl audience and the era of ever-burgeoning social media, Mahomes represents us in an unprecedented spotlight as a uniquely irresistible and appealing force.
And good on us.
Being able to put “all of our faith and our confidence in someone so positive and exciting and brilliant, I think that does kind of allow us to say, ‘Yeah, we can look at Kansas City anew,’ ” Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas said.
Lucas was speaking from a conference of some 300 mayors in Washington, D.C., where he said people from all over the country were raving about Mahomes and identifying him as part of our very image and landscape.
“It’s not just that it’s a good time in Kansas City, and he’s a great quarterback,” Lucas said. “It’s that it’s all gelled together.”
Part of the formula that’s made this so enchanting: Among the captivating aspects of Mahomes is that his very aura says “come on along” and makes us relish being associated with him all the more. Psychologists call that BIRGing — basking in reflected glory.
As a transcendent talent who was the NFL Most Valuable Player in his first full season as a starter a year ago, chances are Mahomes would be well-admired here no matter what sort of person he was.
But something else puts him on a different tier, something that makes this all the more precious and priceless and something we want to have reflect us to the rest of the world.
Mahomes’ dynamism is amplified by the authenticity and wholesomeness and contagious energy he exudes.
Normal guy, but rare, too
As much as he seems to defy laws of gravity on the field at time, Mahomes defies what cynics might expect of modern superstars.
“He’s just a normal guy who happens to be the best in the world at what he does in the most important position in sports,” right tackle Mitchell Schwartz deadpanned. “So it’s kind of pretty rare to have his personality and character for a guy who’s that good.”
His apparent sixth sense on the field is matched by a consciousness and consideration of others. He’s still the guy who in high school reminded the coach when it was someone’s birthday and grew up looking out for the last kids picked and smiling and acknowledging everyone in seventh-grade English class.
“Kansas City values, right?” family friend Chad Parker said when The Star visited Mahomes’ hometown of Whitehouse, Texas, last summer.
At least of our better angels. His arrogance-free confidence, humble resolve and inclusive way enhance who he is to us and make for a persona you hope is our brand, too. That’s why in the offices of the Kansas City Sports Commission they refer to Mahomes in such ways as “our son” and “the brother everybody wants.”
“When it comes right down to it, you think, well, he is the face of Kansas City,” said Kathy Nelson, president of the sports commission. “You want to cheer for a family member; that’s how it feels.”
Noting that she’s heard from many people across the country about Mahomes’ popularity with them, she added, “What a connection — that one person on that team is connecting us across the country.”
Soon, they’ll learn more about what binds us to him, how it’s easy to feel like he completes us in somewhat the same way he seems to complete coach Andy Reid the way they read each other’s minds and Mahomes animates Reid’s imagination as an offensive genius.
This is a young man who typically says “yeah” as he starts to answer any question from the media, an inviting and telling gesture. In contrast to one of his uncanny gifts, no-look or look-off passes, he makes eye contact when you speak with him. He has impeccable manners, and he needs people around him to be the ones who say no because he can’t.
He’s remarkably tough, enough to overcome a dislocated kneecap at Denver that in the moment appeared potentially season-ending. But also tough enough not to need to boast about that or any of his talents.
At once, he somehow towers like a colossus above all this … and feels right among us. His sheer delight on the field (“I think I’m a snow-game guy!”) resonates as childlike. And then there’s that goofy ketchup stuff, and his distinctive voice that coach Andy Reid has playfully called “froggish.”
Even with something like that, Mahomes has a way of knowing just what to say to make others feel included or even inspired. He was self-conscious about his voice when he was being teased about it as a child, he recalled last year, before he decided to just be comfortable in his own skin.
“I mean, it’s me, it’s who I am,” he said. “So I’m never going to be insecure about it; I just kind of embrace it and keep going.”
It’s real, and it’s spectacular
If it all sounds too good to be true, well, if Mahomes didn’t exist maybe it would have been necessary to invent him. At least for long-suffering Chiefs fans who had come to be conditioned to believe that they can’t have nice things and that this sort of phenomenon is reserved for others.
But it’s real, and it’s spectacular, highlighted all the further with two comeback wins in the playoffs — including the rousing rally from a 24-0 deficit to beat Houston 51-31.
“You could see the entire team looking at him when times were darkest,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said.
Not to mention the whole area. After decades of futility for the Chiefs, Kansas City could turn its lonely eyes to him.
And now, in an age of cynicism and divides, he beckons along a nation that will absorb the image of Mahomes as it considers ours.
“It’s this proof that be cool, to be getting attention in America, you can (still) be nice,” Lucas said. “Which is fundamentally midwestern in some ways. And it’s the sort of thing that shows, ‘Yeah, we can be proud of the stuff we have.’ ”
This story was originally published January 25, 2020 at 5:00 AM.