Chiefs’ opening win tarnished by ugliness of some fans booing during moment of silence
What with the pandemic raging and all, the Chiefs certainly knew they were taking a risk by allowing fans (approximately 22 percent of capacity) into Arrowhead Stadium Thursday night for the NFL opener against Houston.
On a night the franchise unveiled a Super Bowl banner 50 years in the making, the calculated gamble reflected some combination of fan appreciation and desire for a semblance of home-field advantage and, surely, cash flow given the exorbitant ticket prices.
For all the measures taken in the name of safety, only time will tell whether the very idea was as reckless and gratuitous as some of us worried it could be.
But even if it doesn’t prove to have been a COVID-19 superspreader or something of that nature, we already know the move came with a glitch.
No matter how much coach Andy Reid and players wanted to thank the crowd of about 17,000 for its role in a 34-20 victory over Houston.
Because with Kansas City in the national spotlight for what a massive television audience to launch the NFL season amid the chaos of the pandemic, more than a few voices resonated in nasty, embarrassing fashion before the game when the Chiefs (and later the Texans) stood up for social justice with actions including a moment of silence “dedicated to the ongoing fight for equality in our country.”
That radical idea was enough to cue the boos as both teams linked arms with Patrick Mahomes and Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson at the epicenter (Mahomes also linked with Reid in his fogged-up plastic face-shield that Reid called “a bit of a mess,” making for a fine snapshot of the times).
The derision spoke volumes, betraying the city and team in both senses of the word.
It broke faith with the players they apparently support only as gladiators, and it revealed anew that an appeal for equality is offensive to some even during this great awakening and reckoning.
Now, it was reassuring that there was a vigorous rejection of that ugliness on social media. And it’s notable, even crucial to say, that the vast majority of fans didn’t boo.
“We’re a good city of good people. I heard boos too,” Mayor Quinton Lucas wrote on Twitter. “But we also have hundreds of thousands more around here who respect the message the players are sharing; who respect the rights of our players and people to voice a strong message and who are working to make us better each day.”
That’s absolutely true.
But it’s also true that the situation was brutal enough to compel the mayor to speak out.
And that the stain loomed over the game in a twist on the narrative of those who claim they don’t want their sports to come with distractions.
Instead, they created that in an irredeemable way on a night when players clearly were striving for some sort of compromise ground on which to demonstrate rather than the controversial notion of kneeling during the national anthem.
“The booing was unfortunate,” Houston star J.J. Watt said, according to The Athletic. “I don’t understand that. There was no flag involved, nothing other than two teams coming together to show unity.”
Never mind that it’s contrived nonsense to say such a gesture is unpatriotic or anti-military or disrespecting the flag rather than a reinforcement of the rights the country is founded on and that our heroes fought to preserve.
While Chiefs defensive end Alex Okafor with dignity during the anthem took to one knee and raised his fist in the air with the hands of teammates Chris Jones and Khalen Saunders on his shoulders, no other Chief knelt and the Texans remained in the locker room.
But the disgruntled were determined to vent about something, evidently, exercising their rights to make you wince.
So first they jeered (mixed in with others cheering) as the Chiefs ran off the field after an earlier point in the pregame ceremonies: when players had the temerity to lock arms across the end zone during “Lift Every Voice and Song” (often called the Black National Anthem) being performed by Alicia Keys while video of the Black Lives Matter movement was played on the scoreboard.
If you didn’t quite believe what you heard then, it was soon reinforced just after the Star-Spangled Banner (sung by Chloe x Halle) and moments before kickoff as the teams moved toward the middle of the field to link up.
The rumblings started as players and coaches found their places.
And that ugliness lingered no matter how many people cheered when it ended and the game was about to commence.
This night could have been nothing but celebration: the commemoration of last year; a moment to respectfully reflect; the beginning of the quest to repeat, topped off by an exhilarating win that further suggests such hopes have traction.
Instead, some fans who wonder why players want to demonstrate answered their own question.
As it happens, players either were so immersed in the moment as to be oblivious to the boos or didn’t want to take that issue on or graciously gave the benefit of the doubt to fans:
Afterward, Reid said he “didn’t really notice” the booing during the moment of unity and Mahomes suggested the same.
Tyrann Mathieu said he was “so locked in” he didn’t hear it, and Travis Kelce could only gush about how loud the fans were.
But those who booed were heard plenty and, shame that it was, likely lent more voice and conviction to the very movement they sought to condemn.
And that isn’t going away as players like Mahomes, active in so many ways, seek to convert protest to meaningful actions.
“We’re not going to let playing football distract us from what we’re doing,” Mahomes said, “and making change in this world.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2020 at 12:28 AM.